A Green Fire

The black-eyed peas are ready.  I have spent the last several days picking and shelling and freezing.  I have 10 pints put up so far.  For my first year ever to put up my own vegetables, I am happy with my modest start.

I have lots of fruit for smoothies in the freezer as well.  Last night’s smoothie was a fruity delight.  I used about a cup of cantaloupe, a half cup of blueberries, a half cup of blackberries, a half cup of yogurt, and a half cup of vanilla soy milk.  It was wonderful.  I bought six bananas at the grocery store, and now, all those are in the freezer as well.  I think tonight’s smoothie will be banana, cantaloupe, blueberry, yogurt, and milk.  The black berries were good, but oh my, the seeds.

Often, a smoothie is considered a breakfast or lunch option but I prefer coffee in the morning, along with a granola bar.  I like a nice hearty lunch and a smaller supper.  A smoothie fits the bill perfectly.  Also, if I have a smoothie for supper, I’m not heating my up my kitchen.

What’s your favorite smoothie recipe?

Last night on The Story, Dick Gordon had an interview with a woman living in Atlanta.  The point of the interview was how hard it is for a regular working family to make ends meet even when both parents work.   You can hear it here.

To recap, Melissa Hilliard works full time and still gets money for food and goes to a food bank monthly.  Her husband works full time and they have three kids.  She said growing up, she never went without but her parents never discussed money with her and she did not know how they did it.

The story really got me to thinking. I think one answer is family gardens.  My grandparents had huge gardens, and my parents had a garden all my life.  My maternal grandmother lived in town, in a subdivision, and she devoted over half her yard to food.  She worked full time in a factory, raised three kids, and still had a garden.

My grandparents had a family garden, plus they raised crops to sell.  My parents had a big garden that we worked every year.  We grew peas, butterbeans, tomatoes, okra, squash, eggplant, peppers, and corn.  We canned and froze all that we could.  I remember the freezer being full of food, and the pantry being packed with colorful glass jars.

The trick that most people my age miss is that you don’t have to have a huge space to grow food.  A windowsill can get you started. I am starting with one raised bed, and one hanging pot.  It seems to be going well, and I plan to expand next year.  There are peas and corn planted at my grandparents, more than they can eat.  I will pick what I can and put up my own canned and frozen produce this year.

I have been thinking about that struggling woman and her family in Atlanta.  She said she doesn’t know that many people in Atlanta.  I wish I could send her some seeds.

I recently redid my bathroom. Today, I addressed an issue that has been bothering me for a while.

The hairdryer.

The hairdryer has never had a home. Usually, when it is not in use, it lays on the floor. This looks messy and poses a tripping hazard. No one lives with me, so I am the one tripping, hence, I wanted a solution. Today, I installed a hook and now the hairdryer has a permanent home.

This was a super easy fix and I have no idea why I did not do it sooner. Wonder what else I can hang on hooks?

My second home improvement act was to apply weather stripping to my front and back door. This was more of a challenge than I expected because I had to go to three different places to find it. Granted, I could have started with Wal-Mart, but I try to shop local owned stores first. Third time was the charm, and I was able to get what I needed at the Pack Rat. I know, I was surprised too.

My air conditioning is pouring out cracks in my doors and since I want to keep ALL my AC inside, it had to be done.This was also a cheap fix because weather stripping just does not cost that much. I managed to do my back door Sunday. I ran out of time this weekend before doing my front door. It was a total success on the back door. Now, there are no light, thus no air cracks for my expensive AC to escape from. This week, I will finish the front door.

I haven’t talked to much lately about how to be frugal.  I recently combined several methods.  1-I made a vegetarian meal 2-at home, and 3-I ate all the leftovers over several days, many of those as 4-lunches I brought to work.

I made this soup in the crock pot.

One cup of dried lentils

One can of string beans, black-eyed peas,  English peas,  black beans,  and diced tomatoes.

One tablespoon diced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

I used frozen chicken broth (made myself earlier in the month) as the base, and added just a little bit of water.  I put it all in the crock pot and put the lid on.  I cooked it on low for around four hours, then I added the tomatoes.  While the tomatoes were heating through, I cooked cornbread.

When the cornbread was finished, I crumbled a piece in my bowl and spooned the soup over the top.

YUM!

This made seven servings.  If you are the kind of person who cannot eat leftovers, this would easily freeze.  Just store the soup in single servings and you can then reheat on the stove later.

SAVINGS:

If you figure I would have spent $5 a lunch for 5 days, that’s a savings of $25 dollars.  Also, I stayed in one place, instead of driving to buy lunch.  That saved 30 miles for the week.

I planted my dill in one of my water bottle planters, because the toilet paper tubes were not doing the trick.  I had one seedling come up, so I put it in, and I used dirt from the other tubes to fill the planter.  Well, now I have eight seedling!  I think the problem was the tubes just did not hold water long enough, so the dirt was too dry. 

When I got up this morning, that seedling was up, and so were several others.   All my inside plants are doing well.  My climbing ivy is climbing beautifully.

I also have some small ivy in another water bottle planter, and it is doing well too. In this photo, you can see the whole planter.  There is a bit of cloth in the neck of the bottle to act as a wick.  It looks kind of ugly right now, but I am thinking of painting the bottle with some non-toxic paint, now that I know plants will actually thrive in this type planter.

Next will be to see if the rest of my dill and rosemary seeds come up.  I planted them in regular pots this weekend.  In seven to twenty one days, maybe I will have some more little seedling babies.

Welcome to my blog.  Over the coming days and weeks I plan to share my frugal lifestyle, my green lifestyle and often, how the two overlap.  I became frugal before I truly embraced the green life, and I have been pleased at how well the two mesh together.

Here are some of the things I do to save money.

1. All my lightbulbs are CFL’s.

2. I dry most of my clothes on a drying rack.

3. I open all my blinds and curtains during the day to make the most of the sunlight and when I have to turn the lights on, I only turn them on in the room where I am.

4. I unplug everything except the appliances too big to move.  For example, unless I am watching the TV, it is unplugged.  Unless I am using the microwave, it is unplugged.  From the first month I adopted this practice, my electric bill dropped.

5. I cook a big meal and then enjoy the leftovers.  This one would not work for everyone, but luckily, I like leftovers.  For example, this weekend, I made vegetable soup in the crock pot, and I have portioned out the rest into single servings to enjoy in the coming week.  I have six servings left.

These are just some of my frugal habits.  I look forward to sharing more in future posts.