One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1655 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.

The Adventures of Lucy the Puggle Dog

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 20, 2013 · 16 Comments

This past week was been a busy one for Lucy the puggle dog.

She went to one of the kids sporting events, took a trip to the pet store, played in the garden, ate a raw sweet potato, chased the Handsome Husband around, and earned herself a wee bit of freedom to roam around the house. She is such a sweet puppy, I can hardly stand it.

One of her favorite activities is to supervise The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird while she loads the dishwasher. She likes to make sure all the plates are CLEAN before they go in the dishwasher I guess.

Play hard, nap hard, that is Lucy’s motto. It’s a good thing she doesn’t get an allowance, because she’d spend it all on crappy stuffed animals from Target.

You can totally tell she’s one of those high maintenance suburbia dogs too.

Apparently the Handsome Husband has an “in” with the Easter Bunny and he arranged to have Lucy’s eggs delivered a wee bit early this year. To put it mildly, she loves per pEi pet bed we found on Living Social last week.

Ahh yes, life is rough for that sweet little dog. Life is rough.

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How to Grow Your Own Food – 2013 Garden Tally

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 20, 2013 · 11 Comments

{Late Spring 2012}

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

It’s time to break out the banjo because I feel a song coming on.

Although I didn’t harvest one stinkin’ thing from my backyard garden this past week, spring is EVERYWHERE! The oregano is starting to fill it’s giant container, all 4 rhubarb plants have poked through the soil, flower buds on the trees are starting to appear like a flash mob, and bees… Lucy and I spotted 3 bees in the backyard yesterday. Weeeeee!

Now all we need is less rain, more sunshine and some heat, and we’ll be in business.

This week I’ll be planting more seeds, working in the greenhouse and planting the rest of our potatoes. Also on the agenda, a few super cool garden projects, so be on the look out for those as well.

If you still have snow, or your garden is to frozen or muddy to work in, hang in there, hopefully it’s only a matter of a few more weeks until you can get out there and grow baby grow!

~Mavis

Here is what I have harvested so far this year:

{Heirloom beets pictured from last summer}

Beets – 14 ounces

{Tonda di Parigi HEIRLOOM carrots pictured from last summer}

Carrots – 3 ounces

egg count 2013

Egg Count – 402 {5 eggs per day average}

This week we collected a whopping 73 eggs. Holy crack!

Lettuce – 6 ounces
M icrogreens 5 ounces

Potatoes – 2 pounds 9 ounces

bean sprouts

Sprouts – 8 ounces

Swiss Chard 11 ounces

Wheatgrass – 7 ounces

Total Food Harvested in 2013: 5 pounds 15 ounces

Total Eggs Collected in 2013: 402

Get out there and grow!

~Mavis

Need some seeds? Botanical Interests is offering FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50 right now.

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Easy Slow Cooker Recipes – Asian Chicken with Ginger

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 19, 2013 · 6 Comments

Yesterday I made another super delicious crock pot meal for dinner. The weather was really nice and I didn’t want to miss my chance to get some garden chores done with the sun shinning. Not only was this crock pot chicken dinner super easy to make, it was delicious too!

Here is the easy peasy recipe:

Ingredients

chicken breasts
2 large carrots, chopped
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vingar
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons, candied ginger {or 1 tablespoon ground ginger}
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons dried parsley

Directions

Add all ingredients in to the crock pot, and cook on low for 5 hours or high for 3 hours. Serve over a bed of rice. Sweet diggety, I love it when I only have to spend 5 minutes making dinner!

Are you in love with your crock pot too? Then be sure and check out more of my favorite crock pot recipes.

My favorite Crock Pot – Crock-Pot Cook’ N Carry 6-Quart Portable Slow Cooker
My favorite Slow Cooker Cookbook – Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook

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Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 19, 2013 · 22 Comments

What the heck happened to the rain yesterday? It was a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest. Lucy the puggle dog and I were able to get a boatload of things done and were able to stay nice and dry too.

I love spring days like that.

Now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit, I’ve been slowly moving vegetable starts out to the greenhouse. So far I only have out there, because my second table is still in the house with grow lights sitting on top of it. I hesitate to running a cord from the house out to the greenhouse to hook everything up because it’s still a wee bit cold for a lot of the seeds I am trying to germinate.

Well, that and the whole part about how the HH would totally flip out if he saw a giant bright orange extension cord across the backyard. What would the neighbors think {blah, blah, blah}. I’ve tried to point out the the neighbors don’t even come out of their house, so how the heck would they even see the cord… but then he just mutters something about how they have windows.

I can’t win.

Yesterday we installed gutters in the left side of the greenhouse. So far all I have planted is a length of spinach in the top gutter. I’m hoping to get the other 3 galvanized gutters planted today.

The strawberries I planted in the gutters last week are doing great.

Last year I made the mistake of planting the strawberry crowns to close together. This year I planted the crowns about 12 inches apart to allow plenty of room for their roots to grow. In the fall, after the plants have fruited, I’ll remove the strawberries from the gutters and overwinter them in the garden.

Seedlings, transplants, Lemon the l emon tree and onion and leeks.

It’s looking pretty bare right now, but we all have to start somewhere. Right?

Do YOU have a greenhouse? Where are you starting your seeds this year? Inside, outside, at your MIL’s?

Mavis wants to know.

Thinking about growing food in a greenhouse but don’t know how to get started? Check out Elliot Coleman’s book Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long. I think it’s pretty awesome.

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.