Free Craftsy Class

Craftsy currently has a free class Brunch Baking courtesy of Bob's Red Mill.  The class includes four lessons:  Lemon Pudding Cakes, Almond Scones with Roasted Strawberries, Buttermilk Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches, and Mushroom Spinach Gruyere Tart.  You can watch the video lessons and get downloadable class materials which include the recipes. 


I do not know how long the class will remain free so add it to your class library now.  Craftsy classes never expire, and you can watch at your convenience and watch repeatedly.


*Craftsy has no idea who I am.  I just love to be able to take classes from my own home through the Craftsy web site.

Weekly Goals Update: Week 18

1.  Disaster Preparedness
Week 18 was food preservation.  I will be the first to admit that I depend way too much on my freezers.  Aside from tomatoes and green beans I generally just pickle vegetables to can.  Most vegetables I preserve by freezing.  It helps with times like now where our income is not as settled.  If we had a long term power outage, I would lose more food than I care to think about. 


This week has a separate preparedness for me though.  Now is the time to buy canning supplies.  Generally if I wait until it is time to start canning, everyone has started canning.  Things like jar flats, lime, and even kosher salt can be in short supply in the stores here.  I have checked my pantry and made a note of what I need to purchase.


2.  Makeover the Garden
I still have one bed to fill with compost, but I ran out of rabbit manure.  I am waiting until later in the week when it is time to clean out the rabbit area again.  In the meantime I have been pulling weeds and keeping an eye on the sprouting seeds.  I hope to get into a routine of weekly garden updates.


3.  Organize Recipes
I seem to be collecting more recipes lately.  I will have plenty to organize once the weather turns hot or this winter when it is too cold to get outside.


4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Weeks
I have been teaching weekly at the local technical college.  For now I am stopping into the grocery store to pick up any sale items.  Once this job ends my plan is to grocery shop once every 3-4 weeks.  This time of year I can get away with that since we will soon be eating most of our fresh foods from the garden or a stop at the farmer's market.


5.  Focus on Saving
I am surprised at how easy it has been to stop shopping when I know we need to save money.  We still have some projects to finish so being extra frugal is important right now.  I am looking at the big picture rather than buying something just because.


6.  Have Fun
I finished up my second week of Craftsy Unlimited and really enjoyed all of the different classes.  This week I expect part of my fun will be putting what I learned into practice.  I want to work on some crochet projects and also try out some new baking recipes.

Weekend Book Reviews

Canine Confidential by Marc Bekoff promises to explain Why Dogs Do What They Do.  Mr. Bekoff is obviously a dog lover.  I enjoyed reading his interactions with the dogs he lives with and observes.  Much of the book focuses on dogs at dog parks.  I did find the book informative and entertaining even though I live in an area with no dog parks.  Most of the information will be common knowledge for anyone who has spent time around dogs, but it is still a good refresher.  It reminded me to let my own dog be a dog.  New dog owners will glean a wealth of information from Canine Confidential.

Carlos Magdalena's The Plant Messiah focuses on endangered or nearly extinct plants.  His love of plants began in Spain but has taken him all over the world.  I found the book fascinating not only for the plant information but also for the historical information.  I am continually amazed by plants and the power of a tiny seed.  This book took that to another level by explaining the very delicate balance between plants and their pollinators and environment. 

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Weekend Book Reviews

Fiction Can Be Murder by Becky Clark is the first book in the Mystery Writer's Mystery series.  Charlee works hard to come up with creative murder ideas for her books.  When her agent is murdered in the same unusual way described in her unpublished book, Charlee is obviously one of the suspects.  I enjoyed the idea of the mystery writer and her writers' group.  Charlee is paranoid and a bit quirky neither of which are necessarily bad in a fictional character.  The ending to the mystery was lacking and seemed rushed at the end.  I would gladly read a second book in the series as the strong points outweighed the bad.

Janet Finsilver's fourth book in the Kelly Jackson Mystery series is Murder at the Mushroom Festival.  Kelly is hosting a cooking class at the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast during the Mushroom Festival.  When a local reporter is shot at a site she recently visited, Kelly enlists the "Silver Sentinels" (a group of senior sleuths) to help her solve the mystery.  I have read a previous book in the series, but it is not necessary to enjoy this book.  The characters are varied which adds to the book overall.  The suspect list is long, but everything ties together well.  The Silver Sentinels are a big part of the story and a wonderful group.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Frugal Friday: Five Frugal Things

1.  A field near my house was being plowed right after I hung out a load of dish towels, hand towels, etc.  I was going to get them in and hang them out again.  Instead I just hung them on drying racks in the house.  I was happy to find that everything fit.  That is good to know for when the weather gets too cold or is rainy.


2.  W and I combined our separate errands into one trip into town this week.  Fortunately I had taken my e-reader with me as one of his errands took longer than mine.  We also talked with a financial planner at our bank to discuss a few things for our new normal life.


3.  I baked bread and cooked dried chickpeas.  Neither is terribly labor intensive but saves money.


4.  I picked lettuce and strawberries from my parents' garden.  I transplanted some jalapeno pepper plants from one area of my garden into the new one.


5.  I continued to take advantage of my Craftsy Unlimited trial.  I learned some new crocheting techniques, how to make cake pops, and how to make bagels.

Garden Update

This post will be a bit long.  I tried to take some pictures of all of the main areas.  We are working to plant fruit trees around the yard but that is a work in progress right now.  This covers the main garden which consists of raised beds.  It is easier to cover those to keep the chickens (and now Toby) from digging.

The raspberry plants have grown and spread this year.  After having so many of them crushed last year by the pecan limbs, I am hoping for a good harvest this year.

I had some chamomile sprout from seeds that dropped last year.  It came up sporadically so I tossed out some more seeds over the weekend.

I had two eggplants sprout back out from last year.  I was really surprised since it was colder than normal plus we got snow.  They are small but will provide me with a later harvest.

This is one of my new beds.  I had very little luck starting seeds inside this year.  I only ended up with two tomato plants which are in the back left corner.  The other plants were given to me.  I have several tomatoes, eggplant, and a few peppers.

I decided to plant some seeds directly into the soil.  I have a long growing season so this is not a problem.  I have piles and piles of small tomato and pepper seedlings.

The bee balm gets a bit bigger each year.  This bed is one of the oldest.  I expect by next year to just do away with the boards and let the bee balm grow.

These onion plants grew from the bottoms of green onions purchased from the grocery store.  I am hoping they will drop their seeds mostly inside the bed so I can get some more onions.

One of the beds we plan to do away with this year is full of marigold plants.  I have been giving them away but have not made much of a dent at all.

My new herb beds which I absolutely love.  I moved some plants which look a bit sad but are doing better now.  I love the set up and am excited for them to fill in.  Having fresh herbs in the garden for cooking is wonderful!

My purple potatoes have grown well.  They are getting higher than the containers so we added wire and have been filling them with hay.

My bay tree is putting on new growth. 

Once we get the loquat trees (on the left) planted, I can plant the kiwi plants.  They are growing well and seem to like the area where we set them.  I think that is where we will plant them. 

I went through all of my old seeds (3-4 years old).  I decided to just plant them all and see what comes up.  I have two containers with tomato and pepper seeds.  I planted the pumpkin seeds in the compost pile.  I planted herb seeds in marked containers.  Time will tell what if anything sprouts.

Are you growing a garden this year?  Have you gotten started or is it too early where you live?

Weekly Goals Update: Week 17

1.  Disaster Preparedness
Week 17 was all about water preparedness.  That is a concern living in the country when we depend on electricity to power the well.  I do have water filtration straws, but I need to think seriously about a water storage system.  I need to research the best system for saving water.  Any input?  The frugal side of me hates to think about paying for water.


2.  Makeover the Garden
The second herb bed is in.  I have noticed many of the pepper and tomato seeds sprouting.  I have been continuing to pull weeds a little at a time.  I am determined to have a mostly nice garden with few weeds.  Toby loves playing and helping so this gives me a way to stay busy and keep an eye on him.  I am excited to try sprouting some guava seeds after W brought home guavas from the farmer's market.


3.  Organize Recipes
Once again I ignored this goal.  The weather will change, and I will need an indoor activity.


4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Weeks
I have completed four of these so far this year.  While I have a reason to go to town each week I have been picking up a few sale items.  I know once the garden is producing I will get my grocery trips down to once or twice a month at most.


5.  Focus on Saving
I made a menu focused on foods on hand.  We ended up eating more leftovers so I will be shifting those meals to this week.  I worked on the reward sites.  I have kept the focus on making do with what I have.


6.  Have Fun
I did spend $1 on a two week trial of Craftsy Unlimited.  I have been binge watching lessons ranging from cooking to baking to crochet.  I have one week of my trial left so I am expecting that to be my fun for the coming week as well.