Reflections of katlupe

Monday, June 20, 2011

Saving Money On Food

Growing salad greens is so easy!

It is so strange the way everyone wants to use coupons and rebates for food in the store. Couponing is big I guess. I used to do it many years ago. It took a lot of time cutting the coupons and saving labels for the rebates. I did pretty good on it back then. I have found the best way to save money though, is not by couponing and rebates. It is by purchasing in bulk, growing a garden and cooking from scratch. Not only is it easier once you get started, it is healthier.

Maines' truck

I buy in bulk from a local restaurant supply store, Mainsesource. Since their food is restaurant quality, it has to be good. Restaurants would not stay in business very long if their food was of low quality. I can tell by the ground Angus beef I buy there for our hamburger. It does not have much grease and doesn't cook up real small. What a disappointment, to make burgers and take them out of the oven, and they are the size of a small cookie!

My son holding rolls of Angus ground beef

I bring the meat home and can it. It is easy for me to do and I can store it forever that way. I use it in casseroles that way. You can make the ground beef into patties or what some call "hamburger rocks" to can. It is a matter of it fitting in the jars. However you want to do it. I find it a pretty easy job, even though I brown the beef in the oven before I can it. It can be raw canned. Follow the directions in your canning book.

Canned ground beef and chicken breast chunks.

Chicken, beef roasts, turkey breast and sausage are all meats that I can on a regular basis. You just have to make sure when you put the lids on your jars that you really wipe that grease off. That is the number one reason why a jar will not seal properly. I find if I make sure there is no grease on the rim or the lid they will seal fine. If you have any leftover liquid from canning, can that for broth. It is great for gravy and soups. Don't forget to make a list of all the meals you can make from each type of food you can. That should give you the incentive to get started! Good luck!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Father's Day Thoughts

Mike Dran, 1986

Today is the day to honor our fathers. In my family, my father was the center of our home. My mother always put him first. He was not demanding or hard to live with in any way. He always supported us and I can never recall a time that he was out of work. He worked hard at his jobs and at home he was always outside working on our houses or fixing something.

Hazel and Mike Dran, 1942

When my mother became ill in 1978, he took care of her at home the best he could until her death in 2002. Now at 92, he is still working outside in the garage or in his garden. This year he just put in a new circuit breaker box in his house. Wiring it in because his was hit by lightning.

My father and his parents.

My grandfather and grandmother came from Poland in the early 1900s and my father was the youngest of their four children. I never knew my grandmother because she had died before I was born. My grandfather I did know. But he spoke Polish and I could never actually talk to him. Someone always translated for him. He lived at my aunt's house so he would be there when we visited.

My father today!

My father said his parents were not very affectionate toward their children. He had never been hugged until a handyman that lived with them, held him on his lap and would hug him. So my mother's family was exactly the opposite. They were big time huggers and kissers! He said the nearest his father ever came to telling him that he loved him, was once when they were fishing, (after he was grown up) out in the boat, his father looked at him and said, "If anything ever happened to you, I'd kill myself." It makes me sad as I write that, as my parents moved to Florida in 1962, and my grandfather died while we were there.

Happy Father's Day to all fathers today!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Cutting Your Lawn Is Good For The Critters!

Neuton electric lawn mower - no gas!

Cutting the lawn is my husband's job. He is very particular about it. Has to look a certain way. And he hates it when he can't do it if it rains. Ever since we bought our Neuton electric lawn mower, he has liked this job even more. Our lawn is big and he does not have a "rider." The batteries for it are charged by our alternative energy system which consists of five solar panels at this writing.

Grass looks shabby, not good for pets!

One year he decided to save money by not buying a new gasoline mower and bought a scythe instead. That was a big mistake. Not a good choice for a man with a crushed right arm. We have always had trouble with gas mowers. They seem to break down a lot or have trouble starting. Not the Neuton electric mower!

It's not too short, not too long........it's just right!

The biggest reason not to use a scythe for your lawn though, is that having the grass a bit longer than usual, caused our cats and dog to get infested with fleas. We have never had much of a flea or tick problem here. I think it has to do with keeping your grass cut down. I am not talking about cutting it too short. I see many lawns like that, and that will cause it to turn brown. Or when you let it go too long, and then cut it very short, it will clump all over the place. Messy!

Looks nice and neat and is good for all the critters.

My husband uses a grass catcher on the back of the Neuton lawn mower and then gives the fresh grass to the horses every time he has to empty it. They look forward to it. Nickering when he takes the lawn mower out! Even our wild birds love when he mows the lawn. The robins follow him the whole time. So they are probably eating all those tiny insects that they can't get to when the grass is too high. They don't get scared of the mower at all. In fact, I think they call to the others to come to the yard because he is mowing it! So it is not only good for us, but for the cats, the dog, the horses and the wild birds. Good for all who live here.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

A Tough Gardening Year So Far

Our garden is going to have to be watered this summer. I can see this. Past gardens hardly needed watering. Maybe once or twice through out the whole season. But this year, it is strange. We have gotten rain, but in between the garden has really dried out more than usual. Not sure why it is doing that. Tonight I will make sure to water it.

I have green and wax beans and Hubbard squash coming up real good. But the other things don't seem to be doing as good as usual. Last year was a perfect garden year, this year is not. So I must work around those problems. One way is to be VERY attentive to our garden. Keeping the weeds down. I don't use any weed control other than pulling the weeds myself. I like to do it in the early morning hours when the ground is still damp from the morning dew. Even better if has rained. Or pulling them in a light rain. I don't mind that so much.

The next important thing is to keep it watered. Watering in the early evening hours usually holds it through the next day. I love looking out the window at the raised beds and seeing the wet area around each plant. Nothing though seems to do a plant more good though than the natural benefit of rain. The most welcome sound is a gentle rain hitting our metal roof during the night. Then sunshine the next day!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Taking A Walk On Wordless Wednesday

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Strong Women Shall Overcome

Miss Alice Paul, New Jersey, National Chairman, Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage; Member, Ex-Officio, National Executive Committee, Woman's Party. Edmonston. ca. 1915.

What makes a strong woman? Or should I say what makes a woman, strong? Is it all the trials she has lived through? The more you go through, the stronger you get. Sometimes we don't realize just how strong we are, until we are forced to follow through.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience by which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Every experience you live through adds to the layers of life you will gain. From the ghettos of the cities, to rural America. to modern high rise buildings to the suburb of every day life...........there are women of all ages, all colors, all nationalities, all financial backgrounds facing the same problems and lost dreams that you face.

Women welders on the way to their job at the Todd Erie Basin dry dock in possibly, 1943.

If you just make yourself get up and brush yourself off every time you falter, you will find yourself becoming stronger. You will persevere. Pressing forward you will find a fork in the road that will lead away from your troubles or worries. Praying helps many of us. Talking to others. Writing in journals. Just do not ever give up, no matter how bad things may become. It is never over without a fight.

I am praying for many of my online friends today. Many are going through bad times, be it their health, their relationships, their children's health, their or their husband's employment status. Share their burden, by praying or wishing good thoughts their way. I love each and every one of them. These strong women, who I have come to know, either through my blog, my Facebook page, The Redhead Riter's Community on The Blogfrog or Homesteading Today. But...........there are many strong women, and they too, shall press on. Press on my friends! Press on!

Photographs from the Library of Congress

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