Preserving Garden Abundance

On our little homestead, summer means it's super hot, the garden is cranking out the produce, and we're doing everything we CAN to keep up. And can, we must.

We are super lazy gardeners, so really industrious people can produce a lot more food in a 1,000-square-foot garden than we do. Still, our garden goodies combined with some excess from friends, and here's what we've added to our pantry so far (in about the last week):

• We turned about 75 pounds of cucumbers into 4 gallons of gherkins (fermented pickles, which are "cooking" in the entry closet), 7 quarts of kosher dills, 4.5 quarts of sandwich slices, 7 pints of relish and a gallon of cucumber kimchi. (About to make more of that... so awesome!)
• Our fig trees took the year off last year during the drought, so they're pumping out fruit this year at a rate of about 2-3 gallons a day. I usually make fig preserves, but I already made 7 pints with what we had in the freezer, so I'll make more of that, but I'm "branching out." I'm thinking fig syrup and rosemary-fig preserves. Now to get that goat so I can make goat cheese...
• A friend gave us a bag of assorted cayenne, banana and jalapeno peppers, so we pickled the whole peck of peppers. That made for four pints and some giggly tongue-twisters for the boys.

 All in all, it's not a bad start to the summer. Gotta get back to it now; on the menu today is zucchini and tomatoes and all... those... figs. And maybe cream-style corn. And, if anyone has creative ideas for using up figs, please let me know!

Plan a Break From Frugal Fatigue

We all have different goals for the money we're struggling to save, and sometimes those goals change as they get closer. Our goal was to survive at first. When we mastered survival on one income, we began paying down years of debt (credit cards and an expensive truck). Now that the truck is paid off and the credit cards are ancient history, we're working on this little house so we can upgrade sometime soon.

But, before we do, we're gonna lighten up a little.

SMH! Another dinner out??

After all, we don't take vacations, and we don't buy expensive toys except maybe once every three years. So lately, we're taking a “break” from some hard and fast rules of being tightwads. Some people need breaks from being squeaky, and I get it. I'm married to one. And, I'd totally be lying if I said I didn't love going out to dinner once in a while. It hurts my frugal heart to pay the bill, but when it's time to lighten up, it's just time. That time, for us, is summertime.

I'll just make up for it secretly in other ways. Like, feeding my family what we're growing instead of buying veggies. Like, stocking the freezer with a few extra roosters and getting creative with eggs. I'm not scared of you, summertime spending – just let me take a deep breath and set my goals aside to review later. I'm jumping in! (sort of)

Hey! Find us on Facebook and Twitter. We get downright silly, for a bunch of cheapos. Plus, you'll get stream-of-consciousness tips as I think of them, moment by moment! Well, I usually think of one a week, and I may or may not remember to post it. There's always a chance, though! - Becky