Last Years Vegetable Garden

 

Last years vegetable garden was a true eye opener to me.

 

Carrots in October

 

 

I hadn't had a garden in many years, and I wasn't sure that with my ground and the slope, that I would be able to manage much of one.  But, with the help of my Dear Darling, and ALOT of work, we managed to have a nice yield for a first try.

 

 

Green tomatoes harvested before the first killer frost

 It makes me think about a lot of things, where growing your own food is concerned.  The past year has been not one for just my first garden in a while, but also of getting to be a "stay at home" wife.  To do that, I have had to simplify not only my "life" but our budget as well.  I had to learn to do new things and to stretch what I already know.

I learned how to use up the excess from our garden in ways I had never done before.  Such as the great tomato cake I made from all the green tomatoes that were there before the frost.

Brussel sprouts

 I learned that if I wanted to grow what we like, I had to try.  And the brussel sprouts grew just fine and we enjoyed a few harvests of them for our meals.  They were nice and fresh and they grew in our garden, they didn't travel a long distance to get here.

And more brussel sprouts

Tomatoes of several kinds that all grew well

 I love sauce, but tomatoes for me, are usually just a tomato or two on toast with Mayo and maybe some lettuce and I'm good for a year.  But, Dear Darling likes them on sandwiches, burgers and in his salads.  SO I grew a few different kinds, and we had them fresh, as well as dried and I even learned to can, on my own.  Something I am proud of and I look forward to doing next year.

Kale, never tried it before, shared it, loved it and will grow it again.

And, I learned to like Kale, as well as grow it.  I'm not really sure why I chose to grow it.  I guess it was because I had heard so much about it.  It is one of those things that takes a while to "like" it.  So at first, what I grew and harvested I gave to a friend.  She makes smoothies using Kale.  She is a cancer survivor and does what she can to eat healthy to stay healthy.  So I was so glad that I could give this to her and it would be used.  She was glad as well, as then she didn't have to buy and could use her budget towards another food item.

Then, I read about dehydrated Kale chips.  BINGO!  I was sold!  I made some, liked them and that was how the rest of the harvest was used.

Did it take a lot of time or effort to grow these things?  Well, last year, there was the time and expense of building the garden.  But as far as the actual time to grow them or the effort we put into growing them, no, there wasn't much done at all.

Now, all I can think of is this years garden and all the other "new" things I want to grow and try.  I am so excited by it all that I am having a hard time restraining myself from beginning to grow things from seed under my lights.

If you've never had a garden before, choose something you like, such as tomatoes or peppers, and grow a few in pots on your deck, patio or porch and enjoy knowing that you grew them, that they didn't travel far AND that you could.

Eating Creatively

 

I am often left with the thought of "what am I going to eat for dinner?"

 

I truly wish that we didn't have to eat, it would make life SO much easier.

 

On this night, I decided to look inside the refrigerator and try to find something to eat.  Now of course, there is food in there.  There is always food in there.  But what do I FEEL like making?  Better yet, what do I FEEL like eating?

 

I found some left over potatoes.

 

I LOVE potatoes and because I do, I try not to eat them very often.  But, we had some for dinner earlier in the week and there was a small amount left.  I don't like to throw food away, so I saved them.  I could make SOMETHING out of them.

 

Now, what else was in there........

 

I know, eggs.  If only I had a good cast iron frying pan.  My dad made THE BEST ever fried potatoes when I was a kid for breakfast in the cast iron pan he had.

 

Anyway, I took the potatoes and an egg out and here is what I came up with.

 



 

 

A little butter went into the pan as it heated, then I put the potatoes in and waited a few minutes for them to brown, but they didn't really, not like in the cast iron pan, but they would be okay.

 

 

 

Then I scrambled the egg in a bowl and dumped that in on top. 

 

Now that I think about it, I probably should have fried some onions first and maybe some peppers that I keep handy in the freezer, then put in the potatoes and then the egg.  I'll have to remember that for next time.

 

Anyway, that was what I had for dinner.  I can at least say there was a protein in there, as well as the carbs.  I did put on some salt and pepper.  I think potatoes are the only thing I actually put salt on.

 

I just wanted to share this with you to hopefully inspire you to look and see what you have in your refrigerator tonight, that needs to be eaten up, so it isn't thrown out or forgotten.

 

I know that I mentioned recently that I have been trying to look at the food we eat and the amount we eat and to use up what we fix so that there isn't so much food going to waste and being thrown out.  Give it a try.  You'd be surprised what you come up with!

 

Compost

Yes, winter is "almost" here in the North Eastern part of the United States.  It is a few days away, according to the calendar, but it has felt like winter for a few weeks now.

I'm thinking about compost.  I guess, once a person begins to garden, their thoughts are never truly far away from the soil of their garden.

One of the books I took out of the library is "The Rodale Book of Composting" Deborah L. Martin and Grace Gershuny, Editors.  The copyright of the book is 1992, so while the information in it is 21 years old, I am sure there are a few things that I can glean from the book that will help me to better understand how to "grow my soil".

Did you know, there is actually a "history" of composting?  I didn't, but I'm not going to go in to that here.

I wanted to share just one topic from the book today that I found interesting and have never really given thought to. In Chapter 5, there is a section called "from trash to treasure", here is what I wanted to share:

Up to 75% of household garbage is derived from organic matter and, theoretically, can be composted.  If you include sewage sludge, the rate is even higher.  Even if the finished product were simply dumped into a landfill, composting would realize savings because the sheer bulk of the material would be reduced by almost half.  Furthermore, it would no longer pose a toxic leachate problem, requiring expensive liners and test wells.  Using the resulting compost to build healthy soil can be regarded as an added bonus.

I never really thought of this one before.  Granted the book is 20 + years old, but I always thought that any food waste in my garbage can would decompose and make soil in the landfill.  I'm wrong about that and I have to try to be a better steward of my resources.

I never thought that by composting my organic matter it would help, not only my garden, but would also help my community by lowering the cost to haul away my garbage.

I do know that my community does offer yard waste recycling.  Those pick ups are only done during the summer and fall months of the year, the rest of the time, if you put out yard waste, they just throw it into the garbage truck. 

Compost conserves energy because it supplies soil nutrients without calling on fossil fuel support.  It saves energy because it can be made on the farm and in the garden, requiring no transportation from a factory.  It saves energy because it is waste recycled via a very short route - so short as the distance from the kitchen to the backyard compost heap.  Even the organic debris of an entire city can be recycled and returned to the land without leaving the metropolitan area.  Compare this system with the one we have been following since World War II, and you begin to see not only a major root of our current solid wastes and energy problems, but a solution to those problems as well. 

And, it saves energy!  I never thought of this one either.

Before the winter weather arrived, we began our first compost pile in our yard.  I am so looking forward to using it in our garden next season.  And reading just these two paragraphs in this book has got me thinking about better ways for me to use all the organic material I can from our yard to compost it to make soil and to save money and energy.

Isn't it amazing how when you start to do one thing, so many other things open up to you?

Look for a future post about this project.

Sundays are my busiest days

I truly think that Sunday is the busiest day of the week for me.

If I haven't been able to shop for the following week, it's off to the store to do lunch shopping.  I make a weeks worth of lunches for Dear Darling on Sunday.

For the summer, he didn't want bread with his meal each day, so I only had to bake a loaf on Friday and that would see us through the weekend and maybe a spare slice or two for during the week.

Winter (fall) is another story.  I make bread on Friday and then again on Sunday.

At the market, I picked up fresh fruit.  I like for him to have at least two different fresh fruits a day.  I also make a "magic bullet" drink for him, that has lettuce, grapes and pineapple (this week).  He likes them better with blueberries, but they are SO FAR out of the budget right now.  Next year I am going to keep an eye on the price and BUY lots to freeze.  Plus two servings of vegetables as well.

I also like to make something for a home made snack.  This week is just brownies.  Yes, it's a box mix, I have some in the pantry and need to use them.  Then I will figure out how to make my own.

For lunch he will have beef and noodles, which the beef is leftover spaghetti meat sauce from dinner last night with some of my canned, diced tomatoes and I added macaroni noodles and a slice of muenster cheese on the top.  I will also give him two slices of bread for each day as well, with butter.

Lunches this week will be

A sliced orange
A sliced cucumber
Beef and noodles, plus bread and butter
Cheese and crackers
A banana
Homemade yogurt
Made at home brownies
Magic bullet drink

Oh, plus, as a surprise, I put three Hersey's kisses into each Cheese and crackers container.

It may seem like a lot of food, but he will eat some of it at morning break time.  Since he is away from home, it is so easy to grab something quick off the "lunch truck" and by providing a variety of good food and homemade snacks, the lunch truck doesn't see our dollars.

What or how do you handle lunches in your home for those who work out or go to school?