Dirt brownies

I found a soil block maker at a yard sale last fall and couldn't wait to try it! I have eyed them in the past, but there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on one. I figured $2 was worth the gamble.

( Tom Thumb Lettuce Sprout )

The thought of growing seeds in compressed soil blocks with no more piles of  plastic pots everywhere...no need to disturb the roots...how could this not work?

I did a quick search on the Internet and found YouTube to be a great source of visual information on how to use the soil blocker, soil recipes, tips and results.

Turns out the potting soil has to be pretty wet, to form the blocks, and it's a good idea to keep spacing between the blocks in the trays as the air circulation inhibits the roots from growing into each other.

I ended up just using a pre-made organic potting soil mix from Whitney Farms. It worked perfect and is holding up good.

I have been happily making dirt brownies!

( Ailsa Craig Onion Seedling )

The blocks surprisingly stay together and can be picked up, moved around, and do not fall apart.!

I am excited with the results and look forward to growing more starts this way.

I've been Robbed!

Yesterday was beautiful...sun shining, snow melting, dreaming to be out in the garden kind of day!

As you can see, I still have plenty of snow...

Darn!

Although I can not work in the garden, I have had spinach and lettuce growing along quite nicely in the cold frames all winter.  I have been checking in periodically to watch the growth habits through the freezing temperatures.

(This picture was taken January 3rd. so they were even bigger than this )

As of Thursday, they were beautiful, green, and full of promise!

Everything looked good... However, I did notice holes in the dirt around the plants.

"Dummy Me" thought the holes may have been from night crawlers as the soil was warming up this week.....

Wrong!

I went out the next day to open the cold frames and to make sure they were not overheating.

When I opened the lids, I could not believe my eyes......

I had been robbed!

Every last Lettuce or Spinach start was gone, vanished, without a trace, over night!

Empty...Nadda...Nothing....Zip!

Just those DARN holes!!!

What did they mean? Who could have done such a horrible thing?  Who would commit such Blasphemy!

I am not happy!

I inspected on my hands and knees....nothing!

Ran my hands through the soil to feel for tunnels....nothing!

Did my best detective work....Took pictures...and pouted!

Called a gardener friend for advise! We were thinking cut worms, bugs, maybe mice...but not quite sure!

After uploading pictures for the blog...

I got the  answer to all my problems..Proof was in the pictures...

Regular, everyday,  run of the mill, bonafied MOUSE POOP!

I couldn't see out in the dirt, on my hands and knees, in it's camouflage state, but the macro zoom of my camera sure caught it! 

I find some relief in to knowing, who exactly the enemy is!

I am assuming this is where security was breached and point of entry was made...

This means......WAR!

March Madness Food Challenge

Week #1

I did have an idea that this challenge was going to be tough!!! Our family typically spends around $150.00 a week that includes household products and pet food. When I decided that I was going to do this challenge for my family there was only a two days notice before the first of the month.

I knew I was lacking  some major  key ingredients in the Pantry even  before we  got started. I have been rather lax in the food storage department and only had a 10 pound bag of flour on hand, approx. 4lbs. of sugar, no butter and 1/4 gallon of Milk. I was also out of conditioner and Saran wrap.

What the heck was I thinking? My first thought was.... Hurry  stock up and make a quick trip to the store...I still have 2 days before the Challenge starts!

Yes, I could have done that, but then that wouldn't have been much of a challenge and I probably wouldn't  have learned anything.  This was the best way to see what is truly lacking in the  pantry and what false illusions we have about the food we already have stored.

The ads came out on Wednesday so Troy and I made a plan an decided Family Foods In Oldtown, ID.  would be our  Grocery store of choice this week.

 A  bit of an off beat store with a  liquor store in side, made for some interesting shopping on the  first day of the month. Armed with  a calculator in hand...we went for it!

Onions were the deal of the week...5lbs. for $1.00 we bought 10lbs.

My thoughts on this is that we are still getting the best bang for our buck and still adding to food storage. Cheese was also on sale 2 lb. bricks for $4.49, We purchased 2 .

I was thinking if all else fails ...We can make cardboard taste better with cheese and onions ;-)  right!

We also purchased 2 Gallons of milk, two packs of Polish Sausage (with a coupon), Yogurt, and a pack of Pepperoni.

Grand total of $29.32.

Funny how things like conditioner and saran wrap  are no longer important!

Corbin helped put away the groceries and quickly exclaimed...... 'We are gonna die!"

He doesn't like onions, even though they are in almost everything we eat.

So the rules we created for our family were...

$30 a week... for groceries, school lunches, snacks  but excludes any pet food.

Lets just say it has been an interesting week. We have ate well, but we became very aware of what items we have taken for granted. Troy and  Corbin  broke the rules once when they forgot about the challenge and bought a snack after Basketball practice and spent $3.00.  It will have to be subtract from this weeks $30.00

Here is a look at our dinner menu from this past week.

Day 1

Chef Salad, with boiled eggs from our chickens and steamed Butternut squash.

We didn't eat all the squash, so normally I would have given it to the chickens. This time ...I took initiative and made it into 2 yummy butternut pies.

Day 2

Homemade Pizza, and left over salad. We only used half the package of pepperoni so that we will have next family pizza night covered.

Day 3

Homemade Crock pot Chili  and Corn bread biscuits.

Day 4-

Left overs~ chili and polish dogs

Day 5

Oven baked pork chops and fried rice

Day 6

Homemade Cheesy Sausage Helper.

Day 7

Homemade Creamy Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese on Homemade Bread.

Making all of our breads, and snacks has left us with no Flour...Shopping this week will strictly be about the staples. I have a positive of .68 cents carry over from last week and the boy's negative expense of $3.00 with a Grand total of  $27.68 to go shopping with this week.

 Wish me luck!

.



March Madness 30 Day Challenge

After a long phone discussion with a friend the other day, I was inspired to take on a 30 day grocery challenge for my family. The idea is to use more of the items we have on hand, plan meals better and to be a little more frugal and resourceful. All areas that I need to work on.

Why $30 ? I have allowed a very modest budget of $30 a week for Milk, Fresh Fruit & Veggies or any other grocery items we may need.

Could you do it?

I am determined to try ! I will be checking in weekly to update my progress and post my grocery receipts.

Wish my family luck!

Oh ya....Did I mention that I have two bottomless pit teenagers in the house??

Begins March 1 - March 31

Is it Spring yet?

The Green Things have sprouted...

The Leek seedlings, anyways.

They just haven't raised their heads high enough to look out the kitchen window and see, that it is still Winter.

Shhhhh.... don't tell, they will find out soon enough!

 On a happier note, the chickens have finally started to lay regularly again.

He loves me!

I do believe Mr. Cedar House Soaps.... loves me!

As promised, here are the before and afters of my new closet that he made for my Valentine's present....

Sorry Ladies...I'm not giving him up anytime soon!

One of the biggest problems of living in a small home, is not having a space to store our JUNK. Our bedroom was definately  not  dreamland.  It was the place that always ended up with the  junk corner. You know, with the stuff we need..or just the stuff we think we need! 

Our two end walls are slanted and made for a lot of wasted space on both sides of the room. We used the space behind our bed for blankets, books, etc. but you could always see it stacked up behind there. and both of our clothes were stuffed into that tiny closet beside the bed.

We picked up these bifold closet doors at a yard sale last Summer for $1 each..... Oh ya! Who could pass that up?

We used the extra bifold doors cut in half  and repurposed into cubbies behind our bed.

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and here are the after pictures of the closet finished.

The closet was big enough to hold  my clothes all of my JUNK and hide the one and only T.V. in our house!

I LOVE the sweet little glass knobs!



Here is an after shot of the old closet and new cubbies behind the bed, all freshly painted... Our orange monster has approved, and was happily snoring away in his usual spot in the bed.



I can not believe we made this tiny closet work for the two of us! Now the little closet is his and the big closet is mine
:-)

oodles of whole wheat noodles

This summer I found a really cool pasta roller at a garage sale..I put it away and forgot about it. I didn't feel like I had the time to make noodles then...and well, time just kept slipping by.

That is until, a friend made pasta last week and I remembered that  I still needed to try out my pasta roller. Remembering where I put the roller was the hardest part of making the noodles :-)

This hand written recipe accompanied the pasta roller and figured I would give it a shot!

4 C.Flour ( I used half white & half whole wheat flour)

1  tsp. Salt

2 Eggs

2 Tbs. Oil

1  C. Warm Water

I didn't have a problem with the dough sticking. I was pretty heavy handed with the flour.

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The roller was easy and fun to use....

Why have I not done this sooner?

I hung the noodles over the back of our kitchen chairs to dry...

Not glamorous, but it got the job done!

 Can you tell I had a big helper?

Tilly, our little Yorkie, sure had fun playing in the flour that hit the floor :-) Her little beard was like a vacuum cleaner.

My Valentine's

I hope you all had a great Valentines Day....

I know that I did!

First part of the day was spent with Mr. Cedar House Soaps as he was working on the best gift that a girl could get for Valentines Day...

A new and much needed closet for my bedroom. I am one lucky girl!!!

I will do a closet blog soon, so stay tuned :-)

Second part of the day was spent at the Jr. High School.  I helped out with the PTO and then went to Corbin's Basketball game, Home verses Sandpoint.

Troy and I had to divide and conquer, as he headed for Levi's game in Bonner's Ferry. Sometimes, I really wish that I could be in two places at once.

Corbin had sent his Grandma Taz a special Valentine Card inviting her to his game. It's rare when family makes it to one of the boy's games, so it's very special when it does happen. Grandma made it to the game in time to watch Corbin make a couple of sweet 3 pointers. I could see how happy and proud he was, that she was there.  

He told me he looked up and could see grandmas white hair sitting next to me in the crowd, and thought, YES... she made it!!

 I knew it was important to him and it made my heart smile :-)

As promised, we came home after the game and made a homemade heart pizza!

Nothing fancy...

But full of  L.O.V.E.



Troy and Levi made it back from Bonner's Ferry just in time for us to have dinner as a Family.

I could't have asked for a better day!

:-)

Happy Hearts Day!

Canning Dried Beans

We are coming to the tail end of winter and I  have been needing to can more dried beans again.

We typically keep bulk beans stored in buckets, and most times when I think about making beans for dinner...The kids are already starving!

Guess who hasn't pre-soaked the beans? 

Yes, I know you can quick cook the beans in the pressure cooker, but sometimes hauling out my BIG, tank of a cooker, just seems like more trouble than it is worth!

That being said our family loves the convenience of having canned beans ready to go for those quick meals.

 Well, it's been a year since I have canned dried beans.

So, I went blog hunting for inspiration, and came across this fantastic farm blog, that I felt was worth sharing with you...

Hickery Holler Farm

Check it out....very inspiring!

Check out her canning stats....

Perhaps, I shall set some new canning goals for myself this year!



My yearly  canning total so far :

12 pints of Pinto Beans

14 pints of Kidney Beans

Stay tuned for more of my canning adventures to come!

Blackberry Scones

Blackberry Scones.....Oh, so yummy! I have been making scones for my family for some time, and they...Love them! Usually, I just make regular scones...but today I decided to add Blackberries to change things up a bit.

Blackberry Scones

oven temp 400º

Makes 8 scones

Prep time 20 minutes

cook time 10 minutes

ready in 30 minutes

(Dry Phase)

1 3/4 C. all purpose Flour

3 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Cream of Tartar

1/4 C. Sugar

1/8 tsp. Salt

1/2 C. Butter

(Wet Phase)

1/2 C. Milk

1/4 C. Sour Cream

Fresh, Frozen or canned Blackberries

( I used Wilderness brand Blackberry pie filling because that is what we had in the Pantry)

(Egg wash)

1 egg

1 Tb. Milk

(Glazing)

1 tsp. Clear Vanilla

1/2 C. Powdered Sugar

1 TB. Milk

Sift first 5 dry ingredients into a bowl and cut in butter until well blended and set aside.

In a  small bowl or measuring cup whisk together sour cream and Milk. Pour wet mixture all at once over dry mixture and gently mix.

I use my kitchen aide mixer.

Do not over mix!

I used about 1/4 C. Canned Blackberry Pie filling  and gently folded into dough mixture.

Place dough mixture onto floured surface and pat into  a wheel shape the size of  a dinner plate. Cut into 8 even slices like a pizza. place onto baking sheet.

 Whisk egg and milk and brush tops of scones. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before placing in the oven.

Place scones in preheated oven until tops are golden brown. The scones only take 10 minutes in my oven. 

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Brush tops with powdered sugar Glaze. 

Serve warm and enjoy!

Gardening in January

 The seed catalogs started arriving before Christmas...

 Thirteen in all and still counting!

This was enough to send  this particular garden girl into a tail spin of day dreams of Sunny days, Sweet spring days, and the Fresh grit of Earth between my hands, and under my fingernails.

I set out circling all the varieties that my heart desired, as if my garden were in acres and budget just wasn't one of the words in my vocabulary.

Reality quickly set in though and I gently, reluctantly drifted back down from the clouds.

I decided to  pull out my seed bag and began organizing and taking inventory...Turns out, I was only in need of Peas....Darn!

I had plenty of everything I needed...Great news for the budget!

 

With the weather being unusually mild for North Idaho, and with much of our snow now melted, I decided to check in on some spinach and lettuce that I mindlessly tossed into the cold frames back in October.

I was excited to find they really had grown with out any help or extra care from me.

Even with freezing temps, they have grown. Proof enough for me that you can garden year round in North Idaho :-)

Here is a side by side comparison of the growth in 65 winter days. Most of those days, the frames were covered in snow.

Although the growth is slow, I suspect the jump start on Spring  will greatly pay off and this garden girl will gladly be counting the days until harvest.

Happy Gardening!