One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1545 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.

Pallet Gardening – Planting Swiss Chard

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 28, 2013 · 7 Comments

The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and I worked in the pallet garden the other day placing new Ruby Red Swiss chard transplants from the greenhouse in to the pallet that used to be growing spinach.

The Swiss chard was started in the greenhouse about a month ago and now that it’s starting to heat up in there, were decided to move it on out.

The celery we started from seed back in January under grow lights is doing great. As long as I can keep it well watered we should be harvesting celery by the end of summer.

Remember the dried beans I planted? Well this pallet is doing pretty good.

This pallet, not so much. Clearly it was attacked by evil slugs. I spread a bunch of Sluggo down and replanted the pallet though so with any luck, we’ll get some beans in about 60 days.

The strawberry pallet garden is rockin’. Look at all those runners it’s putting out and if you look real close, you can flashes of red berries beneath the leaves.

Here’s a view of the entire pallet garden from the potting bench. 🙂 The Swiss chard is still a little droopy from transplanting but it should perk up soon.

Did you plant a pallet garden this year?

How is it doing? Are you happy with the results?

Mavis wants to know.

Want to learn more about wood pallet gardening and how I put mine together? Click on the pallets above and it will take you to my first pallet garden post of the year. You’ll also learn what to look for when choosing a pallet.

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July Fourth Dessert Recipe – Red, White and Blue Cupcakes

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 27, 2013 · Leave a Comment

The 4th of July is only is only a few days away, do you have any special plans? If you’re looking for fun treat to help liven up dessert time at your picnic, these festive red, white and blue cupcakes might do the trick.

Simply divide your cake mix batter between 3 bowls and add food coloring.

Slowly add red, white and blue batter.

Bake for 18 minutes at 350°. Cool on a wire rack.

Frost with vanilla icing and and you’re all set.

Have a fun and SAFE 4th of July!

Looking for an American Flag? Well look no further, Amazon has a bunch in stock!

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Laurie Sends in Pictures of Her Chicken Coop Tractor and Garden Beds

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 27, 2013 · 1 Comment

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden this summer. Keep them coming!

Laurie and her husband are first time gardeners {and chicken owners} from Southern Louisiana.

Here is what she had to say about their chicken coop/tractor, that thry built with an enclosed gravity feeder, and pictures of their garden boxes thry built this year as well.

“Gardening has been a learning experience in patience for me. As I was happily buying up seed packets that were labeled heirloom, non-GMO, the locals were snickering at us in the store. We couldn’t figure out why? See we just moved to Louisiana from California a year ago, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Come to find out from our local gardening center “hero”, Manny, many of the seed packets I bought are for veggies and fruits that wont really grow too well here, our climate is too wet, and then shifts from cold to immediate HOT and burns the plants. (I think stores should NOT sell you stuff in an area they know it wont grow in!)

I was so excited to try to grow our own food! I had visions of green bean towers, and spinach clusters and huge robust tomato plants and big watermelon vines. I started all of our seedlings in the house late February, and at the end of March I transplanted our happy little seedlings into our “garden soil” filled boxes we spent all weekend building. I made sure the soil we filled with had lots of rabbit poop mixed into it, as I have read that its one of the best compost materials out there. And we waited. And waited…and waited. And still waiting for something to happen.

The plants have gotten a very slight amount bigger, and my strawberry plants bloomed and put on berries. and the bell pepper plants grew tall, bloomed… but nothing? The squash plants now have big yellow blooms on them just starting. but my watermelon…has not grown. My cantaloupe? nothing. My broccoli and cauliflower? No change either. I took samples of the soil in to Manny to test. He said it was not too alkaline nor too acidic. I changed watering time from the evening to the morning.

We brought in our own bee hives. (my husbands latest passion hobby is “beeking” Bee Keeping) We have Queen Victoria in hive one and Queen Latihfa in hive two.

So in any case, as we learn from this endeavor, and try to figure it out, try not to laugh too much at our newbie mistakes 🙂

Our coop came about also after trial and error, predators and floods, and crazy downpours. We have a small flock of 2 RIR, 2 Ameraucana, 2 Orpingtons, and 4 “mutt” chickens someone dumped off in a cage behind my husbands work center. When he brought those poor bedraggled youngsters home, it was apparent our little doll house coop we had would no longer suffice.

So he built a larger, portable one that has an on board gravity feeder that will hold up to 50 lbs of layer crumble at a time. Currently, he is working on making an automatic float type waterer that will feed from a rain catch barrel on a stand, through a hose to inside the run. In any case, its a work in progress LOL.”

Laurie I think you are doing great, especially for a first time gardener. Keep up the great week!

~Mavis

Heather Sends in Her Backyard Garden Photos

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

Go HERE for the official rules.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

How to Grow Parsnips {Start to Finish}

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 27, 2013 · 11 Comments

I planted my parsnip seeds last night so that they will be ready by Thanksgiving. The awesome thing about them is that they actually taste better after a freeze, so you can keep them in the ground until you’re ready to eat them. If you haven’t ever tried them, I seriously recommend it–they have a taste somewhere between a carrot and a potato, but don’t pack the same carbohydrate punch.

Brief description: Parsnips are a root vegetable, and a cousin to the carrot family {Though they hardly speak at family reunions. Ha.}

Where to Plant Parsnips: Raised beds or garden beds in loose soil. They prefer full sun, but will also grow in part shade, just with lower yields.

Planting Seeds: Soak seeds in water for 12-24 hours prior to planting. Plant seeds 1/2″ deep every 3″. Parsnips are ridiculously SLOW to germinate, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see anything for at least two weeks. Loosen the soil all around the planting site.

Growing Tips: The hardest part about growing parsnips is actually getting them started. They are the one thing {well, there’s probably others, but off the top of my head I can’t think of them} that you need to get fresh seeds for every year. The seeds just do not store well, and the number one reason most people struggle to grow them is because their seeds are not fresh. For best taste, allow them to stay in the ground through the first hard freeze. The freeze will turn the starches into sugar, creating a yummy little treat. Parsnips will also over-winter really well, if you cover the leaves with soil and then top that off with a healthy layer of hay or straw. It’s a great way to get root veggies through the sparse spring months.

How to Harvest: Harvest parsnips much like you would potatoes. Dig them up with a shovel, being careful not to puncture them or destroy their roots. Because they store well in the ground, just dig them up as needed, leaving the rest for when you want them again. Parsnips are ready to harvest somewhere between 95-120 days, depending on the variety you choose.

Fun Facts about Parsnips:

In Scotland, parsnips are called white carrots.
Parsnips date as far back as Roman times and were thought to be an aphrodisiac.
Before the arrival of potatoes to the new world, parsnips were a staple, along with other root vegetables.

Are you ready to start your garden but you’re not sure when you should plant your seeds or set out your transplants? Head on over HERE and you’ll be taken to a handy dandy chart that is broken down into what vegetables should be planted {or transplanted} each month in your area.

Anyone can do this. Dirt + Seeds+ Water = Food!

~Mavis

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.