One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1220 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 7, 2014 · 3 Comments

Have you started harvesting rhubarb yet this season? Well if you have a couple of extra stalks of rhubarb {well, okay, 4 to be exact} you’ll want to gather up some strawberries too and make this strawberry rhubarb crisp.

I brought one of these to a pot luck dessert last year and it was gone within 5 minutes. I kid you not. I don’t know if it was because those people had never tried rhubarb before and they were all curious, or if they knew exactly what it was and knew exactly what they wanted.

It’s good, trust me. 😉 If you’re feeding a crowd… this dish will be a big hit!

~Mavis

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Author Mavis Butterfield

Ingredients

4 cups fresh rhubarb , cut into 1 inch pieces
4 cups fresh strawberries , stems removed
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup oats {I used quick cooking oats}
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter , cubed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Butter a 9×12 inch baking dish and set aside.
In a large bowl toss together the strawberries, rhubarb and 3/4 cup of sugar. In a small bowl mix the orange juice and cornstarch together and pour over strawberry/rhubarb mixture and mix until the fruit is coated.
Pour fruit mixture in to the buttered baking dish.
In a small bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, 1/2 granulated sugar, salt, butter and oats together until it resembles small pebbles. Sprinkle topping over the fruit and bake at 350 degrees for 50 – 60 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and the top is a nice golden brown.

Find More Rhubarb Recipes

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Using Marigolds in the Garden to Control Pests

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 7, 2014 · 5 Comments

I love the idea of using natural gardening methods to deter pests. One, because I am too cheap to pay for expensive chemicals, and two, because I don’t want chemicals on my food anyway.

The thing that you have to remember with organic gardening is that it kind of takes a little more patience and tweaking than just obliterating the problem with a quick solution of chemicals.

One of the ways you can control the pest population in your garden is to use plants and flowers that naturally deter and/or attract the pests. While there are lots of potential plants you can use, Marigolds are kind of the gold standard. They both deter some pests from even entering your garden, and attract others {kind of like the Pied Piper of flowers, leading the pests away from your edible vegetables}.

If you want to use Marigolds in your garden as pest control, make sure you get a highly scented variety. The smell is what offends most pests. Also, it’s kind of important to integrate the flowers right into the garden beds, not just in pots on the front patio. In All New Square Foot Gardening, the author suggests integrating Marigolds right into one of the square foots of the garden. That way, they are on the front line. **Remember, though, that Marigolds are a much less intensive way to control pests, so it won’t eliminate them entirely, just deter them.

Marigolds attract pests like snails and spider mites–which can be problematic, if you want your Marigolds to be purely for aesthetic reasons. When I use them, I kind of use them like the sacrificial lamb of the garden. I know that they will attract certain bugs, but it keeps them off of my edibles, so I am okay with them being under attack.

In addition to repelling certain bugs, Marigolds do their fair share in helping with feeding the beneficial bugs. They provide nectar and contribute to the overall pollination of your garden. The bugs that they provide nectar for, in turn, prey on pests you don’t want in your garden. It’s the circle of life all in one little flower.

Do you use Marigolds in your garden?

~Mavis

Pictured above is One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Anastasia’s mother in her Glazov, Russia garden. You can see more photos of her parents garden HERE.

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DIY Hanging Flower Basket Made with Chicken Wire and Moss

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 7, 2014 · 3 Comments

One of my favorite things about living in the Pacific Northwest is the moss. Weird, I know. So when I was asked to do a Mother’s Day segment on New Day Northwest I was reminded of a moss lined hanging basket I saw earlier this year at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. The vendor was charging $99. I made mine for a fraction of that {under $10!}.

Luckily we have about as much moss as one could ever want growing in our backyard, so putting together a few moss lined hanging baskets was a snap.

Supplies

Chicken Wire {Home Depot sells it}
Wire Cutters
Garden Gloves
Moss
Potting Soil
Flowers
Pattern Piece {Draw out a large circle, make an X in the center and cut it in to 4 pieces}

Directions

Put on a pair of thick garden gloves. Place your 1/4 circle pattern piece on top of the chicken wire and cut along the edges {give yourself about an 1″ allowance}.

** Notice how I left the edges squared off? If you do that you will have a little extra wire to work with. You don’t have to do it but I find that shaping the basket is a little easier when I do. Fold chicken wire into a cone shape.

Tuck the pointy bits of wire over one another to create a cone shape.

Stuff wire cage about 2/3rd full with moss.

Add a wee bit of potting soil to the center and then tuck small bedding plants {alyssum and lobelia work great} out of a few of the chicken wire combs.

Add a larger, more showy flower to the top {geranium, gerber daisy, etc} and viola!

An inexpensive but awesome looking masterpiece!

Now, how easy was that?

~Mavis

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12 Goals for the New Year – Week 19 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 7, 2014 · 6 Comments

I came up with 12 goals I’d like to accomplish this year with the hopes of being able to cross one off my list per month to make them more manageable. I thought a great way to hold myself accountable to the things I want to accomplish this year would be to do a weekly update.

After all, we all need a little help staying motivated sometimes. Here’s how I am doing so far:

1. ~~Clean, de-clutter and organize my entire home in 30 days or less~~. – So far this year I have cleaned my closet, organized my kitchen, decluttered my bathroom, organized my office, gutted the garage, and tackled the laundry room. Last week I cleaned up the back and front porch areas and this week I’ll be pulling the boatload of weeds that suddenly popped up overnight on the hillside next to the house.

How does that happen anyway????

2. Fit into the same jeans I wore 8 years ago when we moved into our house. Well, after last weeks show and tell I thought I better jump back on the pedometer bandwagon again. 😉 There was one day last week when I looked down at my pedometer and noticed I had only taken 1,300 steps {it was 3 in the afternoon} so I hit the road and took Lucy the Puggle princess for a long walk.

The goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps a day but I’ve been a little lazy in the walking department so hopefully next week I’ll have some better number to show you.

3. ~~Travel.~~ So far this year The Girl and I have been to Boston, London, Paris and now Portland, Oregon. Now I’m just waiting for a phone call from the Discovery Channel saying they want me to be their new travel writer. 😉

4. Send my daughter to college without having a nervous breakdown thus spending a week in bed sobbing. I am in total denial. I’ve actually got a countdown calendar going on my phone letting me know how many days, hours and minutes until she abandons us for higher education.

5. Get 3 new teeth.

6. ~~Pay off my car.~~ Done!

7. Finish this primitive folk art rug I started 4 years ago. Moving right along. I’m hoping to get this done by the end of June.

8. Family Day. Do one thing together as a family every Sunday. I can’t remember what we did last week but I know we did something. Note to self: I need to start writing this down on a sticky note and put it on my desk so I don’t forget what we did}.

9. Secret Plan #1 – Working on it.

10. Secret Plan #2 – Still Plotting away.

11. Secret Plan #3

12. Convince the HH we should buy a Salt Box Style House in Colonial Williamsburg. This is actually harder than I was anticipating. 🙁

13. Spend at least 1 hour a day working in my garden. I don’t know what Lucy’s fascination with cabbage plants is but man oh man does that pup love to dig in the cabbage patch. She doesn’t dig anywhere else but the there which is kind of strange if you ask me.

So there you have it, my goals for the new year.

How about YOU? How are your 2014 goals coming along?

~Mavis

P.S. YES, I know I wrote down 13 goals. I’m fairly certain I won’t be able to attain one of them. {gee, I wonder which one?} But I wanted to add it in there anyway because I believe in miracles.

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