October and we've already had snow!

Here it is the 10 th of October and we had snow 2 days ago. Gardening is over for this year. I did manage to pot up some chives, a garlic ( for cut greens for my dishes over the winter) and a couple of walking onions. I also have a nice parsley plant that I brought in. They are all sitting on the window sill in the kitchen, the only good window in the house for growing plants.
We had a good harvest and many tomatoes, although it seemed they just did not want to ripen. I have lots in the back room just taking their time. Tina brought me several plants this year and they turned out to be yellow tomatoes. I only had 2 plants of red cobra tomatoes, and one heritage tomatoe that turned out red and green stripped! Most unsual looking.
Monday October 12 is our Canadian Thanksgiving. We will make our Turkey dinner on Sunday the 11th. I already have the Turkey out thawing, and I will cook potatoes ( mashed), and make dressing, gravy, cooked carrots ( from the garden as well as the potatoes),Cranberry sauce ( done with a little orange juice), and Coleslaw. We will not have desert. It will just be the two of us for supper, and I know us, we will both be stuffed with turkey and dressing! LOL.
There will be lots of trukey left for my favorite, Turkey sandwiches, then soup and casseroles. Should be just lovely.
Now summer is past, I should be back blogging a little more.
Come the 24th of October I am going to go to visit my friend Gloria, it has been years since we saw each other. We will get to visit from the 24th till the 28th. of the month. Then I will head home and she will head to her home in Victoria. I am looking forward to catching up with all her news and family.
Now I'm off to help bring in the wood to stack it up under the car port. It was all cut up and now needs stacking, we still have over 1/2 to split and that will be done next week, till then we will stack what's ready.
It is nice to have the wood heat in our colder than usual fall. We have had to have the fire going since September.
Oh, yes, I almost forgot to mention. Ron got an Elk, second day of hunting season. We have enjoyed some nice Elk meat he gave us. Ken is still looking. He hasn't gotten anything yet, but We are still hopeing he will.

Here is the garden as it is today. The Cosmos are all self seeded from last year, and transplanted into rows. The Rocky Mountain Spinach is quite easy to spot with it's burgundy leaves this is the first time I have planted it, but I will get seed from it this fall ( I hope) and plant it again next year. The leaf lettus is putting out really well. Just now I am using the lettus I'm thinning out for salads. There are lots of Tomatoes in the Green house, the 2 Cobra tomatoe plants are producing lots and we have had 5 ripe tomatoes so far, with another just about ripe. The tumbler tomatoes 2 plants, are just about finished. We have eaten tumbler tomatoes for quite a while now and are getting a soup bowl of tomatoes a day. Also in the green house are 3 Heritage Brandy Wine, and 2 sets of 3 tomatoes that I don't know what they are. They are tomatoes Tina brought over and she had mixed them up and couldn't remember what they were. The do look like the are indeterminate and are growing quite rapidly now. All 6 are in bloom. Also in the green house 4 tiny tims in baskets,and they are in bloom, 1 already has 2 tomatoes setting they sould be ready to take over when the tumblers are finnished. Then I have 4 green pepper plants blooming and 4 small hot pepper plants that have already set fruits.
The garden is producing enough that I am only buying my potatoes, large onions and mushrooms and fruit from the stores now. Otherwise it is the garden and what ever is ready. A couple of days ago we had the first picking of Chard.
A couple of disappointments so far this year in the garden. The radishes were wormy when I pulled them and so that was the end of the radishes. The regular spinach came up a couple of inches and went to seed! So that is a right off. But there is always next year.
If you have some ideas for the radishes please tell me, and I could put in a few more, otherwise I think I'm wasting my time.

July 11, 2009

What a nice surprise we had yesterday. Our good friend Glen from Rolla stopped by and stayed to visit till this morning! It was such a treat to see him and get all the news from our old home town. Glen helped us move down here 7 years ago. I have been back twice and Glen has been down twice, last time with his wife and 3 daughters, Ken got to see them, but I was away at the time to my Daughter's wedding. So missed their visit.

As luck would have it we had invited Jack to dinner and had bought some steaks ( a rare occurrence for us), I quickly went in the freezer and found a couple more small steaks and thawed them for supper Friday night. sliced potatoes and onions with salt, pepper and butter on foil made into packets and cooked with the steaks in the BBQ and a salad from the garden made our supper easy, and we enjoyed visiting on the deck as our supper cooked.
The salad was made with lettus from the garden, a few leaves of the Rocky mountain spinach, some green onions chopped up with the help of scissors, and tumbler tomatoes.
This past week we had some much needed rain, and now we are again having 30 degree C. weather in the daytime. However nights are still cool around 9C.
The garden has finally started to grow, and tomorrow I want to rototill between the rows, I hope it will be dry enough to do. The peas are flowering and I noticed a few pods forming. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, soon to be eating fresh green peas, put in new potatoes mashed. I love the peas added after the potatoes are mashed. Just raw peas, it's a treat we look forward to each year, sometimes made even nicer with some cheese mixed in with the mashed potatoes before the peas are added. Heaven in 1 simple dish.
Oh, and we have a new to us Jeep truck 4x4. Ken has been working on it for the past week, and has a little body work to do to it, and then it will be ready for painting. It will be white, with black on the bottom of the truck and the trim. Right now it is red. We have taken the canopy off the back for the summer, and Ken made side rails for it. This means we can haul more wood home in it, and also when we go in the bush Zoey can ride in the back and be safe. I must remember to take some pictures of the truck before it is painted, for before and after shots.

June 8th!

Where does the time go?
The garden is in and comming up, Tina and I waited till the 3rd of June to plant sensative things like the tomatoes, peppers and corn in the garden spot. Wouldn't you know it we got a touch of frost on the morning of the 6th! Some of the plants got a touch of frost, and the others are OK. I decided to just see what happens. If they make it fine if not those that don't can get a later planting of carrots, lettus and things like that.
This year I am trying Purple Mountain Spinach. My friend Erika , saved some seed for me from a plant she grew last year. I am looking forward to eating some, and seeing how it tastes and to also saving my own seed.
Makes for an interesting summer, when you try something new .
I will have to take pictures to follow the Purple Mountain Spinach's growth. More to follow ( and hopefully sooner rather than later!).

Crockpot Classic Rice Pudding

I was requested to post the recipe I use for Rice pudding on Pat Veretto's Frugal Living Blog. So i thought if I did that I should post it here too. We really like it. My new note to myself is that I use the shorter time for my new crock pot. It must be quite a bit hotter than my old crock pot. So that is the only thing I think other than what is written below that I should remark on. Just do it time wise for your own crock pot.

Crock Pot classic Rice pudding

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked white rice
3/4 cup raisins
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/4can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 can ( 12 Ounces) evaporated milk

1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground Cinnamon ( or to taste)

Directions:

Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients except sugar and cinnamon in cooker. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 3 to 4 hours or until liquid is absorbed. Stir pudding. Sprinkle pudding with sugar and cinnamon. Serve warm.

My personal notes.
Omit last amount of sugar ( for us diabetics)

Make own Easy Evaporated milk

11/3 cup water
1 cup of instant dry milk powder. Stir or shake to combine ( I shake it in a small jar with lid on tight)
This is the equivalent of a 12 ounce tin ( see above that's all that's needed!).
If you want to make Evaporated whole milk, you will need to add some fat to replace the milk fat in whole milk. Do this by preparing evaporated skim milk then adding 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the milk. Stir it up vigorously to emulsify The fat with the milk.

It will separate on standing, so mix it really well right before using it.
This is best used in cooking and baking. A spritz of nonstick spray will help the emulsification process.

Sweetened Condensed milk: ( from the Tightwad Gazette. the best one for taste and texture I've found)

1 cup instant nonfat dry milk solids
2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
3 Tbsp melted margarine
combine all ingredients in the container of an electric blender . Process until smooth. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use Yield about 1 1/4 cups.

I just use this amount in the above recipe. Also I put water in a glass measuring cup, add margarine, and heat to boiling in the microwave. I have the other 2 items in the blender and then just add the water with margarine, and blend. Very easy.


Using these 2 recipes cuts the cost WAY down in making the rice pudding.

When I cook rice for supper I try and make extra, so I can make this up anytime.

March 1, st "Where's the Sun???"

It has started snowing this morning. After several days of warming weather and no snow. The back carport is free of snow on the roof, and here we get snow again. Fits with the past couple of weeks of happenings.

Starting with our good friend Jack. Jack retired early at 56. He decided to become a landlord to supplement his pension. Well, one of Jack's places is about a block from us. He rented it out right after he bought it last December, and the Tenants moved in mid January. They were buying the property next door to his and wanted to rent it out as it had more room and a full sized garage. This move meant they could pay less than the rent they were charging and use the difference to pay down their mortgage. Sounded good. The were well liked and had lived in the area many years ( well the lady had). Move to 2Nd week of January. The fellow renting the home with the garage was busted for selling and growing dope. marajana to be exact. The police took the lady renting Jacks place to Jail and interviewed her for 10 hours. and let her out to come home ( her Guy hasn't been seen for a while before this, but as he works in the oil patch that isn't uncommon). Fast forward to last Sunday.
The lady was away for the weekend. Someone phoned and complained to the police that her 2 dogs were barking all night, and that they didn't have food or water. They were tied up by the front door of each place. The police came out 5 of them and the dogs were taken to the vet to be check out ( they were OK, just hungry and thirsty). She came home Sunday night, In the mean time the Police got search
warrents and checked the house ( we had been phoned they were at the house, and Ken got Jack and drove him down so they didn't kick the door in). They also checked the 2 sheds as they were pad locked ( I can understand that I pad lock ours too!).
One shed had been rewired! to 220 ( I believe) they had both been wired 120.) All that in a month when the fellow hadn't been seen, plus in the other garage they found
a 4 wheeler and a couple of bikes- Motor- all stolen!). So now since she had given Jack notice when the other place was raided. Today he is getting ready for new tenants! Lets hope these ones prove to be just quiet living people who like country life.

Also last week Gege, Brenda and I went to Bonner's Ferry and Post Falls to do a grocery shopping, and Gege got her puppy his shots. ( I took our Zoey for shots Friday) so both dogs now have their booster shots.

Friday, Gege came to town with me and we did our local shopping flour being the main item at $5.88 for 20 Kg all purpose flour. About the best price we get now. Zoey of course came as she got shots. When we got home Ken had hurt his hand badly. He had been working on the Scout and the screw driver he was using slipped and went into his hand a 1/2 inch or more, right between the thumb and finger of his left hand. I wanted to take him for a Tetnis shot, but no he would be fine. Next morning, hand swollen he decided it was time to head to the Hospital. So 3 1/2 hours later he got his shot, and a perscription for strong antibiotics! Men, is there any real difference between a Man and a Kid? hmmmmmmmmm some times I wonder.

Most of the rest of the past couple of weeks has been quiet. I have been working at controlling our budget, and Dh suggested 2 meatless meals a week. I had to do a retake, this is the Meat and Potatoes King speaking. So my first this past week was breakfast for supper, pancakes, eggs over easy, and toast. with slices of tomatoe.
Grapes for the evening snack.

Tonight I am making stuffed chicken breasts ( bought on sale for 79 cents a pound), will stuff them with bread stuffing, and then a slice of cheese in the middle of the breast. coleslaw and a rice dish ( not sure just yet, but with chicken broth in it for sure.

This week I am looking for Men approved non meat meals. I think I will look for TVP and try using it in hamberger meals, I tried tofo a few years ago and Ken hated it ( I guess I just don't use it right as other people rave about it).

Oh, to be able to go out in the garden again and pick what we want for supper!

Another peaceful Sunday.

Went out for a short ride around Kitchener and out one of the back roads to run Zoey.
On the last road we went on in town the Scout started smoking! Ken stopped and turned the key off and checked under the hood. We were about a 1/2 mile from where Jack lives so I took Zoey and headed to Jacks in case they needed to tow the Scout.
I got to Jacks and explained what was going on and Jack was grabbing his Jacket to go give Ken a hand when Jack says, here comes Ken now. Ken was able to disconnect 2 wires and still run the Scout home. Try that with a computerized vehicle.

We visited for a few minutes then headed home and Jack and Scotty came and Jack helped Ken and Scotty and Zoey played in the yard.

I just made us a light supper tonight. Cooked up a bunch of rice ( rice pudding tomorrow) and made a stir fry with some chicken breasts, and lots of chopped up veggies. Was pretty good if I do say so myself.

We had the lightest puffs of snow today, but mainly it was sunny and melting.

Valentines Day and 2nd anual Valentines Party

Well, I must write about the 2nd anual Valentines party at Erica's place. She had us over and taught us how she makes perogies. We all brought a bowl, 2 cups flour,
2 eggs and our wodden spoon. We learned how to make the dough, then with dough she had already made, we did up 5 kinds of perogies! It was so fun, and at the end we ate perogies, and had valentine cupcake and cake for desert. Fattening- yes, fun- yes!

so before I forget I am posting the recipe as it was given to me by Erica. This is a verbal recipe she got from an old lady about 35 years ago. I wrote it out as my memmory isn't that good for amounts in cooking.

perogies


2 cups flour
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

put 2 cups flour and salt in large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons margarine and 2 cups of boiling water mix well until the margarine is melted through the dough.
Add eggs one at a time, mix then add 2nd. egg and mix again till all the egg is absorbed.
cover and let stand for 2 hours,'
then add 2 cups flour and stir in, add more flour 1 cup here you can put it on counter to kneed the flour in. keep adding the flour till the dough starts setting up and is no longer sticky.

Cover and Set aside, in fridge till ready to use. ( Over night) or freeze. Use 1/2 th dough ( freeze the other half for another meal) roll out very thin and cut our small perogies with glass. fill with your choice of fillings.

like: Potatoes cooked with parsley, cheddar cheese or what ever
Cottage cheese and green onions ( dry cottage cheese is best)
saurkraut
raw hamburger ( make very small perogies and cook longer.)
cooked minced ham
at this point before you cook them you can put them on trays and freeze, then bag them in meal sizes once they are frozen. for a later date. Or cook them and eat them.

note you can use what you want for a filling, and use fruit or jams to make a desert item served with whipping cream, or cream and sugar.


Well, made this up for Valentines day supper. Used 1/2 the dough ( froze the rest) and made mashed potatoe with cheddar cheese and green onions. served with sour cream and sauteed onions and bacon chopped and fries. MMMMM very good. Recieved the Ken seal of approval. In fact he suggested we make some more up and he would help me and make different kinds and freeze a bunch to pull out for a fast meal. So I guess this is definately a keeper.

The other recipe I want to post here is one from Dot. It is one she made and brought to Charlenes Baby shower. It is Cherry Triangles.

Cherry Triangles ( Dot's recipe that she brought to Charlene's Baby Shower)

3/4 cup milk warmed
1 pkg yeast
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups flour
4 egg yolks

1. mix flour, butter like a pie crust.
2. add milk and yeast and egg yolks - will be sticky
3. let rise for 20 minutes before patting into pan.
4.pat into pan saving a little for topping ( enough to make strips and make a lattice top)
5 use cherry pie filling to cover ( or what ever you like, blueberry , apple, raspberry....)
6. put on topping ( see 4)
7. use an egg wash on crust
8. Let sit for 20 minutes
9. Bake at 350 F. till cooked ( should look like pastry cooked)



Use 9 x 13 pan well greased - takes a bit of stretching to reach the corners. ( 9 x13 pan like a cookie sheet) or you could use 2 smaller pans.


This is a lovely square that isn't too sweet. Everyone enjoyed it and wanted the recipe, I just got around to writing it out and putting it in my files.


Now the not so fun part.

Feeling better finally got rid of the cold. But had got my jaw out of placement by coughing. So was at DR. , Dentist, and Physiotherapist this past week. Have been fitted for a night guard to help keep my jaw where it ought to be, and no pain. Yea! It should be ready in a week or so.



Well, that's the news for this post.

Winter Cold and Jessie's Birthday

Today is Jessie's Birthday and yesterday was Victoria's Birthday. My How the Granddaughters grow! Hard to believe another year is past. Being the Grandma I sent them their cards, but also having been sick this past 2 weeks I was late sending them. As if that wasn't bad enough 1 came back today, I didn't put a stamp on it. I knew I was really sick this past 2 weeks, but that takes the cake.
Just before i got sick i Bought a large pork roast about 22 lbs. Today Ken and Jack took it down to the saw and cut it in 3 pieces for me. So I cooked up 1 piece for supper tonight. It was very good and I cooked up apple sauce from a couple of apples , mashed potatoes, and of course carrots ( one of the veggies that Jack will eat, so I try and cook some every time he comes for supper). and Gravy with whole mushrooms ( I got a big bag marked down and have been using them everyday since we got them. I have enough left for tomorrow night's Chinese food using some of the leftover roast pork, and making a sweet and sour,pork strips to go in a big stir fry, I'll serve it over rice. Well, I'll serve the rice on the side and the stir fry can go over it on the plate.) The stir fry should use up the last of the broccoli , cauliflower, and mushrooms. I'd like to clean up all the veggies before I go grocery shopping again.
Ken's vehicle is still working great. After that was fixed he fixed the tractor that broke down and then they did Jacks truck , of course the weather was cold so the fuel pump and a sensor went in it while he was on his way to town. It took a few days for the fellows to get all the parts and get Jacks truck fixed , but the last part came and they finished it all today!
My friend Louise, sent me a site to watch a blog in Edmonton,
http://theworkingpoordiet.blogspot.com/
I think it will be a very interesting blog to follow along with for the next month, and am looking forward to hearing how this blogger makes out.
Well, my head is still pounding, so will stop for this evening. It sounds like we will soon be having days on the plus side of 0 as a regular occurance. I am so glad, I am tired of snow, and cold, and my head ,chest cold in particular.
Spring tonic is much needed.

Week in review

My where has the time gone? It just seems I was writing and it's already a week ago.

The past week Ken's baby, our 1969 International Scout, got a little worse for wear. The master cylinder went. No problem , we'd get another one, or replacement parts. Oh, yea. They don't make them anymore. We have phoned all over, I went down to Bonner's Ferry as they had one. Got there and it was the wrong one. Came home and Ken has started looking again. Found a place that had the replacement parts. went and got it, nope wrong ones. Then they found the right picture in one of the books and have now ordered the parts. They should be here this coming Tuesday. Seeing as I have always been told is believing. I hope it is the right one. The "Whoopee" is Ken's Baby. It takes him all over the country side, on his morning trips around our little community, brings in our winter's wood takes him hunting in the fall. I don't know what he'd do without it. for sure he'd have a lot less fun. I love going for rides in it and taking our dog out for a "run".

Oh, I cooked up a friends Tina's soup recipe. I don't know where Tina got it from, but since Ken likes Cauliflower, and I had one that I had to use up I made this. 5 stars from our family. And I will make it again.

Tina's Cream of Cauliflower Soup

2 med. onions chopped
2 med. carrots grated
2 celery ribs sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup + 6 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium head cauliflower chopped
5 cups of chicken broth
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt ( I never use this much!)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper ( again I just use my shaker and if I need a bit more I shake it again)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon]6 tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
1/2 c/ heavy whipping cream ( I used what I had it was 10 % coffee cream)
1/4 cup. sour cream ( DH walked in just when I was going to add this, he wouldn't have even tried it if he had seen it go in so I left it out, but it is good with it in)

Saute onions carrots celery and garlic in 1/4 cup butter, in a large heavy bottomed pot.
Add cauliflower, broth, parsley, salt and pepper , basil and tarragon.
Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until veges are tender.

Meanwhile in a saucepan melt remaining butter, stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk and cream.
Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Add to cauliflower mixture.
cook for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat, stir in sour cream.

Serve.



Pat's notes. I put my notes in brackets above. also, Cauliflower was on sale here for $1.89 each, so I always buy the biggest one I can find. It was twice as big as some of them. I used Little over 1/2 the cauliflower ( the rest I had cooked for a company supper. ) in summer you could grow your own or buy them for less.

This makes a lot of soup. I fed 3 of us for lunch today and we had big bowls of soup. I still have about 1/2 the pot or a little more left.

There were some other things that happened this past week, but I will sign off for today. It's January and my month to re-read the Tight Wad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. I started reading it yearly back when I first bought it in 1998 I believe it was. So that's my January book. Helps to refocus my ideas, and if I have gone too far from frugal thinking gets me back to living a better lifestyle. Also helps me to focus since I retired at 56 not 65! Then we moved to where we wanted to spend our retirement, and I am so glad we made that move. What could be better, hmmmmmmm,
OK, well, gardening time is coming soon.

Quiet , Peaceful Sunday Morning

It is early yet, and everything is quiet. We have had the lightest sprinkles of snow, that just touches the tin roof gently and adds a whiteness to the tin. I hope that the temperature will be high enough today that by noon it is all gone again. We still have piles of snow, but with the melting it was looking quite dirty, this morning every thing is clean looking again.

I have been busy surfing the net and reading from different sites, and of course my e-mails. There is much gloom and doom about the economy everywhere. But this has been comming for a long time now? Where has everyone been??? I was thinking about my family durring the depression and although I wasn't born yet, the thing that came across to me was, to be as prepared as possible, to make the most out of what you had, and that it wasn't so bad, because everyone you knew was in the same boat.
My family talked about how they had potlucks and made thier own fun. Of course there was the use it up, make do, and do without, but they used a lot of creativity in what they did too. How can it be so bad when we already have so much more to work with than they did? We have so many types of entertainment at our fingertips. Time to sit back , put our thinking caps on, list our blessings, list the real needs, not just the wants. Then figure out what we will do and how to best do it.
As DH puts it. Have you got a roof over your head? food to eat, a table to put the food on and a chair to sit on, and a place to cook the food? A bed to sleep on, and clothes to wear? What more do you Need??
Yes we have all this and more!
The news is still gloom and doom for the future, but doesn't the news reflect the past? We are starting a New Year, and we need a new perspective. What can we do to change the here and now, and there by change our own future? Science tell us for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. How is this going to work in todays situation?
During the war years the catch phrase was, " The Victory Garden", And before that during the depression it was, "A Chicken in Every Pot". I wonder will the expression for our time period be from Oboma's speach in the United States be, "Yes, we can"?
What exciting times we live in. This next year should be very exciting, with lots going on. A year that we will talk about to future generations I'm sure, as part of "the good old days of the recession of 2009".

Since my last post 2 days ago much, weather wise, has happened. Overnight from Monday till Tuesday we got just over 14 inches of snow. What a mess. Our carport hasn't shed any snow like it does most winters. So we paid a neighbour to shovel it. Well, at least the bottom 1/2 of each side. That has removed enough weight that the rest will be able to slide off down the metal roof. Then in the afternoon just after he finnished shoveling it started to rain, and it has rained on and off ever since! It is helping cut the snow, but also makes it very heavy.

We have been loosing power for short periods of time. Last night it went out for 1 1/2 hours. Glad to have it back on.

This morning we had a call from Debbie, one of my friends daughter's. Debbie needed some help with her driveway so Ken has gone with the tractor to plough her out. We have had so much help from friends around here it's nice to be able to give some help inreturn.

Today Ken wants to go into town. The highways should be bare, and I have a parcel to pick up. It is from Michaele, it is a Christmas gift from her and it is comming from Hickory Farms. I recieved a note from the Farms before Christmas that it was comming so will be interested to see what's in it.

Off to wash the floors. With all this wet weather and a dog and cat, and people the floors sure take a beating.

Frugal living thoughts and ideas

First Monday of the new year. Reading over some of the groups and lists I am on a re occurring thought is frugality verses just being cheap.


The goal I would like to keep pursuing is to live as well as we can, on the resources that are available to us. That includes going out for the odd lunch with Dh or my friends and family. Taking the odd trip to see family, and to enjoy some of those things that require some finances other than just what is needed to survive.


We don't recycle as much as in some places, but then what do you do with all the things you recycle? Here many of the items end up in the dump. However that being said. i compost, and take many things to Gleaners. Gleaners is our local thrift shop. Here in Canada you do not get a tax receipt for donations. But all the money made at Gleaners .after expenses to keep the store going, goes to our local Food bank. The workers at Gleaners are volunteers. So whether you are donating goods, or buying you know that you are helping someone as well as yourself. Another neighbours son is taking bottles, cans, and juice containers to town several times a year for extra spending money. I save mine and drop them off in their driveway whenever I get a garbage bag full. That at least recycles them and someone benefits a little.


We are also on free cycle. I personally only posted there once, and that time the site was going through a change of owners, and my post never got posted. So how well our free cycle actually works I still have to learn.


I did learn though that if you let your friends know you are looking for something you'd better have a spot for extras! I put the word out that I wanted a new greenhouse ( my previous one blew away in a wind storm!)
Dh had purchased an8 by 12, 2x4 wooden frame for a car port for 35$. I needed to get glass and a door. Well, within a week I had all I needed, including a glass door. several glass windows with sliders so they can be opened in the hot weather and 1 very long window with louvers so that it can be opened and the windows open out on an angle. I think it will work very well for the hot, hot days of summer. I'd like the louvers to be put on the roof, but will it be water tight?



Another thought sparked by reading one of my groups. What could you do with a Dollar? The poster went on to say she would spend it on garden seeds and what she would plant and how much you could expect to harvest from that amount of seed. I thought that she would get very good value. She could get 10 packets of seed for $1. Here the best I saw last year was 4 packets of seed for $1. even that would give wonderful returns . I think some lettus and green onions, carrots and zucchini would be my pick from 4 packets. By early summer I can hardly wait for fresh lettus. If you try and eat locally, and eat by season greens are something you long for by spring. I usually am out early getting new dandelion greens for salad and sandwiches as soon as I see them in spring. I plant Chard and beets too. but they come later in the season. But I love the beet tops as much or more than the beet roots. A very efficient plant for growing so much is edible.
What about free plants? That's a better price. Let's see what I have gotten and traded for free. Mostly perennials. Like raspberries, strawberry, gooseberry, red current, and black current, and black berries ( If I didn't kill it last year ), and rhubarb. Then there's the horseradish , Jerusalem artichokes ( is that a blessing or a curse?????) chives, sage, and Lovage and perennial onions ( when they were given to me they were called Egyptian Onions that's when I lived in Northern BC, then we moved south and they were Called Yukon onions ???? So I guess where ever you live and you dream of some other place, that's where the onions must come from LOL). Not to mention all the flowers that I have been given and traded with friends. Each flower has a memory, so and so gave me this from their flower bed, I got this when....... those are things you can't put a price on ..... the good feelings you get from the memories.
Last year I bit the Bullet and trough out all my old seeds. i hadn't put dates on them and The number of seed packets was getting over whelming. This year as I buy them they are getting dated. That way I'll know when they are getting too old. Growing season is too short to waste time planting seeds that are too old to grow. Most often there are far more seeds in a package than you need to plant for 1 years harvest. I mean really how many zucchini do you need????? I have had years when I've had 4 plants and taken 5 gallon pails to my friends every 3 days. One friend said she'd take all my extras for herself and her DIL. That lasted only 6 pails till she said enough! But I love a few for Zesty Zucchini Relish. Oh, I love that stuff. But if we get an extra long hot summer we get over run with the lovely things.

I want to go outside now and pull snow off the carport. DH has finnished ploughing so I can get around the carport to pull the snow. Ugh, enough snow already. If April Showers Bring May Flowers then what does January Snow bring??????????

Would you believe it??? Another Snowy day!!!! The tractor got finished, and we had a rest day for Sunday. roast Beef dinner with roasted potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy. Then later this evening I made some wonderful baking powder biscuits. You know the type you make once and then never want to make them again, because you know they will never be that good again and DH will expect them to be so light and fluffy. I used butter flavoured Crisco shortening ( because I had some left from Christmas baking, and about 1/4 cup or so of candied fruit... also left from Christmas) They were wonderful. i made a double batch so there will be a few left unless the other half gets up in the night. LOL



Also I have a rice pudding made up and will turn the crock pot on when I go to bed. Then there will be lovely rice pudding ready for breakfast. Are we nuts? Well, rice pudding has milk, rice, eggs and vanilla and raisins in. When it's hot it makes a lovely breakfast and we have the day to work the calories off. Another day of good eating and I still haven't been to the stores this year!

There are some good sales this week, so I will go in and pick up some specials, but i am making a real effort to keep my grocery budget the same as last year. Not easy with all the prices jumping as high and as quickly as they have. We rarely go out to eat any more. I am making more soups, I find we both are happy having a bun and soup for lunch, so am making left over soups often Where before we'd stop at the restaurant for soup, a bun and coffee. $5.95 for soup and a bun, and $1.50 for coffee, then taxes on top of that and that is for each of us.
I can make soup all week for that and the buns and coffee, just for the price of one lunch out. Some how it just doesn't seem right. I know it must cost a lot for wages, and upkeep of the restaurant, and of course the groceries, but still it seems a lot.

Time to put some more wood on the fire, and get it ready for the night. I will also plug in the pudding. Love that crock pot! The dog and cat have both curled up for the night, DH is asleep and I'm starting to get drowsy. I can hear the train droning away in the back ground. I think I am very glad I'm not on a train going through all the snowy back country tonight. I think it would be a cold ride, perhaps not for everyone, but I seem to feel the cold so much more than I did when I was younger. although I have always been cold and loved the hot summer weather. I feel best when it is about 30C. DH can't believe it I finally get energy to get going and I love it. LOL good thing we're not all alike.

Belated Happy New Year!

January 3, 2009! Where did the time go? It was New Years Eve, and then wham it's the 3rd of January. I spent the past couple of days with a sinus infection, still a little sore, but I can see better today. Black eye's like I've been in a fight! LOL I must look a sight, little old lady with shiners.

We have had snow, snow, and more snow. Yesterday when Ken was ploughing us out the tractor just would not work right. Finally he and Jack tore the tractor apart, and this morning Ken has gone in for parts. they think it is only a thermostat and and the cap that need to be replaced. All the rest of the system seems to be OK. They were worried that the block had cracked,but when they tore everything apart it looked fine and there were no leaks coming from there, or the hoses or the pump. Now in -23C they will try and get things working and put back together! Not a fun task to be sure. Having guys that can fix things and that are mechanical is frugal for sure! I'm afraid that is not one of my talents. I am not in the least mechanical. I try and help when DH doesn't have any help, but I think most times he'd rather do it himself. I am a good gofer, I can go fer this and that, and save him lots of steps. But that's it.

On the other hand I am good with the gardens. While DH bless his heart will carefully weed, and when he's finished the weeds are still there and the plants are gone! I know spring is coming even if everything is under 3-4 feet of snow and we have another snow storm on it's way! How do I know? Well, DH , picked up the mail yesterday and there was my first gardening catalogue of the year! It is my favorite to boot! So there I sat with my feet up, my reading glasses on my sinuses pounding ( and only letting me wear my glasses for a few minutes at a time) looking over the gardening catalogue! I have bought things from the Lindenberg Seeds Limited , several times, and always with good results. I'm sure I will again this year.

Had to leave for a time and now I'm back I will finish today's news.
The fellows fixed the tractor and put it back together except the hood and that they will put on tomorrow. First they wanted to make sure it would still work so they finished ploughing the snow. And scraping the snow off the portable garage, and the satellite dish. No new snow has fallen today so that is a plus.

By 10 this morning Gege stopped by and had a coffee I asked if she wanted to play domino's and she said yes. I stopped and made some corn chowder for our lunch and that bread and butter and coffee was what we had. Jack wouldn't have lunch he said he had, had a late breakfast, so just worked through and finished and went home about 1. Ken did stop and have lunch with us. Gege stayed till 2:30 and then headed home. The day went so fast! I put the chicken in the oven and some potatoes. But by supper time Ken just wanted bed, he was in a lot of pain. I made soup out of the chicken juice and the leftover rice, a little chopped up celery, onion, and carrots and salt and pepper. Later Ken got up and had a bowl of that. I know if he can't eat a meal he will often be able to eat some soup.
According to the weather reports the weather should warm up in a couple of days and be above freezing in the day time. I sure hope so, we could do with some melting. I keep looking out the windows to see a sign that winters leaving, or the days are getting longer...... I know I'm rushing the season, but a girl can always hope. till next time......