The cost of food – Butter is beautiful, but lard is also lovely. And so are gingersnaps.

Christmas is over for another year.  One of my favorite Christmas activities is Christmas baking but I didn’t do as much this year as I usually would. What slowed me down this year was the cost of ingredients, specifically the cost of butter.

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Food in Jars Mastery Challenge – When the stars align: fermenting free milk

Making yogurt!

This month’s Food in Jars Mastery Challenge was all about using fermentation to preserve food. Despite the health benefits provided by fermented foods, I have never really been a fan. At least I wasn’t a fan until I realized that both sour dough bread and yogurt rely on fermentation to develop their unique flavors. And then my neighbour gifted me with a jug of milk that would go bad before she returned from her travels. Clearly the universe was telling me to make yogurt.

Garbage Garden – Fall report and a recipe for pickled red onions

It is fall in my neck of the woods. Time to file my last garbage garden report.

Mastery Food Challenge – Making plum butter and keeping my home free of evil spirits

 

You can’t evoke great spirits and eat plums at the same time.

George William Russell

Food in Jars – June Mastery Challenge

Strawberry Rhubarb Cheater Jam

I love making jam. Lucky for me, this month’s Food in Jars Mastery Challenge was to make jam.

Frugal Endeavors – Hello May!

This was a picture of a double rainbow over our house. If you squint just right, you can see the second rainbow.

May 3 to May 8, 2017

May has brought with it warmer weather. The change in temperature meant that we could move some of our frugal activities into the great outdoors. Fortunately, we have not been directly affected by any flooding in our area, but my thoughts go out to all those who are.

Garbage Garden – Week 5

My little plants in their new home.

This week I brought everything home and set them in the dirt and the garden.

I was impressed by the root development of the red onion sets, even though they did not seem to be doing much in terms of leaf growth.

Red onion roots

I may have waited too long to plant the romaine. I fear that the mould and decay took a heavy toll on these plants too much and I don’t think they will recover. I planted them anyways because they have come this far and they deserve a chance.

Sad looking lettuce.

I am a little sad about the health of the romaine. It was so robust and I couldn’t believe how much it grew in the first few weeks. I thought for sure that I would be well on my way to my first caeser salad of the year. I must remember that this is an experiment and a learning process. There will be failures. Too bad as it looks like the cost of romaine will remain high for some time.

About 5 minutes after getting my plants in the ground, it hailed. Luckily I got my babies covered up with a cardboard box and assorted plant pots and they survived their harsh introduction to the wild. Hopefully, they will thrive in the coming weeks.