Easter Wishes & Frugal Accomplishments

Happy Easter and Passover, friends!  This week has felt like spring.  The birds have been active, the flowers blooming, and days have been mild.  Some nice breezes quickly dried the laundry on the line.  J & I tried something new with our tomatoes this year.  As I hadn't gotten around to planting seeds indoors, and it appears we've had our last frost, J planted a patch of seeds in the garden.  If they come up well, we will separate and plant them.  We'll probably supplement them with some store bought plants, to have earlier tomatoes. * We did; see below.  

My free Naturals cat food arrived, courtesy of Purina pet perks.  Yogurt and kefir were made, and eggs boiled for us and the pups.  I found a lovely bit on planting a garden at The Herb Shed, and tracked it down to here.  A quinoa broccoli bake was made using our eggs, with our asparagus alongside.  Leftovers were served with our okra, and oriental cabbage slaw made using our cabbage and onion.  J had asked for ice cream if at a good price, and when I looked for it, was sad to find they have discontinued this natural line of ice cream.  It's the only one we've been buying.  They do carry a couple of organic ones, but I just can't justify paying that.  I have bought it once or twice on sale, but even that's a stretch.  I told J I guessed we needed to make all our ice cream this summer 😊.

J & I vacuum sealed a bulk order of organic unbleached white flour in half gallon jars.  I used our canned squash & tomatoes, onion and herbs in a pasta dish.  Earlier in the year, J had ordered 5 mixed berry plants.  They arrived, and were set out in our new berry area.  The dog food I buy was on sale for $4 off, so I bought two.  Pups were given chopped cauliflower and collard stems, and the good parts of a soft apple.  Various wild greens were picked for the chickens.  I made an herbal salt mix, using our herbs, similar to Herbamare.  Mid-week, J & I heard the first hummingbirds.  I quickly made hummer food, and set up a feeder, but it wasn't until Saturday morning that I saw one at the feeder.  I'm delighted to see them back.  I noticed a blue bird going into one of the houses.  I'm not sure if there's a nest, or if it was just a look-see.

The summer garden has mostly been planted.  Joseph did the bulk of the manual labor.  I planted many of the seeds and plants.  Asian eggplant, basil, sweet pepper and a few tomato plants were bought.  J also planted a small patch of eggplant seed, which we'll transplant if they do anything.  We also planted seeds of sweet corn, 3 types of winter squash and summer squash, 3 types of lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, onions, beets, kale, and arugula.  J watered them in well, and we have a good chance of rain the next several days.  I weeded several flower beds, and gave the weeds to the chickens.  Another large bag of lambs quarter was harvested.  I had a stop next to a local thrift store, went in and found another $5 sewing treasure.  This one was a bag filled with vintage scissors, pin cushions, tracing paper, sewing book from 1958 (my birth year, which I thought was kind of cool), hooks and eyes, bobbins, thread and more.

For Easter dinner, I prepared deviled eggs, corn on the cob, roasted beets, and roasted potatoes.  Our plans to grill had to change when J found a Carolina wren nest with babies inside the grill.  Thank goodness he looked before he lit it.  I thanked the angels mightily when he told me.  The eggs, corn, beets and oregano came from our homestead.   I was able to cross a few loose ends off my list this weekend, and made progress on more.  After a few incidences of working on the wardrobe, only to find more buckled laminate when I checked it the next time, I decided that piece of laminate was too far gone, and removed it not long ago.  I finally got the glue removed, sanded it, and applied a light coat of primer to that area.  J suggested I do that, as he felt the chalk paint would not adhere as well to the area where the laminate was removed.  Chalk paint covers a multitude of sins, so I don't believe the primer will be noticed.  I'm glad to be a bit closer to getting it painted.

I dried a batch of our sweet potatoes for pup treats.  We have enough sweet potatoes for a couple more bakings, which seems just right with the temperatures warming up.  I like to cook enough for a meal and leftovers when I bake them.  In the winter, I often use those leftovers for a pie or pound cake, but that's not possible in my diet at present.  Regardless, the sweet potatoes are mighty tasty just as they are.  We had beautiful weather the whole week, and I've really enjoyed it.  Lots of flowers are blooming.  I've been soaking the foot that had minor surgery with epsom salts per the Dr's recommendation.  I researched and found out roses appreciate magnesium, and have fed the solution to all of them.  Our wounded hen is all healed up, and has been incorporated back into the flock.  We're pondering what to do with those two young roosters.  We had separated them when we let the hen back in, but the door was left open by mistake so they were all back together this morning.   Would you like to give a rooster or two a new home?   Wishing you a lovely week ahead!