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!