Moving On

Thanks to my dear sister-in-law, I got a quick Canning 101 lesson a couple of weeks ago and am so glad! Canning isn't the big bad wolf in my mind anymore. Granted, I'm not tackling the hard advanced type of veggies, but rather things I know we'll adore in the winter. Two things we can't get fresh in the winter that we love are peaches and tomatoes. Memories of my mother canning peaches until her fingers were orange are very vivid nearly 20 years later. Those jars were pieces of gold in our pantry. Nothing better in the middle of February, while under winter's curse, than popping open a sweet little reminder of summer.

My virgin experience of canning peaches went great. Thank God for wide-mouth jars! A $20 box of peaches filled a dozen large jars, so each jar costs about $1.70. I'm not counting the cost of the jars, because they're reuseable (except the lids). As a bonus, we have two peach trees in our backyard that will produce about a box worth as well. One tip I learned quickly is how much easier "canning" peaches are to process than other varieties bred for fresh eating. I had a handful of fresh to can and they weren't near as easy to peel and slice. They taste good too. I used a light syrup, so it won't be too sweet.

A couple days later I made an attempt at salsa. Got enough for a large jar and a pint jar. The large jar didn't seal, so I re-did it using two pints. All went well.

There are plenty of books and websites that share expert tips on canning, so I'll spare the details. All-in-all, I'm very pleased with my first attempt. Financially, it's definitely worth canning those items you really cherish. When it comes to beans, peas or other veggies, I'll skip it primarily because it does take some effort and wholesale cans at Costco are pretty cheap. But, for those recipes and fruits you love, it's a definite must! Also, if you're trying to lessen your environmental impact, canning allows you to re-use your materials, rather than throw them away. It's a time-treasued tool that still makes sense!

Transitions...

4 months later, and I'm making my next blog. A lifetime can change in four minutes, let alone four months. In the past four months we blossomed, got transplanted and are blooming once again in native soil. This summer I was offered an amazing job working for the farmers that raised me, literally. In June, we packed up our home for the fourth time in 20 months and moved west, back to the farmland of my childhood. About ten of our original multi-hundred plants made the cut to travel with us. What can I say, we are truly a new American family. In today's economic fury, we have been forced to travel not just for credentials, but for our family's best opportunity to achieve our goals. Right now the door has opened in Eastern Washington. Sooo, with the largest UHaul available, a caravan of family and our plants in tow, we have settled in a subdivision in Medical Lake, WA. While we're on a large corner lot, it will take us time to get used to neighbors again.

We were blessed to have stayed with my parents on our farm in July. There, Dad set aside room in his garden for Kali's plants. In all we came away with 2 petunias, 2 cauliflower, 1 basil, 2 cilantro, 1 pumpkin, 2 cosmos and one yellow cherry tomato in a pot.

While the plan to eat off of our garden has gone bust, our passion to live healthy lives continues. Now that we're finally settled in our beautiful 3 bedroom rental, we are beginning to again get back to basics. We're in kind of a trade-off transition. My job requires more hours than before, but we are able to keep Ryan home with Kali with some financial stability. This summer we were also able to find a renter for our home in Kalispell, which makes our goals possible. With Ryan now available to work on his antler business and make runs back and forth from Kalispell taking care of our tenant, staying busy is not a problem! We hope to keep Kali on track with her pre-K education, but from us rather than pre-school. There is so much a child can learn from daily life at home, if we as parents take advantage of the opportunities. Whether baking bread, looking at worms, learning manners or studying their letters from a handwritten sheet, a hefty portion of early education can be done by dedicated paprents at home. Even when both parents work, every opportunity can be used as an enlightening moment for a child. Finding the balance between work, chores, health and fun is the key. It's not the same for everyone. Each family is different. What works for us may not work for everyone, but the basics are the same for all.

Whatever we accomplish as the season of harvest and fall approaches, we hope to continue with the groundwork we've laid. As with every transition, large or small, only the memories, relationships and integrity earned along the way matter. Cheers to the journey...

Nooooo!!!! The price of ignorance...

We are officially victims of damping off...otherwise known as fungus caused by overwatering, no airflow, or crowding. In a matter of 48 hours, some of our plants went from beauties to beasts. Kali's daisies were the first to go. Those may have reacted badly to the transplanting, but I think the fungus played a role too. Now virtually all of our pepper plants have stalled and are dying. In just a matter of hours our pumpkins have started showing major signs of this dreadful disease. In worry of the plants not getting enough water in the new heat, I overwatered. Plain, simple and utterly painful to watch. I quickly rushed them outside at noon today to try getting them some fresh air and direct sunlight, but for some it was too late. This fungus grows from the soil up. We also have been watering from above, instead of soaking the flats from below...again, not the best for young seedlings. Try to keep your foliage dry. A beginner mistake that should be engrained in my head after three years of growing plants for a living. Why did I think seedlings would be any different that older plugs/plants. We know this happens to our perennials and roses. Too much water can be as devastating as drought. Learn this lesson from me...DON'T OVER WATER!!! Thankfully most of our tomatoes still look okay. So does the cilantro, cauliflower, sunflowers, onions, and some of the petunias. I'm going to let things dry out a bit, and see what happens. It's a low of 41 degrees outside tonight. Contemplating whether I should leave them outside tonight for as much fresh air as possible.

Weeks 14 & 15

After almost 4 months of tracking our food expenses, I think we're finally getting consistent. Also, listing for you the most expensive items we buy wasn't exactly fair in my previous post. Larger items cost more, but they also feed more. Therefore I went through and tallied things up on a per serving basis (using Rowe servings!). In some cases, the more processed the item, the more expensive it was per serving (ie: Marie Callendar's pot pies from Sam's Club, organic soup). Also, the finer the cuts of meat were more expensive. Topping the list were:


pork loin (6 chops)
pizza (fancy kind)
salmon - frozen (5 .5 lb filets)
soup - bean, organic
pot pies (8)
pear - d'anjou
apples - honeycrisp
chicken - cornish hen tyson (22 oz)
yogurt
juice (52 oz.)- green
wine
soup - tomato organic box
coors light - 12
chicken - frozen kroger (8 .5lb breasts)
lunch meat - foster farm (9 oz.)
fruit cups (mixed del monte-cups)

Now again, this is based on how our family eats. Also, we don't buy many of these items regularly...meaning, we don't eat pork loin every week. Also, buying the whole meats and cooking them at home are WAY CHEAPER than eating out. I was very disturbed to watch on Food Inc. that a family of four thought it was cheaper to eat at McDonald's than eating a meal made at home. If you're on the $5 a day plan, that just doesn't pencil out. Spaghetti can go a long way to feeding your family and tightening the financial belt. Just for kicks, here's what was least expensive per serving:

carrots
cheese - kraft singles
olive oil
oatmeal - quaker
crackers
broccoli
minced garlic (4.5 oz)
chips - buttersc. (11 oz.)
chips - milk choc (11.5 oz.)
flour - whole wheat
flax - milled Bobs (16 oz)
chips - peanut butter (10 oz.)
potatoes (5 lbs.)
cilantro - fresh
onions - green bunch
onions - white
ketsup
pasta - lg shell (16 oz.)

Hamburger would probably also be on this list, but thankfully Ryan shot a deer this year (haven't figured out what the butchering cost is per steak, hambuger, etc.) I can say with some success we have changed a few habits. We now make lists before every grocery trip. Such a simple task, but in a busy lifestyle it is easy to pop into the store and buy things we already have 3 of in our pantry. Because we are more diligent now, we are only buying perishables regularly. We're still working through our wholesale supply of soups, pasta, etc. Also, while I don't clip coupons, I do notice the on sale items. If it isn't perishable, and is something I know we'll eat, I'll grab 2 or 3. I think if I was better, we could find some of those expensive cuts of meat cheaper...better yet, contact a rancher and buy a half a cow for the best meat and cost! I need to mention here, that we don't avoid processed foods entirely. One obvious reason is the time factor. Instead of peeling potatoes, adding fresh cheese, and working in the kitchen for an hour each night, we use Hamburger Helper for a quick dinner. It's not the most wholesome, but it's feasible, and with a salad and veggies makes a nice meal. We can't always do scratch cooking, though we try to balance our week out between quick dinners and scratch dinners. After doing this for 4 months, I'm figuring out what's possible and realistic.

We have been wasting less as well. We try very hard to eat all leftovers. While I don't believe in everything the GOODMagazine Transparency folks stand for, they have a great ditty on YouTube regarding waste: Waste Not Want Not. (If that doesn't take you there, Google "GOOD Magazine, Waste Not Want Not"). They also have a good one one the cost of food.

With the idea of wasting less, we only buy fruits and vegetables I know we'll eat, and only as many as I know we can eat in a few days. I'm sure this seems very elementary to those of you who have this process down pat, but for us it's not been a practice we have stuck to consistently. We were able to lower our food bill substantially last month by better planning and fixing nearly all meals at home. So far April is on track for another good month. We do still dine out occasionally, but not regularly.

As for our plants, they are doing great! We potted up the tomatoes and flowers, and everything is looking happy. We planted the rest of what we need to pre-start today (squash, melons). Can I just say, using old biodegradable egg cartons is brilliant! It snowed this week, and I was a little nervous as to how things were going to do (remember, no extra heat!), but it was about 70 yesterday and today. Things look happy, as are this mommy and baby girl! I noticed some daffodils blooming in our garden and the fritilaria (I know that's not spelled right) are just about to bloom. Now we're getting a million dollar rain outside to help the ground and farms. Another couple of weeks and we'll be planting! Love it! Cheers everyone!

Week 13

As I write today's monologue I'm watching one of my favorite movies with Kali. As a kid growing up in the 90's this movie was a staple. In fact, I think it was one of the first movies we taped on our VHS recorder. Karate Kid. I now see Kali watching with the same enthusiasm and fascination. Ranks right up there with classics like Footloose and 16 Candles. I never thought my association with Japan would go much deeper than this movie. God has a funny way of forshadowing!




As for our seed project, things are coming along quite nicely! Our tomatoes finally popped, and the peppers took about a week longer than everything else but they are finally sprouting.







Kali's pumpkins look the most impressive.




As soon as the true leaves develop a little further we will begin potting these seedlings up into larger pots and 6-packs. I'll have more bleaching and disinfecting to do. This weekend Kali and I visited the local nursery and bought a bale of peat moss and potting soil for the next round of potting. We also bought some marigold and cosmos seeds. We planted some cauliflower seeds in a biodegradable egg carton, so we'll see how that goes. I'm excited at the thought of not having to spend an arm and a leg in the future when my current supplies breakdown. I found some great new publications too. Zone 4 is a Bozeman based magazine that covers most of the northern Rockies. I am excited to read more about other avid northern gardners and learn from them. I also picked up a seed saving publication that has a lot of good tips, though I think it's only printed annually.

The past few days have been a bit windy and chilly. My fear now is mildew on the seedlings, or what they call damping off. Hopefully we get back into some warm sunny days to keep things flourishing. We're not using additional heat in our sunroom. We do keep the door open between the dining room and sunroom so heat can move through.

I am also happy to report that in March we spent just under $400 on food and groceries (trackable). We spent about $200 eating out and $200 on groceries. And we're making a dent in our stockpile of food in the pantry. This brings our 3 month average to about $770. Now, we're back to where we started! At least we're heading in the right direction. Hopefully April continues to show improvement, and by June we should start seeing some of our green growing in our garden and savings!

End of Week 12

Week 12 ends with things greening up both outside and in. Last weekend Kali and I planted over 700 tiny seeds in left over nursery flats. Before we did this I need to share that we spent a good portion of the day putting together some shelving and disinfecting the sun room. This is where I tell you how vital working with clean supplies is when starting seeds. It is fine to re-use old plant flats and containers, but you must bleach and disinfect them before putting new plants in them, especially seeds. Also, using straight dirt from your garden isn't the best for seed starting. Most garden soils compact and can suffocate your seeds. If you're going to the trouble of starting seeds, give yourself the best chance possible at success. We bought a specially mixed seed starting blend from Home Depot and mixed in some peat moss. Peat moss is great, as long as you make sure your mix doesn't dry out. Peat is the first thing to soak up the moisture.

I don't have to tell you how fun it was to share this experience with Kali. Of course, she wanted to do everything herself, and wanted her name on every label (she just learned how to spell K-A-L-I). We both stretched our patience levels with each other to the max, but it was worth every moment! I let her use the spray bottle to moisten the soil, and she helped plant the bigger seeds. Because I only brought from Kalispell a handful of planting containers, I intermingled different species in the same flat. I am now doubting the intelligence behind this space-saving idea. Different plants germinate at different rates, duh! If I had ample supplies I could have avoided this mistake, but we'll survive. Here's the problem: once seeds germinate, you should take the cover plastic off so you don't end up with 3-inch 2-leaved seedlings. The seedlings have to stretch for sunlight under the cover. The purpose of the cover is two-fold: to retain moisture and to keep it warm. On a nice sunny day, it can be a few degrees warmer under the cover than in the room itself. Like I said, our situation isn't perfect, but we'll survive.

Here's what we planted from seeds on March 20:

Gill's All-Purpose Tomato (early, organic)
Amish Paste Tomato (heirloom)
Blondkopfchen Tomato (heirloom, yellow cherry)
California Wonder 300 Sweet Pepper (red)
Gourmet Sweet Pepper (orange)
Red Bull Hybrid Onion (red, storage)
Montana Jack Pumpkin
Cilantro
Basil
Evening Sun Sunflower
Mixed Petunia
Mixed African Daisy (osteospurmum)

We will start these seeds in April:

Snow Crown Hybrid Cauliflower
Mesa Queen Hybrid Acorn Squash
Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Squash (heirloom)
Charantais Melon (heirloom)

We will plant straight into the garden in May:

Cascadia Snap Pea
Canoe Shelling Pea
Wild Garden Lettuce Mix (organic)
Regatta Hybrid Spinach
Baltimore Hybrid Carrot
Nantes Carrot
Luscious Hybrid Corn (se, organic)
Envy Soybean (heirloom)
Misono Green Soybean

Again, I tried curbing my enthusiasm for buying seeds this winter. I bought what I know we enjoy and will eat. I splurged at Home Depot for the flowers and herbs. At $1.25 a packet, we can make things look pretty too! The pumpkins and sunflowers will be fun, and there's nothing better than fresh basil and cilantro. I am excited to try the winter squashes and melon. I tried them a couple years ago, and they didn't work out...our season wasn't long enough. I read this winter that you can start them as seeds about 3 weeks before planting, so I'm hoping that will help. My dad can get acorn squash to grow like crazy among his corn. I may try that this year too. I also plan to build some cold frames for the early fall frosts we sometimes get. Ryan invented a very easy design/way to cover crops, which we used for when we potted our perennial plugs and bareroot roses in early March with snow still on the ground. We had a very high success rate with these cold frames, and I'm sure they will work for extending the growing season a couple of weeks. Will share the design when we get to that point!

To my surprise, Kali's daisies were the first to pop! This shocked me, as I had terrible luck with Osteospurmum plugs years ago. Granted this was before I knew the importance of pinching and proper annual etiquette. Hopefully we can keep these babies growing! I also read that you can start sunflowers with mixed success. We planted only a few, and saved the rest for direct sowing into the garden. They popped yesterday. We'll see what works best. One week after planting, the daisies, sunflowers, and herbs have started popping through. We move the tomatoes inside at night, as I fear the 50 degree weather the sunroom drops to at night will be detrimental. We may have to do this for the peppers too. Problem is, the peppers share the daisy flat. Daisies are up, peppers are not. If need be, the daisies were cheaper than the peppers! Plus, we eat peppers.

We also started digging and cleaning up our future garden area. We're lucky that a portion of our property has an 8-foot chainlink fence surrounding it (one a dog run). Perfect guard from all the deer! Now if we can fix the ground squirrel issue by May, we'll be okay. We ran some basic soil tests and we will have some ammending to do. High alkaline and virtually no potash. So, our season of slumber is over and it's time to get our hands dirty again. My back already aches from the first week outside, but it will loosen up. It's just good to see green again!

Week 12 - Problem solved?

We may have figured out the base of our $900 problem...and no it wasn't splurging. Well, maybe a little splurging, but that's definitely not the root. I don't even think wasting is the root.

In January and February we bought a lot of groceries. If I walk into our pantry at this very moment, I probably still see half of those groceries on the shelves. We stockpiled. We went to Sam's Club once, spent 25% of my paycheck, and part of Sam is in my pantry. My freezer is well stocked. The cupboards aren't wanting.

Point is, we aren't eating the food we have. We get in our routine of eating the standard breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When we're out of the standard supplies, we go buy more. We don't delve into the grocery items we once thought were brilliant. We forget we have them.

This week we have made a conscious effort to eat up what we have already bought. Yes, we'll still need to buy perishables like milk, eggs, fruit, and veggies. But we're trying to make a dent in the stockpile we have on our shelves. We'll see what happens!