Daylily

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.

Daylily, I've been known to lick a few plates when alone too.

It's nice to know I'm not alone!

I'm a scraper. I get every tiny bit of what ever out of the jar or the blender. I've even been known to lick my plate when I'm by myself.

Thanks Cat!

You ARE going to be busy! Enjoy the extra time with your grandson. Is this a permanent arrangement or just temporary? How old is he?

What a neat story! Thank you for sharing it. DH and I used to talk about doing things like that if we had money. I guess they did it without much money in the beginning. We'd drive by someone's house and DH would say "I wish I had money. I would fix that roof and never let them know who did it!". Now we have less money than we did then but he still helps people all the time with his time.

Happy birthday wishes to Westie.

Does anyone know how they are? I looked for the Hospital thread and couldn't find it.

Just bumping this up so Violet will see dogmom's question.

The lady in Greece posted that her husband's income was just cut by another 1/12 and that heating fuel was about 40% higher than last year.

Congratulations! I pray things go well with your parents too.

Sounds like a whirlwind day! I love it when I can get so much done in one day.

Yesterday was pretty much a bust. I only got about 2 hours sleep Wed night so I was so tired yesterday I was practically worthless. I worked up a few green beans to blanch and freeze to later dehydrate, made some important phone calls, did some bird watching, drank lots of water and tried to rest.

Cat...Thanks! That is fascinating. I t looks like in their comparison that the1988 drought was worse for some parts of the country and this on for other parts.

good for you!

One thing we did when we built our house was put lever handles for all doors and all faucets. I had tendonitis in my hands for awhile and absolutely could not open or turn on anything with a knob.

I hope the news was good! Praying for you all.

That's interesting. Thanks for posting it.

So the heat and drought eventually did reach or exceed the 1988 levels, right?

Ditto on those reality checks!! Just when you think you've got it all figured out, something you never thought of comes up.