Buddy Friday...

Here we are at another Buddy Friday. I love these Buddy Fridays. It's so neat to share our knowledge and to learn more knowledge from others. Once again, I thank Margaret for hosting this. If you want to read more Buddy Fridays, please visit her blog.

Today I want to talk about my pantry. Now there are some wonderful blogs out there with tons of information on pantries.

You can visit them at:
Brenda
Thirtyfivebyninety
HomemakerBarbi

There are thousands more I'm sure. Just do a google search about pantries or stockpiling your pantries.

At our home, we firmly believe in having a well stocked pantry. We learnt a few years back that we needed one to survive when hubby was out of work. We knew 2 years ahead of time that his job was going to be gone. Once we found out, I began filling the pantry...we lived off it for one full year.

Now we stock our pantry because of the economy, where we live (we are one hour away from the city) and because of our winter weather. I've watched as grocery prices continue to rise even when shopping at Superstore.

We live in an old victorian home, over 100 years old. We have a partial basement, however it's very small. Hubby built me shelving so that I could store my preserves. Our freezer is down there, we store our potatoes down there...so there isn't much room once we have the furnace and water tank.

Our kitchen is small with few cupboards so I asked hubby if he would build be shelving to put in our kitchen that would become my store.

Here it is. It will not be standing, it will be laying down. I couldn't get the whole shelf in my picture if we laid it down.

When it comes to building my pantry, here are a few things I do.

-I take a specific amount of $$ from our monthly check for stocking. It's over and above the amount for groceries. Now there are times I can't do that, so I try to see if I can stretch the grocery dollars to help. When I first started, it was $5 every other week. It doesn't have to be a large amount....it just has to get started!!

-I purchase only what's on sale or good loss leaders. Loss leaders are the sale items on the front of a store flyer that companies entice you with to get you into the store. I only purchase these if they are something I will use. Not much sense in buying a good loss leader if I'm not going to use it.

-we have 3 gardens and live off those during the summer months. With the money I save doing this, I in turn use it to stockpile.

-we were given 2 boxes of meat yesterday. We don't eat a lot of meat, however I don't have to purchase any meat now for several weeks. The money I would have used towards meat will now go towards building our pantry up again. At the moment, it's almost nil.

-I make sure that when I buy items for the pantry, it's the basics first......wheat (I grind it myself), sugar, rolled oats, rice, peanut butter, etc... From there it's canned goods.....canned salmon, canned tomatoes, canned fruit, canned milk. With gardening I freeze has much has I can in veggies so not many canned veggies get bought.

These are a few things I do to get our pantry where I want it to be. My suggestion to everyone is to start...it's doesn't have to be a huge amount at once. There is always places to put your items....under beds, in clothes closets (we have far too many clothes in our society and way too large of closets, use them the best way you can). Stock what you feel will help your family cut it's grocery bill. We live on a fixed income so need to watch our pennies.

Next, I'll show you a picture of items in my "store" and I'll post how I purchased them and the prices. It'll take a few weeks, however I should have it pretty much done by the end of August.

Independance Challenge...

I can't even remember what week I'm at so decided to forgo the week.

PLANT SOMETHING: Nothing to report

HARVEST SOMETHING: I've been freezing raspberries, strawberries and chives.

REDUCE WASTE: Nothing to report

PREPARING AND STORAGE: Hubby has built more shelving for the kitchen. I have it partially primed. Hopefully I'll get it done this week.

BUILDING COMMUNITY: Continuing to volunteer at the library. I've also been shopping at the Farmer's Market. I really like the fact that I can support local people. Although it's small, I've bought potatoes, lettuce and broccoli and I've also bought homemade hand soap.

EAT THE FOOD: We've been eating raspberries and strawberries. Not much else ready yet. This has not been a good year for gardening.

I'm adding:
LEARNING SOMETHING: I'm learning that I should have been more careful when I planted the fruit trees. An apple tree is too close to the clothesline, the chokecherry tree is also too close to the clothesline and my cherry tree is way to close to my roses. So close in fact we cannot enjoy the roses. I also learnt that I should have planted the rhubarb where it got more sunlight. Gardening is a learning process that takes years I think.

For more on the Independance challenge, you can read it here.

Buddy Friday....

Once again it's Buddy Friday. Visit our host Margaret here to read more.

During tough difficult times, it's important not to waste anything. At our home, our motto is "use it up, wear it out, make it do or go without". My great grandmother had it on her kitchen cupboard and she is one person who knew how to make do with what she had.

A few things we do:

- I don't use paper towels of any kind. Being a quilter, I have lots of small pieces of flannelette leftover, too small to make anything with. I sew a hem around the outer edge and we use them to replace the paper towels. When they get too grungy looking, I then throw them out. Old t-shirts also get made into rags that can be used to wash off the kitchen counters and also make good scrub rags for the floor. Old towels that are too thin to use after a bath can be cut down and made into hand towels for the kitchen. Cost $0

- all our veggie and fruit scraps get thrown into our composter. We use no other fertilizer on our gardens. We throw in tea bags (we don't drink coffee) as well. I keep an empty ice cream pail beside my kitchen sink and when it's full, someone takes it out to the composter. Each spring and fall, hubby empties it into the gardens. Cost is $0

- hubby collects scraps of wood. He throws nothing out. Instead of buying a headboard for J's bed at a cost of over $300.00 (we couldn't find a headboard that was sold separetly from the whole bed unit), we went out and bought wood at a cost of $60.00. Hubby made a wonderful headboard (I'll post a picture once I'm finished painting it) and had enough wood leftover to make me some new kitchen shelving which I desparately need. It cost us nothing for glue or screws (he had them in his stockpile, leftover from other projects). A savings of $240.00 plus instead of just one item, we now have two.

- I've made jam for years now. If a batch doesn't set right, I use it as a syrup on pancakes, muffins, etc. It doesn't often happen, however when it does it's a treat. You can also use it over a dish of ice cream.

- No food ever gets thrown out. If there are leftovers from a meal, we eat it the next day for lunch. Wasting food should NEVER EVER happen, it's like throwing $$ down the drain. I'd rather have not enough food for a meal (you can always add a couple slices of bread to fill one up) than have way too much and see it go to waste. I make simple meals and use simple cookbooks.

- Last and I think this is so important, especially for this time of the year. Let others know that you'd take any excess fruit or veggies they might have from their gardens. Here in town (it's only 450) most everyone knows we refuse nothing. If we can't use it we will give it to someone who can. Most of my canning jars came to me that way. Every fall we end up with deer meat. We end up with steaks, ribs, roast and deer burger all for free. Every August we get free apples that I make into applesauce, cucumbers that I use to make relish. We've been given clothes for the kids and hubby has even been given pieces of wood. The cost $0

These are just a few ways we cut costs and live frugally.

Buddy Friday...

It always amazes me how quickly Friday comes around. This past week, we've had some much needed rain, thunderstorms and lightening along with some sunny days. Today is sunny, however quite cool.

Friday always means Buddy Friday. Again today I'm doing the Independance Challenge. The host for this can be found here.

This is Independance week #8 for me. I missed a couple.

PLANT SOMETHING - I planted more yellow and green beans. Hopefully they will be up within the next couple of days. The first planting is close to blooming, however they didn't come up all that well.

HARVEST SOMETHING - We've been eating green onions, strawberries and chives. This weekend I will take a first cutting of the Swiss Chard.

REDUCE WASTE - nothing to report here

PREPARATION AND STORAGE - I've froze 1/2 lb. of strawberries and more chives.

BUILDING COMMUNITY - nothing to report.

I've added:

LEARNING SOMETHING - I've learnt that I need to find something to cover up the strawberries. It's me or the birds and although I love birds, they aren't going to get all my strawberries. I'm going to be looking for some chicken wire.

SUCCESS WITH SOMETHING - We are having great success with our watering system which can be found here. We have not had to use our town water (which we pay for) since hubby hooked up this system. We empty it once a week and so far we've had enough rain to refill it. I love going outside and seeing the sprinkler on knowing that I don't have to pay for the water and that rain water is the best for my gardens.

PLANNING SOMETHING - Although we do plan on a move next year, I'm going to plant a few more fruit trees. Our move might have to be put on hold for a year so it just makes sense to find a few discounted trees and plant them.

To visit our wonderful host and other participants, visit here.

Buddy Friday....

Another Friday has arrived. Already we are into July. It seems like only yesterday and we had started a new year. Another Buddy Friday as arrived as well.

Today instead of my independance challenge I want to talk about books. Years ago, when hubby and I knew we had to start living frugally, I started reading books. We didn't have a computer at the time, so I headed over to the library. I devoured books such as The Tightwad Gazette, Reader's Digest Back to Basics, Martha & John Storey's book Basic Country Skills, The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs and Frugal Luxuries by Tracey McBride. There were other books as well. I learnt so much from doing research and because of that, today we live debt free and have since Sept. 08. No mortgage, no car payment, no credit cards, zippo.

In the past couple months though I've found myself not being as frugal as I use to be, not being as careful with our money as I should be.

So I went on a hunt for books, to gently bring me back. I found this one at the library. Published in 2003, it has many practical ideas to living a frugal life. For me, most of what was in the book I already had done or knew. It was a reminder though which I needed. For anyone starting to live frugally, it is a good read.


When I went to pick up J at workshop last week, I found this book. I couldn't resist it and bought it. Published in 2009, it was exactly what I needed. This book is an indispensable guide to food self-sufficiency. You learn how to prune fruit trees, dry herbs, bake whole grain bread, make cheese, etc. You learn how to start your own backyard homestead. I highly recommend it.

At the back of the book is a list of other books that you might find useful.

Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich.

Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel

Just in Case by Kathy Harrison

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith

Now I can go on the internet and find some wonderful websites as well. However I love having a couple of good books on hand too. One doesn't have to buy any books, most books can be ordered from our local library. During these hard times, research, research. There is much to learn and great ways to live within our means or with what we bring in when it comes to money. Feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to help....getting out there and learning all we can will definitely make a difference in our lives and those of our family.

For more Buddy Friday posts, visit our host Margaret

Buddy Friday...

Here we are, Friday once again. This week is Independance Challenge week 5. I missed last weeks due to all the travelling I've had to do.

Our weather has warmed up considerably, however we've had very little rain to speak of. Everything is starting to pop up in the garden and I'm loving it.

PLANT SOMETHING: nothing to report

HARVEST SOMETHING: nothing to report

REDUCE WASTE: We pay for our water here. We are charged by how many litres we use and it can become very costly during the summer months, especially with watering the gardens. We decided to make our own watering system which works perfectly. I have to admit I was very skeptical, however hubby is a genius when it comes to things like this.

We bought the used water tank for $2.00. The rainbarrels he picked up from work a number of years ago. See the black pipe sticking out of the tank. When the tank is full, the water then pours into the first rainbarrel which flows into the next when filled and again the next one when filled. Hubby had a small hose connected to each rainbarrel. Our eavesdrough goes right into the tank. We put a couple drops of Javex every now and then to keep the water from going bad. Along with that, we cover the rainbarrels with screening (which was free) so that mosquitoes don't have a chance to breed there.

See the host coming out of the last blue rainbarrel. It's a long hose, hooked up to our waterhose. Next comes the sump pump which gets hooked up to the hose inside the last rainbarrel. The hoses are hooked up to the pump and when we need to water the garden, the sump pump in immersed in the barrels or tank and it pumps the water to the sprinkler. When we aren't in need of watering the garden, the sump pump comes out of the rainbarrels/tank.

Viola, the sprinkler works just as if it was hooked up to our town water. The final cost of this project...... drumroll please...... $2.00.

PREPARATION AND STORAGE: none to report

BUILDING COMMUNITY: there is a row of potatoes you see in the following picture to donate to the food bank once they are ready to harvest

EAT THE FOOD: we continue to eat chives from the garden.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW: as amazing as it is I learnt that hubby can rig up anything to help in our independance. Never would I have dreamt that the watering system would work. It might not be do to some, however to this lady it sure was. I also brought home the book titled FLATBREADS & FLAVORS by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I want to learn how to make my own tortillas, bannock, along with breads and recipes from other countries.

Here are a couple more pictures from our gardening. These are the raspberries and strawberries. The strawberries are in full bloom and loaded. We won't have any until the end of June, first part of July. However, from there we will have them until late fall as they are everbearing. The raspberries will start to blossom soon and I can already see the small little berries forming. Again they are going to be loaded this year.

With strawberries, you only need a couple of plants. They will produce stringers which will produce baby plants. Not costly at all. The raspberry bushes were given to us. They started with one small row, now we have a large amount of bushes. We have more at the other end of our garden as well.

This is one of our apple trees. Last year, after 5 years it finally bloomed and produced a few apples. We trimmed it in late Dec. and now it's loaded with apples. I can't wait to eat my first one.

Gardening doesn't have to cost a lot. Start small, even if it's only a couple of tomato plants. When I first started gardening when we lived in the city, that's all we had. It expanded from there when I got my first taste of a tomato grown in my own small patch. Remember to have fun too. Weeding doesn't have to all be done in one day.

For more buddy posts, visit our host Margaret

Buddy Friday...

Another Buddy Friday has arrived. Our weather is so cool, to the point we had frost last night and it's expected again tonight. UGH, not good for the garden or the fruit trees. I'm hoping the fruit tree blossoms survive this frost.

Today is Independance challenge, week #3. For more on this challenge you can look under my labels and read about it.

PLANT SOMETHING - nothing to report

HAVEST SOMETHING - another 2 oz. of chives. Finished cutting up the rhubarb and made jam.

REDUCE WASTE - continuing to compost as we normally do. We've decided not to buy any soda pop, thus no cans or plastics going into recycling. Even though they use to, we are trying to reduce, even when it comes to recycling.

PREPARATION & STORAGE - froze the 2 oz. of chives. I made 4 pints of rhubarb/pineapple jam which is now ready to go on the shelves downstairs.

BUILDING COMMUNITY - nothing to report yet.

EAT THE FOOD - nothing to report.

Margaret who is our wonderful host thought we should all do a celebration of our gardens. I totally agree with her. I'm celebrating the fact that the strawberries are in full bloom as are the apple trees and cherry tree. The raspberries bushes are looking wonderful and most of the rhubarb is finished and most made into jam. The onions are up and I seen a few potatoes starting to pop out of the ground, however right now I'm hoping nothing more comes up until we get through this cold snap at nights. Hopefully there will be pictures next week of more things up in the veggie garden. I haven't even planted annuals because of the cold nights.