Ready, Set, Garden!

It's almost time!

I think we're going to wait two or three more weeks, and then our garden is going to get planted!

This is our first year to have a backyard garden. Some days I think we're a little too ambitious for first-timers; other days I wonder if we're planting enough.

My husband is going to build raised beds, three of them, eight feet long by four feet wide. In case your math skills are a bit lacking today {as mine usually are}, that's a total of 96 square feet of gardening space!

To help amateurs like us, I heartily recommend Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. 

This thick resource is a treasure of information. So far, I've read about everything from composting to companion planting, from basil to eggplant to parsley, from helpful insects to destructive insects, from raised beds to cottage gardening and everything in between. This book really is "the indispensable resource for every gardener"!

This year we've decided to plant squash, zucchini, jalepenos, eggplant, watermelon, pumpkin, spearmint, peppermint, flat-leaf parsley, basil, rosemary, cilantro, strawberries, and a few more I can't recall at the moment. To help with natural pest control, we're going to plant some African and French marigolds.

Our hot compost pile has been going for about three weeks now. It's been a bit of a challenge to find the {right} mix of carbon and nitrogen, and we're still not quite there. There have been a few times when my hubby has to hold his nose when he turns the barrel. So we add more dead leaves and dirt. I just hope the learning curve is generous!

So I have some questions for all you gardeners out there...from amateurs to master gardeners...

• What are you planting this year?
• What are you doing right now to prepare for the growing season?
• What are your favorite companion planting combos?
• Any advice you can share with the rest of us?

HAPPY GARDENING, PENNY-WISE WOMEN!

Written and submitted by Lindsey @ Penny-wise

The Nit-Picky Checklist

I don't know about you, but I catch a cleaning bug every once in a while. It's not just any cleaning bug; it's more like a rampant virus. I'll start dusting the living room and, before I know it, I'm washing windows, vacuuming curtains, and scrubbing tile grout with a toothbrush. And I had this bad habit of overwhelming my entire family with cleaning checklists, honey-do chores, and slave-driving behavior.

Well, I decided several months ago that I was tired of being overwhelmed {and tired of dragging my husband and kids along for the ride} with all the nit-picky cleaning and organizing tasks around my house. You know the ones I'm talking about: the dust bunnies under the couch, the accumulation of dust on the bathroom light fixtures, or the funny smell coming from the fridge. The every-day chores like vacuuming, sweeping, and laundry are easy. No one has to remind me to do those. It's those nit-picky ones that cause me to become the Wicked Witch of the West, when they all catch up to me.

I created this monthly checklist for myself. It has 30 tasks, one for each day of the month. If a month happens to have 31 days, then I get that 31st day "off" in a sense. February is the only tricky month. I simply try to double-up on tasks for two or three days to make sure everything gets done. My list is printed off and hangs on my fridge, right next to our dry-erase calendar, so I'm sure to see it everyday.

I wanted to share my checklist with you. And please, feel free to adapt it to your own home and family, if you find it useful. It's numbered and each number corresponds with that day of the month.

1. Clean microwave (sometimes I have to do this more than once a month).

2. Clean inside windows and windowsills.

3. Organize pantry.

4. Organize/inventory cleaning supplies.

5. Sweep front porch.

6. Vacuum/dust mop under my bed.

7. Straighten my closet.

8. Dust picture frames throughout the house.

9. Clean oven.

10. Check the linen cabinet.

11. Clean off washer and dryer.

12. Clean out fridge.

13. Go through the junk basket.

14. Straighten a child's closet.

15. Move and dust mop under couches.

16. Iron.

17. Organize/inventory craft closet.

18. Deep clean kitchen sink (I like to make a paste out of Borax and let it sit in the sink for a while, then scrub.)

19. Vacuum curtain tops (we don't have blinds.)

20. Change A/C filter.

21. Dust light fixtures and ceiling fans.

22. Straighten a child's closet.

23. Wipe down couches (we have leather, so I use special leather wipes).

24. Go through the deep freeze.

25. Organize/inventory spice cabinet.

26. Organize school shelves and baskets.

27. Clear and dust computer desk.

28. Straighten my husband's closet.

29. Clean out inside freezer.

30. Clear and dust nightstands.

We are family of four, so everyone's closet gets a good organizing once a month. We also have wood floors throughout our entire house, so there's lots of dust-mopping in our house. And, I should point out that my children are fairly young (5 1/2 and 7). As they get older, many of these tasks, such as straightening their closets, wiping down the couches, and dusting nightstands, will be passed along to them. In fact, my son swept the front porch by himself today, and did a fabulous job!

I share all that, not to make you feel overwhelmed, but hopefully to show how easy it can be to keep all those jobs done that can sometimes go neglected. Most of these tasks, with the exception of cleaning the windows, oven, and light fixtures, take 10 minutes or less. The only one I dread monthly is ironing, but alas, I can no longer ignore it. At least it's not piling up like it used to!

Again, please feel free to adapt this list to your specific needs, if you have found it helpful. 

Written and submitted by Lindsey @ Penny-wise

G-free Pantry Essentials

This whole gluten-free thing has, in a small way, created a bit of an inconvenience in my day-to-day cooking and grocery shopping. It's not that I mind our family going g-free. After all, it is for the health of my baby (who will turn seven in two weeks!), therefore totally worth any extra effort or expense. It's just that I was really comfortable in my cooking and shopping before. I rarely ever had to look at our favorite recipes; they were all neatly tucked away in my brain, ready for preparation on a moment's notice.

Not so much anymore.

Late last week, I went through our pantry, fridge, freezer, and deep freeze. I gave every, single food item containing gluten, including my favorite Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour, to a friend--half-joyfully at how I was helping her family and half-wincing over what I felt like I was losing. 

I then took a step back, looked at my mostly empty pantry and fridge, and wondered how in the world I was going to fill them again with things that wouldn't make my boy's tummy upset anymore. 

Then, like a bolt from heaven, we received an e-mail from our friend Carrie. She has apparently been doing this g-free thing a lot longer than I have. She sent us her own list of gluten-free pantry essentials!

Not only am I excited to share it with you, but I am also pumped to begin stocking and using these ingredients in our meals too.

Carrie says, "These are items which I find necessary to keep in my pantry. They help in my day to day gluten-free cooking--basic essentials, if you will, for gluten free cooking without all the pre-made mixes!"

Xanthan Gum

Baking Soda

Baking Powder

Brown Rice Flour

Potato Starch

Potato Flour

Sorghum Flour

Tapioca Starch (a.k.a. Tapioca Flour, it's the same thing)

Buckwheat Flour

Almond Meal

Pasta Joy brown rice noodles

Imagine soups 

Corn meal

Sea Salt

And if you just have to have a mix, Carrie highly recommends Pamela's Products.

Thanks, Carrie! I have a feeling this list is going to make my life a lot easier!

Submitted by Carrie; Written by Lindsey @ Penny-wise

Lessons to Teach, Lessons to Learn

As homeschool moms, we are used to getting the best out of limited resources. We know we can't have it all, and we strive to bring the best educational methods to our homes with little money. It does not require thousands of dollars to educate our children, and it does not cost a fortune to live well in our homes--it simply takes a little planning and thinking outside the box.

We need to remember the skills of generations past and realize that we can make ends meet if we are careful and thrifty. Today it seems that everyone has everything; if we don't have it, we somehow feel we lack. "Keeping up with the Joneses" is not the way to go, however, if we wish to be good stewards of our money and resources.

Our current society is a throw-away society. Nothing seems to have lasting value--a vast change from the days of our grandparents. Then, the attitude was that you made due with what you had, that you took care of your possessions and appreciated what you had. Above all else, our grandparents knew how important it was to live within their means.

The attitude of today is much different. If there's a tear in a shirt or a hole in a sock, in the bin it goes, usually without a second thought. Why? Because Walmart is just up the road.

It is worrying to know that our children are watching us. Seeing that we don't value things or appreciate our blessings, they follow in our footsteps. We've become lazy and think we'll just buy a new whatever to replace what is torn or broken. This is not a good lesson to teach our children.

If we don't approve when they aren't taking care of their things, why should it be OK for us to do the same? Are we taking time to teach them the proper way to care for their clothes, toys, and books? Do we explain that money really does not grow on trees--that it is earned through hard work and effort? That every dollar is a blessing and should be valued? Do we take time to mend little holes before they become big holes? Do we prepare wholesome meals from scratch that aren't full of additives and empty calories? Do we expend the effort to plant our own vegetables?

None of these things are especially expensive; they simply take a little effort--and a little thought. These skills are easily learned, and our children can partner with us in our endeavors. If we expose our children to the good habits of thrift and frugality at home, there is every chance for them to grow up valuing every dollar. They surely have a better chance of not becoming a statistic--getting in debt over their heads with no hope of ever paying it off.

This is a lasting gift we can give our children. We owe this to them. Being frugal is not always easy. In fact, it can be very hard when prices are high, but that is exactly when we need to make due and refuse to give up.

Compared to other nations, we cannot consider ourselves poor--no matter what sacrifices we must make. We might think we're hard up, but most of us have a car (or two), a television, or a cell phone. This is NOT poverty. Poverty was the Great Depression; poverty is not having access to clean water or heat.

Few of us (if any) have ever had to live like that. We must appreciate what we have, even if, in our opinions, it doesn't measure up to what our neighbors possess. Being satisfied is half the battle.

Look around you. How many of your things are needs? How many are wants?

Let us try to teach our children the good habit of frugality. Let us learn some good, solid frugal ideas along the way. When our dollars aren't going as far as they used to, let us not be alarmed. We must rally to become the best stewards of our money, our resources, and our time as we can be.

Waste not, want not.

A good rule to remember: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

by Linda at Penny-wise Women