SAVE THE SEEDS!

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With inflation being what it is; there's a larger number of people wanting to grow at least something of their own.  The most budget friendly alternative is starting your plants from seeds; either direct sow or in pots based on the seed you're starting.  The cheapest alternative of the budget friendly start is to start that process with seeds saved from previous seasons.  That's right.  Heirloom seeds come to mind, but that's not necessarily the only way.  Yes, I've purchased Heirloom seeds, mainly because I have a plant sale each year and that's what people like to buy.  For myself I'll use either some of the "Heirloom" seeds or just average run of the mill seeds from plants not bearing the "Heirloom label".  My logic is this: it's a pretty lame business plan to have to recreate seeds every season because your "non Heirloom" seeds won't reproduce.  What is a good business plan is to package your seeds with an "Heirloom" label and charge more.  Even though they're the same seeds.  Not saying this is the case.  I wouldn't want to malign anyone, but I can see it happening at least in some cases.  Heirloom or not, saving seeds saves money! Your plant wants to make more of itself.  Let it do that, and you too can be blessed with a never ending supply of food.  

1)  Saved seeds will acclimate to your climate first season.  So you may(or may not) have a so so harvest that year as they adjust.  Following years will be better because the seeds are now used to your soil, temp, etc.  So what you want to do is save the seeds from the prettiest fruit produced that year.  Save a lot.  That way you can be generous with your planting, and sharing.

2)  You can also save seeds from fresh produce purchased at the store.  I've successfully saved seeds from store bought Watermelon, and a variety of different types of peppers.  I've also planted things like store bought dried beans, and  popcorn successfully.  These are the packages of dried beans or popcorn normally used for food.  In those cases it does depend on the store.  Kroger had the best germination for pinto beans.  However, a couple of years ago I purchased a 5 lb. bag of organic non gmo pinto beans from Azure Standard.  They were for cooking, but I set aside about 20 to see how they would grow.  They grew, and produced true to their parent plant.  In other words, they made more pinto beans.  I saved those seeds and planted them year before last.  I had enough to set aside 100 seeds and have about a pound of dried beans for cooking.  Last year I planted those 100 seeds, and so on and so forth.  I will set aside some for next years planting and save the rest for cooking.  

3)  Don't think you have to use only Heirloom seeds.  Packages without that label are still good for seed saving plants.  I've saved seeds from Blackeye peas( cow peas), Speckled Lima, Tomatoes, Peppers, Squashes, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Marigolds, Zinnias, and Snow Peas.  Non of these were marked "heirloom", all produced true to their parent plant.  Last year I saved seeds from some non heirloom spinach.  Planted this year they came up and were...spinach!  Your best bet is to buy seeds from a feed store or local mom and pop garden store.

4)  Seed saving is not hard.  Google is your friend in this if you need to learn specific how to's.  I can , however, share a few ways.  

Broccoli, Cabbages, Brussel sprouts, Kale, and other members of the Brassica family.  When your plant bolts it can make you sad; especially when you didn't get anything , or very little, before it did so.  That happens to me often because we have Ga weather which can be a bit unpredictable.  Now when my plants bolt I will let one keep flowering and pull up any others that have bolted.  Trust me, one plant is enough!  Bolting means it began to flower.  That means the vegetables on it are now bitter tasting and not much good for anything...except seeds.  This can be a sad moment when you're having to pull this up, but you need that space to plant something else.  So get to it! Once your one plant is done flowering, you will notice what looks like little bean pods.  These little bean pods will swell and get bumpy like a bean pod would when it's full of beans.  Don't pick it yet!  Wait until the little pod is brown and dry.  Then carefully remove the pods.  Might want to clip them, because if the pod crushes when your pulling it, you will have tiny seeds on the ground.  No telling where they'll grow!  Once you've gathered your dry pods, you can open them onto a tray or plate to catch the seeds.  To be honest, once the little pods are brown and dry, you can just rub them between your h ands and the seeds will come out onto whatever you have to catch them.  Put your seeds into a container and store in the fridge /freezer.  This simulates a change of seasons.  Plus helps keep the germination rate good.  Seen below in this picture are the pods.  It's hard to tell, but there are brown pods mixed in here.  I just went ahead and harvested because I didn't need all of them!  

   

Spinach.  This will also bolt or flower.  Let it.  It will continue to grow and flower and you will see clusters of little beads at the main stem.  Wait.  It needs to turn brown and dry out before you harvest your seeds.  Once those little beads are dried out, you can begin to remove them from the stem.  Pretty much at this point your spinach plant is done, and it will look done.  Put seeds in a container and store in the fridge/freezer.

Peppers are easy peasy.  You will simply pull the seeds out when you prepare your peppers to eat.  Lay the seeds out on a saucer and sit to one side on your counter to let them dry.  I leave mine out weeks and weeks until I am certain they are all dry.  Then store in a container in the fridge/ freezer. 

Tomatoes-  Now you can go on Youtube and find plenty of videos where they are saving their tomato seeds by fermenting them a few days and blah, blah, blah.  That is a way the you can save seeds, and then plant one at a time the following year.  That's all fine and good if you want to be all organized and such, but I know tomatoes are seriously resilient plants.  They endure transplanting well.  So I simply just squeeze the seeds, still in their juice and gel covering onto a saucer and let dry. Then I chip up the seeds, dried pulp and all into my bottle and into the fridge/freezer.  It means I'll plant 4 or 5 seeds at a time in each pot, but it also means I know at least one will emerge.  I simply separate the tiny plants and put them each in their own pot. Never had an issue this way. 

Green Beans-  As green bean pods mature they get bumpy as they begin to fill with seeds.  Allow the pods you've designated for seeds stay on the vine until they're brown and dry.  Then harvest your pods, shell out the bean seeds.  Store them in a container in the fridge or freezer to use next year.  Don't store if the pods have gotten wet.  Make sure they're good and dry before storing. 

Squash.  Last but not least.  This one is also easy.  Simply choose one of your best squashes and let it stay on the plant.  It will grow, get hard, and bumpy.  Pick the squash when the squash is hard and bumpy,  Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds.  The pulp should be pretty spongy at this time and the seeds should be able to be removed easily.  Put your seeds on a plate or saucer and let air dry well.  Then put in a container in the fridge/freezer til next year.   See below my bumpy babies.  You can pick when they're like this.  The smooth ones are for eating.

There is no need to expend extra cash on all heirloom seeds or 25 year seed vaults.  Save seeds you're interested in having in your garden; what your family likes to eat.  Save them each year and you will always have seeds on hand regardless of what's in stores.  Plus, you will have more than enough for your family and to share with others!

Gardening on the Cheap

 Hello all!  Yes I'm getting the garden ready for spring planting.  It's almost here!  I've already started my seeds!😁Lately I've been cleaning out beds and moving perennials around.  As I was doing so, I looked around and noticed everything I have that will provide food for my family without cost on my end, and I got to thinking of a post on how to garden cheaply, if not freely.  Below are a few ideas to help get started growing at least some of your own food without breaking the bank.  As a caveat, I will say you may have to buy soil.  

1.  SPREAD THE WORD!  Let all gardening friends( and strangers) know you're wanting to start a garden!  That's the best way to get seeds and cuttings when you're just starting.  Gardeners love to share tips, seeds, and cuttings to encourage others to grow.  Those tips can come in handy as well as the access to pick the experienced gardeners brain.  Yes, google is a good resource to look things up, but there still is no better information than what you'd get from an experienced gardener in your area.  AI can give you a good summary, but what does and doesn't work in your area is found best in an experienced local gardener.  

2.    SEED EXCHANGES.  Seed exchanges are places where local gardeners bring in their unused seeds to exchange with others. It's not a meeting, but rather the seeds are brought in and left.  When each person comes in they can choose from what's there and also leave seeds for others at the same time.  Keep your eyes peeled for offerings on Social media sites as well.

3.  SAVE THOSE SEEDS!  At the harvest of each type of vegetable, let one of each plant "Go to seed" in order to save your seeds from year to year.  It's quite simple to save seeds.  The easiest to harvest seeds from would be beans, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers.  Google any plant and find out how to save the seeds for future use.  Hybrid seeds may produce something different, may not.  Worth saving the seeds to see.  Heirloom or open pollinated seeds are supposed to be best, but I've saved seeds from store purchased produce like peppers and they've done fine.  I'll do a more in depth post in a few days to show how for each item.  Once you get in the practice of saving seeds, you'll never need to buy seeds again! 

4.  SEED POTS ON THE CHEAP-  While there is cost to buying seedling pots, it isn't too bad.  That being said, to add to your seed pot stash you can a) do your best to save your pots from year to year,  b)  take any pots anyone wants to give you, and c) save your sour cream, yogurt, cottage cheese containers.  I save mine and then put holes in the bottom by heating an old icepick and poking it in so it melts holes in the bottom.  A good poke with any sharp pointy object will do the same, but the hot icepick is my favorite.  I save these all year round.  We don't go through many, but I'll take what I can.  As an aside, I don't care for using egg crates.  They're too small in my opinion.  I also don't care for toilet rolls.  They come apart to easily.  

5. HOST A PLANT SALE!-Over the last few years, I and a few friends have hosted a plant sale.  It's a yard sale with plants.  It all started because I was starting my seeds for the garden and wondered if anyone would be interested in my starting seeds for them.  A lot of people don't have the time or space to start seeds.  There was a good bit of interest so, since I had a ridiculous amount of seeds ( saved and new), I planted a bunch!  I marked them cheap; $2 for a 6 cell pack or single 2 cup size pot and $3 for anything bigger.  My goal was to cover my gardening expenses and help others, wanting to garden, get started cheaply.  My friends and I did well with the sale.  I covered all garden expenses, including the pop up greenhouse I had purchased.  So everything I harvested was free.   If you're thinking " well she has all of this space", you'd be wrong.  I started seeds on the top of my freezer, and refrigerator, then as they grew and needed more space so did I.  I had seed starts everywhere in my house.  Then as the weather warmed, I could move them outside unless it turned off too cold.  It was work, but it paid for my garden and helped some people out.  This plant sale has now become a yearly thing.  Every year I invest in whatever potting soil, pots, etc. I will need for the sale and our garden.  Whatever is left after the sale gets planted or donated to an area food pantry/community garden.  This one thing alone has helped offset my gardening expenses, and allowed me to add new things to my garden; plants, structures, etc.  

6.  JUST SAY NO TO LANDSCAPE FABRIC!   Okay this is my last tip I can think of, but this one comes with a warning.  There are a lot of youtube homesteading channels that tout the benefits of landscape fabric.  I always comment the same thing:  Don't do it!  I go on to list all the problems with landscape fabric.  Fire ants build mounds under it.  It compacts the soil, because you can't cultivate it. Weeds still come they're just harder to pull up, and it becomes an almost permanent thing in your garden.  They respond to my comment that their soil is better, they know what they're doing etc.  Then about a year later they're doing another video on why they're no longer using the landscape fabric.  Huh.  Go figure.  A better choice is to simply lay down cardboard, and either use landscape pins or just top with wood chips or mulch.  Invest in a hand held cultivator for weeds that get past the cardboard.  The cardboard will breakdown over time, and become part of the dirt under it.  Simply replace the cardboard as needed.  With as many deliveries and people receive nowadays, cardboard should be easy to come by.  

Okay, so that's a start.  There are other tips and tricks down the line, but this will get your garden started.  So what tips do you have?  Comment below.  Above all else, go get in the sun and get your hands dirty.  It's good for you!

Can I do it?

 Hello everyone!  Well the couple of you that are still hanging around.  First of all thank you for reading after all this time!  I know.  I have no excuse for my absence, except discouragement.  I've still been humming around the homestead.  I can fill all that in time because I believe I'm ready to pick up the keyboard again.  

Starting more things than my blog today.  6 and a half years have past since my heart attack.  A lot has happened and, unfortunately, I've put the weight back on.  Not all of it, but a good portion of it.  I can lay many things at the feet of my weight gain, but I know I share some blame.  

Late last night, or should I say early morning, it dawned on me that I managed to hold my weight loss for 2 years after the death of my dad.  That was a feat because I was going often to my moms to help around the house and then help her move.  It wasn't until my heart attack in August of 2018 that my weight began to creep up.  Part of that was the medical advice I was given(SMH), and part was being in a panic that it would happen again.  Anyone that has experienced a heart attack will tell you it isn't something they're keen on repeating, and mine was mild!  Anyway back to my middle of the night epiphany; over the years I'd begun to doubt I could ever get my weight loss mojo back.  I questioned my approach to losing weight the last time, and tried and failed with other diets.  Once I had the realization last night that I had managed my weight loss easily for 2 years; it dawned on me.  My approach of real food, portion control, and move was right!  I remember how I was then.  I felt so good I was looking for activity!  In fact the day before my heart attack, I was at a friends house helping them put in a patio.  My job was to shovel sand into a wheel barrow to carry to where it was needed.  It was great!   I wanted to move.  My husband and I would go hiking ( on purpose), and pick very challenging trails.  9 times out of 10 I was outside finding something to occupy me.  When I couldn't do that I would exercise in the house.  

So armed with that epiphany, I'm setting off again.  I'm going back to what I know.  Real food, Portion control and Move!  I'm using "My fitness pal" now because sparkpeople is gone.  In the mean time, I'll be getting back to writing about all my frugal shenanigans.  Hopefully something I share will be helpful.  

Time To Plan For Holiday Grocery Shopping

 Good morning!  Or Good "whenever you are reading this".  Down by two cats YAY!  Still have 7 left.  This week is kind of a odds and ends type week.  I'm trying to get things organized and accomplished.  I canned some dry pinto beans.  It's a nice convenience to just have to open a jar.  I also made some sweetened condensed milk for the holidays.    
I think I've undertaken a daunting project in that I'm attempting to restore a hand sewn quilt my grandmother made probably 75- 80 years ago.  I've washed it on the gentle cycle and am now waiting for it to line dry.  Having to do that inside as we have cats outside too and want to make sure nothing gets damaged further.  If anyone has some tips on how to go about this, please comment below.  I need all the help I can get.  The only thing I know is if I do nothing, the quilt will continue to disintegrate in my trunk.  See what I mean?

                                         

So that's the local chit chat on the homestead, but I have a much more exciting thing to talk about!  Holidays are coming!!!!  With that comes the best grocery staple sales hands down.  This would be the Super Bowl of the grocery shopping sale season.  Now don't get me wrong; there are good deals to be had through out the year, but this time of year you can get really good buys on things like flour, butter, turkey, ham, evaporated milk, nuts, chocolate, canned vegetables, cranberries, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, spices, extracts, and sugar to name a few.  Everything a growing pantry needs.  

Even Walmart and Aldi are announcing their holiday dinner plans!  Now they aren't really telling me anything I don't already know.  Every year grocery stores vie for our holiday dinner dollars.  Walmart and Aldi are just advertising what every store will be doing.  So don't just focus on Walmart and Aldi.  Scan those other ads for the deals too.  So, just in case you didn't read the article, it's Nov 1st -Dec 26th.  You will see some good staple item deals.  Stock Up!

Here's a tip.  You're deals are usually found on the first and last page of a store's ad.  These are called Loss leaders and they are that.  The store takes a loss on these things in order to draw you into the store and hopefully sell you other things maybe not as great a deal.  Your mission should you choose to accept it; is to shop these loss leaders and not get suckered into other things.  Now if you find a good unadvertised price on something in the store, we can talk, but know your prices going in.   

Now is the time to start laying a little extra aside.  If you can't lay a little extra aside, start cooking more from scratch and using less processed foods in order to have the extra dollars to stock up on these deals.  Go thru your pantry and make a wish list.  Go thru your grocery list and nix anything unnecessary; soda, junk food, processed foods.  Push comes to shove make the junk food!  Only if you make it; it's no longer junk food, but homemade goodness with no funny business.  Seriously, some of the junk food will also be on sale!  Buy it then!  

You're welcome!  😁

https://fox8.com/news/walmart-aldi-to-offer-thanksgiving-dinner-options-at-lower-prices/

I'm Not Supposed To Be A Crazy Cat Lady!

 Yall I'm losing my mind!  All the things we have going on and add 9 baby kittens in various ages and it's an insane asylum!  Remember the feral mom and  kittens?   Well HER mom was also pregnant and had a litter, we know not where.  This was about 4 weeks ago; right after I posted on the kittens we had then.  Anyway, we knew she had a litter of kittens, but not knowing where they were, we just started looking everywhere we could think of. The idea was to get the kittens and then use them to lure her into the house; much the same way as we did her daughter.  So with that thought in mind, DH went under the house to see if he could find them.  So the good news is DH did find a litter of kittens.  The bad news is they were too old to be hers.  We suspect they belonged to another one of her feral daughters.  We haven't seen that particular daughter in a long while.  In fact.  We had only seen her a few days before we found what we believe to be her litter.  We believe something happened to her, unfortunately.  For that reason we're so glad we found those kittens as they wouldn't have had a mother to feed them and would have died.  

So now we have 9, count them 9 kittens running thru this house and still have no idea where the, uh, grandmother mama cat's litter is.  I expect she'll bring them to us to feed in a couple of weeks.  We can't end this over abundance of cats unless we can get that grandmama cat fixed.  She's the one who keeps having kittens.  This would be her 5th in about 14 months.

As for the daughter we currently have in the house and slated to be fixed, she did take in these extra 4 babies and mother them...or a bit. It got to the point they got their teeth and started biting her.  So we had to step in and start hand feeding them some.  They're staring to eat dry food, but still want the milk we've been giving them.  Mini Me , the mother cat that is raising them, does still allow them to nurse a little, but not if they start fighting for a spot.  With 9 kittens that can be all the time.  We're just happy when she can and do our best when she can't.  

Without further adieu:  

If you're near North Georgia and are interested in a kitty, just comment and let me know.  The gold one is taken, as are the two black males and the black and brown long hair female.  

Update on Mom and reworking things

 Good morning all!  It is a good morning here.  Tonight's low is forecasted to be 43.  Fills my heart with joy.  That there is good fan in the window sleepin weather!  Now in January, when it's lows in the 20's; pay no attention when I complain about how cold it is.  Not going to think about that right now.  

Temperature isn't the only reason for my good morning.  Looks like my mom will be coming home from the hospital Tuesday.  She has a long road back, but she's doing so well.  

This particular hospital stay actually started almost 15 weeks ago.  15 weeks tomorrow.  Back in July, my mom fell in her driveway.  She had just returned from walking her dog.  When she pushed the button to open the garage, it startled her dog and he bolted, pulling her down.  Although an ambulance came, she refused to go to the hospital because she didn't think she was hurt.  She thought she was just jarred from the fall.  We won't mention what all of her children thought.  Ahem.....Moving right along!  

To her credit, she did finally go to an orthopedist about 4 weeks after the fall.  They took x-rays and said no fracture.  So she's been operating under the knowledge that nothing was broken.  However she wasn't getting better; only worse.   She was living in constant pain.  Finally she went to another orthopedic surgeon. They did a new set of x-rays and a scan to confirm, but there it was big as day, a hip fracture. Fast forward about a week due to having to make an appointment to see the surgeon for result and finally being told she could just go thru the ER and they would admit her to fix the hip.  So we took her a week ago this past Thursday.  They did surgery on her hip that Friday.  She did great for a day or two and then her knee swelled up and was causing crazy amounts of pain.  They drew fluid off her knee and sent it off to be tested; infection.  Yep, now we have that.  So she's started on antibiotics.  Now she's up and moving around.  She's working with physical therapy and walking down the hall some.  I'm so glad to see her out of pain.  She hasn't needed much for pain in the last couple of days.  She's primarily still in the hospital to finish the antibiotics and because she's on blood thinners to avoid clots.  

We did have a concerning (to put it mildly) moment during her stay.  It seems she has lesions on her pancreas.  They did an MRI to rule out Cancer.  When a doctor says "cancer" to you, it's easy to go to a very dark place.  Fortunately the MRI found no cancer.  We believe the lesions are damage caused by extended use of Tylenol.  We're hopeful, as she heals and isn't taking the pain meds, her pancreas will heal some.  So bear that in mind guys.  You shouldn't need to take any pain med for longer than 2 weeks.  If you're still in pain, see a doctor!!!  Your liver and pancreas will thank you.  

So, as for reworking things;  My siblings and I and banding together to help her during her recovery.  It's probably going to be a 6-8 week journey.  As she progresses, she won't need us as much, but for now, I'll be splitting time between My house and hers.  That means making meals ahead for when I'm gone, but also maybe purchasing things to have here and there to make things more convenient for both myself and my family when I'm away.  The garden is the least of my worries at this moment.  It's finished for the most part anyway.  I have a few cold weather things, but not much.  Clean up will have to wait til later.  Maybe it will give me something to do during the bleak winter months.  I plan to take my sewing with me for times when she doesn't need me.  That way I can keep up my Etsy shop during the holiday shopping season.  

It's what all of use should do in similar, and by that I mean "Crisis" situations.  There will always be things that rear their ugly head at the most inopportune times.  The way to plan for these things is to always recognize they will happen and so be willing to lay aside schedules, processes, and priorities to address them.  My mom is my priority. My family is also a priority.  That means I will do as much as I can to take care of my family and my mom.  I also need to be a priority.  If I'm not a priority to myself, then I won't be able to be there for my mom and family.  So while I will make things ahead primarily:  I will also buy healthy (operative word is healthy) things at the store that I don't have time to take care of at home.  I will also set things aside that don't have to be a priority.  

I'll do my best to post some frugal tidbit, but it may be a repost of something relevant to the season. Please be patient.  I'll be back at the writing desk sooner rather than later.  

If there is a topic you'd be interested in my addressing, please comment below and I'll address it, or post something from a previous post to address it.  Thanks guys!

I know I'm running late with a new post

 My mom is in the hospital, so I may be next week.  Thanks for understanding.