Tips to Homesteading

Archive for September, 2008

In today’s difficult economy, a good garden is very important in homesteading. The time you spend in planning and working your garden, will be excellently rewarded. The article below will give you some great tips to gardening.

Planning your garden is one of the most important parts of vegetable gardening, and it’s quite simple. Whether its a vegetable garden, a flowerbed, indoor houseplants, or some combination, successful gardening requires planning, patience, and a little detective work. Whatever you do, do not choose garden soil, no matter how rich it might be, for indoor vegetable gardening! No matter what gardening zone your garden is located in there are catalogues with myriad variety of vegetables. Use these vegetable gardening tips to prepare your garden and keep your home full of fresh vegetables. Preparing your garden soil for planting is the most physically demanding part of vegetable gardening and may also be the most important part.

The patios and balconies of apartment buildings and condominiums often have good exposure for container vegetable gardening. Container gardening makes it possible to position the vegetables in areas where they can receive the best possible growing conditions. Container gardening can provide you with fresh vegetables as well as recreation and exercise. Although vegetable production will be limited by the number and the size of the containers, this form of gardening can be rewarding. Soilless mixes such as a peat-lite mix are generally too light for container vegetable gardening, since they usually will not support plant roots sufficiently. MEDIA A fairly lightweight potting mix is needed for container vegetable gardening. Soil Conditions The right type of soil for the right type of plant is key to successful vegetable gardening. Clay and sandy soils must be modified for successful vegetable gardening. Proper fertilization is another important key to successful vegetable gardening.

Buy seeds, seed starting kits and gardening supplies for vegetable gardens. If you are new to gardening, starting vegetables from seed may be too huge an undertaking, instead purchase plants. Practice crop rotation in your vegetable gardening by planting tomatoes and other vegetables in a different spot every year. Mulches can be used effectively in all types of gardening situations from vegetable gardens to flower gardens and even around trees and shrubs. I know an eyebrow or two might be raised at the suggestion of indoor vegetable gardening, but it can be done, within limits.

Added to the pleasure of gardening will be the satisfaction derived from relishing vegetables freshly picked from your very own plot. Learning is a process, vegetable gardening needs time. As in so many other pursuits, so it is in the art of vegetable gardening: practice does make perfect.

Technorati Tags: food, garden anywhere, gardening, prepare, soil, vegetable garden

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After writing my ‘three-part’ monster below on May 30th, I got to thinking how those tips really need a bit more clarifying for those who don’t know how to know how to use them to the fullest. The next three tips will be stretching out the list a bit to make sure it makes more sense to everyone. I sincerely want to help those who have never before had to learn these tricks and tips (I wasn’t raised to know these!) and help you stretch your grocery dollars.

When I say “Shop first at home know-how” what I mean is to get out your weekly circular from your favorite store (the one that doubles or triples coupons or is closest to home to save gas) and shop the sales FIRST. Add these items to your list this week. There is one caution however; buy only the things you KNOW your family will use. There is nothing like a can of sardines on sale that no one will touch for years. Don’t go there. On the flip side, if you have been wanting to introduce a food to your family but it has been too costly until now, this is the time to broaden their taste-bud horizons!

Now that you have listed what is on sale that you will use (complete with prices to the side) go make a week’s skeleton menu using those items and ones you know are in your pantry, freezer and refrigerator. Don’t forget to include desserts, sides and beverages for the meals.

Now once your weekly menu is semi-complete, fill in the blanks with what you want/need to finish your plan. With this new complete week’s menu, head back to your grocery list (the one with the sales items on it) and look over your menu for the week thinking of all the spices, oils, salts, ingredients needed to make that menu come to life in your kitchen. If you are missing something, add it (and the price estimate of it) to your week’s shopping list.

Now that you have shopped at home first, you are armed with a plan and a detailed shopping list. You are more likely to eat at home (saving money) this week. You are less likely to go back to the store (wasting precious time and expensive gas) for things you forgot. You are pretty sure how much you will be spending in the grocery budget, thus stretching that grocery dollar farther and farther.

Donna Miller is a work-at-home wife and mother. She delighted to share her trials and triumphs of learning to mill and cook with whole grains. The Millers own and operate an online Store which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more. Visit Millers Grain House

Technorati Tags: groceries, money saving

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Remember back when you could shop a few different grocery stores across town to get the better deals at each? Well, my tip for today is….”watch out”…..if you are still stuck in that as a habit, it may not be as frugal as it used to be due to the rise in gas prices.

We won’t go through the math of figuring the gallons used to traverse multiple stores for savings, but I would like to give a few tips for shopping even if you stay at just one store.

Grocery Shopping Tip #1: SHOP AT HOME FIRST! Before you grab the keys, load up the kids and attempt a trip to the grocery for a frugal shopping trip, try shopping in the quiet privacy of your home first. No, I’m not saying shop online only (although some of that may be good) I am saying look at what you ALREADY HAVE and take stock in it. What about those baked beans that you bought a month ago when they were on sale? Can you use them now? Any left-overs to incorporate in the week’s menu or that need freezing for a quick to heat at work meal? After you’ve surveyed the refrigerator, garden and pantry, it’s time for tip #2…

Grocery Shopping Tip #2: MAKE A WEEKLY MENU! Okay, okay no moaning and groaning allowed. Really, it’s not as ridged as it sounds. Seven breakfasts don’t HAVE to be made and served in the exact order they are written, jump around and eat what you have time for and as the taste buds lead, but you will know what you have in the house for the week. Make a menu for ALL meals, ALL days, then you can mix them up and cross them off as you serve/enjoy them regardless of order. After all, you already know what you have currently at home before leaving for the grocery store….start with those items and build a menu from there, I’ll bet it will be a shorter and cheaper grocery trip because of the first step and now this one.

Grocery Shopping Tip #3: MAKE A LIST! This sounds simple but it really is the absolute best tool and tip for saving money. Throughout the week keep one running list so you (and others in the family) can jot down items you run out of AS IT RUNS OUT. Look up your favorite store’s sales flyer on line (or if you have one in tangible form at home, use it and list from sales) If your list also includes prices, it’s an even BETTER LIST that keeps you in a budget. If you have a list you are less likely to impulse buy. If you have a list you are less likely to have to take another trip to the store to pick up what you missed (saving gas now). If you have a list it means you have at least a loose PLAN…..(which really is tip #2)

Okay, I know, I know, tips 2 and 3 kind of bounce back and forth until you get a menu and a list that match up….and it’s not in a neat little ‘order’, but you’re smart, you get the idea.

To sum up the tips:

Use what you have on hand first…

Build a menu from your current pantry, freezer, fridge and sales flyers then…

Tweak items to be sure all items for this week’s menu are on the list.

One last tip…EAT A SNACK before you go shopping! If you are hungry, you are more likely to impulse buy.

Now…Happy Grocery Stretching Shopping and Happy Homesteading!!

Technorati Tags: budget, frugal, groceries, Stretching the Homestead Budget

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