Just Peachy!

I have a friend locally who has a large orchard. She grows all kinds of stuff, but mostly apples. She also has peaches. I asked her to let me know if she had any "peach seconds." Seconds would be produce that had something a little wrong with it but was still usable. They may have bad spots or, in her case, a spot where one of her ducks has taken a bite. They're great for canning and freezing because it doesn't matter if they don't look perfect - you just cut off the bad parts and go on. I love that it keeps the fruit from getting wasted. How can you stand to waste delicious summer fruit?!


Well, I heard from her late last week and she sold me 20 pounds of peach seconds for $6. Yep - 20 pounds of peaches for only $6. That's easier than growing them myself! Ask around your area for an orchard or pick-your-own place. You never know what type of deals you might find.

As you can see, most of my peaches were pretty good. Some were pretty mushy or moldy, especially by the third day I worked on them, but I was able to use all of them.


I was able to peel, slice and freeze 4 quarts and put them in a deep freeze. To freeze them you will first need to peel them. You can either do this by blanching them (immersing them in boiling water for about 30 or 40 seconds and then transferring them to an ice bath causing the skin to come off easily) or just using a top grade fruit and vegetable peeler. Cut off your bad spots and cut the flesh completely away from the pit - remember not to waste! Line them out on a cookie sheet (I had wax paper on mine but don't think it was necessary) so that they will freeze individually. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for an hour or two, then remove and put them promptly into freezer bags and put them in the deep freeze. This way, you can pull out just a handful of peach slices if you want to drop them in your oatmeal or have them for a snack without defrosting the whole bag at once.

I also had some leftover strawberries in the freezer and I made a strawberry-peach jam. It's heavenly. I think it'd be great as a dessert jam, maybe on homemade biscuits after dinner or as a filling for a layer cake. We also ate lots of fresh peaches this weekend and today I used the last of them for a peach cobbler. I'm planning on asking for more. It's just such a great price and I was able to keep them in the fridge and work on them little by little over the weekend. I may make a frozen peach pie filling so during the winter I can just whip up a crust and pour it in and be ready to go. I love that we'll be enjoying the fruits of our labors long into the winter.

My Dear Little Deer,

I've noticed how you took the time to sample absolutely everything in my garden. You've eaten tomato plants, green beans, baby watermelon, pie pumpkins, and even bell pepper leaves. I'm certain that the majority of these items don't even appeal to you. While I've always considered you a graceful and beautiful animal and have admired you as you run around the neighboring woods, I now realize that you are an arrogant and snooty animal and think you can just ravage and waste what is not rightfully yours! I see you decided to try an unripened pie pumpkin rind and then spit it out all over the ground. Not your taste? Please stop ravaging my garden!!!

Sincerely,

The Gardener

ps - I'll be seeing you this fall with my first ever deer tag and a big fat grin on my face.

So, you see we are learning with the garden. The deer weren't a problem until all of a sudden. And then, within a day or two, the entire garden had been ravaged. I had a beautiful crop of green beans coming in and I was so looking forward to canning them. Not only did they eat them, they trampled them and I think I even found a spot where a deer laid down and took a nap in them. The tomatoes are mostly fine as they have the cages around them, so the deer are merely pruning the tops for me, making the plant more bushy and hardy. I had a baby watermelon plant that looks similar to the pie pumpkin.

The pie pumpkin was heartbreaking for me. Where we live, there was a pie pumpkin shortage last fall and I was unable to buy pie pumpkin all winter. I've heard it's easy to can and was so looking forward to growing my own and enjoying pumpkin bread and pumpkin walnut pancakes and pumpkin and black bean soup. I basically had a tantrum when I found that pumpkin. We were given two pieces of advice from everyone who heard our troubles. #1: Let my boys pee all around the garden. #2: Cover the leaves of everything with cayenne pepper. We have neighbors and they're trying to sell their house so I went with the second option.

You can see how the top of the bell pepper plant in the photo above has been nibbled away. It's been two days now since I peppered the garden and they've left it alone. I picked a sad amount of beans. I think it may be too late for them - the deer really worked them over quickly - but I'm determined to save our corn.

Also, I have many new watermelons coming in and some more little pie pumpkins. Notice how spicy they are. I think it won't affect the flavor as they have a naturally dense rind and it's not near the roots.

Still, as frustrating as this was, it was a learning experience. It'll make us better gardeners next year. I'm not sure if we'll be putting in an electric fence or not but we have some time to think about it. We'll definitely have to do something differently. Hopefully we can fend them off for the rest of the season with the pepper. Fingers crossed...

Lillie's Gorgeous Garden

Ok gardeners, are you ready for some inspiration? Well, here it is...


This garden belongs to my sister-in-law and her husband. They have been avid gardeners since they got married so they've been through several years of trial and error and they know what they like and what works. I felt they had some handy tips and ideas to share.



First off, you'll notice the electric fence they've installed this year. They live in the country and the deer will eat your garden before you have a chance to enjoy it. (Sadly, we've learned this this year). The fence is also low to the ground to keep out rabbits and other small animals, as well as the larger ones. They purchased the pieces for this and installed it themselves. It's worked beautifully.

We've always used tomato cages because that's what we have, but I think we'll be trying this next year. These are cattle panels. They come in six foot sections and can be purchased at farm and home supply stores.

As the tomato plants grow up Josh and Lillie push the top of the plant back and forth through the bars, weaving the plant as it grows. They say they've tried lots of methods and they like this the best because it's easy to weed and easy to pick. They also use the cattle panels for their peas and blackberries.

Lillie commented that when they were first married and had less property, they began experimenting with adding in crops that were also ornamental so they could fit right into the landscaping without taking up lots of space. I remember they had lots of fruit trees and grape vines. She was always canning something delicious. (My friend Jolin also does an amazing job of fitting crops into the landscape. Sadly, I forgot my camera on my visit to her Kansas City garden).

Lillie has used their cabbage to make sauerkraut.

She describes this method as being "straight from the Depression Era." You shred your fresh cabbage and stuff it down into a sterilized jar. You add a teaspoon of salt and begin pouring in hot, sterile water. You let it sit and add more water until it's almost all the way full. Then, you put a lid on it and set it in the sun. Over a couple of weeks as it ferments the salt will prevent the growth of bacteria. When it has finished fermenting and settles back down it will seal the lid and voila - you've got homemade sauerkraut. How about that?

You'll also notice the pond in the background there. Josh commented to me once that he would sometimes carry water from the pond to water the garden to avoid watering with treated water that would add chemicals (from the tap).

This is the little strawberry patch that they put in this year. There are young peach trees next to it, and this area is enclosed in the electric fence as well. These strawberries have done really well.



Here she is picking zucchini. I took some home and made zucchini bread with it. Yum!


I believe these are the watermelon plants. Behind Lillie you can see an area that has been dug up. They had just harvested their potatoes and did quite well. She is able to get a year's supply of many things from their garden; potatoes, corn, green beans, blackberries, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc. The bell peppers she just chops and freezes. They freeze well. They also do great if you dehydrate them, then you just add them to soups and chili in the winter and they taste just like the fresh peppers.


Now, are you ready for something really freaky? Well, they had a bunch of pumpkin plants come up voluntarily. Apparently, pumpkin can cross-pollinate with watermelon. They now have an odd assortment of pumpkins growing. Some are little and yellow like this:


Some are bumpy with watermelon stripes like this:


Notice here how the pumpkin leaves morph and turn into watermelon leaves. These are pumpkin plants:


And finally, the weirdest part of all? They are thinking that pumpkin can also cross-pollinate with zucchini because look at this pumpkin. Please note the size of that thing - compare it to Lillie's hand. It's a monster zucchini-pumpkin:

I'm curious to see what they look like inside when they cut them open.

Well, I hope you all got some ideas. I love looking at other's gardens. Everyone has a different way of doing things and there's always something to be learned. Lillie and Josh - thanks for letting me come photograph and share your garden!

Canning Pickles

While my garden is not yet ready to start canning from, my sister-in-law and her husband planted about 6 weeks earlier than we did and she's been sharing. I sent over some homemade bread one day and the next day she sent over a bunch of cucumbers! I didn't even plant cucumbers this year so it was even better. I looked up a recipe for bread and butter pickles and have made about 8 jars (she's sent them twice now as she has more than she can use). This recipe also uses white onions which I bought at the store. We opened some last week and put them on grilled burgers and OH. MY. GOODNESS. they were good! Much better than anything I've ever bought at the store.

I've never canned pickles before but I found it to be simple, yet time consuming. I think that basically sums up canning of all types. It's not really hard, it just takes time, but it's well worth the effort.

And, as for my sister-in-law's garden goes - I'm going to go take photos. It's awe-inspiring. Seriously. She and her husband have been avid gardeners since they got married and they're really good at it. They have lots of ideas to share.

Here is a photo of my canning jars preparing to boil and sanitize before I made the bread and butter pickles.

When it comes to jars, they can be expensive. When we moved into our home we found boxes and boxes of canning jars thrown out in the shed. They were dirty, but since they are glass, we can wash and sanitize them and they'll be as good as new. All I've had to buy are some new lids and bands and we're good to go. I've also heard of people finding them for pennies at yard sales.

These particular jars (shown), however, are very special. My dad found boxes of canning jars that belonged to my great-grandmother. She used to can in them. I LOVE antiques. Most of these jars only have slight differences to the modern ones, like different designs, but to me they are treasures. I used some of them to can the pickles and I reminisced about what my Great Granny Hare would have canned in them and what it was like in her garden and in her kitchen where she did her canning. Some of the jars are an antique green glass. I can't wait to use them. Maybe for green beans?

An added bonus of making these pickles is that I will soon have a year's supply of pickles in my food storage. That may not sound like much but it's one less thing I have to buy at the store over the next year. I can use them for all sorts of things; garnishes, toppings, tuna salad, potato salad, etc. And, if you're wondering about the onions, they're as crunchy and tasty as the pickles. Divine!

Vinegar in the Wash

I've never been a fan of vinegar. I've always detested the smell of it. In fact, I'm certain that the only times I've used it in the past were for certain recipes that required it - like Asian cole slaw. Several of my savvy blog readers, however, have told me about the benefits of using vinegar in the wash and I have to say, I'm becoming quite the fan of the stinky substance!

Here's how it works:

1. Put 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar into the fabric softener compartment in your washing machine.

2. Run the machine like normal.

3. End up with fabulous results! First off, it acts as a fabric softener. Your clothes will be fluffier and softer. Secondly, it helps prevent your laundry from souring. Now, if you leave it in there a really long time I'm sure it still will but I left a damp load in the dryer for 24 hours on accident (on a warm day) and it was still fresh when I found it. I didn't have to rewash it. Third, if you have trouble with a stinky washer it fixes that, too! A couple of people commented that they have a type of drain on their washer that holds a little water and it was always stinky. They added vinegar as a rinse-aid and voila! no more stinky washer. And finally - It's so stinkin' cheap compared to purchasing fabric softener. For my family, it's an added bonus because I hadn't been able to use fabric softener at all since we have such sensitive skin.

Now, I know what you are thinking... Are my clothes going to smell like vinegar? No! Not in the slightest. This may be the thing that surprised me the most, but, it's true. I can smell it a little in the washer because there's a little bit in the fabric softener compartment, but the clothing just smells fresh and clean, no vinegar odor at all.

I'm now using vinegar to help clean my toilets, as a fabric softener, and as a rinse-aid in my dishwasher instead of an expensive store-bought rinse aid. I've gone from having a teeny bottle of the stuff tucked back in the pantry somewhere to buying this industrial sized bottle to use all around the house! Love it! Thanks, readers, for turning me on to this great idea.

We're Jammin'

On Friday I took Mia and baby Hyrum with me to a local berry farm. She sells strawberries for $1.25 a pound if you pick them yourself. We went out at 8am before it was hot and I sat the baby on a blanket with a few things to play with. Mia got down and helped me pick. It was really peaceful and nice to be down in the dirt working with her while she had my undivided attention to chatter about whatever she wanted. She would pick for awhile, eat for awhile, and then frolic for awhile. I picked for about 3 hours and got 5 1/2 flats - about 15 pounds - of berries.

Typically you pick strawberries around the middle of May through the end of May. I didn't realize that but, lucky for me, the season was a bit late this year. She only had small and medium berries left but that didn't matter for making jam. The variety she had me pick are extremely sweet with a very thin skin. The jam turned out fabulously.

I also stepped a bit outside my comfort zone and asked her over the phone if she would be interested in bartering my bread for berries. At first she replied, "Oh no, I don't want to do that." I said that it was ok, I still wanted to pick from her. While I was there she came up to me several times asking more questions about the bread. When I left I signed up to come back for blueberries and blackberries and she said, "Write down "bread" by your name and bring a loaf or two when you come back and we'll work something out. I'd like to try that." So, you never know.

One thing I've found with the jam is that it took me a full day of work but I stocked my pantry with about 25 jars of jam and still have some berries in the freezer. At Christmas time last year I used old baskets I had in the attic, spruced them up with some ribbon and filled them with a few jars of my homemade jams. I added some fresh pecans from a friend's yard and people were absolutely delighted to receive them. It allowed us to give gifts to people like Bruce's piano teacher and my husband's bosses, plus additional gifts to family members without spending anything over the holiday months. Everyone enjoyed it so much I plan on doing it again, I've even been recollecting baskets and jars from some people with a promise to refill them. It's a win-win!

And, I won't have to buy jam for another year. I don't feel so bad about giving my family peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch a couple times a week (which cuts the grocery budget) when it's made with homemade whole wheat bread and homemade jam!

The Budget

I realise it may look like I've abandoned my New Year's Resolution - but this is not the case! We've been focusing on one big thing lately, the budget. When you think about it, living providently boils down to one major item and that's it, isn't it? At least, it is for us. Learning to live below your means is the key to provident living. I'll say it again in case you missed it the first time...

Learning to live below your means is the key to provident living!

When you live below your means you will find there is an abundance that can be used on things that are truly important to you, whether that's paying off debt or putting cash into savings or purchasing food storage or emergency preparedness items or even finally getting that long-overdue home repair project finished. You really can have what you want in life, you just have to prioritize and then work to get there. It won't happen on it's own.

I've procrastinated blogging about "The Budget" because it isn't really a very "sexy" thing to blog about, if you know what I mean. I'm not sure how many of my readers are just dying to learn how I budget. But for today, I'm going to pretend that you are.. so let's get started!

Back when Bryan got his first job out of college and we had been married about 5 years, we realized that when he got a real paycheck we were going to feel like we were rolling in the dough. Although his paycheck was meager, it would be so much more than we were used to getting and we were afraid we would begin spending frivolously and waste it away. We began with a program called "Rich on Any Income." It was a great program, but is no longer in print. Still, here's the premises.

#1. Pay your tithing first so you can have the Lord's blessings available to you when you go to meet your other financial goals.

#2. Set up an itemized monthly budget showing exactly how much money you need for various items. Now, when you're first starting this, it may take a couple of months to tweak exactly how much you need in each category. The program claims that it takes 3 months to really learn how to do this and I'd agree, so stick with it! Here are the categories Bryan and I have in our budget most months:

Tithe and Fast Offering
Mortgage Payment
Truck Payment
Insurance
Utilities (this includes everything from electric, trash and water to YMCA dues and Bruce's piano lessons)
Food (this is only money I spend at the grocery store - no fast food or eating out goes in here)
Cleaning and Laundry Supplies
Diapers and Wipes
Formula
Medical (this includes prescription medications plus money for us to pay co-pays in case we'd need to take someone to the doctor)
Gifts (in case there is a birthday we need to buy for)
Recreation (this would include ANY recreation for the family from eating out to renting a movie)
Clothing (in case one of the kids needs new shoes, or someone needs jeans, etc.)

Now, when you're setting up the exact amounts you need you'll probably find that there's not enough to go around. Well, guess what? That's why you've been running out of money all these years and having trouble making ends meet. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us. Guilt is only a short-term motivator so shake it off and let's move on. When you add up the amount you need and you find that you're out of money, go back and tweak it. Can you shave $20 off the grocery budget? You may realize that you actually can't afford things you feel aren't a big deal - like cable TV, or a cell phone. Maybe you need to get rid of the land line all together if the cell phone is cheaper. Maybe you need to cut your gym membership or... STOP EATING OUT!!! This is a big one for a lot of people. They think they can pick up a soda several times a week, or just order off the dollar menu. Well, it really adds up. We've found that it's the little things adding up over the month that do the most damage.

Be creative about figuring out how to make ends meet. This month, we wanted to install an air conditioning vent in Hyrum's room - so we only had $40 total for recreation for the whole month for the whole family. That's $40 for six people for a whole month. We only ate out one time the entire month - we chose pizza buffet - and we rented some dollar movies. That was it. That may sound like it wasn't much but we found plenty of free fun things to do as a family, AND that vent is FINALLY installed and we didn't break the budget to do it!

#3. Once you've got your budget in place the final step can be a hard one to learn. It's called self-discipline. Have you heard of it? It's a tricky little thing. We've found that the key to success is two-fold. Part one: Be on the same page as a couple. You have to do this together as a couple or it won't work. Discuss your real goals - is it a family vacation this year? Do you want to finally pay off that dreaded student loan? If your children are old enough, involve them and make it a positive thing. I explain to my kids that the budget is fun, that it's like a game and you have to work hard to make everything fit. When they asked to go see an expensive 3-D movie this month I explained to them about the budget and they weren't dissapointed at all. They said things like, "Maybe next month," or "We could even wait until it's on DVD and rent it! That would be fun, too!"

Part Two for making it a success: Meet together often to go over the budget. This is a MUST. In the beginning, you may realistically need to meet a few times a week or even every day. We write our receipts down in the checkbook and then itemize them in the budget. If I went to Wal-Mart and bought milk and diapers, I then record the diapers under the Diapers and Wipes category and then find the remaining balance in that category, then record the amount of the milk under the Food category. We've found that the longer you go between reconciling the budget, the more money you think you have left. It always seems better in your head and it's hard to face reality on paper.

For some people, they choose to use an envelope system and put cash in various envelopes. For example, if they have $100 a week for groceries, they take an envelope with $100 in it to the grocery store. When they run out of money, they're done for the week. Oh, making a menu and planning out your meals and snacks is also very important. If you're dining on the fly, you'll invariably end up spending more. Plan for some fun, new meals but also the old standbys that are cheap and nutritious.

For me, I go to Aldi first and buy what I can there. Then, I tally up the remaining balance I have to get the rest of my groceries at Wal-Mart. I keep a running tally as I shop there, placing items back on the shelf as I run out of money and choosing which things I really need and which we can do without.

If you have to go without something, you WILL find a way to make it work.

For example, if I can't afford hamburger buns for grilled burgers, I will realize that I can find a recipe and make them myself, which turns out to be a fun and delicious experience for the whole family. When I didn't have enough money left in the cleaning budget for the facial cleanser I love, I found that my Ivory soap at home worked just the same.

Basically, when it comes down to the budget, self-discipline really is key. For many people, I believe that if we can exercise self-discipline and choose to do without things that don't really matter - like treats (whatever that means to you - dining out, renting movies, drive thru, etc) - you will find that there really is an abundance there to use on what you really want. I think we often mistakenly feel we need to find a way to earn MORE money, when in reality if we can cut back, what we need is already there. I guess it just depends on how bad you want it, and how hard you're willing to work for it.

While it's not fun in the moment to choose to put something back on the shelf, or to choose to go without something you think you really want - coming in under budget and spending money on things that will lead to financial security is a FAR sweeter feeling than the rush of instant gratification. Trust me!

And one final thought: Try fasting and prayer about the budget. It really works. I really do understand that it's hard to stick with it the whole month through. Fast and pray as a couple at the first of the month and continue to pray for guidance with your expenditures through the month and you CAN do it! I promise you!

If anybody has any budget tips or tricks, please comment! Any questions?