We have gotten the ball rolling to help combat the rising food prices!! There has been an addition to our fund raising effort and I think you will all be interested in these books. There are different books for different levels of donation, and they are all great additions to any cooks library, and a beginner's guide to organic garden for all levels. The areas most impacted by disaster and poverty are our focus areas, and we are starting our People's Garden Project in the Meterie, and New Orleans area. What we will be doing is coordinating with local agencies to build community gardens where those unable to garden for whatever reason will be able to grow and provide fresh vegetables for their families. Techniques for preserving the foods and saving seeds for next season will be taught and practiced, while helping them to grow additional produce for sale to help pay for the upkeep of the gardens themselves. Help us in our efforts by visiting the link below and making a donation. The next area we choose may be yours! There is time in this season to lay the groundwork and even to plant some crops, so we need you to give and make the lives of some of these people a little better and a lot healthier. Donate Now and Get Free E-Books!!
| We have formed a non-profit organization to raise money for disadvantaged areas to start community gardens in vacant lots. Helping people combat the rising food prices and unemployment numbers by growing some of their own food.
Preservation and seed saving will be shown as well, with an online tutorial in the works at this time.
Donations can be as little as a dollar or whatever you can spare, and for those who would like to start a program like this in their own neighborhood, contact me using the form to the right and we will do all we can to show you how to get community support and in some cases federal funding.
Use the button below to donate and those who do will have the opportunity to do something great for the planet and our children's future.
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Now that the weather is finally going to cooperate, for a little while at least, it's time to start our Spring cleaning! Don't get too excited, it will take some time, LOL.
Step one is to make a list of what needs to be done in each room of the house, from top to bottom. You would be surprised at how many people do not realize they need to clean from top to bottom, so I put in a few reminders here and there.
Start with the curtains, and other window treatments, take them down, toss in the wash, and hang them out on the line to dry for the day. Dusting down cobwebs, and cleaning light fixtures is next. Don't buy window cleaner if you have a jug of vinegar under the sink, (and you really should) just mix it with water at about half and half, in a spray bottle, works just as well if not better.
Don't buy scouring powders or soft scrub type products either, you can make your own with baking soda for a fraction of the cost, and it works great. I get the jumbo sized box of baking soda twice a year, and it is so much less expensive than the other stuff. Mix with water to leave on tough, greasy messes on the stove top, let it sit, then scrub away the grime. Use as a cleaner for sinks, if you have white porcelain sinks, you can mix it with a little household bleach, a bit of water, and you have your own soft scrub that kills germs. Remember to rinse off the surface with warm water when done.
Now that you have started, check out my pages here, and find more ways to keep more of your hard earned money in your pocket. I will be adding pages related to the whole Doomsday Prepper movement since I believe these people may be a bit extreme, but they have the right idea as far as stocking up now before prices go through the roof, and to be more self reliant.
My mom always told me, and still says it to this day, "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." This helps you cover all your bases, and if you feel a bit paranoid by stocking up, imagine how you will feel when the prices rise, and you have a fully stocked pantry that will hold you until your garden comes in!!
I recently answered an ad on Craig's list looking for someone to haul away unwanted shrubs. Once my husband and I got there, and finished the job of cutting and loading the debris, the home owner asked if we could cut trees and remove fencing from the property as well.
How often do you get paid to salvage material you can use? Not often, but I am working on it. The fencing was wire mesh, and was secured with cast iron posts and some metal rods. the trees that were cut stayed on the property, but the fencing, posts and metal rods came home with us.
The fencing is going to be a new compost bin, using the metal rods to secure it. The metal fence posts have been driven into the ground to hold firewood, and we got paid to take this away.
I am starting from scratch at my daughter's home, and will have pictures of the projects we are going to be doing for her to get a garden, compost and all manner of simple living projects in place.
Teaching gardening, preserving and all the other skills to her and my grandchildren is my summer project, as I prepare to go away from the cold this winter.
Our first step will be to get her trash removal under control. There are no recycling centers here, so we have to be a bit creative. The cans are being rinsed and crushed, to be taken to the scrap yard, and papers are used to start fires in the wood burning stove, and firepit outside. So the kids are learning to tell if it is "Ash, Cash or Trash." They really got behind the can crushing when I told them they will get money from the scrapyard for the metal. Jars we are saving to use in my camper to keep pests out of the dry goods, and to catch fire flies.
I will be posting pictures of our projects as we get them done, and am hoping the next two generations are able to learn from those that have gone before them, and save the future.
Do you have a summer project for the kids, small or grown, that you want to share with us? Feel free to post it here, and maybe together we can leave a better legacy for our grandchildren.
When I started my first garden, and compost bin, I had the benefit of years of experience to draw on in the form of my mother-in-law. She was old-school Kentucky Hills and had been raising the family garden since her mother passed when she was in the sixth grade. She had been pulled from school as the eldest female, to run the household in her mother's absence and while I feel for what she went through, she didn't seem to think there was anything odd about it. She then moved on to marry a farmer in Michigan, raising gardens, cattle and two sons. All the books and reports offered on this site that I have written are a tribute to her knowledge and wisdom. She left us in 2011 at 92 years of age, and I feel that sharing all that she taught me is a fitting tribute to the woman who treated me like the daughter she never had. She may not have had a formal education, but I get the feeling she had more life lessons and wisdom than most of the so-called educated people I have ever met. She would have been 93 next week, and we miss her terribly.
Every year, before the flowers came up, she foraged in the yard for Dandelion Greens, and I picked on her about it at first, telling her if she was that hungry I would make her a sandwich. Then I did a little research, and was surprised to find that Dandelion Greens are a Spring cleaning tonic for the whole body.Dried, in teas, they help flush fat and other toxins from the body, eaten cooked, like spinach, or even chopped up raw in a salad, and they help cleanse the entire system, are a natural diuretic, and contain potassium for heart health. All she knew is they always did it where she was from, and she liked them, so she ate them.
Only pick the small, light green leaves, from areas where there is no traffic or chemicals used that can get into the plants.Your own backyard is fine if you don't use chemicals on the lawn. Weeds can have their uses too, and if you want to know more, I have a report coming out soon about the benefits of those "weeds" that pop up all over the yard, and in the flower beds.
Having several websites to create and manage has cost me the time I had planned to devote to this site, but now I have the schedule reset to include doing the ones I love as well as the ones that were meant as income.
The climate of the world has become increasingly difficult for the average person to make a living in, and tightening belts and budgets are all many seem to have time for. So what do you do when the budget won't stretch any further?
That's when you have to figure out what you NEED versus what you WANT.
Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of life's little luxuries and treating yourself on occasion, but you have to have a plan if you are going to survive until times improve, or your situation improves.
Cutting back doesn't have to mean doing without essentials, it just means you may have to get a bit creative with what you already have on hand and make it stretch to fit your needs.
There's a big difference between having a well stocked pantry and being a hoarder, but for some, it is hard to tell the difference. One tell-tale sign is if you have more than you will use in a six month time period, you may be hoarding. Canned goods DO expire in time, so having a hundred cans of soup may not be to your advantage, unless you eat a lot of soup. If you do score a great deal and get far more than you need for free, consider donating some to your local food pantry. In many cases, you can get a tax deduction for the full value of what has been donated, so that is one way to double your savings and make a difference at the same time. For the most part, people who do practice extreme coupon strategies storage can be a problem. Take the time to ask yourself if getting the great deal is worth losing the space in your home. If it won't be used, it does you no good, but could benefit others.
The hit reality show "Extreme Couponing" has people in a frenzy to clip, collect and even buy coupons to save up to 90% on their groceries. Many have given up, in a short period of time. The trick to saving the most isn't only in how many coupons you have, since forty bottles of a laundry detergent you won't use is no good to you even if it is free after coupons, it's all in how they are used. I have used them for years, now that all the attention is on them, I will give some tips. Coupons for products you don't use are a waste of time, but can be traded with friends and family members for ones you do use. DO NOT take more Sunday papers than you paid for, it is not fair to the delivery drivers. Leave some coupons on the tear away pads on the store displays for other shoppers. That being said, here is one of my latest shopping trips- Found 39 coupons for 75 cents off a juice drink. Good deal, since Wal Mart had them for 50 cents. Had seven $3.00 off coupons for kids board games, they were marked down to $5.00, same store. Had a $1.00 floss coupon, it was 88 cents. The board games had an offer, send in the UPC with receipt and get a free Tombstone pizza coupon. The great part is, if a coupon has a set amount on it, like 75 cents off, the store gives you that discount on your total. I also picked up ten tubes of toothpaste, priced at $1.00, with a $1.00 coupon, cube of pop, and a ream of printer paper. I paid $2.28 total for all that, and I have enough games for birthday gifts, with five free pizza coupons coming in the mail. These deals are few and far between, but they can be done. There are places to go online to print your own coupons, and find out what is on sale and where. Try www.coupons.com to print up coupons at home, and keep on clipping!!!
Simple living does not mean doing without. With the economy in the condition it is in, learning how to make things last longer, or even find a new life are skills anyone can learn, and should. I do not propose going back to a time where we made our own clothing, and grew all we ate, but there are some of the old ways of thinking that could use a dusting off. As a society we have become very consumer oriented, and disposable. That is how we got ourselves into this situation, and that kind of mind set will NOT get us out!
The simple act of making something last longer before tossing it can make a difference, along with repairing what you have rather than buying new. Growing a few foods you like can help stretch the budget, and there are thousands more ideas where that came from.
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