Pumpkins Yet Again

Pumpkins, to me anyway, are one of the greatest things about fall. Not only do I like to grow them, I like to look at them and I like to eat them. What porch or step doesn't look better in the fall with a pumpkin sitting on it??

(Disclaimer: The squirrels eat them if I put them out, so I don't. I woulr rather eat them myself!)

Anyway, I like pumpkins so much that I've written about them - a lot. Here are some links to what I have to say:

Time for Pumpkin!

It's Almost Pumpkin Time Again

Fresh Pumpkin Soup

Updated 2018

Saving Seeds

One of the things a frugal gardener does is save seeds from year to year. Not only does it save money, each year your seed becomes more and more acclimated to the unique conditions in your garden, so that they become hardier and more reliable.

Saving seeds for most things is fairly straightforward and simple. Let a plant to to seed, pick it off and save it. Here are some radish and onion seeds I have been working on saving. The radish seed here will probably be sprouted this winter rather than planted because the crop was disappointing. I don't want those genes to reproduce, but they do make some fine salad and sandwich material once they've sprouted.

The onion seed (on the paper) are not quite dry enough yet to remove, so I will leave them out for a couple of days. Since onion seeds only last one year and they're not nearly as reliable as onion sets, I'm going to experiment with winter sowing a few, keeping a few just as they are and planting next spring and keeping another few in the garage to bear the freezing temperatures of nature.

We shall see what happens next year!

I have lettuce seed saved already, from an heirloom type that I've had for around four years now. There is still seed from tomatoes, peppers and a few other things. Okra is on a string drying right now.

There are a few things that I've not had good luck saving seeds from, though. Summer squash and sweet peppers never seem to work out. If you know how to do either of those, let me know!

Five Ways to Save on Food This Fall

Sometimes I feel like I sound like a broken record, but food prices are just ridiculous right now and they're not going down any time soon.

What's a frugal person to do? We still have to eat! Luckily, right now is a good time to find some local bargains on food and if you can do it, stock up for the winter.

If you're in farming country, ask a farmer if you can buy produce (anything from beans to lettuce) straight from him without going through the retail merry go round. Some will let you; some won't, but it won't hurt to try. Concentrate on produce that keeps well.

Gleaning is another way to get your hands on cheap food, in this instance it can be free except for gas and some time.

If you have a garden, of course, you have a good source of inexpensive food. If you don't have a garden, let your gardening friends know that you will accept whatever they don't want.

If you have a local farmer's market, go there near the end of the day, when they're almost ready to leave. Don't be afraid to bargain with them. Quite often, they'd rather sell leftover produce for a much reduced price than haul it home again.

Gather wild food and put it up just like you would garden produce. Some people think it's not worth the effort, but it is. It's mostly healthier and it's free. If you're not familiar with wild food, read up on it. Just don't eat anything you're not sure of.

Now is the time to start gathering up food before winter hits, just like our ancestors did. We may have different ways to do that, but the wisdom of it still stands, especially with the grocery store prices still going up!

Related posts:
Why We Will Experience a Food Shortage
Gleaning 
Stock Up On Free Food 

Changing Seasons: Getting Ready for Fall

I know it's still the middle of summer, but with kids going back to school and schedules changing, I keep thinking of fall. Cooler temperatures, colorful leaves, pumpkins and the whole bit.

"It used to be" that when we got ready for fall and winter right after, we would become earnest in putting up the garden produce, finding fruit for jellies and butters and otherwise stocking up for the winter.

Days were filled with canning jars and dehydrating trays. All the extra summer rich cream went to making butter for the freezer and then we started gathering wood for the stoves. Cutting and stacking took days of good, wholesome family work and the first fire of the year was our reward.

I still can and dehydrate and gather in what is available to put up for the winter. Not only is it more frugal to do it myself, the quality is better than I can buy. Besides that, I enjoy it.

Everyone has their own ways of getting ready for fall and winter, but frugal folks tend to make a deliberate effort toward it.

Do you? What do you do to get ready for the seasons changing?

If you have a blog, feel free to answer that question there and leave a link to it in the comment section.

Things to do before cold weather gets here

1. Check insulation in your home and caulk around windows and wherever it's needed.

2. Get your car serviced to make sure the antifreeze and tires are up to par, especially. Get a tune up if needed.

3. Check the coat closet to make sure everyone has enough cold weather gear. Jackets, coats, snow shoes, mittens and hats need to be in good condition.

4. Have your furnace checked or your chimney cleaned or whatever you use to heat your home, serviced and ready to go. This includes filters and thermostats.

5. Bring in plants that need to winter over in the house. Mulch over other plants that need it and clean up the garden.

Enjoy the weather right now! It will soon enough be cold!

Fall Decorating on the Cheap

I can't help it; I'm ready for the bright colors of fall and I'm done with the heat! Here are a few things I've come up with to brighten up the house while waiting for the weather to settle into a fall pattern.

Take pages of bright, autumn colors from magazines or catalogs and cut leaves from them. First make a few patterns from plain paper (recycle that junk mail!) then use the patterns to avoid the temptation to try to fit in certain lines or patterns from the page. Cut out quite a few, then scatter them on a solid color plate or platter. Add a candle and you've created a one of a kind centerpiece or coffee table display.

Candles always make good displays. If yours is so-so, jazz them up with any or all of these items, warmed then pressed into the wax:
Stray pieces of jewelry or buttons
String, dipped in melted wax and wound in pattern, random or not.
Ribbon tied up in a pretty bow and placed low.
Themed candies like candy corn.

Make a fall bouquet with dried grasses and weeds. Since they're free, you can make them as big and extravagant as you want!  

If you have a garden, you may have things you can use from there. Winter squash, miniature pumpkins, sunflowers and other autumn flowers and leaves all bring fall indoors.

Leave the fake stuff in the store and go get the real stuff. A drive or a walk will yield things you may never have thought of. A spray of seeds or a few bright leaves might set off your imagination to create the most beautiful centerpiece or table top decoration ever. All for free.

Time Marches On

Summer is on its way out! For some of us, it seems like we haven't had much summer yet, but it's nearly over in many places.

The kids are going back to school and nature is making changes as the earth turns away from the sun again. Nights are cooler in most places, although we're far from hot weather!

These sunflowers are in that full urgency that comes with the last hurrah of summer. Some have seeded out and the finches and sparrows are having a feast, but there are many buds left.

Harvest is coming in everywhere and not just in the flowers. Farmer's markets are filled to bursting with good food right now so if you didn't have a big enough garden or no garden at all, take advantage of this bountiful summer season before it's too late.

The more you can put up by canning, dehydrating or freezing, is that much less that you will have to buy this winter. With the prices rising and rising, it's time to take control as much as possible. Don't forget the wild food, either. Sunflower seeds, lambsquarter greens and seeds, purslane and dandelion are all ready for the picking. When it gets a little colder (after the first frost) dig dandelion roots for food and a healthy hot drink.

The more you do, the more you save. 

This time of year

My favorite things this time of year:

Leaves swirling in the wind and crunching under my feet
Skies the color of baby blue and white cotton
Brown earth, wet and smelling like it should
A certain rush of energy as the cold air sweeps in
Checking the garden and seeing that everything is properly at rest for the winter.
The smell of wood smoke, caught now and then from the neighbor's fireplace.
Trying to decide if the laundry will dry tomorrow if I hang it outside.
Long evenings when I can sit and knit or read without guilt because it's too dark to do anything else.
Getting into a bed that's too cold and waiting as my body heat slowly warms it up.
Getting up into air that's too cold and having to wait for the bathroom to warm up before I can take a shower.
Watching the western sky in the hopes that those clouds will carry snow.
Buying bags of bird seed at Walmart so I can watch the sparrows and finches eat from the kitchen window.
Anticipating Thanksgiving and worrying already about how much of what to make.
Anticipating Christmas.

What's not to like about this time of year?

And it doesn't have a thing to do with frugal, except that very little of the enjoyment costs money.

Never waste

Frost warning tonight! In a way, it's a relief, but in a way... it's sad. I went out and dug up a little rutgers tomato that hadn't had a chance to produce much. I put it in a container that had held peppers just days ago and put it on the shelf behind the couch. We shall see...

The rest of the tomatoes were picked and I will put them in a newspaper lined box under the bed to ripen slowly and naturally. One year we had home grown tomatoes for Christmas dinner. I don't expect that to happen this time, but maybe for Thanksgiving? 

And then, the beans. I'd already decided to let the rest of them go for soup beans (a couple of times!), but if it frosts, they'll be useless for that, too.

So... I picked beans. Again. And I was surprised at how many there were. Again. I picked big ones and little ones. A few beginning to dry and a few were just babies, but a good portion of them are just right for eating. I'll have to sort them out now: some for eating, some for soup and some for seeds, although I have quite a few seeds already.

The frugal point is this: Don't waste what your garden or your shopping has produced. Use the last of everything and when you do, you'll find your larder is fuller and your grocery money lasts longer.

I will have green beans along with the little potatoes I pulled up from soft dirt in a pot the other day. A little turkey ham for seasoning and a piece of cornbread made from cornmeal made from corn I grew last year... grown from corn bought several years ago to decorate for autumn.

Never waste. The old adage is still true: Waste not, want not.

Come on, autumn!

I don't know about you, but I'm eager for cooler weather! It's begun to cool down at night now and the days are shorter so even a hot hour or two doesn't really seem bad. This is a perfect, frugal time of the year because the air conditioner isn't sucking electricity and the furnace isn't sucking gas so my utility bills are reasonable.

It won't be long, though, until it's cool enough to need a little heat in the mornings and evenings and the gas bill will begin to creep up if I use the furnace. I put off doing that as long as I can. Instead, I do these things:

Put on long underwear in the morning, even if it's going to be in the 80s or even 90s later on. I take them off when it starts to warm up. I also wear a sweater or jacket as long as it's needed.

Never drink cold drinks until it warms up. I like hot tea and sometimes will drink a cup of hot chocolate or broth to keep me warm. It keeps my hands warm, too!

Keep my feet warm by wearing socks and warm slippers. So what if the weatherman calls for 88 degrees by midafternoon? If my feet are cold, I'll do what I can to warm them up - short of turning on the furnace.

Have a hot breakfast. Hot cereal, eggs and toast or even a cup of soup sure tastes good on a cool morning.

Actually, I love these things. That's one reason I'm excited for the changing of seasons. I love getting back into my soft sweaters and wearing warm house slippers. It makes me feel pampered somehow.

Then add fall colors and the last of the harvest coming in... smells of late onions and fresh apples and first wood fires... is there anyone who doesn't like autumn?

Sights, smells, tastes, and even saving money. What's not to like??

Shortage of canned pumpkin?

I've been hearing this for the last few years. Is there really a shortage of canned pumpkin?

That question was brought about by a tip in the Dollar Stretcher Tips, a weekly newsletter from Dollar Stretcher. (If you don't subscribe, you're missing some cool ideas - go here: http://www.stretcher.com/subscribe/subscribeIF.cfm and scroll down to find it.)

Anyway, the woman who wrote in said that since there was a shortage of canned pumpkin, she had been making "pumpkin" muffins using sweet potatoes because they're cheaper. (Somewhere; not here).

My question is: Since whole, fresh pumpkins are available anywhere in the fall of the year and usually at a cheap price, why would anyone buy canned pumpkin? It's easy to cook and easy to freeze and one pumpkin will yield many, many more cups of pumpkin than a can for about the same price. Besides that, it tastes better and you can use your Halloween pumpkin. Why throw it away, then go and buy pumpkin??