​Hi everyone! I probably should be washing eggs and dishes right now, but I thought I'd write a quick blog post anyway.

We are halfway through strawberry season. We have another week of picking left, and I've already earned as much money as I did last year. I guess the deer fence and diligent weeding (not to mention the constant rain this year) is paying off! I'm hoping to have $1000.00 to spend on my hobby farm and local food this year.

​Kitchen

I made frittata for the first time last week. It's basically like a quiche without the flour. I used some swiss chard from the garden, a few garlic cloves, a small onion, two handfuls of cheese, a little bit of butter and eight eggs. I don't like frittata as much as quiche, but it uses twice as many eggs. And we have a lot of eggs right now! I also made some frozen yogurt in the Vitamix, which was wonderful. Basically, you mix up all of the ingredients in the blender, then freeze them in muffin cups (I use silicone ones). When you want some frozen yogurt, you put some fruit in the blender and add a few chunks of frozen yogurt. I used an overripe mango to make the first batch, and it turned out very smooth and creamy. I might cut the sugar on the next batch, though.

Other than that, I haven't been doing much fancy work in the kitchen lately. I tried one slow-cooker recipe that made us all sick; another reason I skipped last week's post. I've been trying to do more structured menu planning, in order to have crock pot or pre-made meals in the evenings. Sometimes we'll be working on the house for several hours after Hubs gets home from work, and we won't have dinner until 10 p.m. or later. Since I'm getting up so early to pick strawberries, making dinner at that hour is NOT appealing. The other upside of planning specific meals and recipes for each day is that I can use garden produce before it goes bad.


Hobby Farm

​It's hobby farm season! Aside from the strawberries, I'm also spending a couple hours per week in our vegetable garden and on other outdoor projects. I started a balance sheet for the homestead. I used to track in come and expenses on an Excel sheet, but doing it on paper is so much more convenient, since I don't have to open up the computer and bring up Excel every time I buy something or take in some money. 

I'm really enjoying the vegetable garden. The combination of mulch and raised beds is magical for eliminating weeds. I have 12 4'x4' raised beds, but on any given year we only use eight or nine of them. Here is what I've planted this year:

1. Herbs: two and a half beds are planted in perennial herbs (mints, medicinal and culinary).
2. Flowers: I planted one bed this year with calendula, Bells of Ireland, and various bulbs (most of which haven't come up...).
3. Tomatoes/peppers: I planted just four tomato plants, on a trellis. The rest of the bed was planted in bell peppers.
4. Strawberries/sweet potatoes: One of my old strawberry beds has some sweet potatoes in it. Now it's a mix of strawberries and sweet potato vines.
5. Beans/squash: one bed has a tepee structure this year. I planted acorn squash (my favorite!) on the west side, and purple long beans on the east and south side. I left the north side open so our daughter can play in there when the plants have covered it.
6. Beets/parsnips/garlic: this bed is planted in thirds. It is my first year growing parsnips, but they are doing great. The beets are also thriving... garlic, not so much.
7. Spinach/lettuce/swiss chard: the spinach has bolted. I planted some watermelon seedlings in this bed, but the slugs ate them.
8. Lettuce/cucumber: I did the same thing with this bed; planted a climbing plant to provide shade for the greens (although, at this point it's too late for that). The cucumber plants are faring better than the watermelon seedlings.

Initially I mulched most of the beds with straw, which was fast and easy. However, grass clippings seem to be more effective and nutritious for the beds, as it makes another sheet compost layer when the season is over. Slowly I've been mulching more with grass clippings and less with straw. The straw, however, has been wonderful for our strawberries.

Well, that's about it for now!
Til next time,
-Bethany

1. ​Groceries: Since last week, I put together a new grocery budget and shopping list for the summer months. I increased the amount from $130.00 per month to $160.00. I think that will give enough room for comfort without the added stress of too much food. My suspicions of last week continue to be confirmed as I keep throwing out food that has gone bad. Since last week I threw out three slices of moldy bread, two quarts of sour yogurt, four rotted potatoes and a vastly overripe avocado. I'm really looking forward to the end of this food waste. Here's the list I came up with:

On the left are "staple" items; not all of them are on the list, because we have a lot of them already.

We went to Walmart for grocery shopping. I spent just over $47.00 for monthly groceries and this week's fresh things as well. Our fridge got satisfyingly empty before we went shopping, and I found a jar of already-chopped onions before they, too, began to rot. Yay! 

2. Cooking: I salvaged several food items that were going bad. I made some cheese with more soon-to-expire milk. When we ran out of mayonnaise, I made some in the blender with an egg, canola oil, and some other ingredients we had on hand. The spinach in the garden began to bolt this week, so I harvested most of it. Then I blanched and froze it in silicone muffin cups. I'll use the frozen spinach during July and August when we won't have any. I plan on planting more spinach for the fall garden.

It felt really good to do some cooking, since I haven't done much at all in the last month or so. I thought it would be a burden that I wouldn't miss, but I guess I like cooking more than I thought I did.   

3. Gardening: I planted the rest of my garden last week. This year I'm growing tomatoes on a trellis, growing beans on a tepee/pyramid structure, and also growing lettuce and spinach underneath cucumbers and watermelon. So far, I'm excited about how things are turning out. I saved an old pair of pantyhose to use for watermelon slings and also for storing bulbs overwinter.

4. Sewing: I'm in the process of replacing diaper elastics on some cloth diapers. I moved my sewing machine over to our new house (the good part of the new house, that is) to a room with lots of natural light. I salvaged a desk from my in-laws, so now I can actually just sit down and sew, instead of standing, bending over or even sitting or kneeling on the floor. My, it makes a world of difference. I can't believe how much I've accomplished in a few hours, even while watching my daughter. I love it! Having a designated, well-lit area for the sewing machine is the best thing ever.

In addition to the diapers, I also fixed a free pair of snow pants that will fit our daughter next year.

5. House project: this is coming along well, still. We have a lot of the roof shingled already, and a skylight in the kitchen. It adds so much natural light in there! They poured cement in the garage, and my husband and brother took out the clipped gable at the end of the old part. It looks so much better!!!

​I'm starting to look at paint colors for some of the upstairs bedrooms. It is so exciting!

6. Drinking glasses: I taught our daughter how to get her own water out of a water dispenser. This saves time and hassle for me. She's outgrowing her "baby" shot glasses, so I started giving her vintage jelly jars (given to us) to drink out of. They are about the same width around, but twice as tall, so they hold a lot more water.

​7. Thrifting: I went to the thrift store this week and bought some half-off items. A laundry basket for $1.50, two pairs of jeans for $3.00 each, two cups for $0.24, a binder for $0.40, a $0.50 puzzle, and a $0.40 book. I also bought a full-priced custard dish for $0.69. I think it will make a nice heavy-bottomed "bowl" for our toddler.

Phew! I think that's about it for the week!

Til next time,
-Bethany

About a month ago, I decided to increase our grocery budget. I wasn't really sure how much more we'd actually spend, but I wanted to see if the increased spending would equal more happiness and less cooking.


The "No Plan" Plan

Basically, every week I walked into the grocery store and just bought whatever I wanted. Of course I had a list of needed items, but in addition to that I just bought whatever looked good. Our spending went from about $30.00 per week to about $60.00 per week (average.... of course, I'm not  really keeping track besides a quick glance at the receipt). 

Like anything else, the 80/20 principle applied to this experiment. 20% of the extra spending ($6.00) accounted for a majority of the happiness and less cooking. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, store-bought bread has been great to have around. We tried some convenience meals (canned, frozen, boxed). Some were okay, but I've decided that sandwiches are easier, faster and tastier than expensive packaged food. As far as happiness goes, I've enjoyed making a few new meals, like fish tacos. What made the fish tacos possible was a $0.69 mango, and fish. When I was on the $10.00/wk. plan, I never bought fish because it cost $3.00 per pound instead of $2.00. However, last winter I realized that cheap tilapia is actually cheaper per gram of protein than the ground beef I was buying on sale. So technically, fish is a better deal than beef. But I digress.


What Did I Spend More Money On? Was It Worth It?

What was I spending the extra $20.00+ dollars on every week? Fresh produce. Apples, bananas, more mangoes, avocados, fresh green beans. Upgrades. Even something as small as parmesan cheese (as opposed to mozzarella or cheddar) was an upgrade for us. We've also been buying more junky snack foods. And sugar.

Do you know what the most shocking thing has been about my little spending experiment? We waste so much more food than we used to.  A whole gallon of milk sat in the fridge and expired before we ever opened it. An entire bag of green beans molded while still sealed in the package. Today we finished up some grapes that were beginning to go soft. Instead of spending less time cooking and stressing about food, I'm running around trying to keep all of this produce from rotting, and then feeling guilty when it does.

Yeah, it feels good to buy whatever you want at the grocery store. But the reality is, I'm just buying more food than we need. Instead of having eggs for breakfast like I have for the past five years (with a few oatmeal variations every now and then), I'll reach for a sugary sweet apple or banana. Then the eggs pile up in the fridge, and I'm freaking out about what to do with so many eggs.

Are we eating healthier because I'm spending more money? No. I'm buying more organics, but I'm also buying a lot more sugar and snack foods. My favorite kinds of sugar cereal were on sale last week for $0.99 per box. On the $10.00/wk. plan, I might have bought three or even five boxes, and spread them out over a few months. But on the "whatever looks good" plan, I bought ten boxes. I bought them yesterday, and I already opened one box and had some with the expired milk. Then I gave some to my daughter, without the expired milk. Then I felt guilty for eating so much sugar, and worse, for feeding my kid sugar cereal. Wow, wasn't that extra spending worth it?

On top of it all, this "buying way too much food" problem has not helped me achieve my goal of eating down the pantry before we move. Instead, I have nine boxes of cereal to deal with. Nice.


More Problems Than Solutions: The Grass is NOT Greener

Picture this: me, buying organic grass-fed ground beef and way more fresh produce than we can eat before it goes bad, so I can feel better about buying a ton of junky snack foods and sugar. Spending doubles. Then picture me feasting on the junk foods and sugar, while the produce rots in the fridge. Then I'm working my tail off to salvage moldy green beans and feeling guilty for wasting food and feasting on sugar. I think that's only a slight exaggeration of what's actually going on at our house.

And that, my friends, is the myth of "if I increase our grocery budget, things will be better". I mean, they might get better, but they might also get worse. I think we will be going back to budgeted spending soon, starting with a baseline of $10.00 per person per week, and then tack I might tack on an extra $2.00-$3.00 per person to do some permanent organic upgrades and include a little variety (like mangoes) in the bargain. But for my own sanity, we need to stop this enormous shopping spree.

Til next time,
-Bethany