Taking a break!

Dearest Readers,

I am taking about a week's break from the blog.  There will be a ton of traveling and holiday gatherings... and let's be honest, you don't have time to read this either.  ;)

Hope Yule have a fun time this week!

Puppy PMS

Stormy has been acting a little strangely for 2 weeks.

At bedtime (10-11pm), we usually say "get your dragon!" and Stormy will pick it up and head to bed with us.  Now, she grabs her dragon between 9:30 and 10pm, and wanders the house crying and staring at us until we follow her to bed.  Then when we try to go to sleep, she will grunt and huff and flop dramatically back and forth on the bed for up to a half hour.  She's sleeping more, showing more frustration, and is a lot more cuddly... does she have PMS?

I've been watching for it, but she hasn't started her first heat yet.  Her mom started around 1 year old, so Stormy is due to begin it now.  In the meantime, I guess we must just endure her 10pm whining.

Dragon in mouth, she sneaks up behind you and stares. 

1st Day of Retirement

Happy "retirement" to me!

Well, I do still have one day on Jan 6th, but it is a low-stress party day, so I am not truly counting it.

As this day has come closer a feeling has grown, and I had a difficult time figuring out a label for this feeling.  This week I realized that it is the feeling of "starting a life adventure with Ryan."  It is really similar to the countdown to getting married, the search for the right puppy, planning for the move into our new house.

It still doesn't feel real... it feels more like an extended vacation.

Let the adventures begin!

I have lists upon lists of the projects I want to work on, basically a giant business plan for the next few years of life.  But before I start Phase 1 of this plan, I have to complete Phase 0.  Phase 0 includes things like complete relaxation, catching up on sleep, picking up a morning exercise habit, visiting family, and enjoying the holidays. 

On that note, I will spend the day walking around the local downtown area with my mom, and visiting a new friend who has a shop down there.  The friend has a style similar to my planned Etsy store, so it was interesting to see prices for the different items.

Our first green salad!

It was already getting summery by the time our backyard renovation was complete this year, so I didn't have much luck growing greens.

However, the beds are now full of 'em... mustard, radish, flat-leaf parsley, bull's blood beet, kale, chard, garlic.  All appear to be able to survive temps down to 22 degrees F.  I was finally able to make a huge salad out of all the greens.

Those bull's blood beet tops are so pretty!  My favorite "green" so far.

And then, tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar....

Mmmmmmm.

It was a pretty zesty salad... like one of those bagged herb salads with all the bland "filler lettuce" removed.  SO GOOD.

Is there anything still surviving in your garden?

Stormy's 1st Birthday

1 year already?

What to get for a puppy who already has way too many toys?  A meaty raw mammoth bone!

Stormy is completely in love with devouring her bone.

It is hard to believe that she's already a year old, since it seems like just yesterday she was small enough to use a throw pillow as a bed.

Last of the Summer Harvest

When the forecast said there was to be a hard frost, I decided to harvest a bunch of herbs and the rest of the tomatoes.

An herb tree?

The top is marjoram, a gallon o' green tomatoes, mint.  The bottom is the basil... didn't realize there was so much of it in the garden, since it was hidden under the tomato jungle!

I ended up drying the herbs, since our freezer space is tight.  The marjoram goes really, really well in turkey soup.

The tomatoes are lounging on the countertop, and I'm hoping they'll ripen!  If not, I suppose it is time to learn how to make fried green tomatoes or green tomato relish.

Do you have a favorite recipe for green tomatoes to share?

Spare the Freaking Air

It's turning into a Spare the Air month.

It's been a Winter Spare the Air day practically every day over the past few weeks... and definitely every day that I have Ryan home.  Once it got super cold (the coldest it's been in this area for years, I hear), and optimal for a nice toasty fire, we were ironically not allowed to actually use the fireplace.  As of today we've had 10 Spare the Air days in a row... it broke the consecutive-days record at 5 in a row last week.

This is incredibly frustrating for a lot of reasons that I shouldn't go into because I will rant for several paragraphs.  The most important reason is that fire has always felt pretty spiritual to me, and it sets the tone for the winter holidays.  Now that there's a fire goddess in my life, it IS spiritual.  I just want a freaking fire in the fireplace while I am relaxing at home with my husband and enjoying the season.

And so, I must find creative alternatives.

I removed the bulb from my salt lamp and replaced it with a flickering one that mimics a candle.  All the paper links I remove from the chain go into the fireplace, and the salt lamp is nestled amongst them.  When you turn it on, the light glows and flickers warmly, and the curls of paper could possibly be branches.  A space heater adds to the effect... as does a giant pile of make-believe.

Complete desperation.

There are also flickering fake candles about the house... but I definitely need more!  My asthma can't really handle real candles 24/7, but the warm glow makes my spirit happy, so I'm thankful for the technology.

The paper chain is symbolic of the last of my ties to the university.  Part of the plan is to burn it on the night of December 21st, which is my first day of "retirement" and also Yule Eve.  Here's hoping the air quality is better by then!

Reducing the food budget in 2014

It would be silly of me to reduce food costs only through buying dry goods in bulk.  Having wiggle room in the budget is nice, so these are things I have been brainstorming as potential ways to save some cash:

Find alternate, cheaper sources for meat and plants.

• Buy part of an animal directly from a farmer, freeze for the year, if less than $2/lb.
• Join a CSA or visit farmer's markets to find veggies cheaper than $1/lb.
• Raise Japanese (Coturnix) quail?  It isn't really that cost-effective just for organic meat, but eggs are 40% cheaper, and we can go through a LOT of eggs.  (Plus free manure to compost for the garden.)

Eliminate waste.  I am ashamed to admit, food waste happens in my house!  When both people in the household are working 12-hour (or more) days, it means a lot of veggies and leftovers go bad because we are just too darn tired to care.  This is probably where we could most easily/quickly save money.

• Invest in a deep freezer, buy fresh ingredients in bulk when on sale.
• Keep a bag of veggie bits (old stuff, cut-off ends of onions, etc) for use in stocks.
• Learn the art of the casserole, to use up leftovers.
• Use all parts of the animal.  We've been experimenting with making chicken bone broth lately, which is delicious.  The puppy also loves treats made out of the organs, and a tiny bit of bone broth sprinkled over her food really whets the appetite (for this reason I leave onions/garlic out of the base broth).
• Can, freeze, or dehydrate all extras.

Max out the garden to the extreme.  My ambitious goal is to grow half our fruit/veggie needs for the year, 456lbs.  So far with amazing neglect the garden (4 tomato plants, 1 mint, 1 oregano, 4 chards, and 1 papaya squash) has produced 119lbs of veggies in up through August 2013.  It is probably just dumb luck, but since I'd pay $1/pound for non-organic stuff, this is pretty awesome. 

• Use 5 times the space as in 2013, including new garden beds, currently-unused areas, and indoor and outdoor pots.  They say you can get 0.5lb per square foot usually, or 1lb with really intensive gardening.  Currently we have about 200 square feet of nice beds recently put in, and only 70sqft of it was fully used.  If I truly get my act together, we will have another 200 square feet prepared for next spring.  It is theoretically doable!
• Succession planting = more harvests per year
• Square-foot gardening = more plants per garden bed
• Preserving extras:  canning, dehydrating, freezing for later in the year (so far I have 4 gallons of tomatoes canned, and 1 gallon in sun-dried form!)
• Long term goals, such as planting fruit trees/bushes:  fig, pomegranate, lemon, blackberry.

If 2013 is any indication of harvests to come, 2014 should be plentiful.
(The bucket pictured above holds 2 gallons.)

Make our own beer, cider, and mead.  We do this on a very small scale (about 10 gallons a year, mostly used for gifts).  We already have the equipment and carboys, so the only cost would be ingredients.  This will cut our alcohol costs by half... and the husband does like the expensive stuff.  ;)

Compost.  Random newspapers and inedible foods go in here.  I've been doing this for a few years with a small, neglected vermiculture tub in the kitchen.  Recently I've been more attentive to the tub, and the worms are beginning to thrive again.  Free fertilizer = more free garden food.

Eat less.  Easier than it sounds!  Even though I have lost 95 pounds so far, I have been stuck at the same weight for a while and could stand to lose at least another 20.  Maybe this will give me the little push I need.

Make coffee and breakfast for my husband (and myself) every morning.  At $0.26 per 8oz cup for coffee, this is a much cheaper option than stopping by Peet's.  For the cost of the protein powder we currently drink for breakfast, I could make giant omelettes filled with veggies and bacon.

Go non-organic with oil and animal products.  This would save about $1 per day per person ($730/year).  I don't want to do it if we don't have to!  When I was on a small income during/after college and trying to pay off school loans quickly, I practically lived off of Bisquick, fake sliced cheese, frozen high-carb veggies, eggs, bagels, Mountain Dew, and coffee, on about the same budget.  This time around, it is going to be SO much healthier.

How else would you create more wiggle-room in the budget?

The Short Chain

Egads, it's been a while without blogging!  The last week and a half has been a little busy.  Okay, a LOT busy. 

I have just a week left until "retirement," and a week left to prepare for Yule/Christmas.  I've been busting my butt to get everything done in time, with a priority given to work, and it looks like everything's on schedule. 

 Wow, I can't believe the end is nearly here... my paper chain is so short!!  It used to touch the floor.

Things I neglected to blog about (but probably will in the near future!):

Update on Hard Freeze

To my delight, tonight I only found ONE branch on the parsley that was spoiled.  The mustard greens, kale, garlic, beets, radishes, chard, and remaining parsley are doing just fine.   Not sure how leaves can go from a crushed dark green back to normal, but it's probably best not to ask too many questions.

I covered most of the plants with extra Christmas tree boughs since I don't have any light blankets to donate... it's supposed to get even colder tonight, down to 23F.  The sprinkler system has also been turned off for the season.   I've never done a fall crop before, so I have no idea if covering is actually necessary at this temperature.

In any case, I'm just glad I got to harvest some more herbs and eat our first big from-the-garden salad.

Hard Freeze

Uh oh.  There was supposed to be a hard frost last night, so I harvested a bunch of stuff, but left the plants that could withstand a hard frost.  Didn't think about the sprinklers going on and coating everything with a thick layer of ice.

I'll update soon about what was salvageable.

A Year of Fruit

I would love to have fruit available year-round.

Ideally, we'd have plants that are either bushes or trees so that they only require one planting and then mostly take care of themselves.  This is the first time we've had land of our own, so planting now will give us years of tastiness.

Last night I sat down and worked out what we currently have growing and their respective California harvest seasons, so we'd know what else to plant.  So far only the plums and apple give a lot of produce, though the landscapers trimmed them intensely so they are currently recovering and don't have a lot of fruit this year.  It'll be 3 years before everything is mature and at full production. 

 Our first burgundy plum begins to ripen, June 2013.

Here are the general harvest times of our fruit:

• Lemon, improved meyer:  January - May (though I was told that in our area it is nearly ever-bearing)
• Blueberries:  May - July
• Plum, burgundy:  July - August
• Plum, unknown type:  August - September
• Huckleberries:  August - September
• Apple, pippin:  September - December
• Pomegranate:  October - January
• Buddha's hand citrus:  November - January
• Mystery citrus:  who knows?

I'd still like to add a fig tree (Sept - Oct), which does really well in our area, and blackberry vines (May - July).

We accidentally ended up with fruit throughout the whole year!
How did that happen?  The gardening gods must have been smiling upon us while we were picking trees and bushes over the last year.

I'm having a hard time believing that the goal is already met.  Mission complete.

What kind of fruit would you grow?

Magical Turkey

A girl's gotta have leftovers.

This time last year, I remember opening the fridge and wondering how we ended up with no leftovers after Thanksgiving.  It had never happened before!  It is kind of sacrilegious in my family, to not have leftovers.

And so, my husband ran to the store to get the smallest turkey he could find, and I roasted my first bird, after Thanksgiving.

It was totally gross.  The innards were chilly and squishy, the skin kind of sticky and slippery at the same time.  I had seen it done every year, but had just never handled it myself.  It made me nauseated to handle a whole carcass and stuff its butt with herbs from the garden.


But then, something kind of magical happened. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

There is a lot for me to be thankful for this year, and most of it relates to the support of my husband and family, to my new life path, and to my improved health.  It is time for some toasts!

This wine glass is about to be filled.  And that homemade butter is about to be eaten.

Next year we may have to tighten our belts and budgets a bit, but the things I'm thankful for are the things that will endure.

I hope you are all enjoying your holiday.

Homemade Margarita: Alcoholic and Virgin Recipes

A few months ago when I was having a craving out of the blue for margaritas, Ryan went to the store to get some mix but couldn't find any that were free of high-fructose corn syrup or chemicals.  We began a quest to make the perfect margarita from scratch.

If I had known making a margarita was so simple, I would have been drinking lots of them in my lifetime!  I can't exactly drink while we're trying to start a family, but there were 2.5 months in there where we weren't allowed to try, and I might have imbibed a bit.

Here's the recipe:

• Fill a pint mason jar with ice (yes, the mason jar is important, it is super classy and fits the amount perfectly)
• 1 shot of tequila (first we used the last of the Jose Cuervo gold, then switched to Camarena Silver, both are good depending on your mood)
• 1 shot of Triple Sec
• 1 shot of lemon juice
• 1 half shot of key lime juice (a whole shot is better, but makes the drink more expensive)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 drizzle of agave nectar

Mix briskly with a spoon, and sip.  It blew my mind... I had no idea margaritas could be SO tasty.

So tasty, I couldn't get a picture before it was almost gone.

I've been having virgin margaritas lately though.  

• Leave out the booze, and replace both shots with sparkly lemon or lime water
• Add a few curls of orange zest and let the mixture steep for a few minutes, stirring occasionally

The carbonated water (Trader Joe's makes a nice one) gives it that familiar satisfying tang, and the orange zest mimics the Triple Sec, so it's easier to forget it's not the real thing.  The drink ends up just being a delicious dose of vitamin C.

Boy am I glad we got lemon juice in bulk from Costco!  Between margaritas and canning tomatoes, we've nearly used it all up.

And yes, Ryan calls it a Jargarita.

What's your favorite drink recipe?

The 2014 Plan: A look at the weekly $5/day food budget

Now that the time is drawing near to when we'll be using our food storage, I decided it will be easier to think in terms of weeks rather than days, for using it up evenly.

Every week, between the 2 of us, we should use up a max of the following dry ingredients:

• Flour: 6C, 20 servings
• Beans, black or red:  3.5C, 7 servings
• Lentils or Peas:  3.5C, 7 servings
• Rice:  4C, 16 servings
• Cornmeal:  3C, 12 servings
• Oats:  2.5C, 10 servings
• Millet:  2C, 4 servings
• Garbanzo beans:  1C, 2 servings
• Popcorn:  1C, 16 servings
• Pasta:  1 serving

Whew, that looks pretty good.  With a weekly goal of using that much, it'll help keep the nutrition even over the year, and keep us from going on quinoa/pasta binges and using it all up at the beginning of the year.

To me, that looks like during the week I can make for 2 people:

• 1 small (4C) loaf of sourdough bread
• 1-4 meals of something flour-based:  pancakes (1C), pizza (2C), tortillas (1/4C), etc.
• 12 cups of bean & lentil sprouts (from 3c dry) to make for really hearty salads
• 4 meals based on legumes and rice
• 2-4 meals with rice side dish (chicken soup, etc)
• 2 meals with millet side dish
• 1 9x9 pan of cornbread
• 1/2 batch of corn muffins
• Soaked oats for breakfast every morning
• 2.5 cups of hummus
• 2 gallons of air-popped popcorn
• (1 9x9 pan of lasagna per month, unless I learn to make pasta)

In addition, for the week we'll have:

• 1 large whole organic chicken
• A dozen organic eggs (plus 2 that went into the baking)
• 1 gallon of homemade bone broth concentrate
• 3 quarts of homemade organic full-fat yogurt
• 3 quarts of organic rice milk (from Costco)
• 17.5lbs of fruit and veggies, fresh or frozen (averaging $1/lb), OR garden produce
• For every pound I replace with garden stuff, I'll put $1 into the weekly "extras" budget
• 1.2C organic olive or avocado or coconut oil, for cooking or salad dressing
• 1/2C sugar for baking
• Nearly unlimited spices and salts that are stocked up.
• $10.66 for weekly extras: tea, coffee, butter, cheese, tahini, honey, coconut milk, etc.

This sounds like a TON of food to me.  Am I really going to get my husband to eat a cup of yogurt and a cup of sprouts every day?  Hehe.

Half of me thinks we won't go through nearly that amount, but the other half thinks it'll be tight only having 10 bucks to spend on extras per week (because who knows what things I have accidentally left out?).  But if we can't survive healthily and be full on this amount, I'd be surprised!

Homemade Butter

This time of year, I always get excited to make butter!  My mom always had us make it as kids, so it is kind of a tradition.

What you'll need:

• 1 quart mason jar with lid OR a hand mixer
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• Pinch of salt
• Optional flavorings:  honey, herbs, spices
• Optional butter song

 

Maple butter

Frosty

Today is my area's earliest expected frost date.  Frost may not actually hit yet, but it is a good time to start harvesting the least cold-hardy plants. 

I decided it was a little past time to dig up those sweet potatoes.

The single plant was pulled out first.

The zig-zag one on the bottom of that picture was a 2-pounder!

All together, I had exactly 7 pounds.  I'm not sure if I got them all, but after a while I realized I would kill my parsley and mustard greens if I kept going.

By this time next year, I plan to have cold frames in place over my late-fall crop to extend the season.

Oniony Seed Harvesting

These chive-like plants live along the edge of the cement around the pool.  Since we may be uprooting and disturbing everything in this area for next year, I decided to harvest a bunch of the seeds.  I now have half a paper grocery bag filled with these dried flower heads.

100th Post

As you may have guessed by the title, this blog just hit its 100th post.

I started this blog up again in July, thinking to just jot down some ideas in a journal style here and there, optimally 2 a month, and then I'd start actually blogging in 2014 when I was unemployed.  Instead of 12 posts over that time, I somehow ended up with 100.

Kinda blows my mind!  

Because of spending random moments on this blog, in 6 months' time I:

• Accidentally built a website.
• Got into the blogging habit.
• Recovered some physical health.  I've aimed the blog toward positive things that inspire me, so it reminds me of what's important in life, and that I should go out and do them... this includes lots and lots of nature hikes.
• Recovered some mental health.  Turns out that blogging is an excellent focus for nervous energy.  Still have the stress-induced dermatographia hives, but hey, it's a cool party trick.  Right?
• Formed a solid plan for the time after "retirement" (aka, domestic goddessry).
• Researched, prepped, and purchased nearly everything for the "A Year of Frugal Foods" food storage plan, which was a huge undertaking and will help our finances and diet for potentially years to come.
• Preserved 10 gallons of organic tomatoes by canning or dehydrating, which is enough for our yearly use.  Having public goals kind of forced me to baby those plants, extend the season, and not let anything go to waste, even when free time was scarce.  10 gallons!  The garden more than paid for itself this year.
• Made some new friends, and reconnected with some old ones.

All of these things are plans I had for after leaving the job, when I was to have more time and energy.  Not sure how I snuck so much of it in.  There is still much room for improvement in all these areas, but getting a solid start is half the battle.


Has blogging helped you?

Happy Buddha's Hand

2 weeks ago we had an incredibly windy night, and I came out to find that the potted Buddha's hand tree in the saltwater pool!

I tried to flush the soil out pretty well, but figured that it was doomed... it has been struggling a bit anyway, with leaves that keep curling a bit, and an increasinly yellow shade on the leaves.

Instead, a week later, I am happy to report that the previously-dull tree looks better than it EVER has.  It is bright green and cheery, full of vigor.  Glossy, even.  What the heck?  It likes salt and chlorine?!

Feelin' particularly cheery.

I think I need to research citrus trees more... I am baffled by this.

Yin Yang

I came home one day last month, and Ryan had put in a large yin yang made up of light green and dark green plants!  It is darn romantic.

The plants are settling in.

Early on in our relationship, Ryan and I wore halves of a yin yang friendship necklace... I wore the male half to represent him, and he wore the female half to represent me.  We had to spend a lot of time apart due to the incompatible nature of our jobs, so it was a little symbolic way of keeping each other close.  It is a perfect symbol to add to the garden.

Strangled by Spider Plant

One of our potted Japanese maples has not been doing so well lately, but the spider plant in the pot was doing marvelously, sending out flowers and little shoots.  I had heard that spider plants only flower and make shoots when they run out of room in their pot, so I wondered if it was out-competing the tree roots.

What I dug up surprised me!

Monster roots.

I had no idea that the roots were so crazily thick and bulbous.  It was definitely choking out the tree roots, and has been transplanted to a new pot of its own.

Here's hoping our maple springs back.

Resignation letters and paper chains

Yesterday I turned in my letter of resignation.  It felt amazingly right.

My supervisor approved the plan, so it looks like my schedule will be as follows:

• Dec 21st - Jan 5:  Winter vacation.  (They actually close the campus for an "energy curtailment" so we aren't supposed to be there anyway.)
• Jan 6:  Last day of work.
• Jan 7 - Feb 10:  Paid vacation... from which I do not return.  Yeah, I have a ton of vacation to burn.

So basically, December 20th is my last-day-eve, and then Jan 6th is my official last day!

My supervisor reminded me about the going-away party that I'd have, so I'm assuming Jan 6th will mostly be taken up with that, wrapping up a few loose ends, and saying goodbye to everyone (and to my favorite cultures... I'm looking at you, Micrasterias!).  Essentially, my job and responsibilities are over after Dec 20th.

As luck would have it, my amazon.com order of crayola construction paper arrived early last night... perfect timing for creating the paper chain.

A swirly rainbow of dwindling despair increasing hope!

There are 40 links:  28 work days, 12 weekend/holiday days, and not counting the 2 weeks of winter vacation of course.  Each rainbow represents one week left, so it is a nice visual.  After having torn off the first one last night, I can honestly say that ripping a link is pretty darn satisfying.  Now... where to hang it?

First Loaves with the Sourdough Starter

This weekend's experiments with the sourdough starter were a success!

I made two small loaves, using just starter, water, flour, and a pinch of salt.

The first rise.

For the first rise, I left it in the oven overnight, with the light turned on. 

 The second rise.

I'd never kneaded dough by hand before... my dough typically is made in the bread-maker.  It was rather meditative and soothing.

Mmmmmm... so sour!

The crumb was a little overly moist, so perhaps I didn't cook it quite long enough.  But the density was great, the crust was perfect, and it was the sourest sourdough I'd ever had.  The first loaf didn't last 48 hours.  Tonight we're having pulled pork on a "bun" of 1/4th of a loaf, so I don't see the second loaf lasting too long either.

I'd definitely call this weekend's experiments a success.

I'll get some sourdough tortilla dough rising for tomorrow night... it's made out of starter, coconut oil, flour, and water.  I've never made tortillas before, so wish me luck!

A Stropping Good Time! (Frugal Hair Removal)

So...

I'm just gonna put this out there.  I shave my armpits, bikini area, and legs.  Most of the time.  I like the idea of going natural and growing it out, but the feeling of smoothness is too pleasurable for me to quit the razor.

Now that that's out of the way, let's move on.

The cost of replacement cartridges for my Gillette razor (and my husband's, we use the same type) at Costco, which was one of the cheapest places we could find it in bulk, is $52 for 16.  That's $3.25 a pop, which doesn't sound like much, but it feels like a lot every time we buy a package, and it's not a "need" type of purchase.

As you might guess, I stretch the use of each cartridge as possible.  I rinse and pat it dry after each use to keep rust down.  I skip shaving the legs a few times a week when I know they won't be seen, and I'll use one of those razors until 2 months has passed and I can barely stand to drag the thing across my skin.  Switching out a new razor is always shocking, it glides so smoothly!  A new razor makes me feel like a slippery mermaid, and I want more of that sensation.

 

 ... smooooth*...

It seems there are 5 awesome options for achieving smooth skin.