Design

Our weather of late has been fickle.  Most of March found rain showers, gray skies, a few snow showers .. and April is only a little bit 'more promising' ... Our teeny tiny dining room plant nursery has expanded and now includes a sturdy new shelf unit sitting in front of one of the many windows.  All of our plants have sprouted .. even the pepper plants after getting a good warm start in the little plastic covered greenhouse rigged with warming beds and a grow light.  Hubby and I worked on building 10 of 14 raised garden beds last week, some extra deep and outfitted with quarter inch wire mesh underneath and soon to include hoops made from curved electric conduit to support different coverings.  We have them stacked and draped outside on a slope until the actual garden ground is ready.  It will be at least another five weeks or so before we are frost free and can transplant the seedlings.  Through all of this soggy weather, I picked up a flu vi...

I've been researching a bit about weedless gardening .. and was given a book by the same title by Lee Reich that explains how to replicate the soil environments found in nature.  It's a very interesting and sound idea .. and less back breaking work than tilling in compost .. which I happened to do last spring by double digging in many cubic yards of compost (did I mention back and shoulder breaking?;).  This week I'll be formulating .. in mind and on paper the garden setup for this coming season .. and using many ideas from this excellent and informative book.  For one thing .. I'll be planting less variety of veggies .. less beets .. more carrots etc.  Why take up space for produce my family won't eat?  And, hopefully, be using a lot less water.  Are your spring gardening plans coming to life?

I am not one to write goals and just look at them on the page.  This year I want to concentrate more on the garden production side of The Thrifty Garden/Home.  Our fourth year for veggie gardening is approaching and I'm still such a novice.  2011 Garden Goals Plan the plantings, space use, and design well in advance, keeping good notes Make a drip watering system Design some raised veggie beds or planters Raise potted pepper plants to overwinter Try/plant a winter garden Plant grapes  That's enough garden goals if I want to be successful. 2011 Homemaking Goals Can chicken, turkey, chili, smoke hams and bacon Put up .. can/freeze more food for winter Make 80-90% of our bread Finish Grandma's quilt Economize and not waste food/resources Learn to knit a pair of socks Nothing lofty here .. just a continuation of what I was working on/planning from last year.   It will be interesting to see what the year brings .. I've heard that the cost of goods will be going up c...

... have returned ... and the weather has warmed up.  Very thankful!

Just when I start to think summer has arrived, our local weather pattern slips back into the 'April Showers Bring May Flowers ' mode.  To date, I've only watered the garden once ... and that probably could have been skipped because the warm weather only lasted two or three days ... and never reached higher than 79-80 F.  The row tunnel is covering my second batch of peppers ... the first were killed with late morning frost several weeks ago .. and a freak windstorm took out my tomato seedlings that were hardening off on the front porch; both had to be replaced with nursery plants. It may be time to invest in a small greenhouse.  Seems there are less honey bees too.  Could be a less productive year.  What's up in your garden?

and fine tuning. Being a homemaker is finally in vogue:)  I've known the importance of tending, mending, rearing/teaching children, making do with what's on hand for the past 28 years .. that's when I said good-bye to my day job in an accounting office and put on my apron full time.  Hubby and I decided to live on one income .. where ever that would take us.  Never thinking .. 'someday I'll return to an outside job' .. just plugging along with so much work at home and never having the desire or opportunity to go back to a 9-5 job.  Now days I've discovered the 'back to basics' that my grand and great grand parents knew.  Traditions and practices that went by the wayside for more modern conveniences that were required/demanded when society wanted to take the 'easy' road ... you know the one .. working to make money so you can purchase things that are made by other people.  We exchanged knowledge and know-how for pay and ready made things.  How...

Last year's garden produced an abundance of tomatoes.  However, I failed to make enough canned salsa to sustain my family ... even with heavy rationing.  I used a considerable amount of the tomatoes making ketchup ... and then watching it sit on the shelf month after month wishing it had been made into salsa.  We have a ketchup fiend in our home.  A small boy that was not expected to survive infancy.  He was not even expected to eat by mouth .. according to his GI doctor.  But this mom decided to take the (MAJOR) effort to get food consumed the optimal way .. by mouth .. and finally off tube feedings.  At age four the transition finally took place.  In order to help things along, salsa was used to waken up his taste buds ... and ketchup was used to dip finger foods into to make them more kid appealing.  This plan worked and today I have to chuckle as I often tell him NO MORE FOOD until the next meal.  We have been trying to ween him from...

....home again, home again ... jiggity jig! Our recent family vacation is fading into the photo album and memory bank.  It was so nice to visit a warm weather destination, but the comfort of home was calling to me all the while.  Traveling with a special needs child is EXHAUSTING!  Today will bring the challenge of getting Nathan back into the school routine.  My day will begin in about ten minutes when I have to wake him up to catch the school bus.  The morning will be spent unpacking, sorting laundry, putting away various travel items, and making out the grocery list .... then heading out to the market.  A good basic turkey soup will be on the menu for dinner ... pulled from the freezer will be deliciously prepared turkey frozen in stock.  It will be a easy-frugal dinner.  Soup, green salad, home baked rolls.  Afternoon chores should include inspecting the garden grounds, taking stock of the compost pile, turning over some bare soil that I ...

There are a few inside household 'chores' that are required several times a year in a thrifty home. One that is on my 'to do' list is emptying my kitchen's pantry closet; sorting, tossing out, and reorganizing food staples. Cleaning toast crumbs from the toaster ... and the ones that fall through the white wire shelving and land on the floor. Checking for expiration dates, any sign of pests in the opened goods, and rotating canned goods having oldest near the front of the shelf. This plan is in the 'brain .. wait and see .. when the mood strikes ... mode' for now. But at least if I commit it to a blog post, the thought will nag at me until it's completed ... please hold me accountable and ask in about a week or two if I've completed this task :) Our supply of frozen and canned summer veggies is dwindling. Next year it will be necessary to better judge how much to store away for winter. And, perhaps, I'll try my hand at some garden row cove...

Floral-bundance ! I just love to make up new words. And 'floral-bundance' seems to fit the description of this lovely bouquet I picked from the garden when my parents were visiting. Included are peonies, cat mint, wild lupine, and spirea. The Beginning: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of god was hovering over the waters ... Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: see-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds ... and it was so." From Genesis, Chapter 1 (NIV)

An Irish Blessing .... for ye garden. May the frost never afflict your spuds. May the leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms. May the crows never pick your haystack. If you inherit a donkey, may she be in foal.

A new twist to container gardening. Try turning an old hard plastic wading pool into the perfect large scale container garden. Check out the directions here . There are many other urban gardening ideas that I am going to try in addition to my traditional garden ... such as using old tires, burlap bags, etc. I just happen to have an old wading pool that is seldom used. This plan may yield my salad garden freeing up more garden space for larger crops. Photo Credit

I'm itching to garden ... but must wait, and wait. So while waiting, I'm researching a few new gardening gadgets to try this coming spring. This wall of water product (through Burpee) has piqued my interest! A neighbor of mine swore by them last year. She was the only one in our area with vine ripened tomatoes. While ours didn't even begin to ripen until late September ... early October ... picked green and stored in the basement.

Snow bound. My garden is asleep under waist high snow. I know where a beehive is hidden in my garden wall, now covered shoulder high with snow. Everywhere I look, the frost has a grip til the sun's rays can melt and give warmth to renew. Drip, drip, drip. I want to see all of my home's roof 'neath the snow drape. Still snow bound. by: Mrs. Mac January 1, 2009 A toast to all good things learned from tending my garden this new year!