Green and Thrifty
Back to green and thrifty again, an approach to life that is becoming more mainstream as prices of everything go up everywhere. This week the neighbours went on holiday, and I am bringing in their mail and taking care of the canary. Just before they left they brought me the contents of their vegie bin:
Notice I have been gifted a lettuce which probably cost more than their plane tickets:) And there's more:
This is so lovely as it covers a lot of my vegie needs this week. I have sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots on hand and many greens in the garden, so I decided I was all set, but then I found some very cheap pumpkin at the shops, so I bought that to add to my winter vegie soup this week. So far I have made a salad with the lettuce, the capsicum, mushrooms and a tomato, and eaten one of the oranges for a snack. It was so sweet. Oranges are at their peak right now in winter time. I have more citrus for snacking on as I have discovered that one of my lemon trees is a lemonade, and it produces small sweet lemony fruit that you eat like an orange. Now there's a win. This was a tiny sad stick of a tree that I rescued from a thicket of weeds when I moved into this house six years ago, and now it is thriving in a half a wine barrel on my front path and producing delicious fruit (it took three years to discover that they weren't lemons, mind you).
Meanwhile, my potted Meyer lemon has ripened its first fruit, which makes me very happy. Meyer lemons are so juicy.
For once I actually planted out the winter garden, though could have done it a month earlier and I would have had much bigger greens now. But I am taking it as a win. Small spinach is better than no spinach, am I right?
I also have kale, rocket and parsley, as well as some baby lettuces. Plenty of greens to make up a salad, even if there isn't a lot of lettuce available. Remember you can eat the leaves of your broad bean plants.
And the leaves of your pea plants..
And also remember to take a close look at that carpet of weeds in your pea patch, as it is probably edible too.
This is chickweed, stellaria media. Look it up and see if you can find it in your garden. It is very common, and incredibly nutritious. Snip the leaves off the stems and nom it down.
In non-garden thrifty news I have finished all four patches on my polka dot shirt and can now wear it again. Next project is a patch for a hole in my pyjama pants. This is why it is tricky to get through the entire mending basket - I keep needing to patch up new holes. I think I am going to have to step up my game and mend multiple items per week. Eek!
It is deep winter here, so I have winterised the beds (the beds we sleep in, not the garden beds) by adding layers, both under the bottom sheet and on top as well. Double quilt weather! I have covered the couch with blankets for extra warmth, and it is now 'dry the clothes on airers in the lounge room' month, as the rain is somewhat persistent. It does make the lounge room more difficult to walk through, but I also argue that it makes it look cosy and lived in, and also the cat thinks it is his very own blanket fort.
Today I walked to the shops for groceries instead of driving (no excuse, it is only five blocks) and tomorrow when I am out in the car for other reasons I will stock up on a bunch of half price specials I couldn't fit in my shopping bag today. I imagine that like most everyone else all over the world we are all shopping the half price deals right now.
And lastly this week I have been trialling steel cut oats for my porridge instead of rolled oats. I read they are even better for our health, as they are the whole grain, slightly chopped. So I gave it a go. I have discovered they are more filling. I need half a cup of dry rolled oats for breakfast, but only a third of a cup of steel cut oats. They take more liquid - the oats to liquid ratio is 1:3 for steel cut versus 1:2 for rolled oats. They take longer to cook, which is not a big issue for me as I cook them on the wood stove, and they take longer to soak. I soak them a minimum of two hours, and could well soak them overnight, if I remembered, which I never do. Verdict? I like them! Chewy. I do like some chewy in my porridge, which is why I always slather it with chopped nuts and seeds. It is a yes from me, and I think I'll keep going with them for now.
Comments
My mending pile is growing fast too, it seems I take one item out and two more hop in.
I’ve stopped eating between meals and that has made a difference to the grocery budget that’s probably my biggest frugal thing at the moment. Also going back to really simple basic old style meals and cooking, this was more because having been responsible for the family tea since I was in highschool I’m done!
Cheers Kate
I have a neighbor that is sharing his mango bounty with me, which is lovely. I am even saving the peels, and the seeds that have a lot of "meat" left over in the freezer, to make jam later on. I tried this last year with much success.
I am making my daughter a shawl/scarf for her upcoming birthday, realized I wasn't going to have enough yarn, but have adjusted the pattern to include lots of remnants from other projects in matching colors. The result is quite lovely, and I am thrilled no additional expense is required. The shawl will be lightweight, perfect for Florida "winters."
Still harvesting some sweet peppers and tomatoes from the garden, but not enough to really brag of a bounty. Continue to work and enriching my soil by burying scraps. It has been a very expensive couple of months with major repairs needed, so anything a can do for myself, or without I am doing.
Have a good week!
Patricia
Kate, I get the oats from Wholesome House which is my bulk store of choice here in Launceston. Not sure where the oats are from - the rolled oats I get come from Kindred, so maybe the steel cut come there as well? I will double check next time I'm there.
My mending pile is doing exactly the same as yours. It needs a good stern talking to. I am so with you on the cooking thing. I have cooked dinner most nights for over thirty years now. Thirty years! Can I stop now?
And the no-snack budget, go you. I love to snack, but I don't buy anything yummy anymore, so I have to snack on oranges, which isn't so much fun. I try to only buy snacks for Red that I don't like so I don't 'accidently' eat them...
Patricia, I really want that shawl now..
Ok, your citrus trees, hmmm. So many reasons leaves might be curling. First, citrus trees are really shallow-rooted, and they hate competition from grass. They all need their own little garden beds, mulched. They need quite a lot of water, and water stress will curl their leaves. They get very hungry, and need feeding at the beginning of spring, summer and autumn. Also, add trace elements and epsom salts. Some nutrient deficiencies will cause leaf curling. Next, pests. Would you recognise scale and aphids, or leaf miner? All of them will curl up the leaves as they suck the sap. They can be controlled with white oil, making sure you spray under the leaves to get at them. Basically what I am saying is that nearly everything that can go wrong with a citrus tree will make its leaves curl. Let me know how things go!
I don't think I had heard of a lemonade fruit. Is it as sweet as, say, a pink grapefruit? It sounds wonderful. The California citrus research station near my childhood home used to, before covid, have a fruit-tasting day early every winter, where you could try all the new varieties of citrus they had developed there. I wanted so much to go, it sounded like an exciting adventure... and now I wonder if it will ever happen again.
Steel-cut oats are one of my favorite breakfasts! The picture of your bowl makes me wish it were breakfast time right now.
Gretchen Joanna, hope you enjoyed your breakfast today! I ave not seen steel cut oats here until recently. I believe they are a US thing? Traditional porridge here is nearly always using rolled oats. I am glad I found a source of steel cut to try:)
The lemonade fruit has a less strong flavour than a grapefruit. Think a sweet, slightly bland lemon. Hardly any sour. It's nice, but not my favourite citrus. My fingers are crossed for a citrus tasting day in your future (btw, that is my kind of exciting adventure as well:)
We have frosts here in Launceston down to -3C but the lemons survive that. And the ones in the pots are next to a concrete wall so they get extra protection. Often a sun-facing wall is enough to keep frosts off citrus, but it does depend on the severity of the frost, of course! Posh people in cold climates wheel their citrus pots into the conservatory for the winter.. but probably a sunny window would also suffice..
Blueberry, I looked up sanbokan lemons, and that isn't what I have, although it looks very cool! The lemons in the top photo are Eurekas. They have that distinctive pointy bit on the end, but it is the opposite end to the sanbokan lemons.
If you look up pictures of lemonade lemons they look almost identical to normal lemons. I identified mine because they are liable to get a kind of scabby skin, which mine also do. I need to feed them more often! I am waiting for my Meyer lemon to get bigger and more prolific so I can preserve the lemon juice. I like your idea, it is very easy and straightforward, my favourite kind of preserving:)
I'm collecting much more kindling for the fire and also saving every scrap of citrus peel to dry and use as fire starters. I'm making the dog a coat from a remnant of cotton fleece blanket (the main part of which was used to line my bedroom curtains). I'll use leftovers for the outer part of the coat too - perhaps she will end up matching the Chinoiserie fabric from the living room blinds! Hopefully she doesn't freeze before I get around to it.
I'm sure I'm doing other things because my wife told me if she hears me say 'frugal' or 'no food waste' one more time she will do something really awful to me.
Madeleine
I like your Using What You Have strategy to keep the grocery budget down. I have been doing the same, cleaning out the cupboards to see what I've got and using up the old stuff. I love that you are using your hallway for food storage! What containers do you use to store food? I have a bunch of big plastic buckets, and their lids are murder to get off.
If you lose your dog, make sure to check whether she is sleeping in front of the blinds. That coat sounds too cute:)
Madeleine
Blueberry, I planted some ginger in a pot in the summer, but it hadn't grown much by winter, so I brought it inside. I am really hoping it will sprout again in the spring. I am glad to know I am sort of doing the right thing, as I had no idea what I was doing. You give me hope!