I've missed the sun

I think it has only been raining for two months in Cincy but it feels like it has been raining for 2 years without stop.  I know that I could never live in London or Seattle if it rains this much.  I, the woman who is not physically able to tan, miss the sun.  In celebration of the small amount of sun that we have managed to soak up I've snapped a few photos of what I've been up to lately.

 It actually got warm enough to make our spinach bolt and force us to harvest it all in one final swoop.  It was rinsed, blanched and split into freezer bags to await future use.  If you can see in the upper left hand corner we also had a harvest of sugar snap peas which was about two palm fulls.  Super crunchy and very yummy.

 For the first time in my entire life, and not for lack of trying mind you, I was able to get a fairy rose to bloom after the initial blooms that were on it in the store had gone.  This little beauty has been only foliage since this past Valentine's day when I picked her up to come home with me.  I am extremely proud.  Flowers and indoor plants are not really my specialty.  Looks like my luck may be changing. 

Lastly, a little update on the paper mulch garden project for all you inquiring minds.  We had a ton of mail.  It filled four office paper boxes (the nice ones with the lid that holds 10 reams) and when shredded each box filled about a 22 gallon trashcan once I crushed as much air out of it as I could.  I am on my last box of paper because the "mulch" really breaks down fast when it rains and then the weeds start poking through.  It was a fantastic way for us to use the mail that Max was so diligently not throwing away for the past 6 years or so...however, I don't recommend this for someone looking for a cheap mulch for permanent beds.  It will severely disappoint.  It looks fantastic until the first rain storm and covers a large amount of space but that's about where the goodness ends.  Happy Gardening everyone and I hope you have more sun than we do.

A Few Pix

Brook's Good Side

The Beginning of the Stockpile

First Ever Rhubarb Harvest!!

Savings are addictive

I'm sure you've probably all at least heard of TLC's show Extreme Couponers by now.  It is all the rage and we had to check it out by sheer curiosity.  At first I couldn't really get into the concept...we are watching people shop?  I do miss the days of Supermarket Sweep!  Watching contestants race down the aisles to grab as many frozen turkeys (I think there was a 7 turkey limit) and vitamins as they could, grab the secret item of the day and rush to check out.  What a great show!!  Then we watched an episode and instantly...we were hooked.  These people are insane with stockpiles of cereal and pasta taking over their kids bedrooms with toilet paper stashes.  What madness!?  Then Max gets the bright idea...we could totally do this.  I quickly squashed his dreams of rolling down the aisles with four shopping carts and taking 2 hours to check out.  I won't do it.  However, if we started small we could make a reasonable stockpile and see if it's worth repeating.  Oops.  Shouldn't have started this one...

We did start small but Max's dreams quickly took over and my 10 item dry run turned into a 40 item anxiety attack.  If your numbers are off (mine were), if you don't pay CLOSE attention to the item description and don't make your cashier nervous by hawkishly glaring at her every move then a mistake will be made and you'll actually end up spending money.  The upside is that we both have jobs and do not have 7 children like some of the people on the show so I can afford mistakes and we learned a lot for next time.

Here is the good part!  It actually worked.  We bought three papers, started following the blog of Savings Lifestyle and even traded a few coupons with friends.  We set our sights on Kroger's Mega event, compared, counted, created email addresses to sign up for crap and BAZINGA...SAVINGS!!!  Granted, we only bought items we currently use and a few items that weren't part of the mega event but our total was $117 which we brought down to $41.  Yup, that's a 60% savings on our bill.  Just by doing about 3 hours worth of homework.  Now that I know what I'm doing it won't take so long but man did that feel good.  We are crazy about coupons.  I have always loved coupons.  It used to be my job when I was little to cut out the coupons from the paper for Mom and I still enjoy doing it to this day.  Of course now it reminds me of Mom which is pleasing too.

Now we have a mini stockpile that doesn't fit in my tiny cabinets which forced us to move the stash to the basement.  It is nestled in the new organizing system of metro racks that we started using a couple of months ago for camping and gardening equipment.  It's kind of exhilarating to know that I don't have to buy pasta for the rest of the year.  I find that I'm really looking forward to Sunday when I get to find out the next deal.  I"m telling you savings are addictive!!

Goodness and Yum!

The mushroom box is really a lot more fun than I thought it would be.  All I have to do is mist the surface with water and it produces food in my basement!  There is a lot of satisfaction in that.  The box is still happily producing yummy mushrooms every couple of days we get a handful.  According to the instructions they start out as little white button mushrooms that I featured in my previous post.  However, if you let them grow a couple more days the tops flatten out, they form gills, they are more nutritious and they become baby portabello's! 

Which we promptly turned into omelet's for breakfast with our homegrown spinach!!  I can't wait for the onions and peppers to grow so that we can have completely homegrown breakfasts.  Until then, we wait...

Most posts that you read about home gardening always advise to grow things that you already eat and then you will just not need to buy them.  Our garden approach is a little bit backwards.  We tend to plant and explore things that we don't usually buy at the store, have never bought or only buy once in a blue moon.  Ironically, if we grow them ourselves and put the time in to nurture the plants then we end up eating more of that vegetable regardless of whether or not we favored it before.  The garden makes us expand our horizons and it is an exciting journey.  Almost all of the beds have some life in them now and as it gets warmer we will add more and more seeds to the existing groups.  I love this time of year!!  Now if only this torrential April rain would go away before it drowns my May flowers!