Changing Traditions

This time of year can be hectic and fraught with angst. Even more so if the budget is tighter. We put so much pressure on ourselves to have the "perfect" holiday that we lose sight of those values we want to be perfect: time spent with family, the act of giving, charity, observance of traditions. A perfect holiday does not need to be bought with a credit card. The perfect holiday does not need to look like it came from a Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous magazine.

I have been guilty of the pursuing the "perfect" holiday. When I was a single mother, the month of December was a very busy month for me. Usually, I had a second job to pay for the holiday and coming winter expenses. The result of this was time not spent with my older son. There was no time to enjoy a Christmas tree lighting or a Christmas Concert. The result was that by Christmas day I was exhausted. The result was that there was no time to cook a nice meal; instead, it was mostly store bought. That moment at the Christmas tree ,unwrapping presents, was so fleeting and always left me with an anti-climatic sense of the holiday.

As I began to simplify my life and slow down I learned to replace those traditions that required spending money with traditions that engaged the participation of everyone in our home. We spend the beginning of the December focusing on the coming winter season. We begin by making cut paper snowflakes Cost of this craft: FREE. You don't need to buy a fancy book to tell you how to make something you made as a child. We use scrap paper instead of buying white paper. I usually keep the snowflakes up until March when thoughts turn to Spring and gardening

We also make Pinecone Bird Feeders. This activity gets everyone involved. On Sundays in November it is safe to walk in the woods; so we take family walks and hunt for the pinecones we will use for feeders. We use natural feed for our sheep (native oats and corn) and used some cracked corn this year. We hang them outside our windows so that we can watch the bird channel. Lily Cat is very fond of this tradition. We have had downy woodpeckers, chickadees, juncos, vireos , tufted titmouse and one day we had 8 bluejays in the yard. We are also planning to string popcorn and cranberries to hang on a hawthorn tree in our yard to feed the birds. Cost of this activity: well, you might have to buy some cheap peanut butter(2.00) and some bird seed but we can get a small bag of bird feed for 2.00. Total 4.00. For the garland, popcorn is still a cheap snack so you can eat it while you are stringing and cranberries are on sale right now for the holidays. So maybe 5.00.

Another activity that we do around here is origami. The other day we made these doves. Some of them are nesting in house plants and a few of them hanging from hooks in windows. You don't need to have special origami paper to do this activity. We used paper with printing on one side and just folded the print side inside. Cost of this activity:Free

Another activity we like to do around here is read all the great Christmas/ winter Christmas books that are available. My favorite is The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.The Crafty Crow is doing a book a day with activity for advent this year. There are some great books on her list. Most of our local libraries carry many of these books. Cost of this activity: FREE.

We will be giving some baked goodness to friends and families at the holidays and the kids are always willing to help with this.

I used to put the tree up and get all the decorations up right away. But I found that this just feeds the Christmas machine. As soon as presents appeared under the tree there was an inventory taken. So we wait till the week before the holiday to put our tree up. I used to put all the presents under the tree but when I met my husband ,we melded our traditions. In his family, all the presents would magically appear on Christmas morning. This year we have been talking about whether to have a big "Santa gift" under the tree. We will still do stockings. Our reasoning is that the teen is old enough to know that there are a few specific, practical items he will receive. We just think maybe, while the wee one is young, we can shift the focus from all the Big Things Santa Gives to all the things we can do for each other. We don't visit Santa at the mall. He is aware of Santa. But when there is something he sees that he desires; we don't say, "Wait for Santa", but, "Put it on you wish list." Usually the desire is fleeting, but we don't want any expectation that the big guy is gonna provide.

If there have been expectations of what a holiday should look like it can be hard to shift the focus. But less can be more during the holidays; leaving more time to share memories. During these tough economic times we shouldn't feel shame that we can't do what we did before. What was done before was not sustainable and left many of us in debt. With a little creativity, little or no money new traditions can be brought into your home that truly can provide those perfect moments we strive for this time of year.

Rain Collection..

We've had big rains this week.  They are much needed as it has been very dry for this time of year.  We are catching up on some of our spring chores while hubby has the week off.  One of those chores is to reconnect the rain gutters to the house to collect the water for our  rain water collection system.  We take the gutters down in the fall to save the gutters from ice jams throughout the winter.                                  This container holds 280 gallons of water.

                                            This whisky barrel holds 50 gallons.  

Hubby adapted spouts for each.  Our water comes from a well with an electric pump.  During the summer we use a lot of water for the garden and watering the animals.   We haven't done the math but we know that we are keeping our electric bill down by keeping the well pump from turning on every time we need water outside.  The first summer here, we just had the whiskey barrel. It ran dry for one week at the height of the summer and we used it mainly for watering the animals.  Last summer we hooked up the biggun' and were able to water the garden and the animals from them all summer.  We did have a very wet summer last year.  We felt guilty emptying them of water once the really cold weather set in. 

We live in a fairly wet region of the country so the need for water saving is not as  necessary as other regions of the country.  But we do lose power on a regular basis so this also serves as a backup water source when the power is out in the summer.

Good Ideas!

I've found a few good ideas that I would like to share with you.  

First, we've planned on building a greenhouse but this little greenhouse might make a nice temporary structure that we could make in a weekend until we are able to make our dream greenhouse.

I will be starting seed soon and I think that I will be making my own starter mix.

And then I dream of starting my seed under something  as smart as this nifty set up( at least until I built my own greenhouse)

I received some yummy Noro Kuryeon yarn for my birthday and plan to knit this entrelac scarf when I finish Hubby's Sweater . I am nearly done with it and will have pictures of pride to share this week.

And Finally it is Saint David's Day; patron saint of Wales.  Hubby made Cawl Cunnin today. Oh yum, yum.  For dessert we had Welsh Cookies.

Dreaming in green...

No, not the Moola green, the garden green.

Drooling over seed catalogues, outlining garden plans of pieces of graph paper, working and reworking the seed list are  all games of fantasy that I play this time of year.

There are several ways one can approach the garden every year.  Do you buy your seed from a catalogue  and start everything from seed?  Do you just grow some veggies from seed right in the garden but tomato and pepper seeds as seedlings?   Do you save seed?  Is the investment in money in the spring saving you money in the long run?

I'd like to answer this last question anecdotally.  

About 10 years ago I was financially strapped. Because of health reasons, I had to reduce my work hours.  The amount of money that I had to spend on food was not much. I had a community garden plot for about 2 years at this time.  So that spring,  I took a little money from my tax return. The plot rental was 15 dollars. I bought spinach, pole beans, pie pumpkin, beet, carrot, swiss chard. I bought 1 six pack of tomatoes and one pack broccoli  at the farmer's market. In all I probably spent 30 dollars on seed and seedlings.  Some things volunteered in the garden: dill, marigold, chamomile.  Other gardeners would leave extra seeds and seedlings for the taking. The community garden provided the manure,  fish emulsions and hay.  The whole garden was organic. Did I save any money?  Yes I did.  For the most part I was able to bypass the produce section of the grocery store that summer.  The money I would have spent on produce was instead used for meat and staples.  If I were to find myself in the same situation today, I would take that savings and buy an extra pound of dry beans,  barley or rice to stock my larder each week.  I was able to freeze shredded zuchinni ( to put in muffins and soups), broccoli and pole beans in my small apartment refridgerator.  Someone gave me my hot water canner that summer so I put up my first few jars of tomatoes that year.  I also dried herbs.  That garden plot was only 10 feet by 15 feet. By planting things that grew vertically, I was able to get a lot in that small space.  I also made sure to plant nutrient dense foods.

Ideally, it would be great if we could all buy the open pollinated , heirloom seed that are organically grown from ethical seed producers.  But personal financial realities limit those choices for many. So here are a few money saving tips I have learned along the way.

First, If you buy winter squash like butternut, buttercup or pie pumpkin, save their seed.   Because these plants are grown in large fields, the possibility of cross pollination is lower, than squash grown in a home garden.  All you need to do is lay the seed out on a napkin to dry.  Put in an envelope and don't forget to label. Winter squash stores well in a cool room.  Try not to bump them too much or to store them touching or they will get soft spots sooner rather than later. Just make sure to check on them regularly and cook up any that are getting soft spots.

Second, commercially grown potatoes ( as opposed to organically grown) have a growth inhibitor sprayed on them to prevent the eyes growing on them.  However, if you have old potatoes growing eyes then these potatoes  look very much like the seed potato you buy.  Last year, a friend gave us a 50 pound  bag of commercially grown spuds that we were unable to get to.  So we cut them up, allowing 2 eyes per piece, and planted them as an experiment.    We grew a good crop of those potatoes along with the other spuds we grew.  Potentially 5 pounds of potatoes are grown for every pound planted.    I store these in 5 gallon buckets under my bathroom sink. And I save any of the very small potatoes I harvest for seed.

Third, In the fall look for end of the season seed sales.   I always hit the FedCo tent at the Common Ground Fair because they have seed marked down by 30 percent.   I always find new varieties to give a try.  Propagation rates are not always a 100 percent but I have never had an outright crop failure because I used seed over a year old.  I would try  to avoid dollar store seed that is old because I have heard that the propagation rates are poor.

Fourth, know your varieties.  Boston Pickling Cucumber, Black Seeded Simpson lettuce are common heirloom varieties.   That means that you can save their seed.  Is that lettuce starting to bolt?  Let it go to seed.  Save the seed and you'll have seed for next season or  better yet a succession crop.  Let a few of those cucumbers get to the big, yellow stage, clean out the seed and dry as you would squash.

Fifth, Seed and Seedling Swaps.  Do you have perennials that you have to divide in the spring? Bring some of these to a local seed/ seedling swap.  You can find out about this through local gardening clubs and cooperative extensions.

Sixth, the reason for vegetable gardening is to grow your own food.  Does your neighbor always have a bumper crop of tomatoes while yours are wilting on the vine? But, you grow great corn. How about working with a neighbor.  Have your neighbor grow extra tomatoes while you grow extra corn and then split the harvest.  Not only does this put some tomatoes in your cupboard but it also builds community which is something that will be more important the further we get into these  troubling times.

Seventh, start as much of your seedlings from seed.  One seed packet of heirloom tomatoes goes for about 2.50 3.00 a packet of seed. But you get many more tomatoes than the 6 pack of seedlings you get at the local greenhouse.  If you get heirloom variety you can save the seed and not spend ANY money on tomato seed next year.  A Big savings in the long run.

Eighth, Do not forget the lowly worm.  I am a convert to vermicomposting.  They eat your food scraps, they poop, they make compost (frass).  They provide good fertilizer for your garden.

Ninth, if you don't already, consider organic gardening .  Healthy Soil = Healthy food.  The application of chemical fertilizers does not feed the soil which in the long run depletes the soil of good micro-organisms.  Good soil is a long term investment you can count on.

Do you have any money saving gardening tips?