Growing Black Currants in My Suburban Yard

unripe black currants -- they'll ripen in June

I was out near our woods, gathering sticks to make another bunny fence when I spied these tiny berries beginning to develop. Over the years, I've told you about many of the fruits that I grow in our suburban garden. Perhaps you've guessed -- I like variety! There's a fruit that I grow that's not terribly well-known in American gardens -- black currant. Black currant, however, is well-known in northern Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, Asia, and New Zealand. 

For most of the 20th century, fruiting currants were banned in the US, due to a fungus which can devastate white pines, a common logging wood. In the last couple of decades of the 20th century (with the advent of successful treatments for this fungus), the federal ban was lifted for many states, including Washington state. This is great for me, as my cool maritime region is perfect for currants, with its damp and acid soil.

In studying what would grow in my partially shady yard and would have food value, currants and their cousins gooseberries sounded appealing. Prior to this garden, I had only tried the dried Zante currants, which by the way are a grape and not a currant. About 20 years ago, I ordered 1 black and 1 red currant plant. Both red and black currants will spread by fallen seeds in overripe  berries. But I also found they were incredibly easy to propagate from cuttings. I simply cut off about a foot from a cane and stuck it in soil in a shady spot. Within a year the cuttings had fully rooted. 

The red currants are more prolific in my yard, but I appreciate the black currants a bit more for their nutritional value and delightful flavor. High in vitamin C and polyphenols, these tiny black berries pack a punch. During WWII in England, imports of oranges were blocked by the enemy. The British turned to alternative and native sources of vitamin C, one being black currants. The juice from the berries can be made into a high-C syrup to be taken daily during cold and flu season. The juice is also the basis for currant liquors. The berries each have many seeds, so I tend to use them in places where seeds won't be as apparent, such as in tea, smoothies, fruit sauces, jelly, and juices.

I also use the leaves from the black currant plants. (Interesting, the red currant leaves have no distinctive flavor.) The aroma and flavor of the black currant leaf is fresh, herbal, and fruity. The leaves are high in vitamin C and GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) which is said to boost the immune system. 

I make a tea from both fresh and home-dried black currant leaves, often times adding some black tea and/or dried berries. Perhaps you've seen Harney & Sons or Twinings' black currant teas. Obviously, I love the frugality of growing my own tea ingredients. But, also, nothing can beat the flavor of freshly-harvested black currant leaves brewed into tea. Of the herbals that I grow for tea, black currant is my favorite.

This may surprise you -- black currant has been a somewhat popular fragrance for candles and air fresheners in recent years. My son and daughter-in-law gave me a black currant candle a year ago and I was quite pleased at how much it smelled like fresh black currant leaves. As I said before, black currants have a nice, fresh fragrance -- something appealing in a candle or air freshener.

Finding the plants doing well this year, I feel even more motivated to care for these canes and perhaps take a few more cuttings for expanding my harvest of future berries.

Another Almost-Summer Weekend and More Free Piles

I think all of our neighborhood is in a purging mood. I've seen quite a lot of good free stuff in the past few weeks. Sometimes I stumble upon these piles while driving. But lately, I've come across most of them while on my daily walks. Here's what the weekend brought to us.

We picked up a long rectangular folding table. This is the kind of table that you might use as a craft table for a group or a buffet table when covered with a floor-length cloth. The metal is brown and the top surface is very thin laminate. The laminate is peeling on the corners. One of my plans is to use this on the lawn for alfresco dining. We tried it out on Saturday for our dinner. It worked well and could seat up to 8, I think. For now, we're using a tablecloth. When I can get my husband to help me, we'll sand the laminate off and I'll paint the top. Many years ago, I picked up a laminate desk for $5 at a garage sale. My husband and I sanded the laminate top, and I painted, then coated it with marine varnish.This is the desk my daughters shared in their room for years when they were young. I'm thinking I can do the same with the folding table.

We also snagged a chandelier-style hanging light fixture. It's in brown faux wood, with fake drippy candles that take chandelier bulbs and have fabric shades. There are 5 shades. I can repurpose them on a couple of other fixtures in the house. The bulbs all work and I can use them in my existing chandelier. My plan is to remove the electrical components and fake candles, spray paint the fixture and use it as a hanging candle holder, perhaps in the backyard or on the deck. 

I also found the perfect picnic basket. It looks like something out of Yogi Bear. My daughter and I stumbled upon the picnic basket in a free pile on one of our walks. It prompted me to tell her all about Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, Rocky and Bullwinkle (plus the villains Natasha and Boris), and Felix the Cat -- all animated shows she's never seen before. I'm hoping to use the basket for breakfasts at the beach this summer -- an improvement over my usual brown shopping bag.

Anyway, I thought taking long walks was delightful this spring as an opportunity to see all of the flowers as they bloom. Who knew my walks would also become treasure hunts?!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. What was the most exciting thing you did this weekend?

Why Do You Make Frugal Choices?

I was thinking the other day about why we make the choices that we do. More specifically, what motivates people to be frugal. It seems that people are frugal for a variety of reasons.

For some, it's ideological or philosophical. One doesn't like waste or being frugal is part of a simpler approach to life. Sometimes this is derived from a person's younger years. Growing up in a period where there was a great deal of lack often leads a person to be diligent about waste, even after years of having abundance. I think of my grandparents who struggled to put food on the table during the Great Depression. This influenced not only how they lived out their lives, but also how may own parents parented us kids. Wasting food wasn't allowed, even though child-raising times were much more affluent for my parents than for my grandparents. As well, a desire for simplicity could also be a reaction to a consumer climate that seems excessive. Parents may want their children to experience simpler activities and play, while themselves opting to leave a lighter footprint on this world. With either scenario, it seems like a person's basic philosophy influences many frugal choices.

It may also be a matter of self-sufficiency that goes beyond one's philosophical approach to life. For example, not trusting that the future supplies of necessities will always be available, or not knowing if one's income will remain steady in the coming year. Here's an example: Our family is careful with water use. We collect rain water in rain barrels for some of our garden watering. We also save water from washing garden vegetables in a container on the deck to use later to water the garden. We reclaim the water from the shower warming up to flush toilets. I reuse the water used in incubating yogurt to do a load of clothes washing. It isn't that our water supplies are imminently threatened. But as more people move into our area, the burden on our current supply of water is stretched. At some point, there may not be enough municipal water for everyone to use as we always have. Water shortages are a thing in many parts of the country. They could even come to places where you think it does nothing but rain. 

Our family also likes to keep a vegetable garden, orchard, and berry patch, in part because growing our own produce ensures we will always have plenty of healthy food to eat, regardless of what happens in America's farmland or with transportation issues getting foods to local markets. The pipeline crisis just last week was a hint at what could possibly happen in the future, affecting transportation of all goods. There's also the ever-present risk of contaminated produce. Having a large garden means we control the safety of much of our own food.

For others, frugality is a necessity -- bills are simply greater than one's income. I think most adults have experienced this, especially in the early years of supporting oneself or while a student in college. We can all recall how poor we felt at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, these periods of greater bills than income can also come at later periods of our lives, as in unplanned unemployment, fixed incomes, major health crisis (and accompanying bills), and even joyous surprises, such as multiple babies in a pregnancy when you only anticipated one. It isn't always easy, but frugality allows folks to pay their bills and stay or get out of debt.

For still other's, it's a matter of choices to afford what's most meaningful. For example, the thinking "I can have this, if I give up that" such as spending less so one can stay home with their young children, or curtailing spending on new clothing, so you can travel, or being frugal now, so you can retire when you want. 

My own family has lived out all of the above motivations toward a frugal life. We've lived through periods of actual lack, as well as the choice to spend in some areas instead of others. We've also liked the way we feel when we don't waste. It makes us feel good to know that we are leaving plenty for others. We can also see that supplies and incomes can change on a dime. Who would have ever guessed that toilet paper, yeast, bread, and canned soup would ever be in short supply in America? Obviously, about 300 million of us never anticipated any of the shortages we saw last year.

These were just thoughts that were rolling around in my mind. What else did I miss? Do you think about the motivations behind your own frugal choices? 

Ploughman's Lunch (or Dinner)

The only exotic travel my husband and I have ever taken was our honeymoon. We visited England and Scotland. The tickets for the flight were a wedding gift and my newly-minted spouse and I found cheap lodgings and meals for the trip.

In looking for inexpensive eats, we ventured into the pubs. The best deal was the Ploughman's Lunch. My husband and I would find a quiet corner of the pub to sit for a spell (we were sight-seeing for hours each day) and split a plate of ploughman's. In its most basic form, ploughman's lunch is bread, cheese, butter, pickled onions, and a piccallili relish or chutney. In our experience, the lunch was served with fresh apples in some pubs and fresh tomatoes in others. Boiled eggs or cold meat were also available as extras. In all pubs, the entire meal was served cold and sort of do-it-yourself style -- break off a bit of the hunk of bread, slice off a knob of cheese, dab on some relish and enjoy. 

I understand that now there's something called a Posh Ploughman's -- more along the lines of a bread, meat and cheese platter to put out for gatherings. Not at all what my husband and I enjoyed.

When I'm working, I often make myself a ploughman's style lunch -- slice some bread and cheese, add some butter, and wash an apple. 

Last night, dinner was very rushed. Time got away from me and I needed to throw together a quick meal. I sliced up homemade bread, cut up some cheese, made apple wedges, added butter and pickles, plus some leftover cooked greens and rhubarb gelatin. I called this  Ploughman's Dinner. It was not only fast to make but had virtually no clean-up except the cutting board and a knife. Dinner was tasty, made with simple, wholesome foods, and a heck of a lot cheaper than take-out. A winner all around.

I can see how this would make a good lunch for a workman, as it's quick to make, relatively balanced, highly portable, and depending on the quantity of cheese and bread, this could be quite filling. Have you enjoyed ploughman's lunch before? Anyone remember piccalilli relish?

And so the harvest begins . . .

This is such an exciting time of year. I've been picking little bits of vegetables, rhubarb and herbs all spring, but nothing like yesterday.  I kept finding more and more to harvest for our meals. Let's see if I can remember it all. Yesterday, I picked several stalks of rhubarb, a bunch of turnip greens, several beet greens, a few leaves of red leaf lettuce, lots of big green lettuce leaves, some baby spinach, a few nasturtium leaves, a bunch of radish greens, a bit of parsley as well as thyme, and a mass of chive blossoms. Both the beet and turnip greens were from thinning those patches, so I won't be getting more of either of those greens until the roots are ready to harvest. 

Here's how I used all of the above.

I made rhubarb-cream cheese gelatin salad (making a sweetened rhubarb sauce, then puréeing with 3 tablespoons of cream cheese, and stirring in softened plain gelatin),

sautéed turnip greens with onions, garlic, and smoked sausage as a side dish,

a gourmet salad blend with lettuce, beet greens, spinach, radish greens, nasturtium leaves, parsley, thyme, and chive blossoms (enough for all of us for our lunches, with leftovers for today),

and a pint of chive blossom vinegar.

In these early days of this season's garden, harvesting this much may only happen a couple of times per week. But it sure is exciting. 

I was thinking about the value of our garden. It's more than just saving money on our grocery budget. It's the quality and variety that we gain by keeping a garden. If I didn't have this garden, I don't think we would eat such variety. I likely would not buy a gourmet or premium salad mix. If I bought rhubarb, I would only do so once or twice per season. And I doubt I would buy so many high-nutrient cooking greens. In addition, our garden produce is consumed soon after harvest, meaning the nutrients, flavors and textures are still at their peak. Whenever I get a notion to quit gardening, I remind myself of these hidden values of my garden.

Making a Sparse-Looking Flower Pot or Basket Look Full

So, the dilemma with buying flowering annuals for pots -- buy extra plants to put in a pot to make it look full right away, or spend less money and have the pot fill in as summer progresses.

I'm sure you guessed already which way I went on this one. I knew my basket was on the small side. And I did think about buying 2 begonia plants. But then I thought that maybe I could get by with just one. I  knew I could use one of my tricks to make the basket look full while the single plant grew.

Here's how small and puny my one begonia looked before.

After planting the begonia, I cut several short leafy stems of camellia and stuck them in the dirt all around the begonia. The stems add greenery and a sense of lushness, covering up the bare dirt around the edge of the pot. Leafy evergreen stems (not deciduous) will remain green and healthy looking for several weeks when stuck in moist soil about 2 to 3 inches deep. 

From a distance, it just looks like a full pot. Once the begonia fills in, I can easily remove the stems of camellia.

Weekend Free Piles and My Very Cheap Begonia Basket

Free pre-owned empty (except the weed)
hanging basket,
ready to be filled with flowers

It was garage sale Saturday in our area this past weekend. While I happily look around at everything for sale, I am mostly interested in the free piles. I must admit, our neighborhood has some pretty good items in free piles. One daughter picked up 2 nice looking lamps and a side table for absolutely free. The other daughter found a bunch of spots equipment in the piles. And I found some holiday decorations for next year.

What perhaps looked the most like garbage is actually something that will save me about $26 or $27. I've been watching for an empty hanging flower basket to appear in free piles to use near our front door. I spied one early Saturday. I picked it up and asked "is this free pile, too?" The lady replied, "yes, I bought my flower basket for the season the other day," pointing to the hanging flower basket on her front porch. It was beautiful and fully in bloom.

However, for about 30 cents of new potting soil, a $3.50 large begonia plant (large in bloom, not necessarily the whole plant),, and 15 minutes, I'll have my own hanging begonia basket in bloom.

Fred Meyer sells slightly larger planted begonia baskets for about $33, giving me a savings of about $26 to $27 for a slightly smaller version.

Maybe the woman who gave me the empty basket doesn't like to garden. Or maybe she doesn't have much free time. Or, maybe she picked up the basket on a whim. Or, perhaps she didn't realize how quick and easy it would be to replant her old basket. Whatever the case, I'm very grateful for my own good fortune.

I'll transplant the begonia later today. My daughter gave me a great idea for making the basket look more full while the plant grows to fill the space. I'll show you later this week.

Breakfast at the Beach

My daughters know me well. They had wanted to take me "out" for Mother's Day breakfast. But I spoiled their plans when I bought refrigerated cinnamon rolls for the four of us to have a special breakfast on Sunday at home.

So, they changed their plans a little and told me to keep Wednesday morning open. On Wednesday, the two of them took me to the downtown area of our little town. There's a little a bakery on Main Street and just down the hill is the beach. We each chose a pastry, then walked down the hill to enjoy a peaceful morning at the beach. My daughters brought fresh strawberries and coffee to go with the pastries. 

Our beaches, here in the PNW, are strewn with logs. The large logs make nice places to sit, have breakfast, and watch the water birds dunking their heads beneath the water's surface for a snack. The Washington state ferries come and go periodically. These are the same ferries that whisk my daughters and I across the Sound to one of our favorite get-away-for-the-day spots.

So we sipped coffee, enjoyed pastries and strawberries, and luxuriated in waterfront dining. After a couple of hours it was time for us to return home and get on with our work for the day. I, however, carried that carefree beach day feeling with me throughout the rest of my day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Progress of Our Hanging Salad Bowls

They're looking good! I think I'll wait one more week to maybe 10 days before beginning to pluck off some salad fixings. The two bonuses with using these baskets for salad greens is, one, pests can't get to them (no slugs or bunnies), and two, because they hang up near the roof's edge, they catch more sunlight than other parts of our deck and seem to be growing faster in this cool spring weather than pots down below (and much, much faster than in the garden).

As the weather warms, I'll start some seeds for heat-tolerant greens to replace these cool season ones. 

I have five hanging baskets just like this, plus several additional pots with a variety of salad greens. I can hardly wait for salad season to begin!

When you have simple tastes, the ordinary can be extraordinary!

I was pulling up the violets that had overtaken a footpath in the garden when I found the prettiest white rock. It looked like alabaster. The moment overtook me as I admired the creamy beauty of this solid white stone. It was just a moment, and to any one else, this might just be a rock. But because I find myself satisfied with the simple beauty of nature, I perceived this ordinary rock as extraordinary.

I think we are all born with simple taste. Have you ever watched a small child who has discovered an earthworm wriggling in the dirt? Child-like fascination with the natural world is corrupted by our culture as we get older. However, I believe we can encourage our tastes to appreciate the ordinary once again.

Here are 12 suggestions for getting back onto the path of simple tastes.

1) spend the day with a toddler -- play on their level, go for a walk and let them lead, giggle when they giggle

2) plant a seed -- watching a plant grow from a seed fosters my admiration for creation's perfect plan

3) watch the sun set from beginning to end -- so magnificent, yet such a simple pleasure

4) have breakfast early in the morning outdoors, alone, and listen to birdsong as you sip your coffee

5) volunteer in some capacity working with shelter animals, or with people who are less fortunate than you, either in their health or in their finances. Gratitude has a way of bringing us back to what is important.

6) give something up for a month or two. Giving up refined sugar causes me to really taste the sweetness in fruit. Having a no-spend month (except food and cleaning/paper supplies) forces me to appreciate the things I already own and experiences I can make for free. Give up social media for a month and you may find the simple pleasure of in-person conversations. 

7) read pioneer stories or stories from the Great Depression. When discretionary income was practically non-existent, folks found delight in everyday activities.

8) visit an elderly neighbor or relative and try to forget about the other errands you need to run. Can't do in-person visits right now? Visit by phone. Like Depression stories, a chat with one of our elders often puts life into perspective.

9) bring something from nature indoors to admire, such as a pebble, pinecone, seashell, twig, leaf, or blossom. I frequently pick up little treasures from my walks and set them at my place at the table to enjoy for a few days.

10) change the sheets on your bed and go to bed early. There's nothing so delicious as slipping between perfectly crisp and clean sheets at the end of the day.

11) plan a weekend retreat. Go camping or stay in a cabin. The point is forced disconnection from technology. 

12) visit a working farm and see first hand where real food comes from. Years ago, I was privileged with the opportunity to milk a goat and feed chickens. The experience was hilariously fun. But it was also very educational.

These suggestions feature a few things in common. Many either encourage encounters with nature or time spent with other people, in-person. I believe that humans are hard-wired to be both social and part of creation. For myself, I've found that expensive luxuries are often psychological replacements for the relationships that I crave deep-down.

Training yourself toward simple tastes is in the doing. The more you partake in simple moments, the more enjoyment you find in these activities. 

Mother's Day Was Just One of Those Times That We Chose to Spend More

Since we talked a bit about where we spend our money and when we choose to spend more, I thought I'd mention my family's Mother's Day celebration.

My daughters take over the cooking for me on Mother's Day as their gift to me. Like many young adults, they're both very busy people. So, when I did the grocery shopping this past week, I chose foods for Mother's Day that would be easy for them to prepare. This means that I bought foods that were more expensive than I would normally buy.

For breakfast, I had bought refrigerated, canned cinnamon rolls. That and coffee are plenty for me for breakfast. And these were so easy for my daughters to bake. We had a late lunch/early dinner as our main meal, with my son and daughter-in-law to share it with. I had bought frozen chicken Cordon Bleu (that only needed to be baked), a couple of bags of frozen roasting vegetables (Brussel sprouts, butternut squash cubes, and onions) that were easily roasted in the oven, dinner rolls from the bakery, a cantaloupe (to cube), a bag of broccoli slaw (to be dressed), a frozen peach pie (to be baked), and some chocolates. My son and daughter-in-law brought strawberries. Everything was delicious. But most of all, it was all easy for my daughters to make and have ready at the same time.

In total, I spent about $30 for our  Mother's day foods. And we had leftovers to pull together an easy dinner on Monday. Yes, we could have spent less by cooking everything from scratch. But sometimes it's worth it to spend more so the whole occasion can be enjoyed by everyone. I should also point out, that if we were to have eaten in a restaurant, a meal might have cost around $50-$70 for 6 of us.

The bonuses -- my daughters weren't too exhausted to enjoy time with the rest of us, and this taught them how to incorporate a few prepared foods in cooking a celebratory meal.

That was our Mother's Day. What did you do for the occasion?

What My Family Spends Our Money On

I don't know about you, but when I am first waking up for the morning, my thoughts can be kind of random. Yesterday morning I was thinking about the proportion of our money spent in different categories and how that must relate to our values. Following that thinking, the areas that we spend the most in must be the areas that are the most important to us.

There's a "however" to this. The expense for a couple of the most expensive categories for our budget is largely out of our control. These items are fixed in price by bodies greater than our family. Aside from this, I still think there is some truth to my morning musings. I'll list out our top spending categories in order from greatest monthly expense to least, then discuss how the order is a reflection of our families values and choices.

Taxes, that fee that we pay to government so that we can be governed -- far and away the winner for most expensive category for our household. When I combine income, property, and sales taxes, our family pays a larger share of our income in this category than any other.

Healthcare insurance -- again, another area where we have little control over the cost. We purchase our insurance through my husband's employer. We could buy insurance for myself separately from my husband's and choose a low up-front, but high deductible plan. But we choose to have the same plan for both of us, mostly because if I knew I had a large deductible, I would simply not go to the doctor. My access to medical care would be psychologically limited, whereas my husband's lower deductible plan would allow him to feel free to get medical care for himself.

Charitable giving

The next two categories are tied for 4th place.

Car insurance and food  

We live in an area with high car insurance rates, plus we have 4 drivers. If my husband and I were paying for the entire insurance on 4 drivers, car insurance would beat food in cost. However, our daughters pay the share of additional insurance to have them on our policy.

We have more control over the cost of food for our household than any of the previous categories. We keep costs down by growing our produce, shopping around for price, buying basic food items and cooking from scratch, eating at home, and having simple tastes.

Heat -- this cost is dependent on climate, home size, quality of insulation and heating equipment, and personal tolerance for cold or heat. I actually like a cooler house in winter. I like to sleep in cool air, and I find I'm more active during the day if the house is slightly on the cool side. We don't have AC, so I don't have to factor in cost to cool the house in summer.

Water -- despite living in an area known for rainfall, our cost of water is somewhat high, here. We do what we can to keep our water bill down, such as using rain barrels for some of our garden watering and taking shorter showers.  Four adults simply use a lot of water. And we're no longer willing to take extreme measures to reduce this bill. Water use is an area that we indulge.

Car repair and maintenance -- with an older car comes higher repair bills.

Internet service -- as we've seen this past year, modern lives have evolved to the point that having good internet service can be a requirement to earn a living. My husband has been working entirely online for the last 14 months, both daughters have needed internet service for their careers, one substitute-teaches online through Zoom, and I use the internet to earn a little money, too. We also just prefer high-speed internet and that costs more.

Electricity -- years ago, we had super low electricity usage. We own more electrically-powered gadgets and appliances now, so this expense has risen in our list. 

Items for the home -- we buy used, acquire for free, or shop discount stores/sales/coupons. We also keep our "stuff" in good condition, doing as much maintenance ourselves as we can. Every once in a while we buy a new appliance or electronic. It's these appliances or electronics that increase our average annual spending on items for the home. Last year's purchases included a new desktop computer and a new freezer. This year we bought a power washer.

Vacations and fun outings

Prescriptions, supplements, co-pays for medical/dental

Cell phone service -- my daughters pay for their own service. When my kids were in university, we bought prepaid text/voice only service. The main intent was that they'd be able to keep in touch with us. If they had wanted smartphone features, that would have been something they'd have to fork over the dough for.

Gasoline for our car -- my daughters use the car more than my husband or I, as sub teaching is often not compatible with taking the city bus. They also drive for their other career needs (classes, internships, auditions, filming). We've come up with a system that we feel is fair. We rotate who fills the gas tank -- daughter one, daughter two, then husband and self jointly.

Landline phone service -- we have a cheap basic phone plan for the home phone that is bundled with the internet. I don't know at what point we'll drop the landline. For the time being, it's the only number that one aging member of my extended family will call to talk with us. I want to leave that number intact to accommodate this member's comfort.

*see below

Garbage collection -- We used to opt for their cheapest service, once per month pick-up of a small can. We upgraded our service to once per week of their smallest can. We've been using the additional service for about 2 years, primarily to get rid of all of the junk that we acquired over the past 26 years that is either not recyclable nor fit for giveaway or resale. When we have cleaned out the attic and garage of all of this junk/garbage, we'll go back to once per month service.

Non-food household supplies, like paper products and cleaning supplies

Clothing -- I used to love buying clothes. I also used to giveaway my clothing on a regular basis. I now wear items until they are too far gone. And I'm careful to only wear nice clothes for as long as needed and change into comfy, less-nice clothes for when just around the house. 

* in a non-pandemic year, I guess we spend a bit more on restaurant dining per month than garbage collection but less than landline phone service. We haven't eaten out since Feb. 2020. I'm not sure how our dining out will look later this year. We seem to be enjoying eating at home all of the time.

The order of expenses has changed with time and as our income level has risen. When we were younger (and poorer), housing was our largest expense each month. Yet we didn't have a mortgage. We were renting a small 2-bedroom unit in a triplex, and spending 3 times the amount for our housing than for food at that time. When we bought a house and took on a mortgage, we spent about 6 times for our mortgage compared to food. An interesting point, though, is that when we were younger and poorer, we not only spent a larger share of our income on dining out than we do now, but we ate out with more frequency then than we do now. We also bought more new clothing back then. My thought is that feeling "poor" led to us treating ourselves to meals out and buying knick-knacks or clothing. 

At this stage in our lives, medical access and care is very important to us. So is the luxury of long, hot baths, having a well-watered garden, fast internet, and not worrying about the lowest possible electricity bill. We do try to turn off lights when not in the room. But I don't chase family members down just so I can lecture them about turning off those lights. My younger self did plenty of lecturing over wasting money. But we needed to always be vigilant, then. There wasn't much wiggle room at all in our budget.

Another thought about spending less on items for the home or clothing: once you've acquired what you need to run and enjoy a home or buy a set of nice clothing, you only need to replace items when the old ones wear out, you outgrow them, or technology or style outdates them. So, there's less need to buy something like furniture at this stage in life than there was 20 years ago for our family.

One thing to note about our family's not spending a lot of our income on food: it isn't that we don't value good food. To the contrary, we do value what we eat, and that is why we prefer to make and grow our own food as much as possible. We don't like the taste, texture, or knowledge of additives or preservatives found in or on many commercially prepared foods. We appreciate good, homemade meals made simply with fresh ingredients.

Yes, I was thinking almost all of this in those groggy moments of yesterday morning. It was threshold consciousness thinking -- not always in words, but in ideas. It was interesting to me to write this all down and analyze my family's spending priorities. 

Do you ever think about your spending values and how they play out in your actual spending?

Thoughts on the Cheap Gift

Saying that I love to gift cheap gifts has a bad sound to it, doesn't it? What I love is to take something that was inexpensive to me and do something with it to turn it into something nice.

I potted up my extra tomato plant for my son and daughter-in-law yesterday afternoon. I used the pot that I reclaimed with bleach and water. If I amortized the value of the pot (over 20 years), we're looking at about 50 cents. The tomato plant is one I grew from seed, so about 30 cents. I used about 3/4 of a bag of potting soil, about $3 worth. And I added a tomato cage that I picked up from a free pile a couple of weeks ago. My cost for this gift, then, comes to about $3.80. Oddly, the most expensive part of this gift was the bagged potting soil. Kind of goes against the phrase "dirt cheap!"

So, maybe it isn't that I love to give cheap gifts, but that I love to give nice gifts. And if they happen to be inexpensive, then that just means I have more money leftover to give more gifts.

Reclaiming a Dingy and Stained Garden Pot

I should've taken a "before" photo. I've had this pot for about 25 years. It's had indoor as well as outdoor plants in it. For the last 7 or 8 years, it's been a outdoor pot and really took a beating in our damp weather. The pot was stained by mildew and looked very dingy. It was actually looking kind of gray instead of its original almond/beige.

I needed a large pot for 1 tomato plant to gift to my son and daughter-in-law for their porch. I thought I'd be able to scrub the plastic clean. When that didn't work, I decided to soak it in my oversized sink with bleach and water. After about a 2-hour soak (with me turning it over periodically to get all sides bleached), the pot came out very clean. It's now presentable enough to offer to someone else.

I was just really thrilled with this and wanted to share. After the fact, I looked up removing mildew stains from plastic outdoor furniture, and sure enough, bleach and water is one of the recommended methods. Garden Axis recommends a mixture of half bleach/half water in a pump spray bottle. Spray the furniture piece, wipe with the scrubby side of a sponge or a rag, and then rinse well with the hose. I'll be trying this on our plastic patio chairs this weekend. 

My Cheap and Easy Way to Get a Crispy Crust on Homemade Pizza Without a Special Pan or Pizza Stone

I don't know if I've shown you this before. I make a scratch pizza every Friday night and was going through the usual process last Friday and thought to share my technique with you.

I admit it, I do have a lot of kitchen ware. However, I tend to not want to buy single-purpose kitchen gadgets. So, I've never bought a pizza stone or special pizza pan. Instead, I bake our scratch pizzas on my regular (but large) baking sheets. The problem with baking pizza dough on a regular baking sheet is the crust doesn't crisp up very well without over-baking the top of the pizza.

I stumbled upon this little technique that requires no extra equipment and little skill. I first bake the pizza on a greased baking sheet for all but the final 2 minutes. The crust edge is beginning to brown and the top of the cheese looks a little toasty. At this point, the dough has baked.

I remove the pizza and sheet from the oven, then using a metal spatula, I loosen the entire pizza from the baking sheet, but leaving it still on the sheet.

Next, I hold the baking sheet, with the loosened pizza still on it, just over the wire rack in the oven and shake the sheet until the pizza slides onto the oven rack. I then bake the pizza another 2 minutes.

To remove the pizza from the oven, I use the spatula to slide it back onto the baking sheet. Once the pizza is out, I slide a cake cooling rack between the sheet and the pizza so sweat doesn't form on the crust's bottom.

You can kind of see how toasty the underside of this pizza looks. Perfectly crisp pizza crust -- just how we like it, here.

It works. It's free. And I didn't need to buy or store anything extra.

Ironing Fabric Ribbons Quick & Easy and Other Frugal Things

I used to use a heated light bulb to quickly iron ribbons. However, now that almost all of our bulbs are either LED or CFL, they don't generate enough heat to iron anything. 

Enter my hair flat iron. My flat iron heats up in seconds and doesn't require an ironing board. I slip the ribbon between the paddles and pull it through a half dozen times. Hair flat irons always seem to have a sweet spot where the paddles make better contact than the rest. That's where I pull the ribbons through.

These satin ribbons were used to tie up some small gifts for my step-mom for Mother's Day. I save and reuse nice ribbons. Sometimes they become a tad rumpled when piled haphazardly in a box. A quick pressing makes them look good as new. Big but -- do not try this with plastic ribbons!!! Eek! I can just imagine the smell!

Anyway, if you were a previous light bulb-ribbon ironer, just a quick tip for if and when you need to iron satin or grosgrain ribbons in the future (and also happen to have curly hair (like me) that you straighten with a styling flat iron).  :)

Just curious, do you have plans for Mother's Day? I'm still not sure exactly what we'll do. But I'm hoping to have my son and daughter-in-law join us. Keeping my fingers crossed for no rain, as we'll be outdoors once again.

Did you pick any flowers for May Day?

Here's my May Day posy. I went out into the yard to look for flowers to pick. In early May, there's not a lot to choose from in my yard. But I did find a lot of violets. I cut a handful and tucked them into this tiny vase. 

On another note, the adorable little bunny has become a hungry, adorable bunny. He/she got into our strawberry beds and ate most of the leaves. The blossoms are still developing, so fortunately, they're safe from our hungry friend. One afternoon last week, we had to quickly devise some fencing for those beds. I wanted to show you one small critter fence that my daughters helped me make that day. 

(My husband used the last of the chicken wire on the bed just behind this one.) I worked with what I had on hand. I didn't have a lot of time to think something up, so I went with rustic. 

We collected a bunch of sticks from our woodlot and stuck them into the ground just inside the perimeter of the bed. Afterward, I used wire along the top third of the fence to anchor key sticks together, making it a little more difficult for either a squirrel or bunny to push the sticks over to get in. 

I had read that a rabbit fence needs to have slats no more than 2 inches apart. I'm assuming some of our squirrels could squeeze in through even tinier openings. So, we went with 1  1/2 inches apart. Anyway, so far, so good. It's been a little over a week, and the fence hasn't been breached. I like the look of this fence. If it works this strawberry season, this is what I'll use for future years. If not, it's back to the drawing board. 

Next up, devise a fence that will keep raccoons out of the corn. Any (cheap) suggestions for keeping hungry raccoons out of a small corn patch?

Thought I'd show you what making carrot powder in my kitchen looks like

Last week I told you about using vegetable powders. Today I wanted to show you how I make my own carrot powder. It's a 2-day process for me, one day for drying the carrot slices and the next next for grinding them into a powder. 

The other day, I made powder from 4 medium-sized carrots. I scrubbed, but didn't peel them. I trimmed the end and tips, then used my food processor and the slicing blade to slice the carrots into 1/16 to 1/8-inch slices (it's my finest slicing blade). I spread the carrots onto dehydrator sheets to dry at 135 to 145 degrees F for about 7 to 8 hours.

At this point, I really could make the powder. But waiting until the next morning means a relaxing evening for me.

If I had a newer and more powerful food processor, I would use it to grind the dried slices. But, since my fp is 37 years old, and I don't want to burn the motor out, I use my coffee/spice grinder to make the powder.

After one grinding, I put the rough powder through a mesh sieve, using a pastry brush to get all of the finer powder out of the grinder.

I run the coarse powder through the grinder about 4 more times, sieving in between each grinding. By the end, I have about a teaspoon of coarse grind (that I add to a cup of soup for myself) and about 1/2 cup (more or less) of finer-ground carrots, kept in a covered dish to use mixed in juice or yogurt.

The other day, I said that 1 tablespoon of powder was equal to one carrot. That may be true for more finely ground powder (which is more dense and compact). But for my home-ground powder I think 1  1/2 to 2 tablespoons is equal to 1 carrot.

The differences between commercial and home-ground carrot powder

To the left is a commercial powder and to the right, my homemade powder. Mine is definitely more pigmented and likely has much more beta carotene than the commercial. Home-ground is also more flavorful than the commercial powder that I've used.

I have a few thoughts on the color and flavor differences between the two powders. My home-ground is slightly coarser in texture than commercially-ground. A finer grind, like the commercial one, may affect appearance of color. I noticed this in the finer carrot powder that clung to the lid of the grinder. It was slightly lighter in color than the coarser pieces in the base of the grinder. It's possible that the commercial powder is made with larger, fatter carrots, grown for size, that have a larger center core that is light in color. Or, perhaps commercial powder is made with the residual pulp from making carrot juice. Anyway, home-ground dried carrot powder has more pigment and more carrot flavor than the commercial brand that I had tried.

The other noticeable difference is that without high-speed grinding equipment, the powder that I make at home is slightly more coarse than the commercial product and so doesn't completely "disappear" when mixed into other foods. I should add, some people shred their carrots before dehydrating, in order to make grinding easier. This might also produce a finer grind. I'll give that a try sometime soon and see.

Despite these differences, I'm very satisfied with my home-ground carrot powder. I have seen for myself just what is in my powder, so I know the nutrients that my body is getting from it. And, as I said before, I am able to squeeze a couple more servings of vegetables into each day without much extra effort.

Grocery Recap for April

Just before Easter I went to WinCo and spent $120.05. If you remember, we did a cook-out brunch, with kabobs as the main item, hence the boneless ham, smoked sausage, peppers, and mushrooms. Also, I added another 10-lb bag of sugar to our back-up pantry and did a little stocking up on meat. $120.05, with a major holiday and a little meat stocking up, is a great amount for this shopping trip.

I also made a Walmart order for pick-up just after Easter mostly for bathroom tissue, but also to stock up on a couple of items. I spent $39.24. Our Walmart limits the bathroom tissue to one package per shopping. So, I'm making a couple of pick-up orders at Walmart this month to get just a bit ahead on the tissue.

Mid-month (just before 2 more birthday celebrations), I went to WinCo again. I'm using these frequent shopping trips to stock up on some basics. Last month it was flour and oil. This month, it's sugar and chocolate/cocoa powder. I spent $94.96.

Near end of the month I did a split order between curbside pick-up and delivery through Walmart. I spent $56.77 combined.

End of month, I went to WinCo to stock up on several items. I spent$113.67. The next day I picked up an order from Walmart, spending $22.50. 

In looking at the list, you may notice that I bought a lot of ketchup this month (4 bottles). I have NOT heard that there will be a price surge on ketchup. It's just a convenient item to add to an order that needs a minimum spend for delivery or pick-up when I'm very close to that amount.

Total spent for April -- $447.19

What I bought:

three 10 lb bags sugar, WinCo, $4.95

1 25-lb bag sugar, WinCo, $12.38
pastel M&Ms, WinCo, $2.47 (Easter)

2 large bags toasted o's cereal, WinCo, $3.98 ea

8 boxes crackers, WinCo, 5 @ $1.28, 3 @ $1.58
2 boxes animal cookies, WinCo, $1.38
8 bags chocolate chips, WinCo, $1.68 ea

2 boxes graham crackers, Walmart, $1.17 ea

.16 lb nutmeg, WinCo, 94 cents
,17 lb garlic powder, WinCo, 86 cents
.70 lb plus .55 lb cocoa powder,  plus 1.27 lb WinCo, $1.81 & $1.42 & $3.28
1.20 lb plus 1.38 lb plus 4.03 lbs popcorn, WinCo, 91 cents & $1.05 & $3.06

2 gals vegetable oil, Walmart, $4.44 ea

10-lb bread flour, Walmart, $5.98

four 5-lb bags whole wheat flour, Walmart, one at $3.47, 3 at $3.76

2 5-lb bags whole wheat flower, WinCo, $3.22 ea

chicken bouillon granules, Walmart, $2.74

2 jars instant decaf coffee, Walmart, $6.23 ea

1 large jar instant coffee, Walmart, $7.73

2 dozen mini croissants (birthday), WinCo, $4.98

1 jar mayonnaise, WinCo, $1.98

mustard, Walmart, $1

4 bottles ketchup, Walmart, 88 cents ea

burger buns (birthday), WinCo, 92 cents

2-litre club soda (birthday), WinCo, 97 cents

4 oz onion powder, WinCo, $1.14

.52 lb corn starch, WinCo, 48 cents

marshmallows, Walmart, 88 cents

32-oz raw honey, Walmart, $7.93

1 gal vinegar, Walmart, $2.72

3-lb vegetable shortening, Walmart, $2.98

1-lb bag yeast, WinCo, $2.98

.73 lb sliced amonds, WinCo, $2.98

.78 lb peanuts, WinCo, $$1.33

7 gals 2% milk, 5 gals whole milk, WinCo, $2.29 ea for 4, $2.39 for 7, $2.49 for 1

two 2 lb bags shredded mozzarella, two 2 lb bags shredded cheddar, WinCo, $4.98 ea

2 1-lb blocks mozzarella, WinCo, $2.98 ea

2 2-lb blocks cheddar jack cheese, WinCo, $5.51 ea

3 18-ct eggs, WinCo, $1.70 ea

potato salad (birthday), WinCo, $5.48

8 lbs butter, WinCo, $2.48 ea

1.05 lb Parmesan cheese, WinCo, $4.70

.47 lb Parm/Romano cheese, WinCo, $2.11

5 cans orange juice frozen conc, WinCo, $1.17 ea
5 cans apple juice frozen conc, WinCo, 88 cents ea
4 bundles celery, WinCo 1 at 98 cents, 3 at 78 cents
5 lbs carrots, WinCo, $2.48
four 5-lb bags apples, WinCo, $2.48 ea

3.46 lbs apples, WinCo, $3.04
1.39 lbs Roma tomatoes, WinCo, $1.36 (Easter)
3 red bell peppers, WinCo, 48 cents ea for 2 (Easter-2) and 68 cents-1
3 green bell pepper, WinCo, 1 at 68 cents (Easter), 2 at 58 cents
19 bananas, WinCo, 84 cents plus $1.50, plus $1.57

1 lb mushrooms, WinCo, $3.76 (Easter)

5 small bags dried cherries, Walmart, $2.66 ea

2-lbs dried cranberries, WinCo, $3.98

1 lemon (birthday), WinCo, 68 cents

1 watermelon (birthday), WinCo, $10.71

1.80 lbs and 1.85 lbs tomatoes on the vine (birthday), WinCo, $1.22 and $1.28

6 lbs onions,  WinCo, $2.36

fresh ginger, WinCo (birthday), 82 cents

boneless half ham, WinCo, $10.34 (Easter)
beef smoked sausage, WinCo, $2.98 (Easter)
shank ham, WinCo, $7.52
beef top round roast, WinCo, $10.40
beef petite sirloin steaks, WinCo, $10.39
boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, WinCo, $8.22

2 large bags frozen turkey breakfast sausage, WinCo, $4.48 ea

2 value packs pepperoni slices, Walmart, $6.32 each

4 packages smoked sausage (like kielbasa), WinCo 68 cents ea

2 20-ct. packages Hebrew Nationals, Walmart, $9.14 ea

Because one of these birthdays was mine, I chose to buy some pre-made foods, such as the burger buns, potato salad, and some croissants. Gotta treat myself well on my birthday, right? As it was a bbq celebration, we also served watermelon and the homemade ginger ale (hence the lemon, ginger, and club soda).

I spent a whole lotta money this month on groceries. However, for the most part, I haven't been spending very much each month on food since last summer, and I had about depleted all of my supplies. Here's what I've spent monthly on food alone since last August:

Aug   $92.18

Sept   $182.30

Oct   $304.52

Nov   $189.45

Dec   $77.98

Jan   $54.07

Feb   $184.66

Mar   $152.77

Apr   $447.19

October and April were my stock-up months. The average for the last 9 months has been $187.24. That's not bad at all, especially since we have not spent any money on food from restaurants or venues other than grocery stores since Feb. 2020. We're doing fine.

That's it for grocery spending this month.

And tomorrow is May Day! Do you remember May Day posies from many years ago? As a child, we would pick flowers and make little bouquets to leave on neighbors' doors. I think I'll make my own posy for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Vegetable Powders

rhubarb-vanilla-beet smoothie

Last summer, when I was trying to stock an emergency pantry, I stumbled upon vegetable powders at a couple of websites. At one particular website, I was trying to meet a minimum order to get free shipping on powdered milk. I added some beet, carrot, and spinach powder to that order and have been experimenting with adding these powders to a variety of foods to boost nutritional value.

I have since discovered that I can make my own vegetable powders at a savings, using my dehydrator and food processor with fresh vegetables. I'll be processing some of our garden surplus as powders later this growing season.

You may wonder -- why bother with vegetable powders when fresh or frozen veggies are so easy to use in cooking? I'm aiming for 6 to 7 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. To reach that volume, I try for 2 servings at breakfast each day. My standard breakfast is a small cup of homemade yogurt. To add vegetables, I add some carrot powder, along with honey and vanilla for flavor. For my birthday, my son gave me some blueberry powder. So, I've been adding some blueberry powder along with the carrot powder. There's almost 2 servings done for the day. And it's delicious. Carrot powder has a mild taste and a small amount of texture. 

Later in the day, I make myself a smoothie with the handy Ninja smoothie blender that my husband picked up off the "free" table at work. Beet powder has more flavor than the carrot. However, when mixed in a smoothie, such as the above rhubarb-vanilla-beet smoothie, I don't taste it at all, yet I'm getting the benefits from beet root. (I used leftover cooked vanilla rhubarb with beet powder and a small amount of water.)

When I make pizza sauce, unbeknownst to my family, I add a spoonful of spinach powder to the tomato paste and seasonings. A little dark leafy greens slipped into a pizza dinner without anyone noticing.

I also make myself juice drinks, using apple juice as a base then adding carrot, beet, and spinach powder and shaking well. This is my "recharge" beverage when I'm working out or a quick, last-minute vegetable with lunch on a particularly busy day.

Yes, I could cook, puree and add vegetables to the same foods, but I like the powders for a couple of reasons. They're super easy to use, no on-the-spot cooking and pureeing. They don't add water content to foods that I don't want thinned, such as my yogurt breakfast. Alternatively, sometimes I want to actually thicken a soup or sauce. Vegetable powders have a slight thickening effect, as well as add flavor and nutrients.

I still consume most of my fruits and veggies un-dehydrated. Powders are just one more way to boost the nutrients in my foods.

Have you ever tried vegetable or fruit powders?

Foods Which May Be Affected by Inflation

I don't know if you've been reading news' articles about food inflation for 2021. There are some foods that we can expect to pay more for this year. Here's the list so far for the year:

• Coffee -- due to drought in Brazil
• Cheese, especially Parmesan -- increases related to shipping, herd feed prices, and aging of cheese
• Meat and dairy -- due to shortage of some animal feed
• Poultry -- avian influenza affecting poultry in EU
• Imported seafood -- port issues
• Vegetable oil -- drought in Brazil affecting soy, labor-strike in Argentina, and increased demand from China for vegetable oil fueling shortages combined with Russia's increased export tax on sunflower seed and oil (Russia is world's largest exporter of sunflower seeds) and Thailand and Malaysia's lower than expected palm oil production 
• Grains -- due to China's increased demand for grains as feed for increasing their livestock herds, Russia's increased export tax, US mid-west/Ukraine/Argentina/Brazil crop reductions/failures (weather-related)
• Sugar -- fears over worsening crop prospects this coming year in South America, Thailand, EU, and Russia

Even if the US is not a big trading partner with one or more of these mentioned countries, world-wide price increases and shortages still affect domestic prices.

It goes without saying, many processed foods will also bear higher prices or shrinking packages. Kraft-Heinz, Conagra (Duncan Hines, Marie Callender's), and Unilever (Lipton, Hellmann's) have already announced price increases for this coming year, due to higher cost of grains and sugar. Mayonnaise, a product that uses vegetable oil, is already more expensive than it was just 6 months ago.

So, what am I doing about this? I'm once-again dedicating more of our income to grocery purchases, trying to get a step ahead on these key food items. I'll also be setting aside a bit of our surplus of ingredients that I'll want to use next fall and winter holiday season. It's common sense that we'll likely feel the full brunt of food inflation, then, just as Americans do their annual holiday big-baking and cooking to celebrate what we hope will be the first "normal" holiday season with loved ones.

sources:

businessinsider.com
gro-intelligence.com
seekingalpha.com

reuters.com

ijr.com