Day 28 - The end of Month 1

10 days. 10 long days. The world can completely change in 10 days. I know God created the world in 7, but 10 days is my max for creating a mess and trying to pick it back up without completely falling apart.

In the past 10 days we made 2 loaves of bread, cookies, and scones. Tried a new mac and cheese recipe. Told Ryan it was "a Julia-like masterpiece".

Ate the bread, cookies, and scones. Still looking at the last serving of mac and cheese in the refrigerator.

Went to the grocery store twice. Began to understand that some things on my wish list of recipe experimentation will require ordering online.

Watched as a devastating earthquake completely tore apart Haiti and it's people. Watched the world, especially America, respond valiantly to this horrible event.

Contemplated how the simple subject of food sets the world's people apart socially and physically...it's the basis of everything...the one thing that separates us from the third world we only see from afar.

Contemplated why farmers are the backbone of the world. Brainstormed with a colleague how to tell America that farmers are its' backbone, and why Americans should support the Farm Bill with the same enthusiasm they use to send checks to Haiti.

Cleaned the house. Got the house dirty. Realized dirty dishes lead to the dirty house.

Listed our Kalispell property on Craig's List. Received one inquiry wanting to know if we'd trade our home for a home on Flathead Lake. Hesitantly typed the words "thank you, but not at this point in our life..."

Endured another snow storm and bone-chilling cold front. Finally saw the sunshine and realized Great Falls isn't so bad.

Listened to Kali begin coughing. Endured cold number 3 for the season. Slept in her bed 5 nights in a row. Cried after dropping her off at daycare when I wanted to keep her home and nurse her back to health myself.

Worked a promotional booth at an industry tradeshow for 3 days. Gave a presentation to fellow peers. Gave a TV and radio interview for the local ag network. Got tired of talking to people.

Thought of the numerous ways I can make some spare money via our website and farmer's market.

Got tired after thinking about the extra hours we would spend making some spare money.

Daydreamed about not having to go to work.

Bought Kali her first set of snow skis. Watched daddy and daughter enjoy another "lifetime experience" as she skied happily down our hillside.



Paid bills and updated bookwork. Realized in our first month we actually spent more on food and groceries than we averaged per month in 2009. Pulled my hair out.

Vowed to be more diligent in February.

Found more grey hairs on my head than I've ever seen. Gladly remembered I have a hair appointment next week.

Bought two books on Japanese language and culture in preparation for my business trip to Tokyo next month. Started to fear that 8 days across the ocean is a bit long now that I'm a mother and wife. Accepted the fact that people travel much more than I with no problems.

Bought a new business suit, skirt, shirt, and fashionista high calf boots (I'm sure to stand out even more in Tokyo as they push me well over the 6 foot mark).

Enjoyed the best over-priced margarita at dinner out with the best company possible...the man of my life and miss Kali Kay.

Enjoyed the best over-priced ice cream from Coldstone Creamery (sometimes it is just better when someone else makes it!).

Watched Julie & Julia. Felt guilty for not blogging. Realized daily blogs are impossible, but weekly blogs keep me grounded.

Ordered a couple more seed packets and seed potatoes from Seed Saver Exchange.

Ordered a book on saving seeds.

Contemplated the design of our garden.

And finally...the official onset of spring fever settled in on all of us.

Day 18

Well, the past week flew by. Thursday Kali had her 3-year check up, which we celebrated with a dinner out. That night she had a reaction to the shots and we were both up all night. Needless to say, we weren't up for work or much else on Friday. Saturday morning we packed up and headed west of the mountains to visit family in Kalispell. We were also able to check in on the status of our home remodel project. Thankfully a good friend is helping us finish things up. During our stay, we came face to face with why eating good food is so vital. Salmonella. My hubby and his folks ate some bad chicken, and all three ended up violently ill. Ryan rarely gets sick, and this bout threw him for a loop. So crazy how an improperly cooked, old, or tainted piece of food can literally chew up your insides. We ruled out the flu, because Kali and I didn't get it. We also didn't eat the bad chicken. Ryan read that the majority of food poisoning is salmonella.

Now more than ever I am feeling like diligent scratch cooking and eating is a must, as is eating up leftovers quickly. My new motto is "3 strikes (days) it's out"! Regarding leftovers, here are some good guidelines from whatscookingamerica.net:

Storing Leftovers

All cooked foods should be reheated to 165° F, refrigerated, or frozen within 2 hours after cooking. In hot weather, that time limit is only 1 hour. Remember that the "safe" period starts after the food is cooked. It includes the time that the food sits before being served and the time it sits on the table while the meal is being eaten. This period lasts until the food is actually in the refrigerator or freezer.

Remember to wash your hands with soap and water before handling any cooked food, especially food you store to eat later. Use clean utensils to handle the food, and store it in clean containers. Do not put food back into the same container it was in before it was cooked, unless you have carefully cleaned the container with soap and water. Do not place food on a counter or cutting board before refrigerating or freezing, unless you have carefully cleaned the surface beforehand.

You should place foods to be refrigerated or frozen in small, shallow containers, 3 inches tall or less, and cover them completely. Don't stack these containers right next to other containers, but leave some air space around them. By using shallow containers and by leaving air space around the containers you can promote rapid, even cooling of the food. When you refrigerate or freeze cooked food in a large, deep container, the food in the center of the container remains warm for a longer time. Dangerous bacteria may grow in this warm spot without making the food look or smell bad. If you eat this food later, you may get food poisoning.

Never taste leftovers that are of questionable age or safety.

As a general rule, never keep leftovers for more than 4 days.

Remember to remove the stuffing from cooked poultry and refrigerate or freeze it separately. You should do this because the stuffing in the center of the bird can stay warm long enough for food poisoning bacteria to grow. By removing the stuffing and placing it in its own container, you allow it to cool more rapidly.

If you date leftovers before refrigerating them, this can help you ensure they don't remain in your refrigerator too long.

Warming Leftover Foods When leftover foods are reheated, make sure you heat them completely. Leftovers that are merely "warmed" and not heated throughout are much more likely to cause food poisoning. Cover any leftover sauces, soups, gravies, and other "wet" foods, and heat them to a rolling boil before they are served. Heat all other foods to 165° F throughout. Be sure to stir foods while you reheat them, to ensure that all the food reaches the appropriate temperature.

So, until today we have lived on soup and crackers.

One good thing that grew out of this episode was finding a great American-made Cheddar Broccoli soup...Bear Creek Country Kitchens. At first, I thought $4 was a lot to spend on a bag of soup mix, but it makes a huge batch and tastes great! Add your own veggies or meat and it would make a great stew-like soup. I am eager to try other mixes of this brand.

While I didn't do much scratch cooking the past seven days, we did learn a very valuable lesson.

Day 11

Okay, it's Wednesday. What did I tell you about Wednesdays? Nothing has changed. Ryan works late again, so we girls devoured a $9.28 meal from Burger King. I cooked an entire homemade pizza with fresh ingredients for less than the two preservative filled cheeseburgers, fries and sodas now rumbling in our tummies.

I made bread from scratch this weekend. I ran out of all-purpose flour, so I had to make it out of mostly whole wheat flour. If you've ever made bread from scratch, you'll know what this means. Instead of a light and fluffy loaf, you end up with a fiber-filled small lump. I mixed some maple syrup in with it for a little bit of taste. Thankfully, Ryan and Kali both enjoy the taste and texture better than traditional loafs. I lucked out again! See sidebar for this Rowe-favorite recipe.

REALLY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Time spent cooking: 1/2 day project, but really only about 1 hour of "work"
Time spent cleaning up: 0.5 hour

Flour: $0.25-0.50
Yeast: $0.20
Brown sugar: $0.20
Butter: $0.25
TOTAL SCRATCH COST: $0.90-$1.15

Not bad, considering our favorite breads are usually $3-5 per loaf. As with the pizza crust, I will continue experimenting with different recipes to expand our variety. Again, this is a fun task that Kali likes to participate in. Overall, we decided that it is worthwhile to make bread from scratch for both the taste and cost. This isn't a tough item to make, and the majority of time is spent waiting for the bread to rise. Bread is quite simple to make and is usually always edible no matter how badly the recipe is screwed up or not followed. In fact, the only time I've had to throw any scratch attempts out was when I over-cooked it in the oven and it was burned. I must also add that we aren't legitimate sandwich eaters. We mostly use traditional bread for toast and buttered. We usually eat our lunch meat with crackers and cheese for a quick lunch. When we do make sandwiches, it's for road trips. I point this out because we may not be the best judge of how many loaves a traditional family may consume in a week. Normally, two loaves of homemade bread will last us 1-2 weeks.

I mentioned BK earlier. Last night my in-laws were over for dinner, and we ordered two large pizzas (canadian bacon & pineapple and deluxe-supreme) in from the local pizza shop (Howard's is superb by the way!)...but the two pizzas cost us $31, not including tip. WOW. Let's go one step further again. This is what an average breakdown of a daily menu for me and the cost:

Breakfast
Latte: $0.90
Kashi Cereal & Milk: $0.25
Lunch
Assortment of raw veggies (cauliflower, carrots, celery, green pepper, cucumber): $0.50-0.75
Bread & Butter: $0.10
Lunch meat: $0.30
Dinner
2 Pieces of Pizza (homemade): $2.60
2 Beers (Coors Light of course!): $2
Piece of Good Bread: $0.50
TOTAL AVERAGE DAILY COST FOR KARA TO EAT FROM SCRATCH: $7.15-$7.40

Now that $6.09 I spent on a Whopper and fries just seems silly!

Days 7-10

It's amazing how this challenge has seeped into every aspect of my life. It's what I needed both physically and mentally. Making the move to a new town, and more importantly into a new lifestyle shook me up to the core. I loved our life in Kalispell. I got to stay home. Prior to Kali's birth we had run a media company, grew too fast, and eventually pulled the plug on our talents and risks. It took us awhile to lick our wounds and recuperate. For a couple of years we worked odd jobs throughout the valley from construction to retail. When I went to work for a wholesale plant nursery, we got pregnant. We wanted more than anything to be able to stay home with our children...that was the "plan". We both had a knack for plants and creative design. Growing up on a farm, getting my hands dirty seems to be in my blood. Getting into landscaping was a perfect fit...and we loved it! Our first full season we had a crew of six, and Ryan ran the operation. I stayed home with Kali and ran our small cold-hardy plant farm.
I was homemaker and bookeeper. I loved it! And, we were good at it. We didn't have much money for advertising, so we relied on drive-by traffic. See our RoGrown website. Luckily we lived on a popular side road between Kalispell and Whitefish. I was teaching myself different skills in both business and home living. Landscaping was our bread and butter. The plants were my hobby and it fupply for our landscaping unit. Through our construction connections and word of mouth, we kept a consistent calendar booked our first year. We did superior work, and everything seemed to be rolling our way. Our client base was growing and we had acquired great recommendations.

Our second season we decided not to hassle with employees, and only took on jobs that Ryan and I could do on our own. Looking back, this was the start of our demise. That same year I ordered too much plant stock. I purchased stock based on what we needed to sell to make it through the year, instead of how much we could actually sell. A very beginner mistake of simple economics. We started the year in debt, and couldn't get out. The economic downturn had started in our valley. We tried advertising more, and it worked, but not enough. Bad timing and bad decisions hit our pocket book. It was time to find a steady paycheck once again. Because I have a college degree, I had better luck finding a good paying job. The negative was that the good paying job required us to move 200 miles east. I had to say goodbye to our Eden west of the Divide.

Soooo, the past 16 months has been adjusting to not only a new town, but new lifestyle. We have officially put our place in the valley up for sale. A friend has purchased our portable "greenhouse", and is coming to get it this weekend. To say I've been a little depressed is an understatement. Thankfully, this project has brought me hope. Hope that someday I'll have my Eden again. Hope that someday I can again be full time homemaker and bookeeper; instead of homemaker, bookeeper, and full time marekting director for someone else. This challenge has stirred my energy to focus on what can be again, but with more lessons learned and smarter economic decisions. This challenge has given me a fresh look at our future. It won't be the same as before, but like they say, sometimes you have to give up the good to find the better.

Days 5 & 6

After my pity-party on Wednesday, we rose back up to the challenge to finish the week off respectfully. Thursday night Kali and I came home and made our famous "Fridge Fantastico". Not necessarily fantastic, but very edible. We take anything in the fridge, including veggies, meat, and sauces that are close to being thrown out and throw them in a pot instead. Now, they obviously have to make sense together. No pizza sauce and chicken soup. We made a nice chicken and noodle stew with carrots, celery and red peppers. Not a bad collection. If Kali will eat it, it must be alright! I highly recommend this recycling philosophy to remedy tossing veggies and leftovers that are beyond original appeal. One requirement: the ingredients must still look fairly good. No mold, no mushiness, no funky smells. I did take out some frozen chicken breasts for this concoction, and they went well. In fact, chicken bouillon is a staple in my cupboard!

PIZZA

By cleaning out the fridge a little, I got back in the mood of cooking. I decided to try cooking fresh what we might otherwise buy pre-packaged or frozen. I mentioned earlier that we ate our last frozen pizza, so I decided Friday we would give scratch pizza a shot. Crust and all. Between the web and my cookbooks I found a crust recipe that looked good and easy. I made our list of groceries for the week, and Kali and I trotted off to the store after work on Friday. Yay! We made it to the weekend! Thankfully, I have a daughter who loves to be in the kitchen with us. This is where we can blend playtime and cooking together. When she was smaller we couldn't do this. Now she not only understands what's going on and what not to touch, she can also help in her own way. Our first pizza crust experience went okay. It was fairly easy and tastes good. Our only problem was ultimately my fault. I forgot that you want to pre-heat the pizza stone...our crust stuck to it. I used a blend of all-purpose and whole wheat flour, and we all liked the taste. We prefer thin crust, and this recipe was not thin at all. It tasted more like bread. We will continue to try different recipes and find one that we like best. Overall, though, it was a good experience and worthwhile both time-wise and taste-wise. Clean up was average for scratch cooking.

Time spent cooking: 1 hour
Time spent cleaning up: .5 hour

This is also the first time I was able to calculate whether we saved money. Before today, we were working with food I hadn't kept track of. Now my spreadsheet is paying off! While my numbers aren't exact, I think they're a pretty close estimate:

Tomato sauce (mix of paste, sauce, spices): $.75-$1.00
Crust (flour, yeast, oil, water, salt): $.50-$.60
Meat (canadian bacon, pepperoni): $2.50-$3.00
Cheese (mozzarella, cheddar): $1.75-$2.00
Toppings (pineapple, peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes): $1.50-$1.75
TOTAL SCRATCH COST: $7.00-$8.35

You're probably wondering why I include a range. Costs on things change...sales and discounts happen. Some things we have expensive taste in (Tilamook cheddar) and other things we don't (cheap pepperoni). As intricate as my spreadsheet is, I'm not going to figure out exactly how much a teaspoon of salt costs. I'm confident that we can make wise decisions based on these estimates. Based on this first pizza experiment, we found that our scratch pizza costs as much as a fancy frozen pizza, and is way cheaper than a pizza parlor/delivery pizza. Taste is like that of a good delivery pizza, and better than a frozen pizza. Clean up and prep is obviously more than both delivery and frozen. Overall, we decided that it is worthwhile to make pizza from scratch for both the taste and cost. Because we are able to blend cooking and playtime on this, the time consumption is worthwhile as well. While toppings (veggies) are not the most expensive items, they do add up. Once we get a garden in, and begin harvesting our own vegatables, that will also factor into the cost.

LATTES

Another experiment we've been working with all week is Ryan's latte addiction. We both enjoy a good latte, but my husband absolutely adores them! Luckily we started making our own lattes a couple of years ago, but got off the scratch habit when we both started working. This week he started making them at home again. The savings on this project are much more obvious:

Time spent cooking & cleaning up: 0.25 hour

Milk (16 oz): $.36
Espresso: $.25
Caramel: $.18
Whip: $.11
TOTAL SCRATCH COST: $.86

Again this is an estimate...in fact, I think it's even lower as I had to estimate how many scoops of beans are in the bag (how long a bag will last). Regardless, WOW! We pay $3-$4 per 16 ounce latte at different coffee shops. Let's take this one a step futher...if you had a latte each day of the year, your scratch cost is $314. If you spend $3/day on a latte at a coffee shop for a year, the cost is $1095. That's a yearly savings of at least $780! You could buy a top-of the line espresso maker and still have money left over! Overall, we decided that it is very worthwhile to make lattes from scratch for both the taste and cost. Ryan also pointed out we save money on the fuel!

Whew! One week almost complete. Today we will spend our Saturday cleaning, baking, and, most importantly, playing! I think this week was a very practical start to our challenge. We had moments of weakness, and moments of success. Onward ho!

Days 2-4

We did great. Sunday Ryan cooked frozen perch he'd caught this summer. Monday, Kali and I had leftovers and Ryan worked late. Tuesday we ate the last frozen pizza in our posession. Can you see a pattern forming???

It's Wednesday night, and like every Wednesday night I'm pooped. We broke down and ate at one of our favorite restaurants tonight, because both Ryan and I were too tired to cook. This happens around this time every week. It seems that on Monday you're still energetic from the weekend. On Tuesday the weekend, while becoming a distant memory, still has your ambitions jazzed. By Wednesday you're breaking down. Thursday and Friday you just hang on until the freshness of Saturday morning wakes you up renewed and full of plans for doting on home and family.

Life is just easier on the weekends. You have to be extremely aware of balance during the week. Balancing work, chores, and play. I don't know how single parents survive. I'm a fairly even-keeled person, and I get pretty weathered by Friday. My hat is off to you! My hat also goes off to those who hate their job. I'm lucky to have a job doing what I enjoy...in fact, the only think I hate about working is that it takes me away from my home and family. I enjoy being a housewife. I also enjoy having a career. Some day I hope to find a way to blend the two without having to scratch by every year financially. Until then, we both work. We were self-employed for a few years, did well, and survived. Now we have a little one and retirement to think about. Remember the college plan? We also have a plan to retire by the time we're 55. Soooo, instead of keeping my house completely tidy and fresh made meals in the oven, my weekday routine barely allows for chores and play. With this food project, we will have to learn to continue the balance in cooking, gardening, and preparing the fruits of our labor. Some days, just remembering to take the meat out of the refrigerator in the morning is a huge task! Well, it's late and I haven't a clue what we're having for dinner tomorrow...

Day 1

Day 1, as boring as it sounds, was absolutely wonderful! Sundays are always hard to beat though. It started with Ryan and I reaching way back in our kitchen cupboards and finding what will be an essential piece of this project's puzzle. For a wedding gift over 6 years ago we received the sweetest gift to a couple starting out on a self-sufficiency trek. I was given a beautiful Kitchenaid mixer from the wonderful ladies of my hometown as a wedding shower gift. In the few years we've been together, The Dutchess (named after a saintly great white mule we once owned), and I have created approximately 100 batches of cookies, 100 loaves of zucchini bread, and 50 loaves of bread. Today we found her crown jewels, after I asked "what do you think these pieces go to?" Our aunt and uncle gave us not only the food processing accessories, but one kitchen tool we have been wanting...a meat grinder. Naively, I had unpacked it, washed it, and stuck it away never to see it again for 6 years. After being boxed up and moved a couple of times, it easily slipped into the abyss of forgotten small appliances. It was like Christmas morning once over. Even Ryan got into putting the little parts and pieces together. A whiz in the kitchen, his eyes started jumping at the world that instantly opened up to us...without having to spend any money! Now all I need is the grain mill and we'll be set. From a beginners heart, Kitchenaid, God bless you, seriously.

The rest of the day I spent watching the Vikings put the hurt on Eli and the Giants, while I trudged through a mammoth of my own. My office/catch-all. It's more of a nook in our basement between the laundry room and my husband's workshop. It doesn't even have an overhead light. The previous owners were big on lamps. Various outlets in our home don't work unless a light switch is turned on, my office included. Today we bought a big floor lamp to help light the way through our bookwork, files, and my handful of hobbies. If I am to do this project justice, I need to stay organized. After 31 years, the one thing I know about myself is that nothing turns my haystack of a life upside down more than unorganization. If things aren't going right for me mentally, odds are my office is a mess. I'm not talking about the "piles everywhere" type of chaos. God knows I am the queen of stacking. Every evening we share our dinner table with mail, bills, paperwork, Kali's latest artwork, and a crayon or two. When company comes over, I stack it all into a nearby closet. I'm talking about knowing where everything is, and that it all has a proper home. I do bookwork every other day in order to sleep well. Even our weekly chores have a spreadsheet. After moving in this fall, I still had boxes of piles I hadn't gone through. Admittedly, 25% of it ended up in the circular file. Now that my nook is somewhat in place, I can prepare for this food project properly. I plan to track food spending item by item, to know if we are truly saving money. If so, how much? Is the time invested worth the savings? I remember my mother telling me after my grandma's canning disaster my grandpa told her "That's it Agnes, no more. We're buying canned peas from now on." After this project, I may find the same to be true. I hope not.

I also placed our first seed order over the weekend. After my hog-wild backyard garden experience, Ryan made me promise I wouldn't go overboard. I will keep things within reason. I only ordered veggies I know we'll eat, and two experiments...a melon, and a squash that may take too long if we get an early freeze. I do have a plan for extending our season, which we'll get to later in the journal. I plan to start certain varieties indoors in March, but I may try a couple peppers, tomatoes, and herbs soon. Our home has a sun portch off of our dining/kitchen area that I have been anxious to baptise as a greenhouse. We need to add heat and a fan, but otherwise it is perfect. Thanks to Territoral Seed and Nourse Farms we've got over 15 vegetables, 50 strawberries, and 10 raspberries on their way to start our new hobby farm. If our place in the Flathead doesn't sell by spring, I also plan to transplant 70 more berry plants, some rhubarb, and asparagus from our old place to the new.


Probably the best part of the day was brainstorming with Ryan about a plan. He had a fantastic point. In addition to the simple things, we need to focus on the most expensive items, and those that are worth our time. We bought a juicer last year. After a few months of buying fresh fruit and processing it, we decided it was just as cheap to buy the frozen concentrate. It may not be as tastey, but have you ever tried juicing your own cranberries??? There's not much there. This is where keeping an itemized list will be helpful. Store prices versus the cost of making it at home. I was excited to find a recipe for nearly everything we may want to try in my set of cookbooks. Homemade mayonaise, yogurt, and salad dressings galore. We do have expensive taste when it comes to these things...you just can't beat Litehouse Thousand Island! I am excited to try them. For now, however, I've got a game of hide-and-seek to get to before bed! Cheers!

The Challenge

After laying out a bit about us, we now come to the point of this journal. With the end of every year comes a review of finances. The taxman will soon be knocking. This is the point in time when we scrutinize, pinch, bite and end up with a headache over where our money went. A lot of things jump out. Auto maintence and fuel. Rent. Utilities. Insurance. Finance charges and interest. Same ol' same ol'. This year, something bothered me more than usual. Our food bill. In 2009 we spent over $8900 in food and groceries. This included dining out, fast food, and supermarket bills. It didn't include what we paid cash for, so I can easily assume we spent $10-11,000 on food and household items. Maybe this isn't a shocker to most of you, but for a three-person family this made my eyes squint and my jaws clench! I looked back at 2008. Similar story. $7300 in trackable food/household expenses. I'm guessing it was slightly less because both of us were home through September to share cooking duties. When we took the job in GFalls, my hubby was still home to take over. Admittedly, I think he does them better than I!

I will also admit that we are not penny pinchers. I enjoy eating out occassionally. I also enjoy shopping at Eddie Bauer. My husband likes to buy good tools, not cheapos. We are sending our daughter to one of the spendier daycares. We pay our taxes in full, and we tithe every year. We pay off credit card debt as soon as possible. We like having a nice home, but it's not new and has no granite countertops. We also don't have a lot of "toys". No boat. No 4-wheeler. No golf /ski passes. No flatscreen television. Our Ford truck has over 200k miles on it, and our family van is approaching 130k. I push mow about half an acre of lawn each week (spending an hour after work it takes me about 4 days). I finally broke down and bought a $60 Christmas tree, because our old one had a broken base and a few of the limbs were missing. Our daughter is getting older now, and a lopsided tree doesn't work with horseplay and balls being kicked around. Thankfully, she is still young enough, however, not to understand the difference between our $60 tree and the $160 tree further down the line.

My point is, we're not the most frugal, but we also try to curb spending. I'd consider us an average 30-somtheing family. My challenge this year is to try and whack away at that $10,000 grocery bill by growing fruits and vegetables myself, canning/freezing them, and making as many meals as possible at home. I also hope to get chickens someday, as we eat a lot of eggs and poultry. Between the chickens and the deer we got this year, we'll hopefully be able to cut our meat bill down. All this while holding down my 9-5, M-F job, and keeping my sanity, wife and mother relationships all in-tact. I hope to prove that this is possible, and that growing at least a portion of your own food can make a difference on your wallet.

I also understand my boundaries. There are certain things that won't be replaced in our grocery bills, like dish soap, shampoo, and bleach. Also we won't replace certain food items like milk and butter. I grew up with cattle and I don't want any of my own. The point of this project isn't to change our lifestyle entirely. In fact, just the opposite. It's not even about growing things organically or locally. It's simply a challenge to find out whether I can bring down our food bill by being a little more dilligent, efficient, and self-sufficient. There will be challenges I've never faced. While I've gardened nearly all my life, I've never canned. Frankly, it scares the be-Jesus out of me. I've heard stories of my grandmother losing an entire batch of canned peas to the walls after an explosion. I've also heard horror stories of the lids not popping properly and a whole crop going bad. Until this point, I have frozen all surplus fruits and veggies. Safe, but not exactly flavor-saving.

I hope someday, if all goes well, my daughter can use this journal to understand how and why we did what we did. She may also learn where her college fund came from!

Introduction

Wow. 2009 is now a year filed away. Another year's worth of lessons under our hats, and another year's worth ahead of us. It's funny how we contemplate years. Rather quickly we begin to forget which one's which in our memories. We candidly remember events, important dates, and even the thoughts we had at the time...but when you try placing them in any kind of historically accurate fashion, the "greyness" creeps in.

In my head, 2009 will be remembered as our first official year living in our new town, Great Falls. We endured each new season from new perspectives and windows. It was the year we became a new-century "traditional" family...two parents working and our child going to daycare. After two-and-a-half years of keeping one of us home with our daughter, while scratching out an income (forget any kind of savings!), we decided my husband should also obtain a steady paycheck. We have 15 years to save up for our little girls' college option, and that is no small savings. After chatting with other moms, even in-state tuitions are reaching $80,000 for a four year degree. Yikes!

College isn't the only reason for our change in lifestyle. We decided living in town is not where we wanted our little one to grow up. Both my husband and I are rural people, and living in a 2 bedroom 1 bath duplex on a one-way street did not suit us. Financially it worked out, but our hearts couldn't take it any longer. So, 6 months ago we signed a lease with option to buy a 2.5 acre homestead just out of town. We have neighbors, but we also have space.

We were spoiled in our previous home...we lived in the Flathead Valley of northwest Montana. It is an outdoor enthusiasts dream. Golfing, snowboarding, fishing, hunting, and hiking were all within a few minutes' drive. AND, best of all for me personally, our ten acre home/farm sat on a gardener's dream. Sandy loam. I honestly think this is near the top of God's most precious gifts to man...of course behind saving us from our sins, and water, and food, and creation itself. But it is definitely in the top 20! I could literally drop a seed on the ground and I think it would grow. Clay levels were down at least 12 inches, so my vegetable garden flourished. One year, we dug up our entire back yard and I grew a garden. It was fantastic! It was one of my first attempts at gardening on my own, so it was a bit of an eye sore, but I was in heaven! Now that we are putting it on the real estate market, we replaced my onion patch with a flower bed (which is also phenomenal by the way), and my corn patch is grass once again. My hope is that we can one day return to that part of the valley. For now, however, it is not in the plan for us.

Instead, we are in Great Falls. Sunny, windy, beautiful Great Falls. I'm afraid to say our spot on the east side of the Divide is a bit different. We moved into this home in September. There was just enough time for me to introduce myself to the pre-existing cottage garden. I planted a few bulbs I bought from a friend in the Flathead, and got a fist full of, well, clay. Not a total discouragement, but definitely a far cry from my loam. Luckily my hubby and I used to make a living gardening and landscaping for others, so amending clay soil is nothing new to us. Just another task. Back breaking as it may be!