One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1614 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.

Mare from Woodland Fairy Village Sends Mavis a Fairy House

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 26, 2013 · 4 Comments

It’s been so exciting opening all the boxes people from all around the world have sent in for our Send in the Gnomes fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Yesterday we received a package from Mare. You might remember her and her outstanding custom fairy houses. I shared some of her Woodland Fairy Villages last month after spotting them on Etsy. Her fairy homes are clearly a labor of love and are such a joy to look at.

Imagine my surprise yesterday when we opened one of her creations.

My very own One Hundred Dollars a Month sign!

And check out all the loot she set out on the bed of glittered grass. Garden boots, a watering can, baskets of vegetables. Mare! This is so lovely.

Look! There is even corn.

And birds.

Eucalyptus leaves and moss for a roof. I love it!

Look at the detail!

Mare, can you make this life size? Because I totally want to live here.

The back of the fairy home is just as beautiful as the front. Oh my goodness.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! And thank you to everyone who has sent in a gnome for our Send in the Gnomes Project. So far we have collected 197 gnomes {you can see them all HERE} That is $1,970 raised for St. Jude Children’s Hospital so far.

Wahooooo! Thank you so much!

~Mavis

You can find more of Mare’s on of a kind fairy homes at her Woodland Fairy Village Etsy shop.

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Raised Garden Beds – Growing Cabbage, Onions, Radishes, Garlic, Broccoli and More

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 26, 2013 · 21 Comments

Check it out!

The raised garden beds are really starting to fill up. It’s so nice to finally see green in those beds instead of soil. We have 16 raised garden beds and so far 10 have been planted. I’m saving the last 6 for tomatoes {which I’ll be setting out in a few more weeks}.

Garden bed #1 has Chinese cabbage growing in it. We had to replace the broccoli raab that bolted and so far the cabbage transplants are doing great.

Broccoli and radish.

Cabbage and radishes.

Have you read Calvin & Hobbes? Well Lucy totally reminds me of Calvin. Ha!

I think out of all of the raised garden beds, this one with radish, onions and kohlrabi looks the best.

The square foot garden. I think this will look really cool {artsy?} when all the seeds have been planted. I’m excited to see what it will look like once the tomatoes are in and to see how much we can harvest out of this raised garden bed.

Swiss chard. My neighbor planted this yesterday. In about 2 weeks we will thin the transplants and move the extras to another bed {probably over by the chicken coop}.

Artichokes. These are not looking so hot. The ones I planted over in the perennial garden are doing much better and I’m not sure why.

Garlic, Garlic, Garlic.

If you squint really hard you might be able to see some beet greens trying to pop through the soil.

I’m not sure why, but beets always seed to take forever to come up. Does this happen at your place too, or is it a Pacific Northwest thing?

Ahhh yes. Carrots. These are notorious for taking a loooooooong time to germinate. Last week I thought I spotted a few delicate seedlings coming up, but now I think they may have just been weeds.

Here is a view of our 16 raised garden beds from the back of the garden. There isn’t much to look at right now, but we are getting there. One seedling at a time.

How is YOUR garden growing? Have you planted anything yet? Is there one vegetable in particular you just can’t wait to grow?

~ Mavis

Looking for a great gardening book? Check out The Backyard Homestead and learn how you can produce all the produce you need on only a quarter acre.

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Old Fashioned Apple Crisp Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 25, 2013 · 11 Comments

If you are looking for a quick and easy to make for a crowd, I highly suggest making an apple crisp. Not only is an apple crisp delicious any time year, but is hands down the fastest dessert I know how to make.

But consider yourself warned, there probably won’t be any left overs.

Ingredients for the filling

6 tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced {I used Granny Smith}
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all- purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped into bits
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Ingredients for the topping

2 cups old fashioned oats {I used quick oats}
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine apple slices, butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour into a 9×13 buttered baking dish.

Place the ingredients for the oatmeal topping in bowl and using a fork, work the ingredients together for a minute or two until they are nice and crumbly. Sprinkle over apple mixture, cover with foil and back for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook an additional 20 minutes or until the juices are bubbling.

Serve warm with ice cream.

For more rustic recipes, be sure and check out Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More. I own a copy of this cookbook and I love it!

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.

Happy at 100 – Portraits of Centenarians

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 25, 2013 · 4 Comments

If you are wondering what you might look like when you are 1oo years old, you need to check out these awesome photos taken by Karsten Thormaehlen. You can find his book online where you’ll find detailed descriptions about the people behind the photographs, but I think the pictures on his website, {especially the then and now section} are just as cool.

I look half as good as these woman do at 100, I will be thrilled.

~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.