Daylily

It probably wouldn't be low-carb. It's made from brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato flour, etc. I got the recipe here and there are other GF recipes. The one I use is called Easy Buns-Gluten Free. http://www.veganvegetariancookingschool.com/free_vegetarian_recipes.html

It's been a gorgeous week for working outside but we've all been sick with colds! Quite frustrating. Just today, DD and I picked the last of the peppers. She picked and fixed dill weed to dry. I'm feeling a lot better today but still not up to par. Yesterday I couldn't even think about working, but today Ive been able to think about it That's an improvement!

We found that canning applesauce on a turkey fryer doesn't work. It gets too hot. The applesauce was very brown when finished. We only use it to get the apples ready to run through the Squeezo now and other such operations. I have pressure canned on a wood cook stove. It actually works quite well. It's just a matter of finding the right spot to keep the pressure steady and keeping the fire going. It was much easier than I thought it would be to control the pressure.

Georgene, I don't have a blog. DD keeps trying to get me to start one but I know I would not be able to keep up with it! DS is gluten-free and 3 of us are allergic to peanuts so we buy expensive almond butter, sesame tahini, and sugar-free sunflower butter. We make his bread, the store-bought GF bread s is SO expensive. If we didn't grow and "put up" most of our vegetables and fruits, we couldn't make it on our current income. Good for you on getting a garden started! It really does make a huge difference for us. We're starting a barter bulletin board at church. People can put what they have to give away, trade or sell on one side, and what they are looking for on the other side. When I brought this up at the last church board meeting, everybody seemed excited about the prospects.

How neat! I think foxes are beautiful. We used to hear them yipping up in the hollow every summer. I think they had a den there. Now we have coyotes here and I rarely see or hear a fox.

DH is on disability. DD, DS and I are partners in seasonal agricultural business. DD and DS also have side businesses. DD has an Etsy store and sews small things and sells on consignment. DS repairs electronics and is now learning to make teeth in a dental lab. We grow most of our food. In our house, there really isn't any money left over for extras. After the monthly bills are paid and money set aside for large yearly or quarterly expenses such as filling the 500 gal propane tank, real estate taxes, insurances, etc. we have about $190 left to last the month for gas, any groceries, household supplies, dog food, etc. that we need to buy. We do not have a clothing budget. New clothes that we need such as underwear are bought from that $190 amount and groceries or gas is reduced accordingly.

Happy birthday!!

It's tough to be hit with all that just as you get home from a hard day at work. Praying for you and your family.

Deb, that's too bad. I hope you can get a modem soon.

TMC, my friend is black. I was a member of a black forum awhile back and one member asked the question why he never saw black hikers on the Appalachian Trail. The other members got a great kick out of discussing this. They all talked about the snakes, bugs, the dark, wild animals, the scary night sounds, etc. and how they were afraid of them because they were unfamiliar. I guess it's a matter of where and how a person grows up. When we were working in Maine, we had some folks from Newark, NJ from Brazil. They were terrified of the silence! They were thinning trees with brush saws. One of them cut his saw off to sharpen the blade on his first day of work. It was so quiet that he ran from the woods in terror and wouldn't work any more. He said he felt safer in the city.

No Hon, it's fo-WER.

Some folks are afraid of "outside" whether its woods or not. I have a good friend of another race and she says that she was afraid of the snakes, bugs, animals, the nighttime noises that she can't identify (which is any country noise). She moved here form NYC about 6 years ago. She is getting used to it but still doesn't like gardening because of the snakes and bugs. Her DH is doing some gardening. I'm not afraid of the woods. It's what I grew up with. OTOH, I am terrified of being in a city. I avoid them at all costs if possible. Like my friend's preconceived ideas of the country, I think cities are full of people who will rob and hurt me.

You mean it's not fo-er?

Here in SW Virgina, we add in lots of extra vowels too!

Good to plan some fun!

Just took green beans and salted mustard green chips out of the dryer. I have eggplant and chocolate bell peppers to put in tomorrow.

I know it was difficult but it sounds like you made the right choice.

Interesting articles. Thanks! I do most of the things in the first one except coupons. I very rarely find one for anything I buy but will use it if I do. There is a salvage grocery about an hour from us that we always go to when we have to go to that town. Sometimes we find super deals. We are vegan and grow much of what we eat and buy in bulk.

I forage for wild foods. Every year I try to find and use something new. We eat lots of wild greens such as lamb's quarter, galinsoga (quick weed), amaranth, smartweed, purslane. We've done white oak acorns, Japanese knotweed, wild lettuce (did NOT like this!). A couple of cautions: make sure you have correctly identified the plant. Don't collect plants to use from the edges of a highway.

Yes, we do live in the country. We have around 21 acres but most of it is wooded. Our total square footage this year for vegetables and field corn was around 30,000 sq ft. That includes a large patch of butternut squash that we hope to sell. The fruit trees and bushes are not included in that. I've read articles and seen youtube videos that show how folks grow an enormous amount of food on a city lot. It sounds like you have a good lot for gardening. Espalier fruit might be something to look into also.

We grow these vegetables and either can, freeze, dry or store as is and of course eat fresh: Potatoes, beets, turnips, rutabagas, sweet corn, field corn (for corn meal, hominy, masa for tortillas, corn flour, grits), okra, green beans, dry beans, green soy beans, winter and summer squash, bell peppers, paprika peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, mustard greens, kale, radishes, diakon radishes, lettuce, chard, carrots, grain amaranth, tomatoes, melons. Herbs we grow and dry--basil, sage, oregano. We're just getting started with rosemary, tarragon, salad burnet, various thymes, catnip, parsley, dill; tried fennugreek for the first time this summer. Fruits grown- apples, pears, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, hardy kiwi, grapes, gooseberries, red and white currants. We also have plum and cherry trees but the fruits usually get killed by frost. We also can juices: apple, pear, grape, nectarine. Fruits bought in bulk i.e. by the bin and cost shared with family and friends-- apples, nectarines. This reduces the cost per bushel significantly. We can and dry these. We don't have a winter garden although we're working on that project. Basically, if we haven't grown it and put it up, we don't buy it at the grocery store as far as veggies go. DH's cousin has a discount food store and we often get produce from her in the winter at a really good price. For instance, last winter we got 96 avocados for $5.00. We've gotten broccoli, Chinese cabbage, plums, tomatoes,bananas, etc. from her for equally good prices. That gives us fresh stuff in the winter. That frees up what money we do have for things we can't grow. I budget $150 every other month to buy food from the co-op. I buy in bulk, barley flakes, rye flakes, rolled oats, kasha (roasted buckwheat), millet, raw cashews, brown rice, ingredients for DS's gluten-free bread (tapioca flour, potato flour [we have dried and ground potatoes too], Ener-G egg replacer, flax seed), sesame tahini, whole grains for cereals such as rye, wheat, otas, kamut, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds (these are really expensive now so not buying), probably other things I'm forgetting. Once a year, in fall, I buy some bulk dried beans that we don't grow: this fall I bought black, garbanzo and pinto. From two years ago I still have navy, Great Northern,lentils, and red beans. After bills are paid, I have around $80 to $100 per month to spend on groceries, toiletries, dog food and bird food. I buy olive oil, canola oil, tofu, Vegenaise (vegan mayonnaise), almond butter, peanut butter, toilet paper, etc. A couple of times a year I get from Sam's: laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, salt (in 4 lb boxes, much cheaper!), baking yeast (2- 2 lb pkgs). Also in fall, we usually have a bulk order for almonds and walnuts directly from and orchard in CA. My friend does this and prices are better that grocery store or co-op prices. We save up for this but this fall, we were not able to get as many. When I average the money I spend at the grocery store, Sam's, co-op and the discount produce, it averages about $300 per month for our family of 4 plus one dog and many wild birds. I also share the produce with my mother. I've been keeping records on the computer for several years now. Being vegan, we don't buy dairy products, eggs, meat and we also don't eat any junk food or processed food at all. So that is probably way more than you wanted to know !

If we didn't grow much of what we eat, I don't know how I would feed my family. I really feel for those who can't grow their food. There is no way we could afford to buy everything we need to eat.

Congratulations!! How wonderful for you.

All carbs are not bad. Think about carbs as the fuel that runs your body and the protein as the building material. Unless you have an injury to repair, you need more fuel that building materail. Beans are good carbs. They are the highest in natural fiber of any food. They're inexpensive too. Staying with 135-195 grams of carbs per day will help you have the best blood sugar control, weight loss and overall health. A high protein, high fat diet is worst thing you can do for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, etc. I know this is not the type of advice you asked for but I couldn't help myself!

It's working for me too.