Gardening made easier this year

my garden boxes

I am not a gardner! I hate to weed the garden. I have young children who tend to destroy the garden while trying to help. There are many reasons I hate to garden, but I want my children to learn about their food. I want to teach them to work. I want to be self sufficient. There are many good reasons to learn to garden. I want these things, but I get so frustrated by children, animals, and weeds that I just want to pull my hair out.

Last year was just a bad year in general for many people in the area.  It was our first garden in our new home. We did not enrich the soil, and the list goes on about why it was bad.  Taking all these things into consideration and making a plan to overcome We will triumph. I am working toward creating a simple garden that works for us. 

Grow boxes seem to be the thing for us this year I was able to create my boxes from scrap wood that my husband picked up for free. (Love freecycle but that is a story for another time).  I took some of the split and broken pieces  and created four garden boxes. We lined them with newspapers and a layer of leaves from the fall cleanup.  A few inches of dirt mixed with a good mulch lined the top and we were ready to go.





my girls were great helpers moving the dirt with the dump trucks




Filling the boxes up

  

My top three reasons for building boxes to grow my garden this year



1. Makes it look like I know what I am doing

2. Less weeds!

3. I can tell where the plants are supposed to be growing


In the past we have had a weed patch with a few garden items growing alongside the weeds. I am always unsure about what is a weed and what is a plant to keep. By the time I figure it out, that weeds are so big and out of control they seem so overwhelming. I let the weeds grow and hope that the vegetables will grow also. Looking back it seems so silly, but at the time it seemed like a good plan.  As a busy overwhelmed mother the things we do make sense at the moment. As I have been able to simplify my life I am finding that I am less overwhelmed. Being less overwhelmed means less crisis living and better decision making skills.  I hope that I will have less crisis in the garden this year by eliminating the big trouble spots.

 Being able to tell where the plants are growing has been a frustration. We have marked the rows, but somehow the plants still get trompled. The dog and kids can't really tell where it is safe to walk (expecially while running).  Building the boxes has saved me that frustration this year.  The kids and I both know that the boxes are where the plants are supposed to be growing.  It is alot easier for the kids to see the boundries. They know that they do not dig or play in the boxes. Now if I can keep the robins and chickens from eating my seeds.

Last year many of the rows of seeds got trampled by the children and dog. Those seeds and plants that were not trampled were eaten up by robins.  I would see robins out there picking up things in the garden, not knowing that it was my seeds.  I went out looking for plants I looked, and looked for the tiny plants. "They should be growing here" I thought to myself. I then noticed that there was a nice neat row of tiny holes right along in the spot that I thought I would see vegetables poking up their heads. The robins had eaten my tiny plants.  I was so frustrated I wanted to give up gardening forever. 

I will keep gardening.  I may not be good at it, but when I have to survive off of what I can grow I will be glad that I learned how to grow something. I would rather have the learning curve happen now when there is an abundance of food rather than when it is critical with no food. So I may not like to garden, but I do it because I love my family and I want them to have the values and skills that come with this process. I think that is part of what I loved about my Grandparents. You can read an earlier post about my Grandma.  She is wonderful.  I am grateful fof her teachings and want to pass that on to my children. I want to leave a good legacy.  I don't want to leave the legacy of a stressed out mom.  So I will continue on with the process and journey called life.

Family Blessings

Over the weekend we were able to spend time with my husbands family and witness the babtism of his nephew.  It was a wonderful experience. It was a blessing to see a young person have such a desire to come to the fold.  It will be exciting in a few years when my children will be able to make that same committment to living like our savior Jesus Christ.

I am that person

Today I had a realization that I am that person  you know that person that you told yourself  you were not going to be.  You see someone, and you think to yourself "I am never going to be like that"  Oh here I am.  Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you.  When you least expect it you get a reality check. This is one of those days.  Now I get a chance to change some things in my life to improve it. I suppose the lesson learned here is Never Judge others.

How we made three meals out of a couple of steaks

Being frugal is something that comes a bit natural to me. I love a good bargin expecially when it comes to the grocery store. Recently I bought some good steaks for a fabulous price.  I wanted to make  good use of them. So I was able to create three meals from these steaks.

1. Steak dinner.  We had a really nice steak dinner with some freinds.  I seasoned up the steaks and grilled them outside. I cooked more steak than we really needed. It made it look and feel like we had an abundance of food, and everyone was able to have thier fill. I have an abundance of good things in life, and I want others to feel of that. We were able to sit out back and enjoy the nice weather at the picnic table that my husband built out of scrap wood.  It was enjoyable.



My beef stroganoff as it was being finished

  2.Beef Stroganoff.  From those leftover steaks I was able to create a beef stroganoff dinner. (excuse the bad picture it does not do the food justice)  It was a good way to use up the mushrooms and sour cream in my fridge. My kids and husband ate it up.  We made a big pot so that there was enough leftover for meal #3

3. Beef noodle soup. The leftover stroganoff became the base for a nice lunch of beef noodle soup.  My kids love my soups. Soups are so easy to make with many kinds of leftovers in the fridge. I once worked in a place that any leftovers (and I mean any) went into the soup pot.  To me that is disgusting. I am not that kind of a cook.  I am careful about what leftovers go together.  With time I have become quite good at it. My son who is 6 is learning to cook with me.  He likes to create soups. We talk about what would go good together.  He will ask "should we put this in?" we will look at it, smell it, sometimes taste it; then decide if the item will go in the soup.  It is a fun learning experience with him.

We create soups quite often, my children love them and they are a frugal way to feed a family.  You can take a few items and stretch them to fill hungry tummies. My biggest problem is that when I make soup I serve it hot. The kids hate waiting for soup to cool. We have started putting frozen vegetables in the kids soup to cool it down.They love it!  My kids now think that every bowl of soup should have an extra serving of vegetables added from the freezer.

This is how we do and who we are.  It is something that we have found that works for us.Take from it what you will. Being able to create meals from leftovers is a simple thing for us. What is simple to one person may not be so for another.  To each their own.  For me, Freezer meals do not make sense. It does not work for me and my world. Throwing leftovers into soup makes more sense for us. Find out what works for you;  Find your own path to that place of simple abundance.

PS. For you that are interested in finding out if freezer cooking may be of use to you and your family you can check out money saving mom's freezer cooking 101

OUR APPLE TREE

We have blossoms this year. Last year we had one lonely blossom on the tree This year Lots!

We moved into the house in winter and had high hopes of apples in the fall. but that did not happen.  lucky for us our neighbor had a bumper crop of apples. They were selling the house. They did not have time for apples. They were kind enough to let us pick all the apples we cared to.  We canned and dried apples right and left last year,it was nice, but , to have our own apples on our own tree makes my heart happy!

  

What has happened to real food?

I am working on making my body and mind healthier. I am making strides, but sometimes old habits die  hard. Sundays can be a challenge because my husband and I both grew up with the notion that Sunday afternoons are for baking something yummy. I have been pretty good at resisting the urge to make something sweet on a Sunday afternoons, but this week it didn't happen.  "I want chocolate" my body was screaming at me.  I thought about making brownies from scratch, but that will not do, oh no not today.  If it is brownies, it has got to be fudgy brownies from a box.  I wanted that taste that you only can get from a brownie box mix.  I didn't want it all healthified (like some people I know) by mixing in beans, applesauce, pumpkin or other ingredients.

I made the brownies from a box and devoured them along with the family.  It worked, it filled that void and craving.  I don't know what chemicals they put in it that makes it cravable but yesterday I couldn't resist.  When I was in chef school one of my fellow students asked a very simple question.  Why can't I make a cake like Betty Crocker?  He then went on  " I have tried and tried, but I can't replicate that taste."  We grew up with that flavor profile and we think that cake is supposed to taste like that. I grew up thinking that all casseroles tasted like condensed soup. We are such a bottle, can and box society.  We are really good at opening packages, adding a few things to it and viola! dinner is served.


What has happened to real food?  Two years ago at Thanksgiving time this question was put past me; "Since when does Thanksgiving come from a box?" Instant mash potatoes, Gravy from a packet,  stove top stuffing, Rolls from a Tube, Pie from the freezer, and the list could go on.  I wondered that myself.  Thanksging used to be a time that we would get away from all the box stuff.  We would gather around the table and enjoy good home cooked food.  A number of years ago I offered to make the turkey.  I did this so that I could enjoy the flavorful, wonderful gravy that comes with the drippings that come from a roasted whole turkey.  I brought back my Grandma's pumpking pie.  I got tired of old yuck store bought soggy on the bottom pumpkin pie.




my son as a baby with a bowl of vegetables

  One of the questions that was posed to us at chef school "Where does the clients health fall in your duty as chef? Do you make your meals healthy, or do you give them what they want regardless of the calorie count?"  We all agreed that butter makes it better and making the customers taste buds happy was where it counted. As an example; On the way home from a trip we stopped at a hometown burger joint. Listed on the menu was a fruit plate.  When I asked about the fruit plate, the gal behind the counter told me that they no longer offered that.  She said that "people were asking for it, but when we actually put it on the menu, no one ordered it". People would think about it for a moment, but in the end  they would make a comment like "We are in a burger joint, I'll have a big juicy burger."

What about Value?  As stated in a previous post  I grew up where the Value menu hamburgers were what we ate at times. That is what my parents could afford.  A neighbor recently was talking with us about how his grocery bill has grown over the last few years, but his income has not. He talked about how all he can afford is junk food.  He said that they tried to eat healthy for about six months but could not afford it. I am a couponer and a frugal shopper.  Coupons have made it easy to supply my family with junk food. Coupons for truly healthy food (and the Staples) are few and far between.  I do have a stratagy, I use my coupons for buying toiletries and other goods.  Then I have a bit more in my budget for the good food.

But what is good food? We have been marketed to think that alot of things are "good food" It is amazing. healthy claims all over the boxes and bags of things we eat.  Just recently, in a hurry I picked up some juice for the kids; looking at the banner across the juice box reading 100% I placed it in my cart and when I got home realized that I had made a mistake.  100% daily recommened amounts of vitamin C not 100% juice. I could have kicked myself for that.  I usually do try to get real juice and not flavored corn syrup.  We drank it anyways.

Time for dinner now, but I will be back later with thoughts about our food choices, recipes, and more.

Simple things

 There has been so much on my mind lately. Most of it has been about my skills as a parent and Homemaker. Somedays I feel like I am not doing enough, I am not perfect enough. I don't feel that I have the skills within me.  I get tired of the same things over and over again. I have grown weary of being a parent.  As I glanced upon the refrigerator today I saw a pair of magnets that I created over a year ago.  Daily Fundamentals, a reminder that the things we do everyday do make a difference. The choices we make affect not only us, but those around us. THOSE  LITTLE THINGS MEAN ALOT.

This morning we were getting ready for church in a crazy rush (as it always is with three little ones), I made a choice that affected everyones attitude but mostly mine. I had just finished fixing my 4 year old daugher's hair.  She twirled around in her dress and she said to me "Dance with me momma"  My first frazzled instinct was to say "No, I don't have time, we are going to be late for church"  Oh yes, I worry about being late to church and it really frazzles me on a Sunday morning, but I put that aside.  I stopped and picked her up and we danced around the bathroom in a moment of bliss.  Instantly my emotions turned around. I no longer felt hurried and stressed. It was such a simple thing It took like15 seconds of my time to dance with my daughter.  She smiled and went on her way. Then as fast as it had appeared,the magic of the moment was gone.  We were then able to finish getting ready and off to church with alot less stress and fighting etc.  I felt happier, the children felt more at ease and we all went to church in a happier and more responsive mood. It really was like magic.  

I almost missed that moment with my daughter. I am guilty of missing alot of moments, but I am so glad that I am able to plug in with my family and be there with them and make memories like this.  I am getting rid of the clutter in my life and mind. I am clearing out room and making a place for these moments. My life has been a cluttered mess a list of things to be done, with no real reason behind them other than I am mommy this is my job.  I have been going along taking care of the basic needs (feed and clothe my family),  I had been going around in robot mode. "clean the kitchen, feed the kids, feed the dog, make the beds, clean the bathroom, vaccuumn the floors" and the list goes on and on.  I have emerged from survival mode and moved on to a good life. Plugging into my family has been the greatest joy for me in the last few weeks.  It makes it so that I am better able to withstand the little troubles and trials that come my way. 

My challenge for you today: Take a few moments to make a difference!  It can be as simple as a friendly smile.