I had a lot of fun and got many things done this week. On Thursday night Hubs went out of state for a few days, which made me lonely. But do you know how productive one can be without having to make meals, make the bed or stop what you're doing when he comes home? A lot!!
1. Cut asparagus from the garden. Hubs hates asparagus, so while he was gone I took the opportunity to eat a lot of it. Asparagus and eggs, three nights in a row. Delish. :)
2. Sold 4 dozen eggs (3 at the farmers market).
3. Line-dried some laundry.
4. Dried lemon balm for tea.
5. Made $43.93 at the farmers market, after costs. It was cold and windy, so not many people showed up. Nevertheless, I still made $86 in sales. Last year I would have struggled to make more than $20.00 net profit.
1. Cut asparagus from the garden. Hubs hates asparagus, so while he was gone I took the opportunity to eat a lot of it. Asparagus and eggs, three nights in a row. Delish. :)
2. Sold 4 dozen eggs (3 at the farmers market).
3. Line-dried some laundry.
4. Dried lemon balm for tea.
5. Made $43.93 at the farmers market, after costs. It was cold and windy, so not many people showed up. Nevertheless, I still made $86 in sales. Last year I would have struggled to make more than $20.00 net profit.
I sold all of my granola, three dozen eggs, a jar of jam, one loaf of zucchini bread, three dozen cookies, three rhubarb crisps and one book. It was a good day. :) I'm driving Hubs' 1991 manual transmission Saturn to the market now, which is a frugal accomplishment in itself. Though it's a bear to drive, I LOVE LOVE LOVE how small the car is as opposed to the truck. Plus it gets better gas mileage.
6. Picked lilacs for the kitchen table.
7. Made yogurt, cheese, and... butter! One of the highlights of my week was learning how to make butter with my goat's milk. It was super easy... all I did was scoop the cream off the top (yes, Nigerian Dwarf milk has a lot of cream, yes it separates to the top after a couple days, and NO, it's not "naturally homogenized") and put it into my Vitamix blender for literally a few seconds.
Goat butter is softer and whiter than cows' butter. It was harder for me to rinse than cows' butter, because it was so soft. The butter was almost flavorless at first, but after a few days it developed a "cultured" flavor... probably because I didn't get all of the buttermilk out.
6. Picked lilacs for the kitchen table.
7. Made yogurt, cheese, and... butter! One of the highlights of my week was learning how to make butter with my goat's milk. It was super easy... all I did was scoop the cream off the top (yes, Nigerian Dwarf milk has a lot of cream, yes it separates to the top after a couple days, and NO, it's not "naturally homogenized") and put it into my Vitamix blender for literally a few seconds.
Goat butter is softer and whiter than cows' butter. It was harder for me to rinse than cows' butter, because it was so soft. The butter was almost flavorless at first, but after a few days it developed a "cultured" flavor... probably because I didn't get all of the buttermilk out.
I've started collecting cream from almost all of my milk now, to put in the freezer until I have enough to make butter with. This is a huge breakthrough for me! Making butter is one more way that I can extract value from my goat milk and save money. Fats and oils are something I don't use a lot of because they cost so much, but now I can make my own.
8. Went for a bike ride and collected cans. It's kinda my free gym membership/ treasure hunt/ nature walk (ride).
8. Went for a bike ride and collected cans. It's kinda my free gym membership/ treasure hunt/ nature walk (ride).
9. I feel like I did a lot of work in the garden this week when it was worm. On Monday I collected a huge pile of mulch (grass clippings, raked up and dumped in the garden). I also planted more seeds and mulched more of my raised beds. Transplanted some herbs. Over the weekend it got VERY cold (almost freezing), so I decided to put cloches on my smaller transplants. They were simply plastic cups with holes punched in the top. I will probably reuse the cups for seedlings/cloches next year.
Thankfully I only lost some melon seedlings and a basil plant to the cold. Everything else made it though alright.
10. Started sprouting my sweet corn seeds indoors. I have done this for the past two years, and it's worked very well. This week I'll plant the sprouts in the garden.
11. Got a free onion and discount tea using Ibotta rebates.
12. Lastly, I fixed Hubs backpack before he left. It has seen a lot of wear, being our primary motorcycle backpack and carrying everything from eggs to milk to morel mushrooms (yep, we found some more this week!). The bottom was starting to tear open, I so I used dental floss to sew it back up. My dad always used dental floss to sew up his Carhartts, so I thought it would work well for the backpack. :)
Goals for Next Week
1. Use up extra milk.
2. Work on animal housing arrangements.
3. Finish planting flower/vegetable seeds and transplants.
****
P.S. Guess what else I did this weekend... printed off my first restaurant coupon! It's a buy 1 get 1 free entree, so Hubs and I will be cutting our date night bill in half sometime soon. Some people earn money/free stuff by signing up for different credit cards, but you can do the same thing with restaurants! Many of them have a "Loyalty Program" or "Rewards Card" or "E-Club". Many times they will give you a freebie or deal just for signing up.
If you're a subscriber to my email list, you can do this with me. The newsletter I sent out today has seven different ways you can save money when you eat out. I've also included the spreadsheet I'm using- it lists over 50 different restaurants- to keep track of all the freebies and discounts.
Happy saving!
-Bethany
10. Started sprouting my sweet corn seeds indoors. I have done this for the past two years, and it's worked very well. This week I'll plant the sprouts in the garden.
11. Got a free onion and discount tea using Ibotta rebates.
12. Lastly, I fixed Hubs backpack before he left. It has seen a lot of wear, being our primary motorcycle backpack and carrying everything from eggs to milk to morel mushrooms (yep, we found some more this week!). The bottom was starting to tear open, I so I used dental floss to sew it back up. My dad always used dental floss to sew up his Carhartts, so I thought it would work well for the backpack. :)
Goals for Next Week
1. Use up extra milk.
2. Work on animal housing arrangements.
3. Finish planting flower/vegetable seeds and transplants.
****
P.S. Guess what else I did this weekend... printed off my first restaurant coupon! It's a buy 1 get 1 free entree, so Hubs and I will be cutting our date night bill in half sometime soon. Some people earn money/free stuff by signing up for different credit cards, but you can do the same thing with restaurants! Many of them have a "Loyalty Program" or "Rewards Card" or "E-Club". Many times they will give you a freebie or deal just for signing up.
If you're a subscriber to my email list, you can do this with me. The newsletter I sent out today has seven different ways you can save money when you eat out. I've also included the spreadsheet I'm using- it lists over 50 different restaurants- to keep track of all the freebies and discounts.
Happy saving!
-Bethany
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