Then it warmed up and we had a week of warm temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s.  The ground started to thaw out and life got easier for a few days.  Then it rained.  Now the ground is rotten again and it’s raining again.  I come in with clumps and spatters of red clay up to my knees.

Larry came by to plow the garden last week and it was still frozen.  This week it is too wet.  It looks like it is going to be in a warm rainy period for the next week so we won’t get the garden plowed soon.

I’m going to quit complaining for now about things that I can’t control.   On the brighter side, rainy days are good days to browse through the gardening catalogs and place some early orders.  Burpee has some really interesting tomatoes this year.  I’m not sure that I am brave enough to even plant a black tomato but they also have some that look tye dyed.

Have you started planning your garden?

The Food

I looked at the menu for November 2009.  The basic package cost is $30 and includes the following:

• 1.5 lbs rib eye steaks (3 8 oz steaks)
• 4 Boneless Center cut Pork Chops
• 2 lb bag fried Rice Skillet meal
• 22 oz lasagna
• 22 oz breaded fish patties (5)
• 1 lb lean hamburger
• 1.5 lb breaded chicken breast
• 1 lb frozen zucchini
• 1 lb frozen cauliflower
• 1 lb broccoli
• 1 lb hash brown patties
• 8 oz breakfast cereal
• 2 lb onions
• Box of 2% milk
• 1 dozen eggs
• One family dessert item

I worked out pricing for this and it is truly a pretty good deal IF you will use all of the food that comes in it.  It would not work for Randy and I because we eat very little pre-prepared meals like breaded chicken or frozen lasagna.  However, I can see where it would be a great deal for my youngest daughter and her spouse who is in the military.   I can also see where it would benefit a great many people who are on a tight budget and their grocery budget was stretched thin.  When I had children to feed and worked full time, I often used convenience foods on those nights when there just wasn’t time to cook a full meal.

They also offer additional specials that are meat and fresh vegetables that Randy and I would use.  I am seriously considering ordering the assorted meat special.  I had considered the vegetable special but I honestly think I can do better than that at the local grocery store.

Thanksgiving Dinner

For November, Angel Food Ministries is offering a Thanksgiving dinner package for $36.  The package includes both turkey and ham as well as all of the traditional fixings.  It’s actually a pretty good deal.  This is an additional item and not the basic package.   It can be ordered through the local distribution sites through October 28th. You can find your local site at Angel Food Ministries website.

The Jury Is Out

I cannot in good conscience promote Angel Food Ministries without also mentioning the negative side.  It seems that the ministry is a non profit organization that was started by one family.  The family has come under some pretty negative press for receiving exorbitant salaries.   I don’t know the circumstances of this and I won’t pass judgment on something just from reading the press but it is something to consider if you are looking to donate to this organization.

If you would like to read some comments on Angel Food Ministries food, Frugal Living had a post that asked their readers to weigh in yay or nay.  My impression from reading a few hundred comments was that if you really need to stretch your grocery budget, it is a great deal.  If you are used to eating premium foods, you will probably not be happy.  Overall, I think that the packages probably are more appreciated by the people who need them rather than the people who are just looking for a good deal.

Have you tried their packages?  What was your experience?

We are also still picking tomatoes, green peppers, squash, jalapenos and chilis and Okra.  Goodness, I have enough okra for 10 years.  I have not gotten the winter greens planted.  It has been a challenge since Randy was operated on and can’t ride the garden tractor.

On the brighter side, I am truly enjoying my job.  It’s nice to get out and have a purpose in life.  Honestly, once I adjust to the physical side of it, I think I will get just as much done at home.  It’s also really nice to have an income.

I haven’t been writing as much but as the days get shorter, I will have more time inside to get it done.

I am trying to keep up with all of my chores plus R’s chores.  I can’t do it all but I am making a pretty good stab at it.  I made it out into the garden today and oh my gosh!!!  It has gone wild over the last 5 days.  I picked half a row of lima beans and got 2 gallons.  Then I picked two gallons of tomatoes.  There will be more by Sunday.  I still have another full row of lima beans and all of the peppers to pick.

I figure that I will have 15 – 20 Green peppers and another 2 gallons of lima beans.  Then there are the chili and jalapeno peppers that need picking.  Believe me, I am not complaining.  We should easily have enough vegetables to see us through the winter and into the spring.  The big freezer is almost full and I am going to have to start using the two smaller freezers.

I am going to try Marci’s suggestion of freezing the tomatoes whole and unpeeled.  She puts hers in a paper bag and then blanches and peels them as she needs them.  Hopefully they will work just as well in a plastic grocery bag.  I should have much more time to blanch and peel them as I need them than I do right now.

Over the next week, I need to get the fall greens planted.  I am planting turnip and collard greens.  I am also going to plant some more cabbage, lettuce and spinach plants.  These will pretty much round out the vegetables for the winter.

It does require some sacrifice and I am sure that there are more than I could possibly think of.   It means that we have to live simply.  Here are a few of the sacrifices that we have made:

1. Debt.  We have sacrificed having debt.  It’s quite simple, if we can’t afford to pay cash, we don’t buy it.  When we needed a truck, we raised the money to buy it and we bought what we could afford.  I watched craig’s list for months for a truck that would meet our needs and for which we could pay cash.  Even then if we hadn’t needed it for the farm, we probably would have waited as the truck was a quarter of our annual income.
2. Waste Not, Want Not:  I could live well on what most people throw away.  We throw away very little.  What we can no longer use is either sold or recycled.  Leftover meat and vegetables go into a soup pot that is frozen until needed.  Bones are often saved for making meat stock.  Things that are broken are usually repaired.  If they can’t be repaired, they are taken to the recycling plant and sold as scrap or taken apart to use for repairing or building something else or given to friends and family who can use them.  Giving things away might seem wasteful but you will find that when you give, people give back.  It’s usually not big things but it still helps.
3. Buying the latest, greatest:  There are few things that we buy new.   If we need something we search for it used before we ever consider buying it new.   If I can find 5 pairs of servicable jeans at a yard sale for $15, I would prefer to buy them rather than one new pair for $45.  If we need a new microwave, I can usually find one at a yard sale for $20 rather than $200.  We do rather well because so many people want the latest and greatest new toy.  I don’t mind last year’s model if it accomplishes the task I need it to do.  The computer I am using was purchased used on eBay.  It was purchased for about a quarter of what it would have cost new.  It does everything that I need it to do plus it has some whistles and bells that I wouldn’t have gotten if I had bought a new one.
4. Prepackaged Foods:   I can’t tell you the last time I bought a packaged or frozen meal.  I can’t tell you the last time I bought a cake mix.  We eat well but we generally cook most things from scratch.  It takes a little bit longer but it tastes better and it’s better for us.
5. Service:  This is somewhat related to convenience but a little different. If we can do it ourselves, we don’t pay to have someone else do it.  We cut our own grass, we work on our own car, we do the household repairs that need to be done if we can.  I cut R’s hair and have let mine grow out.  If we can’t do it ourselves then we try to barter for it; sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.
6. Living Without:  Again, this goes back to debt but deserves it’s own mention.  There are things that we NEED but live without.  The biggest thing that I can think of is a tractor for the farm.  Right now, we are mowing 19 acres of pasture with a 20 year old lawn mower.   I can think of 20 ways that a tractor would make our life easier but until we can pay cash for one, we will live without it.
7. Freshness: This sounds bad but it actually enables us to eat very well for a lot less than most people spend.  I make it a point to buy reduced meat.  I can generally find Rib Eye steak for less than most people spend on hamburger.  It gets repackaged and frozen immediately.  We also shop sales.  When chickens are reduced to 59 cents a pound, I buy as many as I can afford.  When vegetables go on sale, I buy them and freeze them.
8. Time:  Time is probably the most important thing that we sacrifice.  We spend a lot of time doing things ourselves.  We spend a lot of time shopping for the best deal.  We spend a lot of time growing our own garden and cutting our own wood for heat.  Making the time to save money is probably the hardest thing for most people.  Saving money takes time.
9. Convenience:   We sacrifice convenience a lot but the biggest thing I can think of is the wood furnace.  It provides free heat and hot water from October through April but we have to cut the wood and stack it.  We also have to go outside and put wood into it twice a day.  If we go away, we have to make arrangements to have someone else check it daily.  We hang our clothes on the line rather than using the clothes dryer.  We only run the a/c during the hottest part of the day.  It gets turned off in the evening once the sun has set.
10. Eating Out: I thought this was a sacrifice until I realized that I like our meals much, much better than anything I can get at a restaurant.  R and I share the cooking so it isn’t a chore or a drudgery.  We cook most meals out on the fire pit.  We have even given up the gas and charcoal grill.
11. Health Insurance:  The one thing that I would like to get is health insurance.  Unfortunately it is totally outside of our budget.  It is the only reason that I even consider returning to work outside the home.  A doctors or dentist visit puts a serious dent in our budget but it’s still less expensive than the $500 per month it would cost for us to have health insurance.

Living simply also provides many benefits.  We count them in small ways but they are important as well:

Health: The vegetables grown in our garden are more nutritious than store bought.  We don’t eat a lot of fast food so there is very little trans fat and preservatives in our diet.  Our health has actually improved since we changed our lifestyle.

StressFree: There is some stress in our life but nothing like it used to be when we worked outside the home.  We make our own decisions and have control over our lives and finances.

Appreciation: Both of us are thankful for the things we have.  We really don’t need anything more than what we have.  There are things that would make our lives easier but we get by well without them.  When you have spent weeks watching the corn grow and waiting for that first fresh ear of corn, you enjoy it ten times more than if you ran out to the store and bought it.  There is a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Quality Time: I mentioned that we cooked out on the fire pit most nights.  We spend the time talking and enjoying each other’s company .  The children and the neighbors stop by and visit.  Often instead of watching tv inside, we will sit and visit outside after dinner.  It’s a simple thing but it is one of the best parts.

Sometimes I miss the days when I could go out and buy new clothes on a whim or slip in for a massage or a pedicure without a thought to the cost but for the most part, I wouldn’t go back to that life.  The things I have gained are worth so much more than the things I have given up.

Canning

Carolyn presents The Barber Bunch: How to make Strawberry Jam posted at The Barber Bunch.

RC presents Create an Edible Container Garden This Spring posted at Think Your Way to Wealth.

Carolyn presents The Barber Bunch: Canning Class at Carriage Hill Metro Park posted at The Barber Bunch.

Cindy S presents 12 Vegetables You Can Grow in a Pot posted at Oh My Aching Debts, saying, “No Room for a garden? Of course, you have room! This list will give you vegetables you can grow in a pot.”

Carolyn presents The Barber Bunch: How to make Sauerkraut posted at The Barber Bunch.

Cindy S presents Seven Deadly Homemade Weedkillers Unmasked: Vinegar posted at Small Homestead, saying, “I have been trying each one of the seven deadly homemade weedkillers. Today I experimented with vinegar and you can see the results.”

Vikki Lawrence-Williams presents Preserving Asparagus by Canning posted at Survival Cooking, Gardening and Emergency Preparedness Info, saying, “Asparagus is ready to harvest, but what can be done with it? Dehydrate it (http://www.survival-cooking.com/2009/05/preserving-asparagus-by-dehydrating.html) or preserve it by canning (http://www.survival-cooking.com/2009/05/preserving-asparagus-by-canning.html).”

Gardening

Yanic Arsenault presents Our garden –Year 2 : Eggshells, the wonder trash posted at Adventures into green.

Wren Caulfield presents Save Money on Food: Grow Your Own! posted at True Adventures in Money Hacking.

Meadowwood Garden presents Growing Tomatoes posted at Meadowwood Garden, saying, “Everything you need to know to grow the best-tasting tomatoes you have ever eaten!”

Gregory E. Rouse presents Raised Bed Gardening with a Tractor Tire posted at Raised-Bed-Gardening Blog, saying, “how to build a raised bed out of an old tractor tire”

Mary@SimplyForties presents Update on my Urban “Farm” posted at SimplyForties.

Jason presents How to Build a Square Foot Garden posted at The Frugal Dad.

Julian Pollock presents The History of Shutters – From Marble and Straw Mats to Metal and Poly-Wood Slats | TheHistoryOf.net posted at The History Of – Blog, saying, “It’s a double benefit when one discovers that polywood style materials, developed to be a cost saver – also turn out to help reduce one’s carbon footprint. More households are turning to door and window shutters for protection against our increasingly unpredictable weather. So now there are eco-options using forest-saving polymers as well as sustainable wood as regulated by the FSC.”

Kristen Welch presents We Are THAT Family: Green Acres Edition posted at We Are THAT Family.

Farm Animals

Belle presents How to Pasteurize Goat Milk posted at Homesteaderbelle’s Blog.

00FF00 presents Battery Hen Welfare Trust posted at ooffoo, saying, “A member of the ooffoo community discovers how to adopt an “ex-bat” and other ways of making changes to benefit the welfare of battery hens in an interview with Jane Howarth of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust.”

Sahara Reins presents Presentation is Important When Selling Free Range Eggs posted at Fowl Visions.

Belle presents Fried Fish, a LaMancha Dairy Goat, and Homemade Goat Milk Ice Cream posted at Homesteaderbelle’s Blog.

Recipes

kara thurmond presents Grilled Blue Cheese Portobello Burgers posted at An Hour In the Kitchen, saying, “Make your own buns, mayo, mustard and ketchup for your grilled Portobello Burgers!”

Marjorie Morgan presents The Woman’s Guide to Boating and Cooking posted at GO! Girls Outdoors, saying, “a review of a wonderful ‘boatkeeping’ manual (written in the style of a 60’s or 70’s housekeeping manual) that I found at a garage sale – entertaining, amusing and very different!”

Gregory E. Rouse presents Family Meals Under $5 – Spaghetti posted at Frugal-Living-Skills Blog, saying, “Weekly grocery circulars often read “feed a family of 4 for under $10!”. I’m sure most of you have laughed at this as I did. As a result, I began to wonder what does dinner really cost for my family of 8? So I set a challenge for myself and I figured if I kept it under $5, I was doing good”

Belle presents How to make Fried Zucchini – with pictures posted at Homesteaderbelle’s Blog.

Gardening

Sandy Wong presents Guidelines and Basic Tips of Drilling Drainage Hole on Garden Container | Gardening on Cloud 9 posted at Gardening on Cloud 9, saying, “We know that good drainage is the key to healthy plants, but the containers that we find most attractive are often the ones without drainage holes. But we can drill the drainage holes by ourselves, and it is much easier than what most of us would expect. All we need is an electric drill and steady hands. And here, let me show you how to drill holes on our containers.”

The Austerity Kitchen presents Mushrooms: The Poor Man’s Meat posted at The Austerity Kitchen.

Mother Hen presents Garden Update posted at Mother Hen.

Stan Wrobel presents Rhubarb « Cottage and Yard posted at Cottage and Yard, saying, “If your going to plant something why not make it a delicious perennial vegetable that you can eat over ice cream or pancakes.”

The Family presents Planting tomatoes posted at Once Upon a Family, saying, “Get your tomatoes off to a good start”

Rani presents Apple Dapple Cake posted at Indoor Garden Musings.

Brian presents Super Sturdy Trellis posted at Meadowwood Garden, saying, “Need support? The Super Sturdy Trellis is inexpensive, easy to make and a hurricane couldn’t knock it down! Perfect for pole beans, peas, melons, cucumbers etc. Visit us to learn how to make yours!”

Renee V. Rouse presents Family Meals for Under $5 May 1st posted at Frugal-Living-Skills Blog, saying, “…Weekly grocery circulars often read “feed a family of 4 for under $10!”. I’m sure most of you have laughed at this as I did. As a result, I began to wonder what does dinner really cost for my family of 8? I figured if I kept it under $5, I was doing good…”

00FF00 presents Wildlife in your Garden posted at ooffoo, saying, “A member of the ooffoo community presents nine top tips on managing as well as encouraging natural wildlife in your garden.”

Miscellaneous

Chris presents Dealing with unwelcome guests in your house (part 2) posted at Home I Own, saying, “The rest of my article about dealing with spiders”

Emma presents What is your child eating? posted at Baby-Log.

Sahara Reins presents Things to Consider When Buying Humming bird Feeders posted at Fowl Visions.

Sustainable living

Kristen Welch presents We Are THAT Family: Shades of Green posted at We Are THAT Family.

Flea presents Be A Survivor: …I Will CRUSH You… posted at Be A Survivor.

Heather Levin presents Natural Ant Control posted at The Greenest Dollar, saying, “Don’t put chemicals down to get rid of summer ants. Try these natural home remedies instead!”

Preserving

Carolyn presents The Barber Bunch: How to Dry Tomatoes posted at The Barber Bunch.

Vikki Lawrence-Williams presents Preserving Rhubarb from the Garden posted at Survival Cooking, Gardening and Emergency Preparedness Info, saying, “Rhubarb isn’t just for pies and preserves. Dehydrate it, then this winter, sprinkle it in your oatmeal! http://www.survival-cooking.com/2009/05/preserving-rhubarb-from-garden.html”

The Smarter Wallet presents Family Budget For Frugal Living: Living Cheap Can Be Fun, Too! posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Thanks!”

Recipes

00FF00 presents Top 10 Vegetarian Soups posted at ooffoo, saying, “A member of the ooffoo community presents ten scrumptious veggie soup recipes to take you through the year, from summer watercress to winter minestrone.”

The Austerity Kitchen presents Fried Elderberry Blossoms posted at The Austerity Kitchen.

Heather Levin presents Easy Frugal Bread Recipe posted at The Greenest Dollar, saying, “This no-knead bread recipe is super easy and it’s made in a Dutch Oven. Lots of pictures for each step!”

Sahara Reins presents How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs posted at Fowl Visions.

jenafer presents How To: Making Mozzarella Cheese posted at Cage Free Monkeys.

Recycling

Yanic Arsenault presents Rethinking recycling – When you move, donate goods and share resources! posted at Adventures into green.

Brian presents When Good Frugality Goes Bad posted at Meadowwood Garden, saying, “The story of a man, a truck, a dog, some glass, and good intentions…”

MomToCherubs presents It’s Berry Pickin’ Time posted at Simply Beck’s Bounty.

2 Pennies Earned presents Frugal Tips for the Home Cook posted at Two Pennies Earned, saying, “I’d like to share some tips I’ve been using lately as I’m cooking for myself more, eating out less, and trying hard to not throw anything away.”

Sara presents Polliwogs and Doodles, unschooling, hands on learning, natural parenting, homeschooling, nutrition, gardening, baking, frugal living, foraging posted at Polliwogs and Doodles, saying, “Easy tutorial for making diapers out of recycled clothing!”

presents Cat Urine Smell Remover Recipe posted at Home Life Weekly, saying, “It can be difficult to remove cat urine smell from furnishings as the cat urine odor tends to linger, well instead of buying expensive odour removers, this recipe can be used to remove the odor of other pets as well.”

Sustainable Living

Joshua presents Tips for Learning during Summertime posted at Family and Parenting, saying, “Even though it is summertime, it is a good idea to keep your child’s mind active.”

Clea Danaan presents Happiness is Living the Farm Life in the Suburbs posted at Clea Danaan’s Intuitive Gardening Blog.

Pinyo presents Save Money and Benefit with Homemade Products posted at Moolanomy, saying, “Learn how to make your own homemade products is fun and good for you and the environment. Here are some examples to help you get started today.”

Nancy Miller presents Top 100 Blogs for DIY Home Improvement posted at Construction Management Degrees.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of homesteading using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of homesteading, blog carnival.

We were cleaning out one of the sheds today and when we lifted up a board, Randy’s sharp eyes caught these little vistors.  I am pretty tolerant of snakes but after taking a closer look at this pair, they got the axe.  You could tell by there triangular head that they were poisionous.  These are Copperheads.

Good Snake?

Copperheads account for the majority of the poisionous snake bites in the US.  Once these two were disturbed, their first reaction was to strike and then run.  According to the NC extension office, this behavior accounts for two things:  the high number of copperhead bites and the less serious nature of them.  Because they strike as a defense, they don’t inject much venom.  This makes their bites painful but not usually dangerous.

For me…. the only good copperhead is a dead copperhead.  If you ever have any doubt about whether a snake is poisionous or not, look at their head.  Pit vipers (rattlesnakes, copperheads and moccasins) have a defined triangular head with a pit behind their eye.  I don’t look for the pit because I am not getting that close but the head is usually very distinct from the body.

In my search, I found dozens of websites with hundreds of different uses for vinegar, everything from cleaning to health benefits to weight loss.   I have two tips for using vinegar. If you are cleaning, use white vinegar.  It is distilled and a stronger acidity.  It is clear and so there is no danger of staining.  For health benefits, organic apple cider vinegar is the recommended variety.  The organic type is often cloudy like good apple cider.  Don’t be afraid of it, the cloudiness comes from the apple particles that remain from the pressing process.  They are good for you and do not mean that the vinegar is spoiled.

To get you started, Bella Online has a recipe for making homemade apple cider vinegar.

Now on to the uses for vinegar:

Pioneer Thinking has a list of 60 Uses for Vinegar

This website has 131 Uses for Vinegar.  They also have them broken up into categories.

The Vinegar Institute has a section for Uses for Vinegar (89).

Planet Green has an article on 7 Green Beauty Uses for Vinegar

Suite 101 has a list of Health Benefits from Cider Vinegar

Associated Content has another article on the Health Benefits of Cider Vinegar

Fit Sugar has a list of 5 health benefits from Cider Vinegar

e-Articles has an article on the benefits and uses for Vinegar

Health Recipes offers more health benefits from Cider Vinegar

Vinegar tips is a whole website devoted to 1001 Uses for White Vinegar.  Be sure to check out the gardening tips.

The New Homemaker offers:  Vinegar: Almost the Only Cleaner You Will Ever Need.

Because You Value Your Body has 72 Little Known Uses of Vinegar

It seems that vinegar can be used for everything from curing a cold to killing weeds in the garden, from helping you lose weight to helping you absorb more minerals from your food.  You can use it to clean the kitchen, the bathroom, kill bacteria, degrease an engine and then take a bath in what’s left.  Name one other cleaner that can do all that?

I decided to test the weedkillers on some young and freshly emerged weeds.  It is a good time to start as the days are hot and the leaves are just recently emerged so they are still tender.  I am looking for 3 things with this experiment.  I want something that is economical and something that works without a huge investment in time as well as having a minimum impact on the environment.

Because bleach is something that I have on hand, I decided to start with it.  I mixed 3 parts of bleach with 1 part of water and a couple of drops of dish detergent as an emulsifier.  This should allow the bleach to actually soak into the leaves and kill them.

I put this mixture in a spray bottle and sprayed the leaves liberally in the late morning.  By sunset, I had noticed no difference in the plants.  When I went out this morning to check, there were a few dead leaves and some that you could tell were curling around the edges.  The rest looked as healthy as they had the day before.

24 Hours after Bleach Spray

24 Hours after Bleach Weed killer spray

24 Hours after Bleach Killer

I honestly expected more damage to the plants after 24 hours and 16 ounces of bleach.  Apparently the majority of  the damage was where the bleach dripped down onto the edge of the leaves.  I could spray them again and wait another 24 hours but honestly I think I am going to try another one of the homemade weedkillers.

Have you had any luck with any of the homemade weed killers?  I believe I am going to try the vinegar solution tomorrow and see whether my own mini version of acid rain has a better effect.

This post has been included in the Festival of Frugality at Savings Not Shoes and in the Gardening Carnival.  Check it out!

I am lucky that I am able to come down and take care of things.  Most people would be hard pressed to pick up and leave for a week or so but that doesn’t mean that leaving doesn’t come without a price.  There are many things that I should be doing on the farm.  Of course most of them will still be there when I return.

In the meantime, I am going to work on some general articles, perhaps some recipes.  With my parents both hospitalized, I am splitting my time between running to visit with them and taking care of their house and animals.