Late Bloomers & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  Last week, I worked several mornings at one of my occasional jobs.  While in town one day, I dropped off three boxes of donations at Goodwill.  I harvested lettuce from the garden, for salad two nights.  Celery was cut, to go in a waldorf salad, which included one of our apples.  Brussels sprouts were roasted with our garlic, and our potatoes were enjoyed with them.  I made a batch of homemade lemonade for us & my stepson to enjoy in between working on projects.  At the discount grocery, I purchased two boxes of organic K cups to give to my sister as a thank you.  They were $4 a box ($7.25 on amazon).  I  got 2 bottles of organic apple juice @ $2 for our upcoming hayride.  Also found was Weleda's sea buckthorn hand cream @ $3.75 ($8.99 on amazon).  I'll save this for late winter when my hands typically get very dry.

It's cooled off enough that we've not needed the a/c, and have heated with wood several nights.  Then it warmed again, so we could go without any heat for the last several days.  Windows were opened for fresh air when it was comfortable to do so.  Laundry was done with homemade soap, and hung on the line.  In the bathroom, homemade soap and deodorant were used.  I made swagbucks goals most days.  On the way home from an out of town class on Friday, I picked up almost 2 full 5 gal buckets of coffee grounds from the coffee shop, which we'll add to the compost.  Over the weekend, J offered to grill. I prepped a tromboncino squash, trying a new recipe, which was my favorite grilled squash recipe so far.  I also prepped asian eggplant.  They were good, but not quite done enough.  When I roasted the leftovers, they were better.

I read about a product called Hairprint, which I'm going to give a try.  It's not a dye, but somehow restores your natural color in a nontoxic way.  It's not especially frugal, and quite complicated to use, especially if you've got conventionally colored hair growing out.  I asked my sister, who used to do hair, if she'd help me this first time.  I'm bringing an apple cake and the above mentioned K cups, as well as some garden produce as a thank you.  I hope it's worth the effort.  There has not been a hard frost yet, so things are still blooming here, which is always cheering to me.  When I walk by the asters, there's a noticeable buzz, from all the pollinators.

Though I'd been told the posts had been fully stripped last weekend, they sadly had not been.  J & I both worked on them a couple more hours, and then got them set in place  J got all the cedar shingles on the fascia. The posts and shingles match our porch on the side of the house. We still need to apply linseed oil to the posts and paint the ceiling of our little porch.  The house plants were all brought in last week, with some night time temps in the upper 30's.  The rain has begun this morning, most welcome here.  There's a chance of severe weather later today, even tornadoes.  If you could use some frugal encouragement,  The Prudent Homemaker is chock full of it, from the information Brandy shares, to the numerous comments on her posts.  Be safe, friends, and have a great week!

Cockleburs, Gossamer Webs & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello friends.  I hope yours has been a good week.  Last week, our collards and homemade broth were used in collards and rice, and tomatoes, sweet red pepper, the last cucumber, and oregano were used in pasta salad.  Tomatoes and basil were used in caprese salad.  J & I picked several baskets of lima beans that had dried, and more fresh green limas that were shelled.  Though we have all the okra we need, I continue to harvest it, and shared some at Hospice.  When I left Hospice, I headed to the discount grocery, where I found Seventh Generation dishwasher tabs 45/$4.50, 1/2 gal. organic juices $2, organic tomato sauce .50/15 oz, organic apple butter $1/pint, farro $2/lb, Typhoo tea $2, black olives .50 & organic quinoa .50/lb.  I brought my bags to use, and received a discount using my bags at the Lowe's grocery store.

A batch of my holiday soap was made, scented with orange, lemon and spice, which will be ready to wrap on Nov. 1st.  Sometime in the 80's, I painted up these little houses with NOEL on them.  They had chimneys, and one of them had gone missing.  J had recently cut a cedar tree, and I found the perfect little remnant for a chimney.  It just happened to already have the same slope as the roof, so all I had to do was hot glue it on, and it was even a reddish color like the other chimneys.  With the recent four egg days upping our egg numbers, I decided to make egg salad one night.  Eggs were enjoyed for breakfast several other mornings.  A pawpaw cake was pulled from the freezer for J's breakfast and snacks.   There is often a drip from the shower head when we're on rain water, which I've been collecting and using to water plants and refill the pups water bowl.

Enough fresh lima beans were kept to try a new soup recipe, and a small bag of beans was frozen for a future meal.  Except for a rare larger one, I'm harvesting cherry and golf ball size tomatoes, and not many of them.  I decided to try freezing them, being there wasn't enough to bother with canning.  If nothing else, I figure I can throw them in soups.  I harvested swiss chard, and made a side dish using our garlic and homemade broth.  Some stems were chopped for the pups dinner, and the rest were added to the vegi broth bag in the freezer.  I picked the lone goji berry, which I halved, so J & I could taste it.  It wasn't wonderful, but it wasn't bad either.  I found another teeny tiny berry on the bush.

In addition to the tomatoes, I harvested okra and a sweet red pepper, with the okra gifted to a friend.   Several basil leaves were left after I made a caprese salad.  I froze them with a little water.  I took advantage of a $30 off $100 code on Vitacost, and purchased needed supplements, hair care and pantry items, going through swagbucks for an additional 3% cash back.  Bills were paid online, saving stamps.  A new lima bean recipe was tried with our fresh beans and garlic.  Thanks to a can I picked up at the discount store, I had the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  I had no idea how I'd use them, and am glad I tried this recipe with just one of the peppers, as that was plenty of heat for us.  I suspect that may mostly be the adobo sauce?  We liked the recipe.  Most of the broth was eaten at that meal, so I served the leftovers over jasmine rice.  Our last pear went into a pear blue cheese salad, along with homemade vinaigrette, to go along with the soup.

Over the weekend, I made a double batch of pizza dough, and froze the second crust, thanks to inspiration on The Prudent Homemaker.  I made the pizza with homemade sauce using our garlic, oregano and onion, and topped it with red pepper and roasted eggplant from the garden, black olives I opened recently, mushrooms I had canned, and mozzarella.  I harvested kale and made a salad to go along with the pizza.  I had been wanting an old copper boiler to use for firewood in our home.  There was one on craigslist several weeks ago for a decent price.  It was still there this weekend, so I asked if he would take less, and he dropped the price $10 (to $45), so we went to get it.  Holey chard was given to the chickens, and I continue to gather sour gum fruits for them.

gossamer webs on cedar

The pups and I walked daily, usually a 3+ mile walk in the mornings, and a shorter one in the evening.  This week, the lovely spicy scent of autumn was in the air.  A couple of needed items at Lowes were purchased online with my credit card for 5% discount, and I went through swagbucks for 1% cash back.  One of the things I purchased was Citristrip to strip two posts for the little front porch.  This has been on my list for some time.  My stepson came to help his Dad do some things on Sunday, and he stripped the posts too!  I'm delighted to be able to cross that off my list.  The other  purchase was Rustoleum spray paint.   I painted the garden gate while the posts were being stripped, and helped J with the wood chipper in between coats.   There was a large patch of cockleburs in between the wine grapes, as well as several edges and areas between plants that had been missed being mowed for some time.  I push mowed all these spots, and it all looks so much nicer.   Then I noticed some very tall grass around the pond, so I suppose that will be next.  Many wishes for a peaceful week with some things that bring you joy. 

Hope of More to Come & Frugal Accomplishments

Now that it's cooled a little bit, the oregano is growing nicely again.  I use it fresh most of the year, but for a brief time in the winter, I need to use dried.  I harvested extra when gathering some for eggplant parmesan, and dried it.  Tromboncino squash was used in a dish with tomatoes, corn & onions.  Okra and eggplant were shared with a friend.  The egg count this week started out with one a day, but ended the week with two 4 egg days, which felt like a bonus.  Two days were spent in class, giving me CEU's towards my massage license.  The class was held at my alma mater, so I received an alumni discount. 

pomegranate- still waiting for our first fruit

With our homestead being so dry, we've been keeping a close eye on the weather.  There was a good chance of rain yesterday, but we got less than 1/8".  Another shower today brought it up to 1/4".  We were invited to friends for dinner this weekend, and they got some lovely rain while we were there.  We ate on their covered porch, so were able to enjoy it vicariously.  I harvested kale and made a kale salad to bring, and shared okra and collards from the garden.  I also brought a cheese tray made with one of the slate trays and Ashe County cheeses I got in the mountains last week, some fig jam I made, and a couple of other cheeses.  Besides enjoying a fabulous dinner, we were sent home with two chocolate bars and some Speculoos cookies, one of my favorites.  A button popped loose from one of my sleeves just as we were about to go out the door, so I grabbed a needle and thread, and mended it on the way there.

goji berry

After my walk with the pups this morning, I wandered around the homestead a bit, to see how things were faring.  I found a delightful surprise; our first ever goji berry!  It's been blooming well this summer, and I've been keeping an eye on the sprawling bush.  Like our lone filbert, the berry is an only child so far, but it's always rewarding to get even one of a newly planted item.  It gives much hope of more to come.  I've read that the fresh berries aren't wonderful, and it will be just a little taste for each of us, but it's a start.  Now I'll have to figure out when it's ready to pick.  While in the garden harvesting okra this week, this tree frog kept me company.

I enjoy trying new recipes.  There are so many good flavors out there, why get bored?  Of course, I do have a group of old favorites too.  I explored a new recipe for spaghetti squash this week, which sounded better than it was.  Oh well, that's the way it rolls sometimes.  Continuing on with fall cleaning, more windows were washed, and cabinets, chairs, baseboards and doors wiped down.  I roasted another batch of cubed eggplant, which is being frozen for future pizzas.  I cut another batch of oregano, and have it drying for the winter, when fresh isn't available.  I'm looking forward to the week ahead, and hope that yours is all that you wish for. 

A Road Trip & Frugal Accomplishments

Native public garden in Boone

Hello friends.  Well, we had another disappointment with the chickens.  No chicks hatched with this latest round of eggs either.  The two young roosters are still segregated from the flock, so I suppose it means our older rooster is not "taking care of" the girls.  He does have especially large spurs, and may not physically be able to, so we have been working on gradually shortening his spurs.  Oh well, at least we have the four bought Americauna chicks.  Most days, I'm getting 2 eggs from 9 hens, so we really do need some younger hens, to up the egg count.  I did laundry with homemade laundry soap, and hung it on the clothesline.  I do love the smell of sun dried sheets.  I spotted this caterpillar while at the clothesline.  Isn't it an interesting one?  I don't know what it is. Update: it is the about to pupate caterpillar of the White Blotched Heterocampa moth.

Though the temps were hot, 90 degrees, I managed to get the sweet potatoes weeded, and helped J gather firewood offered from a nearby site that had recently been timbered.  I did pull up a couple of plants while weeding, so have the first of the sweet potatoes curing.  J cleaned up the garden, and took down the remaining, sad cucumbers, as well as the tomatoes that were done.  He also harvested most of the Seminole pumpkins.  Okra and eggplant are still coming on strong, and a few tomatoes.  It looks like the squash are done.  Kale is doing great, lettuce is filling in, the cabbage and collards are doing well.  Soon, cooler temps are arriving.  Thank goodness for that.  I made kefir, yogurt and a batch of granola.  For a dinner, I made potato salad, asian cucumbers (the last of the season... sigh), and okra, using all homegrown vegi's and herbs.  Several bags of okra were frozen for future meals.

my sweetheart at the gardens

We had plans to be at the coast this week, but Maria strengthened back into a hurricane aimed at the NC coast, so we canceled.  We instead headed towards the mountains, and enjoyed a couple of nights in Boone.  The temps were delightfully cooler.  The B&B was a lovely, relaxing spot with a hot tub, which we enjoyed. We visited a free public garden, several thrift shops, an antique mall where I found a large vintage glass refrigerator dish (for less than any I found online when you include shipping), and a cheese plant and shop.  We missed the cheese making, but bought some lovely cheeses.  Instead of going out to dinner that night, we picked up a baguette, olives, fruit and a few other odds and ends to enjoy with the cheese, and had dinner on the large porch of the B&B.  Before our road trip, J changed my oil, checked all the belts and topped off the windshield wiper fluid.

I began doing some fall cleaning, and so far have washed windows on two sides of the house and the two storm doors.  I've had paint for our main entrance door for a few months, and last week put three coats of chalk paint on it, in Boxwood green.  There are a few small spots that I must have missed getting the base coat on, as it's not adhering well there.  I sanded those spots, and will repaint them.  The propane bill was paid within 10 days, which gives me a discount.  Photos were ordered with a 40% coupon.  I've been wanting to create a wall of family photos, and these will finish up the photos needed.  I went through ebates for the purchase, so that will give another 4% off.  J planted a mix of fall greens, what a local seed store called Grandpa's salad mix. Sadly, the seed store closed last year, but he went to another one while working in that town, and had them mix up a close approximation, a mix of mustards, kales, turnips, rape/canola seeds and a purple collard.  We love to eat the greens raw in a salad.  I made eggplant parmesan with our eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and herbs, and an apple cake with our apples.  It's lovely that fall is here!

More Natural Dyeing & Frugal Accomplishments

sunflower hulls with alum

Hello, friends.  Though the garden is slowing down, I used all the small tomatoes I had along with some larger ones that needed using to make tomato relish, which I canned.  This recipe goes along with one for vegi fritters, which sounded like something good to try.  For dinner that night, I tried a new recipe for potato pie, which we enjoyed, and it used our chives and parsley.  We had leftover broccoli cheddar quinoa and asian cucumbers with it.  Several nights later, I made the vegi fritters, served with tomato relish.  Next time, I'd go with a small zucchini/tromboncino, or add another egg and possibly some more cheese to help them hold together better.  The recipe didn't specify, and I used a good amount of grated squash, because you know, there's always an abundance of squash.  I harvested kale, and tried a new salad recipe, which used one of our pears.

After working in town, I ran errands.  I tried a frugal idea, which didn't work out.  The last time I was at my bank, and requested deposit slips, I was charged $1 for a sheet of four.  My bank was bought out a few months ago, and this is the first time I've been charged.  It bothered me that I have to pay .25 every time I want to put my money in the bank.  J suggested I copy the deposit sheet at home, which I thought was a great idea.  Unfortunately, when I brought a slip to the bank today, I found out the slips use special ink, so I cannot use my home copied ones.  I inquired about ones they've said they can order to be sent to me, but found out they're even more expensive.  Crazy!

My parsley has reseeded and provided a multitude of volunteers in late summer the last few years, but it was so dry this summer, no volunteers germinated and the original plants are dried up.  While in town, I bought a parsley plant to tide me over.  I looked at the plant mark down racks, and bought two purple mums for .75 ea.  I picked two that had many buds, so they should flower well for some time.  J planted them at the head of our walkway.  Over Labor Day weekend, I noticed a pretty, vintage handmade rag runner for a great price.  As it was 10 1/2' long, I had to ponder if I had a good spot for it.  I decided it would work well in my studio, so that was the last stop on my way home.  They still had it, and I bought it for under $40.  I made vegi BLT's for dinner, using one of our large tomatoes.

eucalyptus dyed fabrics

The dye pot with the eucalyptus fabrics turned out a pretty peachy tan color.  I used dried silver dollar eucalyptus leaves that were in a bouquet given to me a year ago.  I believe fresh leaves would give a bright, vibrant orange.  In the class I took in July, the instructor used some freshly picked sunflower heads for one of our dye baths.  We removed the seeds and used them.  Thinking frugally, I thought I'd try the hulls at home from already spent seeds under our bird feeders.  They've been collecting there for quite some time.  I rinsed them and simmered them for an hour, then added fabric, but they had not imparted any color after a week's time.

plain sunflower hulls on the left three, with alum on the right

I added alum to a small amount of the same dye bath, and did get a light beige from that.  Traditionally, a Hopi black sunflower was used for dyeing.  Though I buy black oil sunflower seeds for the birds, I very much doubt they are this variety.  It was worth a try.

I tried folding some of the fabrics and wrapping them with string, in a shibori type experiment for this round.  I left the chenille fabric as is, but folded and tied the others.  You can see the results with the fabric from the sunflower with alum dye bath, and two from the eucalyptus dye bath. I took a quick look at a shibori photo online , then just did my own thing.  It will be fun to experiment more with the technique.  I'll report back on a short road trip next week.  Be well, friends.

Adventures in Natural Dyeing with Plants

Good morning, friends.  I wanted to share my natural dyeing experiments with you.  From the class I took in July, there are the above two pieces dyed with sunflower seeds.  If you look close, you can see where the weed whacker chewed up the shirt on the left side.  I'm thinking I'll patch it with some other pieces of naturally dyed fabric.

And (L to R) coreopsis x 2, North Carolina red clay, and a dog fennel experiment.

The above are pieces I dyed with onion skins we grew.  They were a yellow type onion, with deep rust skins.  There was still so much color left in the skins, I dried them to use again.   All of the photos in this post are of cotton fabrics.  In the links below, there are also silk and wool fabrics, in more vibrant colors.

I continue to gather dye stuffs as I come across them... oak galls, lichen, juniper berries, hickory husks.  Here's a link to one of my earliest experiments, using goldenrod and poke berries, from 2011.  Here's another link with my experiment with marigolds that same year.  As you can see, I've not done a great deal, but what I've ended up with has got me excited to do more experimenting.  Be well, friends.

Creating & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  On Monday, the rain from tropical storm Irma arrived.  It stayed in the low 60's all day, so I decided to can.  First canned was tromboncino squash.  While it was in the canner, I started the eggplant, which is salted and covered with water before being boiled and canned.  These helped warm the house up, then I added a few ingredients and baked leftover pasta for dinner, which warmed the house a bit more.  I froze bags of okra, and finished filling a gallon bag of vegi scraps with squash and eggplant ends, which will be turned into broth.  I submitted codes to receive points on Purina pet perks.  We've been able to mostly keep our a/c off, running it one cycle in the evening most days, to decrease the humidity as much as the heat, then opening up the house before bedtime.

After helping J place firewood pieces in the bucket of the tractor for him to move, I picked up lots of juniper with berries, which I'm gathering for a dyeing experiment.  Unfortunately, one of the trees we cut down came down along one side of the juniper, so it lost several limbs.  The tree cut down was one leaning towards the house, and when we cut it, found it had a weak root on the side opposite the house, which meant that it would have fallen in the direction of the house.  So, I suppose a few limbs on the juniper tree is worth having that risk taken care of.  We put aside the smaller limbs to chip in the future.  With Irma turning more westerly, we only received an inch of rain, and no major wind.  So thankful for the rain we got.

The first kale of the season was gathered, and a kale salad was enjoyed.  After working in town, I borrowed books from the library, and stopped by Staples for some great back to school prices... packs of erasers for .75, composition books for $1, packs of glue sticks for $1, and 2 packing tapes with dispensers for $4.  I was first charged $12.99 for the tape, but looked at the receipt and when I questioned it, got $9 and change back.  It's a good idea to make sure there are no mistakes on charges, but I don't always think to check.  I did not buy any groceries, as we bought groceries while in Greensboro on Sunday.  I brought my stainless water bottle and a snack.  For dinner, I used one of our pears in a pear blue cheese salad, and used our eggs in deviled eggs.

After spotting this Eastern Painted Turtle on my way back from the chicken pen, I gathered my laundry basket and headed to the clothesline, where I saw a Great Blue Heron at the pond.  The dogs took off running towards it at the same time, so I didn't have time to snap a photo.  I found we still had quite a few cabbage and broccoli plants that had been overrun in the pond garden.  I weeded around them, so we'll see how they do.  The sweet potatoes are also in that garden, and a weedy mess, though J has trimmed the weeds with the weed eater several times.  Maybe I'll get to that in the coming week.  Laundry was done with homemade soap, and hung on the line.  I made a new Provencal tomato recipe, which was just OK.  I continue to see hummingbirds at the feeders, which seems later than usual?  Perhaps I've stopped filling the feeders too soon in past years, or maybe I've forgotten.  I had in my head it was closer to Labor Day when I stopped seeing them.

On Thursday, I focused on my bodycare business. I made a batch of Lavender soap, then did photo shoots for shaving mugs, shaving brushes and my newest soap,  At The Forest's Edge.  Photos can always be better, but they're fine for today.   I got the long handled tool my Mom bought me some years ago, and harvested all the pears I could reach.  Though none of the chard seeds have germinated in the garden so far, I noticed one self-seeded chard, which I'll transplant into a bed.   No, I won't, as J mowed it :o(.  Another day, I noticed a lettuce plant in the walkway, and transplanted it into a bed.  So, there's that at least!  For dinner, we had ravioli using our garlic, and a salad using our tomatoes and cucumber.

While, picking lima beans, I ran into a saddleback moth caterpillar.  Ouch!  They're quite interesting looking, but pack a bit of a sting.  On Friday, J went to the coast to do some deep sea fishing with his brother.  I had dinner with my sister, picked up a few things at the co-op, and gave myself a facial scrub and mask when I got home.  On Saturday, I started two dye pots, one with eucalyptus leaves and another with sunflower seed hulls.  The eucalyptus pot appears to be imparting a light peach color, and light gray on one of the pieces in the sunflower pot.  I'll check them again tomorrow.  I realized I've not shared my previous dye experiments, so I took some photos and will put up another post with them in the coming week.  An embroidered piece I created some time ago finally got placed in a hoop and listed in my shop.  The transition of seasons has got me feeling creative.  Have you had any creative moments lately?