camping, Saving Money, wedding

Thriving In My Thrifty Week-July 9, 2023

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We have been gone quite a lot the last couple of weeks and working like crazy when we were home. First, we took our grandson camping for his very first camping trip. The first morning, he woke up at 4 a.m., he was so excited. So we went fishing at this mountain lake in the Oregon Coast range. Although there were no fish to be caught by us, we had a blast.

It took 5 minutes for him to begin to pelt the water with rocks. It took 10 minutes for him to wade in, roll his fishing line up and start wading in, despite the fact that it was 6:45 a.m., and 45 minutes to fall in:). It was a perfect place to take him on his first fishing trip and we had so much fun!

They did catch a salamander!

He did all the usual camping activities: He washed dishes outside, even though our camper has a sink inside. He played trucks in the sand for hours.

We went down to the beach several times and built sand castles and collected rocks. His one disappointment was the kite we tried to fly would not fly from lack of wind. One time, we struck up a conversation with a perch fisherman and by the time we were done, we had a fish for dinner and some bait to try it ourselves the next day.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, cooked in a Dutch Oven over the coals, and enjoyed food cooked in foil.

We took walks, visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium, a candy store, an ice cream store and ate out at Mo’s, which is a restaurant.

On the last night, the girls brought little brother down and they played together on the campground playground equipment. When you added endless walks around the campground, we had a busy week. A man in a neighboring campground asked us how we were still standing:). I’m not sure, but boy did we have fun!

Once we got home, we immediately started weeding, picking and preserving garden produce……and working at our job, of course.

My carrots are acting funny and some are trying to bolt. I pulled a lot of them and canned 10 pints. Some were not thinned well and are very small, some are nicer. Most of the family took some to eat. I will pull the rest soon and I’ve planted another row for fall. I also picked lettuce, snow peas, green onions, a few zucchini, broccoli and cabbage.

The 4th of July went well with a barbecue with the family and a double birthday party for both babies. Now they are 2 and 3.

By Thursday afternoon, Rob and I were off to Central Oregon to the wedding of our dear friends’ daughter. Rob had a prayer to say in the wedding and I was there to help with the food and the reception. Friday and Saturday were very full and we came home Sunday. The wedding was lovely and we had so much fun.

Rob did slip away Friday morning to a mountain lake to do some fishing while I helped prepare food.

I will say that the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. We were able to keep it frugal in several ways. First, we packed food everywhere we went, or ate at my friend’s house. We ate out 1 time, each trip and did not choose extravagant meals. Second, we took the trailer camping, but not for the second trip, as it was going to be very expensive to pull it that far for only 3 days. Instead, we rented a cabin. It wasn’t fancy–only 1 bedroom and very small, but perfect for our needs with a price we could afford. Rob was able to make one of his hand-crafted cutting boards for a wedding gift. We bought no souvenirs at the beach, but instead took and used things we already had. For instance, we have old sand toys and a cottage cheese carton we used on the beach one time, old kites we took, and one time we just dug piles of sand with our hands and put rocks and shells on top. Rob used fishing bait and equipment he already had, even though there was a “better” weight he could have bought. ..and son on. We had such fun both time, and it was even sweeter to know we stayed in the budget we had planned for each trip.

At the wedding, we helped my friend save a lot of money by helping her self-cater the reception. It was so fun!!! I was so glad to be there.

food preservation

Pea Harvest–June, 2023

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We have had 2 good pickings of peas so far. I grow Maestro bush shelling peas. This year, I got them planted in March and now they are ripe. They like cooler, wetter weather, so I’m glad I got them in when I did.

The first picking was smaller, and I filled 4 baggies. I use quart-sized Ziplock bags and fill them so they lay flat in a larger freezer bag. There is no where near a quart of peas in each bag because we use much less than that amount each time. I also want them flat so I can break off a chunk when I only use a very few peas for something without thawing the entire baggie.

Yesterday, I filled a small bucket, a large Tupperware bowl, and then grabbed 2 plastic flowerpots from the planting table and filled those, too. Rob and I both shelled until we needed to go to a grad party, then put the rest on ice to wait until that evening when we were home again.

Rob ended up shelling out all the rest himself because I got caught up in another project. Then, I dumped them in a pot of boiling water to blanch them and set the timer for 3 minutes. After that time passed, I fished the peas out with a hand-held strainer and put them into cold water to begin cooling immediately. After they were cool, I put them in 1 quart Ziplocks.

We got 9 baggies this time, bringing us up to 13 so far. In a couple of days, there will be another picking, but it will be smaller again. We will then be ready to pull the bushes, enrich the soil and plant some late summer and fall crops in their place. Pea plants are a legume and fix nitrogen into the soil. We still feel we need a little more compost in the area when we plant a second crop.

Last year, I planted fall broccoli and cabbage where the peas were. I think I will do some more of those a little later in the summer, but may add lettuce, snow peas and possiblybeets or carrots, if I find I need them.

I’m delighted to have this project well onto its way. It’s very time-consuming, but the finished product is very, very tasty and good. I already have more peas frozen then I did last year altogether because there are more peas in each baggie and I’m getting more baggies. So, of course, that makes me happy with my yield.

I never stop anyone from eating peas, and if we run out, I’ll buy a bag at the store. But, that being said, most years we have enough with what we grow. We don’t use very many in a year.

I like to put them in tuna-noodle and turkey-noodle casseroles. Sometimes I pop a few into a soup or stew to brighten it up. We occasionally eat some in a pile on our plate, but that’s more rare for us. There are a couple of other recipes I add a few peas to, but I can’t remember them right now. No matter. When I do remember, I will have some peas to put in those dishes.

Birthdays, Cooking for a crowd, food preservation, Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week—June 12, 2023

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This week, I went to a U-Pick strawberry patch, all by myself:). I know he would have enjoyed it, but I was so glad he wasn’t there when I saw the (seriously) 150+ people who were swarming the field. I got enough for a batch of jam and some to freeze for smoothies and some to eat fresh. It was hard to find ripe berries, actually. After seeing the people come and come and come, I could see why. I may try again soon, or just make out with what I got.

I think Malcolm is trying to wink at Papa. He loves “bahberries.” In fact, I stepped outside for a minute the day I brought them home and came back only to see the floor littered with little green tops–he’d eaten as many as he could grab. We got those picked up and I turned my back and …….yep! We had to clean the floor again. I’m so glad he didn’t get sick.

The garden still takes quite a bit of time each day. It’s growing so well, as are the weeds. We are eating lettuce daily and sharing with many. The peas are almost ripe. I mean they maybe would plump up if a certain little boy wasn’t out there stripping off any that look like they are growing….It warms my heart to see him enjoy them so much and like Rob says, “He’s eating vegetables, we can always buy a bag of peas at the store.” I’m pretty sure we will get a big batch one of these days–it will be beyond what he can eat.

We are harvesting a few snow peas every couple of days and my cilantro is bolting. I’ve been using the lower leaves anyway in salads and marinades. I will pull that out and let the next planting be used very soon. I put more seeds in the ground but have none yet. I may need to replant.

The compost heap on the right has been emptied completely. I’ve been working on it for a while and now we have started dumping new scraps in there. I have side-dressed the celery, some cabbage and cauliflower and some onions with part of it, as they were struggling where they were. These 3 buckets are all that’s left to disperse and I have plenty of places that could use it. There’s never enough compost! There is one more bin that needs emptying on the other side of the garden.

Malcolm has spent hours and hours working on this project and pouring his buckets all over the place. It’s so cute! I’m glad to have this bin finally empty and he still has another bin to get into in a different place. Otherwise, he just digs holes in the garden. That works, too.

We went to the library this week and watched a preschool show. We also signed up both Malcolm and my nephew, Jake for summer reading.

It was party week. We attended a graduation ceremony Friday, a grad party Saturday and a birthday party Sunday afternoon. I haven’t cooked a whole lot this past weekend.

I did make gluten-free hamburger buns early in the week. They came out great. I made pulled pork sandwiches for us and the college group I cook for weekly. I used extras for sandwiches a few times.

We loaded up on $1.99/lb boneless-skinless chicken breast and thighs today. 3 packs in all. I froze them in meal-sized portions. I popped some Mexican-inspired marinade on some of the chunks to use tomorrow for SW chicken salads for the college group and some to freeze. Milk was $1.29 for 1/2 gallon so we got 2 of those. There were sausage rolls for $1.99 and those kielbasas for $1.99 each. I grabbed a few of those.

We passed up the $5.99/package tator tots. Seriously? It wasn’t even a big package. We got 10 lbs. of potatoes for about $5.

I’m already having an easier time stretching my time between grocery store trips, due to the abundance of lettuce in the garden. I’m also still loaded up with home-canned food and things I froze last summer. This is a wonderful time of year to be cooking and there’s so much more growing out there. I love it!

Field Trips, Garden, Mission trip, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–June 4, 2023

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I made a mega-batch of spaghetti sauce this past week. I used some to make lasagna for the young adult group and us, and some for spaghetti. I was able to utilize my canned tomato products to make it.

I was making meals for someone and they got a container, as well. For those meals, the food was frozen, for access later on when it was needed by the person.

I made a triple berry crisp from our frozen berry stash. We also made pork chops, brown rice, a chicken-pineapple sauce for the rice, chicken legs, snickerdoodle cookies, and lots and lots of salads.

I needed to clean out the camper freezer and fridge as we were getting some brake work done on the camper. I use that fridge as my spare one. Those items were put in a cooler until the camper returned a few hours later–mostly extra eggs, cheese, etc. The freezer was emptied and I’ve been using the items, as some had been in there a long time. The rest are in the chest freezer to be used soon and I will start fresh loading it with items for our next camping trip. There was a large bag of frozen shrimp in there and I’ve been eating a little each day. It’s almost gone, but it was sure tasty! Little Malcolm loves it, too, and eats his share.

This is only a small portion of the lettuce that is ready now. We are eating it frequently and I am giving it away to anyone who wants any. I even sent some over to the neighbor in a bucket and started laughing when I saw my bucket clipped to the fence, emptied out afterwards!

We visited a preschool party at the library with Malcolm. He had a blast and we learned about possible preschools for next fall. He received 2 free books, made crafts (crown), got that ring pop sucker he’s eating, and played some games. He’s been asking me if we can go back to that party! We checked out some books while we were there.

He saw Clifford, the big red dog.

While the camper was away getting it’s brakes fixed, Rob and Malcolm pressure-washed the concrete where it sits. It was awful. Rob did most of it, with Mac yelling at him for a turn, then Malcolm finally got his turn at the end. It was a terrible mess of moss and dirt. I swept it while the boys were fetching the trailer. It was a lot of work, but we are so happy to have that done.

Rob took senior pictures for a close family friend’s daughter. They came out amazing! I went as well, along with Michaela, Jake, Malcolm and the girl’s younger sister. We went to a park nearby where they have a wonderful garden with roses and other lovely plants. We took a picnic and some frisbees and had a nice time with all the kids after pictures were taken.

Rob has talked twice at church about his trip to Bangladesh. On Thursday evening, it was a group of adults who came out to hear the team speak and see pictures. I needed to take cookies, so Jake, Mac and I made snickerdoodles. The second occasion was for the children’s church and he talked to them today. They had gathered money and school supplies and Rob told them all about the trip and how the supplies were given out and how much they were appreciated by the kids. 15 suitcases of supplies were taken–craft projects, school supplies, crayons, coloring books, aprons and pot holders for the women staff, prayer journel notebooks and pens for the men staff, etc. It was a blessing all 15 made it, along with the clothing ones, too!

Through this and more, we have tried to take time to stop and smell the roses, and other flowers, too. Almost every day, Malcolm grabs my hand and says, “Gama, come see the fowers.” He then takes me around and shows me every one he likes. It’s precious. I’m also treated to the newly sprouted squash he and I planted, a green tomato that has shown up, and whatever else he can find. Even the 3 flowers that are dying–“they look sad.” I hope he never loses his enthusiasm for gardening.

Garden

Garden Update–May 23, 2023

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With some nice, warm weather, the garden is really starting to take off. So are the weeds:). I’ve been spending hours in the garden, trying to keep it under control. I’m still planting a few things and I’m weeding as often as I can. We do a mixture of raised beds and a large in-ground patch of garden.

I’ve been thinning the carrots and beets. It’s not my favorite job, so I’m just doing a little bit each time. On the right are the tomatoes. We have Glacier (extra early), Oregon Spring, Oregon Star, Carmello, Fantastic, Roma, Roma Cordova, Sart Roboise, Queen of the Night, Sungold, Sweet Million Cherry, Yellow Pear, Long Keeper and a few more.

Some melons have actually come up. I’m amazed. They often don’t. I’m trying a kind called Ng Ogen and Oregon Delicious Canteloupe.

The cabbages and broccoli are getting larger.

We have several different kinds of cabbage. We have Quick Start, Copenhagen, and a mixture with all colors and sizes. I’ve planted a cabbage in all the blank spots where things didn’t sprout all over the garden. We will have a ton once they head up.

We have Romanesco broccoli and a Hybrid Broccoli blend growing.

I have a few peppers blooming.

There are Jalafuego Jalapeño, La Bomba Jalapeno, Ancho, Lola (a long green kind), Blot (a striped sweet), Yellow and Green Bell, Carmen (long red), Anaheim, Jimmy Nardello, Yellow Hot Hungarian Wax and Serrano. There may be more, but that’s what I can remember. I use them for salsa, cooking and I freeze lots of little diced pieces to use in the winter. I have canned some pickled ones in the past, as well.I add a jalapeño to my dill pickles sometimes. They are in wire cages because I find it helps them to not topple over once they are loaded with fruit.

In the background, you can see the pathetic patch of Blue Lake Bush green and Carson yellow bush beans. We have filled in the gaps with new seeds and I noticed just this morning that some of those are coming up already. Rob put some netting over them to keep the crows out!

There are some pole beans coming up. I planted mostly Blue Lake Pole and a few Purple-Podded Pole. Some are on a wire panel, and the rest are against the fence at the back of the garden. The ones that were planted a little later are still in the ground, but the first ones are growing rapidly.

I also got a small patch of corn planted. I’m excited to see if it works. I bought an short-season variety.

I’ve been cutting lettuce for a couple of weeks now. You may notice a few peppers in the midst of the lettuce. They will grow once I remove those heads. I do a lot of succession planting in all of my garden areas.


The Maestro shelling peas are in full bloom now. I look forward to picking and processing them before the full garden comes on. The last couple of years, I have been replacing the pea patch with a fall crop of cabbage and broccoli and plan to do the same this year. We will start those baby plants a little later.

I have lemon cucumbers up. There are a few Muncher slicing cucumbers up, but not many. I did add a few more seeds a couple of nights ago. The pickling cucumbers are not up, so I re-seeded them. Except, of course, the volunteer pickling cucumbers that have burst up where they were last year–right in the middle of some zinnias and dill seedlings….:).

Last evening, I finally got to cleaning out and planting my 2 raised beds on the side of my house. That place gets very hot, due to it’s location and the concrete driveway it’s by. I planted Dragon’s Egg cucumber, Lemon Drop and Sugar Baby watermelon (got to keep trying even though watermelon is sketchy here), Purple tendril sugar snap peas, a yellow climbing snow pea, some Honey Drop Peppers, Jenny cantaloupe, the Long Keeper tomatoes, and some extra basil plants I had. I added some Drunken Frizzy Headed lettuce and called it good for now. There are strawberry plants in parts of those raised beds and I left those, of course. You may notice all the unusual varieties—our daughter Lovana bought most of these seeds and I planted them. How exciting to try some new, different varieties. We will see what we like!

Veggies are not the only thing I grow in my garden! My helper is looking a little sheepish because he just pulled up (and is possible eating) the 2 onions we were saving right where he is standing…they clearly aren’t there any more. Some broccoli is no longer where it once was, either. And, just wait until the cherry tomatoes get ripe–he loved them last summer. There is no worm or bug that is left alone. He also keeps taking his shoes and boots off and sinking into the soil like any good thing that wants to grow. Water is liberally sprayed around with the hose, and we have had to rescue little onions from being washed away. Another favorite activity is dumping weeds into the compost. He fills his little bucket and begs to dump it in the heap. I just have to watch that the lettuce isn’t an easy bucket-filler:). Life is not boring around here and I have to stay on my toes at all times! I love that he has this opportunity to play in the dirt along with me.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to garden. Rob’s first job on returning from Bangladesh was to set up the sprinklers in the garden. I was watering with watering cans and a hose while he was gone. Once he popped that water on and the garden was soaked several times, it grew even more quickly. Some things seemed to double in a matter of a couple of days.

I spent quite a bit of time, while doing that watering, thinking about ladies all over the world, specifically some I recently heard about in Kenya, who walk for 2 miles to bring water to their vegetable patches. I felt such an appreciation for how easy I have it here and the abundance of water here in the Pacific Northwest that allows me to grow such a large, prolific garden. I spent a lot of time feeling grateful and blessed and praying for those who have it harder than I do in so many ways.

Mission trip, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–May 20, 2023-Rob is Back From Bangladesh!

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It has been a wild couple of weeks! Rob has safely returned from Bangladesh and I successfully made life work while he was gone, with lots and lots of help from my family. He saw so many interesting sights on his journey. One thing he noticed was how crowded everything was. It was also noisy, with lots of honking and even police sirens mounted on cars. The contrast of how quiet is is here was noticeable to him and he’s enjoying the peace of it. It is considered polite there to honk at everyone!

After traveling for 30 hours to get there, they were put into a van the next morning for a 9-hour ride out to the country where they worked with 100 boys in the 100 degree heat….it went amazing, despite the fact that the team was not used to the heat and their days and nights were swapped from what they were here. They returned to the big city a few days later to work with girls at a couple of girls’ homes.

They got to tour a garment factory one day. This man was showing them how clothes were made. The interesting thing was the clothes are going to a local store right here in our area!

They had so much wonderful food! Most of it was quite spicy. There were a few dishes that were mildly spicy, but more often than not, Rob found his mouth might be on fire after eating the meal. At the breakfast buffet, there were no signs to tell you how mild or spicy things were so he just had to take a small portion and test it until he found one he enjoyed. He had rice for every meal and a lot of curry.

He got to taste fruits he had never had before. These grew on a tree, but he doesn’t know what they are called. He had an excellent time, and felt good that they got to work with so many kids, as well as a group of men one day. Then they travelled home. He’s very tired and getting his days and nights sorted out, but every day, I’m hearing a little more about his trip. We are both so happy he got to go. So many prayers were answered.

It was very inspiring and eye-opening to see how others live in a part of the world we know so little about and to help so many orphans, even in what felt like a small way. They sang songs, did crafts, told stories, played with them and encouraged the staff at the facilities they worked at. The people were so warm and friendly to them everywhere they went.

In the meanwhile, I was home working frantically on the garden and yard, working and taking care of the house and life. On the days I worked a different family member would come over to play with Malcolm and on the weekends his auntie helped with him. We took him to get his hair cut, to the McDonald’s play place, to the carousel, to the park, and had little brother over to play twice. We had to keep him busy because he was so sad that Papa was gone. The first day after Rob returned, he followed him everywhere. If Rob got in bed, he got in bed with him, if Rob went outside, he went out, and so forth. I found them both asleep at one point, with Malcolm holding onto Rob’s beard–he wasn’t taking any chances!!!

I got almost everything planted in the garden. I weeded for hours, but have so much more to do. The crows ate our green bean sprouts so Mac and I replanted those. I was able to clean up the deck, re-work some pots of flowers saved over from last year and put geraniums back into the ground. Rob digs them each fall, and I put them back out each spring. I had a few little flower starts we planted in the greenhouse that I tucked into the pots that held overwintered geraniums and got the Columbine plants Rob green into pots or the ground. There were about 16 of them, so there should be lovely flowers for years to come here and there.

On Friday, we went on a small hike, just the two of us. It was fun to hear all about the trip, and just spent time with Rob after his absence.

There are so many wildflowers in bloom right now. It was amazing! We just went about a mile in and a mile out, and had a wonderful time just being together.

Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week-May 8, 2023

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While Rob’s away, the troops will play…..

Rob went off on his big adventure last Friday. Lovana and I are holding down the fort here. We decided to let the babies play on Saturday for hours. When they were getting too interested in the garden, i.e. stomping on my plants, I bribed them out with ice cream. Works every time:) I used cones we’ve had on hand for at least a year, and some sale vanilla ice cream and they felt like they had a really big treat, for just a few cents.

The little white dot in the corner of the raised bed is a butterfly. Zai was so happy and excited to see it flying around and spent quite a bit of time chasing it, but never caught it.

Most of the last couple of weeks have been used to frantically get Rob ready and get things in ship shape order here, as much as possible.

I made 2 kinds of soup and have been eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner to make life easy. Tonight, I made hamburgers for dinner, and chili for tomorrow night, and split a pound of hamburger for that. I stopped by the store for a few items, but did not do any large grocery shopping trips at all before he left. I will cook a little more in a few days, but also plan to use may home-canned soups, frozen items, etc. to make life easier. We aren’t going to need to buy much this week, either. I’ll do a bigger shop again when he gets back.

He made sure the tiny tiller worked in case I want to use it while he’s gone. He made sure there was gas in the lawn mower. I’m spoiled. He always gets those kind of things going for me, and then I do my thing–like mow. I hope to do that in the next couple of days. He downloaded the Sunday school power point for me for both Sundays…things like that. I just appreciate him all the more while he’s gone as I do all the dishes myself…..

He did not get all the laundry caught up, and I assured him that even though he does most of it all the time, I did still know how…..I’m actually fully caught up with it as of this minute..

I’m filling my time up with all those chores and hours and hours of garden work, along with working several days this week. I like to be busy, because I miss him and the time passes quickly when I keep myself occupied.

I have heard from him several times. He made it there safely, after a 30-hour journey. He travelled through several airports, time zones, and a few countries. All the luggage made it, too. Whew! This is some kind of fried banana, he said. I wondered when I saw this picture if he was eating fried socks or something–ha, ha! We’ve had very brief communications–enough to know he’s safe, sound and happy. I’m excited to hear all about it when he gets back. In the meanwhile, I will keep praying for him and the team he’s with and keep holding down the fort here, with help from my family, who are taking turns coming here to help me several mornings:). This is a busy place!

Garden

Garden Update: May 8, 2023

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The garden is starting to grow at last! I got some radishes, which seems like a small thing until you realize I plant them often and rarely get anything to harvest. This time I thinned them much better than usual and it paid off. It was also rainy and cool, and they love that so aren’t very spicy.

There have been many changes in the garden over the past few weeks. Lettuce is growing. In fact, this lettuce has almost doubled since I took this picture last week. Tonight, I picked 3 leaves from a green plant to use on my burger. It starts….

All of these Japanese Irises have been dug up and removed. Compost was added and squash and pumpkins will be planted there with the intention that they will grow into the flowerbed and back behind where all I have is grass and mint. I would like to dig out more of that grass one of these days. I’ve been doing a lot more shovel work this year than normal, and it’s paying off.

On the left, you can see my little celery plants. You can also see a partial tray of onions. They are all planted now–some there and some in other areas. The tomatoes are in as well, to the left of that area.

Last year, I had a goal to make some areas easier to keep clean, so I laid down some bark dust, weeded diligently, etc. Those areas are better and were much easier to clean out this spring. Hopefully, I will get a few more places conquered each year. Although these irises were very pretty, and a lovely yellow color, they were almost impossible to weed and were becoming over-run with those weeds.

Of course, the dandelions are having no trouble spreading all over, especially when two super cute little boys blow the seed heads all over whenever they play together:). So, I’ve been digging those plants out with a shovel whenever I have a few minutes.

I’ve filled in the rest of this raised bed with leeks. I’ve also tucked in some pepper plants, and those are Valentine grape tomatoes you see on the left.

The area on the right is planted with green and yellow beans to can. They have not come up yet, as it’s been a cool, wet week again. I dug down and they are sprouted, so they will pop out with the upcoming warmer weather, I hope. There has been a crow trying to eat them, so we shall see what’s left.

I get a little more done each day, so I will hopefully have more to report about the garden very soon.


Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–The Weather Has Finally Cheered Up! April 26, 2023

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The weather has turned! It’s finally sunny and warm this week. I have really been wanting to till the garden. I had some help getting the tiller started and a refresher on how to manage it and did quite a bit today. This is our mid-sized tiller and I seem to be able to manage it just fine.

I won’t be able to plant until it is worked up again in a couple of days, so I’m glad the weather is supposed to stay nice for a while.

I also got some weeding and clipping done in the flowerbeds. There is SO much more to do, but at least I got a start. I was able to get quite a bit into the yard debris bin and hope to fill it up this week. Since they take a bin full each week, included in our garbage service, it’s always a goal to use that part of the service whenever I can. It’s also a nice way to challenge myself to keep on working away, bit by bit.

Rob found an amazing deal on bags of bark dust, garden soil and got some steer manure/compost while he was at it. We’ve been spreading that around here and there as we get a spot ready, and used some of the compost to enrich the garden. I have 2 sections of my home-made compost ready to spread once it dries out a bit. It’s too heavy now for me to handle.

Normal cooking continued: Sausage Spaghetti Pie (green peppers, onion and sausage sautéed and put on top of spaghetti/cottage cheese base with mozzarella on top) for us and young adult group, salad, peanut butter/chocolate chip cookies for the freezer, lots of leftovers, home-baked chicken nuggets, chicken and pepper filling for burritos, gf wraps from a Bob’s Red Mill mix, and jars and freezer containers of fruit, veg, etc. I’ve been working on emptying the fridge of leftovers and produce and am continuing to work through the pantry and freezers. It’s just not that long until the garden will start producing and I need room to put the freshly preserved produce!

Our microwave broke and Rob found another one quickly at a hardware store we’ve used and loved for years. We got a medium-priced one, and it’s amazing that it does 4 things–air fries, convection cooking, toasting or broiling(not sure), and of course, microwaves. I’m excited to see what I can do with that. If I only use the microwave feature, that’s just fine, as well–after all, I was trying to buy a microwave:)

We took Malcolm for a drive Sunday afternoon. We ended up at the beach late afternoon, so stopped in at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, used our membership, and he enjoyed himself for the 45 minutes we had before it closed. He just needed to get out of the house, as he’s had a cold, and well…Rob likes to drive:). What can I say? It was a great afternoon.

I anticipate that I will be outside as much as I can find the time for as long as the weather stays nice because I’m so eager to get some work done out there. Meals will probably be quite simple, and I’m not sure if I will bother shopping or not. It will be fun to see how the week shapes up!

Cooking for a crowd, Garden, Mission trip, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week-April 18, 2023

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We had 2 nice days last week. By late afternoon on Friday, I was able to get into the small part of the garden that I planted a few weeks ago. Those have been the only two dry periods this spring and it’s been raining ever since. I knew I needed to work out there as much as I could. I did what I could Friday evening and then started in at 7:15 Saturday. I finally stopped around 5:30, with a couple of breaks in-between. I will admit I was tired and sore, but felt wonderful to finally be able to get outside.

Rob had a lot of other things to do that day, so gave me moral support and a little help in the morning and throughout the day as he breezed in and out, everyone else had other plans as well, so it was just me and Malcolm digging in the dirt all day. It was a dream day for both of us.

Mac loves to dig in the dirt so much that he spent quite a bit of time moving dirt from one flowerpot to the raised bed. He used a little shovel and bucket and dug out so much dirt and surviving flowers from last fall. They aren’t looking so good anymore. They survived winter, but not Mac. He took so much dirt from the pot that I finally got him a bag of steer manure compost and let him spread it on a raised bed, one little shovelful at a time. So then, the pot didn’t have much dirt left and he started in on other pots. Rob got a bag of cheap soil at the store and we poured it into the pot when he wasn’t looking and he started on that again, hopefully saving our overwintered geraniums:). My little pot of lettuce wasn’t so lucky. I’m so glad he likes it outside and I want to cultivate that in him, so all this is worth it to me.

The blackberries (Marion berries) needed attention. I dug out copious amounts of quack grass from underneath. It was a terrible mess, to be truthful. We untangled the new canes and cut out the old ones. We tied up the new canes. Some organic fertilizer was applied later and Rob picked up a van load of steer manure compost, soil and mulch at Home Depot. Some of that will go on those berries, but I figured I could do that when it was raining, so I focused on the things I needed to do while it was not pouring rain.

During the previous dry few days a month or so ago, I worked on the raspberries and got those all tied up. Friday evening, I did start to weed out underneath them again–of course the weeds are having no trouble growing. I will put down the amendments and mulch once I finish.

Between the two days, I was able to hoe, hand weed and thin all of the area I had planted. I’m so happy that the crows did not decimate my peas–there’s a great stand there in the middle–5 rows. The seeds Rob saved for carrots and beets came up so thickly that I went ahead and started some rough thinning. I may need to thin more later, but baby plants can still get eaten by slugs, bugs, or birds, so I left a good amount until I see what happens.

I planted cabbage–both Copenhagen and Pinetree Mix, Romensco broccoli and Hybrid Broccoli Blend from our greenhouse. In this picture, I had only started planting onions, but I did finish that row. It’s half White Sweet Spanish and half Red Bull onions. I have many more to plant, especially my Patterson storage, but I ran out of tilled earth.

I planted some lettuce starts–Romaine, Drunken Frizzy Headed Woman lettuce and a few seeds of a mixture. In one of my raised beds (not shown), I planted another small area of snow peas, lettuce, marigolds, a few more radishes, and a few extra leftover plants of broccoli and cabbage. I did put in a few kale plants, as well.

We did get a few more things done this week. Rob found these jars at a thrift store. He ordered new seals from Amazon for the ones that needed them and replaced the old ones on all but one. I have some bulk foods in them now and they seal up very well when I close them.

The boys made snickerdoodles on the day after Easter. I guess more sugar was needed:)

They had fun.

Later in the week, I made pumpkin cookies with cinnamon frosting. Most of these cookies were frozen and I sent some along to the young adult group I cook for on Tuesdays.

I sent Mustard Barbecued Chicken Drumsticks, Cranberry-Walnut Coleslaw, green salad and cookies to the group today. Guess what our meal was today. Hmmm–chicken, coleslaw, salad and cookies? Yes! You got it on the first try. That and chicken soup.

I also made lasagna, pork roast, chicken-rice soup, Peanut Chicken with Rice Noodles, a large pot of brown rice which was eaten with a sweet and sour chicken Rob made and by Malcolm, who loves it with milk and cinnamon sugar. We finished up the soups from last week, and the chili.

I had so much food left over from Easter that I skipped a week of shopping. I did go last evening and got a few items at Safeway and a few more at Grocery Outlet and we are all set again.

Although I’m longing for nice weather so I can get outside again, I see lots and lots of rain predicted when I look at my weather app. Still, there’s plenty to do inside and I may need to drum up a couple more “inside” projects if the rain keeps on.

Rob continues to prepare for his upcoming trip to Bangladesh. One thing they are doing at church to help out is to collect school supplies to take there in his extra suitcase. The children at church have a campaign going to “fill Mr. Rob’s suitcase” and they have his extra one down there, filling it up. There have been lots of supplies gathered and he’s excited to take them. In fact, he’s getting so excited about the whole trip. It’s good to see him so excited.

Making My Home A Haven