SleepyHouse Garden 2010 - Seed Starting

I think I may have bought more seeds than we have garden space for. I was left alone at the store and went a little overboard. Some of our seeds are leftovers from last year, and some we harvested from the garden last year. It amazes me, the abundance that could potentially come from one tiny miracle of a seed.

This year we thought we would experiment with seed starting. Last year we sowed directly into the garden and our growing season wasn't quite long enough to harvest our melons. Maybe if we start the plants indoors, we'll be able to reap more benefits.

Always being frugal, we fashioned growing pots out of newspaper. I'm hoping this works. We really don't have any southern window exposure, and the other obstacle we have going against us is Yumi. She loves to nibble on stuff she shouldn't!

I'm also a little concerned about the hardening process, but we'll figure it out as we go along. If all else fails, we'll sow the left over seeds directly into the garden.

We're planning Roma tomatoes again, since these grew so beautifully for us last season. I'm almost out of homemade sauce in the freezer.

We're trying broccoli and carrots, our favorite two veggies, and I'm trying sugar snap peas for me. I'll also grow myself more Butternut squash.

We're shooting for melons again, even though they didn't work out so well last year. I want to grow sweet yellow watermelons and the boys are sticking with the traditional red.

We have lots of different varies of lettuces to try. We're going to sow these directly and use our inventive cloches, recycled CD cases. I'm adding chard and spinach to the mix as well.

We've never had any luck with herbs, but hopefully that will change. I want to grow Cilantro, garlic chives, basil and Rosemary. I even picked up some catnip for Yumi.

Flowerwise, I want to grow lots of Sunflowers. I thought it would be fun to surround the deck with a forest of sunflowers and in fall the birds can eat the seeds from the flower heads.

We're also going to try strawberries, although I know this is a long shot. I have a strawberry pot that came with root plants, but frankly, it was very difficult to recognize those roots! We went with an ever bearing variety just for fun. I don't really expect to be able to harvest lots of fruit. I will most like find an organic local farm to pick from. Last year we all got sick from the chemicals on the plants.

I also saw this neat sack pot for growing potatoes. You keep adding dirt as the plant grows up and by the end of the growing season, you dump the pot and pull out your potatoes.  I'm not buying the special sack, but I'm wondering if a regular pot would do? If I can find some good seed potatoes, maybe we'll give it a try.

Garden Planning Notes- Building Cloches

I'm already planning for spring. I vow to go bigger and better with how much we can grow. I'm finding inspiration from tons of books and magazines, and lately the bee in my bonnet is building cloches.

I would love to have a greenhouse, but have no money to build one. I think we're going to try building a cloche or mini green house. Many cloches are constructed by simply draping plastic over wires or flexible tubing, but I found a website that suggests you go even smaller, making tiny cloches out of plastic CD cases. I'm not sure yet how we'll connect them, but I thought the boys could help me build cubes out of old CD cases and our baby plants could each have their own mini cloche.

Another idea I want to try is using hanging baskets wrapped with that plastic you use for insulating drafty windows. I envision several hanging cloches catching early spring rays, hoping to get some strawberry plants growing. Once the danger of frost is gone, I will unwrap them, although I can see the plastic CD cube idea being more reusable.

In regards to the photo, although I'm interested to see if this would work, I doubt my neighbors would be that understanding. Plus, do I want my family drinking that much soda?

Dump It All In Bean Soup

Description:
I wasn't in a recipe following mood. I started just grabbing stuff and throwing it in to clean out my pantry and refrigerator. It turned out very satisfying and really inexpensive to make. I try not to cook with salt to keep my blood pressure down. I'm hoping I can freeze it because it made a huge pot.

**This recipe is very similar to one I've previously posted. Here's the recipe for Bouquet Garni from that previous bean soup recipe.
Garni Bouquets
(makes 12 for use in making soups/stews)
-12 dried bay leaves
-1/4 C dried thyme
-1/4 C dried parsley
2 T dried celery leaves
Crush the dried herbs with a rolling pin and mix together.
Cut a double layer of cheesecloth into 3 inch squares.
Put 1 T of herb mixture on each square and tie up tightly into a little bag using string.
Store in airtight jars.

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
10 baby carrots, chopped
1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Can of no salt added chopped tomatoes
1 quart of low sodium vegetable broth
1 Can of Pinto beans, drained, rinsed and smashed
1 Can of Black beans, drained and rinsed
1 C cooked brown rice
1/2 C frozen corn
(Seasonings to taste)
1 bouquet Garni
1-2 t cumin
1-2 t chili pepper
1/2 t pepper


Directions:
-In a large soup pot, add the olive oil and cook the onion until translucent.
-Add the green pepper, garlic, carrots, Jalapeno pepper.
-Pour in the liquid from the canned tomatoes. Chop and add the tomatoes.
-Add in the vegetable broth
-Drain and rinse the Pinto beans and mash them with the back of a spoon, add to pot.
-Drain and rinse the Black beans- add them whole!
-Add in brown rice, frozen corn and seasonings.
-Simmer until desired consistency and flavors are well blended.
-Remove bouquet garni and enjoy!

"Crunchies"

Description:
DS10 calls these crunchies, but others would say they are croutons. In our house, they never make it to salads. We eat them as a snack, warmly toasted right out of the oven.

Ingredients:
Old french bread
Olive oil
Italian seasonings
Garlic Powder
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Slice up your old bread into chunky cubes.
Toss the bread cubes with just enough olive oil to coat them but not make them soggy.
Toss in Italian seasonings, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese.

Toast them in a 375 oven 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned. We like to dip ours in ranch dressing.

Kool Aid Playdough

Description:
This home made play dough smells really yummy!

When DS10 was playing with it, he reminded me of the Blog from Gigglesnort Hotel. DH10 loves to make sound effects, voices and other noises when he's in a creative mood.

Ingredients:
2 Cups of water
3 T oil
2 packets of Kool Aid, your choice of flavor/color
1 C salt
2 1/2 C flour

Directions:
Over low heat, mix water, oil and Kool Aid. Stir in the salt and flour and continue to stir over low heat until dough begins to form.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

*I've also used a recipe similar to this one where you add a spoonful of cream of tartar as a preservative.

Cheap, Easy, Window Cleaner

I'm never buying window cleaner again. I just reused the old spray bottle and added the following;

2 cups water
3 TBS white, distilled vinegar
1/2 tsp dish detergent (liquid)

It worked as good as store bought expensive stuff. I also used old newspapers to wipe my windows dry. Cheaper than paper towels, and no streaks!

Results of the homemade laundry detergent test batch #1

No need to move on to batch #2. I love how batch #1 worked! The first load of clothes came out smelling and feeling clean and fresh.

When I checked on my homemade laundry detergent this morning, it had thicken up a little. I gave it a little stir and measured out about one cup. It smelled clean, not perfumy or chemically.

I began filling up the washing machine with cold water and added the detergent. I allowed the water level to rise before adding the clothes. There weren't many suds, which is good for the environment, and I believe good for front loading machines as well. Ours is a top loader though, and our water is on the hard side because we haven't added softener salt in forever.

I moved the wet clothes to the dryer without adding any fabric softener. I try not to use fabric softener because of the dangerous chemicals its made with. My mom uses special made dryer balls so she doesn't have to use softener either and they work great. I'm hoping to get some, but in the mean time, clean tennis balls are working great too.

The clothes came out without any static cling, and they smelled clean and fresh, even the unmentionables!

I'm sold on making my own laundry detergent using this recipe. I think using the Ivory bar of soap helped keep the liquid looking white, not a dyed color. I saw online someone who used Lever 2000 and his laundry detergent looked like green slime. Personally, I don't feel the need to add essential oils for scent, but I suppose you could. I liked the clean smell of the Ivory just fine.

I should mention our clothes were dirty but not stained. I may just continue to pre-treat with Shout when we have stains to deal with. Maybe my second laundry test should be to try and develop a cheap, natural stain remover?

Homemade Laundry Detergent, Batch #1

After Googling around, I found several recipes and decided to try this one first. I had almost given up after I couldn't find Arm & Hammer Washing Soda - not Baking Soda - and Borax. I had driven to town to go to bigger stores, and it turns out my local Piggly Wiggly had it only 3 blocks away from me! (I still scored at the Goodwill store so the trip to town wasn't a total waste.)

You will need a 5 gallon bucket. I've picked these up for free from bakeries, and then purchased new lids at Home Depot. They also have the buckets too if you can't score a free bucket at the bakery.

Recipe:

- one bar of soap
- 1 quart of water
- 3 gallons of hot water
- 1 C of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (NOT BAKING SODA!!!)
- 1/2 C of Borax

On the stove top, as you heat 1 quart of water, grate the bar of soap into the water. I used Ivory and it dissolved very quickly.

Stir until the soap is dissolved.

Add 3 gallons of hot water to your 5 gallon bucket.

Add the soapy water to your 5 gallon bucket and stir.

Add 1 C of WASHING soda and 1/2 C of Borax to the mixture and stir.

Allow the mixture to cool overnight to thicken.

Now my local Piggly Wiggly isn't the cheapest place to buy things, but I paid $2.65 for the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, $3.45 for the 21 Mule Team Borax and about .33 cents for the bar of Ivory soap. Using this recipe, a batch of laundry detergent, about 3 gallons, cost me $.89 cents. If I use about 1 C of the liquid detergent, that's about .02 cents a load.

I will test my first batch tomorrow and let you know how it works.

Changes

My nest seems to be recovering and I'm in power clean mode. My focus today is my kitchen. It was getting too cluttered, and I want it to be a comfortable place to prepare and enjoy healthy meals.

I'm going to make more stuff from scratch, going back to baking our own breads and only using whole foods. I'm even ready to try making yogurt! (Thanks for the recipe Mommycore!)

We don't have a health food co-op in town, and I don't want to drive the 40 mile round trip anymore. I try to buy what's on sale at our local Piggly Wiggly. Yesterday I scored buy one get one popsicles which will help out my recovering offspring. Watermelon finally went on sale for $2.99 so I grabbed one. Its not the sweetest yet, but not bad either. DS9 loves melon, but I can't afford to pay $7 for one.

I'm drinking more water, and I'm back on tea instead of coffee and diet soda. Being sick and having to start over really helped me drop those expenses.

We're not heading out of town for our holiday weekend. We are taking a "Stay-Cation", as I saw the term coined on the morning news. There really is plenty of fun right here at home and hiking in the county park just south of town is enough for me. We can skip traveling to the state parks.

I keep praying God will see our family through. Living paycheck to paycheck is sobering, but he's gotten us this far. I know I have to show him I can do my part by making changes in our spending habits. I've always felt he helps me work through my problems better when I quit whining and start taking action.