One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1553 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 and the Backyard Harvest

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 21, 2013 · 26 Comments

This is my first year harvesting rhubarb and I have a question.

Last night I picked a few stalks of rhubarb for another batch of rhubarb vanilla jam. There are still another 15 stalks left on the plant. Do I pick them all, or leave some behind? Now that I’ve found a couple of really good recipes for rhubarb I want to be sure and harvest as much rhubarb as I can, but I also don’t want to kill my plant either.

If you know the answer please leave a comment. Thanks!!

I have met my match.

My neighbor girl helped in the garden yesterday setting out gnomes and picking peas. Do you see how she organized them in the wooden crate? I sent her mom a text message and told her I though a career in organization was in her future.

The strawberries we have growing in gutters are still rolling in. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many strawberry shortcakes before in my life for dinner.

I am happy to pick my own {small} homegrown strawberries a million times over before I’d buy those giant pumped up strawberries they sell in the grocery stores that are shipped in from who knows where.

Bigger, is’t always better. That’s for sure.

How is YOUR garden growing? What have you been harvesting from your garden lately?

Mavis wants to know! 😉

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Broadway Farmers Market – Tacoma Farmers Market

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 20, 2013 · 4 Comments

Today Monkey Boy and I stopped by the Broadway Farmers Market on the way home and were surprised at how many local fruits and vegetables were being offered for so “early” in the season. It seemed like everywhere we looked there were fresh peas and strawberries for sale.

I’ve only been to the Broadway Farmers Market a few times, but this was the first time I had noticed so many produce vendors there. I LOVE that!

Even though farmer’s markets are typically a collection of produce, flowers and crafts, it’s kind of cool to be able to walk down the street and feel like you are in an outdoor grocery market with great choices every which way you look. It gives me hope that people are willing to send a wee bit more for products that are not only local, but fresher as well.

Baby artichokes!

Fresh from the farm cabbage, carrots, lettuce and peas.

I didn’t catch this guys name, but he had some of the coolest handmade cold frames I have ever laid eyes on. Not only were the cold frames hand made, but a lot of the wood he uses comes from old buildings. How cool is that?

Local, fresh sugar snap peas are going for $4 a pound.

Wowza! I’m glad I’m growing a boatload of them this year in our garden. I don’t know how you feel about the fruits and vegetables you grow, but I don’t think I could sell my peas for $4 a pound. Nope. I think they’re worth more.

I’d make a lousy farmer because I’d have a hard time putting a price tag on the things I grew. Some things I’d be happy to giveaway, like kale. But peas, berries and heirloom tomatoes… forget about it. I’d want them all for myself.

There’s no doubt about it. Farmers Markets Rule!

~Mavis

Broadway Farmers Market
10 am – 3 pm Thursdays
S. 9th St. & Broadway Tacoma, WA
May – October

If you are in Washington State, check out our Washington State Farmers Market Directory. Not from Washington No problem. Go to FarmersMarket.com to find your local market.

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Strawberry Pie Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 20, 2013 · 21 Comments

This recipe for strawberry pie comes from my friend Jane. She is a rock star in the kitchen and I cannot believe it took me so long to try her recipe for strawberry pie. This pie was delicious! Everyone in our house loved it, especially my husband.

Strawberry Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup vegetable shorting {I LOVE Crisco!}
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold water
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp . cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup water
2 cups strawberries , crushed
2 1/2 cups sliced strawberries , sliced

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees
Combine pie crust ingredients together, roll into a ball, use the palm of your hand to flatten crust to about 1 inch. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Roll out 1 crust and line a pie plate with it.
Bake the pie crust {empty} for 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees or until it turns light brown. Set aside
Combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Add water and crushed strawberries and bring it to a boil over medium high to high heat, stirring often. Once the filling is thick {when you take your spoon across the bottom of the pan it should take a few seconds for the filling to re-cover the exposed pan}, remove it from the heat.
Lay the sliced strawberries in the bottom of the baked pie crust and then cover with the warm filling. Let cool completely and then refrigerate until ready to serve. I like to serve each slice with a little bit of fresh whipping cream.

You can find more of my friend Jane’s recipes in her cookbook Thy Hand Hath Provided: Recipes and Preserving.

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10 Cool Uses for Hairspray

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 20, 2013 · 7 Comments

Ahhh the 80’s. Don’t you miss them? I know you like totally do! For sure! This is me back in 1988 when I went through about a can of hairspray a week {Aqua Net was the best, wasn’t it?}.

These days hairspray is one of those things you can always seem to find a coupon for, and if you are patient enough, get for pretty inexpensive. What do you do with all of that hairspray if you don’t really need to tame your mane, though? Turns out, tons of stuff!

Here’s my 10 favorite not-so-common uses for hairspray:

Remove lipstick and ink stains on clothing. The alcohol in the hairspray lifts these kinds of stains better than anything else that I’ve tried. Spray the hairspray on the clothing, and gently dab out the stain. Repeat until it’s gone.
Extend the life of your fresh wreaths. I love a fresh wreath at Christmas time, but the needles always fall off before the season is over. You can extend the wreath’s life by spraying it with hairspray.
Preserve little Timmy’s masterpiece. You can spray your kids’ artwork with hairspray to help prevent fading and smudging {particularly if they’ve done something in chalk}.
Stop a run in pantyhose. Just spray the run with hairspray to prevent further damage.
Extend the life of fresh flowers. Spray the flowers to prevent fading and wilting.
Thread a needle with ease. If you sew, you know how maddening it can be when you just can’t seem to thread a needle. Spray the end of the thread with hairspray. It will cause just enough stiffness in the thread to easily get it through the eye of the needle.
Slippy zippers. If you have a pair of pants that the zipper constantly slides down on, spray the teeth with a healthy dose of hairspray before slipping them on. The stickiness of the hairspray should provide just enough grip to keep the zipper up where it belongs.
Get that big, bad bug with the hairspray. Hairspray is awesome for killing bugs. Just spray as you would a bug spray and watch ‘em keel over.
Out of tape? Need to wrap a gift. Use hairspray for an invisible hold.
Protect drapes. Spray the bottom of drapes with hairspray, it creates an invisible barrier for dirt as the drapes get dragged along the floor each time you open them.

Do you use hairspray for anything other than your hair?

~Mavis

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