My Frugal Accomplishments

For the week of 5/6/2013- 5/13/2013

Picked up free bags from my local recycling center. The man gave me 3 packs since I don't get there that often.

Babysat made $50

Picked up 55 yogurt cups for free. They were a managers special with a 50 cent peelie. They rang up 50 cents making them all Free!!! What a steal.

Joined a co-op and placed my first order for grass fed and raw dairy. The prices are comparable with conventional food prices.

Baked 3 loaves of bread.

Had a potluck of leftovers for dinner one night.

Made goat cheese from failed goat milk yogurt.

Passed on material presents for Mother's day and got exactly what I wanted. A family barbeque dinner that I didn't have to cook.

Processed 3 of my chickens myself. Got a little over 20 lbs. of fresh meat!

Farm Days

These days on the farm have been so incredible. I am loving getting my hands dirty everyday and soaking in the sunshine. I have been spending more and more time at the community garden which is now officially my home away from home.
My favorite part about my second home are definitely the goats.  Oh how I want one. The kids are just about the cutest things I have ever seen.

 

 

 

 



The buck, Boaz, and BB really hit it off. They were tagging each other. It was so funny. Here I am with Boaz by my side keeping a watchful eye on BB.

BB made a new friend with the community farm's farm dog Bello.

One of my main goals for my son is to teach him to love being out in nature and to instill a strong work ethic. The best way to teach him this is by tending the land. The other day I went to the community garden to work.  BB was not exactly happy about that so I put him in the "backpack" as I call it and got to work tilling the earth. He was snug as a bug close to his mama. One of the other members snapped this pic. I am in love with this picture right here. It reminds me of the beautiful, amazing women in Africa that can do just about anything with a baby on their back.

My chicks, can I even still call them that, are huge. Every time I check on them it looks like they have grown. They are now 2 weeks old. I will be sad to see them go but have another batch coming in May. I can't wait!

This week I am linking up with

Farm girl Friday




Small Footprint Fridays

Goals for 2013

With a new year comes new dreams. I started this year with a new appreciation for life and a strong drive to make this year the year I finally accomplish my goals so I can live the life I have always dreamed of living.
1) My biggest and probably most difficult goal for this year is to take control of my health and lose around 50 lbs. I have struggled with my weight my whole life but am determined to get to a healthy weight. I have been eating clean for the past 3 weeks. It has been wonderful. Not only am I eating better... I am saving time by prepping ahead and saving a bundle of money since I am not eating out anymore. The biggest change has been giving up soda. I never realized how addicting that stuff really is. The first week or 2 I kept craving it but now I have no desire for it.
2) Produce more of my own food.  With me transitioning to a clean real food diet I am thinking more and more about where our food comes from. The food industry is so corrupt that the only way to guarantee what you are actually eating is safe you must grow or raise it yourself.  I am going to try my hands at some meat birds this year Inshallah.
3) Get out of debt for good.  This has been an on going process.  I have paid $600 towards one debt this month and cut up my only credit card. I sold my old car so will be getting another $1000 to pay down our debt.
4) Spend more time together as a family. This is more my husbands goal but I have always wanted to become closer. We decided we will start praying together. This will be a great tool to help teach BB more about our faith.  It will strengthen our iman and our love for Allah (swt). Bonus, praying in congregation increases its reward too!

I have declared this year as my year of change! I am so excited to share my journey this year with all of you. Happy New Year!

Making the Most of the Harvest : Butternut Squash

This was the first year that I ever grew butternut squash.  I am pleasantly surprised at how well they did.  We got soooooo many squash.  I should have enough to hold me till next years harvest. YAY!

Some of this years harvest.

In my attempt to make the most out of what I had grown I picked all mature butternut squash, immature squash, and squash blossoms. 
I quickly got to work. I cleaned the mature squash and inspected them for any damage. I wiped down all of the squash with a diluted bleach water mixture to prevent fungus. I now have them curing for winter storage.
There were a couple of squash that were slightly damaged and needed to be used up right away.  I decided to make some crock-pot "pumpkin" butter. Yummm!!

This "pumpkin" butter is so good.  The recipe made enough for a year with some to give away as gifts.  I am bringing a container to my sister next week.  I decided to freeze small containers instead of canning.

I scooped the seeds out of the squash from the "pumpkin" butter and roasted them up with a little salt. Instant protein packed snack.

The immature squash will be used like a zucchini.  I think I want to make zucchini appetizer.  I just need to get some Bisquick. 

Fried squash blossoms and one lone eggplant.

The squash blossoms I stuffed with a bread crumb cheese mixture and fried'em up Delicious!!

These were sooooo good!

Look at how many things can be made from a single crop.... And that is why I *love* butternut squash! 

The Barn Hop

  

Mama Mushroom!

Back in April I bought a mushroom box from Gardens Alive.  After a couple of weeks we got some decent sized mushrooms.  Here's how big they were before leaving for camp. 

This is what I came home to 3 days later. I can't believe how big they got basically over night. This was our first harvest.

I checked on the box this morning and we have couple small ones again. Probably by Monday we will be harvesting again.
I am loving this. I am not sure if I am saving any money growing our own or if it would have been cheaper to get the mushrooms from the store but this way is so much fun. It even got my husband excited. I found pictures of the mushrooms on his cell phone lol. He took care of them while I was camping.