Celebrate Earth Day With 8 Ways to Repurpose Plastic Milk Jugs for the Garden

With Earth Day this Saturday. I thought I'd share some of the ways we can repurpose clean plastic milk jugs in the garden, replacing single-use item purchases. I buy milk primarily in 1 gallon jugs, however many of these uses work with 1/2 gallon jugs as well.

1.  planting containers -- before cutting the milk jug, I use a corkscrew to add drainage holes to the bottom. I make about 8 to 10 holes with the corkscrew. After I've made my drainage, I use a sharp knife to make a slit where I want to cut, then use scissors to cut off the portion of the jug just below the handle. 

Milk jugs have a square-ish shape, which means I can fit more of these planting containers on a shelf for growing. I'm growing lettuce, parsley, spinach and basil on plant shelves on the deck this year, using milk jug bottoms as my planting containers. One milk jug planter is just right for 1 head of leaf lettuce, 3 or 4 baby spinach plants (for baby spinach), 3 parsley plants, or 2 or 3 basil plants.

2.  cloches to protect young plants from cold nights (or days as I'm finding this year) early in the season. To make a cloche, make a slit with a sharp knife at the base of the milk jug, about 1 inch from the bottom, then use scissors to remove the base. In windy weather, I secure these cloches by burying them in the soil about an inch.

3.  plant saucers -- those shallow bases cut off the milk jug when making cloches make effective plant saucers for 5 1/2-inch diameter (at the base) pots.

4.  no-cost drip irrigation -- poke 1 or 2 holes into the bottom of the milk jug, fill with water, put the lid back on and set next to a plant that needs watering. If water isn't dripping out as quickly as you'd like, loosen the lid slightly. If you live in a windy area, weight your jugs with a few small rocks before filling with water (so it doesn't blow away when empty).

5. storage container for keeping homemade compost tea.  I make compost tea in large batches, storing what I won't use immediately in cleaned out milk jugs with lids.

6.  hot water bottles under row covers to extend the growing season. I'll be planting out our tomato plants this next week. Due to our cool spring weather, I plant them under row covers/season extenders. When temperatures threaten to drop too low for my plants, I add a few milk jugs filled with hot water under the covers. This works at the end of the season, too. When frost threatens before I've harvested all of my tomatoes, I cover the large plants with a sheet or two at night and add a "hot water bottle" or two.

7.  mini greenhouses for starting plants. This is something a couple of you have told us about. Make your drainage holes first, using a corkscrew. Then cut 3/4 the way around the jug, leaving a connecting 1/4 as a hinge. 

8.  plant markers for garden rows or pots when starting seeds. Cut the leftover odds and ends from milk jug repurpose into narrow strips about 4 inches long. Use a Sharpie to write pertinent info on the plant marker.

Blessings

Here we are, mid-spring, and I'm noticing that our garden produce from last season is almost gone. This is the last of the pumpkins that I grew. I harvested it in late October, still green when cut from the vine. I left a really long, trailing vine for the first couple of weeks after bringing indoors. And I kept all of the pumpkins in my cool storage room (about 52 to 54 degrees F from late October through early May). The homegrown ones all did well. Of the pumpkins and squash that I purchased, I had a couple of squash (but no pumpkins) that went soft in my storage room. I brought this last pumpkin out to the kitchen counter over the weekend to remind me to cook it up in the coming week for soup, pasta sauce, pie, or pumpkin bread.

For our Easter celebration, we used the last of the garden potatoes (purple and white) in mashed potatoes. I also kept those in the cool storage room. I think doing so kept them from going soft or sprouting too badly.

I still have a little garden garlic remaining, perhaps enough to get through early May. I keep the garlic in the fridge in a paper bag and it keeps very well. I also have the last of the garden onions, the very small ones, enough for one omelet. I'll use those onions up this week, as we're also almost out of the purchased onions from the 50-lb sack.

We finished off the garden carrots, beets, and turnips around Christmas. I do have some frozen veggies remaining, mostly items like chives, beet greens, sorrel, grape leaves, and carrot leaves. I'll need to get creative in using these veggie bits. If I put my mind to cooking with them, I imagine they will be used by the middle of May. 

Remember those 2 huge bags of blackberries that we foraged and froze in September? We've been using them steadily in smoothies and as fruit, simply thawed and topped with honey. We'll be out of blackberries in mid to late May. 

What else is left? A handful or two of dried homegrown fruit, some blackberry syrup and juice, some crabapple sauce and juice, and assorted jars of jams, jellies, pickles, and preserved figs. It's definitely winding down.

It's a good thing that the garden will begin to produce regularly again soon. Our rhubarb (one of the first produce items I can reliably count on each spring) is up, but no where near cutting. We're a month away from rhubarb pies, sauce, and muffins.

I can't imagine what life and mealtimes would have been like in a period when folks had to raise all of the food they would eat not only for an entire winter, but most of spring as well. We're blessed to live with grocery stores, freezers, electricity for canning, and farmers to grow a lot of our food. We're blessed.

Beginning the Budget Redo of Our Outdoor Living Spaces

It's been a very chilly and wet April here in the Pacific Northwest. Just this afternoon, the high was predicted to be in the upper 40s F, with real feel predicted at 28 degrees F. We've had hail on 3 separate days this month. And the rain has been so prolific that I've been reluctant to do my walking outdoors on many days. So, I've been walking indoors a lot this month. To entertain myself while walking indoors, I've been watching Youtube videos of other folks' patio, deck, and front porch makeovers, in particular the ones done on tight budgets (because, as you know, a tight budget is just the sort of budget that I have).

Our outdoor living spaces really need a good makeover. And I've been inspired to turn these spaces into places where we want to linger, or play a game, or enjoy a quiet cup of coffee in the early hours, or sit and wave hello to the passersby in front.

So, here I go, jumping into my summer project of upgrading our outdoor spaces on a budget. My plan is to incorporate what we own, repair and clean as needed, pick up whatever looks interesting from free piles, shop at thrift stores and garage sales, try a few DIY projects, and perhaps spending a little more money on some quality seating.

the current state of our backyard patio, 4 plastic chairs and a fire ring

Obviously, the first place to start is to do a thorough cleaning and repair of what we already have. When the weather warms enough for me to not mind getting wet, I'll pressure-wash the hard surfaces and chairs. Our outdoor cushions have faded over the years, so I"ll purchase some outdoor fabric to make new cushion covers. And our wood furniture needs re-staining.

I got a start on thrifting some furniture pieces this week. Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at Value Village. I went looking for a long black skirt for myself, but I came out with this side table. This table looks very much like another side table that we bought new in 2001. After a good cleanup and re-staining, I'll have a near-matching pair of side tables. 

One of the aspects that I like about this table is that it folds flat for storage. Another aspect that I really like . . .

is the price I paid. It was tagged $2.99. But since it was Senior discount Day, I actually paid . . .

$2.09. Yep, the discount at VV for seniors is 30% off everything, even the long black skirt that I also bought for myself.

This won't be a quick project. I expect to be working on it for a couple of months, at the least. But I will update you on my finds and progress as I go.

The videos that I've been watching have prompted me to think about how we use our spaces and what activities we may like to use them for, if the spaces were made suitable. For example, chairs or a bench on the front porch for casual people watching and good neighboring in the summer evenings and a simple bench and cushions on the back deck for quietly reading a good novel on a summer afternoon, or a DIY outdoor checkerboard for fun games and entertainment. My hope is that this will be the summer that some of my outdoor living dreams actually come to fruition.

How about you? What do you like best about the outdoor living spaces surrounding your home? Is there any spot where you're not satisfied? What matters more to you, function or visual appeal? Any advice to offer me as I begin this new project?

Making the Best of a Delayed Holiday Celebration

Hi friends!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter followed by a good week. And if your week wasn't a good one, I hope this week is off to a better start.

Our Easter didn't go as planned. (Does anything, anymore, go as planned?) My daughter was very sick on Easter. So about 6 AM we made the call to postpone our Easter celebration with our son and daughter-in-law until the next Sunday (Orthodox Easter, yesterday). I'm glad we pushed the date back a week and am grateful the whole family could be on board.

Meal prep for Easter did become slightly more complicated, however. Before we canceled our Easter Day plans, I had baked a ham, roasted a turkey, baked a lemon meringue pie, and made an onion and crumb topping for green bean casserole. I had also bought fresh asparagus and fresh strawberries to add to our Easter meal. (I had other side dishes planned for the meal, but hadn't begun to assemble any of them.) 

But I had the meats, a whole pie, fresh produce, and crumb topping that had to be dealt with posthaste. So the day after actual Easter, I sliced the ham and turkey and froze it. I made a stock with the turkey neck and carcass, freezing the resulting stock in smaller containers for making gravy later. I roasted the ham bone and made ham stock, which I froze for soups later. I froze the onion and crumb topping to use in a week. The asparagus wouldn't keep for another week fresh, so I blanched it all and froze it to use on our delayed-Easter. That left the strawberries and pie to contend with. Strawberries wouldn't keep and I didn't want to freeze them, so we ate them over the next couple of days. I wasn't sure about freezing the pie, so we decided to just eat it during the week, and I'd bake a second pie for our delayed celebration. I was able to thaw, reheat, use to finish recipes or serve, as is, all of the frozen items. And for the most part, quality didn't suffer too much with the freezing (exception being the asparagus -- it would have had better texture if cooked fresh).

The late Easter meal all worked out okay. I bought another container of fresh strawberries and made a second pie. With the extra week, I even found time to make a refrigerator dough to make dinner rolls. This is what our complete Easter meal menu looked like:

• ham
• turkey with gravy
• mashed potatoes
• green bean casserole
• honey-mustard carrots
• asparagus with lemon butter
• fresh strawberries
• crescent rolls
• date and coconut rolls (a fruit candy)
• lemon meringue pie
• Jordan almonds
• mint, lemon balm, rose petal herb tea
• sparkling water

Everyone enjoyed the meal. It was colorful, varied in flavor and texture, and filling. We ate this as a combined lunch and dinner, so that too-stuffed feeling had plenty of time to diminish before bedtime. 

There were enough leftovers of everything to send some home with my son and daughter-in-law and for our dinner on Monday (tonight). I have some roll dough, turkey stock, and both meats left in the fridge for making a simple dinner on Tuesday of turkey/ham soup and rolls. Plus there are several containers of ham and turkey meat and stock frozen for future meals.

The downside to this delayed celebration include: my daughter was very sick and felt miserable for a few days; the asparagus wasn't as crisp and fresh if it had been cooked on the day of the meal; I had to spend extra money to buy more strawberries; I had to bake a second pie; we all had to wait a week to gather together.

The upside to the delayed celebration included: we got to eat a second container of strawberries; we got to eat a second pie; I added dinner rolls to the menu; everyone was well by the time we all got together; I had extra time to put together the side dishes, as the meats were baked/roasted already at this point.

All in all, a lovely Easter celebration, even if late, spending time with my whole family.

Just letting you know, I'm taking this week off from blogging

Hi friends,

Just to let you know, I'm taking this week off, a spring-break of sorts for me. I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful week. I'll be back next week to share more of the ways my family thrives on a budget.

The Experiment That Failed

Remember the watercress seeds I started on a damp paper towel-lined plate? Well, they did sprout, and they did begin to grow. And then they only got leggy and the leaves never really grew. Others have done this successfully, so I must have missed something with my seeds. 

Perhaps they didn't get enough light through the window. Or perhaps they needed to be kept more moist. I did have trouble keeping ups with daily sprinkling with water. Perhaps I should have kept the plate covered with a clear plastic bag. So many perhaps. 

I'll try again some other time. For now, chock this failure up to experience. And now I know how not to grow watercress sprouts.

We do know what's not on our Easter dinner menu -- sprouted watercress.  Have a happy Easter, friends.

Origami Nut & Candy Cups for Our Easter Table

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm grateful this was truly a 24-hour bug. By midday, I was feeling normal again. I'm back on track, getting ready for Easter.

When we were in the vintage district on my daughters' birthday in March, I happened to see my mother and father's china pattern, Lenox Olympia. The pattern is considered mid-century, which fits as my parents were married in the late 1950s. I had been thinking about my parents china since that day in March.

After I put the tablecloth on the dining room table, I was inspired to get some pieces of my parents' china out and see how they'd look together. Continuing with the 1950s vibe, we decided to use the Jordan almonds I bought last month in paper cups on the table at Easter.

You know me, I didn't want to buy paper nut cups when I can somewhat easily make some cups with origami. We have a large roll of bright green wrapping paper from a yard sale (25 cents) last summer.

So, this afternoon I got busy and made a bunch of these bright green star boxes.

Using 7-inch squares of the gift wrap, I followed instructions for making the boxes in this YouTube origami star box tutorial. The tutorial was very easy to follow and I enjoyed the peaceful music that came with it. The were not only easy to do, but they were easy to do neatly (getting origami to look neat is half of the challenge for me).

Now filled with the Jordan almonds, I think they look cute and festive.

Well, today didn't go as planned

So, this is a busy week for me, with Holy Week, Easter preparations, expecting company on Sunday, and needing to get the deck and patio cleaned up. As you can imagine, I had a list of stuff to get to today. Just after 9 AM, some sort of stomach bug set in and my day was wrecked. Rather than be upset about missing a day of my work, I decided to find the blessings in this. 

Oftentimes the blessings aren't in the thing itself, but in the things and people who surround us. First on my list of blessings is my daughters can cook and pitch in for me. One daughter made dinner and dessert for the family tonight, allowing me time to rest and keeping me out of the kitchen where I might possibly getting someone else sick.

My schedule is flexible and I can do my to-do list tomorrow and the next day or two. And doubly grateful I no longer have small children at home who would still need me during the day, even when sick.

I got the taxes in last week, so that is not lurking in the back of my mind.

It's too cold to plant anything in the garden this week. So I don't have to feel guilty about not getting around to that.

It's just mid-week, so I still have time to get to Easter prep. And, my family will understand if the holiday doesn't have all the bells and whistles or if the house is not completely clean. I am glad that I cleaned the powder room and set the dining room table on Monday, so at least I can appear to be hospitable. 

The true meaning of Holy Week and Easter can't be negated by a minor illness. 

I'm generally not a napper, so being forced to nap was welcome today.

While I'm not happy I got sick, I am grateful for all of the blessings in my life despite being sick. Hopefully I'll be myself tomorrow.

Have a great day, friends!

A Study of Kitchens From a Popular 1950s Television Show

I've long had an interest in cultural domestic history, in particular the history of traditionally women's spaces. When I watch a period movie, I'm often distracted from the dialog as I study the set. Kitchens and sculleries from pervious generations are especially interesting to me.

You can imagine how my interest might be piqued as I watch reruns of old television series. This winter, I've been watching old episodes of Leave It to Beaver on Tubi. The series begins in 1957. June and Ward are living with their two young boys in an older home, with a kitchen that is reminiscent of the late 1930s to the mid-1940s. Later in the series, the Cleavers move to a newly built house (near the end of 1959, just before 1960). There's a stark contrast between the kitchen in the older home (likely c. 1940) and the modern, newly built (near-1960) home. Women became the beneficiaries of mass-produced modern conveniences and streamlined interior design. Here are some of my observations.

Some of the dating features of a 1940s kitchen include a free standing range and freestanding refrigerator with no countertops and cabinets adjacent to either appliance. These two appliances stand alone on the one wall. Imagine working at a stove with no flat surface adjacent as a landing place for foods coming out of the oven. No counter next to the stove to line up a bunch of plates for serving up the family's meals. 

And no counter next to the fridge to set your bag of perishable groceries so you can unpack and tuck them into the fridge or freezer with ease.

The cabinets and countertops are limited in this earlier kitchen. There's not a lot of space for countertop appliances, nor much space for storage. In the Cleaver's first home, the only counter is an ell-shaped one, behind Ward and June in this photo.

In the following photo, the space to the right of the sink, where June is working, is about 30 to 36 inches wide. She has a longer work space on the other side of the sink, running perpendicular to the sink wall. My guesstimate is the other work space is about 48 inches long, plus the 24 inches that occupies the corner of the cabinets/countertop. It's not a lot of work surface for a kitchen that serves a family's needs.

In a couple of episodes, June uses the pull-out bread/cutting board as a work surface. I imagine this is in part done for camera angles. But also, I would imagine if my kitchen was very small, I'd use every available space possible.

Another design element that dates this first kitchen to the late 1930s or early 1940s is the tile countertop and back splash. Tile was the surface of choice for counters in both kitchens and bathrooms until just after WWII.

The Cleaver's newly-built home, 1959

As I said above, the Cleaver family moved into a newly-built home at the end of 1959. A new home in the late 1950s boasted many innovations in tools and appliances, surfaces, and design. The Cleaver's new kitchen had a peninsula. While this likely provided camera opportunities for the show, kitchen peninsulas did take off in the floor plans of the 1950s kitchens. Adding a peninsula to the kitchen's floor plan increased work surface and storage. Like the Cleaver kitchen, some peninsulas housed the family's built-in cooktop. Not shown in these photos, the Cleaver's kitchen had a wall oven, as well. A wall oven separate from the cooktop provides two major benefits over range ovens/stoves. One, escaping heat from a range oven can overheat the cook standing at the stove stirring a pot; with a separate cooktop, heat from the oven may be feet away from the cook. And two, no more bending over to put in or take out items from the oven, as with a range oven. 

In the following photo, you can see the refrigerator is housed in cabinetry (behind Wally and June). No more fridge free floating on the wall. Adjacent to the refrigerator is ample counter surface for loading and unloading the fridge or freezer.

I made mention of the tile counters and backsplashes in the older home's kitchen. In the Cleaver's 1959 kitchen, the counter surface follows the major trend in post WWII counters -- the use of laminate (Formica). Laminate came in an abundance of colors, was completely smooth (better for rolling out dough than tile), didn't crack as tiles might, and didn't have grout that stained easily, requiring regular cleaning and bleaching.

In addition to changes in these elements of function and design, kitchens grew in size in the 1950s, although I think the Cleaver's new kitchen is much larger than typical 1950s/1960s kitchens. The 1950s was the decade of the growing, suburban family. Homes built in the suburbs were often larger than city homes. As home sizes grew, so did their kitchens. 

A century ago, US residential kitchens were not much more than utilitarian spaces. The 20th century saw an increase in the kitchen becoming a focal point of family life. I remember my grandmother's kitchen in her 1937 home. It was a narrow, galley style kitchen with limited work surfaces and not enough floor space for children to be in the kitchen, too. My grandmother's house had a small room adjacent to the kitchen. This was the breakfast room for informal family meals. The first house of my parents that I can remember was built in 1960. It had a U-shaped kitchen with a slightly bigger footprint overall than my grandmother's. Just beyond the stove was a raised counter/bar eating area. I would sit on a bar stool and talk with my mother and do small tasks for her while she cooked. We moved into a house built in the mid-1960s when I entered elementary school. The kitchen in this new house was quite large compared the other kitchens I had known. There was room for a cook and a couple of young helpers to work and a table for family meals. As family sizes continue to shrink, I wonder if future kitchens will also become smaller?

How will appliances be modernized in the future? Will kitchen spaces be used in new ways? What new conveniences, that we can only imagine now, will future families enjoy? I've always had a good memory for spaces. I only hope I can hang onto my memory capabilities another 20 or so years so I can compare what is to come to what I once knew.

March 2023 Grocery Shopping

March 8. My daughters and my husband love, love, love fast food. (I've tried "reforming" them, to no avail.) We all needed a pick-me-up this week, so I swung by McDonalds to get them some burgers and fries. Spent $13.67

March 9. It's been almost 2 weeks since I grocery shopped last. Needing primarily milk, eggs and produce, I went to WinCo and Walmart. I had 2 other family members with me, getting their own snacks and special foods that they pay for. They also requested we stop at Grocery Outlet. So, I actually went into 3 stores, but only bought items in 2. At WinCo I bought 1 bottle ketchup, 1 gallon whole milk,1 corned beef, 1 bag turkey breakfast sausage, 1 pack turkey bacon, 4 avocados, 3 Roma tomatoes, 3.5 lb bag apples, 4 lbs tangerines, 2 bunches bananas, 1 large red pepper, 1 bundle celery, I lost my shopping list halfway through shopping. I backtracked but couldn't find it. I hope I bought everything I needed from the list. I spent $35.92

At Walmart, I only bought 1 60-ct case of eggs, $11.06.

Total spent today --$46.98

spent for the month, so far -- $60.65

March 13. I had 3 digital coupons at Fred Meyer I wanted to use before they expired. I also needed some gardening supplies (not items carried at WinCo, so I knew I'd be buying these at Fred Meyer). I bought 2 whole chickens on a buy 1/get 1 deal (averaged $1.10/lb), 5 half-gallons milk for 99cents each (the half-gallons of milk have been on sale for less per ounce than the gallons for the past year or so, so buying a couple of "halfs" in place of 1 gallon is a money saver), 3 16-ounce chubs of maple breakfast sausage at $2,49/each, and 1 free bag of frozen edamame. 

spent today -- $24.29

spent for the month, so far -- $98.61

March 16. Picking up a couple of foods for my daughters' birthday picnic at Dollar Tree. I bought 1 box faux GS Thin Mints and a loaf of sliced French bread. Spent $2.50.

March 17. On way to daughters' birthday fun we stopped by Grocery Outlet. I sent my daughters into the store to get 2 cake mixes (10 cents ea) and 8 boxes of cereal (4/98 cents). Spent $3.06. (One of my daughters had been to GO the day before and saw both the cereal and cake mixes. I told her we could stop by to get some of these deals.)

Spent so far this month -- $104.17

March 22. I needed a couple of gardening items from Fred Meyer, plus some decaf coffee for myself. I bought the decaf ($4.99), and also found corn flakes and rice crispy cereal on clearance for $1.07 ea, 48-oz carton rainbow sherbet (for birthday dinner) on sale for $1.99, and 4 gallons of 2% milk on clearance for 96 cents each. I spent $12.96

March 24. WinCo and Walmart with a daughter buying birthday dinner foods. I bought 8-oz shredded cheese ($1.98), 1 head lettuce (98 cents), 3 Roma tomatoes (98 cents/lb), bulk Jordan almonds for Easter ($3.98/lb), 6 packs hot dogs (68 cents each), bag of frozen turkey breakfast sausage ($5.90), turkey bacon ($2.78), and a frozen turkey for Easter dinner (88 cents/lb). I spent  $30.74 at WinCo. At Walmart I bought 1 bag of Fritos-type chips and 8-oz sour cream to use in birthday dinner. Spent $2.90 at Walmart. Total spent today -- $33.64.

Spent for the month so far -- $150.77

March 30. I decided on adding a ham to Easter dinner, so I went to Fred Meyer where there was a deal this week. I bought the ham (89 cents/lb), 2 jars of decaf coffee ($4.99 ea), 10 packs of turkey bacon on markdown ($1.24 ea, due to expire in 1 week, I froze it all once home), 5 bags of tortilla chips on markdown (60 cents ea, best-by date in June -- I'm all set for Cinco de Mayo, husband's bday, and Father's Day - hubby's favorite is Tex-Mex), and 4 boxes of pop-tarts on markdown (38 cents/box, best-by date in November 2023). I don't normally buy pop-tarts, but 3 of the 4 of us do enjoy them, and at 38 cents/box, they were a steal for junkie stuff. I needed to make a $25 purchase (before adding in ham) to buy the ham at 89 cents/lb. Including the ham I spent $34.55.

Total spent for the month -- $185.32

what I bought

4 avocados

6 Roma tomatoes

1 bundle celery

1 red pepper

3.5 lbs apples

4 lbs tangerines

2 bunches bananas

1 head lettuce

1 bag frozen shelled edamame

12 packages turkey bacon

2 large bags turkey sausage

1 corned beef

3 lbs breakfast sausage

2 whole chickens

6 packs hot dogs

frozen whole turkey

1 ham

7.5 gallons milk

5 dozen eggs

8-oz cheese

8-oz sour cream

48-oz sherbet

1 bottle ketchup

1 box cookies

1 loaf French bread

10 boxes cereal

2 boxes cake mix

3 jars decaf coffee

bag corn chips

5 bags tortilla chips

4 boxes pop-tarts

1 lb candy

1 fast food meal for 4

In addition to the above foods and meal, we also spent some money on pie in a bakery and a fast food meal on the drive home from the vintage district, both on my daughters' birthday. The expense for those foods came out of a birthday budget and not the grocery budget. 

I found several amazing deals this month: the frozen turkey, hot dogs, turkey bacon, cold cereal, tortilla chips, cake mixes, pop-tarts, frozen edamame, gallons of milk, and a ham. For the most part, the rest of what I bought was well-priced too, just not amazing. I spent more time in the stores than I have in 3 years, checking all of the spots where I know to find marked down items.

A good grocery month overall. We still have a lot of food in storage, as well as a garden beginning to produce for spring harvests. So I think April looks good, too. I hope you found lots of bargains too this past month!

Do You Have Easter Meal Plans Yet?

one of my pots of primroses, using scavenged primroses from the yard

For those celebrating Easter, have you come up with a menu plan for Easter meals yet? Do you have special foods that you make each year? If serving meat, will it be ham, turkey, chicken, or what? What's you favorite Easter breakfast? How about favorite Easter desserts? What sides do you enjoy with springtime meals?

I ask all of these questions because I'm just now working on Easter plans. My son and daughter-in-law will join us in the afternoon. I picked up a frozen turkey last week at WinCo for 88 cents/lb. Foods I have on hand which I can use for sides and desserts: potatoes, garden leafy greens (kale and Brussel sprout leaves), pumpkin puree, fresh carrots, ingredients for green bean casserole, onions, assorted frozen veggies, and baking ingredients. Last year I made carrot cupcakes that were popular. I may bake another carrot cake this year. My son and daughter-in-law offered to bring sparkling water and other soft beverages. I'm considering adding ham to the meal. Fred Meyer (Kroger) has half hams, unsliced, on sale this week for 89 cents/lb. 

I haven't thought about what I'll prepare for Easter breakfast or brunch yet. It may be a simple continental breakfast of rolls, juice, coffee, and milk.

So, what's on your Easter menu plan?

Reusing the Large Plastic Bags That Potting Soil Comes In

This is the third year that I've found uses for these bags, so I thought I'd share with you. As I empty each, I fold them for storage in the garage until I need one.

Some places will sell compost and other soil amendments in bulk at a competitive price for pick-up, if you have your own bags and fill the bags yourself. The businesses that sell in bulk are usually located in rural areas, but some locally-owned garden centers have compost for sale in bulk, early in the gardening season.  Suppliers whose main business is home delivery of soil amendments by the truckload may also sell on-site if you bring your own bags. One of my neighbors found a local stable through Craigslist and was able to buy composted horse manure mixed with straw at a bargain price by bagging and hauling it away herself. So, this is one way I've saved on garden amendments using my bags that topsoil came in, going to the site myself and bagging my own.

Last year, we did have a dump truck load of compost delivered to our home. We knew we could use the 10 cubic yards required to get the lowest price. After using most of it, I needed to set aside about 1 yard for use in the garden throughout the growing season. Lacking a place to pile this up, I got out several bags and filled them, storing the now-bagged compost near the spots where I'd be using it.

The saved bags came in handy once again this year. Almost all of my vegetable garden is planted in raised beds. This works great for most applications, with the exception of growing potatoes. Experts in my area suggest planting potatoes in trenches dug to about 12 inches. As I dig the trenches, I need some place to tidily store the soil until hilling up the potato plants. 

This year I used the bags, filling them with the removed soil, standing up in a 5-gallon bucket until about 2/3 to 3/4 full.

I filled 4 bags with soil from the potato bed. I've now got them stored near this bed and ready to use for hilling the plants.

These bags are quite sturdy. I needed some heavy plastic to line a cracked planting tray last spring. I slit open a bag and laid it into the tray. The planting tray remained leak-free for the entire season.

You know me well, now. I feel immense satisfaction when I get another use (or several) out of these single use plastics before discarding them, like I'm somehow getting something extra.

I think cake batter is better than the baked cake; change my mind

 

My son and daughter-in-law came over last night to help us finish birthday celebrations for our daughters. I baked a chocolate-chocolate chip layer cake and frosted it on Saturday afternoon, adapting a recipe to use part butter/part oil, sub soy milk for dairy milk, increase the cocoa powder, and add chocolate chips per my daughters' request. The frosting was a cocoa buttercream made with water instead of milk. 

I've probably baked well over 100 scratch cakes in the 30-some years I've been married. And I still believe that the batter tastes better than the baked cake. I licked the beaters and scraped the bowl with a spatula as my lunch on Saturday. Mmm, mmm, good.

Here's the finished cake, waiting for our guests to arrive. The rest of the dinner of Walking Tacos, tangerines, and alcohol-free sangria turned out fine. Although, I think I was rushing a bit while cooking the chicken and beef for the tacos and didn't season it well enough. Fortunately, we had salsa and hot sauce on hand for everyone.

A fun evening, but I was bushed today.

By the way, the rest of my family thinks the baked cake is better than the batter. How could I possibly be related to them? Oh well, this means I get the beaters and the bowl. I'll put up with being the outlier if it means more cake batter for me.

The Budget Victory Garden

We're not at war, so perhaps my garden is not a "victory" garden -- maybe more of a "recession" garden. But I am still concerned with gardening budget-style. 

There are some gardening things for which you just need to fork out the money, such as some soil amendments or soil testing. But there are many other areas where you can save considerable money in gardening. For example, I've mentioned before that I start all of my vegetable plants from seed, I save seeds from one year's plants to use the next year, I sometimes plant bits from the kitchen (sprouting potatoes, sprouting garlic cloves, green onion roots) at very little cost, I make bone meal from chicken bones and crush eggshells to use as a soil amendment, and we make compost in our backyard. 

Here's another way I save as I start my plants. I wash and reuse plastic food containers for use as pots for seedlings during their growth period weeks before planting out to the garden. My husband and I don't buy much fast food, but my daughters sometimes do. Here I've got 2 plastic cups from Shamrock Shakes, a plastic cherry tomato container, a couple of deli salad containers (Valentine's Day lunch), and a small plastic produce  cup, 

Today I needed to move small tomato seedlings into larger containers. I had 5 garden pots I could use, but I needed another 6 containers for all of my tomato starts. 

Before planting in these recycled cups, I stabbed them well with a pointy knife on the bottoms for drainage.  (The tomato cup already had ventilation holes on the bottom.) With thinner plastic, such as milk jugs, I use a corkscrew to add drainage holes.

While I save money by not buying additional potting containers, there is one drawback. My repurposed plastic containers don't fit together compactly like a purchased set of potting containers. I'm currently working on how to manage all of my indoor seedlings to compensate for that issue.

Not seen here, I also use a 6-inch square take-out container and it's corresponding lid as trays to hold additional potted plants.

Pruning Trees and Land Girls

This week is my week to prune our fruit trees. One of my daughters came outside and gave me a hand for a couple of hours today, which was much appreciated. Two pairs of hands when tackling this work makes the work go quicker and makes the whole job a lot more pleasant. As we were taking off the last large branch I commented to my daughter that she could have been a Land Girl. (She beamed.)

Land Girls were the name for the members of the Women's Land Army in England during WWI and WWII. During the Great War, farmers found themselves shorthanded, as their usual laborers joined in the military efforts. The WLA put able-bodied young women to work in capacities previously reserved for men, such as helping with farm chores and harvests. When England became involved in WWII, the WLA was resumed and a forestry division was added, where young women felled trees and cleared wooded areas.

It would be my guess that many young women who were raised in farming communities had performed their share of farm chores. However, it is unlikely that they would have worked as paid laborers prior to the creation of the Women's Land Army. To be a woman, then, and paid for doing a man's job must have been thrilling for the Land Girls, even if they were paid less than men doing the same work. Throughout both wars, women proved their ability to perform strenuous tasks that had previously been in the domain of men. Unfortunately, when wartime ended, and men returned home, women lost this "new" place in public life and were most often shuttled back into traditional female roles.

I tend to do a large portion of the heavy physical labor in our household. It's just how the division of labor has settled for my family. I do take some pride in being able to successfully use saws and axes. It's not easy work for me, as I'm not very tall or muscular. But I can do my share. Both of my daughters find the same pride and enjoyment in helping with this work. When the tree fell on our roof a year ago, both daughters were eager to use both saw and ax to cut up the wood. And this week when I was trimming several fruit trees, they both offered to come out and help. They are both very petite. But they are both so proud of themselves when they successfully chop wood or saw branches. I asked both of them what type of work they would have preferred during WWII, if they'd been alive then and there -- Land Girls or work in a factory. I pointed out that some of the factory work must have been equally thrilling (think Rosie the Riveter). They both still thought they would have preferred working in the countryside, either on farms or clearing land, my Land Girls.

Your Favorite Meals to Feed a Crowd

While we aren't having a large crowd at our house this coming weekend, we will be having more people than our typical weekday meals. "Crowd meals" seem to call for something fun in my mind, when the occasion is appropriate. 

So with a "fun" meal in mind, my daughters and I brainstormed ideas for our larger family birthday celebration. What we came up with is this: Walking Tacos. I was introduced to Walking Tacos in Girl Scouts. We did this meal often, as it was an easy one for the leaders to throw together, and we could all customize our own plates according to our wants. 

I'll set this up buffet style on the kitchen counter for my group to self-assemble:

• corn chips
• lettuce
• seasoned ground beef
• seasoned shredded chicken
• tomatoes
• shredded cheese
• olives
• avocado
• sour cream
• salsa

(Anything else you'd add for this meal?)

For my own family, this meal will work great with what we already have. I have the beef, chicken, olives, avocado, and salsa. I'll need to buy corn chips, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream.

While my daughters and I were brainstorming, we recalled various other "crowd meals" we've either served or enjoyed in others' homes: nacho bar, DIY pizzas, burger/hot dog bars, large salad bars. All good and could be done easily at home.

Here's my question to you all -- what's your favorite go-to meal for a crowd?

I'm back

Hi friends! Thanks for hanging in there with me these last couple of weeks. Thank you, all of you who offered positive thoughts and prayers on my and my family's behalf. That means the world to me.

Last week began rough but improved as my daughter's health made positive steps forward. This has been such a roller coaster of almost a full month now. My only advice for anyone going through a similarly rough patch is to keep taking steps forward, take each day as it comes, and try to make the best, next move possible when the move you want to make falls out of sight. One day when I couldn't see very many ways to help my daughter I decided to just take care of business and get her taxes filed so she could at least get some money infused into her bank account. I still need to do my own taxes and help my other daughter with hers. But I felt better getting this one item checked off my list.

Budget birthday celebrations

At the end of the week, my daughters celebrated their birthday. As always, we set out to celebrate this special occasion in a way that would make both daughters feel special, without overextending our budget.

My husband took the day off from work, we packed a picnic lunch, and drove to the nearby vintage town. Part of my daughters' birthday gift was a little spending money to use in vintage shops -- the two of them really enjoyed this. There's a picnic area down by the river that not many outsiders (tourists) know about. So we dined al fresco for lunch on the riverside. I smiled as I looked over, about 40 feet, where a restaurant has an outdoor terrace, overlooking the same part of the river, at a cost much higher than that of our little picnic of sandwiches, chips, carrot/celery sticks, hummus, tangerines and cookies.Afterward, we visited the pie place and shared some slices of pie. To top off the celebration, we came home and watched a movie that we checked out from the local library and had homemade cupcakes. At the end of the day, both daughters said that this was the best birthday ever for them. And it's not over yet! This next weekend, my son and daughter-in-law will join us for dinner and cake for a larger family celebration.

That's about it for today. Now I need to make dinner for my crew. I hope you all had a beautiful weekend, and your week is off to a great start!

Tired and Not Much to Say

It's been another rocky last couple of days. I'm very tired and can't think well enough to write much. But I wanted you to know I am here and will be back writing regularly again next week. Life will get back on track.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

What Are You Looking Forward to This Spring?

I'm rather worn down these days, so I began to think positively about the next few months. I came up with a list of what I'm looking forward to this spring.

• Easter
• bulb flowers like tulips and daffodils and bringing some flowers indoors
• driving north to either the daffodil or tulip festival in the Skagit Valley 
• longer days, lighter evenings, warmer temperatures
• eating some meals outside
• getting the taxes finished 
• bird-watching in my backyard (and hoping the birds that built a nest in a hanging basket last year come back this year)
• setting up a permanent spot for my sewing machine and buying some fabric to sew (using a gift card)
• long walks
• farmer's markets starting up again

What are you most looking forward to this spring?

Utilitarian Cooking vs. Fulfilling Hobby Cooking

My primroses are blooming. Time for me to transfer them to the large pots on the porch.

In the last few weeks, I've spent a lot of time sitting in medical waiting rooms. During one of my most recent waiting periods, there was a television tuned to Food Network. The longer the program ran, the more irritated I felt with the show. Now part of that was likely due to the nature of being in a medical waiting room. But the other part was genuine.

I should preface my thoughts: I don't watch Food Network regularly, as we don't have cable. My guess is Food Network also demonstrates less complicated meals than what I viewed. 

What irritated me wasn't the beautiful meal presentation or the use of top-notch ingredients. The meal looked very, very delicious and something I'd really appreciate being served. What was irritating me was the amount of man-hours spent preparing a single plate of food. 

There were 4 chefs working on the same meal, each taking a different component of the meal. The chefs were mostly working simultaneously, as I could observe the various chefs at work in the background while the host interviewed the others one at a time. My best guess is the meal took 20 minutes for each for the 4 chefs to prepare, perhaps longer with some content not seen due to film editing. Four chefs multiplied by 20 minutes comes to a minimum of 80 minutes of hands-on time for one dinner-type meal and doesn't take into account any pre-prep work, such as washing and trimming vegetables or getting out and setting up equipment. It also doesn't include what could be extensive clean-up with, for example, cleaning a pasta machine or food processor. 

My conclusion, for myself, is that I don't think I enjoy cooking enough to prepare elaborate meals. I think I'm more of a utilitarian cook. Our meals are tasty, nutritious, not horrible looking, and mostly easy for me to make. I'd rather spend time on other endeavors. To be honest, I have a short attention span. In addition, I think it bothers me that something I might put an hour and a half (or more) into would be consumed in 10-15 minutes. In contrast, when I work on a home improvement, furniture refurb, or home decor project, the tangible results last for weeks, months, or longer.

However, I can understand how someone else would find this type of cooking to be a fulfilling hobby. The results look impressive. There's an element of artistry that really should appeal to me. And I imagine the positive feedback from friends or family could make the work very worthwhile.

I do think there's a time and place for even utilitarian cooks like myself to prepare a "fancy" meal such as I saw on Food Network -- special occasions, family celebrations or holidays, entertaining guests, or some other meal experience where we linger over the meal more than our typical weeknight supper.

Both types of cooking have value. Some of us fall into one category, while some of us fall into the other category. Do you think you lean more toward utilitarian cooking or fulfilling hobby cooking? What do you think are the merits of each way? What draws you toward one type of cooking over the other?

A Little Freebie From My Gardening Starts

Two weeks ago I started my first-of-the-season seeds in a flat under lights. This afternoon I started a second flat. While working on indoor gardening, I noticed the first flat's seedlings needed thinning. About half of the flat was seeded in cabbage family plants -- two types of kale, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts. Some of the seeds I used were several years old, so I was generous with the seeds when planting. This meant there were bunches of seedlings crowding each planting cell. Some thinning looked to be needed.

You know what's in this salad spinner? The cabbage family seedlings that I thinned. (I left one stout seedling per cell in the flat.) Since the entire plant is edible with cabbage family plants, I added these thinnings to our dinner salad tonight, mixing in the end of the lettuce and red pepper bought last Friday and some lentil sprouts. The salad was delicious, looked bright and interesting, and made use of the baby plants that I pulled out of the flat to allow each cell to produce a single healthy plant.

A nice bonus from my gardening efforts.

Helping Each Other With Ideas for Stockpiled Excesses (Need Your Input)

As I was working in the pantry organizing this morning, I noticed I have a lot of peanut butter, like a whole lot of peanut butter. It seemed like we were eating a lot of peanut butter on a regular basis . . . until we weren't. Counting up my jars of peanut butter reminded me of Laura's comment the other day about getting a great deal on canned tuna in EVOO, good enough deal to really stock up. I think we all do this from time to time, find such a great deal we really stock up. Laura's tuna has an expiration date pretty far into the future, so she should be good to use her tuna supply before expiry. Some of my peanut butter, however, has already passed the sell-by date.

So here are some ways I'm cooking with peanut butter to use up my excess.

• Live and Learn's curried pumpkin-peanut soup (I sometimes use additional peanut butter in this soup when I want it to be a good source of protein for a meal)
• peanut butter energy balls (peanut butter, honey, milk powder, raisins)
• peanut butter on apple wedges ( a favorite lunch of mine)
• peanut sauce on noodles or rice

I'm looking for ideas, recipes and links for using peanut butter, if anyone here has suggestions.

And here's how we can help each other. If you have an ingredient or food in excess, mention it in the comments and those of us who have ideas that we've tried, can chime in.

My ideas for Laura and her bonus supply of canned tuna:

• Laura, you already mentioned tuna salad -- one of my childhood favorites was tuna melt, basically an open-faced tuna sandwich, topped with cheese and broiled until the cheese was melty
• tuna cooked with tomato, caper, olives, and garlic, tossed with pasta, similar to this recipe on Food Network 
• my mother's 1950s and 60s favorite way to serve tuna --Mexican tuna salad with avocado dressing -- canned tuna, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, shredded cheese, Fritos-type corn chips, avocado salad dressing (mashed avocado, oil, lemon juice, chili powder, salt)

What are some of your favorite ways to use either peanut butter or canned tuna fish?

Free Garden Seeds From Inside a Store-Bought Pepper

I've done this the last 2 winters, bought a red sweet pepper at the grocery store and saved some of the seeds for planting that spring. 

There are actually a few fruits and vegetables you can grow from produce purchases. I began my garlic with grocery store garlic, planting all the cloves from one head and multiplying over the years. I've planted sprouted potatoes, harvesting many times over what I planted. I've grown green onions in a cup of water on the windowsill from the leftover root end of purchased green onions. I've heard you can regrow Romaine lettuce and celery from their bases. Pumpkin, winter squash, and tomato seeds can be dried and saved to replant. And of course, there's always the avocado pit suspended with toothpicks partway in a bowl of water. My mother grew an avocado plant/tree for several years. It never grew large enough to be a tree. I knew someone who grew a pineapple plant from the crown of a fresh pineapple. She lived on Kauai and had the right climate to actually grow new pineapples on her pineapple plant grown from a crown.

With some of these plants, the variety you harvest might not look like the parent from which you took the seeds. I've found this to be true of winter squash seeds from market squash. Most of the peppers I grow from scavenged red pepper seeds are green or yellow at the time of my harvest. But I'm satisfied with the green or yellow ones.

Growing a garden dirt cheap is possible if you have a sunny spot in your yard and you're not terribly choosy about what you grow. Seeds and plant starts can be free -- remnants reclaimed from your trash or compost bucket.

Anyway, we've enjoyed our purchased red pepper for the winter months and now I've set aside my sweet pepper seeds for this summer's garden.

February Grocery Shopping 2023

February 3. We needed milk and a few other items. One daughter wanted to pick up some of her own foods, so the two of us headed down to WinCo. I bought 1 gallon whole milk ($3.17), 10-lb bag of carrots ($5.98), 1 head cabbage (88 cents/lb), 3.5 lbs gala apples (85 cents/lb), bananas (58 cents/lb), 3 avocados (48 cents ea), turkey breakfast sausage ($5.90/large bag), boneless skinless chicken breasts ($1.99/lb), white rice flour (53 cents), brown rice flour (51 cents), and wheat germ (38 cents). I spent $34.40.

The apples were in a 3-lb bag, priced at $2.98. However, I weighed the bag and it was 3.5 lbs, bringing my cost per pound down from 99 cents/lb to 85 cents/lb. The wheat germ was for making peanut butter energy balls, and the rice flours were for making myself some bread products that I could eat. I'll likely make pancakes, using the rice flour, an egg, soy milk, and the rest of usual pancake ingredients. The boneless skinless chicken is for lunch meat. I'll either cook and dice the chicken for chicken salad or cook and slice the chicken for sandwiches.

February 9. Several of us going to WinCo in the morning. My shopping included about a pound of grind-yourself coffee from the bulk bins as a Valentine gift to my husband (he prefers brewed coffee), $8.06, some truffles for daughters and son/daughter-in-law from bulk bins, $2.80, 8-lb bag (actually weighed 8.5 lbs) of oranges, $5.98, 3.5-lb bag of apples, $3.48, 8-oz mushrooms, $1.98, and more dates for me $2.95. total spent -- $25.25

spent so far this month --$59.65

February 14. Fred Meyer for our Valentine's lunch at home. I found chicken salad and broccoli salad marked down ($3.19 and $2.45), curried chicken salad in deli case (daughter's request) for $2.17, bacon-potato salad in deli case for $2.22, tub of melon cubes for $5, marked down bananas (49 cents/lb), a gallon of milk marked down to $2.89, frozen peas (VD dinner) for $1.25, rice-a-roni (VD dinner) for $1, jar instant decaf coffee, $4.99. Spent -- $25.77

While these deli items for a lunch were much more expensive than homemade lunch foods, I like to think that Valentine's Day is a holiday for me, too. So I took shortcuts. Our at-home lunch cost $15.03. Our Valentine's dinner also used shortcuts, the frozen peas and boxed rice side dish. For the rest of our Valentine's dinner, I made marinated teriyaki steak (steak cut from a roast bought in January), chili-lime chicken breast, scratch dinner rolls (from refrigerator dough I made over the weekend), sautéed mushrooms, and a plate of cookies (and plain rice for me). I guesstimate our Valentine's dinner cost just under $10 -- pretty reasonable for a special dinner.

My daughters spoiled me with gifts of fresh fruit, candy and snacks for Valentine's Day. These food items helped stretch our grocery budget for the month.

spent for the month so far -- $85.42

February 25. One daughter had been in the hospital for a few days and was discharged this day. The hospital is near WinCo. I would be needing a quick and easy dinner for that night to throw together once home. I decided on sandwiches and a large salad. I also needed produce, fresh and frozen. I bought 3 16-oz bags frozen green beans (98 cents each), 4 16-oz bags frozen peas ($1.28 each), 1 12-oz bag frozen broccoli (98 cents), 2 16-oz bags frozen corn (98 cents ea), 1 head cabbage (98 cents/lb), 4 avocados (48 cents ea), 2 bunches bananas (54 cents/lb), pint grape tomatoes ($1.48), 10-lb bag carrots, 6 lbs butter ($2.88 ea), 16-oz ham sandwich meat ($3.99), 14-oz turkey sandwich meat ($3.99), large red pepper (78 cents), 3-pack Romaine hearts ($2.48). Spent $53.33

One of the days my daughter was in the hospital I missed lunch and was growing very hungry and thirsty. I ended up buying myself a sandwich and bottle of water at the hospital. Spent $10.95

Total for the month of February -- $149.70

I got a few good deals this month and splurged a couple of times. I mostly cooked from scratch for almost all of our meals. And you know my family by now, we have simple food tastes.

What I bought

2 gallons milk

6 lbs butter

20 lbs carrots

2 heads of cabbage

7 lbs apples

5 bunches bananas

7 avocados

8.5 lbs oranges

pint grape tomatoes

1 red pepper

3-pack Romaine hearts

8-oz mushrooms (Valentine's dinner)

large bag turkey breakfast sausage

family pack boneless, skinless chicken breasts

16 oz sliced ham

14 oz sliced turkey

small amounts of brown and white rice flour from bulk bins

1/2 cup wheat germ from bulk bin

1 lb + fresh ground coffee (gift)

several individual Lindt truffles (gift)

dates from bulk bins

Rice-a-Roni (Valentine's dinner)

1 jar instant decaf coffee

5 bags frozen peas

3 bags frozen green beans

2 bags frozen corn

1 bag frozen broccoli

4 small containers deli salads, 1 cut melon bowl (Valentine's lunch)

How we managed on this month's groceries

Items we baked or made for snacks and desserts this month:

Valentine cut-out sugar cookies

pumpkin pie (from home-cooked pumpkin and scratch crust)

scratch brownies

roasted pumpkin seeds

scratch nut bars

peanut butter energy balls

whole wheat bread

scratch refrigerator dinner rolls

baked rice custard

scratch caramel sauce for apple dipping

stove-top popcorn

scratch pancakes and waffles

applesauce snack cake, using crabapple sauce made from our crabapples

scratch chocolate cornstarch pudding, adding in some sweet leftovers that had been lingering in the fridge (frosting and pancake syrup)

We used whole chicken, chicken thighs, boneless chicken breasts, turkey bacon, ground beef, and beef roast from the freezer (previous month purchases), as our meats this month. We continue to use grains, beans, butter, oil, baking supplies, peanut butter, nuts, and canned fruits, veggies, and tomatoes/tomato paste from our storage. And we have been using our frozen fruit (mostly foraged blackberries, but some dried rhubarb and dried cherries from our trees) and frozen garden veggies throughout the month. Our supplies are beginning to dwindle. I can tell because I have more empty spaces in the freezers and back-up pantry.

Going forward

I've kept our grocery spending low for several months now, in order to make up for the overspending in late summer and early fall to stock-up. I can now allow our grocery budget to creep back up to around $275 per month and feel pretty good about that amount.