One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1551 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.

Mavis Needs Your Help Answering a Few Questions

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 23, 2013 · 21 Comments

I love hearing from you and one of my favorite things about this blog is all the comments people leave and the sense of community we have. But because there are only 24 hours in a day, I can’t answer every single question that gets asked, or respond to every comment {because I’m either in the garden, cooking or busy just being a mom} so it really helps me out when you chime in and leave a comment helping another reader. 🙂

Recently there have been a few comments that I just don’t have the answers for and I was hoping you could help out. If you know the answer or have a suggestion, please leave a comment below.

Thanks for you help everyone, I appreciate it!

~Mavis

Sherri would love suggestions about where to buy liquid pectin for making freezer jam and containers. She is making a large amount and would love not to have to spend a fortune. My first thought was Amazon, but maybe someone buys liquid pectin in bulk and knows for sure.

Darlene asked: Any ideas why my cauliflower turning black? I just planted this last week. Leaves are fine but the cauliflower is turning black.

Dani wants to know how to get rid of gophers.

Charles is a new gardener and is having problems getting root crop like radishes and carrots, and beets to produce. He also wants to fend off spider mites and other pests from tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash? He lives in Michigan.

Do you know the answer? Can you help? Please leave a comment below. Thanks! 🙂

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Strawberry Muffins with Oatmeal Crumb Topping

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 23, 2013 · 16 Comments

Strawberry muffins are on the menu this morning at our house. I love making muffins ahead of time on a Saturday night so we can enjoy a lazy Sunday morning and not have to worry about what to make for breakfast. Once you have tried this recipe for strawberry muffins, you will never try another strawberry muffin recipe again. It’s that good!

Strawberry Muffins with Oatmeal Crumb Topping

Author Mavis Butterfield

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cup strawberries , chopped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oatmeal
2 tablespoons butter , cut into bits
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Line muffin tins with baking cups or grease tins with cooking spray.
In a large bowl mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Add oil, egg, milk and stir until there are no lumps. Fold in strawberries. Set aside.
In a separate bowl mix together the ingredients for the crumb topping with your fingers {or a fork if you don’t like to touch your food} until nice a crumbly. Is crumbly even a word? Hmm.
If you have major OCD like me, use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop to fill your muffin tins, if you don’t, just fill the tins 2/3rd of the way full and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
Bake the best strawberry muffins on the freakin’ planet for 20 minutes until they are lightly browned.
Cool slightly and serve warm.

Recipe Notes

These recipe makes approx. 12 muffins and these freeze exceptionally well!

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Why Does Ornamental Grass Fall Over?

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 22, 2013 · 1 Comment

Ornamental grasses are a really cost-effective way to add a little oomph to your garden. They are super easy to take care of, and finding some that are indigenous to your area is usually a snap. The only downside is that they occasional fall over. Why, you might ask? {Or maybe you didn’t ask, but I am going to tell you anyway.}

Grasses typically fall over for two reasons. The first is over-fertilization. Yep, you just might be taking too good care of your plants. When ornamental grasses get too much nitrogen in their system, they start to fall over. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing in this case. The second reason they might fall is sheer weight overload. Most ornamental grasses benefit from being divided every 3-4 years. It keeps them from getting too heavy and falling over.

So what do you do if yours have already fallen over? The answer is pretty simple: you wear a badge of shame for the rest of the gardening season. Kidding! You can try putting a piece of rebar or a stake in the center of the grass, pounding it in, and then tying the grass up around the support. The fix will make your eyes happier and allow your plant to muster a little strength of its own.

Go forth and grow something, Mavis

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Lucy the Puggle Dog Goes to the Vet

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 22, 2013 · 63 Comments

Yesterday morning Lucy the puggle dog walked in to the office with a chocolate truffle wrapped in green foil. I immediately jumped out of my chair and wrestled it out of her mouth and then went to investigate.

She had chewed open a sealed shipping box of whiskey truffles I had purchased in an airport back in February for my Mother in Law, obviously I had forgotten to send them.

I quickly scanned the area and spotted 4 empty wrappers. FOUR!

I screamed for The Girl to get the car, grabbed Lucy the trouble making dog and jumped in looking as about as disheveled as I’ve ever looked before in my life {ripped jeans, mismatched shoes, uncombed hair, teeth not brushed, bra,what bra? you know, the whole deal}.

We called the vet on the way and this being my first dog all I could say was dogs aren’t suppose to eat chocolate right? Right? Chocolate is bad, right?

Guess how much it costs to get a puggle’s stomach pumped? C’mon guess. We’re talking a couple of rounds of induced vomiting, charcoal, a couple of hours of observation, blood work, the whole bit.

One Hundred and Seventy Dollars!

Holy crap!

Those were some expensive truffles.

~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.