One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1584 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.

Radish Coleslaw

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 22, 2013 · 7 Comments

Looking for an awesome recipe for all those spring radishes? This recipe for radish coleslaw sounds kind of funky, but it’s delicious. I promise. Make a double batch and you’ll have plenty to bring to a potluck.

Ingredients

1 cup radishes, shredded
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup green cabbage, shredded
1/3 cup sour cream {or mayo}
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. mustard Seed
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Directions

In a large bowl, toss the shredded radishes, cabbage and carrots together then add vinegar and mix well.

In small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, sugar, celery seed, mustard seed, and garlic powder. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Toss cabbage mixture and dressing together and allow to chill in the refrigerator for about an hour before serving. Garnish with parsley and serve cold.

Looking for a more traditional coleslaw recipe? Try this copy cat recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Cole Slaw

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Gladys Moves In and Andy the Plant Whisperer Gets a Haircut

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 22, 2013 · 7 Comments

Andy was pretty quiet last week–in fact, I almost sent the HH down to the basement to do a welfare check. Just when I thought he’d disappeared for good, I spotted him out back whispering to one of the yard gnomes. Turns out, he’d just been homesick for Gladys. He said he’d spent the week in downwarddog trying to recenter himself.

Lucky for Andy, Gladys showed up later that afternoon. And, um, well, she’s not quite what I expected. To be honest, she looks like she has sin written all over her. {Lucy looked a little scared.}

Gladys had a real quick look around, and downed a can of what she called “the sweet nectar of life.” Yikes.

Then she turned all of her attention to Andy. I didn’t take pictures of their reunion {you’re welcome}. Gladys could see that Andy had really let himself go in his state of depression and lectured him for not maintaining his “gorgeous coif.” She immediately opened her suitcase and pulled out a cape, scissors and hair clips to get Andy “back in the game” with a haircut.

I’m not going to lie, I really wanted to see what else was in her suitcase while her back was turned, but Andy looked so scared, I thought I better stay and offer moral support. Guess Andy was right, Gladys is his “very own little hurricane.”

To be continued…

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How to Protect Your Strawberries From Birds

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 22, 2013 · 16 Comments

If you are tired of walking outside to find your strawberries {or any other fruit or vegetable for that matter} with chunks missing, you might want to give bird netting a try.

Bird Netting is highly effective in keeping birds and other smaller critters out of the garden beds and away from the fruits and vegetables we all try to grow each year. Not only is it safe but bird netting can be taken down at the end of the season and reused the following year.

For the netting be effective, you’ll need to give it a little support so it’s just not laying on top of the plant foliage. You can do this by using wood stakes at either end of the row and draping the netting over the berries. Be sure and anchor the bottom of the netting with rocks or something of the like. The main goal is to keep those pesky birds reaching the berries and to keep them from getting caught under the netting.

Unless of course your hoping to catch a bird for a nice pot of stew.

How do you keep the birds out of YOUR garden?

~Mavis

Need some bird netting to protect your fruits and veggies? Amazon sells it in various sizes or you can probably find it in your local hardware store too.

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How to Grow Your Own Food – 5/22/2013 Garden Tally

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 22, 2013 · 9 Comments

This year I’m on a mission to grow 4,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in my suburban backyard. In 2012 I was able to grow 2,028 pounds, and in 2013 I’m going double or nothing. I have absolutely no idea if I’ll be able to achieve my goal. But, as with any adventure, half the fun is getting there. ~Mavis

*******

This past week we were able to harvest a little over 5 pounds of radishes, 4 pounds of lettuce, a wee bit of bok choy and some chives. Oh and eggs, let’s not forget about those.

It’s starting to get a little exciting around here with the summer planting almost done and the garden boxes filling up with shades of green. It won’t be too long before I’ll be hauling in buckets of peas and zucchini’s.

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited!

~Mavis

Here is what I have harvested so far this year:

Basil – 4 ounces

Beets – 14 ounces

Bok Choy – 4 oz

Check out this Asian Noodle Salad with Bok Choy I made. It’s pretty awesome.

Carrots – 3 ounces

Chives – 8 ounces

Egg Count – 1,171

We collected 80 eggs this past week. Do you have chickens? Do you have a fancy container to collect your eggs? We just seem to use whatever is handy. A box, a basket, a planting tray, sweatshirt pockets, whatever. Sometimes I think we need to have a designated container or something.

Lettuce – 6 pounds 8 ounces

We basically had a salad every day last week. Homegrown lettuce has a totally different taste to it. Growing your own food is kind of weird that way. You learn what real food is suppose to taste like.

M icrogreens 5 ounces

I need to grow some more of these. My favorite way to eat microgreens is with egg salad sandwiches.

Oregano – 2 ounce

Potatoes – 2 pounds 9 ounces

Radish – 6 pound 4 ounces

My favorite radish of all time is the French breakfast radish. The taste is very mild and they are fun to look at.

Spinach – 3 ounces

Sprouts –1 pound 2 ounces

Here are instructions for growing your own sprouts.

Swiss Chard 11 ounces

Wheatgrass – 7 ounces

Total Food Harvested in 2013: 20 pounds 4 ounces

Total Eggs Collected in 2013: 1,171

If you are new to gardening or just want to learn more on the topic of organic gardening, my #1 favorite book is The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food By Tanya L.K. Denckla.

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