Free Chicken Pergola, Recipes- Graham Crackers & Marshmallows, Rhubarb Sauce, Independence Days Challenge, Garden, Staycation Ideas

Free Chicken Pergola-
I was looking thru the free Craigslist ads Sunday and had a "I know I can do something with that!" moment. It was in the neighborhood too! It was used to cover a stump, and I've seen them before in expensive catalogs. It's metal, wood, and plastic lattice. When we got it home, I said I wanted to use it for the chickens for extra shade in the veggie garden, and I thought we could elevate it on concrete blocks. Dave said, "we can take off one panel for a doorway", ta da! Chicken pergola, no blocks needed! I hosed it off, added a little perching branch inside, a waterer next to it and the girls are using it :)

Recipes- Graham Crackers& Marshmallows-
I have been wanting to make some of these for a while, so I decided to try these recipes. I love graham crackers for a low fat, low calorie snack. The marshmallows we'll save for barbecuing times, except for tonight :)

I used the following recipe for the marshmallows. I'm not a big fan of corn syrup, with that icky aftertaste, so I used this recipe.  Homemade Marshmallows W/O Corn Syrup Pretty simple for a first try. I will use some of Mary Jane's Chillover powder next time, I just need to buy some. her powder doesn't have an exact match for regular powder however. I don't make gelatin much, the kids are grown, but the M.J. stuff it might be good for some fresh fruit recipes, etc. The result was soft & fluffy! I found this a little dry so I added about 2 TBL. of ice water, worked fine after that. Recipe For Graham Crackers I cut them a little too thick, and they were more moist than crispy, I'll work on that next time. Maybe too much water?  Loved the favor though! We had s'mores, oh boy! I worked it off today  :)

Sorry for the blurry shot

Rhubarb Sauce-
For Father's Day I decided to make my hubby some rhubarb sauce (which he loved growing up) to go with the Citrus Angelfood Cake I made. My Recipe-

2 cups 1" chunks rhubarb, thawed and drained (I froze mine)
2 cups strawberries, cut in 1/2
1/4 water
1/4 - 1/2 sugar: depends on the ripeness of the berries
pinch salt
Bring to a simmer, stirring once in a while, until it starts to break down, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit. Stirs once in a while as it cools. It was great in top of the cake!

 Sauce before-

Last night I made my favorite Garden Cheddar Frittata. It's GREAT with my home grown tomatoes on top once they ripen! I left out the taters, added 1 chorizo sausage (crumbled), sun dried tomatoes on top, and used extra sharp cheese. Yummy! 

Independence Days Challenge-
1. Plant Something- Added 3 more tomatoes and peppers to the garden today. I have some crookneck squash to plant, can't decide where yet... 

2. Harvest Something- Eggs, compost, grass clipping.

3. Preserve Something- Trimmed my tree :) Too early for me to can.

 4. Store Something- Starting to inventory my pantry. Froze some cheese from the trip to the Grocery Outlet. 

5. Manage Reserves- Get A Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Got a bunch of stuff a few days ago at the Grocery Outlet. Huge blocks of feta for $3.00! I got 3.

6. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipes- Used leftovers for my frittata and new cheeses.

7. Build Community Food Systems- I need to go get more rhubarb next door.

8. Recycle/Re-Use- Used some more conduit for tomato stakes. Taking in leftover copper pipe to recycle.

9. Skill Up- Reading about homesteading recipes.


10. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- Sold our aerobed on Craigslist!

Wha Cha Doin"?

 Garden- After a scorching 93 degree day (and windy too!) we had 2 days in the mid-70's nice break! It's 65 right now, go figure! Today I mowed, prunes and planted more veggies. Veggie starts are showing up 1/2 price or less locally, always good to fill in the bare spots. Since we took down the chicken "sun room" we got back that garden space! I still have some room since we moved our border and fence out 3'.

Staycation Ideas- I have noticed the trends for "Staycations", fun stay-at-home vacation ideas. We went to Portland for Christmas, to see my husband's family. It was fun, but I always think of real vacations as a summer thing- camping or road tripping. We camped a lot with our kids (now grown) and did a few Oregon coast budget motel see-the-light houses trips. This year we had planned on going camping over into Wyoming or Montana, but with Dave's shoulder surgery (ouch!) and gas, maybe not. So we're trying to do more stuff around town, short day trips, some here's some ideas I've had, you might be able to use too?

* Go biking, maybe to lunch, to our local state park, down by the river, or on our "green belt". Very environmentally friendly!

* Go bird watching out by the Snake River, famous for raptors, take photos 

* Go to local museums on their free days

* Visit the renovated state capitol building, just avoid the politicians!

* Just get outside somewhere!

Staying in at home and playing video games, for instance, is not my idea of intellectually satisfying or recharging my batteries time. No room for a tent in our yard.... What do you do?

Extreme Couponing- Hoarding Processed Foods?

              

Extreme Couponing-

I watched the show Extreme Couponing last night. As I've been losing weight, mostly from eating more whole foods and working with a nutritionist (free thru my job) I look at this kind of thing from a different angle. While I love a great deal, I also looked at what are these people actually buying to eat? The woman last night wanted to save $600.00 for a home repair, a great idea. She spent a huge amount of time, with her 2 daughters, clipping coupons. Short version- end of episode she walked out with $600.00 of sports drinks, candy and paper towels. She was ecstatic. She was also prettty overweight. She spent all this time and money for non-food items and is teaching her kids this "skill". Unless you're a professional athlete, who will drink all those drinks? Who needs all the candy? Neither of those are food items in my opinion. Sure we all need a treat once in a while, but a huge stockpile? I read the article below that showed how most of the foods "bought" with coupons are over processed, high fat/salt/sugar/calorie items. Things like boxed/frozen foods, and other forms of junk food. We all probably use some kind of paper products (you can use cloth napkins)- toilet paper, and things like plastic bags, but really, what is a normal amount to stockpile? You can't eat it in the long run. This is REALLY scary- Junk Food Diet Linked to Lower IQs In Toddlers  but not a big surprise.

Usually eating healthier will save you money and heartache in the long run. It may not be hoarding, but more like being OCD, doing gambling or any other addictive behavior. If something "free or cheap" isn't good for you what's the point? It's the "high" of getting it free. Many of these poverty family's time would be better spent doing some basic financial planning education (free at the library/bank), family planning (if you're in poverty why are you having more children?) and using the time to learn about basic nutrition. Reading library books is free. Make some things from scratch, use your couponing time to get a part time job or volunteer- go help out someone else. Barter and learn to use your simplicity/thrift skills- grow your own food (we do on our little city lot), preserve it and learn what's important...

I won't be watching this show again, it makes me want to get them some free counseling!

Fascinating look-
Extreme Couponing Processed Food Hoarding

Everparent- Is Extreme Couponing Hoarding Processed Junk?

Vintage Finds Display, Rehabbing Old Stuff, New Member Of the Family, Garden and Cookies!

Vintage Finds Display- After scoring recently with My Vintage Kitchen Finds, I was left with the problem of finding a spot to display them. I thought about on the soffit area above the kitchen cabinets, on top of my china hutch, a shelf over the door, etc. Still stymied, I thought of my little french shelf by my computer in the kitchen. with some of my Grandfather's WW1 French items, which I will re-display somewhere else. I also put out my vintage Foley food mill to complete the vintage look on the counter :) 

I'm happy I didn't have to put out any $$ for this, and it was easy. If, or I should say, when I go back to to the little store I got these from, I might have to change my plans since I will buy a few more:)  I read the shade of green on these utensils is called "french green". Who knew! I used the cheese slicer a few days ago, it's still sharp! I did paint the handles of the pancake turner and mixer, since they were bare, to match. I was lucky to find a fairly good match at a crafts store. Since I'm not selling them I think it looks good. They had red paint originally, just a speck or two left. I used a craft store piece of unfinished wood for the cookie cutters, to go above my range. 

Rehabbing Old Stuff- I've had a couple things I've wanted to re-do, so I got out the left over paints. This little wooden box was just too dark brown, and so off white/cream color, maybe for when I buy more green vintage stuff! It was my attempt at a fall prim look, above :)  

Anya

Our New Member of the Family- After long and careful thought (after losing Samantha) we decided to get a cat. I had been bugging Dave about getting a cat since last year. I missed having one. We didn't want to get a cat as a "replacement" for Sam, but we knew we weren't in that mode. We wound up going to a wonderful no-kill cat shelter called Simplycats. Dave fell in love with Anya, a four year old girl who had to be brought in by her family. I wanted a kitten with 3 legs and no tail, who'd been hit by a car. No go for Dave :(  I surrendered to Anya, ice blue eyes, and who's de-clawed, a plus for Dave. I personally don't believe in de-clawing cats, even 100% indoor ones like ours. I think they need to be able to defend themselves if needed. I'm not convinced we won't have another dog at some point ;) She really friendly and sweet, and she sat watching the birds thru the window. She cracked me up last night- she got on our bed, snuggled right next to me and the blanket, put her face on my elbow and looked up adoringly. Oh man, I'm in love now too! 

Garden- I added a couple more tomatoes in the main veggie bed, did about 1 1/2 hours of pruning, & cleaned up in the front yard. I planted some poppies and calendula from seed. I'll make some calendula tincture if they take, good for sore muscles! Good for my Independence Days list! Make your own meds! The raised bed is coming along nicely, just watering and my 2 old rhubarbs are coming back!!!

Cookies! A couple of nights ago I made these- Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie I used chopped up chunks of bittersweet chocolate leftover from the holiday baking I didn't do. I used pecans and I thought I went to heaven! Oh joy!