Sorry No Pictures

Today in Science we did another hands on project, planted a seed potato to watch it grown. Grace read another chapter out of her ogranic gardening book and has already picked out some of the flowers she wanted to try and grow. Tomorrow we will talk more about seed and germination.

Bella the chicken is holding her own. I don't think she is very happy having to stay on her own and not sure if she is eating alot. Seems alert but her rear end doesn't look great. If she can make it through the next week I think she will be okay. We had to fight every hen today for her egg. Everyone all of a sudden decided they wanted to sit.

Drama practice went well this afternoon. Lots of work on the Mad Hatter scene. Lots of choreography (musical chairs and such). We have about one more month of practices before our performances. Tried on Alice dress today, looking good.

Not much more to report today. Really tired. Just finished getting lessons ready for tomorrow. Now about to put away laundry, ride my bike, then veg in front of the TV for a while.

Chicken Emergency

When we arrived home from church this morning I cut an apple up to give the the chickens. I noticed that Bella the bantam was not around to partake in the goody. I looked in the coop and she was there straining and bloody on her rear end. Upon closer inspection their appeared to be an egg stuck (bigger in size than what she should be laying). Three quarters of the egg was actually out but the shell was broken and hollow. I immediately started researching on the net how to get the remainder of the egg out. Proceeded to soak her in warm water with a little soap mixed in for lubrication. This actually did relax her and moisten the vent up for her to expel it. Her vent did look somewhat prolapsed after the egg was expelled. Not sure what it usually looks like immediately following laying an egg. I have separated her from the rest of the flock for a couple of days to let her heal. She does look a little peaked this evening and still moist on her rear end. This is Grace's favorite chicken, praying she doesn't get an infection and die. I think because our rooster is so much bigger than her she may need to be separated for life if she recovers so that the egg size can be a little smaller. If I didn't mention it before this was her very first egg to lay. Any sage advice is welcomed.

Have You Visited The New Teacher's Toolbox

Last night I received an email from The Old Schoolhouse about the new Teacher's Toolbox. In the past Teacher's Toolbox was free to anyone that signed up for it. They have revamped the concept and now it is only available to those that are subscribers of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Of course I have subscribed for years. It is my absolute favorite magazine that I read cover to cover. Just wish it came out monthly. After visiting the password protected site for The New Teacher's Toolbox, I was blown away. So much great free stuff to sift through; printables, unit studies, monthly history calendars, menu planning and recipes.. My favorite spots were the old magazines you could view digitally and all the free printables. If you are not a subscriber you just have to do it and visit this site. I am guessing each month there will be new free items. I am serious, go check this out.

Today's Hands On Project

Today Grace read the second chapter in Organic Gardening for kids. Sun, Water, and Soil. She read about decomposing, organisms, and which plants prefer acidic or alkaline soil. Also what to add to your soil to get it more acidic or alkaline. As our hands on activity we used a PH Soil Tester to test soil from two separate areas in our own yard. I read this morning that most vegetables prefer to grow between 6.0 and 7.0. Luckily our soil samples were 6.0 and 6.5. This weekend we plan on walking down to the garden to get some samples and test them. Looks like one side of the plowed area has more clay like soil and the other has more sand like soil. We will need to pay close attention to this for our plantings. Grace really enjoyed testing the soil samples today. I plan to have her perform some type of project/experiment each day to keep her science interesting.

Making Things Happen At the Homestead

Our neighbor has graciously allowed us at no charge to use some of his property to garden on this year. Remember we have a wooded acre with no sun. Growing is nearly impossible. Two years ago hubby planted a small garden down at the neighbor's property but didn't really have the time to devote to keeping it weeded. Turned in to a mess, but did get alot of carrots that year. This year he is home four days a week and my mom and myself will be helping. Four families are actually planting this year on the lot (the picture above is our section - more than we need but we'll take it). Today we bought 10lbs of white potatoes and 10lbs of red potatoes to plant next week along with our different varieties of lettuce. Everything else will be planted in early to late April.

Many of you know that I have been learning to run. It is a slow go. Well, my older shoes made me feel like I was running barefoot. With tax return money bought good running shoes today. Looking forward to exercising with them when the rain goes away.

I love visual aids. We have started an organic gardening unit that will late until the end of March. The top photo will show Grace what part of the plant she is eating on certain vegetables and what it is considered. The bottom photo has all sorts of information; pollination, seed dissection, photosynthesis, etc. One dead worm today from the compost bin we put together, hopefully all the others are okay.

Thoughts on Today

• I looked at my stats for today and had 90 page views. That is great for a little old blog like me. I normally average only 30-50 a day.
• School and drama practice both went well today. Enjoying our new science unit on gardening. Grace keeps looking at the worm bin, but not much has happened yet. Kind of like the way she always wants to check outside to see if the chickens have laid any eggs for the day.
• Got a great seed catalog in the mail today and just looking so forward to putting some of this all in to motion.
• Hubby left after dinner to drop off an art piece for an Atlanta show this weekend.
• Looking forward to sewing skirts tomorrow with a friend.
• Need to catch up on all the Netflix dvds hanging around my house. Watched two episodes of CSI New York tonight to mail that one in.
• Had a great walk/run this afternoon in the beautiful pre-spring weather. It was really nice to realize after dinner I wouldn't need to go upstairs and ride my bike. Exercise already had a check mark beside it for the day.
• I have dropped away from crocheting and picked back up cross stitching. Working on a really hard project, lots of greens in a tree top. I don't think I am ever going to finish the tree part of the project.

Organic Gardening for Kids

For Science we are starting a unit on gardening. The first book we are tackling is Organic Gardening for Kids. I thought it would be a timely subject to cover with all the gardening we will be doing as a family for Spring and Summer. The first chapter Grace read today was about why it is important to become an organic gardener. Our first project is creating a compost bin on a smaller scale. She is extremely excited about these worms.

Hubby and Grace out in the woods collecting soil and worms to put in the container.

Organic material for the compost bin.

The bin almost finished. They were able to find about three dozen small earthworms to put in the container. Now the bin is in our closet doing its thing. We will keep it for two weeks to help show Grace what actually happens in the soil to become nutrient rich to plant. We then plan on using the soil we make to plant something pretty. Really looking forward to this unit in gardening. I also purchased a unit study from Amanda Bennett about gardening that we will use over the next month starting in another week or so. Also talked to a close friend about getting her kids and mine together once a week to do some gardening experiments/projects. Don't you just love spring.

Amanda Bennett Unit Studies On Sale

I just purchased a unit study about gardening for 5.00 at Amanda Bennett's website. She has two studies available for older kids - Flight and Gardens - as well as about 5 of her download and go units, all for 5.00 each. This couldn't of come at a better time, we are starting a gardening unit tomorrow for our science. You need to act fast if you are interested, the sale ends on Feb. 21st. Visit www.unitstudy.com to check it out.

Weekend Reading

I picked up lots of great stuff from the library to start reading over the weekend. Only problem, hasn't been any time yet. Yesterday we went over to a friend's for a playdate then grocery shopping. This morning I went shopping with my birthday money to find some tops to go with the skirts I will be making this week. Of course I picked fabric that didn't match anything I had. This afternoon we said good bye to a great church friend at his memorial service. Very sad, but we know he is in a better place with no more pain. After the memorial service I was off to the store again to buy a new computer for Grace and hubby to share. There old one died last night. Luckily we had extra money from the bonds we cashed in to use for educational purposes. Grace does some of her school work on the computer like (writing, spelling, graphic drawing, and watching educational videos). Hubby uses it for pictures, music and his art. Anyway, kind of got off the subject there for a minute, now it is going on 7:00 and still haven't gotten to do much reading. Tomorrow is church then small groups in the evening. But I did get all the laundry done, two bathrooms cleaned and a dog washed. I do feel like I have accomplished something.

The Price of Food

Grocery shopping this afternoon was down right depressing. I only shopped at one store and spent $150.00. Still need to run to another store in the morning for a handful of items. I might be able to make it for two weeks on what I have with the exception of produce and milk. The price of meat was just discouraging. I couldn't afford any pork or beef roast this go around. The least expensive roast was $12.00 and the organic beef was $18.00. Luckily I still had some chicken, and ham here at the house. The rest of the hen house really need to start producing. I then can start incorporating more egg dishes into the menu like omelets, egg salad, etc. I was able to incorporate 4-5 meatless meals in the next two week menu plan.

Saturday - potluck at church
Sunday - Grilled cheese and soup
Monday - Hamburgers and roasted potatoes
Tuesday - Spaghetti
Wednesday - biscuits, bacon and eggs
Thursday - dinner out for my birthday
Friday - pizza
Saturday - sandwiches or leftovers
Sunday - hot dogs and oven fries
Monday - cheese ravioli, bread and salad
Tuesday - tacos
Wednesday - chicken mac and cheese
Thursday - manicotti, bread and salad
Friday - pizza

New Homeschool Materials

Today we needed to kill some time between lunch and going to a friend's house to hang out for the afternoon. We decided to peruse a used book store. I found two items that we could use for the remainder of the year. The first is a coloring book of famous paintings. We already have a couple of these put out by Dover Publishing. The difference is this once also has a short bio about the artist for each painting and a description about the painting itself.

We will be studying knights and castles soon enough. Matter a fact going on a field trip in two weeks to see Medieval Times (getting to meet a blog friend at the same time). Couldn't pass up this little kit to use either when we get back from the field trip or when we actually study this time frame in history (a couple of months from now). This kit includes: a castle and catapult to put together, map and chart, proclamation and signet ring, stain glass window and a small game to play. A couple of years ago we had one just like this when we were studying Leonardo da Vinci and loved it.

DVD Giveaway

I have wanted to see the movie Pendragon forever and it seems Netflix will never get it. Everyone can have a chance to win it at www.mommyx12@blogspot.com. Go over and visit and comment for an entry to win the dvd.

Interesting Book

Yesterday I went to the library and picked up a book I had on hold. Started reading it before bed last night and seriously could not put it down until I finished it. Lots of great information, especially for beginners like me in the sustained living info world. Conscious Kitchen is written by Alexandra Zissu. Chapters include:

• What kind of food to buy
• Fruits, Vegetables, and Where to shop
• Farm Animals
• Dairy and Eggs
• Seafood
• Drinks
• Packaged Foods
• Pots, pans, food storage, and tabletop
• Appliances and low-energy cooking
• Cleanup
• Waste

I found alot of the information fascinating and worthwhile. The information concerning organic food was well needed, still hovering on some of the buying local tips. I do truly believe we need to buy local or grow our own, just not sure how much of an impact I can actually make with my own food spending dollars. One of the most helpful bits of info I found was the coding on fruit and veggies:

• Organic should start with a number 9 and be a 5 digit number.
• Convention should start with a 4 and be a four digit number.
• GMOs should start with a 8 and be a 5 digit number.

Also interesting was the lists of "the dirty dozen" (fruits and veggies that have the most pesticides, etc.), maybe these should be grown at home or bought organic:

1. Peach
2. Apple
3. Bell Pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarine
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes
11. Carrot
12. Pear

I found this book to be so helpful and full of information I could really use on a daily basis. Alot of the information I learned will be written on index cards to stay in my purse for each grocery shopping trip. Looking so forward to grow some of our own this year.

Busy Day

I purposely didn't schedule alot of schoolwork today because I knew it might be a bit on the busy side. I scheduled Grace school work that she could accomplish on her own - art, cursive, Bible, Missionary Stories, standardized test practice, Greek, and a few other subjects that I can't remember. I had to go get our taxes prepared this morning as well as run some errands. Grace was picked up after lunch by a friend to go bowling with another home school group. I met them there after the errands were accomplished. Later in the afternoon I went to the library to pick up some on hold books (lots of gardening, living off grid, etc. books are on hold on my account). I also went by the bank to cash in about 25 bonds that we had accumulated over the past 6 years through a payroll deduction. Figured now was as good a time as ever, what if the government/economy tanks even further and then we couldn't cash them in at all. Still have about 10 that need to mature for one year to be cashed. The interested accrued on them was pitiful. We are using the money to start an emergency fund and to pay for some repairs to the house as well as the aforementioned dehydrator that needs to be purchased. Tonight was tacos for dinner then me and Grace riding the exercise bike (not at the same time of course) and catching up on some reading and TV watching.

Changes on the Horizon

Just some things we want to accomplish this year:

• We are looking at a dehydrator to purchase with some of our refund money. We've been talking about this for a while. Neither of us like canned veggies. Drying food was our next option for storing foods. Hopefully will have one purchased by May. Just read in a drying food book that you can dry eggs - how cool is that.
• Gardening on a larger scale this year. We have an older neighbor with great soil and he doesn't garden very much anymore because of his age. We are looking to plant potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, carrots, lettuces, spinach, cucumbers, squash and zucchini.
• We will allow one to two clutches to hatch to get more eggs next year.
• Probably this most exciting change is that hubby will be building a pond in the front island for us to raise catfish or trout. At that point we will have two sources of protein.

Some of my family and friends will probably think we are crazy, but we enjoy it and are trying to plan for the future.

Goals for the Year Updates

I haven't written about my two goals for a few weeks, bet you guys thought I had fallen off the wagon (so to speak). But actually everything is going really well. Exercising how just become a way of life now. I have read that it takes at least 2-4 weeks of doing something to actually make it a habit, and that does seem to be the case. Riding my bike at night has become a habit that I don't try to find excuses not to ride anymore. Also, since the weather has been so nice this week I am able to get out and walk/jog more. The jogging is coming slowly. One minute increments throughout the 30 minute walk. I would say that I am moving my body about 5 days out of 7. Grace is also still exercising and I can tell that she looks slimmer through the upper body and abdomen. Next week is my birthday and I will be receiving my new running shoes, so I will start in earnest my training for jogging. The very little spending plan is going fairly well also. I have found that this last two weeks has been easy to not go to the grocery store than the first two weeks were. If you remember I purchased big groceries almost two weeks ago and I have only made two stops for food (produce and milk mostly). But I truly feel that our monthly food budget is going to fall between $450 - 475.00 each month. This works out to about $120 - 125 a week. I really give kudos to the folks that can make it work on $50 - 80.00 a week in grocery money. Unfortunately my family just doesn't eat that way and I need to face it. I have raise them on processed food and it is just really hard to change those habits (but still trying). I am going to try to up the meatless meals to three times a week (hubby will not be thrilled). Made a new baked ziti recipe this week that had tons of different types of cheese in it (heart attack on a plate) and after he took a few bits he said it had a great flavor. I mentioned that next time I need to add a few more spices to it to enhance the flavor more and he joking said, "I think you just need to add a some Italian sausage". So, in other words he was really missing some meat in it.

Early Spring???

Starting yesterday the weather has been glorious. Yesterday and today me and Grace were able to take walks for our daily moving challenge. I was able to hang clothes out today with perfect weather. Warm but also windy (no stiff clothing). Also no filling the wood burning stove with wood all day long. Just a couple of hours in the evening and about one hour in the morning. All week our temps are to be in the lower 60s. I think the lowest temp during the night will be tonight at 32 degrees. Maybe that groundhog will be right and we will get an early spring. I think we all need it.

Chicken Update

Another hen started laying today, that brings our total to three laying hens with three more to go. What is so exciting about this new layer - I went out to feed them this afternoon and I saw her up in the roosting box beside and egg. I was about to go in and collect when I noticed she was straining. So I actually got to see her lay her first egg. It was great. Of course then she didn't want me to get her egg or the egg beside her. Hopefully this isn't a clip of what is to come in the future. Surely she knows not to lay on just one egg or to be broody after laying just her first egg. The newness still hasn't worn off of going out twice a day to look for eggs. I rewarded them all with some leftover spaghetti noodles and spinach. They were having a ball the last time I looked out the window. Can you tell I am crazy about my chickens.

Little House On the Prairie For A Couple of Hours

This afternoon we attended our homeschool group's valentine party. Good friends, good fellowship. Upon returning home we discovered the power was out. Called local power company and they said the power how been out earlier in the afternoon but was restored, maybe our breaker had flipped because of the outage, checked it with no such luck. They said they would send another worker out to check on things. They did however inform me of the reason of the outage - which is a first for us. When the workers arrived earlier in the day they discovered a dead squirrel (apparently electrocuted). But wait it gets weirder, a hawk had swooped down to get the dead squirrel and got electrocuted himself. So when the workers arrived they found a dead squirrel and hawk on the line and it knocked out the power for an entire road. Everyone elses power was restored but me and three of my neighbors did not because the blast was so intense that it burnt all the way into a fuse. While waiting for the fuse to be replaced me, my son and daughter sat in the school room near the wood stove and discussed what it would be like to not have power at all. We would actually have to talk to one another for entertainment, play board games or read. I could hear the gasp inside their little brains at the thought of it. Then the lights came on and everything went back to normal. It is really sad how dependent we have all become on electricity and really don't know what to do with ourselves when it is out for a little while.

Handy Hubby

In December I had to send my computer back to have the fan fixed. I am convinced it was from sitting my laptop on my lap all the time. I watch alot of TV on my computer and used to watch alot of DVDs until I got a small TV for Christmas. I asked hubby to make me a laptop desk a couple of months ago. I am so blessed with a hubby that can make just about anything out of repurposed items. I had fabric and pillow stuffing leftover and he had wood. So for the cost of $0 I now have a new laptop desk for my laptop.

A Change of Plans

For the past three months we had made plans to attend the big SouthEast Homeschool Conference in March. Yesterday I received something in the mail that changed my mind. For the past three years we have attended our state led convention hosted by GHEA (Georgia Home Education Association) which we have always enjoyed. This year we thought we would mix it up a bit and try something different. Well, I am a woman and have the prerogative to change my mind. The GHEA Conference's keynote speakers will be Ken Ham and Voddie Bauchman. We just couldn't pass that up. Plus I will have the chance to participate in the used book sale again. Not sure if i want to volunteer again though. It was alot of hard work last year boxing everyone's books back up that didn't sale. Looking so forward to this. Alot of time we actually use this as one of our vacations. Three days of vendor hall, encouraging sessions, keynote speakers, swimming at the hotel, dinners out, etc. If you live in Georgia you should definitely check it out at www.ghea.org.

A True Blessing

This winter has been the never ending saga for free wood. As I mentioned in a previous post we have never had to buy wood for our stoves. Between work, friend, etc. we have always had free wood to burn. This year has been so cold that we have really gone through the wood. Hubby was very worried about next years supply. Last week a neighbor tore down a very old chicken house made mostly out of wood. He was going to burn all of it to get rid of it. Hubby talked to him last night and he said we could have all we wanted. The logs in the above pic is actually from a church friend's house from yesterday and there is still more to come from that supply. All the lumber is from the old chicken house, and there is much, much more from where that came from. Hubby has been working on it all day and hopes to put alot back for next winter.

Accomplishment

Grace loves all things Percy Jackson and was very disappointed when the series ended. But a couple months after finishing the series Rick Riordan came out with a new series tied to the Percy Jackson series. Grace's big accomplishment is finishing this book. This is her first over 500 page book to finish all on her own. She is chomping at the bit for the next one to come out in the Fall. We are saving his other new series, The Red Pyramid, to read when we start our year long study on Ancient Egypt for the 8th grade. Reading this 553 page book is a big deal for her, this is the same child that a couple of years ago really didn't like reading at all. She also loved the movie Percy Jackson, hoping the series will be continued in movie form.

Random Thoughts

• The Electric Bill - Last month I told everyone how depressed I was that our power bill was 200.00 with us not using our electric heat hardly at all. This month's bill was better at 150.00. I think the big difference was November through the first part of January we experienced lower than average temps for Georgia. Without staying up all night to keep the stove burning, usually around 4 in the morning the heat would kick on until someone got up and restarted the fire. In the latter part of January and now February the temps are hanging in the high 20's and 30's at night, which helps.
• The never ending saga of wood. Because of all the wood burning, hubby is really having to stay on top of the wood situation. We don't buy wood. Therefore, everything we burn comes from his place of business (wood that would be thrown out), fallen trees on our property and fallen wood on friend's property. Matter of fact hubby is out getting wood as we speak.
• After watching many videos, etc. over the years I have finally decided to pull myself off of diet coke. I think I have been drinking it for 5-6 years. I have cut down on soda consumption to 1-2 glasses a day. Same for Grace. Hopefully this will not increase the weight factor.
• School is going well this week. Of course that can always change at the drop of a hat.
• Thinking alot about what I want to try and garden this year. I don't want to start from seeds because of the lack of sun on our property. I really want to find veggies already started that are not GMOs. I think I want to try alot of greens for us and the chickens, strawberries, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, and some herbs. Last year I gardened in containers on our front and back deck. It was a constant battle keeping the squirrels from eating the strawberries. Did I mention we live in a forest. This year I might have to invest in some netting to cover them.
• Trying to decided if we want the chickens to lay on their own eggs or incubate them. I know that Grace would really enjoy the experience of incubating the eggs, but it would cost us about 100.00 - 140.00 for all the supplies. I am thinking let's just let nature take its course and have the chickens deal with their own business. Only item I am concerned of is the adult chickens hurting the chicks.
• Hubby just finished a big art project for a contest in Atlanta. It is fantasy themed. I will try to get a picture soon and post it along with his blog address. (He doesn't update very often.)
• Got to hang out laundry today for the first time this year. Not so patiently waiting for spring.

Abundance

When you have alot of these:

You make this. With only two of the hens laying right now, we still get a dozen eggs a week. I haven't been baking alot and we have had only one breakfast meal. So some eggs needed to get used. I tried to think of what I could make that would use the most eggs - pound cake is my favorite cake - the recipe calls for 5 eggs. Problem solved. I used all the green bigger eggs to make the cake and it turned out beautifully. Now if I could only fit a cow on this property. Yum, fresh milk.

We Went To The Big City Today

We were all getting some cabin fever because of snow, cold and rain over the past month and figured it was time to venture a trip to the big city. Of course this big city isn't really a big city. Not like Atlanta or New York. But it does have lots of shopping entertainment. For those of you that have been following my spending habits don't fear - I really didn't go crazy and spend a crazy amount of money. While we were their looking around we came across something very interesting - a demonstration of sugar gliders from Pocket Pets. They were in the mall visiting from Florida, which is the home base of the company. They were educating people about sugar gliders as pets and selling them. Of course the minute Grace laid her eyes on these she really wanted one until we found out the price, $589.00 (that does include cage and supplies). She really thought this might be a possibility for her birthday. Yeah right, keep dreaming.

Of course can't go to the big mall and not go in to Barnes and Noble. I was very proud of myself when I went to the cashier with two items to purchase and they were both 75% off. January and February is the time to buy discounted calendars. I love the ones above because they are so educational. We decided on a Spanish word a day and a bird a day. I spent a total of $6.35 for them both, regularly priced at 12.99 each.

Last but not least the main reason I ventured to the big city was to purchase some fabric. Believe it or not we do not have a fabric store at all in our small town and the closest is actually about 45 minutes away. Last spring and summer I really wanted some casual, everyday skirts to wear. Low and behold there were none to be found anywhere. This year me and a friend decided to make our own. The four above fabrics are my choices. I will post photos after they are finished. All in all it was a great day spent with my mother and daughter and not too much money spent.

What Science Looks Like In Our House - At Least For The Moment

First semester in science we were studying the human body through the Exploring Series by Jeannie Fulbright. Grace got a little burnt on on just studying the human body, so as many other homeschoolers do, we changed things up a bit. We will finish the remainder of the book next year as part of our science. I had some Ecology materials hanging around the house and decided to use them. So far we have reviewed some information about Producers, Consumer, decomposers, food webs/chains, and animal adaptions. Now we are moving on to Ecosystems and biomes. I am thinking over the next couple of weeks we will cover all the biomes with Bill Nye science videos, books from the library and some of the ecology materials I already have at home. So far Grace is participating and interested. We are doing this all in kind of notebook style, just creating a journal of all the information she is learning. Yesterday and today we studied the tundra and on Monday it will be the coniferous forest. After ecosystems will will move on to some Earth Science and if time permits before the end of the years we will squeeze in some Physical Science (which is my least favorite science).

Two Week Menu Plan

Friday - Tacos
Saturday - Cheese Tortellini
Sunday - Soup and Sandwiches
Monday - Chicken Legs, mac and Cheese, Corn, Salad
Tuesday - Homemade Pizza
Wednesday - Beef Roast, roasted potatoes, salad, bread
Thursday - Grilled Burgers
Friday - Spaghetti
Saturday - Hot Dogs, chips or mac and cheese
Sunday - Homemade pizza
Monday - Baked Ziti
Tuesday - B-cue chicken, mac and cheese, corn, salad
Wednesday - Tacos
Thursday - Biscuits, Eggs, Bacon
Friday - Eat Out

Ponderng ..... Preparing...... Storing

I watched a documentary yesterday that really had me thinking and if I care to admit it a little anxious. This documentary is Collapse (you can watch instant on Netflix - some bad language spotted throughout the conversations). It mostly spoke of relocalization, collapse of the dollar, etc. I started thinking alot about what we have put in place so far and what still needs to be put in place to help use sustain our lives if something/when something happens. So in a nutshell I went to purchase big groceries today and spent more than planned with stocking some items for emergency purposes. I noticed one thing that I really need to work on is growing our own tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce. We use it for so many dishes that I end up buying alot of it. I also need to think about growing so greens for us and the chickens. The area that the chickens are in is devoid of anything green. That might change when spring arrives, have to wait and see. We have very little sun - maybe 4 hours a day of good sunlight. Our garden list this year will mostly consist of tomatoes, lettuce mix, potatoes, and strawberries. Also hoping to hatch one clutch of chicks in the spring to bring in more eggs. For those of you out there that make your own spaghetti sauce, could you share your recipe. If the money is available we are also thinking of creating a pond in the front yard island to raise catfish or trout to eat. See we need another form of protein available to us, because at this point I don't think any of us are prepared to butcher any of the chickens. Can you say attached? Cows, pigs, goats are out of the picture because we only live one acre with no restrictions. Great thing about living out in the country, nobody really cares what you are doing on your property. I know this has kind of been a rambling post, sorry for that, just trying to get my thoughts together. Back to the original thought - spent $237.00 on groceries and such. This should last for 2-3 weeks with some of it going in to longer term storage. Plus purchased dog food, cat food, cat litter, personal items, etc. Trying my hand at a new wheat bread recipe, keeping fingers crossed it will turn out well.

Another Grocery Update

I have discovered I am not very good at this. All these other folks I read about do such a great job of staying in the budget they set for groceries. Went to the produce store this morning for bananas, apples, spinach, lettuce, red potatoes, a tomato, a onion, and butter for 15.20. This brings the money I have left to spend for two weeks and two days to 139.39. I know we will go over. I am thinking maybe 450.00 a month is more realistic for our family. Maybe I will get better at it as time goes on. If I didn't mention it before this budget will include dog and cat food, paper products (which mainly consists of toilet paper and paper towels). Everything else will be budgeted elsewhere: make up, chicken food and supplies, laundry supplies, soap, etc. I will keep plugging away at it.