Search Results for: blog saving old seeds

Saving Produce to Save Money

Don’t throw it out! Is half of your summer produce winding up in the trash? The summer heat can shorten the life of fresh produce. But, if you have a few secrets in your kitchen, you can reduce your produce waste. I recently posted an article in the food blog called “Fun with Celery.” In that article, I gave a surprising but simple tip on how to make your celery last twice as long. The article made me start thinking about how we used to waste a lot of produce. I would by a variety of fresh and healthy fruits … Continue reading →

Saving Old Seeds

Have some old outdated seed packets? There is no need to toss them out. Be frugal. Here is a great idea on saving those old seeds and putting them to good use. If you are a gardener, you might have some seed packets laying around from last year, that despite your good intentions didn’t get planted. Or perhaps the seeds are so old that you aren’t sure when you purchased them or even what they are. Normally, the right answer is to toss those seeds and start over. But here is a fun idea that will salvage some of those … Continue reading →

More Summer Cash Savers

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but you can certainly save some cash this summer by taking advantage of Mother Nature’s goodness. Don’t let soaring food prices put a damper on your seasonal fun; rather, consider growing your own fruits and vegetables in order to preserve your family’s household budget. You might be surprised by how a little farming can yield big savings for the average American family. According to the Wall Street Journal, for every $1 you spend on green bean seeds, you have the ability to grow an average of $75 worth of produce. In addition, for every $1 … Continue reading →

Am I Blue?

Blue is a soothing and a meditative color. If you’re like me and want to add some blue to your garden here are some suggestions. I adore blue flowers. In our garden at present we have bluebells coming up. They are a simple old fashioned but charming flower. Plumbago is one of my favorite blue flowering plants. This is a sprawling type of shrub, so for that reason it is best grown against a fence or in a corner. It gets smothered with summer sky blue flowers for much of the year. Ours, we have three, are not currently flowering … Continue reading →

How to Make Your Own Baby Food

There is a lot to be said for making your own baby food. Not only is fresh food better for your baby than commercial jarred and preserved food, but it is often less expensive to make baby food yourself. There are a few things that you need to know, however, to keep your baby safe and provide good nutrition. First make sure that before cooking you scrub vegetables and fruits very well using a vegetable brush. You may want to choose organic produce to reduce the chance of pesticides getting into your baby’s body. Also be careful of feeding certain … Continue reading →

How to Garden in a Bad Economy 2

If you are gardening the same old way you always have, you might want to think about this a bit. New strategies, techniques and planning may work better in our current economic reality. I’ve already shared with you some ideas for gardening in a bad economy. If you missed that post, click here: How to Garden in a Bad Economy. Now, let’s talk a little more about this. One of the trends that seems to be changing in gardening in the response to the economy is the planting of more perennials. Better Homes & Gardens mentioned this summer that there … Continue reading →

10 Fall Plants that Attract the Birds: Part 4

This morning, the kids and I hunted around the yard for pine cones. We wanted to slather them with peanut butter and roll them in birdseed as a Thanksgiving feast for the birds that visit us. Unfortunately, it looks like the squirrels might have gotten to them all, because there was not a single pine cone to be found, including the one that served outside of one of our fairy houses. Still, there are other ways of attracting the birds. I have been mentioning different fall plants that will work. We are now at the end of this list. Here … Continue reading →

Reuse from A to Z! (M-Mo)

Well we took a little break on our reuse ideas. Have you come up with any new ones? Let us continue the count through the alphabet. Aiming to reuse just one new (old) thing a week will make save you money and save the environment, too. M Metal tins: The small tins that mints come in can be used to store small objects, such as buttons, needles or aspirin. Memory cards for digital cameras and computer flash drives will fit in a metal tin. You can even use these tins to store cartridges for video games. The leap pad cartridges … Continue reading →

Our Backyard Birds

This afternoon as I write this, my two youngest children are taking their naps after a busy morning of crafts and a play date, my eldest is still in school, and all is quite in the house. I am watching a soft snow fall around the evergreens in our backyard and the birds come up to the bird feeder to grab some sustenance. Bold red cardinals snap the shells and gobble up the seeds, and a large but quiet morning dove nestles in the corner with its beak tucked in its wing. Every so often, it shakes the fat flakes … Continue reading →

Reuse from A to Z! (C-En)

Whenever we can reuse something, we save money. Reusing something is better than recycling it in many cases, because the item gets a second life without the expense and energy of breaking it down and making it into something new. Plus, you can always recycle it down the road, once you have exhausted all of its reuse possibilities. We are on to the letter C, and so on down, in our efforts to turn our common trash into useful objects. C Compact disks: A quick way to use old compact discs is to paint them or decorate them and hang … Continue reading →