Game Changer Paying for Healthcare!

 Good morning!  

I know it's been a while.  I've had a lot on my plate, but I had to share something I just discovered!

***This is my disclaimer.  I can't say all insurances do this.  Ours does.  I can say it's worth it to give them a call, and it's worth it to price compare between paying for a medical service yourself or having your insurance pay it for you.  What follows has been a slow start to a rapid eye opener I can tell you.  

You guys know I switched to a new Primary care physician about 8 months ago.  I haven't regretted it at all.  He doesn't file insurance, but is instead a direct pay for services physician.  It's amazing the kind of care you get when the Doctor in question knows his livelihood is dependent on doing a good job.  Plus he's awful nice and just a good all round doctor.  

Anyhoo, I've had bad circulation in my legs for years; my left leg being the worst offender.  Ah the joys of motherhood, obesity, and jobs requiring long hours on your feet.  The bad circulation got to the point where my left leg was aching and heavy.  My Doctor referred me to a vascular surgeon in my area.  My husband and I have a health insurance plan that's a High Deductible plan with a Health Savings Account.  That means our insurance does very little until our deductible is met.   It does, however, have negotiated amounts with physicians in their network; what they call "Usual and Customary".  Mistakenly, this vascular surgeon's billing office filed a claim with our insurance company, even though I was referred as a self pay.  The claim was around $450 for the doctor visit and $430 for the leg scan.  The insurance came back with a negotiated amount of $330 and $327.  $657!!!!!  Of course when I noticed this, I spoke to the Vascular Surgeon's office about it.  One of the best moves I've made!  The office corrected the mistake, and instead of the $657 the insurance said I should have to pay, my bill became.....$236.  I saved $421 dollars by NOT filing with my insurance!

BUT!  It gets better!  The procedure to fix my leg would be a self pay amount of $1268.  That's high I'll grant you.  Fortunately we have the amount in savings and some in our health savings account.  Not gonna lie, it about wiped out both.   Got to pull out the Black Belt Frugality measures to refill the emergency fund as fast as possible.  The repair needs to be made, however, because, with this bad circulation, I'm at risk for blood clots.  So there is that.  I knew I was going the self pay route, but hated the thought of so big a bill not going towards my deductible.  So I called the insurance company.  I asked if I can submit the receipt to go towards my deductible.  I was told I could, but to do so I would need to file a claim.  This means I get the best of both worlds.  I get the discount of being self pay, and the payment for services going towards my deductible!  In fact, had I paid more than my deductible, they would reimburse the difference!  

Why aren't customers told this!!!!!!!

So lest I lose you with a bad explanation; my point is this:

1)  Always ask what the price is for a self pay patient. Self pay is usually less than what insurance says is owed

2)  If you opt for the Self pay route; check with your insurance carrier to see if you can file a claim yourself to have the amount paid put towards your deductible.  

3)  Health Savings accounts are awesome things.  

A)The money comes out of my husband's paycheck pretax.  That means it comes out before they figure the amount of  taxes for that pay period.  It lessens the amount of income we're taxed on.  That means the $150 we have taken out of his check for a HSA isn't reflected in $150 less on his paycheck.  It's like paying $120 for a $150 gift card! 

B In addition, that money is never taxed as long as we use it for Medical/Dental/ Prescriptions, and even some over the counter things.  

C)  Also, as with any saving account, we do accrue interest if we leave it in the account.  We'd like to get back to that, but for now, the account still serves us well.  

D)  This account will go with us where ever we go.  When my husband retires, that account is still ours.

It's worth checking into.  

We're doing this from now on!  

Congratulations Ladies!

 This is a word to all women shouting your abortions, fighting for the rights over your reproductive health, yada, yada, yada.  I'm happy to announce that all women ( and I mean women, not birthing people) have total control over their bodies and their reproductive choices!

It wasn't bestowed upon you by 9 supreme court judges, mostly of whom are old white men.

It wasn't bestowed upon you by 435 members of congress (Senate and House), most of whom are old white men.

It wasn't bestowed upon you by executive order!

It isn't bestowed upon you by the state you live in!

It was given to you by God.  God gave you the ability to make choices about your own body.  

What isn't bestowed upon you, by God or anyone else, is power over the life of another.  That is not your choice to make, and it never will be.  

Your choice is made when you choose to have sex, protected or not, with a man.  Surely adulthood hasn't been reached without a basic understanding of how babies are made.  Hmmm, maybe not, but that's another post.  When you choose sex, you are taking a chance, and another persons life shouldn't have to be sacrificed on the alter of that choice.  I can talk.  I had an affair with a married man.  HUGE MISTAKE!  Was on the pill.  Got pregnant.  I could have ended the pregnancy, pretended it never happened, and kept the whole thing secret from everyone; including my parents. Instead, I carried that baby to term and never regretted it for a minute.  She's one of the best things that's happened to me.  I love her more than life.   She has never been a mistake.  

I said "Choose to have sex".  I AM NOT  talking about women that are raped.  I'm not talking about victims of incest.  That's a straw man argument pulled out of the air to justify what has now become a women's right to an abortion up until birth?  Really!?  

In fact if you tally up abortions due to rape/incest, health of the mother, birth defects, social economic issues, and mental health of the mother; they only total 3.5% of all abortions performed in the U.S.  That means the other 96.5% of abortions are for convenience!  

Regardless of the reasons espoused to defend abortion in general; there should never be any defense for a late term abortion.  If a woman is in the last trimester(6-9 months gestation), that "Late term abortion" should be called a "delivery".  Everyone should be able to admit at that point it's a baby, and U.S citizen.  That baby is entitled to all the rights and privileges of U.S citizenship.  I recently heard an interview where the news anchor asked " shouldn't late term abortion be allowed to save the life of the mother?".  I'm like "DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF!"  If there is ever a time when a doctor could even try to say they're performing an abortion to save the life of the mother, let me ask this question:  If the mother is in such dire straights that she has to undergo an abortion in her last trimester; why is she not able to go thru a c section or delivery?  What's the difference?  Both procedures can be physically taxing, and stressful to the mother.  Both could be invasive.  Why does an infant have to die at that point?  If the baby has already died, we're talking about the delivery of a still born, not an abortion.  If, in an emergency, a baby has to be taken early, everything is done to save that baby once it's born.  In the case of an abortion, that baby is left to die.  Why?  What changes?  The life of the mother has been saved.  Why does the child now have to die?  Someone please explain this to me.  

Ladies you have full control over your bodies.  Your mouth can say "no" just like everyone else.  If you like sex, fine.  Don't want to use birth control, fine.  You get to choose the level of risk you are willing to take.  You do you.  But if the dice doesn't roll your way, and you end up blessed with a new life to carry; guess what?  It's no longer your choice.  It isn't your body any longer.  You aren't the one that has to do the dying.  If you can't afford a baby, don't have time for a baby, need to finish school, etc; don't put yourself at risk.  It's really that easy.

For all the feminist out there spouting women's rights; might I remind you that at least 50% of babies aborted are girls.  Girls who never even had the basic right to live, much less protest how mean people are to think they should have to be a responsible adult.

Now that was my announcement to those "proud of your abortion", women.  I have another announcement for women who believed all the lies and had an abortion thinking that would solve everything only to find out it didn't.  To all the women who were told it wasn't a real person, but you now know different.  To all the women who once stood with the "proud of your abortion" crowd, but now see things differently.  I can't imagine how you feel or what you go thru each day.  My heart breaks for you and the child that was taken.  My announcement for you, ladies is that I serve a God who heals, forgives, strengthens and restores.  His love is without condition, and He will accept you as you are.  There is no distance you can go that He isn't right there.  There is no sin He won't forgive.  You have but to turn and find Him there.  He loves you with a never ending love.  You don't have to hide your grief behind bravado.  Let Him free you.  

The battle doesn't end with Row Vs Wade being over turned.  Yes, that's a small victory, but it just means the each state gets to decide.  There will be states who ban abortion totally, and some who allow it up until birth.  Other states will be somewhere in between.  

The battle isn't over until the unborn have a voice, have rights.  

 

The Old Fashioned Baby formula (recipe)

(Sigh)  Part of me can't believe things are a crazy as they are, but then another part of me isn't too surprised.  

I haven't waxed political in a while.  I mean where to start!  There isn't time!  The hits keep coming from this administration, faster than I can write.  

While I think things through, I did want to share something to all of the parents, grandparents, caregivers out there who are going crazy trying to feed a baby.  What follows is a recipe for "Baby Formula" that my Mother, Aunts, and pretty much any baby on a bottle at the time was raised on.  Do with it what you will.

First I will say this formula isn't "fortified", so what mothers did then, and mothers can still do now, is buy the liquid baby vitamin drops at the store.  These are, thankfully, not in short supply.  You can either give these separately, or mix them in with the "Formula"

Now on to the recipe:

Baby Formula "The Old Fashioned Way"

1 12 Oz can of Evaporated WHOLE Milk

2 TBS Karo Syrup (the clear kind)-This helps with constipation in babies and adults for that matter.  This is NOT High Frustose Corn Syrup.

20 oz of distilled water; nursery water, filtered water, etc.  

Liquid Baby vitamins- to be used separately or mixed into the formula.

Mix it up and divide into 6 bottles or as many as you would use for 33-34 oz of formula.  

Now if your baby needs soy formula or some other special needs formula, this won't work.  Sorry.  An option could be Goat milk?  For a child with a special diet I would speak to your pediatrician.  He/She may have samples on hand to help, or can put you in contact with a resource for you.

DO NOT let the powers that be tell you that using cows milk is bad.  Many non-soy based formulas are cow milk based and so the transition shouldn't be too hard.

I freely admit you will need additional vitamins.  Mothers needed them then, mothers will need them now.  DO NOT use this unless you get the vitamins.  

Babies 10 months and older can begin to transition from formula to whole milk.  

DO NOT use fat free or lowfat milk for this.  Babies need the fat in whole milk.

Now look, I'm not a doctor.  I don't claim to be one.  I am a mother, and while my kids are older now, they have at times, used this recipe when they were babies.  I can say with conviction, I would give this before I let my child be hungry.  

Hope this helps.

I can tell you the price for Evaporated Whole milk at Walmart is .67 when in stock.  The price at Kroger is $1.

Well I'll be darned!

 I know, I know, your eyes aren't deceiving you, I am posting for a second time this week!  It's been a rarity I'll admit, but I just had to share the news!  We have big little news!

So I believe we've shared the fact that we had several hens brooding on eggs.  We'll they have all hatched!  17 baby chicks running amuck!  Here's a sampling

But that isn't our great little news.  

We've been running an experiment of sorts here on the homestead.  

We have a Bantam Rooster named Eli in our Bantam run.  Bantam chickens are about a third the size of regular chickens.  Seen below with his previous main squeeze Moria; another regular size chicken.  She is no longer with us, unfortunately.

Last year we ended up adding a regular size Black Australorp Hen to the bantam coop because she was being picked on unmercifully by the hens in the regular hen coop.  We named her Ossy because the way she dealt with the bullying was to hide her head in the corner of the run; head down to the ground.  So Ostrich like we named her Ossy.

Well Eli likes Ossy very much!  There were times, while we were in the yard, that we would be privy to how much.  

What happens on the farm, stays on the farm!  Well that is unless it's our farm and I have a blog (smile).

A little over three weeks ago we had one of our Bantam hens (Big Mama) go broody and want to sit on eggs.  I let her sit on two of Ossy's eggs and one other bantam egg just to see if anything had some of it.

Well HE DID IT!  That little fella, a third the size of the love of his life, actually produced two cute little baby chicks with Ossy.  

While these are Ossy's eggs, Big Mama is their mother as far as they, and she, are concerned.  She's Bantam as well, and a very good mother

So there you have it.  It can be done!  Not sure what size they'll be til they're grown, but we do know Love conquers all, and apparently can climb mountains!

So are Heirloom the only seeds to save?

 Good morning!  Well it's morning here anyway.  Not sure exactly when you're catching a glimpse of this, but still....

So how yall doin?  How's yer Mama?  How's you're family?  

My mom is doing well now.   She had a nasty bout with Shingles that lasted over 5 weeks!  UGH!  As for our family, we're doing well.  Rubic is on two feet at last, albeit with a walker.  That won't last long.  He won't need the walker in a week or so I bet.  

I'd like to say that's going to free up time for me, but it probably won't.  Not only is this the busiest time of year for me, but because Rubic had his wreck due to a seizure; he can't drive for 6 months.  So I will be taking him to every Doctors Appointment, Physical Therapy, etc.  Once he gets back to work, unless he can work from home, I will be taking him there as well.  This is just temporary, and I'm happy to do it.   Before I quit my job and came home, I had a co-worker ask if I thought I'd be bored.  I told her I didn't think so, and I was right.  I've always had a lot to keep me busy.  

SO!  Now that the chit chat is out of the way, lets talk about the topic at hand:  Saving seeds from year to year!

I've always been told that ONLY Heirloom, open pollinated seeds can be saved from year to year.  This statement made things confusing when I'd see a volunteer non heirloom plant from the year before.  I'd let it live in the garden anyway.  My motto is if you made it thru winter you deserve a spot.  It would produce true to parent, most of the time.  I will say once we ended up with a weird Franken Veggie, but that was it.  

I will ask this of seed producers: Isn't it a bad business model to have to recreate your product(hybrid seeds) every year rather than them recreating themselves?  Also, if Heirloom seeds are the only ones that can recreate themselves, why do they cost more?  I saved seeds from ONE Heirloom Kale plant last year and had so many seeds; I was giving them to everyone I met, just about.  I still have  more than enough seeds for many gardening seasons into the future.  

Can you say Marketing Maybe? That's what I'm thinking.  Heirloom is the new buzz word to get people to fork over more money.

Years ago I'd bought speckled lima beans at a feed store.  I didn't save the seeds; they weren't Heirloom, but nature saved them for me I guess, and they kept coming back every year.  Finally last year I purposely set aside 100 seeds from these plants.  I planted a few to see how they would do, and now look at the plants below!

Next are Pepper plants from seeds saved from a store bought pepper

That's not grass.  It's wheat from wheat berries I purchased last year

What potatoes I have this year were planted from store bought potatoes that had sprouted in the pantry. 

Year before last I bought cow peas from tractor Supply; non heirloom.  Last year I decided to save seed to see how they would do.  I planted some recently and here ya go:

I've replanted watermelons seeds from store bought watermelons, store bought pinto beans, and popcorn as well.  What do you have to lose?  Nothing!

As a result of my past experience, I've come to these conclusions:

A)  Non Heirloom seeds can also be saved for future use IF they aren't hybrid.  

B)  Hybrid seeds can still be saved for experimental reasons.  If they produce well the following season, then keep saving them.  Just be prepared to have a Franken veggie, cause that might happen.  No harm no foul.  The seeds were free!   If they produce true to their parent, then save them again for the next year.  A plus for saved seeds is you can be liberal in planting.  They're free!  You'll get a lot of seeds from saving them.  More than enough to keep you in seeds for a good while; especially if saved every year.  I've already started saving my butternut squash seeds rom my harvested squash from last year.  This year I plan to save everything I can.  Free works for me! 

So have you ever tried this?  How were your results?  

And then there were 8

 Sorry it's been a couple of weeks since last I posted.  Everyday has had something needing my attention.  It's that time of year!  I'm outside most day, weather permitting.  I'm thinking we're at the "time to plant warm weather crops" point.  That means an even crazier schedule.  Normally this wouldn't be as crazy, but you add in doctor visits for our son; it's a little nuts.  

I did want to update you guys on the broody mama.  She managed to hatch out 8 babies.  My apologies for the lighting.  I grabbed this pic just as my phone died!  

We aren't sure how many males and females there are; odds are it's half and half.  We do have another hen sitting on eggs.  She's sitting on 8 that we know of.  Those should hatch around the 30th.  If no other hen goes broody by June 4th, we'll incubate one last batch.  This plan was put in place a few weeks ago, before all the chicken and eggs shortages started.  I'm glad we put this in place.  Come fall we will cull 4 older hens and all but 2 roosters.  We were going to sell some of the hens, but we may keep them all and sell eggs.  Not sure yet.  

Been crazy busy.  Sorry for the short post, but will post more later.

Introducing....my tiller! Plus Spring on the Homestead!

 My Dad once told me that the more moving parts something has the greater chance of it breaking.  Those wise words have helped me a lot over the years.  It goes without saying, then, that one of the most reliable tool in my tool chest is the one with the fewest moving parts. With that being said, may I introduce my tiller! 

 One moving part; two if you you count my arms.

We haven't had an actual rototiller for quite a few years now.  We sold it when we realized how it had sat unused for a few seasons,  Poor thing needed a new home where it could be truly appreciated.  It wasn't that I didn't love my tiller.  It had served us well, but once I'd moved to raised beds, there wasn't a need for it anymore.  It was hard to get the tiller  in and out of the beds anyway.  As a result, I'd just gotten used to using a shovel and cultivator.  Even last year when we expanded the garden to include the side yard, which isn't done in raised beds; I still prepared and planted the entire area with just my shovel and cultivator.  It took a few weeks of work, but I did it.  In addition, I plan to expand the garden further this year.  Who needs lawn right?

To be honest, I've really not missed having a tiller.  There are times I think I might want to borrow a tiller to do a large area, but then I decide to just start working on it and see how far I get.  It never fails.  I end up getting what I needed accomplished, and without all the fuss of a tiller. 

 Another plus in this day and age is no gas used.  Now that I can take to the bank!

You guys can chime in to let me know if you're the same way, but I hate( I'm using the word hate here) getting on a treadmill or other piece of exercise equipment for a workout.  I'll do it if I have to, but my preference is to be outside digging up my garden, shoveling wood chips, or some other outdoor highly physical activity.  I have a sign in my garden that reads "Mom's gym".  That would be right.  So another benefit of my not using  tiller is negating the need for a gym membership!  I'll take that to the bank as well.  

Springs seems to be up and running (I hope)  still don't have my warm weather crops out.  I do have Onions, Broccoli, Kale, Lettuce, Snow peas, Dill, Spinach, and potatoes going strong.  The Strawberry, Blueberry,  and Blackberry plants are a buzzing.  I thought I'd share a few pics of how things are shaping up so far this year.  Over the past few weeks I've managed to catch a few shots, just for our own use(I thought), but thought I'd share them with you guys as well.  

BTW< Broody Mama managed to hatch out a few chicks.  We can't see them yet, they're still under her, but we're proud of her.  She did it!  Now onto pics!

I love our little farm!

I also wanted to share a little walk thru my tiny greenhouse.  It's crammed full of seedlings, so it's a mess, but I'm loving every bit of it!

So how are things in your neck of the woods?  Have you planted something?  Share!

Day 9 of possible baby watch!

 Ummmm, no, not me.  Perish the thought!  Can you imagine Dh and I new parents at the age of, well, ahem, grandparents.  We'll just leave that there.  

Nope, our day 9 baby watch is for a possible broody hen.  I keep throwing in "possible", because last year we had a couple of hens that failed and failed badly.  We did have one that managed to hatch 2 chicks from the 20 eggs she had under her.  The number was her choice not ours.  She  kept letting hens in to lay.  It was a mess.  We couldn't get her separated from everyone else and it was just crazy.  It wasn't the number of laying boxes.  We had three.  It was just a preference on the other hens part, and her unwillingness to defend her nest.  Still she ended up being a good mama to the two that hatched; one hen and one rooster.  The rooster now runs a coop of his own at a neighbors house.   The hen is a part of our flock.  

Currently we have a hen sitting on 16 eggs.  These are due to hatch around the 3rd of April.  So far she's been fairly constant in her attention to the eggs.  She's on the nest each time I go out to check.  She's steady so far.  In addition to that, she seems to be defending the nest from the other hens.  Our egg count hasn't fallen off as of yet.  This tells me she's keeping the other hens from entering the nesting box where she sits.  She's like "I've got my own kids to worry about, I'm not watching yours too!".  Now all of this is subject to change, and probably will since I said something to the world (well or my few readers, lol).  

There are things we look out for this time of year to let us know when a hen is Broody.  When she's wanting to sit on eggs and become a mama.  The first tell tale sign is she will refuse to leave the nest and can actually get aggressive to anyone( or any hen) trying to gain access to the nest.  Now when I say aggressive, I don't mean violent, but I do mean she will peck at my hand to warn me off.  She never hurts us, even when we insist on lifting her up to look underneath.  Why are we looking underneath her?  Well another sign of a broody hen is she will pull out all of her breast feathers to better keep the eggs warm.  Lastly, she'll almost seem trance like.  Hens will rarely get off the eggs except for a break or two to stretch their legs, eat and drink.  Aside from that she sits. In fact, today I didn't latch the run gate well enough and all the chickens got out.  All but her.  She stayed; rock solid, on those eggs.  Now the others just went on a free for all and bout trashed my garden.  GRRRRR!  But she held her ground. 

 I tell you I won't make that mistake again, FYI. 

Last year we ended up investing in an incubator because it seemed all of our hens were insane.  It's a very nice incubator, and came in very handy last year.  It's here should we need it.  At this point, if this hen decides to leave the nest, we'll transfer the eggs to the incubator to finish out their gestation. All that being said, we're allowing her to hatch because...

1) Takes one less thing off our list!  It isn't a crazy amount, but having chicks under your care adds feeding, watering, temp watch, brooder cleaning etc, to our to do list.  While we can if we have to, it's nicer not having to!  Plus it means no brooder box in the house, and not having to use the incubator means not adding to the power bill!

2)  They will already be established as part of the flock,  That means no trying to get them to know each other, having to keep them in a separate coop, etc.  We're wanting to bring up another Rooster to join Lucky in the coop,  This will make it easier.   

3)  This Mama hen will mother these babies for a while, and will defend them with her life if need be.  I've seen it.  Well I've seen evidence of it.  We have a Bantam hen we call "Big Mama".  She broods very easily.  She's hatched out both Bantam chicks and Full size chicks,  She hatched out Lucky.  I went out one morning a few years ago, and saw evidence of an animal getting into the bantam coop where she had 3 babies.  It had found a way by chewing threw the wood in a place not readily seen.  From what I could tell, she was on the nest with 2 of her babies; one full size, one Bantam.  The third had just hatched, but was too weak from hatching to be able to get back under her.  It was taken, unfortunately by whatever got in.  Big Mama did everything she could to defend it and her other two.  Feathers were everywhere!  She had seriously put up a fight, but could only defend the babies already under her protection.  

A sweeter story happened a few years ago.  We had a full size hen hatch out about 14 chicks.  They had gotten old enough to venture out, but couldn't figure out how to get back in the coop once out.  It started raining, hard.  I went out to the coops and saw this poor hen, soaking wet, laying over the chicks who were perfectly dry.  She had stayed out in the rain to keep them protected.  She looked so pitiful.  I grabbed her up and tossed her in the coops and began grabbing chicks by the handful to toss in there with her.  She freaked out at first, but quickly realized what I was doing and took over the job of ushering in the ones I tossed thru.  In short order we had everyone in shelter, including Mama and they were safe and dry.  

So, here's hoping for some babies soon.  We'll see if she can pull it off.  Anyone want to lay odds?

Growing a Garden on The Cheap

 I like to watch Youtube or Rumble videos.  They vary from political, news, homesteading, gardening, and doll repair.  Okay, Okay, sometimes I'll watch animal videos.  They're cute!  

Anyway, homestead and gardening videos are my favorites.  I'd say I've learned a lot from them; sometimes learning what NOT to do.  FYI, just because there's a video showing something, doesn't mean it's the right thing TO do.  I've learned over the years to only try something on one of those videos if the "Youtuber" is reputable, and/or I won't be out anything by trying.  

Many times I'll start out watching someone pretty consistently.  Don't get me wrong; I understand the concept of constantly needing to add content to a channel, but there comes a time when what is being shared is something I can't afford to use or do.  For instance, there's a difference between a Youtuber Green house purchased/or provided to them by their sponsor, and my sad little homemade cattle panel green house.  At least when it comes to aesthetics.    The concept of how both work remains the same.  We've managed quite well here on our little homestead without Premiere Fencing, Name brand seed starter pots, or a Harvest Right Freeze drier to name a few.  In fact once they're pulling these things out for content, they lose me.  I need to save money, and I don't have sponsors to fund my foray into gardening.  Most don't.

I share the previous to say that anyone can grow at least some of their own food, and do so without all the Bells and Whistles that sponsor Youtube personalities.  In fact, let's not even compare to YouTube personalities.  Anyone can grow at least some of their own food without a large outlay of funds.  Pennies I tell you!  Pennies.  Well in today's economy it's more like...uh...dimes!  Dimes I tell you!  That's what this post is for.  All of the following things are things I do here in my shabby chic garden.  I won't give you any tip I don't currently use.  Promise!

Here are some tips to get started!

1)  Start with seeds.  Even if you've never gardened before, starting seeds inside can help you get the hang of it.  In addition, even factoring in potting mix, seeds are way cheaper than buying plants.  If you know someone that gardens, bet you can ask them for a few seeds and they will be happy to oblige.  We gardeners are always wanting to get people on the garden wagon. 

Some seeds do better being started outdoors.  Those are usually things like Corn and Beans.  Squashes can be temperamental too.  With all three it's because they don't like their roots messed with.  With experience and care, this can be overcome.  As a general rule though, I would start Corn, Beans, and squashes outside.  Tomato seeds are the easiest to start indoors.  They germinate quickly, and tolerate being moved fairly well.  One little packet of tomatoes seeds can contain 100 seeds!  Each seed represents a plant!  For new gardeners, maybe start with just a few tomatoes seeds and see how that goes.  Be forewarned though, my journey started with 4 tomato plants!  Look where that got me!

Important tips when planting seeds

a)  Plant at the depth stated on the package.

b)  Once planted, water well, and place on the top of a fridge or freezer to keep the bottom of the seed pots warm.

c)  Keep the tops well watered each day.  That doesn't mean a deep water.  The seed is only sitting near the top.  Mist the top well daily til the seeds emerge and start to grow.  Once they emerge, put them in a sunny location.  Even if it's only a few that emerge, move them.  The rest will follow soon.

d)  Once seedlings emerge, they will have two leaves.  When they have four leaves( those last two are "true leaves"), begin to put them outside in nice weather.  Do about an hour first day out of direct sunlight.  Add time each day as well as sunlight.  After about a week of in and out, let them stay outside over night as long as there's no frost.  If they do well over night, then they're ready to plant outside as long as there is no risk of frost.  Cold weather plants are fine either way.  *** extra little tip, have a small fan on low gently blowing across the plants to strengthen them.  Just not too much.  If you don't have a fan, periodically just run your hand lightly across the tops of the plants to simulate w breeze moving the plant.

2) Planting Containers-  Contrary to advertisers and Youtube personalities; There's no need for the latest and greatest seed pots to start a garden.  All that's needed is something with drainage, and that will hold dirt.  Sour cream, and yogurt containers containers make great seed pots, and they're free! Just need to put drainage holes in the bottom.  Plus if the lids for these containers are clear they'll make great little mini greenhouse domes for seed starting.  I save mine during the year.  When they're empty, I run them thru the dishwasher and then store til needed. Any type of plastic container like those will work.  Friends and family can save theirs if needed.  What doesn't work I've found, is egg cartons, and empty toilet paper/paper towel rolls.  The egg cartons are too small to allow the plant to grow, and toilet paper rolls disintegrate before the plant reaches the ability to be planted outside.  

3)  Potting mix-  Now this is where you will have to spend a little.  You don't need a large bag of mix, maybe 4 qt bag?  As tempting as it is to go out in my yard and just grab dirt for my plants, I have to refrain.  Yard dirt's all fine and good if the plants are staying outside, but since I'll be having them start indoors, regular yard dirt will never do.  That dirt isn't sterile, in that it has little buggies and stuff.  Nope!  Better to just grab a small bag to start your seeds.

4)  Fertilizer - Is fertilizer necessary?  Well, if you're going to keep your plants in a pot on the porch, maybe not so much first year out.  In all honesty, if a yard garden is in the works, The County Extension office will perform a soil test free of charge.  Well it used to be free.  Cant speak for certain now.  The soil may come back that it's perfect, at which point fertilizer won't be needed.  If some type of fertilizer is needed, look into acquiring natural fertilizers; aged chicken manure, cow manure, or horse manure.   Rabbit manure doesn't have to age.  Don't want to deal with animal poo?  Coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, banana peels, etc work fairly well.  The coffee and tea will work faster since it doesn't have to break down.  You can, if you're only doing a small area, use fish emulsion.  Stinks to high heaven, but it doesn't cost much, don't have to use much, and works well.  I'm kinda a fence straddler when it comes to synthetic fertilizer.  To me the worst thing to use on your plants is pesticide.  I see fertilizer as a supplement such as a vitamin supplement  we would take.  It's better to get it from natural sources, but in a pinch if you need it and don't have natural sources, go for it.  BUT  keep amending your soil with what natural sources  you can until it's built up to not need fertilizer.

Uh sorry, no pictures of animal poo.  I know your sad.  My condolences.

5)  Weed Suppression-  May I preface this by saying DON'T BUY LANDSCAPE FABRIC!  I've learned this lesson the hard way.  I've had it twice.  I bought it the second time because I thought I just didn't get a good quality landscape fabric.  Yea.  I was wrong.  Quality has  nothing to do with it.  Landscape fabric or weed suppression fabric is a permeable fabric that's supposed to keep weeds down, but allow water in.  There are problems with this theory I'm finding:  

a)  Fabric in combination with rain pouring down from above( and sitting in puddles on top of fabric)on top of red clay soil like I have here in Ga; makes for hard compacted dirt.  Plants don't like that.  Plus, there's no way to cultivate the dirt around the plants periodically because the fabric is in the way.  

b)  While it does suppress some weeds, others make it thru the tiny holes and grow.  By the time you see them, they're hard to pull out of the fabric and leave holes once you do; ruining the fabric.  

A better alternative, and one that is relatively free: Wood chips acquired from the landfill on top of cardboard collected.  I've done this over the past few years.  I collect any boxes that come from orders delivered to the house, groceries, my sons weekly "pizza before day off" routine, etc.  As these come in, I break them down flat and lay them in walk ways between my beds.  These I top with fresh wood chips from the landfill.  Wood chips from the landfill are free.  You just have to go get them.  At least here they are.  I think they are everywhere. 

***I do not put fresh wood chips around my actual plants.  Wood chips need to age or they will steal nitrogen from the vegetable plants.  Do not mix your wood chips into the dirt.  

I rarely put boxes on my actual beds, but I do during the winter time when nothing is growing.  Boxes are organic material and will break down to become part of the soil.  Yes that means they have to be replaced periodically, but so does the landscape fabric.  At least these add to the soil and are free.  

While I put the cardboard and wood chips in the walk ways, the actual beds (or rows if you don't have beds) are topped with leaves (free for me) or pine straw if I have the funds.  I leave my beds free from cardboard during the growing season in order to cultivate.

Many cities or counties have a place to pick up Wood chips or Free Mulch. It's pick up only.  If unable to pick up from the landfill, Area Tree service companies will drop chipped wood from taken down trees to addresses on file to receive.  They will only do this for those in the area they're working. 

*** I'm adding this.  I just discovered Chip Drop.  You sign up for free, you can request woodchips, logs, or both.  A truck will deliver your request when your name comes up in the area they are working.  You have to take the whole truck load.  If you want logs they will be big.   It's free woodchips, but you can get them faster by either paying the arborist fee of $20 (still cheap for a whole truck load of mulch), or accepting both woodchips and logs.  I've put in a request for woodchips only, but we are opting to pay the arborist fee.  

6)  Garden Structure-  I do not buy tomato cages or garden stakes in the garden area of stores.  Those do not have the strength or height to support my plants.  I go over to the masonry section and get the bundles of long stakes (6 ft) for erosion control.  These are made of wood.  They are waaaaaay cheaper. Coat them in boiled linseed oil and they're good to go.  I've used them without the linseed oil and they do fine for a season, but a single coat gives them a good long life.  Our former absent neighbor had a fence that encroached on our property.  He gave us permission to remove any of the fence that was on our property.  That was all of the fence from the corner of our drive way, back to our property line.  We couldn't move the chain link, but the field fence was removed by yours truly.  I'm not throwing that away.  It's been used to provide arches, cages, etc. for the garden.  I have a PVC Trellis my dad made years ago for their garden.  My garden beds are made with cinder blocks scavenged from my good neighbor as well as a demolished house on the property of a friend of ours.  My point is to think outside the box and see things with a new eye.  Ahhh the possibilities!  

Gardens don't have to be designer deals that produce very expensive produce.  We need ours to be as inexpensive as possible.  

Don't let expense put off beginning a garden.  It can be done.  

Please comment below and share tips and tricks!  I love to learn new things!  

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It's waking up!!!!!

 Hello my friends!

I've had my hands full with yet another patient, Rubic, to care for.  He hasn't demanded all of my time, but I try to stay close just in case.  He needs me mostly first thing in the morning; then periodically during the day.  That gives me time to do some things around the house, and also work on more dolls.  The house is falling behind cause I'm doing more doll work.  It's just exciting to get to work on them again, and lets face it, housework is...well....housework.

In addition to inside the house, I've actually managed to get some outside stuff done as well.  I've moved this fence up to the top of our driveway.  Our old neighbor's chain link fence( behind this one) encroaches on our property line.  There is a marker there, but just in case...  Hopefully the new neighbors will see fit to remove their fence that's tangled and over grown.  Our fence is a little high, but it covers their ugly fence so that works for now.  If they move their fence, I may lower ours.  We'll see.

I love this time of year.  Things get pretty dreary starting around November.  The garden is asleep.  We don't get a snow covering; although we did get a snow shower this year.  The hens stop laying.  The days are short.  We don't use supplemental light in the hen house between Nov and end of Jan.   It just gives them a break.  There just isn't much fun to do.  But I did start some seeds.  Cool weather seeds. 

Now.....things are changing.  The days are starting to get longer, we've had some warm days too.  Those days are ones you will find me outside coming up with something to do.  We've again introduced supplemental light into the hen house to encourage laying.  As a result we're up to getting about 8-10 eggs a day.  There is something about the hens laying again that helps me breathe a sigh of relief.  I'm happy to say our frozen eggs and what few we would get from the hens, did manage to get us thru the bare egg season.  We had to use sparingly, but we made it through without having to buy any.  That was a plus.  I'm trying to plant, produce as much as possible.  Things being what they are at the store, anything I don't have to buy is a blessing.  

  We're a week away form what they call Meteorological spring.  That's when nature starts treating things like it's spring.  That's when the transition starts and we start to get a few nicer days.  Still get cold snaps, but still....I'll take the pretty days. 

 I've just come in from the garden.  I've planted Kale, Spinach, Lettuce, Cabbages and Broccoli in the garden.  These are all under floating row cover for now.  There's parsley in the green house and 3 experimental yellow squash plants as well.  I'm experimenting with them to see if they can survive in there and produce.  I'm hopeful by planting them early I can head off squash bugs.  We'll see.  I will say it's 52 degrees outside and 88 degrees in the green house (with the door open!).  I can only experiment with these three plants because we had such a bumper crop last season.  We have plenty of yellow squash canned or dried to use if these three plants die.  I do still have three other plants still in the house, along with 2 zucchini plants.  The parsley should be fine.  It's actually a semi-perennial.  It can survive from year to year as long as it doesn't get crazy cold.  

As you can see I have the plants surrounded by black jugs of water.  They will also be covered with two layers of floating row cover in the green house.  Hopefully that combined with the green house....well we'll just see won't we!

Anyway, as I was working in the garden I started to realize the plants are starting to grow, Blueberry plants are starting to swell with buds, strawberry plants are starting to green up.  It won't be long until we'll have lots of activity in the garden.  Can't wait!  

Do you have any signs of spring where you live?  What excites you this time of year on your homestead?  

Just for fun, back to playing with dolls!

 Hello all!  

With things being a little on the stressful side lately, with having no where to go, and needing to be close by for Rubic; I have finally taken up my poor broken dolls and started the work again to give them new life.  

These dolls will be listed for sale on my Etsy shop when I return to it, hopefully, next year.  I've taken a break this year to address some much needed things at home as well as finish these dolls.  I used to tell people that I didn't collect dolls.  That is until I realized I did collect dolls.  I collect broken dolls.  I'm particularly interested in composition dolls.  Composition dolls were usually made between 1914-1940's.  The earliest composition doll was in 1899, but they really didn't take off until 1914.  They are dolls made from a combination of saw dust and glue molded in the shape of a doll, then painted.  I love these dolls for their history, art form, and they are just so cute!  Well they were cute, and can be again.  

So without further adieu, here is my latest restoration; before and after. 

This little one is around 80 ish years old.  She is circa 1940's.  She has glass sleep eyes that open and close, and two little front teeth!  Above is her before.  Above is what she looked like when I bought her.

Below is the finished project complete with a new dress all her own.

The light was a bit much for that pic, but I wanted a picture of her in her new dress.  Here she is earlier in the day.  Much better lighting.

My plan is to make her some shoes and socks if I can and list her for sale in my shop.  I'm perfectly content to keep her if she doesn't sell.  That's a problem with doing this.  I get attached to them. BUT!  My ultimate goal is to find them a new home and someone to love them.  They were loved once before.  They will be again.   

GO CANADA!

So I'm going to make an assumption here that you all have heard of what's going on in Canada?  It seems there are other countries following suit as well; Italy, Holland, Australia to name a few.  Check out this link, unless Youtube takes it down.  That's not out of the realm of possibility.

World wide!

I've got one thing to say to Canada and other countries following suit.  

I hear tell there's a similar convoy in the works in the U.S slated for March 1st.  Don't know how true it is, but would be awesome if it was true.  

 

Would it add to the supply chain issues?  Probably.  I'd get a few extra things in between now and then if you can; just in case.  

What I'd love to see is this convoy drive to Washington DC and literally block all roads into and out of our nations capital.  How happy would they be to listen to the citizens when their items aren't available or they can't get out of the city.  Gives me a nice warm feeling to think of it.  

I'll tell you this, something's gotta give or we won't have a nation to defend.  

When it rains...and idiocy abounds

 Hello everyone!  I write this post from the hospital...again.  No, not for me.  Our son Rubic was in a car accident and broke his leg.  He had surgery yesterday to fix the breaks.  He now has a rod and pins in his leg.  So, yea, 2022 hasn't changed things much.  The hits keep coming or in other words when it rains it pours.  

Rubic went to work Monday and was due home at 7:30.  At 8 I was getting concerned.  By 9 I was kinda irked.  By 9:30 I was calling 911.  They had a deputy call me back; who said to call the emergency rooms and jails to see if he was there.  He was very helpful in giving me the numbers of all the surrounding jails.  I thanked him.  I started with the ER cause I didn't think my child was arrested.  The ER was a good bet as that was where he was.  Had been there for 7.5 hours.  He had asked them to call us, but they didn't.  I know they were busy, but I am listed in his chart.

  When we got to the ER, we had our obligatory mask on.  We had to stop, though, in the middle of the ER in order to have our picture taken for our visitor pass.  "Please remove your mask so I can get your picture"; I'm asked.  I oblige.  Then proceed to stand there for 5 minutes, mask-less, while she adjusts her camera to take my picture.  So for 5 minutes I was LAID BARE, exposed to the RONA that was lurking in the ER!  One could also say I was spewing my germs all over the poor unsuspecting patients in the ER.  All for just a picture.  A picture, I might add, of my bare face.  Had I committed some infraction while there, their security camera footage would have shown my masked face.  Why do I need a picture of an unmasked face?  Once that was done I had to re-don my mask to go see Rubic.  

We get back to his room in the ER and are told he has tested positive for Covid.  I explain to them that he had Covid in December and what the test probably picked up was the residue from that.  No matter.  He was a Covid patient!  He was now a HOSPITALIZED COVID PATIENT who was really only there due to a car accident and broken leg.  We stayed with him about 4 hours while we waited for a room.  I would put my mask on when someone came in, but other than that...

I came back the next morning and stayed with him for at least another 4 hours before he went into surgery.  Again, same thing with the mask.  After surgery, when he went to his permanent room, I was there with him or another 4 hours til visiting hours were over.  Same mask policy.  At no time was I told I needed to change what I was doing.  I wore a mask in hallways, and public spaces, but in the room with my son, who was also mask-less, I didn't.  I was allowed to come and go as I pleased.  

I was told I would need to call before coming up today to make sure the doctor wrote orders for me to be able to visit....cause...he has covid ya know.  It's policy.  I'm like...uh..but I've been with him this whole time.  Didn't matter.  Ooooookay.  So I call today to see if I can now come visit.  I'm told that IF the doctor writes the order, the policy is that I will have to stay in the room with him and can't leave until he is discharge AND I have to wear Full PPE; a gown, n95 mask, gloves, and face shield THE WHOLE TIME I"M THERE!  I try to explain that I've been with him this whole time, why this?  It's hospital policy.  If it's hospital policy, why wasn't his enforced in the ER or on the floor yesterday?  I'm told, I don't know.  It's just policy.  They did talk to the doctor ,who wrote an exemption that says I can come visit and go, but I still have to wear the PPE the whole time I'm there.  

So, I came to visit and like a good girl I don my PPE.  For the record, an N95 mask is hard enough to breath in; add a face shield in front and it's near impossible.  Plus the face shield fogs up and you can't see!  Not too long after I got there, his nurse comes in.  She is gowned, and masked, but no shield.  Off goes my face shield.  I will take my guidance from the staff.  After all, when she leaves there, she's going into another patients room.  I'm not, so if it's okay for her.....

 To my credit, I managed to keep the other PPE on about 4.5 hours.  Even when one of his doctors come in to see him.  This happens to be the doctor that wrote the order for me to visit that included all the PPE to be worn.  Might I state that he came in with no gown, gloves, or face shield.  Even so, I kept mine on until later when I was attempting to help them get Rubic up for a procedure.  The gown kept falling off, and getting in the way.  My hubby laughed as I ripped the gown off.  I was done.  I'll wear the mask.  That's it.  Again, good enough for the doctor is good enough for me.

All of this, even though I had been with him from the get go, he no longer had covid( just residue), and for a virus that has a 99% survival rate.  All of this even though their policy is inconsistently followed. 

*** I want to note here, that the care my son has received thru far has been exemplary.  Aside from the not calling me in the beginning, his nurses from ER to Floor have been great and his surgeon, wonderful.  

This hospital isn't alone; I'm sure.  From what I hear, New York hospitals are allowing covid positive nurses to work as long as they are asymptomatic.  They have to do this because they've lost so many of their staff  due to mandates.  So if they're allowing covid positive nurses to work; why all the fuss over PPE?  Cause seriously, there are other medical workers( and that includes doctors thank you very much) that just haven't been tested for Covid who are probably positive and are caring for patients.   They don't have to tested because they've been vaccinated.  Yet we know now that you can still spread this virus even when vaccinated.  You can still get it too, but that's another vent.

I don't vent about this because I want special treatment.  I don't vent about this because I want things harder for healthcare workers.  I share a kinship with them.  I used to be one and my husband is still.  I know how hard they work.  I know how doctors can sometimes be...er uh, jerks; not all, but some.  I don't vent about this because I don't care about others.  That is the furthest thing from the truth.

I vent about this because all of this Theater is useless.  It's that; Theater.  N95 masks that haven't been fitted and are on someone unaccustomed to wearing them is a liability not an asset.  The same goes for gowns, and shields.  In addition all of that stuff has to be correctly worn at all times, correctly removed, correctly discarded, and only worn for a short period of time.  In addition, consistency is key.  That means all people, at all times, have to wear all of it in order to have even the smallest chance of success.  One person breaks for even a second, that virus has an opening.  Plus, even if all the cases stop, and we remove all the PPE, Restrictions, Mandates, and Closings; that virus is still out there, and we start all over.  

Remember "15 days to slow the spread"?  It was never referred to as "15 days to stop the spread".  The original intent was to keep the spread of the virus down to keep from overwhelming the hospitals so they had time to prepare.  I was on board with that.  But, as with anything even remotely logical, let the politicians and the bureaucrats get ahold of it and it morphs into a giant ball of idiocy.

I also vent about this for all of the families who had to make a choice weather to be at the hospital from the get go in full PPE, to advocate for their loved one, or be home taking care of their family.  I vent for the ones who chose to come and wear the get up because they wanted to be there for a family member who suffered from Dementia, Alzheimer, or mental illness.  I vent for those dementia, Alzheimer, or mental illness patients that found themselves in a strange place with no one they new and their one connection to a loved one was severed by a mask, gloves, gown and face shield.  I vent for those who chose to come and donned the gear only to still get covid, and still spread it.  I vent for those who weren't allowed to come regardless and were unable to say goodbye to a family before they passed.  Had I been in that situation, and even in this one, I would have gladly packed a cooler with whatever I needed to sustain me for the time and stayed confined to my sons room for the duration.  That's more of a doable solution than the PPE.  

Sorry such a long vent.  I hope your coffee isn't cold.  Maybe you finished it while reading this.  Hopefully.  I just had to get this out, and this blog is more of a journal I'm willing to share.  Thank you for reading.  Have a blessed day.

Navigating "Bare Shelves"

 Good morning!  I should say "Good very early morning".  It's 3:45 am, as in A.M I insane!  Uh yea.  Well.  I just couldn't sleep.  I slept like a rock until about 1 a.m.  I woke up and my mind started racing thinking of everything from the chickens, the garden, baking, to a song I haven't heard in YEARS!  Now what triggered that!?  Seriously.  My brain is always trying to entertain me.  Problem is, it thinks I need entertaining in the middle of the night.  

I gave up trying to go back to sleep at about 2:30.  Instead, I came into the kitchen and made a batch of Granola and currently have dough rising for some bread.  I also made coffee.  Ummmm good coffee.  Don't worry, coffee doesn't keep me up.  It probably figures "why bother" the brain is handling that issue.  

While puttering around in the kitchen, and listening to a podcast, I began to think of pantry things, grocery store things, etc.  I've kinda had my own version of a pantry challenge this month.  It isn't a "No buy" challenge, but rather a "Buy only what's on a good sale" challenge.  It's served us well in that I have a little over $100 left in my grocery budget and 2 weeks left before I get my next allotment.  I'm saved this week in that there is absolutely nothing on a good sale this week.  

Last week, I did pick up a few things on sale, and gathered a few pics of what I saw. 

STOP!

We interrupt this post to tell you that we have moved forward a few days since the previous was written.  That's what happens sometimes.  Plans change, things have to be adjusted.

Okay, carry on.

As you can see in the above pictures, even my neck of the woods isn't immune from the current supply line issues plaguing the world.  Because of that I made some changes yesterday and decided, since there was nothing on sale and I still had plenty left in my budget, I opted to add to the pantry anything I was running low on IF the price was still unchanged and it was still in stock.  Yesterday was that trip, and I have to say the shelves were low, low, low at Aldi.  Some things I managed to add were baking cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, canned tomatoes ( garden didn't produce all we needed), sweetened condensed milk( still cheap at Aldi and the only canned milk available), and Worcestershire sauce.  Things missing from their inventory?  Half their meat counter was empty.  No containers of yogurt except some of the non fat individual containers.  Their salsa had gone up a bit in price and there was one flat of mild salsa available.  Nothing else.  The bread isle was about 25% stocked.  Cracker isle about half stocked.  Coffee section had been reduced to one shelf set and one shelf of that set had coffee on it(still not full).  There were a lot of bare areas, and raised prices.  You could see where they had spread items out to fill shelf space to cover bare areas.  Still left out of there with $20 in grocery money left.  So that was good.  

While I did pick up a few things at the store, my focus has been on using up items in the pantry and/or repurposing leftovers into new meals.  I've also been making sure to make more of what we need to have here.  

I've also had to get creative with how I purchase groceries.  I bought another 50lb bag of carrots from a local produce store recently.  

Because I bought such a large amount I got them for .50 a lb.  That's a great price even before inflation.  I've canned all but about 15lbs.  The 15 lbs will be used for roasting.  Alas I did discover that canned carrots don't make the best roasted carrots.  

Since milk here is around $3.15 a gallon, I checked at the local produce store to see if the price for the non-homogenized milk had risen.  It hasn't...yet.  It still remains $4.99 gallon.  With that small a difference, I'm opting for the non-homogenized.  It's better for us, and tastes way better too.  I did some figuring and found if, in addition to drinking, I use that milk for making yogurt instead of buying yogurt, I'll come out better than buying the less expensive milk and yogurt.  Granted I could make yogurt too with the less expensive milk, but I prefer the non homogenized if I can get it.  Plus, with both the carrots and milk I'm supporting two local businesses.  Now if things get really crazy or the price of the non homogenized milk goes up(and it probably will), I'll have to switch back, but for now; this works.  

Watching for sales has helped immensely.  The one caveat is that I need to be at the store the day the sale starts.  If I'm not, chances are I won't get what I'm going after.  Sometimes I still don't.   One thing I've noticed is the independent stores in my area tend to have a better supply of sale items than their corporate competitors.  That may be because their over all prices are higher and so the cheaper stores; Aldi, Walmart, and Kroger get picked over first.  Not sure if that's a reason, but maybe.  It does make me feel better to be able to shop the independent stores for some things to support them if I can.  They are local and tend to buy local.  Unfortunately, I can't afford to do all of my grocery shopping there. 

Gas is still a factor, and so many times I find myself opting to buy something that may be a few cents more simply because I would spend more in gas to get the cheaper item.  Yesterday's trip to Aldi only came about because I was already in the area.  Within a 10 mile (one way) drive there is a Walmart, Kroger, Ingles (independent store), and Quality foods (independent store).  To get to an Aldi or Sams, I would need to drive almost twice that one way.  

I ramble on about all of this to say; I'm handling inflation and Bare Shelves by:

1)  Thinking outside the box when it comes to how I buy groceries.  Buying in bulk can help, but look at the price per ounce, lb., unit before you do.  Bulk isn't necessarily the best price.  Don't assume it is.  That being said, if it works out to be the case; jump on it if you can.

2)  Make more at home from scratch!  

3)  Watch for sales!

4)  Support local businesses when you can

5)  Factor in more than just price when shopping; i.e. time, gas, etc.

6)  This one I didn't list, but it's through out my post and that is stick to whole food items rather than highly processed items.  Stay away from boxed cereals, boxed dinners, ready made snacks, etc.  You can buy much more whole food with the same dollars used to buy the boxed/ processed.  Opt instead for your own recipes (or ones on the internet), Granola, cookies, cereal bars, Popcorn!  

7)  Trade in your sodas, bottled water, and other bottled drinks for home brewed ice tea (made with real sugar! and you control the amount), homemade lemonade, or just plain water.  Trade in your fruit juices for whole fruits or infused water that you make with tap water and sliced fruit (sliced oranges are our favorite)

8) Opt to get as much as you can from whatever your buy.  I saved the peelings from the carrots I bought to use in making chicken or beef broth.  I found beef ribs marked down at an independent grocery store in my area.  Their marked down price was the same as the price for beef soup bones.  I opted for the ribs because I can cook them, removed the meat and use the bones for beef broth to can or freeze.  Buy whole bone in chickens and use every last bit you can from it.  You can get meat, broth, fat, and even chicken livers for your hubby to use when fishing( sometimes).  Same goes for beef.  Get the bone in, which is usually tastier and cheaper anyway, and save the bones in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch of broth

Hopefully you've found something in here worth while.  My over all point is to think over what you can do in your situation to stretch that penny.  Pinch it til it screams for mercy.  Tis fact still holds true.  If you earn a penny; it's taxed.  Only a saved penny is truly earned.  

So how are you pinching pennies?  Comment below and let us all know!