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http://pathtofreedom.com/resources/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=220&Itemid=51

Bread Baking for the Clueless but Curious

Contributed by Susan Gendreau
Sunday, 22 January 2006
by Susan Gendreau

Let’s assume you would like to bake bread. But it sounds like a lot of trouble, so you haven’t tried. Or you’ve tried and gotten a brick, not a loaf. The books – those gorgeous specialty cookbooks – call for equipment you don’t have and don’t want, and if you tried to follow their recipes nothing happened the way the page said it should. Bread seems so complicated. How do you know when it’s kneaded enough? How do you know when it’s risen enough? Uh, why didn’t it rise? You figure that if you aren’t a professional baker, you’re out of luck. But still you’d like to bake bread – if it’s not too much trouble.

Well. Bread baking can be a lot of trouble – if you want it to be. It can become an obsession. Some people (me, for instance) actually enjoy debating brands of flour or cake yeast versus dry yeast. Those same people buy the fancy equipment because it helps us make fancier bread. But people have baked yeasted bread for probably four thousand years and KitchenAid mixers have been around for only fifty. You don’t need one. You don’t need Calphalon loaf pans, a proofing box, the muscles of a linebacker or split-second timing. You don’t need to be an expert on kneading or rising to produce bread that’s much better than supermarket. And you don’t need to set aside a day to do it, either.

Here is what you do need: a one-cup measure, a loaf pan (supermarket Ecko is fine), flour, water, and yeast. Everything else is optional. The first time you bake, choose a day when you’ll be home a lot, so you can get a feel for the dough’s progress. But don’t be a slave to it; do your shopping, run your errands. Bread is not rocket science.

In the recipe below, almost anything not specified can be varied without wrecking the result — so relax.

Back to Basics Bread

First, wash your hands. You’ll need them.

3 cups flour

1 cup clean water at room temperature

2 teaspoons (most of one sealed foil packet) Fleischmann’s active dry yeast

1 teaspoon honey

½ teaspoon salt, if you like (most Americans will prefer this)

Check the expiration date on the yeast and make sure it’s still OK. It is? Good. Mix the yeast thoroughly with the flour (and salt, if any) in a largish mixing bowl. Dissolve the honey in the water. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the water into it. With your fingers, or a wooden spoon, stir the water so that the flour washes off the sides of the hole into the water mixture without lumping up; if you get lumps anyway, don’t worry; we’ll fix them in a moment. When the water’s not really liquid anymore, get aggressive and mix in the rest of the flour.

Hold the bowl with one hand. With the other, mix the dough for several minutes, working around the bowl and from the bowl’s rim toward the center, until it gets smoother and cleans off the bowl’s sides. Sort of peel the outer edge of the dough toward the center and flatten it down hard, then repeat with part of the new edge. (That’s kneading, and it’s that simple.) If your dough has lumps, squeeze them to break them up. Make sure you work every part of the dough. Exactly how you do this, and how long, really don’t matter much. (Really.) Find a position that’s comfortable for you (I like to kneel on the floor and grip the bowl between my knees) and work the dough until you start to get tired.

Pat the dough into a fat cigar shape, put it in the loaf pan, and cover the pan with a clean towel that’s wet but wrung out. Put the covered pan somewhere out of drafts (I use the microwave oven) and leave it there to rise. That will take a minimum of a couple of hours and maybe longer, depending on several things (see the FAQ below). Check on it now and then as you go about your business.

When the dough has risen to just below the top of your loaf pan, and the center of it is just reaching the top, put it in a preheated 450 oven for 35-40 minutes. Slip it (cautiously – it’s hot) out of its pan and let it cool on a rack for at least half an hour before slicing it with a serrated knife. (Don’t cool it in the pan, slice it hot, or try to slice it with a regular knife – trust me.) Slap on the butter – or eat it plain; it will taste that good.

Now you’ve made bread. This recipe produces a loaf that doesn’t rise all that much, but has a thick, chewy crust and a wonderfully tender interior. Yum.

FAQ:

Q: My dough didn’t rise.

A: Not at all? Did you add the yeast? (Really. People forget.) If you did, and the dough didn’t rise at all, then either your yeast was dead when you started or you somehow killed it – probably by using water that was too hot. How hot is too hot? Most bread recipes call for proofing the yeast – dissolving the yeast in warm water before adding it to the dough. For a beginner that’s tricky, because yeast dies above 110F. Water that only feels warm to you can easily be hot enough to kill your yeast. And as long as your yeast is alive you don’t need to dissolve it in the water; it will dissolve in your dough and do its job just fine. Fleischmann’s Active Dry is very reliable if you use a sealed packet that’s inside the use-by date.

If you’re curious, or you have an old packet, you can test to see if your yeast is alive by adding a half teaspoon to a half cup of tepid water with a teaspoon of sugar. Mix to dissolve the sugar and let the mixture sit for fifteen minutes. If it isn’t bubbly and frothy, your yeast has expired (or your water’s too hot). If it’s OK, there’s still two teaspoons in the packet for your bread.

Q: My dough took a very long time to rise.

Be patient; in a cool kitchen the rise can take hours. If you added salt, the dough will rise more slowly as well. If it goes all day, it will taste all the better for it. The warmer the dough, from the water or a warm rising place, the faster it will rise. But stick to room temperature for your first loaves; if the yeast is too hot it will die, and if it’s just short of too hot your bread will rise quickly but taste like cardboard. Slow-rise bread is tastier and less tricky to make; it just takes longer. If you let it rise at room temperature and by the time you have to go out it isn’t up to the top of the pan, leave it rising until you can get back to it. The bread will probably be fine. Don’t let it intimidate you.

Also, the more yeast you add, the faster the rise. But too much yeast will produce a distinct yeasty taste. I usually only use one teaspoon per loaf and let the dough rise all day, or start in the evening and let it rise overnight. Tastes much better.

Q: can I use Fleischmann’s Quick-Rising Yeast instead, or bread machine yeast? Or a bread machine?

Sure, if you like cardboard bread. The quicker the rise, the blander the taste. You don’t bake quality bread in 90 minutes. As for bread machines, any real bread baker will tell you they’re the spawn of the One Down Below. They produce lousy bread and they’re expensive. If you want to spend that kind of money, forget baking your bread and just buy from an artisan bakery.

Q: what’s the difference between white flour and wheat?

Wheat bread is better for you – a lot better – but white flour is easier for a beginner to work with; it needs a reliable one cup water to three cups flour and gives lighter bread than wheat with less work. Different batches of wheat flour need varying amounts of water, and you may have to tinker with quantities to get dough that feels right – though you will learn what feels right very quickly. Experiment with brands of wheat flour, too; their taste varies. You can also add oatmeal, rye, and other flours to the mix. The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book contains a lot of useful information on whole grain bread baking.

Q: where do I go from here?

Anywhere you want! Was there something about your bread that could be better – its lightness, taste, texture? Bake this recipe a few times; experiment with the effects of small changes. Most ovens don’t heat evenly; try different places in yours. More kneading will make your bread finer-textured and might raise it more; a little more or less flour can make a surprising difference. Most Americans are used to the taste of salt in their bread, but try leaving it out; you might like it. Your bread will be distinctly tastier if you use bottled or filtered water. You can try taking the dough out of the pan after it rises, kneading it a few times, and raising the dough a second time; that will produce finer-textured bread. You can experiment with things to add or leave out – my signature bread, the one everyone asks me to bring to parties, includes potatoes, eggs, milk and butter; it’s not health food but it tastes awesome.

Of course you can try those cookbooks now; you’ve got the basics. Some of my favorite recipes are in The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book. They use only whole-grain recipes – no white flour – and the book includes very detailed directions on every aspect of baking light, tasty whole-grain bread; it’s a good place for a beginner to go next. Pssst – the recipes work just fine with some white flour added to them, too. And of course there are many other books as well. Have fun! Copyright@Susan Gendreau 2006.

http://www.pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/offthegrid/solarfooddryer.shtml

Projects: Drying Foods With the Sun

Since antiquity, the art of dehydrating food has saved more than a few civilizations. To the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Chinese, drying foods during times of plenty was a lifesaving hedge again times of famine. Today, it’s an easy war to preserve garden goodness.

Dried food is both convenient and nutritious. In fact, according to a study by the USDA, dehydrated foods are more nutritious than their canned counterparts. While the canning process can destroy up to 65 percent of vitamins and minerals, drying food retains most of the vitamins A and C, as well as thiamine and riboflavin. Best of all, there are no chemicals or preservatives necessary for wither the drying process or storage.

Another plus, especially if storage space is at a premium, is that dehydrated food are only one-half to one-twelfth the weight and bulk of the original.

Stored in a cool, dark spot, they should keep anywhere from several months to tow years, depending on the food stored.

Quoted from: Kim Erickson, Back Home Magazine July/Aug 1998

HOMEMADE SOLAR DEHYDRATOR

Photo showing our homemade solar food dehydrator. We followed these instructions from i4at.org with a few, slight variations. Dryer Instructions »

Both the main box and the solar collector were insulated with recycled Styrofoam from packages.

For the solar collector, we used a extra piece of Plexiglas instead of glass or a clear plastic sheet. The inside bottom we painted flat black.

Recommended References

[On site, these are live links]

· Review of Solar Drying - A brief overview on how to solar dry your harvest

· Solar Food Drying - The art of drying food

· Food Drying - Article on how to dry fruit, veggies and meat using the sun

· Solar Food Dryer - Plans on how to build a multi-shelf solar dryer

· Solar Food Dehydrator - Site where you can purchase a solar dryer

· Barrel Dehydrator - Article and instructions on building gem from the past

· Small Scale Dehydrator - Resource list

· Drying Methods - Descriptions on different drying methods

Related reading from Amazon.com

http://www.astorybooklife.com/recipes/apple-pie-rolls/

Easy Apple Pie Rolls

July 23rd, 2007 by admin
Easy Apple Pie

I just love the smell of apple pie baking in the kitchen! But the one thing I like better than smelling it is eating it!

I came across a recent post that Kelli made, where she was sharing a recipe that she found in a cookbook from her local library. I like to think of the recipe as a mix between apple pie & biscuts. The cook book calls the dessert “Roly Poly Pudding”, although I might call it something more like “Easy Apple Pie Rolls” (I know - not nearly as exciting as Roly Poly Pudding :)

The recipe is basically a biscuit recipe (which might be familiar to you, if you already make biscuits in your kitchen), and a group of other ingredients that would be used in making an apple pie.

Biscuit Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk

Filling:
1/4 cup softened butter
3 cups cored, peeled, and finely chopped apples
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

First lets make the biscuit part of the recipe.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together, then “cut in” shortening with a pastry blender
To cut in = using pastry blender, large fork, or clean fingers ;) to combine shortening with dry ingredients. You know you’ve properly “cut in”, when the mixture breaks apart into small bits that resemble a lumpy cake mix before you mix it ;)

Add the milk a little at a time while mixing gently. The batter does not have to be smooth, and is ready to work with as soon as it can be picked up & rolled out.

Then, on a surface dusted with flour, roll the dough out into a large rectangle (approx. 8X12). Spread 1 tablespoon of the softened butter over the dough.

Spread the apples over the dough, leaving about an inch on all sides. Then, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over apples.

Why don’t you go ahead & turn your oven up to 400 right now, that way it will be heated enough to put the rolls in when you’re ready.

Mix the granulated sugar, water, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of the butter together in a pot & cook until dissolved. Pour this mixture into a shallow baking dish.

Starting with the longest end, carefully start rolling up the pastry. When you’re done, you should have what looks like a 12 inch long tube - not a VERY fat stumpy 8 inch log :) Slice the roll into 1 inch pieces, and place them in the baking dish with the sugar mixture - apple side up. Spread the remaining butter on top of the rolls, and then bake them for 30-35 minutes.

These would be great served with some heavy whipping cream or a spoon of vanilla ice cream!

You should take a minute to stop over & visit Kelli at: There is no Place Like Home

http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/2007/06/show-and-tell-friday.html

Kelli is a homeschooling mom, and she shares lots of great recipes, as well as other great tidbits from around her home. The picture above is how this recipe turned out in her kitchen! She also has some other pictures of the process as she went along. When you go visit, tell her Pearl sent ya!

Have a Marvelous day!
Pearl

http://www.astorybooklife.com/recipes/quick-dinner-recipes/

Quick Dinner Recipes - Easy to Cook and Delicious to Eat!

July 18th, 2007 by admin
Country Farmhouse Kitchen

Don’t let the constant nagging question of “What’s for Dinner” get you down! For today… you shall conquer!
(sorry got a bit carried away :)

I wanted to share this quick dinner recipe that will give you that… cooking in the kitchen all day feeling - while only spending a few actual minutes of your time preparing your family’s evening meal ;)

This is a great “toss it & forget it” kind of comfort food, and it’s so easy & delicious! You could easily toss the ingredients together before leaving for work in the morning, and then you can think about other things besides running around the kitchen when you get home! It would also be a great choice for your Sunday dinner. Just toss everything in the crock pot before you leave for church, and when you get home, you’ll have a wonderful meal waiting for the family table.

Creamy Italian Chicken & Broccoli

Ingredients:

1 packet of Italian Salad Dressing mix (usually comes in 1.7oz packets)
2 1/2 Cups of water
4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bag frozen broccoli (or 2 cups of fresh steamed)
8oz cream cheese
1 can of cream of chicken soup

Place first 3 ingredients in a crock pot and cook all day on low - or 4 hours on high.

One hour before you’re ready to eat, remove the chicken and add the cream cheese & soup to the liquid in the crock pot. Whisk everything together, then add the broccoli and chicken (can shred the chicken if you’d like) and allow to simmer for the last hour.

Ideas for Serving
If you have quick dinner recipes that you’d like to share, send them in!

- Serve over rice or your favorite type of pasta - (you can prepare a larger batch at the beginning of the week, that way you’ll have enough for 2-3 meals)

- Great with a fresh green salad, or some sliced garden fresh tomatoes on the side

- This meal freezes very well after it’s cooked, so you could make a double batch and freeze half for a future meal! This will help you save both electric and time, as well as help you keep the heat out of the kitchen during the summer months!

http://www.astorybooklife.com/how-to/paper-beads/

How to Make Beautiful Beads From Recycled Newspaper

January 23rd, 2008 by admin
paper mache beads

I love finding ways to turn everyday common items, which would otherwise go into the garbage, into beautiful items that everyone can enjoy!

So… when I came across a gal who was making beautiful beads from recycled newspaper, I had to share the idea with you!

When I saw Helen’s beautiful beads, I asked her if she would mind sharing how she made them. After hearing from her, I realized that the methods used for these beads, were the exact same methods that I have used for several different projects including; costumes, handcrafted paper, and sculpted home decor items. I think what I love about her beads though… is the natural earthy look that they have. Please click on the pictures & visit Helen at her Flickr space!

What better way to pamper yourself than to make something so beautiful that costs nearly NOTHING! It would also be a great way to make some beautiful gifts for less than pennies - while recycling those pesky piles of old newspapers :)

Perhaps you could also earn some extra money by making a nice little business out of your beautiful new creations! I’m sorry… there I go again… always the business mind ;)

paper beads

Step #1 - Gather a small pile of newspapers from the recycling basket.

Step #2 - Rip the paper into small pieces

beads

Step #3 - Put the pieces of newspaper in a large stock pot

Step #4 - Pour enough boiling water over the paper to cover

Step #5 - Allow to sit for an hour or so

Step #6 - Stir the paper to help break it down a bit

new beads

Step #7 - Drain as much water out of the paper as you can

Step #8 - Add enough glue to the paper to help it hold together in a ball shape (any glue that is clear when dry - such as Elmer’s, or PVA)

necklace

Step #9 - Roll the paper into round balls being sure to squeeze out as much moisture as you can while rolling (you can make any size you would like)

Step #10 - Let them dry for a few days - rolling them every several hours - until they are completely dry

Here’s a mix of paper & felt beads. I love the look of this mix!
felt beads - and paper bead necklace

Step #11 - Sand each bead down with a bit of sandpaper to remove rough edges

Step #12 - Drill a hole in each bead that is big enough for the material that you want to string them with

new bead necklace

Step #13 - Paint them with left over craft paint

Step #14 - Give them a coat of varnish

beautiful beads made from recycled newspaper

Think of all of the different variations that you could make with this technique! The colors & stringing material possibilities are endless! I think some pretty pink beads strung on black velvet ribbon will be my first pamering self indulgence ;)

And… don’t stop at just making beads!

How about…

- Little hearts for a Valentine’s Day banner, or to grace the front of your handcrafted cards

- Tiny beads to make earrings

- Little snowmen with a coat of cream paint - drenched in chunky glass glitter

- A nice chunky key chain made from beads & ribbon

- Snowballs strung on a ripped piece of homespun fabric - to make a snowball tree garland

Well, I think you will agree when I say that these little bits of recycled newspaper are some of the most beautiful bits I’ve ever seen!

[116 comments and good photos on site]

http://www.astorybooklife.com/how-to/penny-rugs/

Penny Rugs - How to make these great gifts for pennies!

August 29th, 2007 by admin

Vintage Style Penny Rug

Recently I received this email request from a dear friend. I wanted to share my response with you - especially since the holidays are coming up & this would be a nice gift to give - for very little cost!

Hi Pearl,

I was wondering if you had or know of a place where I can get some directions on how to make a Penny rug runner. I thought this would be an interesting project to make. I just don’t have a clue how they are made.

I love the look of the wool and the colors for fall. I’ve found places to buy them but I would like to try to make one.

Hope you had a great vacation.

Lois

Dear Lois,

Good to hear from you! Yes, we had a wonderful time visiting with family over the last few weeks. We spent our time participating in a youth conference at my parents church, resting, visiting, and a quick trip to Baltimore. We especially loved the aquarium! I’ll have to post some pictures here real soon.

I hope the information below will help answer most of your questions. I just love penny rugs, especially when they are made out of all of the vintage “prim” colors! I especially love to see them used during the Autumn season with all of the rich golds, browns, and reds!

What is a penny rug?

felt penny rug

As we all know, women are by nature extremely creative & very resourceful.

Ok…well, most women ;)

But back in the 1800’s most women had to make the best of the resources that they had, especially when it came to things such a “splurging” on decorations for the home. So, they would keep the small bits and pieces of the wool and felt that they collected from their clothing, hats, coats, blankets, etc., and then use these precious bits of fabric to make beautiful decorations for their homes.

When they had a nice basket full of little snippets of fabric to work with, they would sort them into piles of similar colors. Then, to form the desirable circular shapes, they would use a coin as the template to cut their fabric pieces from. Using something as small as a coin would insure that the smallest of scraps could be used in the project. This is how the term “penny rug” came to describe these little pieces of art.

What’s also interesting is, the penny rug was not normally used as a rug at all, but rather, as a decorative cover for a bed, shelf, wall hanging, or table runner.

Pink and black penny rug

After cutting all of the different circle shapes, each color was put into it’s proper pile, where it would wait for it’s turn to become a part of the finished design.

The finished size was determined, then a piece of fabric (wool or felt) was chosen as the base for the rug. Each circle was then placed on top of the base in the desired pattern, so the creator could decide what the final design would look like. Once satisfied with the design, each piece was then secured with a straight pin so it could be stitched together.

Although any style of embroidery stitch could be used, the one most commonly used to applique the individual pieces of fabric in the penny rug was the blanket stitch. Bright colors of thread, that were different from the piece of fabric being stitched, helped the pattern to stand out even more, and also added another creative layer to the piece. Depending on how intricate the creator wanted to be, the circles might also be stacked in several layers, each smaller and a different color than the one below it. Sometimes the rugs were backed with a piece of an old burlap bag or feed sack, and on special pieces, an actual penny was stitched under one of the circles to help weight it down.

Although circles were the main shape used in early designs, any shape imaginable could be used in current designs. I have seen some beautiful pieces made with shapes such as; stars, hearts, snowman, crow, and trees. There’s really no limit to the designs that you could come up with, you simply want to be sure that the pattern can easily be hand stitched around each edge.

snowman rug

Materials to use in making your penny rug

Most penny rugs were made using wool, and felted wool. Although felt was handcrafted in years gone by, we are blessed to be able to buy felt by the square (usually a 12X12 square) or by the yard in most craft/fabric stores. Last year, I picked up some wonderful thick felt yardage, which came in colors such as dark mustard, chocolate, deep red, and cream. Check the prices, but I found that buying my felt by the yard was much cheaper than buying it by the square.

If you’re an adventurous soul, you could try your hand at felting your own wool!
Have you ever thrown a wool sweater into the washer/dryer without realizing it? Then, when you took it out, wondered who the tiny cute little sweater belonged to - only to realize that it used to be a human sized version of YOUR new sweater? Then you already have all the experience you need in felting wool ;)

Simply go to your local thrift store, yard sale, or your own closet, and pick out a cheap wool sweater (I suggest 100% wool) of your color choice. Keep your eyes open for sweaters with small holes or other damage, as these will turn out to be real bargains for you. First, cut down the side seems, separating the front from the back. Then, remove the arm sections, and cut down the long seem. Throw these pieces into the washer, and wash on the hot cycle with a bit of laundry soap. If you’d like, you could also throw the pieces into the dryer as well. You can expect the pieces to shrink up to 70% in size! When the material is dry, you can cut it into the desired shapes for your penny rug.Penny Rug Pattern
Embroidery floss makes the best choice for sewing the pieces together, and you can buy nice large bundles of different colors at your local craft/fabric store.

Patterns for your penny rug

Here are a few how to articles to help you with ideas, but the best patterns come from your own creative ideas - just like the gals in the 1800’s ;)

Christmas Tree Penny Rug
http://www.patchpieces.com/minipennytree.pdf

Circle Table Runner Penny Rug
http://www.kuninfelt.com/dfiles/projectsheets/penny_rug.pdf

Autumn Leaves Pattern
http://www.kuninfelt.com/dfiles/projectsheets/autumn_leaves.pdf

[has photo]

http://www.littlecountryvillage.com/Cottage-Gardening/free-garden-plants.shtml

From A Better Home and Garden

Cottage Gardening
Fill Your Cottage Gardens With Free Plants!
© Copyright by Pearl Sanborn

I love to dream ~ and one of the things that I love to dream about is my cottage garden.

I pull out back issues of my favorite magazines, gardening books, and seed catalogues to add to the plethora of ideas already stored in my mind’s eye. There is one small problem however. When you start shopping at the garden centers & from all of the plant catalogues, you start to see a growing trend - all of these beautiful plants add up to lots of money!

I need to be honest with you for a second. You see, I’m not really good at waiting several years to add a plant here & a plant there to my garden. I’m the kind of person who sees something beautiful, then tries to find a way to make it happen in my own garden. Sometimes the ideas work out wonderfully, and sometimes I learn a lesson from the whole process. In any case, my garden is always better because of it.

We all live such busy lives, and we do our best to have our obligations taken care of. Sometimes, despite all of our work & effort, we just don’t have the extra amount of money that it would take to have the garden of our dreams. I know that feeling personally, and that’s why I wanted to take this time to share with you some of the ideas that I have discovered for finding free plants over the years. Soon, with a little bit of creative thinking, you’ll have to start giving plants away due to lack of any more space in your garden!

- Weekly Clean Up

In our village, the city trucks come around & pick up yard debris that is set out for pick up. You’d be surprised at how many plants are put out to the curb! I’m still not sure of the reason? Could be a change in color scheme, or perhaps they just got tired of taking care of it? In any case, I’ve found many nice plants just by collecting them before the debris truck does!

- Cuttings

Either from your own plants or from your friend’s, small clippings add up to lots of free mature plants! I know one gal who offers to tidy up the gardens in her neighborhood in exchange for the clippings and extra plants that she cleans up. Most plants will grow from cuttings, and a small section a few inches long is all you need!

Just cut a small piece of the stem of most any plant - pull off all but the top few leaves - insert it into some moist sand. In no time you’ll have roots & a free plant! Mint, tomatoes, roses, hydrangeas, holly, and butterfly bush are all examples of plants that will grow from cuttings.

- Discards From Stores

Become friends with the person in charge of your local flower department in the big super centers! When plants get a little tired looking, they may give them to you free! All you need to do is give the plants some TLC!

Example: Recently in our local grocery super center, they were selling spring bulbs. In a short while the flowers had faded & the plants were no longer wanted by shoppers. Most folks have no idea that these plants can be planted outside for spring flowers next year! Just ask if you can have the “old” flower pots after the flowers fade! *Keep your eyes open for Easter lilies, outside they can grow up to 4 ft. with lots more blooms than you see in that little pot!

* My poinsettia is also still doing great from Christmas! I pinch back the stems as the red flowers (actually leaves) dry out. New beautiful sets of leaves bud have budded out already! I will plant it outside as soon as the danger of frost is past, then bring it in for a new round of Christmas blooms. I also broke off a few of the longer stems & stuck them down in the soil. They have already grown roots! I know everyone throws out their poinsettia plants after Christmas, but when I went to Africa some years back, one of the most amazing memories I have were the huge poinsettia TREES!!! So I am going to see how far I can take this little beauty ;)

- Restaurants & Parks

Most businesses replace their plants as the flowers fade. This year, start a relationship with the businesses in your area. Let them know that you are willing to take the unsightly plants off of their hands after they are finished blooming ;) We don’t mind since we know they will bloom again next year in our gardens!

- Greenhouses

While walking around larger greenhouses, I’ve noticed all of the large garbage cans throughout the place filled with soil, clippings, and old plants. Ask for their clippings for your compost pile, then use what you can to make new plants by rooting them, and throw the rest into the compost heap!

* Remember, as in the case of an African Violet, it may only take one leaf to start a new plant!

- Garden Exchange

Get free plants & seeds by trading them for plants that you already have. You could do this by starting a garden exchange in your area. Newspapers are always looking for news to print, and since a garden exchange is an event, you can even get your advertising free of charge!

Do a quick search & you will see lots of websites that post listings for free plants & seeds. Lots of times you can get wonderful expensive plants FREE!

There are many, but some of the larger ones are:

www.gardenweb.com
www.seedman.com

Get free shipping supplies to ship all of your plants!

Call - 1-800-222-1811

You can get free boxes, mailing labels, tape, etc., from the post office. It’s great to have these items delivered right to your door free of charge! Take a moment to see what other items you may need, by going to: http://supplies.usps.gov/

With these great ideas, you’ll be frugal gardening at its best!

http://www.littlecountryvillage.com/Cottage-Gardening/build-a-garden-solar-cooker.shtml

[Check her idea for a solar cooker at the end. granny]

From A Better Home and Garden

Cottage Gardening
How to Build an Easy Compost Pile, Play House, Solar Cooker in One!
© Copyright by Pearl Sanborn

Looking outside my kitchen window, I know that very soon it will be time to turn over the soil and plant my garden. I’m so excited to get started, because I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for about 6 months now (yes, we do have 6 months of “chilly” weather here in Ny ;).

Even though I love the process of planting a seed and watching it grow and give fruit, sometimes the process itself can be overwhelming.

Here in my area, we are fortunate enough to have our village built on stone ;) Of course our foundation will always be sound and I can have pretty little stone walls, but when it comes to digging a garden, I always welcome tips for making the process easier!

I was thinking of my grandpa, and how he used to garden using the “old ways.” I used to love it when he would show me his garden and teach me things that must have been passed down from his father.

After remembering how grandpa’s garden seemed to come together much easier, I decided to try some of his “old ways” in my garden this year! Here’s my plan for our kitchen garden.

Let me walk you through the process, so you can save time - energy - and your back this year! Find a good sunny location for your garden.

Make sure you will be able to see your new garden from your kitchen window - after all, that’s where we seem to spend most of our time ;) You also want it to be close enough to gather herbs and vegetables for your recipes.

We are going to build the garden with bales of hay. You can purchase them from local farmers for about $1.50 each. Place the bales in a square shape with a hole in the center. Each bale will be about 3ft long, so you can use as many as you wish to make the size you want. I will probably use 2 bales per side for a total of 8 bales per garden.

The center opening of this square will now become your compost pile. In this open square you can throw all your grass clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, shredded papers, and other items that can be returned to the soil.

We will actually plant our garden on top of the bales of hay! Simply scoop out the hay to make several holes in each bale. Add some soil to the hole and plant! Because the bales are about 2ft tall, you won’t have to be down on your knees or bending over all the time! You can treat the garden as you would any other garden, but it will take much less time, energy, water, and money!

In most gardens people spend a fortune on soil amendments for a large garden plot. In our garden we will only have to worry about the little holes that each plant is planted in. This will also keep weeding down to a minimum.

At the end of each season, simply fork the hay into the center compost pile & turn it to make sure that it’s mix well. Then, in the spring you can spread this wonderful “black gold” around your flowers, or use it as the soil to fill your new plant holes.

To start your garden each year, just add new bales!

Playhouse

If you have children or grandchildren, you might like to make a secret playhouse for the little ones. To make a playhouse, don’t add compost to the center of the garden, instead leave it open - as it will become the inside of their new hideout. Make a door by removing one bale of hay where you’d like for your door to be. Stick tall branches all around the top outside rim of the bales. Be sure to push the branches deep enough so that they will not pop out during play. Tie the tops of the poles together with twine to form a tipi.

You can plant any type of vine at the base of each pole. Some options might be; beans, peas, or morning glories. As they grow up the poles, they will grow into the “roof” of the playhouse. How wonderful it would be to play under a roof of purple morning glories!

This technique could also be used to plant your veggetable plants, making it easier to gather your harvest.

Cold Frame

For those of us who live in colder climates, we need to start our seeds 4-6 weeks early so they will have enough time to mature. For us, this same hay bale square will now become our cold frame. All you need to do is put your seed trays or small plants in the center of your garden square & cover the opening with an old storm window or piece of plastic. Make sure to check the temperature throughout the day, because even if it’s cold outside, a little sunshine can bring the temperature to 95 degrees or more inside of the cold frame.

Which brings us to another use for our “square bale garden” - a solar oven!

Solar Oven

You can purchase solar blankets for $1.99 at large department stores. These blankets are made of reflective material to help keep your body heat in. Line the inside of a smaller “square hay bale garden” with this (or any) type of reflective material, and place your food inside. Cover the opening with your old storm window and cook your meals free! To learn the basics of solar cooking, google the term online.

There you have it! For a few dollars each year, you can have an easy - no digging - no weeding - back saving; garden, compost pile, play house, or solar cooker!

http://www.littlecountryvillage.com/Cottage-Gardening/Easy-Layer-Gardening.shtml

From A Better Home and Garden

Digging is definitely not one of my favorite garden chores, but until now it had to be done!

Layer gardening is a garden building system that calls for no digging, no tilling, no weeding, hardly any tending - no kidding! You simply layer organic matter & plant your plants!

1. One of the great advantages of this style of gardening is, you can have your garden whereever you’d like, even if there is no soil in that spot! Because we are building the soil up & not digging down into it, good soil is not an issue! You could even have your new garden on top of a bed of stone, or an old driveway if you so choose!

2. Lay down a layer of moist newspaper or cardboard. These can be found at the recycle center, behind department stores, or at curbside - all free of charge! Not only does this help to keep weeds down, but the material also helps provide organic matter as it decomposes.

3. The next step is to layer different kinds of organic materials. There is no set rule for what type of material you “have” to use - it can be almost anything you can find:

* Animal manure - Any farmer will be more than happy to let you cart off bunches of this black gold - free!

* Compost - You most likely have a pile of compost in your yard already. This is the spot you throw your kitchen scraps, leaves, sod, etc.

* Grass clippings - Almost all summer we will soon be overrun with clippings!

* Hay - When horse farmers (or any farmer for that matter) clean out the stalls, you could take this “enriched” hay to use in your garden - free.

* Leaves - again, these can be had for the taking all around town during the leaf dropping season. You can also check with your local public works dept. They will usually have lots of clippings you can take free of charge.

* Peat Moss - One of the cheapest items in the garden center.

* Sawdust - A local sawmill will have a bountiful supply, probably free for the asking. (never use pressure treated wood or sawdust in your food garden)

* Seaweed - If you live near water, gather the unsightly seaweed to feed your garden!

* Wood Ashes - Do you or a friend have a fireplace/woodstove? If so, there is probably a mound of ashes somewhere in the yard, that would welcome removal!

Layer the items as you get them, then moisten the pile. It is best to let this pile “rest” for a few weeks, turning it if you can, to keep your plant’s roots from getting “burned” by direct contact with some of the items such as ashes from your woodstove.

After a few weeks, the only thing left to do is plant your plants! To plant, simply pull back the contents to make small holes in the top of your garden & insert the plant. Then, push everything back around the rootball. If you would like to plant seeds directly into this garden, scatter some sifted soil in the area that you’d like to plant - then sow the seeds.

Throughout the season, you can continue to build up this layer garden by adding more ingredients as you come by them. It’s also a great idea to start more garden beds for next year!

Layer gardening is very contagious when you see how easy it is to grow luscious produce with such little effort! I know you won’t want to stop!

http://www.littlecountryvillage.com/Cottage-Gardening/Creative_Gardening_Ideas.shtml

From A Better Home and Garden

On Saturday my friend and neighbor Edith and I built our cold frames. Its still kind of chilly here in NS, Canada but it has been surprisingly warm for March and April so we had some south facing areas in our gardens and yards that were workable. We used left over rough cut lumber, salvaged cedar from a friends dismantled deck, and windows from an old derelict bus to create rough looking but quite functional cold frames. We planted cold tolerant veggies for salads and now are waiting for our work to pay off. The cost was practically nil except for a pounded thumb and stretched muscles.

I started my parsley plants indoors this year rather than buying them later and I am saving a mint!! For less than $5 I have 48 parsley plants in their little cell packs in a south window propagating box (made from a card board box and tinfoil.) and they are doing great. I started the seeds themselves by soaking over night and then sowing in plain potting soil in a milk carton cut lengthwise in half. Recycled plastic spoons taped to the carton supported the large freezer bag I put the whole thing into to create a greenhouse effect. In 11 days I had sprouts like crazy and when they got their first true leaves I transplanted them into cell packs. I potted up 56 and discarded the very last few because they were scraggly. I gave 8 to Edith and kept 48 for myself and for giving away or selling at a yardsale this spring. And for less than that $5 I still have soil and cell packs left for the calendula I have coming up in that milk carton in a closet (calendula like darkness when sprouting) and the veggies I am starting soon (tomatoes, melons, cukes etc) and some flower starting. Gardening really doesn’t have to be expensive if you employ your own time and some patience!

Keep that news coming, Pearl. You are living my dream!
Sincerely, Alison

* Alison - we love your ideas! We’d also love to see pictures of all your work! This goes for you all! Anytime you have something to share that will help us live better for less, send it in!

http://www.littlecountryvillage.com/Cottage-Gardening/Tomatoes_-_Growing_Tomatoes_as_Vines_in_Your_Kitchen_Garden.shtml

From A Better Home and Garden

I decided that for one year, I would try to grow my tomatoes as vines. I vaguely remember hearing the idea somewhere in the past, but I was in no way sure that the idea would work since I had never seen it personally. But, I was willing to give it a try... for one season anyway :)

My goal was to build a 12ft long arbor down the middle of the cottage garden. The outside would be shaded with the fruiting tomato vines, while the inside was to provide a shady sanctuary from the summer sun. Under this arbor would have also been a great place to grow some crops such as lettuce, which do not like the hot summer sun. The concept was a wonderful one, but now I needed to find a way to make it happen - especially on a very low gardening budget!

Here’s what we decided to do.

- We basically built a large rectangle shaped box using 2X4s. You can pick these up pretty cheap at a local saw mill! We connected 2 long rectangles measuring 12ft long & 6ft high by a 6ft board (stabilizing brace) at the top and bottom of each end. This gave us a 6ft. wide path inside the arbor.

You could use wood you already have, some sturdy branches (that’s what I would use now - due to the fact that I have so many here in the woods!), free pallets, rough cut lumber from a local saw mill, etc.

* Never use pressure treated wood for your food garden, as there is a possibility of the chemicals leaching out into the surrounding soil.

- Long nails were nailed into both the top & bottom boards at 12 inch intervals on each side of the arbor.

- To make the tomato supports on the sides of the arbor, we used a heavy string that can be purchased from any $1 store. We tied it to the first nail on the bottom, then going from bottom to top, we looped the string around each nail (it’s nice to go around each nail 2X for added strength) until the whole side was covered with string. We did this on both sides and across the top.

You can use many things to make your side supports such as; garden netting, or wire with large openings. At the time, we just needed to use the most frugal option available, and string happened to be it :)

Tomatoes were planted along each side of the arbor, spaced 12 inches apart. This placed each plant in front of the string support it would need to climb up the arbor. Each planting hole is prepared just as you would in any ordinary garden - filled with lots of rich soil & compost.

I know what you’re saying... besides the arbor, it looks like any other tomato garden to me!

Here’s where things start to change.

As your tomato plants grow, they will begin to develop new branches out from the center stalk. At every elbow (the section where a branch meets the center stalk) of these new branches, a new 2nd branch will begin. This 2nd set of new growth is called a sucker. This extra growth causes the plant to stay shorter and take the shape of a bush instead of a vine. As you see the new 2nd set of branches starting to form, simply snap them out. Doing this will cause the plant to grow up instead of out. As the plant gets taller, you will need to support it by gently wrapping it around the string as it grows.

I found that the plants grew very quickly, and after a few months, the vines were over 8ft tall and had covered the sides and the top of the arbor! Not only had the plants grown to cover the arbor, but they were filled with beautiful tomatoes, some of which were 3lbs each! You see, as you remove the suckers and allow the plant to grow taller, you also allow more of the plant’s energy to shift towards producing fruit for the plant.

You could also use this technique on a smaller scale. For example - you could grow a single tomato plant on your patio using a pot and a trellis. Also don’t forget the huge variety of tomatoes that there are to choose from! I choose an old variety that my pap-paw always used called - Big Tom (which might explain the 3lb tomatoes!)

Our little experiment turned out so successful, that we had enough tomatoes to last us the entire year!

http://www.littlecountryvillage.com/Cottage-Gardening/Make_Your_Own_Bird_Bath_or_Flower_Pot_CHEAP.shtml

From A Better Home and Garden

With the sun shinning - green grass - and the warmer air, we know it’s time to prepare for this year’s blossoms.

This weekend I went to my local garden center to find some pretty urns & containers to plant my flowers in.

Well...I was not about to spend a years worth of garden expenses just to buy the pots! I guess if I want the natural looking containers, I will have to make them myself - on the “cheap” of course =)

To experiment with a few vessels, buy a bag of quick mix (cement mix). You will need a large bucket or wheel barrow to mix the cement.

This technique will allow you to make beautiful rounded bird baths, or flower bowls.

* A pile of sand will be your mold

* Decide what size you want the finished bowl to be

* Dig a hole that size in the sand hill. Make sure the inside surface of the mold is smooth

* Prepare the concrete mix

* Use a scoop or garden tool & press the mixed cement into the hole. You must work fast, because the mix will set up fast

* Smooth out the surface as you would icing on a cake

* If you’d like to add a few decorative touches, you can do that at this time. I would suggest things such as: pressing a few marbles into the surface - small stones - colored glass - little mirrors - bits of tile - broken bits of china, etc. The designs possible are only limited by your imagination

* Allow to dry for a few days. In hot weather, you may want to cover the bowl with a piece of plastic to let it cure a bit slower

* Remove bowl from sand - hose off & put it to use

You’ll have so much fun watching all the new visitors to your garden

* You can buy a huge 94lb bag of portland cement for under $6! At this price why not make several & sell a few for extra money!? They cost between $35 - $60 in garden centers & your getting away with approx. $2 each!

[Old chicken wire would make it stronger, if it is very large.
Also poke a hole in it for drainage...even an inch or so of old pipe or the mouth of a soda bottle, would give you a drainage hole..granny]