Heritage Wheat, Bluebirds and Frugal Accomplishments

It's time again to join in with Frugal Accomplishments.  If you're looking for encouragement on living frugally, you may want to check out The Prudent Homemaker's website.  In addition to the weekly Frugal Accomplishments posts, there are sections on gardening, cooking, shopping for less, home schooling, sewing and more.  There's a great community of people who share there, and a wonderful amount of information on the website.

I baked a quiche with our peppers and garlic.  Made a pasta dish using eggplant I canned, and our garlic and herbs.  Steamed asparagus I had frozen last year, then we had the leftovers in an omelet.  Hopefully, there will soon be fresh asparagus coming up.  There were still some cranberries in the crisper.  The few moldy ones went into the compost, the chickens got the soft ones, and I cut up the good ones for the pups.  The chickens always love them, but I was surprised the pups ate all theirs up too.  Not the original intended purpose, but not wasted either.  Another night, the pups got a grated gnarly carrot from the garden.

I ground wheat and corn, and made kefir and yogurt.  We bought a 50# bag of Red Fife wheat, a variety of heritage wheat which has a lower gluten content than most modern wheat, making it easier to digest. We were lucky to be able to taste baked goods made with this wheat, thanks to a baker in Chapel Hill.  It was our favorite of the heritage wheat we tasted, with a wonderful, nutty flavor.  I dry canned most of the wheat, and saved around 10# for a patch we hope to plant here.

 I baked 2 types of cookies, and brownies, and brought two plates to the car dealership for the fellows who assisted me when my car wouldn't start last week.  I used our eggs, and whole wheat flour I ground for a portion of the flour.  We've had some warm days and nights , when no heat was needed, and windows were opened to let in fresh air.  I cashed in Swagbuck points a for a Whole Foods card.  Among other things, I bought 3 lbs of organic butter, as it's the cheapest I've found in months, at $4.79/lb.  I used up lots of butter baking the thank you goodies.  Unfortunately, I did not print out the code Whole Foods needed, so I'll have to use my gift card another time.

I planted a variety of lettuce seeds in our hoop house, and 3 parsley plants.  J planted broccoli and cabbage plants I had purchased.  Some years we do better growing things from seeds, some years not.  We immediately put row cover over the cabbage and broccoli, as cabbage worms have been a real problem here the past few years.  Hoping that will do the trick.  The tomato seedlings continue to grow, but so far, I've not seen an eggplant or pepper germinate.  Our seed potatoes arrived, but the ground is very wet, so they'll have to wait until it dries out a bit.

papa bluebird

mama bluebird

On Sunday, I noticed bluebirds at the house in the backyard.  At first, I thought they were setting up house, but watching them convinced me there are babies in there.  It's the perfect spot for me to watch as I sit at the computer.  I made up another batch of suet to entice them to stick around. Wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Path of the Critters

This time of year, I enjoy the light that comes through the diamond-paned window in the evenings.  Soon the sun will be higher in the sky, and I'll have to wait another year to enjoy it.  When I am mindful, I find simple pleasures to enjoy.  Each season has it's blessings to savor.

Joseph recently cleared a bit of land to grow some heirloom wheat.  We are looking to grow some for our own use, and possibly will have enough left to sell a bit for seed, if all goes well.  The variety is Red Fife wheat.  We were lucky to find a baker that sells at the Carrboro Farmer's Market, who uses heirloom grains.  I bought one of each item he sold which contained heirloom wheat.  We agreed the Red Fife was our favorite, with a wonderful, rich, whole wheat flavor.  We also sampled Marquis wheat, which is a Red Fife cross, but it did not have the flavor of the Red Fife.  Wheat is planted in the fall. We're deciding on a cover crop to plant this spring, to enrich the land while it lays fallow.

The weather has been a mix of warm and cold days.  On warm days, we've worked on our cedar walkway.  We've finally reached the halfway mark, and hope to continue making steady progress.  The entire path has been dug out in preparation for the cedar, and the undone portion is quite the muddy mess during wet weather, making us take alternate routes to the house.  That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to finishing the path, keeping us out of the mud and at least some of the mud out of the house.  Oh happy day!