On the Homefront

We are slowly adjusting to "real life" after the haze of Christmas holidays. I really crave my routine when it is upset by things like holidays and vacations. Although the rest and visiting is great, I can't help but allow my diet and exercise to eventually slide. I did much better this year than most. Through it all I managed most evenings to do at least 10 minutes on the elliptical trainer to combat the bloat. At many of the potluck and family meals I was able to fill my plate half full with vegetables. It really did help prevent my feeling lousy and gaining a bunch of weight (3 lbs at last check).

I am slow to get a budget done. My mind is full of ideas and happy intentions but I feel like there won't actually be time to do any fancy spreadsheets or write a great post about it. Basically, the plan is pay off the camper by end of summer.

When the camper is paid off, the monthly over payments will be applied to the new truck until it is paid off. Then, the mortgage. Being mortgage free would mean we can relax and Husband doesn't have to travel far and wide working. We could afford for him to have a lower paying, local job and be home every night and do normal things like coach hockey and ball and get groceries for me ;) I could work, too, and with a double income (though probably still lower than what he makes now) we could still live comfortably and save for a decent if not adventurous retirement. These are all the plans that are rolling around in my mind. But first, the camper.

Husband has a company and I pay him out of the company account. I try to maintain the company account balance at a certain amount which includes several months worth of company expenses (money for taxes, insurances, truck payments) plus several months pay for him personally. Of course, if he is off work for any amount of time the money very quickly depletes and we revert to what I call a bare-bones budget. After years and years of doing this I don't lose sleep (as often) and I have learned to have faith that we will always get by one way or the other. I recognize that not everyone is so lucky and I can empathize with the stress they must be under. While it might sound good to have "several months" saved up, it is my goal to have a year's worth of money saved, both for ourselves and the company. An accessible way for us to save, personally, is to consistently move money into our Tax-Free Savings Accounts (a financial goal from last year was to get Husband set up with a TFSA, which I did).

Because the company is taxed at a much lower rate than we are personally, it makes more sense to leave as much money as possible in the company account and invest it from there (corporate investment account). One of my financial goals last year was to set up a corporate investment account that I could move money into when it felt safe to do so. I am very proud to say that I managed two such payments of a decent size last year.

So to clarify what all of this means, I pay Husband as little as possible because as soon as that money comes to him personally he is taxed on it at a rate of 30-35% (guessing). As long as it is in the company account, I can access it if need be but pay lower taxes (possibly around 13%? I'm hopeless with numbers). So rather than paying him lots and letting it sit in our savings account, more money is left untouched in the company account. When it rises above my magic number, I skim that off into the investment account.

Investing money from the company account into the corporate investment account rather than into our own savings and TFSA, RRSPs etc means we save on company taxes and aren't taxed personally at the higher rate. But out of our own personal money we are still contributing to Registered Education Savings Plans for our kids, each of us has RRSPs, plus our own investment portfolios (another goal was having Husband set up with personal investments in 2016. I'm starting to feel like I did pretty good last year!).

So, back to the camper.

My challenge is to hone my household budget down as strictly as possible so that I can still make a number of sizable over payments on our camper without paying Husband more out of the company account (and paying more in tax).

Since I already pay us fairly closely to what our expenses are, there won't be a pile of wiggle room but that is the challenge. Saving on groceries and reducing our discretionary spending, cutting the satellite dish come spring, doing some side jobs personally, all of this will contribute towards our goal of paying the camper off ASAP. Because of the interest. And because I am uncomfortable having more than one loan (besides our mortgage) at a time.

It is important for me to note that from the monthly amount I pay Husband I also need to save for birthdays, Christmas, 2 small vacations, skating and/or hockey as J has declared he wants to try hockey next year. I drive an 8 year old truck which will need replacing eventually. We have property taxes and home insurance due in the spring. Basically, there are a lot of things to save for. Even just writing this out has convinced me to make time to do up a proper budget to keep it all straight.

I do find this all a bit overwhelming. Without steady work we would go from possibly paying something off to, instead, being relieved that we are even able to make regular payments while paying the interest, saving less, and doing without the extras. And that could easily happen. BUT. And this is a huge BUT. Having the singular goal of paying that camper off by the fall of 2017 gives me the incentive to save more. Resist temptation. Eschew splurging on non-essentials. Get creative about making money on the side. Trade. Barter. Borrow.

I think I will leave you now and go sit down with a very sharp pencil and start combing through statements. I am sure that I can find ways to cut our spending and reach our new 2017 goals. I plan to do this by:

1) Menu-planning to save on groceries
2) Reduce fees and service charges if possible
3) Make more money on the side (future post on this subject!)
4) Have No Spending Days Weeks Months
5) Use cash back air miles and PC points to have at least one month's free groceries (put that month's grocery money towards camper)
6) Get very creative planning our family vacations to minimize spending while maximizing fun
7) Purge and sell unnecessary and unwanted belongings
8) Use cash and gift cards that we have on hand
9) Make it do or do without!

Menu-Plan Series: Quick Emergency Meals

Okay, so you wrote the plan and a few days into the week something derailed and you don't have your meat thawed, you didn't pre-make your soup or salad, and you are itching to dial in a pizza. Who can blame you? If they delivered pizza to the boonies you can bet I would give in to temptation a lot more.

The inability to order in food has really helped me be more organized and has also prompted me to have a go-to list of meals that can be made in a rush. Anyone that has tried to cook a meal with two hungry toddlers wailing in the background can understand the urgency to get food on the table quick. Here are some of my favorite fast-food-from-home options:

1. Pancakes and bacon, or any variation of breakfast for supper.

Pancakes from scratch takes literally 5 minutes to make. I suppose that can be improved upon by keeping a pancake batter mix on hand, but if I need it in faster than 5 minutes I'm in trouble.

Pancakes

1 cup all purpose flour
1tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

mix dry ingredients in large measuring cup. Beat one egg separately, then add along with 1 cup milk.

Whisk together your batter until all flour is moistened and the largest lumps are incorporated. It does not need to be smooth. Allow your griddle or pan to heat on medium-high to the point that water "dances" when a few drops are tossed on the surface. At this point I turn it down to medium to avoid smoking us out of the house.

Use a scant bit of oil or cooking spray for your first pan of pancakes. After the first round, your pan should be hot enough and the cakes should flip nicely. This recipe makes about 6 medium sized pancakes for my kids, usually leaving one or two to freeze for a quick breakfast. Most often, I double the batch so I have more to freeze. To use later I just thaw each pancake individually in the microwave and then toast so it's nice and fresh seeming. You can add banana or blueberries, saskatoons, etc to your batter as desired.

Other breakfast for supper ideas are: toast and eggs, hashbrowns, sausage and eggs, and as Pru suggested in a previous post, omelettes are great for cleaning out the fridge too. Obviously you want to round out a hasty meal like this with some fruit or a vegetable. You might not want to be throwing down bacon for supper all the time but it does get you out of a pinch when needed. The key is to have some of these things stashed in the freezer when needed!

2. Sausage and Perogies

Both of these cook fast and it always seems like a lot more planning went into the meal than actually did. Serve with peas or a can of corn, a bagged salad, a bit of greek yogurt and green onion. So yummy and ready in less that 30 minutes!

3. Tacos

The beauty of ground meat is that you can thaw it as it cooks. Ideally, you would always have things thawed and yada-yada, but that quite often doesn't happen and tacos have bailed me out of a pinch many times. I get the kids busy tidying the porches or getting into their pjs and while the meat cooks I chop the salad and vegetables, grate cheese etc.

4. Chicken breast and....anything

Chicken cooks quite fast. So don't microwave it for too long or you will have a raw, rubber, overcooked mess. But a minute or so on each side and then chopped up and thrown into a pan will get you started on a fast meal. If you are going with pasta or rice, be sure to start your water boiling while the meat is in the microwave. Microwave some veggies or throw them in as the meat is almost cooked. Add sauce and heat through or serve as is, making sure of course that everything is thoroughly cooked.

5. Stir-fry

Prepare basically as above. You can purchase a stir-fry sauce to add as everything is cooked or make your own with some soya sauce, hoisin or other flavorful sauce, a bit of water or chicken stock, corn starch to thicken. Do some googling to find a recipe you like that can be made with on-hand ingredients in a pinch.

6. Bags of cooked shrimp, canned meat, sandwiches, soup or beans and toast

Shrimp thaws and cooks super fast if you like it. I can quickly throw it in a stir-fry or some pasta and we love it. Sandwhiches: self-explanatory! Soup or beans is not my favorite for supper but it sure beats going to bed hungry! I don't fall back on this option because my kids won't eat it, but if it works for you--great!.

7. Shop Your Freezer

You should know by that morning if you are flaking out on your menu-plan. Don't be discouraged! I do it all the time! There is not usually a week goes by where I don't divert from the plan in one way or another. Sometimes we eat more than I expected and we are a meal short. Sometimes I just plain drop the ball. No worries. I make double and keep frozen meals just for these occasions. I am also not the least bit ashamed to admit that I keep a bag of fries and chicken nuggets on hand for nights that have just seriously fallen apart. It happens. I can fix myself something out of whatever this around and the kids are over the moon with this once in awhile treat. Add some veggies and a smoothy and I'm sure they will live til morning. The key, here, is to decide in the morning that you need to use your backup inventory and take it out to thaw. If you take out a frozen meatloaf and attempt to bake it for supper you will be eating it for breakfast. But if you have things ready for the oven when you get home you have a much better chance of averting a hunger-induced meltdown.


 8. If all else fails, go as healthy and as cheap as you can!

No one wants to eat quick, emergency food all the time but I do believe we all run into those instances where we are tempted to go easy (and expensive) when we are in a rush. I am not recommending this food as ultra-healthy but only making suggestions to get you through busy times in as healthy and affordable a way possible.

If you absolutely must pick up a meal on your way home from work, ripping into the grocery store for a ready made chicken and salad will cost a fraction of what a pizza or chinese, etc will cost. Be wary though! I brought home a lovely cobb salad (that cost $9!) from the grocery store and the eggs on it were mouldy. Super not impressed. Because we are out in the country I didn't return the salad, and only got an answering machine when I called the store about it. So try to get as fresh as you can, and good luck!

2016 Garden Plans

I am finally getting excited to work in my yard this spring. Our snow is gone and it's starting to feel like it is time to get planning. My real, overarching goal this year is to focus on low-maintenance when possible. I have a few new areas to plan out and I don't want to spend my summer weeding anymore than necessary. This will mean a focus on mulching and mulching some more!

Because we don't eat many potatoes, and because my mom always has waaaay too many, I've decided to forgo planting spuds and save that garden space for other edibles. I also want to get my raised beds more productive with more compost and the use of plastic window panes I've acquired and row covers to extend the season. So I am hoping for more productivity without too much more input :)

This is technically our third summer here. I am really pleased with how the yard is shaping up. We have a beautiful view to begin with, so I just want to have a natural flow from what I have planted and built to the natural surroundings. There are three main areas where I grow annual and perennial flowers (focus is going to be on perennials) and two main edible garden areas. This summer I plan to start a bigger garden out by our lane way where the ground is more flat (this really depends on borrowing a tractor and my Husband being here to help). This does add a bit to my work load where weeding is concerned, but for this year my focus is on getting the spot worked up with a rototiller and planting root crops for... (drum roll!)....

2016 pigs

Our three pigs! The pigs certainly deserve a post of their own, and soon, but I'm struggling to find time to write with Husband home and all of the work that we have to do. The focus for the new garden area will be weed control, cover crops and root vegetables for ourselves and the pigs to eat.

In other gardening news, I'm just tickled to see some asparagus shooting up already. I also have chives a few inches tall and some strawberry plants have survived the neglectful conditions they are subjected to. Perennial food gardening is so rewarding in the spring. How delightful to already see some growth and anticipate food grown here--so much tastier than what we can buy in a store :)

Second year of asparagus. Planning to eat some this year!

With my focus on low maintenance/ natural looking landscaping, I plan to put some shrubs and flowering trees near the house (but not too near) to disguise how tall it looks perched on this south-facing slope.

My plan is a flowering plum or two and possibly a variegated dogwood
to the left of the deck stairs to "lower" the deck or at least help it blend
into the surroundings. We also need to finish the deck pillars and install
trellis...work, work, work!

Because it is such a nice micro-climate on that south side, we have built some cold frames and I plan to surround them with stepping stones and perennial herbs. For weed control I also want to have creeping thyme grow among the rocks to (hopefully) prevent unnecessary weeding. Here's hoping!

As you can see, the lawn is sparse as we just got that topsoil hauled in
last summer and I hadn't decided what I was doing in that space.

It will be so handy to come down from the kitchen to grab herbs
while I am cooking :)

I have one rock border to finish. I began work on it in 2013 once the house arrived, but it has me stumped. Perhaps I just can't visualize what I want to see there because we still need to parge the foam basement wall. We plan to get that job done soon so hopefully inspiration will strike once I'm not distracted by the ugly wall. Like the south end of the house, I want to grow things of varied height for visual interest and to draw the eye away from that blank basement wall.

Notice the damage our rescue dog has done to our lawn area. SIGH.
We are trying to teach him that the grass next to the house is not his toilet
area. He's doing better now that the snow is gone but the battle is ongoing!

I feel busy enough with animals and kids that I don't want to expand my yard work if possible. Besides the pigs and us expecting baby lambs any day now we are also getting chickens to butcher in the fall. So I feel like I have enough on my plate! There is a lot to learn, most of which can only be done on the job. It's important to me that our animals and birds are well cared for so that will be highest priority. Also, I want to do a better job with what I have--particularly in watering my trees and edging/mulching in the fall so that I don't end up with so much weeding etc first thing in the spring. On the other hand, I don't want to beat myself up because I know I always try to do my best and there's no point fretting about what didn't get done last year. It's a new year and I'm looking forward to recording our progress here!

Financial Goals for March

I hope I'm not boring people with my focus on our family budget. At the moment, I am preparing us for the possibility of a loss of income--although it's likely that we would find some sort of income given time--it is also likely that we would not be making as much as usual. It is entirely possible that we might have a length of time with no income, then a reduced income, and need to quickly get used to living on less than we have been.

For all my talk of budgeting and knowing where your money goes, I sat and reviewed our numbers last night and was shocked that our "bare bones" budget (the amount of money we need every month to keep food in bellies and lights on overhead--the essentials only) was frankly much higher than I thought it would be. That is, at first glance, I saw no way that we could reduce our monthly expenses. Considering I sat and did the initial budget in January, it's strange that I still didn't know exactly how much money we spend a month. A few things have changed, though, and I hadn't really done the math on how that affected us. As well, I had not factored in vehicle maintenance, house repairs/maintenance, kids activities, Christmas. Once I did, I found my budget to be grossly out of reach, especially if the worst does happen.

After my initial panic I was able to see the budget more clearly and have found a few ways to cut spending. What's more, I have decided that it works better for me to move specific amounts of money into accounts that are designated for 1) savings/Christmas/pending bills and 2) vehicle maintenance, home repair/maintenance, "slush fund", and kids activities. Once that money disappears from our joint account I will simply have to work with what's leftover. For me, the important thing is getting used to living within reach of our "bare bones" budget so that, if worse comes to worse, we can quickly and easily adapt to the new reality.

What I realize I must change:

• I am doing well with my $600/month budget for food. However, getting this even lower would be necessary if Husband were out of work for a significant length of time. I am going to try to have a surplus of money leftover in March. (Whatever is not spent on groceries will be moved into Savings fund)
• I intend to have one month's free groceries/year using air miles reward dollars at Safeway and my PC Plus card at Superstore. I need to be very strategic in using coupons and flyers and planning my stockpile of food. This is a change in philosophy from saving up all the points and using them on "special" groceries at Christmas time. At $600/month I'm spending $7200 a year on food. I used to spend more than that plus spend any extra free points on things like cream cheese, havarti, etc for fancy meals. By budgeting smartly I expect to still afford some Christmas treats and also have a month's free food. So hopefully I will spend around $6,600 on food and eat just as well. It's a challenge that I am oddly excited to begin :)
• Our power bill is only charged every 3 months. I make monthly payments to that account so that we are never caught with an outrageous bill we weren't expecting. But I need to sit and figure out an "average" monthly amount for power so that I know I am budgeting enough. Ditto with natural gas.
• Buy greater quantities of pet food when it is on sale.

What I am not changing...yet:

• Husband has a Sirius Satellite Radio. He basically listens to it all day and he is in vehicles/equipment almost non-stop on 11 and 12 hour workdays. It is a last resort to take this away from him, but at $20/month we are realizing that it is a luxury that could be cut if need be--particularly if he was no longer working as much. I have also discovered that I can reduce that cost by about $5/month and I plan to do so soon.
• I cut my cell phone plan by $21/month awhile back. This could be cut further and probably in the summer when our contract is up I will shop around a hopefully save even more.
• We were in a situation where we basically had to get a new truck for Husband for work. We knew it was a poor time to do so, but being broke down in the winter or even having an unreliable vehicle at work is stressful. We are now deciding if we will sell the old truck, or my car, or keep both and only insure the old truck when we need it...obviously in a pinch we could sell one. For now we are keeping both car and truck insured for driving but we need to make a decision soon. 

My Goals for March:

• Write ourselves each a cheque and deposit them into each of our personal accounts (the plan is to do this every month--March will be my first). As I mentioned above, one account will be Savings (Christmas, land taxes, a few bills that are coming at us soon), the other will be vehicle and home maintenance/repair fund, kids activities fund, "slush fund".
• create a spreadsheet for each of these accounts keeping track of how much money belongs to each designated fund and recording any transactions.
• Into the kids' activities fund I will transfer their Christmas money from Grandparents in Newfoundland. We usually save the money for something big for them so this year it might be a camping trip. Likewise, birthday money from my mom is always spent on swimming lessons, and their other birthday and Christmas money goes into their own bank accounts. Once the kids activities fund gets to a certain amount I plan to make a lump transfer to each of their RESPs. 
• Repay money from vacation fund that we have "borrowed". The cash from our bottle/can recycling, along with other bits of cash that we end up with, are stashed in an envelope waiting for a summer trip of some kind. Twice now I've taken money from it when I needed cash so need to put $40 back!
• Register the kids for swimming lessons at the pool.
• Continue to bake all of our bread, buns and sweets.
• Continue to put $5/week into the egg jar.
• Continue to explore ways to make money myself, without incurring childcare costs.

It is my absolute goal right now to begin saving one year's expenses in case Husband is out of work. I realize now that we should have had that saved all along. We are doing well and with all my extra cuts I hope that in March we can set aside a month's expenses while also doing the transfers I have spoken of. This is the new game plan for 2016--for every dollar earned I need to save 50 cents!  

January's Grocery Spending

Although it is not yet the end of the month, I had the time this morning to study my receipts and analyze this month's grocery spending. I made up a spreadsheet so that I can track, month by month, the different categories in my grocery list. I broke it down into:

• Pets/Feed: we have 4 sheep which receive a supplement, 2 cats and a dog who receive some leftovers but primarily purchased food, and 2 rabbits who, for the winter, eat pellets with a bit of hay and lettuce scraps as treats. The cats are good old fashioned barn cats and share a heated dog house with our dog, so I do not buy kitty litter. The bunnies are in cages in our car garage for the winter and I have plenty of straw that keeps them warm, at no cost to us. I'm still debating whether or not to include pet feed in my grocery total...for now I will leave it because I primarily buy the pet food (not sheep supplement) at the grocery store and because I had always intended my monthly groceries to be $600/month including pet food. Now that we are acquiring a menagerie of animals I may move this to its own section in our budget!
• Cleaning/household: in this category I include things like light bulbs, toilet paper, napkins, cleaning products, dish soap, dishwasher soap, laundry
•  Dry Goods: I don't have time (or specifically care) to break down the dry goods groceries into sub-sections. Canned goods, dry lentils/beans, flour, pasta, even items from the bakery fall into this category. More or less anything that isn't in a different heading is considered dry goods.
• Meat: I didn't include canned meat (ie Tuna--called that a dry good) but did include processed packages of meat (ie pepperoni and sandwich meat). Frozen chicken and pork are our main meat aisle selections as we do usually have free beef from the farm.
• Dairy: self explanatory, oui?
• Produce: includes any frozen fruit and veg, and anything fresh from produce section
• Health/Beauty: feminine products, shaving, Epsom salts, prescriptions, vitamins, band aids, that sort of thing
• Ready-to-Serve: I added this section because it is interesting for me to know how much extra it is costing me to have the occasional frozen meal on hand. We don't often pick up ready-to-serve items but I do prefer it over take-out. I am giving it its own section because I want to know how much extra I am spending on convenience.
• Take Out: I don't include this in my grocery spending but I plan to track it alongside my food budget, again, to see how much extra "convenience" is costing

I found this exercise to be very illuminating and I think I can keep up with it especially if I enter each receipt as the month goes on. There were a number of factors that will throw off the results somewhat, but I am more interested in a general overview of our spending so that I can "trim the fat". For instance, 2 receipts were unaccounted for, for a total of about $70 (I'm going to go ahead and blame Husband for that LOL) so I can't say exactly how much was spent in each category. The point is, this gave me a good indication where the money is going and also some ideas to reduce costs. I should note that we stocked up on pet food in December so I have only bought rabbit pellets and dry cat food in January. My monthly total was $22.96 but I didn't need dog food yet. Again, as I track this monthly I can get a better idea what it works out to/month. We have also been using stockpiled flour, coffee, cooking oil and soup. Soon it will be time to replenish those stores but their costs are not reflected in this month's tally. 

Assuming that I don't spend more this month (it will be a challenge not to spend anything in the next 10 days as I am accustomed to weekly grocery shopping), we have spent $617.55 this month on groceries--including $22.96 on pet food. I shouldn't need anything from the store so I feel (somewhat) confident that this will be the final sum (although we lost 2 receipts they show up on the credit card bill as two separate amounts at grocery stores so I was able to include those amounts in my final total). The key is for me NOT to go to the grocery store before the end of the month and drop, say, $200 more on groceries simply because I am used to shopping for food every week.

Of course, there are some problems with deciding to eat down what we have until February. I am immediately uneasy at being low on food in the winter months. Should we be hit by a bad storm and snowed in (or roads too icy) it could be extra days without being able to go for food. That is not smart and it's not what I'm striving for. I'd like to keep a well stocked pantry at all times and THEN stick to replenishing it and my fresh food for less that $600/month.

Another difficulty with resolving not to go to town for the rest of the month (it saves us so much on fuel because it is a 45 km drive each way) is that the winter can get depressing if we aren't seeing people. So rather than relying on my weekly trip to the grocer for a dose of "don't want to see people again for awhile", I need to make more of an effort to take the kids out visiting and concentrating on not spending on "other" items when we are out.

All in all, this was a helpful exercise and it highlighted some things I already knew:

• I can trim more costs by not buying bread/buns and bagels. If I get bagels for my son to have before school I also get cream cheese spread--these are luxuries, not essentials, and they are now off the list. Also, I can make healthy bread here for a fraction of the cost. I will be more strict with myself from now on.
• We spent approximately $90 on dairy in January (I include my 6 year old's almond milk in this total. It is expensive but it was recommended that we take him off cow's milk). I have stopped buying the kids the cheese sticks that they love so much. They are expensive and I'm not even sure they are food. I'm concentrating on using less cheese and won't need to buy buttermilk until next winter when all our birthday cake baking happens again (seriously, our family is one birthday after another from Nov-Jan. My recipe is delicious and calls for buttermilk). Any cakes from now on will be made with regular old skim milk (sorry O!)
• Keeping an eye on how much is spent on convenience, either take out or ready-to-serve, will be a good incentive for me to prepare homemade meals ahead and freeze them for those days I want something quick. Menu planning can also really help with being prepared and less apt to overspend.
• We eat too much meat. This is my fault, as the cook. I confess that I'm a protein hog. I could live on salad and meat. I NEED to live on more salad, less meat. We have free beef from the farm but have been out for ages. Buying all of our protein really allowed me to sit down and look at what it is costing us. I will gladly accept the free beef when it comes, believe me, but I'm determined to go meatless on Mondays to help refine our tastes and to save money. We will buy less chicken and pork and, at the same time, stretch the free beef out further so we don't run out so soon.
• As well as reducing how much meat we eat, I also aim to reduce how much we have to purchase. I plan to fatten two weaner pigs over the summer and add chickens to our repertoire. I hope that everything goes as planned (I dislike blogging about high hopes and then not following through on them!). I am also tempted to raise 10 or 12 turkeys to sell, but all of these ideas will be reevaluated nearer to spring.
• I need a bigger garden. I've been planning this anyways, but the skyrocketing price of fruit and vegetables (seriously, $5 for a cabbage, $7 for cauliflower) has me doubting Canada's food security. We are too reliant on food shipped in from other countries. I need to grow more, store more, and possibly become a source of fresh food for some friends and neighbours.  If I can sell a bit in times of glut it will offset the cost of purchasing when my stores of food are used up. 
• Foraging wild and local food will continue to be a way to save on groceries. Using frozen fruit for smoothies is healthy and cheap, considering I have bags of frozen Saskatoons and raspberries leftover from summer. 

I feel much more organized and determined to meet my goal of spending $600/month on food. For a family of four this is by no means an impossible challenge. But it is a fact that I used to spend much more. And we used to grab takeout much more. Using the blog to discuss ideas and hold myself accountable has helped me curb my spending. I hope to continue that trend :) Have you noticed the rising cost of food where you live? Is it something you are trying to reduce and, if so, can you make any suggestions?

Some Un-Resolutions for 2016, and Reflections on 2015

So much for a post about how fun and meaningful our Christmas was this year--our Internet has been down and the mood has passed. Last year I didn't get time to do a post about what I hoped for the new year. Oddly, the year had that same sense of unspoken intentions...we had a productive, positive year and advanced in everything that I wished for but I never put my wishes into words. Our progress was the result of much hard work. Husband has remained busy throughout an industry-wide slow down and for that we are very grateful. We are on the same page financially-speaking, now more than ever. We both want to save money and prepare for the worst as our economy flounders. Perhaps most important of all is the fact that 2015 was book-ended by health concerns for our 5 year old. As the year began he was receiving what were, to me, devastating treatments to put his childhood nephrotic syndrome into remission. As the year ended, he relapsed and once again had protein in his urine (the sign that his kidneys are malfunctioning). To our unending relief, his little body handled the relapse on its own and he did not require treatments aside from antibiotics for a throat infection. This progress, alone, in 2015 makes it the year we became free of fear and began to live fully in the moment with gratitude and grace.

There are many posts out there about hopes and intentions for 2016, all of them more eloquent and succinct than I can muster here. But it is important to me that I outline my plans for the year. I've realized of late that the areas where I am most easily flustered and frustrated (paperwork! saying no to people!) are the areas where I must allow myself to learn and grow. Putting things off and allowing them to take up space in my mind is just not working for me, and it is not how 2016 is going to roll. So with that, here are a few family, personal and business goals for 2016.

• Get Better At Keeping Records

Papers and files grate on my nerves and unfinished paperwork weighs on the back of my mind. It is not the doing of the work, it is the procrastination and dread that leads up to it. Every month. This stems from the fact that I have no real system of keeping track of receipts, invoices, warranties, etc and I feel overwhelmed by the prospect of even getting started. For Christmas, Husband bought me an antique filing cabinet that I had been longing for. Not only is it beautiful but it is going to play an important role in taking the stress out of keeping track of our files. In the next week I plan to get files colour-coded and moved into the new-old cabinet.  done!

Aside from tax/work related files, I also need to improve my record-keeping in the garden and for this blog. Every year I intend to record what I plant and try to keep track of the yield and what worked/didn't work. Perhaps taking a quick picture of seed packets as I am headed out to the garden would help. Generally I end up using the packet to mark my row, which doesn't work because it degrades to the point of being unable to read it when I want to remember what variety of seed I had used. My kids are more independent now so I have no excuse not to be more methodical in keeping track of my garden and home. Related to the blog, I MUST get better at reporting on my kitchen budget and filing all receipts/tracking spending. Likewise, a return to menu-planning and lists, lists, lists! The last few months of 2015 became completely unorganized and directionless, although the rough tally I kept in my mind led me to believe that I was spending less on groceries and doing better at stockpiling and using in-store coupons. Although I felt I was doing okay with it, I would like to share my results in this space and that can't happen when receipts are lost in the bottom of the big ole purse! My first step towards a better record-keeping system is 1. download a bookkeeping software and learn to use it and 2. learn to do spreadsheets. I MUST schedule some quiet time in the next week where I can concentrate and get this done. Found a bulletin board with wire baskets for sorting mail/bills. Now, where to hang it?

NOTE: it seems like blogger has changed something and I can't figure out how to add pictures now. So I will add "get current on blogger" and "take better pictures" to the list of things to do!

• New Learning Experiences

It wasn't that long ago that I worried there would never be time or money for me to pursue my own interests. For a time with little babies it is true that a mother's needs are waaaay down the list of priorities. But I recognize now that nurturing my creativity and interests is not only healthy, it is essential to being a complete and happy person. In my case, my interests and pursuits are of the homesteading/crafting/farming variety. I have an ever-growing list of things I want to try in 2016 and I am excited to get started! Today's challenge: break down a chicken into pieces for baking :) Perhaps I should keep a list of all the new things I try this year!

• Make Better Use of My Evenings

True, I do some wintertime crafts and quilt bindings in the evening while I watch TV. Some gardening jobs in summer might happen in the evening. But all too often I get my kids to bed and sit in front of the TV with a cup of tea and proceed to waste a couple hours of time before bed. I want to give myself half an hour of exercise in this time slot, and read more instead of watching TV. I think if I schedule 9-10 pm my only TV time I will be happier, more fit and productive!

• Concentrate on Things That Make Me Feel Good 

Something about getting older, perhaps, but feeling rotten after eating fast food or "pub grub" is just no longer an option. I want to fuel my body with food that makes me feel full and invigorated. I MUST spend more time doing yoga, Pilates, walking and exercising (how many times have we heard that?!) I want to visit people that inspire and motivate me to learn and do better. I want to give more, learn more, do more. People and activities that suck the energy out of me will continue to be pushed to the margins of our lives. This is an area that really progressed in 2015 and I expect more of the same this year. I vowed to "invest in people that invest in me" and I worried less about why some friends always left me feeling used and unappreciated. By taking the focus from those relationships and putting my energy into relationships that make me happy, I felt the toxic anxiety fade away. Friends, work and play that brings us together and leaves a lasting feeling of joy will be a permanent part of our routine. All of the things we have enjoyed in years past shall see more of our attention this year. We have picked a direction that works for us and every step of our journey has made us happier and convinced us that living simply and authentically is right for us. 2016 will be more of the same.

2015 Tally of Preserves

It has long been my goal to keep better records of what I grow (always too busy planting to keep track of what gets planted) and what I harvest (weighing what I bring in from the garden sounds simple until I am rushing out to pick greens and supper is late, blah, blah, blah). Maybe next year I will be more organized and keep a better record, but for this year I have concentrated on an overall tally of what I was able to preserve through canning and freezing.

I thought that I would include this spring's maple syrup, our first ever. Because it was a novelty to most of our friends we gave away several tiny taste-test size jars and had a couple of half-pints for the kids to have on pancakes and for me to use in bread. I saved 2 quarts in hopes that the weather will cooperate and we can do maple taffy in the snow at each of our son's birthday parties (January and March). Last year we had tobogganing and horse-drawn sleigh rides for both and the weather was nice. I hope we are as lucky this year :)

I was lucky to be invited to pick fruit with a friend in a lovely yard this summer. There we picked enough plums for good eating plus a bit of plum sauce (seriously, removing the pits was so time-consuming!).

My boys enjoyed pitting cherries, though, and were a great help. The wild saskatoons were wonderful this year and we discovered just how many grow right here in our yard.

My garden was a dismal failure by some standards. We had a drought until July and the scorching heat and my inconsistent watering did not enable much that I planted to germinate. Some things came later and I was surprised how much lettuce I ended up with. Pumpkins continued to bloom until frost without ever producing fruit larger than a golf ball--terribly disappointing because I successfully started the plants from seed! If anyone has pointers on growing pumpkins I would appreciate some advice!

Like most years, though, what my garden lacked was supplemented by the generosity of my mom and neighbours. A friend's mom gave me half a box of apples which I split with my mom and made apple pie filling with. I was given cucumbers and still managed to make enough pickles for our winter eating. My aunt gave us carrots and I saved enough to make a treat jar of pickled carrots for Husband to enjoy over the Christmas holidays. In many ways the scarcity of the pickles makes us savour them more and it is always a shame to throw out uneaten ones when you have gone to so much work.
Every year I plan to grow more tomatoes and more peppers for even more salsa, but like the pickles it is a shame to see it go to waste. So this year I have concentrated more on slow roasting and freezing for sauce and know that the salsa I have made for ourselves and as gifts will be all the more special because there is less of it.

So here it is, a tally of what I have "put up" from my garden, yard, and generous gifts from others:

2015 Preserves

2 qt saskatoon pie filling
2 x ziploc freezer bag of berries
2 qt rhubarb/saskatoon "fruit" for our elderly neighbour
3 qt cherries "fruit"
3 qt cherry pie filling
2 qt apple pie filling

2 pints pickled beets
1 quart dilly beans
5 pints hot chili chutney
3 1/2 pints raspberry jam
3 pints million dollar relish
5 1/2 quarts bread and butter pickles
2 qt + 1 pint sweet heat salsa plus 7 half pints of sweet heat salsa for gifts
4 qt hot salsa
6 qt canned whole tomatoes
1 qt dilled carrots
2 qt dill pickles
5 ziploc freezer bags of roasted tomatoes (so far). Tomatoes still ripening in the basement

1 laundry basket of potatoes minus what we ate fresh from the garden. Red potatoes were scabby but large, white potatoes were excellent.

Perhaps most exciting in this year's food production were the two apples that our 2 year old honeycrisp apple tree produced. The fruit was huge, crisp and juicy, and although there were only two apples we watched them grow and shared them as a family. We are very hopeful that the tree will provide us with plenty of beautiful apples in years to come.

Walking the Walk

I consider myself to be a "saver". I talk about frugal living, I don't shop for myself very often and I've saved a LOT of money by using second hand baby paraphernalia and hand-me-down clothing for my kids (and myself). We often wait for things to be on sale or try to find second hand, and we buy useful, needed gifts for Christmas and birthdays. I do not buy toys for my kids unless it is birthday and Christmas, with the exception of a few summer toys for the lake this year. Although I think we are far more frugal than many of the people we know, Husband and I are realizing there is much need for improvement. One issue we have is we use our credit card in order to receive air miles and it has led to rampant use of credit. Although we ALWAYS pay off the balance I think we have become desensitized to spending. So for one month we plan to use cash and see how it goes.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My dad is a cattle farmer and I get most/all of my beef for free. This is wonderful and I'm so grateful. But it doesn't add up to me why we spend so much on food when our main protein is free.

With that in mind, I've sat down and made a list of some areas to improve upon:

For myself:

• groceries are almost exclusively bought by me, and I cook 99% of our meals. I have extraordinary control over what comes into this house, but at times I feel I have no control at all. All in all, I want to reduce my grocery bill for our family of 4 to a consistent $700/month. I want $50 of that monthly amount to include pet food for the cats and dog, and I want a portion of that $50 to go towards creating a greater stockpile of food here (ie. flour, sugar, oats, rice, coffee etc). 
• ACTION: next time we go to town for groceries I will withdraw $700 for groceries. I plan to do one shop per week for the fresh things we need (milk, eggs, fruit and veg) and one larger shop per month where I can take advantage of store specials to build points while I buy larger amounts and items that we have run out of (canned goods, freezer items, baking and cooking supplies)
• MY GOAL: to become accustomed to spending less impulsively in the grocery store. To many people a $700 grocery budget for a family of 4 would be heavenly, and I realize it is an ample amount. The fact is, we are sometimes at the store 5 or 6 times a month and it is just adding up and feels out of control. I feel that if I am using cash I will be more aware of my monthly budget being used up. Once I have a sense of where the money is going I plan to steadily reduce the amount we spend on food well below this initial goal.
• I consider it a real treat to have an evening off from cooking. When we are all in town for several hours it is so tiring and coming home to cook for everyone when I'm exhausted sometimes leads to me suggesting we grab something and bring it home. This is not the end of the world but I plan to come up with healthier and more affordable options. One of which will be bulk cooking some family favorites and freezing so that I can have things thawing and waiting for us to arrive. NOTE: it has been months since we had take out or drive thru!
• better use of our garden
• use the "Good Food Box" program in town to see if there is a savings (I have purchased my first box for $15 and was impressed with the amount of produce. I plan to continue ordering every second week)
• make better use of menu plans for frugal, healthy meals
• less kitchen waste
• be better prepared with Husband's work lunches so that A) I am not buying pre-packaged food to send with him and B) he is not stopping at gas stations for quick lunches (not only gross but expensive!)
• Let's face it, I spend a lot on my yard and on fabric. I fully admit I can go overboard. Like a true addict, I just really need to avoid situations where I buy more stuff. I'm done with the yard for the year. Anything else I want will be structural (a bench for by the pond) and I will ask for it for Christmas or birthday. I have projects in mind that I will be watching for salvaged materials to use (ie. outdoor oven, flagstone patio area, but will wait for the right opportunity). There won't be a need for too much spending in the spring, either, as I've built up a good base of perennials and things are starting to fill in. Any major projects now will be ones that add value to our yard and can save us money down the road (chicken house, barn etc)
•  As far as quilting goes, I have splurged on some lovely fabrics (most of which were on sale but it really adds up!) and I am putting it out there for all the world (or the scattered reader here, anyways) that I will not, must not, shan't and can't buy any more fabric unless it is essential for the completion of a project. I love to look and if I came across some great vintage prints I might make an exception but the flagrant collecting of material must really stop. It must. I might need a sponsor.
• Come up with ways to make some money on the side without needing childcare
• look into having all our insurances at one office. Perhaps we can reduce some of our spending here. Insurance is by far our largest expense and although we won't go without it, I am hoping to find a way to reduce its cost. We switched home insurance providers this spring for a savings of $700+. I hope to save even more while keeping the same coverage. Edited to add: there was a mysterious monthly charge of $230/month coming out of our bank account. Unsure if it was Husband's company insurance I inquired at one office and could get no information regarding the charge. I have gone through all of our records and still didn't know what the charge was for. I called the local small town office where we used to insure (dropped them for a different small town office to save $700/yr and after much persistence I find that we were still being charged for our old insurance policy. Once I remember to fax a copy of our new policy we will be reimbursed over $1100--woot! woot!!
• We were paying an $8/month fee on our joint bank account without my realizing we could eliminate that charge. My own personal account has a couple different charges that I need to cancel (life insurance, which I have elsewhere, and overdraft protection). It is costing me $10/ month and I just need to remember to cancel those!
• Work on selling our camper privately.

For Husband:

• Once in awhile it may become necessary for Husband to pack his own lunch at night. I am not instigating a battle of the sexes debate; I feel it is easier for me to make his lunch during the day while I prepare other food than have him come home after a 12 hour work day to make his own lunch when he should be seeing the kids. It is not a job that I resent, but there are days that the kids and I are out and about and it would help immensely if he made his own sandwich or packaged up his own leftovers. I used to make him individual meals that he could take and reheat in his little lunch kit warmer that plugs into his truck. I need to prepare a few for the week on Mondays again like I used to. 
• Eliminate or greatly reduce soft drink consumption.
• Eliminate or greatly reduce trips into gas stations for snacks and treats.
• Only buy tools that are needed to complete a task that has been begun. No buying tools that we might need down the road or because they are a good deal. They aren't a good deal if they don't get used.
•  Sort and put away screwdrivers/wrenches/various tools so they can be found and used readily when needed, thus reducing the need for multiple sets
• No impulsive purchases for the children, or if something cannot be resisted it must be saved for a Christmas or birthday gift

For the Family:

• movie theatre tickets and snacks are a real costly expense. The last time Husband went it cost $60 for him and our 2 preschool kids. $60!!! I don't go along because of the cost and the volume. We will put more emphasis on movie nights at home with homemade pizza and popcorn etc. We can probably rent a new release on our satellite dish for under $10. Still a treat but so much more affordable.
• I reduced our satellite dish package by $30 for the summer months. We watch more Netflix than anything, but we are curling fans and I hate to lose live coverage of events through out the winter when we are in the house more. We do discuss cancelling satellite and if we decide to it would be a savings of $50+/ month.
• no more plastic junk toys. NO MORE!!
• better use of the library and free kids programs. We need to brainstorm some free activities that we want to do and not forget them when we have a free day together. 
• set a Christmas budget and stick to it. We never carry a balance on our credit card but we have seen some frightening bills come in January. Christmas is one area where we could make real progress on our spending.
• Start a fund for a family vacation.
• Make an actual budget for kids' activities. My kids aren't in much but I tend to stick them in programs willy-nilly and don't know how much I spend in a year. Perhaps there is a way to be more conscious and get more for my dollar. Skating/hockey is a popular pastime for Canadian kids. I will let my boys choose if they wish to play. To me, the fees are enormous and I'm not sure how much the 3 year old will get out of it. The 5 year old is going to be very tired adjusting to kindergarten, so I have opted to wait for next year. 
• My eldest son just started kindergarten and already there's been unexpected costs--he had to have headphones--$20 for the cheapest set! He has had a book sale catalogue sent home (recycled it while he wasn't looking) we sponsored $40 for the Terry Fox Run, and I sent him $5 for the hot dog sale. When he came home with no change I asked if he ate 3 hot dogs ($1.50 each). He said no, but he bought a hot dog for a little girl who didn't have any money. I thought it was sweet but I'll be sending the correct change from now on!
• Use the refunds from recycling our bottles and cans to buy a takeout meal when we go to the bottle depot. Put any extra money into the vacation fund.
• Pick bottles and cans from nearby ditches in the spring to contribute to our vacation fund. Good for the environment, great way for the kids and I to be outside and work together.
• Begin using money we save in other areas to invest in GICs and try to put our money to work.

For now, the plan is to withdraw $700 for groceries/pet food/ food stockpile and see how I do this month. I realize this is actually a LOT of money when you consider our mortgage, utilities, etc are above and beyond this cost. I want us to be prepared for a situation of reduced income/unemployment or unforeseen emergencies. This is my jumping off point. I want to reduce our spending far beyond these numbers but first need to see where the money is going. At the same time, there are many areas where we do well: we have an emergency fund and I have made some investments and set up Tax Free Savings accounts for both of us. Our kids both have education plans and we actively discuss what we need to be doing. We know we are leaking money, though, and it is very important to me that we set an example for our kids and teach them about money as they grow up. As my parents told me, it doesn't grow on trees :) If we are going to talk the talk, it is time to walk the walk. 

The Garden That Didn't Grow

We are having a hot dry summer here along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. Today we had temperatures around 30C and had a late afternoon thunderstorm which brought high winds and a bit of hail. Our yard received one inch plus two tenths or rainfall, while 4 miles away my parents had about half an inch. We are glad to have had the moisture and all my rain barrels are overflowing. 

The hot dry summer has had me asking, what would I do 100 years ago if it were this dry and my garden didn't grow? Surely it happened from time to time. Did families go hungry? Absolutely. Were some forced to town or onto the generosity of family? Undoubtedly. Back then if a person in the country could not or did not produce their own stores of food they could not last. Growing and storing enough food for one's family and one's livestock was the real difference between success and failure on the prairies. Nowadays, if you have a total crop failure such as I have had with carrots, peas, lettuce, spinach, kale, SIGH, you might trade with a neighbour for some of the things you have plenty of (so far, that would be onions), try the farmer's market, or you just say to heck with it and count on the grocery store for your missing produce. But this all has me thinking, 100 years ago on this piece of land I would be starting to feel a bit desperate.

There are some factors that would be different, of course. I would likely have quadrupled the amount of potatoes I had planted. I would have relied heavily on crops like turnip, pumpkin, squash and cabbage, and I would have a root cellar in which to keep them all. But here in my 2015 first-world-home, I have an entire area dedicated to water and heat loving tomatoes and peppers. I reserved one raised bed for my children to plant, and I have large spaces that are purely ornamental. My apple tree has 2 apples on it this year and the pear pollinator has died. I put in 10 raspberry canes last year but they immediately filled in with weeds and I have decided if they die it is probably a good thing. Something has eaten the strawberries before I can get to them, and I have 4 or 5 varieties of sunflowers planted for the birds and our pure enjoyment. It is obvious that this garden is not meant to sustain us through our cold 6-7 month long winter. But what if it had to?

Above, one raised bed that has produced nothing besides a couple sunflowers, some nasturtiums, and a couple bean plants. 

Below, sunflowers bent over from the driving wind and rain. I'm sure they will bounce back, but I must rethink how much of my garden is used to grow things not specifically meant to feed this family through the winter. 

I did plant carrots and greens and peas and I reseeded cucumbers, beets and peas when it didn't look good. The carrots and greens seem to be a write-off and there are so far only enough beets for a couple meals. The cucs are up but I am wondering what my yield will be, and I am thinking that this should be my last year of using the grocery store as my back up plan. Next year I hope to have space prepared to plant more and harvest more than I need, with the aim to get my family through the year on what we can grow ourselves. Of course this is not a revelation to many who garden. But for me it is time to step up and grow/harvest/preserve as though it is my only option. I am lucky enough to have the land, I am healthy enough to do the work, and I want to be able to make it happen in case the day ever comes where we must be totally self-reliant. Do you grow your annual supply of any one fruit or vegetable?

Patience and Self-Control in the Springtime Garden

Ah, spring. There is so much possibility, so many plans...so much work!

When you begin from scratch in a new yard, it can be overwhelming to plan where things should go, or where to begin. Each job seems to rely on something else being completed first until you have turned in a 360 degree circle in your yard, done nothing, yet feel exhausted. This year is our third summer here and it is becoming easier to begin and finish jobs here and there, but plans for sheep and chickens and a greenhouse have me stumped at the moment. I can't decide on the best spot or most efficient system of pens and buildings. So I have focused instead on other pressing jobs and I know that the choice will become clear if I give it some time.

Some other jobs I am working on in the yard:

• stack all remaining fire wood that was dumped by the garage all winter
• water 120 spruce trees (almost finished!)
• fish pond: mostly complete except for the pump and extension cord, and the fun part...plants! I have solar lights to put down the path and around the pond but fear the dog will break them off. So they may be put out for photos and the occasional BBQ, but kept safely in the garage until the playful pup has learned some manners!

• path to the pond: I need to re-level many of my stone steps that have settled and tipped, and remove lawn grass that has encroached into my stepping stones. On the bright side, many of my ground cover plants between stones made it through the winter and I look forward to seeing how the perennials in the yard look with a full summer of growth. Most everything was planted last year and did not have time to completely flourish.

• weedless garden: this is a big one. My dad came with their old garden tractor and roto-tilled an area for an expanded garden. We will likely have trouble with quack grass and encroaching lawn. I am working on a number of paths through the garden in hopes that the soil won't become compacted and I may never need the use of a tiller again. I am hoping I can control the grass problem with cardboard and straw mulch borders, and keep my weeding limited to the actual planted area of the garden. For a great illustration of what I am attempting with a series of mulched paths, enjoy this post by Sherri at Little Home in the Country.

• turn one raised bed, build pea trellis out of saplings and plant peas
• cover paths between raised beds with deep cardboard and mulch with straw to eradicate (hopefully) the grass
• turn and amend soil in 2 remaining raised beds, prepare one for asparagus and the other for my 2 boys to share with their own choice of flowers and vegetables

• tomato bed behind garage: I hope to get away with having my tomatoes in the same patch as I did last year. I need to dig out lawn and quack grass (do you sense a theme here?)  and empty the nearby compost into that space, roto-till and build paths for another no-till weedless system. 

I am considering fencing the garden area on the south side of our garage to keep the cats and dog out, and create a potager-type garden. As the title of the post indicates, though, there is a need for self-control when planning each spring. I can come up with unlimited projects but the fact is there are not enough hours in a day to complete them all. I must prioritize the jobs while considering time and money, of course. Right now, weed control is on the top of the list because I want to make our lives easier by doing things right the first time. If I can minimize the time I have to spend weeding it gives me time to do the other (long) list of jobs here at home. It might even free up some time to go camping and see friends;)

Spring is a time of much promise and enthusiasm after a long Canadian winter spent cooped up. We are enjoying our yard and the lambs and chickens at my parents' farm. We have a lot of planning and, yes, a  pile of work ahead of us. But I am determined to make it fun, as close to stress-free as possible, because we are building a lifestyle that we want to have last--not fizzle out with exhaustion and dashed hopes. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you face in your springtime garden plans?

Menu Plan Feb 9-15, 2015

 The purpose of my planning a weekly menu is threefold:

1. Use up what is potentially going to go to waste from my freezer, purchased groceries, home preserves or garden
2. Become better organized in order to squeak out more time for hobbies/ a deep cleaning of the house/ kids activities (translation: less cooking=more living!)
3. Attempt to reduce the amount I am spending on food by using in-store coupons, points card at grocery store, doing without, and reducing waste

I'm enjoying following the blog Mortgage Free In Three. It gives wonderful inspiration to pay off debt faster, and recently provided a printable menu planning document. As Elaine suggests, it makes sense to menu plan starting on the day you get groceries--it works well for me as I am a once/week shopper. This week my grocery day fell on a Monday because there were a few things I wanted to do in town and we never drive to town without trying to complete all our errands. NOTE: this is being posted late as hauling wood/mopping floors/laundry and some serious teenage mutant ninja turtle play time had priority. Such is life!

This week's list:

• fill 2 water jugs (forgot the jugs at home, but should make it til next week)
• pick up parcel new cookbook, woohoo! Perhaps a post on that later :)
• weather stripping for the garage door since the kitties have pulled a piece of it completely off and made a draft. Wouldn't you know it, the day after I buy weather stripping I open a closet and find the weather stripping that I thought we had used up in our old house. So I can return what I bought and save ten bucks! 

For my menu plan this week, I have consulted the freezer: some bits of pork chops, enough for a meal, still some roasts and a package of steak to use up, a package of hamburger, some chicken wings, bacon, a package of deer sausage given to me by a friend, perogies, green beans, spinach. Also there are some chicken breasts and shrimp.

In the fridge: lettuce needing used today or ASAP, peppers, some crushed tomato sauce, part of a cucumber, carrots, celery, red onion. We also have some asiago cheese and a bit of mozzarella, some cheese slices (Husband likes them but I try not to buy them!).

On special at grocery store: I got 2000 extra points (when you redeem 20,000 points you save $20) buying things I needed anyways, and I resisted buying anything that wasn't on my list. Normally I don't buy much juice but both kids are getting sore throats so I bought calcium and vit D added oj, and a 5 pack of juice boxes because by then both kids were thirsty and had already drank the juice I brought from home. Altogether, this week's grocery bill was $115.52. It helped that I avoided the meat aisle altogether so I couldn't impulse-buy. I don't go near the bakery because I make all our bread and sweets at home. I've also stopped buying more almond milk until I see if the kids are going to continue drinking it. At $4/2L jug it won't hurt my feelings if they go off it :)

OK, enough stalling. This week's grocery plan:

Monday Feb 9:

• H lunch: leftovers and buns
• kids lunch: popcorn shrimp and homemade fries
• supper: pizza using leftover taco meat, cold cuts, crushed tomatoes (all of which were needing used up in the fridge)

Tuesday Feb 10:

• H lunch: pizza and fruit
• kids lunch: buns, fruit and veggies, can of chicken noodle soup, smoothies
• supper: lasagna, focaccia, caesar salad

Wednesday Feb 11:

• H lunch: beef buns, fruit and veggies
• kids lunch: leftovers
• supper: pulled beef, buns, whipped potatoes, brussels sprouts, salad

Thursday Feb 12: ,boil eggs for Friday)

• H lunch: beef buns, fruit and veggies
• kids lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, smoothies, fruit and veggies
• supper: slow-cooker pork chops in sauce with rice, green beans

Friday Feb 13:

• H: egg salad sandwiches, fruit, veg, pudding
• kids: curly pasta and toast, apple sauce and veggies
• supper: deer sausage with perogies, layered salad, green peas, fried onions

Saturday Feb 14:

• H: running out of inspiration, but by then something will come to me ;)
• kids: likewise!
• supper: butter chicken, rice, roasted veggies

Sunday Feb 15:

• H: Chicken salad sandwiches, fruit etc
• kids: leftovers
• supper: steak bites, stuffed potatoes, garlic toast, salad

I may not stick entirely to the plan, but now that I know what I have available I hope to thaw/prepare in advance to give myself more time for other things. The weather is supposed to warm up by Thursday so I plan to be outside rather than in the kitchen--a good thing since the wood supply is running low!

What have you got planned for the week?

Menu Plan January 31-February 7 2015

The end of January already? Yikes!

As I've mentioned, I have some beef roasts to use up. They will factor into this week's plan as will a bag of pears that I need to use up. I have a few things to consider, Husband's lunch for work being one of them. He got a heater that plugs into the lighter in his truck so he can now take leftovers (Yay!!) and I also like to send a variety of foods because after years of packed lunches it must be getting a little repetitive. There are also our lunches at home, which will be either leftovers (not my kids' favorite thing to eat but I shall prevail!) or simple fare complimented with fresh fruit and veggies. I won't bother listing our breakfasts because we are very predictable: toast and fruit for us at home and Husband leaves so early he does not bother eating.

Sunday Feb 1: 

• Husband lunch: leftover pizza, veggies, cookies, fruit cup
• kids' lunch: fruit/apple sauce, veggies, curly pasta
• Supper: 1/2 roast and all the trimmings, fresh buns (freeze some), pear crisp for dessert*

*although I rarely make desserts, we will use up our bag of pears in a pear crisp (recipe at end of post).

Monday Feb 2:

• H lunch: roast beef on a bun, veggies and fruit, pear crisp
• kids' lunch: buns, fruit and veg, and leftover pear crisp.
• Supper:  beef stew, buns 

Tuesday Feb 3:

• H lunch: leftover stew, veg and fruit
• kids' lunch: a pre-arranged pizza party at our house with friends. I will do fresh veggies and smoothies along with cookies 
• Supper: A huge sirloin steak (free from mom) will be used in beef stir fry, rice and noodles from my America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. Love it!

Wednesday Feb 4:

• H lunch: leftover pizza, veg and fruit, puddings that need used up
• kids' lunch: leftover pizza, veggies
• Supper: Shepherd's Pie and Salad

Thursday Feb 5:

• H lunch: Shepherd's Pie
• kids' lunch: grilled cheese, fruit and veg
• Supper: homemade fish and chips using fish that has been in the freezer awhile. Also Newfoundland Dressing and gravy (saved from the beef roast). *a note on making dressing: quite often when I make dressing, I make extra and freeze enough for another meal so we can have the special treat in a hurry!

Friday Feb 6:

• H lunch: frozen pizza pops that I bought for when I'm too lazy to make a lunch :)
• kids' lunch: leftover fish and chips
• Supper: pulled beef sandwiches on fresh buns using a recipe I found at addapinch.com

Saturday Feb 7:

• H lunch: pulled beef on buns
• kids' lunch: wraps and salad and veggies
• Supper: drumsticks in sauce with Rice and Green Beans from the garden (frozen)

And there you have it--a week of meals taken from the food available in my freezer and pantry.  I don't consider this a savings, because we are living off food that we have already paid for and that will be replaced. Where I feel I am succeeding is in that we are using up things that might otherwise go to waste--either through going past their expiration date, becoming freezer burnt or being tossed into the compost pit. Rather than using store-bought pork loin for pulled pork sandwiches, I am using meat that was available to us. Theoretically I should not have to buy groceries this week at all, unless eggs and milk run low. If need be, I can save money by not going to town for groceries (45 kms) and instead supporting a small town grocer that is closer. I have to go to that small town anyways so I can pick up any essentials then, but at the higher price anything that is not essential will have to wait for the week of Feb 8-14 to be bought in town.

Do you follow a menu plan, or how do you decide what you will cook during the week? Do you follow the specials or buy only what you have listed? 

Pear Crisp (adapted from my apple crisp recipe,
which came out of an old recipe book of my moms when I left home
a million or so years ago)

6 pears, peeled and sliced
6 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp sugar cinnamon my apologies to anyone who might've made this before I found my mistake!
3 Tbsp butter

-spread in small casserole dish and top with:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
8 Tbsp butter

-Bake at 350F for 15 minutes covered, 35 minutes uncovered.

Please Note: this is an old recipe and it is ALOT of sugar. I usually throw in extra apples or pears and reduce the amount of sugar (the original recipe actually calls for 1.5 cups brown sugar on top). This is just the recipe that I have, you really can't go wrong with sugar, fruit and cinnamon. But if you have a favorite recipe, adapt it to use up the fruit in your kitchen that is going to waste. The point for me is to not let the pears wind up in the compost. Enjoy!

One (Lonely) Swale

I began to read Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden in the winter of 2012/13, when we still lived in our old house an hour's drive south of here. It is a very practical guide to planning one's yard, and one that impressed upon me the importance of water conservation (among other things).

In the book, Hemenway illustrates the usefulness of swales in reducing water runoff on slopes. The idea is to dig a trough of one to two feet deep (in my case, much closer to ONE backbreaking foot deep!):

Although it looks like I have put the swale running downhill, the actual slope that we lose most of the runoff from is to the left of the trench I dug.

See what I mean? This is facing uphill, where snow melt and rain runoff had actually worn deep gullies into the soil before we harrowed (carrying away my valuable topsoil). But back to the swale. Into the bottom my helpers and I deposited first, gravel. We topped that with sand because, hey, they had loaded their John Deere trailer and I hated to disappoint ;)

The next layer was straw (or rather long dead grass out of the bushes). It was straw-like and more plentiful than the bit of straw I swiped from the farm for my compost. We quickly covered it before the wind blew it away. Looks like the helpers are conspiring...

Ah, yes, they moved on to more exciting adventures and left mommy to finish the job. As usual ;)

The point of the swale is to catch water as it moves down the slope and give it somewhere to go (rather than gushing downhill in soil depleting rivers). When the water hits the swale (and the slight berm that is on the downhill side of the swale...difficult to photograph...) it should soak in and travel along the gravel bottom before soaking slowly and more deeply below-ground--the width of the swale.

I had high hopes that we might get three or even four swales installed because our yard is sloping in every direction. Alas, I managed only this one poor lonely swale by the sweat of my own brow. We are short on time and very short on horse power, but if there is a chance this fall after my cover crops get turned under I hope to try another.

Have you any water conservation strategies in place in your garden? Or is the rainfall plentiful enough that you haven't the need?

All In A Day's Work

We have settled into a routine with Husband home and weather warm enough to work outside. Slowly but surely we are striking tasks off our (long) list. And as I strike them off, more tasks get added until it seems we may never finish. Indeed, that is the whole point, for our list is made up jobs that require us to work together, co-operate, be outdoors, connect with the land and nature...all of the reasons we moved here and began this adventure a year ago.

We were lucky to get several truckloads of free birch for firewood. Husband has been splitting it so that it dries without rotting, and stacking it in the trees near the garage. Initially we planned to build a wood shed this year, but we are undecided where to put it. We might wait til next year when we know what will be most convenient. I hate the thought of putting things in the wrong place because we are in a hurry to get things done!

Husband also stacked all the wood leftover from our garage-build. From that stash we used 2"x10" boards for two raised beds, and 2'x12" boards for the middle one. We used what we have on hand. The beds look small to me, but my garden at our old house was only productive at the west end (an area much smaller than these 3 beds combined. I also plan to plant my potatoes, corn and peas outside of the raised beds, so for this year I think we will get enough food from these 3 beds.

In the picture below, you might notice a layer of cow manure. The four year old and I have been busy collecting cow patties from the pasture. We also had a blast gathering earth worms out of the dirt I dug from my fish pond. Many were added to the garden beds, and many more to the compost pit. I fear the two-year-old may have dropped most of his during the delivery, but I'm sure the worms have found their way back into the earth by now ;)

We have had some very productive days working in our yard. There are moments with a four and two-year-old where it seems we might get nothing done--but this year is just an indication of things to come. As they get older the kids will stray further from my sight to build forts and climb trees, explore the little creek and climb the rock piles. I have a feeling I better enjoy having them under foot while I still can!