Moneys tight - so glad we garden

With the veggies growing just as fast as we can get them planted I am thankful for the fruits of our labor. We garden for the nourishment but we also garden to save money. Now I am happy we do. My husband recently got a new job that he starts on Friday. This new job means alot to our family. First it is a pay cut but it has benefits that we don't have now. That means alot less worry for the family. SO with the pay cut and the economy we will not have to cut expenses in our menus because of this change in career choice. I feel we are well equipped for the lack of a pay check for the next month. We always have kept extra things in the house so we are well stocked and some emergency money in the bank, just in case. We picked up our beef a few weeks ago. Its organic raised on grass and is rather good.

Also I found an awesome recipe for dishwasher detergent so that expense is gone with the wind also. I found this recipe on youtube. The recipe is as follows:
1 1/2 cups borax
1 1/2 cups baking soda
1 cup salt

Shake well and add about 1/3 of a cup per load and It washes the dishes wonderfully. I also add vinegar to the rinsing agent dispenser . Our hard water tends to leave a white residue on the dishes but the vinegar rinses them clean with a shine.

The kids are looking forward to this new venture also. They are excited that dad will be home in the middle of the day and have daylight to be able to fish more this summer. And with only 29 more days of school left the new job came at a perfect time!

Free

Okay yesterday we went to my MILs house to help her with a few things. As we where leaving she points out these ( below) and said do you want those? Yup!! Those will coming in handy. They are in wonderful shape.

Weekend wonders

The raised beds are growing wonderful veggies. Above are radish and cabbage plants.

Peas onions, and carrots are growing rapidly ( left). On the Right are the brussel sprouts.

So this weekend we got alot done on our bit of soil. We worked on the house and the garden. We are thrilled to have gotten so much done. We were able to get the garden tilled and some corn, beans, zukes, and cukes planted. The potatoes and some onions are growing in the garden also.

More in the raised beds also. This weekend I planted, peanuts, cukes, beans, ( bush and pole), more carrots, and some squash. I transplanted some cukes on which the seeds came from Freedom Seeds and they all sprouted and are doing great. I just love to watch things grow.

The strawberries are also growing fast. We are pleased that they are growing well around the peach trees in the front year. All of our new fruit trees are leaving out. Everything is waking up for the fresh spring air.

Windows in - cold air out

Right now its 80 + degrees but the cold weather will be here again one day but we will be ready. We changed all of our windows, 6 of them, with our own hands. We also found new homes for the old windows so they are now being reused. So absolutely no waste at all. Our new windows let in so much more light that we don't have to turn any lights on until about 6 or 7 pm. Awww let the sunshine in!!

Friday night movie

I know its a bit late but for the movie this week we watched the Oprah Earth Day show. Which really opened our eyes to alot. Also it showed a clip of the Dervaes family movie. It was a wonderful show. We learned so very much.
I am also pleased to announce that everyone is helping me out with the recycling. We are only throwing out one bag of garbage every 4 days. Thats a real significant drop. They say everyone throws out 4 1/2 pounds of garbage a day. With a family of 5 we should throw away 22 1/2 pounds PER DAY. We are not. We may be throwing that out every 2 weeks, if that.

Earth Day over?

Well the designated day is past. You recycled all day!! You ate locally yesterday, remembered your reusable bags without forgetting, maybe you planted a tree or picked up garbage along the road, and changed a light bulb. And you also vowed to do it next year on Earth day also. And today you may be going right back to what you are used to do on a daily basis. STOP!!!!!! Remember everyday is Earth day. You live on it everyday why not protect it everyday also. It doesn't take more time to put that can in the recycling bin rather the trash can. Your reusable bags hold 3 times more if not more then the plastic bags. Once you start using them you will be amazed at how much you like them.
Buy locally - use what you have until its worn out.
SO the answer to the question, Earth Day over? NEVER.

Friday night movie

I thought I would write a post once a week, hopefully every Friday, about a movie or perhaps a radio conversation that I found to be informative. So for the first one- I watched a documentary called Heart and Soil. If you have not seen it yet its a great 45 minute long movie. They touched basis on several different areas that we here on our bit of soil try to do like GMO free seeds and organic gardening or buying local foods.

But they also talked bits about things I found interesting. Some including waffle gardens, which are kinda like the square foot gardening technique. Also making homemade yogurt out of goats milk.

If you get a chance to watch it, it is worth it. IF you have seen it please feel free to comment on if you enjoyed it or not.



Other movies I want to view are:

Homegrown Revolution

One Man, One Cow, One Planet





Have a great weekend!!! We are going to try the offline days. SO from tonight till Monday morning. Goodnight!

Sun drenched thurst quencher

Oh how I long to use you. To taste the sweet tea you make with the power of the sun. To place you on the front porch while the sun beats down and the tea is ready by lunch.

Nothing is better then a glass of tea made by the sunshine in the heat of the day. Although we have had cloudy weather for a while now, I am sure it won't be long before your solar tea will touch my lips once more.

Growing up we always had a glass jug brewing tea on the porch. While living in a small town, knowing all our neighbors, it was funny and might I say a game to find our jug of tea disappear from our porch. Only to discover it on our neighbors porch some time later. I remember my mom laughing when she finally seen our tea was now our neighbors. Then she would tell us kids to go get our tea. While now we have moved to a different state, our tea stays on my porch these days. I still laugh every time I put my jug out to brew.

Adding GREEN to our home

We are busy here. Finishing plans to add on to our home, replacing our mobile home windows with more energy efficient ones, and of course the garden. We have been placing plastic on our windows for years during the winter to keep the cold air out. This winter we vowed that this one would be the last. Our window order came in today and we are very pleased with them. They are double pane, pull out and clean.
We know have one more thing on our list of "things to do" but I believe it is well worth it. This will save some on our energy bills for heating and cooling our home. With any luck we will find that we don't need the heat or air on as early.

I'm sorry, so sorry

This has been a long week. I am very sorry for not posting for the last ten days. OH where do I began at telling you how much has been going on here?
Okay well number 1 ) all of this Springs fruit trees are in the ground!! Then is froze...duh. Duh on me big time. Still hoping is was not below freezing to do any damage to those wonderful yummy trees.
2) The horses are doing great. Eating like well ... ummm... horses!! LOL Loving there long walks in the yard, eating grass and laying in the sun makes them want to run. They also have become well aware of there feeding times. And don't you dare be even 2 minutes late.
3) Planted potatoes - four rows of 15 feet long. Need more but the rain started and I needed to quit. Also the peas, onions, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, carrots and radishs are all growing well.
4.) We had a great big Easter celebration here on Sunday after church. There were 9 kids hunting for eggs. We had 518 eggs that all the kids had a blast looking for. I love Easter.
5) Building a lot for the horses. This will be handy for them to be in the yard eating grass and being in the sunshine without a lead line ( leash).
So really cleaning, planting, seeding, composting, building, and planning is all that I have been doing around here. Oh yeah and breathing... well if I have time. Man I love Spring but it sure is tiring.

How big is your footprint?

I finally found this site with an awesome footprint calculator. http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/


I just did our house and I was amazed that it will take 3.8 planet earths if everyone lived like we do. It will also take 16.9 global acres. We only have 3.6. I now understand that there are other things I need to do. I need to recycle more, buy less, drive less, and get the rest of the family interested in some renewable heat source, maybe solar. I also need to eat less meat. As big meat eaters, this will be hard.

Take the quiz. Leave me a comment on what your score is and how maybe you plan to make it better.

FINALLY

After weeks of being on edge and wondering if I would ever get them, they are finally here!!! When I placed a order for potato seeds on January 12Th of this year I never thought that I wouldn't get them on time. But about a week before the planting time for my area was approaching I started to get nervous. Well the planting date for Ky was or is March 25 Th for early potatoes. I finally received them yesterday!! I am not upset at the company at all. They are tring their hardest to keep up with the heavy demand of seeds for the home gardener this year. I am pleased with my order and it came in all recyclable materials!!!
Was going to plant them today but its raining buckets out there. So I have to wait a few more days.
Also my strawberry plants were delivered yesterday. They went into the crisper drawer until I can get them planted outside in there permanent home.
All the seedlings I started are doing wonderful. We have peas, onions, carrots, radish, and cabbage out in the raised beds which are growing well. I now have 16 different varities of tomatoes growing. I just couldnt decide which ones I really wanted. The kids are excited about the green tomato. they are looking forward to having green salsa and spaghetti sauce!!
I think my favorite of this year is going to be the kiwi still!! Oh yes and the peanuts!!

Red and Oreo

They are the best little horse colts. I will be posting a few pictures of them outside. They loved seeing everything they could. They were not scared and were interested even in the dogs. They ran, kicked, and layed in the sunshine. Both get daily walks providing its not raining. They are getting more active and I must say they are a little spoiled. We guessed there age at- Red 2 weeks old and Oreo about a week old. We here have been busy with feeding and gardening. I am a bit relaxed today becasue it is raining and I can wait at least today on the gardening. Also gives me time to catch up on posting!