Going to give it one more try.

(Thanks Tabitha Graf for the picture)

First off I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and hope you have a great New Year.

I can't believe it has been over five months since my last post. Not sure where the time goes, but have been soo busy. When I started this blog I did it so I could share information, I kind of felt like it something that I needed to do. I wanted to share the information and things that I know with others, and have it all in one place so they wouldn't have to take the time to search for it in different places.

The past few weeks I have really felt a pulling to resume posting so I am going to try again, and work a little harder at keeping up with it.

I will a little later on do a recap of the 300 a week challenge. I did pretty good with it until about the last month or so. So I will share that and start it all over at the first of the year. I had lost my source for fresh milk, but have found another, only instead of trading hay I do have to buy it so that will cut into my 300 dollars, but I will be making all my dairy products except hard cheese.

I got a drop spindle for Christmas along with to balls of wool and a hour of free lessons to learn how to spin it, so looking forward to sharing that with you.   

I also received a serger sewing machine so hope to be doing more sewing projects also.

And been experimenting with, and doing a little once a month cooking. 

Hope everyone has a great week and look forward to getting back on track with my posting.

Dehydrating and Dry Packing Marshmallows

Even though I like to make my own marshmallows, I still like to have some dried and fresh on hand. There are so many things you can do with dried marshmallows. Put them in hot cocoa, in cookie dough, on ice cream, pancake batter, brownies, rice crispy treats, popcorn balls, in carmel corn, oatmeal, frozen yogurt, cereal, or just eat by themselves or what ever else you can think of. 

This really is super easy. Get your marshmallows plain and flavored.

Spread out on your trays and dehydrate at 125 for 6 to 12 hour depending on how many you are dehydrating.  

As you can see they don't change much they stay the same size just get very hard and crunchy.

When done I just dry pack  them into jars. I also pack some fresh marshmallows to have on hand for roasting.

For the fresh ones I add a little powder sugar to keep them from sticking. 

 

Put in jars and use the jar lid attachments. I found mine at Cabelas, if you don't have them, they have regular and wide mouth.  

If you use you use your food saver be very careful not to expand the marshmallows to much. If they do it will be a sticky mess.

 

 

The one on the right expanded to much the other two are right, as you can see they look like normal marshmallows and the one on the right kind of looks like a blob.

 

I like to use this handy little gadget, If you have the attachments for the jars you can use this on them. It is a little easier to control how much air you pull out so you don't expand the marshmallows to much.  

 

 

 

Just put the hand held food saver on the top of the lid attachment then turn on you have to listen to tell when it is enough. It is easy to tell.  

Be sure to store in a cool place.

300 a Month, Week Goals,

Another busy week, I was able to get a little yard work done not as much as I would of liked but not to sure I ever get as much done as I would like. Helped Andy get the camper on a trailer, we are going to a music festival in a couple weeks so need to take the camper. We have been wanting to put it on a trailer so we don't have a pickup tied up all summer. 

My spending wasn't very good this week.
City Market had cheese, grapes and cream cheese on sale  , I bought 41 pounds of grapes and 36 packs of cream cheese and several pounds of cheese and 4 # ten cans of tomato sauce .
188.77 at City Market

At Wal-Mart I got hot dogs, smoked sausage,1 # ten can size of butter powder, clothes pins, bath tissue, a couple cases of water ( for storage) lined paper, Banana's and some more cream cheese that they priced matched from city market. 
101.50 at Wal-Mart

I stopped in IFA the (local feed store)  they carry some freeze dried food, they had # ten can sized powdered eggs  that were still 18.99 a can (online and walmart they have gone up to 50 dollars) they had 6 cans so I bought 4.
75.96 at IFA

I was able to get started on an afghan, finished the marshmallows, and got a few beans canned.

The goals for this week are
Get the camper cleaned out.
Grapes put in freezer.
Cream cheese canned
Smoked sausage & hotdogs canned.
Joleen is working for the Mosquito control and the use fabric bags to carry some of their stuff in, well the ones they have are old and falling apart so she volunteered me to make some. So I will try to get that started this week. I am having a hard time finding zippers that will work, may have to order some or wait till we go to Grand Junction in a couple weeks. Hoping I can get some soon so I can get started on this. ( They did supply every thing else).

Hopefully I can get most of that accomplished this week.


Since I am so late getting this posted I am not going to do the menu this week. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week. 

300 a Month, Week Goals, Menu.

Some of the jars that were at the action,

We have been getting rain almost every afternoon which is very unusual for this time of year. Having a real hard time getting clothes hung out to dry. Seems like by the time I can get outside to do some work it is raining or getting ready too. One good thing though my water bill is going to be pretty low this summer.

I got some crackers and marshmallows dry packed.
The chickens had been getting out and tore my yard up. Katie and I found the hole they were getting out of and got it fixed.   I wouldn't mind them being out if they weren't so stinking hard on my yard. I am thinking of putting a fence in between the yard and coop then I could let them out and they would have to go down below where they won't make such a mess of things. 

I got a little more done on my herbal course I am loving it I am learning so much and it is so nice that I can go at my own pace. 

We went to an auction Sunday they had a ton of jars ( the picture wasn't even all of them) I got 147 jars for 50.00 that is about .38 cents per jar which isn't to bad.I try to buy used jars for no more then 45 cents each since the news one run about 83 cents. With the new ones you get the lids , the bands and they are clean. Whereas with the used ones they have to be cleaned , they have no lids or bands and I have to count my time for having to clean them.  


My spending for the week.
City market had tomato paste on sale for .99 so I got 15 of them I got several more bags of marshmallows, some grapes, and cottage cheese  for a total of 33.99
Wal-Mart some bananas, spinach , ginger, and some ice cream. for a total of 13.27

All together I spent 33.99 +13.27 = 47.26

47.26 + 38.95 from last week is 86.21
213.79 left for the month
2859.35 left for the year.

Once again I didn't get as many of my goals accomplished as I had hoped. With all the rain we have had it hasn't been such a rush to get the drip system finished.

Worked about 10 minutes on my household notebook it will be nice when  get it all done.

So once again I didn't get even half my goals done this past week. I think I have ben having a big case of lack of motivation, not real sure why just know I need to get out of it I am not getting near enough done.

Maybe I will have a little better luck this next week getting things done. The goals for this week are.

Get beans canned
Finish the marshmallows
I want to crochet  afghans for the Kids , Sisters in laws, Sister and Mom. Which is ten in all. So I need to get started, like yesterday haha. 
If the weather permits I would like to do the drip and the play area in the yard,
Catch up on the blog.
Work on the notebook.
Get more meat canned
Work on meals in a jar.

Hopefully I can get to most of this.     

The Menu for the week

Breakfast
Cream of Wheat
French Toast
Cheese omelets
Oatmeal
Pancakes

Lunch
Scrambled eggs
Chicken Noodles
Ham Sandwiches
Fish Sticks
Mac & Cheese
Will have what ever kind of fruit I have, and crackers with the soup.
For Andy's lunch he will have leftovers from the night before.

Dinner
Cheese Burger Pie
Chicken Spaghetti
Beans
Ranch Bean casserole
Chili Rellenos
Chicken Fried Steak

Will have a veggie of some sort ,and bread with each meal.
Saturday or Sunday we will have leftovers.

Can your own Spaghetti Sauce.

 

It always seems like I don't ever have enough tomatoes (no matter how many I plant) in my garden to make everything that I want to make, so a lot of times I will buy the # 10 sized cans of tomato sauce to use. I will recan the tomato sauce in to smaller jars and I will make spaghetti sauce with some of it. it's pretty easy and really good. I use it for spaghetti, pizza, and anywhere a need a red pasta sauce.  

 

 

 

Canned Spaghetti Sauce

 

3 # 10 cans of Tomato sauce

5 Onions chopped, I use a quart of frozen or canned onions.

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 Tbl Worcestershire sauce

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped garlic ( I use the chopped garlic in a jar from the store)

4 Tbl dried oregano

4 Tbl dried basil

3 bay leaves ( be sure to take these out before you can)

1 cup vinegar

2 tsp thyme

2 tsp rosemary

1 tsp celery salt

1/4 cup salt

 

Let simmer several hours. It will reduce down a little. Remove the bay leaves and fill sterilized  quart jars add hot lids and process in a water bath for 40 minutes ( be sure to adjust for altitude)

    



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start with 3 # 10 cans of tomato sauce. Pour into a large pan.

 

 

 

Add all your spices and let simmer for several hours.

 

 

 

Put in Jars and process. 

 

 

 

 

300 a Month, Week Goals, Menu

Well the week didn't start off that great had a freezer go out, so we had to get a new one. We did get a little larger one which will be nice and it was an energy star, so as soon as I take in the paper work we will get a ninety dollar credit on our electric bill.
Andy took the whole week off so he could finish getting all the hay done and leave a few days early to the river. We go down every 4th with several other people to play music. He left Wednesday and I was going to go down Saturday. I took Friday off in hopes of getting caught up on some things. Then I decided to stay home all weekend to get some things caught up. Well as bad as I hate to admit it I got nothing done, I just hung out and chilled with the girls most of the weekend so now I am even more behind haha.
I did get 7 quarts of spaghetti sauce canned.


Here is my spending for the week.
I spent 38.95 at city market on milk, cheese, cottage cheese, marshmallows, grapes, junket tabs, and powerade, The powerade was on sale for 39 cents if you bought 10 so I got 10 so I would have them for the bottles to put my homemade gator aid in. City market is the only place that sells the junket tabs for making cheese ( putting into food storage hoping some day I can start making my own cheese) They had marshmallows on sale so I got 4 bags to dehydrate.

So for the month I have spent 38.95 and have 269.045 left for the month. and 2906.61 left for the year.

Well I pretty much got none of the goals for last week done.I did get another unit completed in my herbal class.
 So the goals for this week will pretty much be the same.

Get some more meat canned.
I have been redoing my drip system on my plants hoping to get finished or at least all most finished this week.
Get caught up on the blog.
I have a few ideas I want to do in back yard play area for the kids so hoping to get started on that.
I have been working on a household notebook so want to work some more on that.
Hopefully I can get more done this week then last week haha. 

Menu for this week

Breakfast
Pancakes
Scrambled eggs
Yogurt and fruit
Waffles
Cereal

Lunch
Grilled Cheese
Chicken soup
Macaroni and cheese
PB & J
Pancakes

Will have what ever kind of fruit I have, and crackers with the soup.
For Andy's lunch he will have leftovers from the night before.

Dinner
Cowboy casserole
Home made pizza
Crock pot Chicken fried steak
Beef tips
Stuffed peppers
Mexican steak

Will have a veggie of some sort and bread with each meal.
Saturday or Sunday we will have leftovers.

Hope everyone has a great week.




  
.

Freezing Hashbrowns

I like to use frozen hash browns, so when I do all my potatoes I freeze hash brown as well. They are pretty easy to do.

 

Sorry I don't have pictures for all of this. First I boil my potato's with the skins on till they are semi soft/hard immediately put into a pan of cold water let cool. Peel when cooled ( you don't want them to soft or they turn to mush when grating). If they are large like mine were you can cut in half long ways if you are using in a food processer. If grating by hand you don't need to cut in half.

 

 

I like to use the food processor to grate mine. They don't turn out as pretty as if you did them by hand , but seems I am always in a hurry to get them done so I use the food processer. 
 

 

 

 After grated spread a layer on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. I put several layers on a cookie sheet just put two sheets of wax paper in between each layer ( this makes it easier to get off.)put in the freezer for at least 24 hours.












Take out and put in freezer bags then use as you would store bought. 



300 a Month, Week Goals, Menu

Joleen on graduation day with my Dad and Mom.

It has been a very busy two months. I got a tons of yard work done ( will have more on that later), getting ready for Joleens graduation party. Then on the day of the party it rained and rained some more so we ended up moving the party to the Fire station. We were able to have the after party at the house so I was able to use the yard a little, that I had worked so hard on. We had a taco bar for the party, We had beef tacos, chicken tacos, and elk Mexican steak, with all the fixens, refried beans, salsa, queso,  chips,  two of my sister in laws  made some chicken enchiladas and some cupcakes with graduation hats made from peanut butter cups and Hersey bars. We had a lot of food and a lot leftover but I was able to freeze most of it and dehydrate the lettuce. 

Haven't done much canning this past couple months, I did get 21 quarts of meat canned the other day.
 
Was able to go to the mountains a couple weekends ago for the afternoon my Dad and one of my brothers  and his wife were camping up there so two of my other brothers and their family's and I were able to go up for dinner. It was kind of nice to get up where it was a little cooler we even needed to build a fire when the sun started going down.
  
We got our garden in finally, all the rain we got rally messed everyone up as far as planting. We just have the one  garden at the house this year since we don't have the lease on the other place.

Got our hunting tags in and Andy, Katie and I all drew our Elk tags. Hopefully we will be able to fill them.

I bought  a thermal cooker, a while back I had mentioned a wonder oven and one of the readers wrote that she had just gotten a thermal cooker. So I had to look in to them, was very impressed so instead of getting a wonder oven I got a thermal cooker. I have cooked a couple things in it. I will be sharing the recipes soon, that can also be used in a wonder oven.

I also got a wheat grinder after a whole lot of research I picked the Nutrigrain mill. I am very happy with it so far. Is so nice to be able to put the wheat in and have it in just a few minutes as opposed to grinding it by hand haha.


Well here is my spending for the last two months.
I spent 224.00  on food for the graduation party. ( I know a lot but as I said I was able to keep all the leftovers).
In addition I have spent 180.00 the last two months. So the total for the last two months is 404.00 that gives me a leftover balance for the two months 196.00.
That leaves me with 2945.56 for the year.

My goals for the week
Get some more meat canned.
I have been redoing my drip system on my plants hoping to get finished or at least all most finished this week.
Get caught up on the blog.
Work on my herbal class, haven't been doing a whole with it lately.
I bought an old camp trailer a couple years ago so I am hoping to get it moved up here to the house and get started on that project ( I know just what I need another project haha).
I have a few ideas I want to do in back yard play area for the kids so hoping to get started on that.
I have been working on a household notebook sdo want to work some more on that.
So hopefully I can get some of this done this week. 

Menu for this week

Breakfast
Cream of Wheat
French Toast
Pancakes
Cheese omelets
Oatmeal

Lunch
Fish Sticks & tater tots
Mac & Cheese
Mini pizzas
Grilled Cheese
Chicken soup

Will have what ever kind of fruit I have, and crackers with the soup.
For Andy's lunch he will have leftovers from the night before.

Dinner
Stew
Pork Chops
White enchiladas
Swiss steak
Beans
Salisbury Steak

Will have a veggie of some sort and bread with each meal.
Saturday or Sunday we will have leftovers. 

Hope everyone has a great week.

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it has been over two months since I posted anything. At the first of the year I made it a goal to try and post at least 4 times a week, failed that epically, I will try to get back on track now. But in my defense I have been super busy trying to get ready for Joleens graduation in addition to all the other things that are going on this time of the year. I got 3 years worth of yard work done in two months, but my yard is looking so good. I will have more on that later. We got our garden in a little late due to all the rain. We finished A.I.ing cows yesterday so that is out of the way for another year. Started cutting hay last week we are way behind on that because of the rain. Haven't even had time to work on my herbal course, I have got to get on that though.
So anyway I am hoping to start getting caught up on things and caught up on my post. I have so much to share.
So hopefully I will have be posting regularly again in a few days.
And thank you to all who was concerned about where I have been.  

300 a Month, Week goals, Menu.

My new brand necklace Andy had Ann Schwarting make, she does great work. Love it.

 

Things have been soo busy around here trying to get everything ready for graduation, getting taxes done, calving and branding, yard work, potatoes,  FFA Banquet,( Joleen received her state degree) and seems like a million other things.

 

We finally got taxes sent off with 5 days to spare. It has never taken this long to get them done, but not having all of last years info really made it challenging to say the least.

 

We branded this last weekend, only have 5 cows left to calve. Then we will brand those last few and we will be done with that.

 

When we lost the computer I also lost all the address, so I am trying to gather up all the address so I can get graduation announcement sent out. ( finally got them ordered should be here today or tomorrow).

 

I have been working like crazy to get the yard ready. Doing things I have wanted to do for a few years, and some stuff that has just needed to be done.

 

I finally got all the potatoes put up. I froze, dried, canned and canned beef and chicken soup.(was starting to wonder if I would ever get them all put up haha)

 

Well here is my spending for March.

City Market had Milk, Cheese, Peanut butter, gold fish(I like to keep a few of these on hand for a snack on the go for the girls) and pasta on sale this month.

I spent 129.49 at City Market

16.94 at Wal-Mart on chicken and beef bullion and T.P.

For a total of 146.43. Add that to the beginning of the months 104.02 for a total of  250.45 for March.

 

March 250.45 with 49.55 left over for March.

That gives me 3030.17 left for the year.

 

So far for April I have spent 40.61 on cheese, kidney beans( I have a new recipe I want to try that calls for kidney beans) Spinach ,bananas, and salmon this is another thing I don't use a lot of but with the issues on the west coast with the fish populations dying off I want to have a few cans on hand ).

 

For April I have spent  40.61 which leaves me with 259.84 for the month and 2989.56 for the year.

 

The goals for this week are to continue getting things ready for graduation. I haven't been working on my herbal class so I do need to try and put in a little time on that.

 

Menu for this week

 

Breakfast

 

French toast

Cheese omelets

oatmeal

pancakes

scrambled eggs

 

Lunch 

 

Grilled Cheese

Macaroni and Tomato

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Chicken Noddle

French Toast

 

Will have what ever kind of fruit I have, and crackers with the soup.
For Andy's lunch he will have leftovers from the night before.

 

Dinner

 

Chicken Fried Steak/Fried Potatoes

Fire dept. has pack test tonight then a BBQ will eat there.

Beef tips/ noodles

Stuffed Peppers

Mexican Steak

Cheese Burger Pie

 

Will have a veggie of some sort and bread with each meal.
Saturday or Sunday we will have leftovers.

 

Hope everyone has a great week.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Week 15 Food Storage Challenge

 

 

12  Boxes of Mac & Cheese / Tomato Products

 

12 Boxes of Mac& Cheese or if you have your own cheese powder that you like, use that and get extra macaroni.

 

Tomato Products. Tomato sauce, whole, crushed, rotel or what ever you use. I buy tomato sauce in # 10 cans (cheaper that way) and recan it into smaller jars. You might want to grow extra tomatoes so you can can a bunch. I can my own rotel, stewed, crushed,salsa and basil. If I have enough tomato's left I will can tomato sauce.

 

Add some more to your water.

 

Put back a few more dollars in your money stash.

 

Have a great week.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 14 Food Storage Challenge

5 Pounds Peanut Butter / Cheese

 

5 pounds of peanut butter. If you have someone in your family who is allergic to peanuts, you might want to get some different nut butters like cashew, almond butter or nutela in addition to the peanut butter. Also if you have a way to grind your own nut butters you can store some different types of nuts.

 

Cheese you can freeze your cheese, or you can can it. I put the shredded in the freezer then can some block cheese. Some people dehydrate their cheese, I have tried this with out much luck so canning and freezing are my options. If you make your own cheese be it the soft or hard cheeses be sure to put back extra supplies for this.  You can also buy the powdered cheese, if you do this buy a small amount first and try it, some are ok and some are not. I bought a large container and did not like it, so start small and make sure you like what you are getting. You can also look into the canned cheese sauce. I have some of this put back, but like the cheese powder buy a small can and try it before you buy the larger cans. I have tried waxing the cheese and not real crazy about this either , you have to be very careful to make sure it is completely waxed because if there is even a small tiny hole the cheese will mold. This also continues to age the cheese, so after it has sat for a  year or so the cheese will be very very strong. 

 

Add more to your money stash even if it is only a few dollars.

Keep putting back water.

How is the knitting or crocheting coming along?

Keep working on your car kits if you are trying to get these together.

 

Have a great week.

Week 13 Food Storage Challenge

1000 multi Vitamins/ Canned Vegetables

1000 Multi Vitamins, You may not be able to eat as well as you should so a multi vitamin will help ensure you have all the nutrients that you need.

Canned Vegetables, Even if you can your own it would be good if you had a few extra cans or jars on hand (You can also have dried if you don’t want to have to try and store all the extra cans or jars).  Just in case you have a year that your garden doesn’t produce as well as it should.

If you don't have a lot of extra vegetables from your garden that you can dehydrate,  a quick and easy way to dry vegetables is to buy the frozen at the store then all you have to do is put them on your dehydrator trays and dry. (No need to blanch or anything they are ready to go.)

The thing to get this month is seeds. Try to get heirloom if at all possible, then you can harvest the seeds for next year. Get extra and keep in a cool place.

If you haven’t planned you garden yet now is the time. Even if you only have a small place, you can plant a few things. There is a lot of info on the Internet for small space gardening, there is some really good information Here. If at all possible grow extra so you can put back enough for winter.

If you don’t already have a car kit in each vehicle try to do that this month. Be sure to include extra food ,water and blanket,

The skill for this month is to learn to crochet or knit. This way you can make blankets, socks, scarves, sweaters and baby things and many other things.

Add some more to your money stash.

Have a great week.

Week 12 Food Storage Challenge

8 Cans of Tuna / Spices and Herbs

8 Cans of tuna, If you don't care for tuna or are afraid of the contaminates in it, just get some sort of canned meat, Store bought or home canned.

Spices and Herbs, get what you use. You might even want to try and grow your own. If you grow your own, just get what you can't grow. If you are going to grow your own you might want to get a little bit of them, just to make sure you have enough for what you use until you have them growing real good. It may take a year or so to adjust how much you  grow, to how much you use. You can grow outside or inside. I try to keep some growing in the house in the winter then I have some to set outside in the summer. I even have ginger growing in the house and will try to put it outside in the summer.

Add more water to your water storage. Even if  you are filling your own containers you might want to go ahead and  get a couple cases of  bottled water to have on hand.

Put a little more into your money stash.

How is your alternative cooking coming along? Some one mentioned that they had gotten a thermal cooker, I had never heard of these so I looked them up they are great, and I want one now haha. You can go Here to learn more about them.

Are you finding canning supplies?

Have a great week.

Week 11 Food Storage Challenge

Week 11 Food Storage Challenge

25 pounds Sugar/ 25 pounds Oats

25 pounds sugar or a gallon of honey If you buy honey try to get local honey it is better for you. If you do get it from the store make sure it is 100 % honey with no added corn syrup or other things.

Add more water to your water storage.

Put a little more money in your money stash.

Keep working on the cooking source and the herbs.

Have a great week.

Week 10 Food Storage Challenge

The government will not take care of you the only one you can relie  one is yourself. 

 

6 pounds of yeast/condiments

6 pounds of yeast you can store this in the freezer to keep it good.After you open it keep in the fridge so it will last longer.

Condiments, get what you family uses ketchup,mustard,Steak sauces,mayo,ect. Some of these things you can make yourself.

Add more water.

Put a little more in your money stash.

Keep working on your alternative cooking source.

As you learn about herbs try to start using them so you are familiar with them.

Have a great week.

 

Food Storage on a Tight Budget.

You will not be able to depend on the government for help when things go south. The only one you can depend on is your self.

 

You are seeing where things are going and know you need to get food put back but you barely have enough money to get by month to month.
Starting a food storage when money is super tight can be a little daunting to say the least.

First off don't get discouraged when you see some one who has been working on food storage for years, believe me they started with nothing and had to work at it to get where they are. It takes lots of little baby steps. It also takes determination and the willingness to make a few sacrifices. Remember this will not happen over night it takes time. 

1 Figure out a budget you can go here to see ways to save money that maybe you hadn't thought of. Every penny, every dime, you save is a little more you can put towards your food storage.

2 Learn to cook from scratch. I can not stress enough how important this is, you save a ton of money, it's way more healthy, and it cuts down what you need in your food storage. ( you don't need boxed dinners ect. You can make your own)

3 Learn skills. If you can sew just a little you can mend or make some of your clothes ( esp. children's clothes). Make your own soap ect. The more skills you have the less money you need to spend on these things, the more money for your storage.

4 Do not cater to picky eaters. I have a rule in my house I cook for my Husband if the kids do not like it they go hungry, or learn to eat it. ( I know harsh) It doesn't really take that long for them to come around to eating what I am cooking. Like they say picky eaters are made not born. In my daycare I can tell which kids have to eat what is given them at home and the ones that look at something and say they don't like it and don't have to eat it. The ones that have to eat what is given them will eat what ever I give them. The ones that don't are very hard to feed. Having to learn to eat these foods during a crisis situation is going to be a whole lot harder on them then learning to eat them now.

5 Grow as much as you can. If space is tight there are a lot of ideas on the internet for small space gardening. If water is an issue use drip systems, container gardening , collect your rain water, use water that you save in the house from waiting on hot water, there are lots of ways to save water so you have water for your garden.
(I will be doing a post soon on water , water storage and saving on water.)

6 Buy on sale and in season. When something comes on sale buy as much as you possible can. Even if it isn't on your list for that week put what ever was on the list in the pace of what you just bought. Buy in season it general is much cheaper when in season. Don't forget after holiday and end of season sales.

7 Yard sales,auctions and second hand stores always be on the look out for things you need. Just be careful not to over pay and don't get things you really don't need. Have a list with you of things you are looking for .

8 Think outside the box. You just found a whole stack of sheets at the second hand store for next to nothing. Do you look at them I think well I have enough , these are the wrong size. Or do you think what could I use these for. Make curtains, dresses for your  daughter, shirts for your son,cut in do dish rags, backing for a quilt, cut into cloth paper towels, so many things you can do with that stack of sheets if you are always thinking outside the box.

9 Barter, If some one has an excess of fruit or vegetables or anything that you can use for that matter, try to trade them for something you have or trade for work.

10 Know your prices. When I first started food storage I made a list of all the things buy then I went to the two stores that I shop at . We have 3 stores in our town one is Safeway which for what buy is way to expensive and they always have a limit on the sales. That leaves City Market and Wal-mart. I went to Wal-mart with my list and wrote down the price of everything I buy. I now had a base for prices when something came on sale at city Market I could compare prices if the sale was cheaper I would go and buy as much as I could afford. City Market is real good at ordering cases if you want a couple cases of something. Be sure to check your unit price also sometimes the larger isn't always the cheaper.

11 On my Food Storage Challenge I have two Items the first is the most important it is for two people so if you have 4 people in your  house you will need to double that. This will get you your basic basics so if money is real tight this is what to get. The second is extras that would be nice to have so if you have a little extra money try to get some of these. I also have skills to learn every month and things to get or make if you can.

12 When storing water you do not need to go and buy all bottled water. Use containers you have around the house, ask friends and family for their soda bottles, Gatorade bottles,  juice bottles, even bleach bottles,(when I was  a kid and my Dad always had a bleach bottle filled with drinking water.)  fill them with tap water. I don't recommend milk jugs but if they are all you have then use them just be sure to wash them very well and  watch them for leaking.

13 Put away as much extra money as you can even if it is only a couple dollars. This has two purposes one you are building a little nest egg and second you have a few extra dollars if something comes on sale you may be able to get a little more.

14 Can and dehydrate as much as you can if you don't have a dehydrator look on the internet on ways to make your own or do it  the old fashion way in the sun. 

15 Food storage when money is tight is a struggle I know. But if you are determined you can do it. Even if it is picking up a pound of beans here and a bag of rice there.  Something is better then nothing.

If you have any other ideas please feel free to share.

Learning Herbalism with the Herbal Academy of New England.

 

 

Herbal Academy of New England

 

 

I am so excited after looking for what seems like forever. I finally found a herbalism class that is affordable and fits my needs.

Herbal Academy of New England. I have been trying to learn as much as I can on my own and have always felt there was so much more to know. I have looked at herbalism classes on line but they were so pricey and just not within my budget. This class isn't way cheap but a lot more doable. It is 360 dollars and if you need to they let you make 3 payment of 120 a month. There is sooo  much information. When I am done I will be able to take care of my family the natural way. Plus I will be able to share some herbal remedies here and with others. I feel like it is going to be well worth the money.

The Intermediate Herbal Course is for people with some herbal training. Be it what you have learned on your own, or classes that you may have taken. If you have never worked with herbs they offer a Introductory Herbal Course I do have several post on herbs that might be of a help if you are just starting out.
They also have a wonderful site herbalacademyofne.com/ that has tons of info.
If you are interested in taking the course let me know then maybe we could share ideas. Also if you do sign up for the class I do make a small fee from it. If you have a blog and you want to sign up they have an affiliate program where you can get a small discount on the course if you share the info on your blog. ( I didn't even notice this until after I had signed up, so just wanted to share that so others would know before they signed up, so they could get the discount)

So here is what is in the course I am so excited to learn all of this.


The Intermediate Herbal Course: 10 Unit Outline

Unit 1: Why Herbs And How They Work

History; Herbal Healing Philosophies; Homeostasis; Overview of Body Systems; Systems of Energetics, Actions and Constitutions; Medicine Making Review; Side Effects and Safety; Creating Formulations

Unit 2: Food is Medicine

Kitchen Cupboard Herbs; Vinegars; Oils; Honey; Edible and Medicinal Plants; Foraging; Wild crafting; Plant Savers; Gratitude and Ceremony

Unit 3: Digestive System

Alimentary System Overview; Digestive Health as Foundation of Health; Imbalances of the Digestive System and Herbal Remedies

Unit 4: Immune System

Building Immune Health; Prevention; Common Disharmonies; Creating a Materia Medica

Unit 5: Nervous System

The Central Nervous System; The Peripheral Nervous System; The Enteric Nervous System; Stress; Headaches; Sleep; Herbs

Unit 6: Cardiovascular

Anatomy of the Heart; Blood Pressure; Cholesterol; Heart Strong/Heart Health; Herbal Therapeutics; Diet; Glycosides; The Energetic Heart

Unit 7: The Liver

Anatomical Overview; Liver Health; Liver Imbalances; Herbal Treatments; Bitters

Unit 8: Respiratory

Breathing; Asthma; Lung Imbalances; Herbal Tonics; Natural Remedies

Unit 9: Urinary System

Kidney and Urinary Health; UTI; Herbs

Unit 10: Children

Common Discomforts; Formulas and Recipes; Which Herbs are Safe; Dosing

The units are broken up into lessons, and there is a quiz at the end of each unit before moving on to the next unit. I am still at unit one and almost finished with it.

Some of the things included in the course: 

Over 100 herbal recipes
Interactive ebooks
Printable handouts and charts
Videos throughout every unit
Online forums open for discussion and questions
 Easy access to a team of herbalists and medical professionals
 Printable Intermediate Herbal Certification upon completion
An online forum so students can share things with each other.

What do you need to take the course?

They have some recommended books that might be helpful I don't have any of these yet but hope to be able to get a couple of them

Botany in a Day by, Thomas J. Elpel

Medical Herbalism by, David Hoffman

 Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength , Stamina, and Stress Relief  by, David Winston

Nutritional Herbology: A Reference guide to Herbs by, Mark Pederson

The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism Basic Doctrine, Energentics, and Classification by, Matthew Wood

The Web Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine by, Ted J. Kaptchuk

 Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by, Paul Pitchford  The Yoga of Herbs; An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine by, David Frawley and Vasant Lad The lost Language of Plants: The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicines for life on earth.by,Stephen Harrod Buhner Making Plant Medicine by, Rico Cech   Supplies: Some of these things you may already have.  8 oz. mason jars, cheese cloth, strainer, large bowls, funnel, small 1 or 2 oz. bottles, raw wildflower honey, apple cider vinegar, high proof brandy or vodka, natural waxed paper

You an use herbs you have grown your self or you can order them I like Bulk Herb Store
You can also use Mountain Rose Herbs these two have bottles and other supplies.
Frontier,Zack Wood Farms,Jean’s Greens are also recommended in the course

There are hundreds of recipes in this program.  This means many herbs to learn about. You will be asked to practice and share your experience working on one of the recipes for each unit.

Suggested Herbs For Tea and Other Recipes: Use what you have grown or forged yourself or you can order them.

Nettles
Lemon balm
Chamomile
Raspberry Leaf
Dandelion
St. Johns wort
Licorice
Peppermint
Motherwort

Other herbs featured in the program , pick some you would you like to try. They will not go to waste.

Angelica root
Bee balm
Burdock root
Calendula
Cardamom pods
Cayenne
Cinnamon
 Elder berry
Fennel seeds
Gentian root
Hawthorn berries
Hyssop
Lavender
Linden flower
Marshmallow root
Passionflower
Plantain leaf
Reishi
Rose petal
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Tulsi (Holy basil)
Tumeric
Valerian
Wood betony
Yarrow
Yellow dock root

 As you can see they cover a lot. So if you are wanting more information on herbalism this is the place to go.
Even if you don't want to try the class go check out the Site, as I said they have a ton of information on it.
If you have any questions just ask and I will try to answer.


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