Reminders for This Garden Year - It is Almost Time!!!!!

 Good morning on this Thursday.  Hope you are all well.  It appears our temps may start an upturn as of later today - which is fine.  We have rain coming in at some point - boy it sure does make things grow!

I went out to clean the bird bath this morning - you should have seen how muddy it was!  Yesterday robins came and bathed one after the other!!!!  I bet they felt better - as them birdies were dirty!

Today just a few charts that list compatible planting partners.  Yes, some plants do NOT like being net to others and will not grow well!!!!

Also a chart that tells you what you can plant in pots of various sizes, for your garden.  Pretty much anything can thrive in a pot - if it is big enough!  I have planted most every garden veggie I plant in pots at some point in time.

                I always plant my zucchini next to my tomatoes - they both always thrive.

Click on the above picture to enlarge for easy reading.  You will find most goodies can go in a pot.

Now if planting in a pot or container - you need good drainage.  You also need to keep watered and add some fertilizer during the season - since it can't absorb from the ground. Good soil is important as well.

I think I have grown all leafy veggies in pots as well as most root veggies (including potatoes).  I have grown beans, pepper, tomatoes, cukes, and squash in pots as well. 

They may not get as big (or they may) but you still get lots of goodies!

Do your research when planting.  It will save your work, your plants and possibly your funds!

I hope you all plan on growing something.  Greens and root crops and herbs can easily be planted amongst flowers and no one would know!

Hope this helps someone plan a little.

Have a wonderful day to all!!!

Don't Worry - Be Happy

 Happy midweek to all!  It is sunny here at the moment - but chilly.  Had a light frost.  Spring sure is a wishy-washy time for weather!!  You name it - it can happen.  

I look forward to these lovelies blooming this summer.  I get so many planted by the birds and squirrels and they always turn out beautiful.  I haven't planted any in years!

Today is just a reminder that we have been given the wonder of life - SO LIVE IT!  It is really quite simple - we are the ones who complicate it.  Do what you love and do it often.

LIVE

You don't have to analyze everything - that is something many of us do.  Just live it with a passion.

I love this!!!!  It is a great reminder.  All the worry we do, accomplishes nothing except steeling our joy!

SING!  LOVE!  PLAY!  DANCE!  LIVE!

Please just enjoy your life and enjoy those around you.  Hold them tight and love them.  

Love everything and everyone.  Put grievances behind you - did they benefit you in any way?   Doubtful.  

Enjoy all the wonders of nature and take care of it.

Enjoy your relationships and take care of them.

Enjoy the simple things as they are really big.

Enjoy your life and live it!

Thank you for being here.

Have a fantastical day!!!!

Plant, Grow and Eat what you can!!!

 Good morning all.  It is a nice morning here.  Rain coming in later.  The birds are singing, and the squirrels are out frolicking, and everything is growing.  This is Earth week.  I know we have a day, week, month to bring attention to this - but we need to be aware every day and use things thoughtfully and try to be the best stewards of the earth that we can be!

I hope that each of you can maybe plant something this year to help out with your pantry needs.  It doesn't have to be a lot - anything will help.  It is so much better for you, and it tastes better.

I know many cannot plant gardens where they live.  That just aggravates me to no end. You would think cities, neighborhoods, etc. would find it a positive thing - not negative.  I think looking at veggies and fruits growing is so much prettier than a mass of green lawn.

Many here have found ways around this - with planting in planter boxes on their patios/balconies, and planting in pots in their back yards.  

I would think instead of shrubs, it should be encouraged to plants peppers, lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, etc. in amongst the flower beds. 

I love that many inner-city places allow that vacant lots be turned into community gardens.  Those are often food desserts when it comes to groceries, so having access to fresh foods is wonderful.  I would love see all the vacant lots be used this way.  What a help that would be to everyone.

You can plant in pots, in the ground, or in about anything you can think of - just add some drainage holes and rock in the bottom of the container.

Don't use chemicals at all.  Keep it as natural as possible.  Not only is that better for you, but for nature as well.  Remember bees are pollinators and feed on your plants.

Think about some herbs for your seasoning.  Maybe lettuce and green onions (super easy to grow in pots).  Many tomatoes and peppers can also be grown in larger containers.  Whatever you grow, you don't have to go out and buy.  Let me tell you - it tastes sooooo much more delicious!!!!

Here is a homemade fertilizer to use - instead of all the chemicals in Miracle-Grow.

This stuff works well.  I use it.  The food color is just so you can tell the difference between it and other things you have around or actually see when you have used up what is in a sprayer.  

Don't forget you can use compost in your garden and manure (that has aged).

You can make your own seed tapes as well for those bitty seeds!  They are so hard to plant 'nicely' without wasting directly in the garden.

Click on either of these directions to enlarge for easier reading.

I hope everyone can plant a little bit of something for the garden this year.

It always amazes me that a single tomato seed or zucchini seed can provide so many veggies for a family table (or neighborhood).  Pretty awesome!

Of course - plant some flowers too if you can!  Birds and bees and all of nature benefit and well, they are just beautiful!  

It is also very good exercise, and you get fresh air as well.  WIN - WIN!!!!

Have fun this summer and plant some healthy food and/or beautiful flowers and herbs.

Have a wonderful day to all.

Weekly Wrap-Up 4/21

 Happy Sunday to all.  Hope this finds you and yours all well. 

It is a sunny, yet chilly morning here.  Going to be below normal for this week - decent, but cooler.  May have frost by morning.  

This coming week (on Tuesday) will be 5 years since I lost my true love.  Exactly 5 years - day and date.  A Tuesday morning I will never forget.  I have finally started to grow a bit on my own, but I do miss Glen terribly every day.  It would have also been my mommas 113th birthday!  Daddy would have had a birthday on the 24th - he would have been 110.  Isn't it amazing how life works?  We go forward and grow and continue doing life - what we are supposed to do, when we first thought it couldn't happen.  My faith has been my rock.  Not looking for sympathy - just sharing my world, and to let others know we do get through and go on.

I went to my great nephews wedding yesterday.  It was a very small wedding - about 40 people.  She looked like a princess for sure!  It was south of me in Greenwood, and the dinner/reception was on the far north side of town in Carmel.  (Parents planned places without talking!)  I rode with a nephew up north - I would never drive up there, even more so now that I have actually seen the growth and crazy traffic.  It was a very fancy girly froo-froo kind of place - but it was lovely.  Good dinner and fellowship.

Each person picked a kind of cake (from 3) instead of having a big cake.  I figured a piece of cake - well it was a 3 tier slice (8" tall) and HUGE!  I bought mine home!

Got home about 10:30 last evening - very late night for me!  Kitties were ready for me to crawl into bed!

Now that this event is over, I feel safe in really getting busy with yard work.  I have a lot of poison ivy in the yard, and didn't want to risk getting it.  I take precautions, but still didn't want to have poison going to a nice event!!  LOL

My frugal week:

• I did do a little weeding and trimming early in the week.  TODAY most definitely a mowing day!!
• Blackie has gotten brushed and brushed this week - boy is he shedding.
• I did get one rain barrel out.  The 2nd one is going to get a spout before I set it up.
• Paid everything I had the first of the week.
• Tons of dusting - having windows open makes for a lot of extra dust!
• I ran out to get a wedding card and a 9V battery - and stopped to get milk at Kroger.  Milk was 1.29/half gallon.  I also found ground sausage on markdown.  Got a couple for the freezer.

Cards are so expensive and batteries were crazy at Kroger - so I ran to Dollar General.

• Dollar General still has .50 and 1.00 cards here (not Dol. Tree - but DG).  I found a lovely card for $1 and I got a battery for half the price of Kroger (brand name).
• Went out to lunch of Friday with grade school friends - our bi-monthly lunch.  It was a good group and a lot of laughs.  We went to Lotus Gardens - Chinese.
• Doing laundry and lots of cleaning - washed all the furniture covers (kitty covers!)
• Hard boiled eggs
• just a normal week - doing all the basics - nothing exciting!

Meals this past week:

Crispy chicken/veggie wraps

Club sandwich and a pineapple milk shake

Smoked sausage sandwich and hard boiled eggs

Burger, onion rings and sliced cucumbers

Spaghetti and salad

Out to lunch - Chinese

Salad at home early and then out to dinner for evening wedding (grilled salmon, asparagus and smashed potatoes)

I had a lot of fellowship with family and friends this week - which was nice.  

How was your week?  Any deals?  Any planting yet?  Give us a shout out and let us know what you are up to.

I hope each of you are healthy and safe.  Have a lovely week ahead.  Blessing to you and yours from my humble little home.

*************************

My nephew read this for his son's wedding yesterday - it is lovely.

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.......................So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-10 and 13

Lord, guide us each in these coming days.  Help us to love and care more and to never forget those who come and gone.  Let us each live our best lives to represent our loved ones in an ongoing and beautiful way and help us to live our lives as You guide us.  Thank You for love and memories, which often sustain us.

Amen

Easy, Quick and Tasty

 Happy Thursday all.  Hope this finds you all well.  Sunny and cooler morning here today.  The dew is so heavy this morning!  I'd love to mow again today - but can't imagine it drying out in time before the rains come!!  It looks to be cooler for many days - but that is fine.  Love this kind of weather.

As promised, today is just a post about some simple easy and tasty meals I make.  Now, being alone, I can eat differently than many - but truthfully G would have eaten all these things too (and did).  I have always made rather simple meals, with simple ingredients - but that doesn't take away from taste.  

Hopefully, some of you gals just starting out will get a few new ideas and even those who have been following all along.  We all need new ideas now and then.

Quesadillas are very easy to make.  A large tortilla, top with whatever you like.  You can top with a 2nd tortilla or use 1/2 of one - and fold over.  Above is tomato, cheese and flaked chicken.  Anything on it is good. I have a quesadilla maker - but you can grill (above was done on a G. Foreman) or do it in a pan - place a heavy pan or foil covered brick on top - to flatten when cooking side one!  There is always a way to do it!!!

Roll-ups or wraps.  They can be veggie or add meat and cheese and whatever you have on hand to make.  They are quite tasty.  Wraps are a summer favorite for me.

Mac n cheese with cut up smoked sausage or hotdog - veggies (whatever you have) on the side.

Mexican style skillet - beans, taco meat (w/seasoning), corn, diced onion - all cooked together and then topped with cheese.  Use what you have.  You can make skillets with all the ingredients of stuffed peppers or cabbage rolls - just cook it all together in a pan and top with cheese.  You will have deconstructed pepper or cabbage rolls!  Add some bread or a salad - yum.

Using leftover Mex. skillet (above) and make smothered burritos or use to make enchiladas or fancy tacos.  A serving on the plate topped with an egg would be tasty as well.

Fried tuna patty, mashed potatoes, and fresh asparagus.  Extra potatoes can be turned into potato cakes with little effort!

Fried rice is simple and tasty.  Cook up some rice - add what you have.  Above I found a can of mixed veggies - know idea why I had those, but decided to use, baggy has a little turkey I froze in pieces.  Add an egg to the mixture when sauteing up and you have fried rice.  There is no right or wrong way to make this - just use what you have.  Not necessary to even add meat.  You can do this with spaghetti noodles as well and make lo mein.

Dirty rice with meat added (you can use any kind of rice or flavor), garlic toast and fresh veggie.  Simple and tasty.

French bread pizza and a side salad.  I can often buy a whole loaf of Italian or French bread for $1.  Split it in half and top with whatever you have on hand.  Spaghetti sauce makes a great base or use tomato sauce and seasoning if no pizza sauce or use your favorite white sauce.  There are no rules!!!!!  Any meats or veggies or cheeses.  Have fun with it and experiment a little.  You could feed a family from a whole loaf made.  I always have lots of leftovers to freeze for another day.

Think about:

Spaghetti w/sauce (meat or not)

Soup beans - then maybe beans and rice with leftovers

Smothered hotdogs and fries (can make baked beans with dogs)

Burger (any way you like) with fries, or fried potatoes or beans or salad

Chili and crackers or cornbread

Soup - can be anything you have around the house.  Hamburger soup is a favorite here.  Use your leftovers or a few cans of veggies to make.

Sandwiches of all sorts - hot or cold with a salad or veggie side

Breakfast for dinner - eggs, sausage or pancakes, waffles, omelets, etc.

This is an omelet for one with a side of asparagus.  I threw some cheese, summer sausage, and onion in the omelet.  YUM

Hand pies.  These are made with empanada disks (super cheap for many in pkg,) or you can use pie crust.  Stuff with whatever you like.  Can be Mexican, pizza stuff, thick stew, mac n cheese - you name it - no limits.  I fried these in the air frier or they can be done in the oven until browned and crisped.  So tasty!  Add a salad and you have a meal.  Great way to jazz up leftovers.  These would be great with scrambled eggs and cheese too!

OK - there you go - just a sampling of some of the things I make.  It all is easy and uses what I have on hand - no special ingredients.

I get bored easily, so I like trying to experiment - and rarely does something not turn out tasty.

Just one thing all the beginners need to remember - THERE ARE NO RULES!!!!!!!

There are many ways to use up leftovers or simple ingredients in your pantry/freezer.  Take a little time and look around - get creative and have fun.

USE WHAT YOU HAVE AND HAVE WHAT YOU LIKE!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Spring Has Made it!

 Good morning to all.  Yes, spring has made it to our area.  It has been so lovely and warm.  Now we will still have some cool days and nights - but the world is coming back to life.  I love it.

The past couple days were in the 80's!  Today 70's and VERY windy.  Storms off and on.

Last night I was awakened about midnight with thunder.  Didn't last long.  Back to sleep and I got woke up to quite a loud noise.  It was 2:30AM.  I get up and all is good in the house and I look out the bedrooms windows and I see the rain barrel has blown over!  I have one out and it is a little heavy - even has bricks in the bottom.  The wind!!!  So I put on flip-flops and go out in jammies to set it inside the back gate.  It is hard to wrangle.  Blown over by the wind!  Geesh.  Never had that happen before.

It was amazing how warm it was outside.

Just a little tour of the yard - not a lot.  But things are getting so lovely and in just a couple days things have really grown and greened.  Weeds are growing like crazy!  No matter what else grows - the weeds are always there.  LOL

The perennial bed is really over doing itself.  Lilies of all kinds are up, poppies busting the bounds of the flowerbed, Echinacea, phlox, coreopsis all popping up.  The tulips and daffodils are done.  They were all over the area for a couple weeks.  My gifted iris have started showing green!  Next color will be poppies.  You can see the peonies in the background - they have gotten tall.  Lots of empty pots to be filled with garden goodies soon!

                                                     A different view from the other side.

           Grape arbor is starting to leaf.  This was a couple days ago - it is really popping out today!

Lovelies starting to bloom.  I always forget what this is called.  It was a gift from a friend right after G passed.  It is just lovely this spring.  Such dainty little flowers.

The vinca vine is blooming out front, lambs' ear is growing in leaps and bounds, spiderwort is coming up, lemon balm and mint are all flourishing, just so many lovely things to look at.

It seems to be a bumper crop year for purple dead nettle - my goodness, I have a crop going on out there.  It is just thick in certain areas.  I have seen many people say they have tons this spring.  I need to get busy and figure out something I can do with it, besides pull it!!!  It is medicinal in many ways.

Do you use it for anything?  Let us know if you do.  I have a couple sites saved that give different ideas - but like to hear someone who is actually using it.

Bits always wants to make sure I know it is close to breakfast time each morning, and he comes in yelling to wake me at about 5AM!  I pet him and assure him soon.  I lay there and listen to the birds just chirping and singing their songs in the dark.  It is something.  What a great way to start the day - being needed, listening to nature and saying my morning prayers.

One last picture.  Buddies sharing a window - enjoying the fresh air.  There is a 2nd one open not 4" to the left of Bitsy (double window) - but they seem to like being together.

Cute note - there is a black kitty that roams around outside.  It is the neighbor's cat, Licorice.  It hangs out here a lot (to hunt birds I believe).  If Bits see it - he thinks it is Blackie and gets all worried.  He starts crying and yelling and running from window to window.  I tell him Blackie is in the other room and point - he turns and looks that way - then runs in and finds him.  That is his buddy for sure.  Sometimes Blackie comes to find him, and it quiets him down.  Two peas in a pod!!!

Have a great day my friends.  Stay safe and enjoy all the gifts of spring!!!!!

Using The Pantry - Get Creative

 Happy Tuesday to you all.  What a wonderful weather week we have had so far.  Yesterday and today 80's!!  Sunshine galore!  Windows have been open and airing the house.  Rain comes in later tonight and then it cools some.  It has been glorious!  I hope you are getting some lovely weather as well.

Today, let us continue along in our pantry series with some ways to use what we have and not waste.  We all need to get creative at times - it makes things fun!  There are many ways to use many ingredients.  When watching your dollars, it is great to have an arsenal of ideas so that you don't waste food nor money. (good for us all).

Last weeks in the comments there were instructions from a couple contributors as to how to make dried beans.  They are so inexpensive and they can be so good.  You don't have to use them just as soup beans - there is beans and rice, refried beans, they can be cooked and frozen for later and used in chili, soups, etc.

Beans are always a wonderful thing to have in your pantry.

NEVER throw away bacon grease.  It is great to have on hand for flavoring and for frying bland items - adds lots of flavor!!!  I keep mine in the frig.  Heck, I remember mom had a small canister that she kept on the stove back in the day.  I feel safer keeping it in the frig.  I have another jar for grease from beef (like hamburger).  I use it sometimes when cooking ground chicken or turkey - to give it a beef flavor!

Any combo of veggies can be considered a salad.  You can blend what you have in a big bowl for several servings or a salad can be just a couple items in a side dish in my opinion.  When I say I have had a salad - it may be carrots and radish cut up, or cukes and tomatoes, or onion and cukes, or olives and radish and cauliflower........  whatever you have fresh can be considered a salad.  Throw in a little dressing and yum!

ALWAYS have some cookbooks on hand with cheap and easy ingredients.  Cookbooks are part of the pantry in my opinion.  You can get so many easy ideas - and you can tweak it to your individual taste.

Yard sales are great places to find books for pennies and you can often find some of the older ones, which are great!!

PASTA - so many uses.  There are lots and lots of variety of pasta available.  Make it plain with a little oil or butter, or add sauces of any sort.  Use in salads - a hearty pasta salad can make a meal with some garlic toast if you want a light and cool dinner.

use in soups and casseroles.  As a side.

Use your ingredients to make pancakes or waffles.  Freeze for later use and a quick breakfast.  Biscuits can be made ahead and frozen.  Make up some breakfast biscuits - with egg, bacon, sausage, cheese...whatever you choose.  Breakfast burritos and wonderful to have on hand.  Tortillas, some scrambled eggs and whatever else you choose to add.  Wrap and freeze.  Keeps you from running out to buy breakfast - grab heat and eat from home!!!!

Baked potatoes can make a meal.  Top with leftovers or whatever you choose and have.  A nice little salad on the side and you can have a full belly!

RICE is another versatile food.  Fried rice, stir fry, Spanish rice, as a side, in soups, casseroles, etc.  It can even be mixed with an egg for the base (crust) of a quiche.  You can add some broken pasta and make your own rice a roni!  There are unlimited use for rice and it can be flavored with anything.

Think about using tortillas as wraps for things other than Mexican food.  I love wraps in the summer hot months.  Add cold cuts or loads of veggies, chickens strips, fish, you name it.  Place your meat and veggies on a flat tortilla, add a little dressing or condiment of choice and roll up and EAT!  Lighter than a sandwich, but still filling.

                                              Turkey, veggies and dressing prior to rolling!

Keep your bones from chicken, turkey or beef or ham to make stock.  You add them to water and 'cook' for a long while.  This gives you a wonderful stock/broth to use for making soups.  You can freeze.  I know this may be beyond "new" pantry stockers and that is OK.  It is something to keep in mind as you keep learning.

Keep things simple.  Spaghetti, hamburger veggie soup, chicken and rice or noodle soup, salads, pasta bakes of any sort, stir fry with all your leftovers - all these are just so easy to make and use up things.

Never forget the good old fashioned tuna casserole!  You can add cream of soup, or cheese or veggies to it and it is so filling.  Tuna can be used instead of salmon for fried patties.  Make the same way.  Tuna salad is always good.

Down to the last bits of jelly in a jar?  Pour some milk in the jar and shake, shake, shake.  You can drink it then, or place in an ice cube tray and freeze for a fun treat!  Don't waste.

THINK TWICE before you throw anything away!!!!  Don't waste and use it all up!

There is almost always another use for things and a new recipe that can be made.

There are just so many, many ideas out there.  I know the gals here will list some other ideas as well.

Please know if you are NEW to this journey, it really can be fun and enjoyable.

There is a lot to learn, and the fact that you are here and wanting to learn speaks volumes!!!!  You have made the first step.  Each new step is one forward in this journey.

You have this and you can do it.

Make it a game of sorts - "how can I use this?"  But have fun and learn a little and save as you eat well.

Have a fantabulous day everyone!!!!!