Do you know how to save seed?

Have you saved seed?

Are you aware that the vast majority of seed available in the stores are hybrid seeds?

Did you know that hybrid seeds will not produce fruit and vegetables that will produce viable seeds for next year?

What would you do if you were unable to buy seeds to plant a garden?


Yes, thought provoking questions and ones you should be thinking about this year. That beautiful garden you are so proud of is providing your family nutritious meals and saving you money. What if you looked out your window and the garden was not there?

Have you read about the fertilizer companies and the affect chemicals are having on plants? Have you read about the increase in the production of hybrid seeds that are sold internationally? Have you read stories of farmers who are desperately trying preserve the seed their families have grown for years only to find chemicals have damaged the genetic makeup of their crops. Who now owns the large seed companies? What kinds of seeds are they producing?
How informed are you?

Do you know how to save seed to use next year? Are the plants you have grown capable of producing seed that will be viable next year? These are questions every gardener worth their salt should be asking. I am taking seed storage seriously this year and doing something about it.

Yearly I have concienciously bought seeds at the end of the season when they are on sale and put them away for next year. One year a nationally known seed company brought a van full of seed packages to my community and we purchased the seeds at a greatly reduced cost. I used those seeds for years. Yes, each year the number of seeds that sprouted decreased but I had seeds and had purchased enough to compensate for the decline. It was a huge savings and I felt secure in the potential of what was held in those glass bottles safely stored in my garage.

Do your own research on saving seed. Am I just being an alarmist? Do you really know what is going on behind the scarecrow's back?

Please look at the link I have provided on seed storage. This is a package designed to provide enough seed to plant a full garden acre. The seeds are heirloom seeds which will produce seed for following years. I am buying this package. I am storing heirloom seeds, I am saving seed from my garden this year and I plan on expanding my garden as I have done this year in my edible garden.

Will you be able to provide for your family?

Food Storage DVD

Since you read my blog you are either aware that it is time to take food storage seriously or you have taken canning up as a hobby. Congratulations on both scenarios! Your inner guidance is whispering in your ear....it is time to prepare.

The current economy is suffering from years of bad decisions geared to benefit the few while harming the rest of us. Unemployment rates are at their highest in years. Weather patterns are shifting and creating disastrous affects to the US bread basket and potentially your backyard garden. Natural hazards like tornado's, floods, earthquakes, volcano's, tsunamis are statistically on the increase and can occur at any time. It is time for all of us to be like ants and put away food for the coming winter so we do not end up like the grasshopper.

I am not an alarmist but a realist. I have studied the field of preparedness for over 25 years and have observed the subtle changes all forecasted and predicted. I have worked as an Emergency Manager and been on the inside of state planning and discussions on what will happen in disasters. I am telling you the Calvary is not coming. The US government is not equipped to care for all it's citizens. I have been a consultant to businesses and provided employee training on family preparedness. I know of what I speak.

How many days could your family go without a trip to the grocery store?

Did you know that in Switzerland since the cold war they have prepared for their citizens? Bunkers stocked with provisions have been built. Businesses are required to provide for their employees. There is a consciousness of preparedness that has become the norm in Switzerland. People who prepare are not considered survivalists or hoarders. People who don't prepare are considered unusual.

I encourage you all to put up all the food you can. This blog has been created to share some of my experience with canning and gardening. There are many more sources of information out there that duplicate my message. I have decided rather than recreate the wheel to share the best of the sites that I have researched. I will supplement the sites with tips I have come across and have experienced to make your preparedness a smoother process.

This video is simple yet comprehensive. It will provide a step by step tutorial on storing food. Each of you should own this DVD and share it with your family and loved ones. If we learn to be more self sufficient, in the days that are coming we will be able to provide for our families and will survive the challenges that face us.

Please purchase the video, watch it and share it with everyone you know. Follow the banner and you will be directed to a webpage with short videos to view. Again do not be afraid be prepared. When one is educated and prepared they will not be in fear. Fear comes in the absence of knowledge. How knowledgeble are you?

Jam Jelly Preserve Swap

Under the High Chair has a great idea to share with everyone. She hosts a jam, jelly and preserve swap party! Friends who can are invited to come and bring various kinds of goodies they have canned during the year. All jars are set out and attendees take home as many jars of their choice as they brought. This would enable everyone to taste a wide assortment of goodies during the year and share recipes. Wouldn't it be great to add more beautiful jars to your pantry?

jam/jelly/preserve swap

I am hoping to host a canning party this year possibly in late October. Let me know if you are interested in coming. Aimee also hosted a virtual jelly swap which is also a fabulous idea. I am communicating with her to get more details. Stay tuned!

Heat Wave Continues

Since the heat wave is predicted to go on a few more days I am sitting in front of two fans and reading other people's blogs. The fans feel like hair blowers but at least the air is moving. Poor Mister T just doesn't know what to do with himself. I keep giving him ice water and have kept him inside all day with me. Poor fella has now fallen asleep on the couch. Usually he is in my lap but not tonight!

I have found a few blogs worthy of recommending. The first two are written by a woman named Serina from Arkansas. She amazes me in that she has time to hold a job, be a mom and wife, write two blogs and can, can, can. The blogs are beautiful and I told her when mine grows up I would like them to be just like hers. She is an inspiration to me for sure. She also does classes on saving money at the grocery store. If AK wasn't so far away I would surely go and take the class. Please visit these two sites
http://www.canninandjammin.blogspot.com/
http://www.tangibleresults4u.blogspot.com/

Wasp House

I love birdhouses! I collect them and decorate inside and out with birdhouses.

Each year a family of swallows resides in one birdhouse outside my front door. Their name is the Swooper Family. The Swoopers ride the airwaves around the garden scooping up mosquitoes, knats. Sometimes they swoop around me when I am working in the yard but do so in a friendly way. I talk to them and welcome their arrival every spring. I would love to know if it is the same parents or if their off spring now come to the summer home.

There are also chickadees, nuthatches and sparrow nesting in my birdhouses. Guess I am a landlord for the birds! They are all welcome.

This summer I have new tennants. An extended family of jellow jacket wasps has taken over the highrise apartment complex in the front yard. They pushed out a family of chickadees that had taken up residence and I only hope they were able to leave safely with their brood before the interloppers arrived.

I did not see the swarm arrive but noticed a couple going in and out of the top apartment over a period of a couple of days. Next thing I knew paper was beginning to appear around the roof line. I looked them up and they create the paper from dried wood and bark mixed with saliva. Now there is a very lively hive in there and just standing near the box you can hear the hummmm of the little buggers. Hives have one queen who creates the offspring and hives often contain thousands of wasps!

Wasps can do good in the garden. They eat catapillars, other larvae, flyes and bees. I am sure my edible front yard is a happy neighborhood for them. I have been watching them come to the pond to drink. The pond is a heavy duty plastic bath tub I bought at a Korean grocery store. The owners told me it is called a sit bath and is used by young and old alike. I have used it as a garden pond three different places I have lived over the years and it has withstood freezing without any trouble. One year I even had gold fish thriving till a raccoon found them and had them for sushi dinner. The water plants don't seem to need a pump and one day maybe I will get around to installing a fountain to get some nice bubbling water noises. But I digress.

Wasp stings are very nasty. Only the females have a stinger with which they insert venom using their ovipostior (50 cent word for stinger) multiple times. Wasp venom contains factors that release histamine, which dissolves red blood cells. Most people can survive many stings, responding with only temporary pain and swelling, but to hyperallergic individuals-about 1 percent of the population-a wasp sting can be fatal. If you are stung by a wasp, seek medical attention. If your pet is stung, find a nearby animal hospita. I do have a sting kit with antihisimen injector in my first aid kit and carry one in the car for emergencies.

In the late summer, the colony produces reproductives which are insects that will mate. The mated female reproductives will serve as the next generation of queens in the following spring. The male's main purpose is mating and they cannot sting. Hmmm I have known some men like that. Sorry fellas had to say it. Wasp nests are abandoned by wintertime and the future queens seek shelter alone, in protected places under tree bark, in old stumps, or sometimes attics. The current year's nests are not reused the following spring.

In the fall I will have to do something to move them to they don't move into the crawl space above the garage. In the meantime, I have to admit they are facinating to watch. There are always 4-5 outside sitting around the hole. I call them the guardians of the gate. Then there are the foragers coming and going. They fly out in a straight line so if I get close I come in at an angle and to date they have not seemed to care. then there are some that are working on making paper for the nest. Guess the box must be full of paper now and I wonder how they all fit into that space?

The birdhouse came from a yardsale and I believe I paid a whopping $3 for it. Tim put in a post and secured it to the top of the post near the end of the picket fence. He faced it towards the front window so I could watch the birds. One day he decided to paint the post white to match the fence. That was the day we realized there were more than a couple of wasps out there. Seems a swarm chased him back into the house. The post is not going to be white till they are gone needless to say.

I have heard about a local fellow who comes with a vacuum and sucks out bees, wasps and hornets and sells them for medical experimentation. Since I know not of any way to naturally encourage them to move I might call him. The only other method I know other than a can of poison is to go out after dark when they have settled in for the night and put a large garbage bag over the top of the birdhouse and seal the bottom. Guess they die from lack of oxygen and sufficate. I really try not to kill critters, even the nasty ones. But I do love sitting at my patio table having dinner outside on a nice evening and not fighting the wasps for the food on my table. I also don't want to hear the kids next door screaming if they get stung or bit and then feeling guilty that I did not do something to take care of the problem.

I will report back on the wasp situation as it progresses..........bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Heat Wave

Sunflower last week

There is a nasty heat wave happening here in Olympia! Forecast is 105 degrees today in Seattle which means hotter here. This is very unusual for this area and is breaking all time records.

To keep the garden healthy I have been watering heavily after sundown. By midday the plants are wilted and hanging just gasping for breath. I am hoping all the veggie plants will make it. Since I have planted in close proximity as directed in the Square Foot Garden books, the leaves overlap and shade the soil so it is not essential to mulch around the plants to preserve water. I do water from the bottom using soaker hoses in some areas and my trusty water wand in others. I push the wand down close to the base of the plants and carefully water without disturbing the soil and roots.

Seems the sunflowers are loving the heat. A couple of them are almost 10 feet high now! I will probably have to stake them if I hear we are going to have a strong wind. Ha if they fell over they would be in the street! I can just see the headlines now, "Giant Sunflowers Crush Car".

So my canning activities are on hold. I am not a heat lover at all. I wilt just like my plants. Since I do the majority of my canning outdoors on the patio, it is just not wise to do any now. Even at night it has still been in the upper 80's. Forget sleep. I have an overhead fan in the bedroom and it feels like a hair dryer blowing on me. I am one of those people that has the bedroom window open all winter and love it when I can see my breath. Oh for those days now! Hopefully this will break soon and I can get back to canning! Think cool breezes!

My Canning Quest and Revolution

As background, I taught myself to can while living in Concord, Massachusetts in 1984. Yes, that is the town with the famous bridge where the American Revolution began. So I like to say my canning revolution began there!

I was moved to learn self sufficiency skills. I purchased a couple of books and thought it looked pretty easy. All those colored jars were so pretty! I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
None of my friends were interested so I set out alone on my quest to can.
First message I received was a caution about cleanliness and a warning about life threatening bacteria. I cleaned my tiny apartment kitchen with Clorox and water including the floor. I bleached my kitchen towels, tied my hair up in a bandana put on my apron, banned the dog from the kitchen and began washing jars. I did not have a dishwasher. I washed and washed then boiled a canning pot full of water and sterilized not only the jars but all my equipment, lids and rings. I had contracted canning OCD!

I now have a dishwasher in my life which has eased the cleaning process quite a bit. I still clean with bleach before canning to ensure as much bacteria as possible is gone. So my canning OCD is livable now.

The first thing I ever canned was dilly green beans. They looked so pretty when done. The clinking sound thrilled me and has become my mantra. If I could figure out how to do it I would record the sound and use it on my telephone message recorder instead of the incessant beep. My jars were so beautiful that I would not let anyone open them up to taste the pickled beans. My friends knew I had lost it now but I knew I could can anything.

My next adventure was strawberry jam. Instructions were simple, berries were in season and I was confident I could succeed. To my dismay the jam was runny and did not set. I was crushed and did not know what to do until a roommate suggested we try it on ice cream. Now I think ice cream is food of the Gods. Never saying no to ice cream we got some fresh homemade ice cream from the local creamery (in New England homemade ice cream is easily available and the store bought stuff in the cardboard box is taboo). We poured some of my runny strawberry jam onto the ice cream and hesitantly tasted it. I was immediately transformed to nirvana. Hence, whenever jam or preserves come out runny, I call it sauce so I never experience canning failure! Yes, I have tried to reprocess jam once or twice and have had varying levels of success. Usually I chalk it up to experience and have another batch of sauce or syrup for pancakes, waffles, pound cake, spritzer beverages or ice cream.

I still had not under taken pressure canning. I did not dare to try that method till I had moved to Washington and had me a Master Canner. A Master Canner is someone who takes a class with the County Extension Service and has been trained in the safety of canning and has chalked up hours of canning under supervision. In exchange for the course, Master Canners teach others canning skills. Annie told me to come over and we would can up some stew she had made.

When I got to her home I was stunned. She lives in a bermed home on the banks of the Nisqually River that flows from the top of Mt. Rainier. The house was built into the side of a slope and the front of the house was all glass overlooking the river and mountain vista. Just spectacular. Eagles were swooping over the river and catching salmon. Her roof was green and planted with strawberry plants. Her garden had every vegetable imaginable planted in perfect rows without an inch of spare room or a weed to be seen. Even the garden fence was holding up grapes and berry vines. The orchard had several kinds of trees laden with fruit.

I entered the house through a side door into a mud room where we removed out shoes. A couple of steps up and I was in a great room open to the kitchen which was raised one step so that while in the kitchen area you could see out the glass wall and watch the river. The stove was a combination gas and wood fired stove. The wood stove in the living room also had a flat top that could be used for cooking. Her pantry was stocked with everything you could think of including box after box of canned goods from her garden.

Annie had made a beef stew the night before with veggies from her garden. She got out her old pressure canner and I stepped back in awe. Many years ago I had been at another friend’s home to try her beef stew cooked in a pressure canner. While we were waiting for dinner sitting in the living room there was a huge explosion. We ran to the kitchen and the top of the pressure canner had blown off and her entire kitchen was redecorated with a lovely shade of beef stew. The ceiling, walls, cabinets and floor was covered. She cried. We spent the evening cleaning and ordered a pizza.

So here I was to face my fear and conquer the pressure canner beast. Annie had an older American model with a gauge and release valve on the top. She assured me she knew what she was doing. 16 jars later I breathed a sigh of relief and was over my fear. Over the next few months I learned many canning tricks from Annie. A consummate bargain hunter, she taught me to be very resourceful, how to buy in large quantity and store food safely. She showed me how to can meat, fish and poultry and was always available to answer my hysterical calls when I feared I had screwed something up. She taught me the value of going to Saturday yard sales and to never pass up a bargain.

Annie has moved on to the great canning kitchen now but I am sure she smiles when she sees I have taken her spot teaching canning and being called the Frugal Fraulein. Annie I miss you.

Learn to do the Can Can

For all you Puget Sound readers, it is the season and I am now available to teach canning classes!

Classes are fun, informative, hands-on and when you leave with those beautiful jars you have canned you will be so proud of yourself you will want to run right home and buy a box of peaches or tomatos and can for your family.

Ultimate Private Lesson

I will provide you with a list of canning equipment before the class and will come and do a home consultation before the class. The consultation will involve checking your supplies to be sure you have everything you will need and to look at your kitchen to determine the most efficient way to do canning.

The all day class will be in your kitchen so you learn to can in your home environment. I will will guide you through both hot water canning and pressure canning. We will can food of your choice that your family will enjoy. You will have my undivided attention and opportunity to pick through my vault of experiences. Cost $175

Blue Ribbon Canning Beginner Class

In my home or your choice we will learn to can high acid foods with the hot water canning method using USDA standards. All equipment and produce will be provided. Hands on class for minimum of 6 students. All ages welcome. Cost $50 per student

Next scheduled class August 15th 9 am

Blue Ribbon Canning Advanced Class

In my home or your choice we will learn to can low acid foods with a pressure canner safely using USDA standards. All equipment and produce will be provided. Hands on class for minimum of 6 students. All ages welcome. Must have attended beginners class. Cost $50

Next scheduled class August 22 9 am (follow-up to 8/15 class)

Frugal Canning Blog Special

Since free is one of my favorite words, if you sign up 5 of your friends or family to take the beginners class your class will be free! This is the frugal way to go!

Specialty Classes

Classes can be designed to can seasonal produce, meat, fish or poultry, pickles, or one pot meals. A minimum of 6 students with cost $50 per student

Email me at abigailhad7@comcast.net for more information

Pick It Yourself

Picking your produce yourself is fun and saves money. This is my favorite link to find local farms, recipes and canning tips.

u pick

My Favorite Blueberry Muffins

Here is the recipe for my favorite blueberry muffins. The recipe came from the former Jordan Marsh department store in Peabody, Massachusetts. It always works and makes me smile just thinking about it.

Jorndan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 cup flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

On low speed cream butter and sugar. Add flour, salt, baking powder and eggs one at a time until blended. Add milk alternately. Fold in berries. Pour into greased cups (use spray oil). Pil ehigh in cups. Sprinkle top with sugar.

Bake at 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Serve with butter and save one for me!

2 tsp. sugar for topping

I would provide the link for this recipe but the store was sold out to a large department store chain over 30 years ago. My grandmother gave the recipe to my mother who in turn gave it to me.

If you have a favorite blueberry recipe please let me know and I will post it. I am especially looking for canning recipes. Sending you a blueberry muffin to go with your coffee today. Can you smell it?

Garden Boxes

Thought I would spend a bit more time chatting about garden boxes. I have written previously that when I decided to take out my unsightly front lawn, I replaced it with garden boxes. Now I have an edible front yard.

When I first moved to this house I made the vegetable garden area larger, fenced it in to keep out the deer and began to add garden boxes.

I like the boxes because they are neat, help reduce weeding and I can contain my energy in one location. By that I mean when I add more natural additives to the garden they stay where the plants are instead of moving all over the yard. When I water I have a smaller space to water. Finally when I use the Square Foot gardening method I harvest more produce from a small space.

One day while yard sailing, I spied something interesting sticking up out of a dumpster. Never one to miss a great find I went to check it out. There was a full size manikin. He was just waiting to be taken home. At first I thought I would sell him on EBay but when I found out how much trouble it would be to package him for shipping, I decided to keep him. He traveled to many parties with me and was given away to a few single friends as a potential boyfriend. He always came back. I named him Manny. It seemed a shame to keep him in the garage so I took him out to the garden. To me he looked like he was thanking the sun for a beautiful day and wanted to oversee the garden. From that time on he has lived in the garden.

He was visited by all the neighbors and did not always receive rave reviews because he is out there in all his glory. I thought it was funny so he stayed. My mother came to visit and said he was disgusting and that cinched it. He had found his home and was welcome as long as he wanted to stay.

One night some neighbors snuck over and put a thong on Manny. I thought I would wet my pants when I saw Manny the next morning. He was so proud of himself. Manny has a personality of his own and is quite famous. Some people have a scarecrow and I have Manny.

When I built the fence I put up deer netting. It kept the little devils out for a while but towards the end of the season they dove right through it. I called the company and was returned my money in full no questions asked.

I tried hanging soap, DVD discs, Mylar strings, yarn to no avail. I then got a sling shot with little metal ball bearings as ammunition. I could shoot them right in the rear end and they just looked at me like, "how dare you bother me when I am having such a good dinner". I just couldn't bear to shoot them although there were days I seriously contemplated it and tried to resolve that at least I would be able to can the meat. I yelled and yelled. Still they would not only eat from the garden but would sleep it off in my back yard. One day I was home sick and sitting watching TV in the living room. Something caught my eye and I turned to the sliding glass door that goes out to my patio. There was a doe and fawn looking in at me! Now I just plant some for the deer and some for me. I figure they must know I have a special garden and come here to be safe and well fed.

Back to the garden boxes. I did rototill the vegetable garden area before I built the boxes because the first year I lived there I had a typical garden in the ground. The area was easy to rototill and I had a friend with a tiller who always volunteered to till. I dug up the soil from the pathways to put in the boxes and still needed more. A truckload did the trick the first year.

I started a compost bin so I would have the compost to add the second year. It is a simple box put together from free shipping pallets. It does the trick and gives me a place to put the garden trimmings and kitchen scraps.

In the fall I took the maple leaves from a neighbors tree and tossed them in the boxes. They broke down with the help of my dachshund, Mister T's, little feet. He runs through the leaves and breaks them up. The worms do the rest and by spring I have really yummy dirt. The three boxes that get the leaves are the healthiest boxes in the garden. One year the neighbor had bagged up a bunch of leaves and had never taken them to the dump. I did them a favor and asked for the bags. I put them on top of my potatoes when they bloomed and ended up with a bumper crop that was easy to dig up. Unfortunately, the tree became too large and was too near the power lines and had to be taken down. I will miss that majestic tree and so will my garden.

Each year I learn something new and have a new brainstorm how I will add to the garden. The pictures I will include were taken over a span of years. Since I am not a full time gardener I do a little each year.

Canning Books

Berore you say it or post a comment, I have not actually canned books. I do say I will can anything not moving but come on!

Here are some of my favorite canning books sitting on top of my wood stove. Have you treated yourself to a new one lately? If no, check out my list of favorites, then click on a link and go to Amazon and buy yourself a present. Remember you can get used books from Amazon and save lots of money. Use the link to order anything from Amazon!

Blueberries Are Ripe!

A #10 Pail of Blueberries in July

It was 98 degrees in the shade today and I went off blueberry picking with the neighbors. The berries are just coming into season and are big and plump. There are many blueberry farms in Olympia, Washington because of the low lying area and proximity to Puget Sound. In the winter the farms flood then dry out this time of year. Today we visited the Gile Blueberry Farm on Gull Harbor Road. The Gilee's are really friendly, supply the pails and even have a porta potty out in the fields for emergencies.


We each took a #10 can that had holes in it and wire coat hangers bent into a hook. The hook hangs off the waist of your pants and it an excellent pail to pick berries with. I picked only one pail today due to the heat. The berries were $1 a pound and I picked 4 1/2 pounds of berries for a total of $4.50. Have you found a better deal this summer? Let me know if you have.

Mom Picking Blueberries....Come on Smile!

I plan on going out picking a few more times this season probably during the evening when it cools down a bit. My mother likes to go picking. I bring along a folding chair and plant her by some full bushes. She likes blueberries on her cereal in the morning or mixed with cut up cantalope for a refreshing sumertime dessert.

I like to freeze blueberries for blueberry muffins. My favorite recipe comes from the old Jordan Marsh department store that used to be in Peabody, Massachusetts. Those muffins were huge and had some sugar sprinkled on top to make a crunchy top. It wasn't a trip to the shopping center without bringing home some muffins for breakfast the next day. I will look up the recipe and post it. It is a winner for sure!


My neighbor and I plan on making blueberry jam this year. She is just learning to can and is having fun looking up recipes on the internet. Last year I canned pears mixed with blueberries and they were a great combination.


Canned Pears and Blueberries and Pears

Let me know what you like to do with blueberries and if you have any suggestions.

What are they charging for blueberries in your supermarket thisor Farmer's Market this summer?

Black Gold - Blackberries

I love blackberries! In the Pacific Northwest they are abundant, free, full of vitamins, free, easy to pick and did I say free? When I go to the Farmer's Market and see people buying a flat or worse a pint of blackberries for up to $25 a flat and $6 a pint box I cringe. I want to take them by the shoulders and shake them and ask them what their problem is. When blackberries are on every corner screaming to be picked why would someone be so lazy that they could not stop the car, get out and pick free, juicy blackberries in just a couple of minutes? I actually have asked people why they buy them and they usually answer they don't like to mess with the thorns and get scraped or have their fingers turn purple. Whatever! Being the Frugal Fraulein, I dream about blackberry season!

As I have already told you, this season I have picked berries and canned berry quick bread. I am now watching the vines in my back yard and in some of my favorite places along the road for them to ripen.

In picking season I always have large stainless steel bowls, a small pair of sharp garden clippers, hand wipes, zip loc bags, a towel and a hat in my car. I have also begun to carry an old apron so if I happen upon a really good patch I can cover my clothing.

The stainless steel bowls are industrial sized and were found at a yard sale. That memorable day, there were two of the bowls and a colander that I picked up for $1 a piece. It was one of those days that you have to keep your legs from running back to the car before the people realize the treasures they just parted with. Those things are worth their weight in gold to me. I use them when I pick produce in my garden, when I chop for canning and especially when I soak produce in absorbic acid to keep fruit from discoloring. When I pick berries they sit on the ground to leave my hands free for picking.

The garden clips are an old pair of Felco pruners that Mom gave me one year for Christmas. When I am not using them in the garden I keep them in the car. I can't tell you how many times I have used them to pick flowers along the roadside. In berry season, I use them to clip my way into the middle of the berry wall and to trim away those stragglers that are wanting to grab your arms and legs. Since berry vines grow produce fruit off new vines, it is actually doing the plants a favor to be trimmed. There is one place I have frequented for about 10 years near a sand lot and I witness year after year the area I pruned the previous season. That is my favorite place to pick and I have never seen anyone else there! No, I won't tell you where it is!

I keep a container of disinfectant hand wipes in the car to clean up after picking. My hands will be purple and full of the dried stuff that falls off the ripe berries. I get them at the dollar store and if the container seems to be getting dry I just add a wee bit of water to rehydrate the wipes. I keep a towel in the car for the final wipe of my hands if the towelettes are too wet. Nothing worse than sticky hands on the steering wheel.

Ziploc bags are always handy. After filling the bowls I transfer the berries into the plastic bags. If you don't do that you could have an awful mess if the bowl should happen to spill in the car. In the bags the berries are safe and if I don't get to process them that day they are safe in the refrigerator when I get home.

I happen to love aprons and think it is a fashion that needs to be resurrected. I use them all the time to protect my clothing. In fact when I teach canning classes I always recommend that the students bring an apron and I loan them to those that don't have one. Yes, I have a habit of wiping my hands on the front of me when I cook and can. Aprons have saved me many dollars over the years. If anyone ever wants to know what to buy me for a gift it would be an apron.
I have garden aprons with lots of pockets, a painting apron, a shop apron, a good apron I try to keep for company and many others to wear daily. Many holidays I wear one all day long and have pictures to prove it. Oh my blog picture is a Thanksgiving picture of me picking brussel sprouts fresh from the garden in November!

That old baseball hat keeps the sun out of my eyes, my hair away from my face and away from getting caught by the berry vines. There is always a hat in my car.

I have also tried the cup with handle method. Holding a coffee cup or paper cup with handle you reach into the vines to pick berries with your thumb and first finger. Supposedly the cup will push back the prickly vines and keep you from being scratched. I have had success with the method but think the few scratches I get are worth the trouble and I seems to me I can pick more berries with my hand unencumbered. To each his own... Try this method you might like it.

Ok, enough about supplies. You get the point. Put some items in the trunk of your car and next time you see some luscious berries, turn on your directional signals, slow down and park the car safely on the side of the road. Get out and pick some berries!

Mandura

A good friend just introduced me to a great new product and opportunity. I am impressed by it's merits and potential for changing my life. I encourage you to go and check it out for yourself. If you are wanting to improve your health and who isn't and if in this tough financial economy you are wanting to add to your income, then go and take a serious look at this website. I promise not to do ads often here as my focus is canning and gardening BUT I am the Frugal Fraulein and I would be remiss if I did not share this with you.
Please go to http://ibo.mymandura.com/abigailhaddock

How to Frugally Stretch A Chicken

Just read this article which states Campbell’s soup plunged 7% in the past quarter due to the economy. Seems people are thinking a can of soup does not fill them up unless they have a sandwich to go with it. To cut costs, people are skipping the soup.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1911974_1911972_1911955,00.html

I like to make my own soup. I will eat some, freeze some and can some depending on what I am doing that week. I look for specials in the grocery store to inspire my soups.

About every 5 weeks the local grocery stores offer whole chicken at .49-.89 a pound. Cheap chicken is a leader which means it entices shoppers to go to the store. I always stock up on chickens at sale time and if I am not going to cook them immediately I put them into the freezer. Six chickens will take me through a month of chicken recipes.

Here is my stretch a chicken process.

canned chicken, canned stock, canned stock with chicken, canned soup or chicken goop

1. I thaw 2 whole chickens, clean them by rinsing them out and remove the neck and gizzards. Personally, I do not like the gizzards but Mister T., my dachshund loves them. I boil them up for him and he feasts on them for his dinner mixed with a little brown rice and grated carrot. No dog food from a can for him!

2. Put the chickens into a large roasting pan. I season the birds by putting fresh sage from the garden under the skin and some herbs like rosemary or oregano or thyme into the cavity of the bird. Dress with salt and pepper and roast. Put a cup and a half of water into the pan to partially steam the chicken and keep it moist. Cook in a 350 degree oven for

Chicken Roasting times (unstuffed)
2½ - 3 lbs 1 to 1 3/4 hrs
3½ - 4 lbs 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hrs
4½ - 5 lbs 1 1/2 to 2 hrs
5 - 6 lbs 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hrs
© Copyright 2001-2009 helpwithcooking.com

3. Enjoy a chicken dinner.

4. After dinner when the chickens are cool, pick off the meat and put into a bowl. Remove the skin and extra fat and discard. You will have 2-4 cups of cooked chicken.

5. Take the bones (there will still be meat on the bones and carcass) and put into a stockpot. Cover with water. Add herbs to taste. I always add garlic and a cut up onion. Bring to a boil them simmer for an hour covered.

6. Pour stock through a colander then pour back into the stock pot and skim off any excess fat. When the carcass is cool pick again for additional bits of meat. Now you have a great stock. At this point you can make soup or can the stock. To can the stock you must use a pressure canner and cook pints for 75 minutes at 10 psi or quarts for 90 minutes at 10 psi (check your altitude and adjust accordingly). Voila! Homemade stock.

7. To make soup add a cup of the cooked diced chicken (same some for another meal like chicken enchiladas or chicken casserole), chopped vegetables (use what you like and have available like celery, onion, zucchini, green beans, corn, carrots, peppers), add cooked rice, pasta, noodles or leftover stuffing (if you like thick soups the rice and pasta can be cooked in the soup. The starch will thicken the soup) season with herbs, salt, pepper, hot sauce, garlic and if soup is not chickeny enough add a teaspoon of chicken bullion (tip: buy bullion in large plastic containers at a restaurant supply store which is much less expensive than those little packaged squares). The amount of vegetables and rice or pasta you add will depend on how many in your family and how much soup you want to make. If I make a huge soup I can or freeze some. When canning use pint jars for single servings to take to work and quarts for better storage. Warning. If you can soup with rice or pasta you might end up with goop. “Goop” is a technical term for soup that has absorbed most of the stock. Again I like goop so it is ok with me. If you don’t like goop, make your soup without the rice or pasta and add later when you open the jar and heat the soup. Sometimes a package of ramen noodles is yummy in home made soup. Personal preference.

So, two chickens have given me roasted dinner for two, enough soup for two meals again for two and chicken for a casserole for two for dinner and leftovers for lunch. I figure that is easily 10 meals and I am a big eater. So if the chickens were less than $3 a piece that is $6. $6 divided by 10 meals is .60 a meal for meat. Now I call that stretching a chicken. There is also enough chicken to share with Mister T. as well. He loves what we call chicky chicky!

Mister T

More on Day Lilies

Did a bit of research on eating day lilies today and now am excited to cook some up tomorrow! Word of caution is to only eat a few or you could get day lily revenge or a gastric experience. Eating anything in moderation is always advised.

All daylilies are edible. But check for the botanical name, Hemerocallis fulva, or any of its cultivars.
Culinary Uses: The young green leaves are edible raw or cooked. Older leaves become fibrous. Tubers are also edible raw or cooked and have a nutty flavour. Young tubers are best, though the central portion of older tubers is also good. Steam or boil the tubers as a potato substitute, or toss them raw onto a salad instead of croutons. The flowers can be eaten raw or cooked. The petals are thick and crunchy, making very pleasant eating raw, with a nice sweetness at the base because of the nectar. They taste somewhat like fresh peas. They can be fried for storage and used as a thickener in soups and stews, or used as a relish. Leaves and young shoots can be cooked and used as a substitute for asparagus or celery. Take small shoots under 15cm, strip away the larger leaves, saute in a little garlic and oil, add raw to salads, or simply steam and drench in butter for a nice, crunchy treat.
Warning: Large quantities of the leaves are said to be hallucinogenic. Because of the acrid nature of the green foliage, some experience nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting after eating raw plant parts. Such people will not be affected if the plant is cooked. Eating excessive amounts of raw flowers may cause diarrhoea.
Daylily Bud Saute 2 dozen daylily buds, white bases removed 1/2 cup flour 1/4 cup olive oil 3 eggs pinch of nutmeg salt and pepper I clove garlic, finely chopped
Saute the garlic in a little olive oil. Beat eggs, mix in enough flour to make a thin batter. Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and nutmeg. Add a teaspoon of milk if the batter is too thick. Dip the buds in the batter and saute until golden brown.
Daylily flowers can be stuffed, or added to soups and vegetables dishes. They can be boiled, steamed or added to stirfries. Add them to salads, or coat with batter and fry. Daylily leaves taste a little like creamed onions. Choose young leaves for best flavour. Add to soups, vegetable dishes and stirfries.
Day Lily Pork 3/4 cup onion rings 3 tablepsoons butter 1 clove garlic, mashed 8 thin slices of pork 1 tablespoon cornflour 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger 1 tablespoon Madeira wine salt and pepper to taste 1 1/2 cups chopped day lilies
Saute onions in the butter until translucent. Remove onions from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. To butter, add garlic and pork slices. Cook both sides of pork, and remove from pan, leaving the juices and butter within the pan. Stir cornflour into the soy sauce until smooth, add to the pan with ginger, wine, salt andpepper. Stir ingredients until thickened and clear. Add the chopped day lily and onions to the pan and stir 2 minutes over medium heat. Pour this mixture over pork and serve.
Pasta with Day Lily Buds and Mushrooms about 185g oyster or shiitake mushrooms 1 heaped cup daylily buds, 2-3cm long 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 shallots, finely minced 1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped marjoram 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley salt and pepper to taste freshly grated parmesan cheese 500g fresh fettucinne noodles
Put water on to boil while preparing vegetables. Tear mushrooms into large bite size pieces and remove stem of shiitakes. Rinse the daylily buds and pat dry. In large frypan, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute them about 1 minute. Add mushrooms and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add daylily buds and stir 2-3 minutes. Add the herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and let stand over low heat for a few minutes while pasta is cooking. Drain the pasta, add it to the vegetables, and toss well. Add another tablespoon of butter or oil if necessary. Taste for seasoning and serve hot. Garnish with bread crumbs and parmesan if desired.
Spiced Pickled Day Lily Buds 2 litres day lily buds, freshly boiled and drained 3 cups white vinegar 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon whole allspice 2 sticks cinnamon, 5cm long, broken up 10-12 whole cloves
Rinse and drain unopened day lily buds; clip off any stem remnants. Put buds in a saucepan, add water barely to cover. Bring quickly to the boil, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Drain. (At this point, the buds can also be served as a vegetable dish after adding salt, pepper, spices, etc. Or they can be stuffed with ricotta cheese and served.) Pack hot buds into 8 sterile 400ml preserving jars. Combine vinegar, brown sugar, salt, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil 3 minutes. Pour pickling solution over buds, distributing spices equally. Seal at once. Leave for a few weeks before using.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/09/HOG7UC42QO1.DTL

I can only think how often I have seen day lilies on the side of the road or in median strips and did not realize they were edible. Another common roadside flower is Queen Anne's Lace. I am going to pick some tomorrow as well. I am so pleased that I have both growing in my front yard. My knowingness must have been working when I planted them. I actually got the Queen Anne's Lace from digging some up on the side of the road and bringing it home. Yarrow and Lupin are another plants I brought home that way. There is an area around my garden shed that I am landscaping with local plants I have liberated from the side of the road. This year I have a hollyhock coming up from seeds sent to me from Marblehead, Massachusetts which is my home town.

Here are some other links to interesting and informative webpages/blogs on day lilies
http://www.100-garden-articles.com/articles/Daylily-A-Perennial-Favorite.shtml
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/archives/best/1996/hemerocallis.html
http://ddrblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/day-lily-buds-and-zucchini-blossoms-eating-for-free/
http://www.crossviewgardens.com/CGDayliliesInformation.htm
http://wildeats.blogspot.com/2007/06/salmon-stuffed-daylily-blossoms.html
http://www.stoptheride.net/2007/06/eating-wild-flowers.html
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/daylily.php

Let me know if you try them or if you have any other recipes for day lilies or other flowering plants in your yard!

Eating Day Lilies

Did you know you can eat day lilies? They can be eaten in salads or put into soups. Dry by dehydrating them for use in soups during the winter.

I keep the vegetable odds and ends from cooking in a container in the refrigerator. You know the parts you don't want to see but are good like that last piece of onion, celery leaves, lettuce scraps, carrot pieces etc. Once a week I put them in my dehydrator overnight and in the morning add them to my soup jar. I have a beautiful jar layered with all sorts of goodies that are perfect additions to winter soups!

My Top Ten Favorite Canning Books

I love books, there it is my true passion. Books are a collection of thoughts. A chance to crawl into someones head for a while and escape or add to your own neuronet of information.

Long before I moved to Washington state I began to collect canning books. There was a little voice telling me someday they would be useful. I scoured used book stores and book outlets in New England. Although canning was not hugely popular there 25 years ago, it was a good time to find and collect canning books.

I love to read canning books and compare recipes while hunting for the simplest, easiest methods. The pictures always inspire me to get the equipment out, roll up my sleeves, put on my apron and get creative. I have to admit quite often there is a canning book or two in the book shelf I have in my bathroom. Not many people can say that - or should I admit to that?

I am now adding books and canning equipment to my blog. I like the Amazon site because books can be purchased used at a fraction of the price of new copies. I don't mind used books, in fact I prefer them. My books are used, dogeared, stained and loved. Please use my link to purchase books and canning equipment to help support this blog. I would really appreciate your support!

Here is my top ten favorite canning book list. Not all are new, expensive or considered the most popular. These are the cornerstone of my canning education and I will share them with you. I did not list them in order of preference.

1. Blue Ball Book of Preserving- This is a classic that every canner should own. Always buy the most recent edition as it is the bible of canning books and will have the most current information. When I give canning classes, I always recommend that the students purchase this book to begin their collection. If one reads and absorbs the information in this little book, they will have the foundations of the art of canning.

2. Putting Food By by Ruth Hertzbert, Beatrice Vaughan, Janet Greene - Another staple and must have book that covers not only the basics of canning but also freezing, drying, curing, root cellaring. I have turned to this book for basic instructions on urban homesteading many times. Although it does not have pretty color pictures it has the necessary information put forth in a reliable straight forth manner.

3. Putting it up with Honey by Susan Geiskopf - Sometimes looking at the quantities of white sugar called for in recipes makes me wonder what I will really be doing to myself. This book provides an alternative to sugar - natural honey. Great pickled beet recipe.

4. Keeping the Harvest by Nancy Thurber and Gretchen Mead - Another classic that covers many ways to preserve food. I just checked my copy and I purchased it in 1986 used and it was printed in 1979!. Hmm almost an antique now I guess. There are very good black and white pictures and graphics and I would have to say I probably used this book the most when I first began canning.

5. Better Homes and Gardens Presents Canning and Preserving - This is another older book but well worth having. The recipes are simple and easy and are combined with good instructions. I really most books published by Better Homes and Gardens.

6. Canning and Preserving for Dummies by Karen Ward - The inventor of the books for dummies series was a genius. It is like admitting you don't know anything and buying a non threatening guide. I have often given this book to friends and packaged it in a blue speckled canning pot as a gift. Once they get over a good laugh at me calling them a dummy (always done with love I assure you) they usually take up canning and begin to love it. There is nothing as rewarding as making beginners apple sauce or blackberry jam and sending it off to family for a holiday gift.

7. Complete Guide to Canning and Preserving by U.S. Dept. of Agriculture - Yearly the USDA does us all a huge favor and tests recipes for safety. Over the years bacterias and viruses have evolved and become more deadly and virulent. Canning methods foremothers (yes, this word is not in the dictionary but the word forefathers is. Time to use foremothers and make them as important as our forefathers) creating lots of opportunities for people to get sick. The acidic level of some fruits and vegetables have changed and now require more stringent canning methods and care. This book will keep you updated on the latest and greatest findings and recommendations. Be sure to get a copy of this one!

8. The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving: Over 300 Recipes To Use Year-Round by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard - Excellent suggestions for items to make in every season without having to can all day. Sometimes it is great to make a batch of something special to give as gifts and this is the book to help you do just that.

9. Joy of Cooking: All About Canning & Preserving by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker - The Joy of Cooking series give an excellent overview of canning recipes of all kinds. If I had to take one cooking book in a hurry it would be my Joy of Cooking book.

10. The Enclyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery - One of my all time favorite books and another one I have also have a very old copy of in my collection. While this book covers many subjects, it also has a good canning section written by someone who lives the life and cans to live. If you don't have this book then you are mission out on a good read!

Check out these books on my links and you will find most of them very inexpensive...of course because I am the Frugal Fraulein.

Lessons Learned from the Edible Front Lawn #3

Once I had the yard covered to kill the grass and weeds, had built some garden boxes and filled them with good garden soil and compost, planted vegetables, I was left with an unsightly yard. It was time to cover the cardboard with something useful and aesthetic.

I went online and explored solutions. I saw garden paths covered with nut shells, coconut byproducts, gravel, bark mulch, straw etc. The Herb Farm in Carnation, WA has beautiful gardens whose paths are lined with nut shells. It is organic and a good use for a byproduct. I called around and could not find a local source for nut shells. The source I found was too expensive for my taste. Straw was not going to work for me because there are too many slugs around. Straw can be ideal breeding ground for slugs. Finally I decided on bark mulch.

I borrowed a truck and got two yards of red bark mulch. I spread it about 3-4 inches thick around the garden boxes and covering the cardboard. Seemed simple enough and was the first year. By the third year things began to sprout through the cardboard and mulch.

There had to be a barrier between the cardboard and the mulch since the paper products would be decomposing and eventually weeds could pop up through the gravel. My choice was plastic or garden cloth. Again cost got in my way. A neighbor had give me a huge roll of black landscapers plastic. I had some garden cloth that I had been collecting at yard sales and garden center discount racks at the end of the season (I buy very few items new and at cost). I also tried a blue tarp in one area.

The results of my experiments proved the garden cloth is superior. It is essential to carefully overlap the cloth so that if the seams split from walking on it grass does not pop up. It is a pain in the you know where to pull up a line of grass because you were not careful. It is also important to secure the cloth using U tacks. You don’t want it to slip and move.

The black plastic can move easily and the moles decided it was a great place to dig tunnels. I now have places with bumps and places that sink from the tunnels in some areas. The plastic can slip when you step on it as well.

The blue tarp shows if the mulch shifts and it is a dead giveaway where you used the tarp!

The fouth year I spurged and bought pea gravel. Of all the things I have tried for mulch in the garden area especially for paths I like the pea gravel the best. The gravel was heavy to haul and shovel but lasts forever. This year I did add more pea gravel to places I had laid it out too thinly the first year. Now I have a look sort of like the rocky New England beaches I grew up with which is neat and mostly weed free. Experiment and let me know what solutions you have found to covering pathways in your garden!

Lessons Learned from the Edible Front Lawn #2

Creating an edible garden where previously a lawn had been struggling keeps providing opportunities for learning. Once I had the entire lawn covered with cardboard and paper products and the grass and weeds were no longer visible, it was time to design a layout and build garden beds.

The house faces southwest so the sun is more prevalent in the afternoon. There is a small ornamental tree providing a shaded area. I watched the sun’s pattern and decided to create a circle surrounded by stones and two garden beds the first year. Being the Frugal Fraulein , I needed to find wood with which to build the boxes. A friend called to say she had seen some fiberglass boxes about four feet by four feet on the side of the road with a for sale sign. I checked them out but they had top and one side missing and would not have held soil. Too bad because they were a good size and would have been high and easy on my back while bending. Next I discovered reclaimed lumber. Buildings are torn down and carefully stripped of useful wood, windows, doors and fixtures. The remains are brought to a warehouse and sold to benefit the local Habitat for Humanity. All kinds of treasures were available for much less than new. I bought used 2x8’s that were 8 ft long for less than I would have paid for two boards at the local lumber store. I then rummaged around and found some L brackets and a couple of 2x2’s to use for bracing that I had purchased at a yard sale.

For years I have been collecting tools at yard sales. I got out the circular saw, power drill, square and measuring tape. The boards were not the same length so that meant having to cut them to size. It is much easier to use a circular saw when you have someone to hold the other end. Next step was to measure where the screws were going to go. I drilled in pilot holes then laid out the boards where the boxes were going to be placed. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not a carpenter and I don’t have much practice building things. I have learned along the way and every step takes me forever. Finally hours later I had the boxes together. The task was end by screwing in L brackets on the corners to hold the boxes together and cutting the 2x2’s into eight pieces which I secured to the inside corners for even more sturdiness. The final step was to dig a small hole for each 2x2 so that they would hold the boxes in one spot and not be moveable. I don’t know why I thought a 4x8 box full of dirt would move.

When I was done I was thrilled. Looking at pictures and plans of boxes had paid off. I had gleaned the best of the ideas and built something functional, inexpensive and durable. I learned that although I have limited carpentry skills I could build something durable and useful. I have to admit I was proud of myself.

Lessons Learned from the Edible Front Lawn

My edible front yard has evolved over five years. Many lessons have been learned that are worthy of sharing. Let me save you some needless grief and work.

First of all, I pride myself in being frugal to the point sometimes of fault. My friends call me the Frugal Fraulein for a reason. Although I strive to be a Martha Stewart wannabe, I don’t have her bank account and resources. I live very simply. If it is free, I am interested in giving it a second look. Therefore ridding my yard of grass had to cost little or nothing but my own time and effort.

I looked at many gardening books, articles, websites and television shows. I did not find many resources that provided instruction on what I hoped to accomplish. I was on my own. I could not afford to bring in heavy equipment, de-sod the yard, skim off the previously poisoned soil and then dump in yards and yards of new top soil. I had to make due with what I had.

Cardboard and newspapers were the answer. Paper products will cut out the sun and in time breakdown and self compost. Many layers of clean, black and white paper products were collected. I worked at a hospital and found out they have an abundance of boxes and packing paper to get rid of daily. The department head was glad to have me fill the car every few days. I picked up boxes at every store I visited. One day I found the holy grail of broken down boxes at the local re-cycle center. Here was an unlimited source of material to lay on the front lawn. I only had to climb the side of the container, hang in from the waist down and pull out the prizes. I am not a small person so I am sure this must have been a sight. Who cares it was free!

Who would think there were lessons to be learned from cardboard? Yes, there are. Look for heavy duty cardboard. It lasts longer before it begins to breakdown allowing more time for the plant matter to die off. Choose paper material without color and ink to reduce adding more unwanted chemicals to the yard. Large boxes work really well because that means you have to collect fewer and that means less work. Cut off all tapping material. It will only come to haunt you later on by rising to the top and appearing in unsightly clumps and being very slippery if you step on it. Newspaper works well too but must be layered thickly. In fact, all paper products work best when layered thickly. If you think you have enough, go get some more. Be sure you add another layer over all seams. If you don’t heavily layer you will have grass and weeds popping out in lines. When lines of green appeared a few months down the line, I tried to say they were simply access lines but no one bought the story.

In a couple of months the paper and cardboard began to breakdown. Since I live in the Pacific Northwest, there are slugs. Composting paper products did create a perfect breading ground for those slimy critters. I put out containers of beer and ended up with drunk slugs. I tried salt and ended up with slug goo everywhere. Finally, I resorted to early morning safaris picking up slugs and putting them in a jar. I fondly remembered living at a former residence that had loads of slugs. One sunny spring morning I went to my garden box that was still covered with black plastic. The box appeared to be moving. I pulled up the plastic and the box was full of garden snakes. At the time, I was horrified but now it is just another lesson learned. Garden snakes love slugs.

If you have any suggestions for ridding the garden of slugs please include in comments. When I was a child we delighted in sprinkling salt on them and watching them wizzle up. That is probably why my garden is so loaded with them now. Slug Karma!

Eat Your Front Lawn! #5

Finally, I began to plant vegetables that my family would enjoy. There was not a well thought out plan. I did not have guidance from a landscaper or a Master Gardener. I simply listened to my inner voice. I tried some sets from the local garden center and some seeds (all bought on sale of course).

As the spring and summer eclipsed, the tomatoes turned red, the greens reached their peak and everything flourished. Were there lessons and mistakes? Yes. I resolved myself to knowing this was the first year of a new adventure and commitment. Next year I could make changes and improve. As far as I am concerned, my experiment was a huge success. I had rid the yard of most of the grass, had put fresh homegrown food on the table, fed many critters and shared produce with friends and neighbors. What else could I have asked for from my simple resolve to rid my yard of time consuming grass and put food on the table?

Here I am picking brussel sprouts on Thanksgiving morning picked fresh from my edible front lawn!

One more story about mulching the pathways.

Eat Your Front Lawn! #4

Now I had four empty garden boxes which were 8 inches deep and 8 feet long. I put another layer of newspaper in the bottom to ensure grass or weeds would not come up and surprise me. I soaked it good. Since I had never had trouble with moles I did not line the bottom with mesh or chicken wire.

I called all the local garden stores and dirt distributors to compare prices. I found that it would be least expensive to purchase a yard of garden and compost mix. At that time I did not have access to a pickup truck, so I had the dirt delivered. I put down a blue tarp where I wanted the soil dumped. The dump spot was about 15 feet from the first garden box.

I filled the wheel barrel many times and loaded up the boxes. What I found out was that if I had had a pickup truck the work would have been easier on my back. Having the soil delivered meant I had to bend over and shovel the soil into the wheelbarrow (is it wheel barrel or wheelbarrow?). The next time I bought soil I used a pick up truck and shoveling from the back of the truck was much easier on my back and saved the $20 delivery cost.

The first year I used a combo mix of garden soil and mushroom compost. There is a mushroom farm in our area which produces great compost. I decided the mix had too much wood material in it and the next year I bought from a different source. My recommendation is to go and look and feel the soil before committing to it. You can ask them if they have had it tested.

I am a great believer in the virtues of rock dust. Here is a great link to read about rock dust http://remineralize.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=44. I added a few soup cans full of rock dust to each box and mixed it in.

Each year since I built the boxes I have added either my own compost or added mushroom compost. This year I also added in some 5-10-5 and rock dust and have the greatest results yet. Over the winter the soil settles down and each spring I fluff up the soil and add new goodies to help it along.

It has been five years since I built the first boxes in my edible front yard. The wood is still good without noticeable rot, the corners are still attached and the plants keep on thriving.

This year I did have moles for the first time. I am testing out the solar mole devices that omit a high pitched sound that supposedly the little varmints don’t like. I have not seen any new mounds or holes but the jury is still out. I did have an overnight guest who stayed on the couch in the living room which faces the front yard. She told me I must have a smoke detector needing a new battery because it was going off all night. I checked all the detectors and did not hear any beeping noise inside the house. Then it occurred to me she was sleeping with the window open and could hear the mole deterrent! Needless to say, she only stayed one night! So if you have friends or family staying out staying their welcome or adult children you want to move on, install a solar mole alarm and they will leave the next morning.

Bear with me only a few more installments to go!

Eat Your Front Lawn! #3

Now that I had covered the entire yard with cardboard to kill off the weeds and grass, it was time to build some garden boxes. I chose to build garden boxes out of reclaimed wood from the local Habitat for Humanity store. Their materials have been taken out of buildings being demolished or refurbished. I scooped out the store a couple of weekends till I saw the size wood I wanted. I went online and compared buying wood from Lowe's and Home Depot. No comparison in price!

There are as many ways to build garden boxes as people who build them. I would have preferred to have boxes that were almost waist height so I wouldn’t have to bend over but when I figured how much wood I would need and how much soil I would need, at this point in time that was not practical. I have seen some boxes that were built at an Assisted Living Complex that were first filled with shipping peanuts to take up some of the space before the soil was introduced. Since I wanted to be as organic as possible I decided my boxes would be filled with garden soil and compost only.

I love the Square Foot Gardening books by Mel Bartholomew http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ and decided to build my boxes 4 feet by 8 feet. Using the square foot method, I could maximize the space in the boxes and produce more food.

I bought some 2” by 8” by 8’ boards that were untreated. I did not want treated wood as the chemicals could leach into the soil and be absorbed by the plants. I cut one board in half for the ends using my circular saw. I laid out two 8’boards and the two 4’ boards in a rectangle on the ground. I used wood screws to put them together and then screwed L brackets on the outside of the corners to keep the boxes from separating due to the pressure and weight of soil and water. Pre-drilling holes helped a lot. I had found some L brackets at a yard sale for about $3 and the wood cost less than $5 per box and had a can of wood screws that I bought for $1 from an estate sale. I would guess the boxes cost about $6 a piece.

Having two sets of hands helped since I am not an experienced carpenter. It was suggested I also screw in pieces of 2” by 2” into the corners for more long term stability. I had a piece of 2” by 2” and cut it up. Lesson here is that when I see a good piece of wood at a very low price or even better free I take it home. I never know when it will come in handy. I always scour the cans of nails and screws that are left in some old geezers’ garage or basement and show up at estate sales. Seems the kids never know what to do with all that stuff of Grandpa’s and usually there are some real finds out there for a few bucks. New hardware is wildly expensive these days and often I would pay the more for a package of 10 new screws than I would for a bucket of mismatched ones in a coffee can.

Next posting will be about garden soil. Tune in and leave me a comment! If you send me an email I promise to write back promptly.

Eat Your Front Lawn! #2

Why are you pursuing that idealistic quest of rolling fields of green in your front yard when you could be reaping its harvest? Why are you spending your time mowing, fertilizing, aerating, de-weeding, de-mossing, and watering when you could be feeding your family? Why do you choose to accept that the norm is a manicured lawn? Do you have the nerve to be a radical, step out of the box and join a new green movement? Good for you. You too can do it!

This is how I began my journey to an edible front yard. First step was the decision to no longer be like everyone else and to move towards a new paradigm of thought. I prepared myself for the rolling of eyes of my neighbors and friends. Since my neighbor, Mary was taking on the same project there was power in numbers. We both looked like we had gone nuts. Did we care? No!

The second step was to collect cardboard. I looked for clean cardboard at work, the grocery store and even dumpster dived at the local recycling center. The cardboard was put down layer over layer overlapping to block out the sun and kill the crab grass and weeds. This was not a pretty step by any means but a necessary one. Black and white newspaper and packing paper also works well but can blow away with the slightest breeze. Watering it and soaking it did help. The key is layers. The paper goods are going to break down eventually and decompose. I did have to use some rocks to hold down some edges when the cardboard pieces were on the small and light side. This step is free which is one of my favorite words and it also helps to recycle material.

Tune into the next entry to learn how garden boxes were built frugally.

Eat Your Front Lawn!

A few years ago, I looked at my front lawn and decided I had had enough mowing and resolved to find a better solution. The previous owner had spent thousands of dollars having the lawn sprayed with chemicals to achieve perfect grass. I could not consciously or financially continue on with this practice. Once the spraying stopped, the perfect grass died and unsightly weeds sprung up. Nothing I found remedied the situation. So there I was spending my energy mowing weeds. I knew I had to find or do something else.

I spoke with my neighbor, Mary, who had the same lawn experience and we decided to take a radical step and replace the lawns. While it might stir up the neighborhood, we decided since two homes would be moving out of the traditional lawn box to a more unlimited vision there would be strength in numbers.

My neighbor decided to put in flower garden complete with curving walkway. I chose to create an edible front yard. I built garden boxes and filled them with local mushroom compost and topsoil. Slowly vegetables were planted. Butterflies, dragon flies and birds came to visit along with rabbits, raccoons, possum and deer. All were welcome. It was a sign that I had made the right decision.

Mary's Garden

By then end of the season, I had bright red tomatoes, peas, zucchini, yellow summer squash, herbs, brussel sprouts, green and red hot peppers, onions, leeks and a variety of salad greens. There was enough bounty to share with neighbors who had been watching my shenanigans with doubt. Funny, how a bag of tomatoes grown with love can bring so much more joy than a lawn of grass.

Catch the next blog to read about the steps to an edible front lawn.