We’ve learned to garden through trial and error. Lots of error. 🙂 One of our errors was that we had no idea what real tomatoes tasted like until we picked them straight from the plant for dinner. Amazing!! Since that revelation we’ve grown a ‘tomato forest’ almost every year…literally as many tomatoes as I can possibly fit into my garden. Volunteer pop up? We keep those! Someone has too many seedlings? We take them in. Read more…
‘I Want To Be That Mom’ was one of the most read/shared posts on my site this year…it hit a nerve! What mom hasn’t wrestled with desperately wanting to fully enjoy time with her family at the pool, on a bike ride, at an amusement park or playground….but also had thoughts of not wanting to wear a bathing suit in public or not being in shape enough to keep up with her kids? I had Read more…
It’s that time of year! We only have 1 zucchini plant (the squash bugs made quick work of the other one) and I’m a bit overwhelmed with the number of zucchinis we have. I’ve made regular and chocolate zucchini bread for the kids, made zoodles and zucchini lasagna, sauteed, roasted and grilled it. And there’s still more! In an effort to not let any go to waste I’ve resorted to freezing some to use later Read more…
I LOVE Summer. I love the heat, the green, fireflies, the pool, kids playing outside and gardens full of delicious produce! Tomatoes, pesto and jalapenos we picked yesterday! But it won’t last. Especially up North, we know what’s coming. One of my ways of fighting back is to save little bits of Summer for the cold months. We freeze tomatoes for soup and sauce (this is so much faster than canning!), freeze jalapenos to use Read more…
You know the mornings…you NEED to get out of the house quickly and the kids. are. moving. in. slow. motion. AHHHHHH! I can’t help you with ways to get them out of bed, but breakfast in the car can save a lot of time. The trick is it has to be food that will end up IN your kid instead of all over your car. Most to-go options aren’t filling and are far from healthy, Read more…
Forget the mushy things from a can…these are the real thing! Fresh from the bushes and crunchy. CSAs (community supported agriculture), farmer’s markets and produce sections will be full of bags of fresh beans for the next month or so, so enjoy while they’re here. You grew up with your mom telling you to eat your green beans…here’s why: –Vitamin C, A and K: increased immunity, decreased inflammation, improves skin, heart, lung, kidney, vision and Read more…
I probably don’t need to convince you to eat strawberries, blueberries, raspberries or blackberries…they’re delicious! They’re at their peak of freshness and lowest prices right now because they’re abundant and they go bad rather quickly so farmers and stores want to get them home with you as soon as possible. You know they’re good for you, but did you know…. -They’re packed with Vitamins C, A and K….pretty much every organ in our bodies wants Read more…
That seems like a silly question, but according to The New York Times that’s exactly what we do every year. Globally we throw away 1/3 of all the food we grow. As a country, we literally throw away $160 BILLION dollars every year. That’s around $2,000 per household each year or $167 per month. Ouch. Globally, some countries have better excuses than we do. Inadequate refrigeration and transportation damage a huge amount before it even Read more…
We’ve all overcome obstacles in life and reached goals we never honestly thought we’d reach. But somehow, as we get older and spend years helping our kids have the courage to reach their goals….our courage can get lost. That girl who was willing to take a risk, work hard and possibly fail sort of fades into a woman who does what’s safe and predictable. Safe and predictable are fine sometimes. But not ALL the time! Read more…
Both of those numbers make me cringe, but $652.90 for a family of 4 is considered ‘Thrifty’ by the USDA. That’s a lot of money for something that’s going to disappear by the end of the month! I don’t know about you, but I want to make those dollars stretch…and maybe even beat the average. Thankfully, it’s not as hard to do as you might think. If you’re new to budgeting, pick just 1 of Read more…