Since our baby is due in August, I came very close to not even trying a vegetable garden this year...but then I went grocery shopping.  As I'm sure you've noticed, food prices are skyrocketing.  So I resolved to garden this year, even with my big belly.  I'm glad I did.  Even this early in the season, we've enjoyed fresh lettuce, spinach, and onions, and broccoli is just around the corner.

We built our raised bed last year, so this year the only labor involved in getting the garden ready was to clear out the weeds that built up in the box.  This could have been avoided if I would have put plastic or something over the bed last fall, but I didn't.  If I would have taken the five minutes for such a simple task, getting the bed ready would have been as simple as pulling back the plastic.

Here's the garden, as of a couple weeks ago. The broccoli is the most impressive thing, and there's some salad greens, carrots, and bush beans peaking up.  I'm also having a good run of onions.  There's tomato, jalepeno, and chile plants against the trellis, but we're having a short season this year so I don't know if those will do anything.



I also have a collection of containers in a sunny spot.  These have a bell pepper plant (that got cut out of the picture), a grape tomato, some pole green beans, romaine lettuce, carrots, and a cucumber.  The pots have a couple tomatoes and a zucchini.


I'm loosely following the Square Foot Gardening method for vegetables.  As you can see from the website, it boasts a technique that produces a big harvest with very little work.  I'm still working on the big harvest part, but raised beds definitely are not very much work.  All I do is plant the seeds or starts, water, and pull out any weeds that sneak in there.  Since we don't walk on the bed, the soil stays nice and fluffy and all the plants are close together so the weeds don't have room to take over.  Even in my 7 month pregnant state, I'm not having any problems maintaining my garden. 

As a novice gardener, I'm still in the experimental phase.  Square Foot Gardening swears that you can grow just about anything, even large plants like squash and tomatoes, in six inches of soil.  I'm not convinced since last year none of the tomatoes in my raised bed did anything, so this year I have tomatoes in a variety of pots to see which does best...and so far it's the one in the largest pot.   Although the seed packets say that you need new seeds every year, I'm using packets that are up to 3 years old and still come up, so at this point I figure I have nothing to loose by putting the seeds in the dirt and seeing what happens, even if it is trying to grow a zucchini in a container.  The tomato, broccoli, onion, and pepper starts were delightfully cheap at a local farm, and I only needed a few seed packets besides what I saved from last year, so I didn't put much money into my garden this year.

However, getting the beds set up wasn't cheap.  Last year, building such a large bed, a smaller bed, four small boxes, and two trellises,  following the Square Foot Gardening method, with their recommendations for a soil mixture, costs us around $100.  In hindsight I could have done it cheaper, like we put a plywood bottom in the big bed, and now I realize that we would have been better off with just some metal mesh (to keep out rodents) and landscape fabric because we would have gotten better drainage and deeper soil, and that would have saved us about $10 right there.  $100 was a lot to cough up at once, but it was worth it because this garden is so easy to take care of and stuff actually grows.  My first year in this house I tried to plant straight into the dirt, which was cheaper, but hardly anything grew so it was  pointless.  This year I had to buy some more manure and peat moss to add to the soil, mainly because I didn't fill the box enough last year, and then I lost a lot of soil yanking out weeds that collected over the winter.  If I got myself together enough to get good compost going I could save even more money because I wouldn't have to buy it. (Yes, true tightwad confessions...I have the sorriest excuse for a compost pile the world has ever seen.  But this summer I am determined to change that because I am sick of paying for rotted yard waste).

If you're thinking that you don't have $100 to throw into a garden right now, you could probably start with a 4 foot by 4 foot bed for about $25, or less, if you scrounge wood and have your own compost.  And then, if you decide it's working for you, you could add another bed next year.  I just started ambitiously.

My verdict is that, if you're going to have a vegetable garden, raised beds and containers are the way to go.  Even though the start-up costs are initially higher, the amount of time saved and the harvest make it worthwhile in the long run.

When we first moved into this house, I tore up a section of the grass to use as a small vegetable garden.  The veggies didn't like that part of the yard and my garden flopped, so the next year I moved on to raised bed gardening (posts on that to come), but I still had the tore-up grass that weeds would take over.  The following summer we cleaned it up and planted sunflowers, but the next winter it became a weed garden again and a very unattractive mess by spring.

I began to ponder something to fill the space that would be very little work and preferably free or extremely cheap, and, of course, attractive.  At the end of May, I finally came up with an idea after a friend who was moving cross-country gave me rosemary and thyme plants.  I already had sage and chives in pots, and I could get some lavender from my mom.  These herbs are hardy, low-maintenance, come back on their own every year, and some get pretty big. 

So after cleaning up the weeds, I put in my herbs, plus a mystery rose bush my friend gave me.  I bought a parsley plant at a farmer's market, and saved some spots that I originally planned for more roses, but after dealing with wilt and blackspot on my roses this season, I've changed my mind and am going to put blueberry bushes in the gaps instead, which do very well in my part of the country.  (Even if I have to buy them, I'll have fresh blueberries down the road!) I had some strawberries in a pot, so I moved those into the garden for a ground-cover around the rose bush. Until I get around to getting the blueberries in, which probably won't be until next season at this point, I planted some sunflower seeds to fill in the spaces. 

Here's the young garden:


From L-R, rosemary (which is really small now, but we gave it a lot of space because it will get big), a space for a blueberry currently filled with tiny sunflowers, chives, the rose (we have no idea if it's a tea or a climber or what...it'll be a surprise), strawberries, sage, more sunflowers, lavender, thyme, and parsley.  Then there's a dealy my mom gave me for Mother's Day, and there's some dill planted next to that, but so far it hasn't come up.  I also tried to start some cilantro from seed at the other end, but no luck there either.  I may try again now that the weather is warmer, but I'll probably just end up getting a start.   I have basil and oregano in a box by my kitchen door and some mint in a pot, too, so I have a well-rounded supply of fresh herbs for cooking!   (And eventually I will take down that trellis netting...)

It's uneven now, but in theory the plants should fill it in and I'll have a pretty garden full of useful things.  Since all the other plants were free, I spent less than $20 for the parsley, strawberries, basil, oregano, and seeds, and it only took me two afternoons to clear out the weeds and move in the plants.  We'll see how it fills out by next year! 

Here's a tip for those who sew...

What do you do with the bobbins that have a little bit of a random color of thread left on them?  Sometimes you can get away with pairing it with a close color of thread on a not-so important project, but otherwise they end up piling up until you have dozens of bobbins and none near the color you need.  The same goes for spools of thread with a tiny bit left that are cluttering your sewing area.

Now when I have to sew in something like interfacing, do a lot of basting, or sew inside seams, I put one of those random bobbins on the top of the machine or use a spool of almost-empty thread, and I don't worry if the bobbin doesn't match the main thread, and use those to sew those areas that will never see the light of day.  I just made a diaper bag for my sister that took a lot of sew-in interfacing and basting, and was able to empty three lonely bobbins and two near-naked spools!  If basting will be removed, using thread that contrasts with your fabric makes it easier to see what stitches need to come out.

Or maybe you're feeling artsy and want your visible seams to look like you just grabbed random thread.  Just remember that a bobbin can work just as well on the top of your machine!

Lately I've been kindling a romance with my hot glue gun.  Although duct tape is the traditional tightwad standby, hot glue guns are just as useful, and they do repairs without the "chrome" finish.  After an extended stay in the garage, my gun now stands proudly on the kitchen counter, waiting for its next assignment.

In the past week, I glued some clothespins to the sides of the shelves where I store diapers so I have an out-of-the-way place to air out wool diaper covers. It's not the prettiest thing, but the shelves are in a closet so I didn't worry about aesthetics.  To keep my girl's play tent from perpetual ruin, I'm gluing the little pieces to the big pieces so even when it does collapse, not quite as many poles and joints will be spread all over the house.  Now the top of my favorite hairbrush doesn't pop out.  And all the thanks go to a small black gun.

This evening I noticed my neighbors had a drying rack next to their garbage can.  They are good friends of ours; in fact, they're out of town and we were supposed to take their garbage to the curb, but my husband and I had a communication breakdown and it didn't happen so the day after garbage day their can still sits next to the garage.  A closer look at the drying rack showed that it only had a small break that looked like it could be fixed with some...hot glue!

I've needed a new drying rack for awhile, but have been stubbornly making the one I have work.  This one, even condemned to the dump, is in better shape than the one I'm using.  So I swiped it, and now I get to start a conversation with, "I don't usually take stuff out of your garbage when you go out of town, but..." when my friends get back.  I'm going to make sure that was intended to be thrown away and she's okay with my taking it before I undergo the repairs, but with a few minutes and a little hot glue, it looks like I just scored a new drying rack.

For the record, I was using cloth shopping bags before they were cool.  I'd like to say I started a fad, like when I was the first to bring my Skip-It to recess in fourth grade, or in junior high when I  figured out that if you froze your water bottle and then put it in your backpack wrapped in a dishcloth, it would stay cold and not sweat all over your books.  Within a few weeks, everyone was doing it.

Nope, I got fed up with the masses of plastic bags accumulating in my home and starting bringing my own cloth bags to the grocery store when the clerks still raised their eyebrows and I looked like some crazy hippie. One even asked me "are you some kind of environmentalist?" So now that everyone is BYOB to the store, and getting a 5 cent credit or entering a contest for each reusable bag, I can give some tips on good choices for shopping bags, since I've been at this awhile.

1. Use canvas or a heavy cloth material.  The burlapy bags, like the ones sold for less than a dollar in the check-out line, don't wash well.  If you get a spill or leak in one, they have to be handwashed or machine washed on gentle, while you can chuck a dirty canvas bag in the washer with the rest of your laundry.

2. Put in a hard bottom.  This isn't absolutely necessary, but if you cut a piece of cardboard or an old plastic cutting board down to the size of the bottom of a cloth bag, it's easier to pack and you will be happier with it.

3. They are really easy to make.  You don't even need to buy bags, and can piece together old jeans or use cheap home decorating material (like hitting the 50% clearance-price sale at Joann's, which I believe is coming up soon or going on now.) and make some stylish, heavy-duty bags that will make you the hit of checkout aisle.  If you have basic sewing skills, you should be able to figure it out without too much trouble. Google for "sewing shopping bags" until you find a tutorial you like.
 
4. Don't be afraid to mix store bags.  Besides my homemade bag, I take my Safeway bag to Fred Meyer or my Trader Joe's bags to WinCo, and I didn't think anything of it until my mom commented on when I brought my entire collection home from one store.  If these companies really care about going green, then it wouldn't bother them if you didn't buy a different set of bags for each store, right?

Cloth bags are a great way to reduce garbage.  Even recycling plastic and paper bags still creates environmental strain considering the processes used in recycling and all the gas used when transporting the materials.  A good set of cloth bags will last you years, and imagine all the disposable bags that will never even see a cart.

My 3 year old developed an obsession with fishing after seeing a fishing contest on Barney.  After hearing "I want to go fishing!" 30 million times, I asked her, "would you like me to make you a pretend fishing pole?"

"Yes!"

So I tied some scrap yarn at the end of a broken toy broom handle, and catching fish over the back of the couch provided enough entertainment to make it worth the minute it took to make the "pole."  We haven't heard a word about fishing since.

This reminded me how little it takes to entertain a kid, and how quickly the novelty of toys can wear off.  Sometimes when we go to a friend's house and she finds a toy there fascinating, it will cross my mind that it could be a good idea to get that toy for her when Christmas or her birthday rolls around, but I always check myself.  If the exact same toy was in our house all the time, the interest would wear off and she probably wouldn't even touch it after awhile, or so rarely that it's not worth it's space.   If I would have gone out and bought her a toy fishing pole, she would have played with it for an afternoon, and never picked it up again...and that would have been a bit annoying.

We rarely buy our girls toys.  Partly because we don't have to; our girls are only-grandchildren at the moment, so they have a flood of toys from grandparents, aunts, and uncles, but they regularly play with very few of them. The toys that go over best are "scope for imagination" toys, like the play kitchen I picked up at Goodwill for $1 (it was dirty, but after wiping it down, Amy declared it "wonderful!" and really does play with it), or a simple dollhouse we found at a thrift store for a couple bucks that she'll fill with random little toys and make up her own soap operas.  The goal is to find a toy that can be different every time she plays with it, whether she's telling herself a new story or making up a new game.

Our 1 year old doesn't even play with toys, and has never shown much interest in them, even when she was tiny; she's more interested in snooping around grown-up stuff and watching what her big sister is doing.  When I take her places sometimes friends say, "I don't have a baby toys," and I'll just reply she wouldn't be the least bit interested in them if they did.  Just flip a cell phone open a few times and that will entertain her, or give her anything with buttons.

I don't see much point in buying kids brand-new or expensive toys.  Here's a short list.

1. Pieces get lost. 
2. They'll break.
3. The kid won't even be impressed.
4. The kid will be impressed for about half an hour, and then never touch it again.
5. They can take up a lot of space, and it's easy to get to the point where the kid doesn't even have room to play.

Once at Ikea I was tempted to get Amy a set of play pots and pans, but then I remembered that she was perfectly content to use a set of old measuring cups and kitchen spoons in her play kitchen.  In fact, it's one of the toys she plays with the most, along with a Cinderella tea set my mom gave her for her birthday.  If she's happy to exercise her imagination with the measuring cups, why clutter up her room with a set of toys full of pieces that are bound to get lost? 

Now when it's time to buy presents, I look for stuff like this:

1. Re-stocking crayons, markers, play-dough or bubbles (even homemade), cheap coloring books, or other things that get a lot of use, but only last so long.
2. Things that encourage active play, like balls, jump ropes, or other outside toys.  Again, it doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something to get them moving outside. 
3. Books...good books!
4. Movies.  (Our kids, like most, go through phases where they want to watch a certain movie 30 million times.  By the time Christmas or a birthday rolls around, my husband and I are ready for something new, so that's really more for us than them. :)
5. Things that compliment stuff they already play with, like for Christmas I made Amy a set of placements to go with her tea set, and down the road I want to make her some dollhouse furniture and doll clothes.
6. Then there's always clothes, coats, new bedding, and other things that they need anyway, but giving it to them for a present can make it personalized or special.

Overall, I try to avoid stuff that will eventually become clutter and end up in a Goodwill box.  I want my kids to have space more than stuff!

This strays from my usual theme of moneysaving tips, but I know a lot of you have small children so I thought I'd share something I learned over the weekend...what to grab for your toddler before going to the Emergency Room.

On Sunday my 14 month old had febrile seizure, which, thankfully, are usually nothing serious, but we didn't know that then.  Some kids are prone to having a brief seizure with a sudden high fever.  These don't do any damage and they usually grow out the tendency by the time they start school, so we were able to leave the ER 3 hours later with no worries.  However, at the time, we just knew Kate's fever was getting high and were monitoring her closely, but when she had a seizure we did what any reasonable parents would do, especially those who never saw a baby have a seizure - freaked out and called 911.

Enter ambulance and paramedics.  They said it looked like she would be fine but wanted to take her to the ER anyway; the EMT said he always wanted to be extra careful with babies.  Her condition was already improving so they didn't rush us out of the house in a frenzy, so I had some time to gather my wits, and the diaper bag. That's all.

Since "what are the three things you'd grab if your house caught fire" is a meme question or party game, but "what three things would you grab to take your baby to the ER?" isn't, here's what I wish we had once we got to the hospital.

1. A cuddle-blanket.
Since Kate had a high fever, she went to the hospital in her diaper.  Once they got her fever lower and she was trying to sleep, it would have been nice to have something soft and familiar for her to lay on.

2. Her sippy cup.
She was never a bottle baby, and the ER only had bottles or cups - and no cups with lids, so we had a tough time trying to get her to drink some fluids.  So, if your kid likes a specific cup or bottle, grab it.

3. My wallet and insurance card.
This is an obvious one, but I'd misplaced my purse and had yet to find it when it was time to go, so I was stuck leaving without it.  Thankfully my husband was home and followed us in the car, and had a copy of our insurance card when we registered, and had a way to pay our copay, otherwise I would have had quite the headache.  So, if you only grab one thing as you scramble out of the house, make sure it's your wallet!

And to throw in one tightwad tip....
Know ahead of time if you will have an ER copay so you can have a plan to pay, and won't have yet another unpleasant surprise that day.

Hopefully none of you will ever need these tips, but we never know!

Here's a toddler feeding tidbit.  When your kiddo is ready for finger foods, there's no need to buy the tiny jars of baby-food brand cut-up veggies. Go to the freezer aisle instead and get a big bag of frozen veggies. You can start with carrots or peas, and move up to the mixed veggies when they're ready for larger chunks.  Shake what you need out of the bag at each meal and heat it up with a little water.  One bag costs a couple bucks and makes for many, many baby meals.

The catch to starting with the mixed veggies is the green beans, which can be hard for a kid without molars to gum down.  Until Kate was able to handle those as they came, after I heated up the veggies I pulled out the green beans and cut them into smaller pieces that she could manage.  She loves the mix - even the lima beans! 

Awhile back I ranted on how irritated I am with plastics and was looking for other alternatives for situations where I usually use something plastic.  A lot of these were easy, but I had one immediate hang-up.  I'm a freezer junkie, and how could I freeze stuff without my plastic containers?  Not like those were that great; they cracked and stunk and sometimes were hard to get clean.  But the only alternative I could think of would be glass jars.

I know the immediate problem with putting glass jars in the freezer is that, as the contents expand as it freezes, it can explode.  I don't like the idea of putting time bombs in my freezer, but a few days ago I decided to gamble it with one of my freezer favorites, cream of tomato soup.  I poured the leftover soup into some reused jars from pasta sauce or honey, and a mason jar.  I left a very liberal amount of headspace, at least an inch.  Then I let it cool completely, screwed on the lids, and stuck them in the freezer.

Tonight was a lazy dinner night, so I made some grilled cheese and pulled a jar of soup out of the freezer.  I very carefully removed the lid with no disasters, and then popped the jar straight into the microwave for about five minutes to defrost (a forward-thinker could defrost in the fridge, but this was not a forward-thinking evening.) 

 It worked.  No shattering, no huge messes.  I'll have to do some more experimenting, but this could be the answer to being freezer-happy without plastic.

UPDATE:  If you're having trouble getting the lid off a frozen jar, run it under some hot tap water and it should come right off!

The other night I was a bit spacey when I was making rice, and didn't measure the water.  I realized this as I was dumping the rice into the pot, but decided "ah well, it'll probably work fine."  Just for the record, brown rice cooked in too much water turns to mush that isn't appetizing with roasted chicken.

Before I chucked the rice, a Tightwad Gazette tip came to mind - serving leftover rice mixed with some milk and sugar for breakfast.  So I put the mush in the fridge, and the next morning I heated it up with some milk, brown sugar, and raisins.  It's a lot like oatmeal.  My 14 month old loved it. (But then, she'll eat anything, including dirt and day-old pancakes off the floor, so her opinion is questionable. :) If you mushed it up some more, and left out the raisins until you don't have to worry about choking, it would make a great early baby food.

There's a lot of possibility with this, including mixing it with other fruits or sweetening it with applesauce or juice, or substituting those for milk. Whatever sounds like a good way to start the day.

Tip:  If you add the raisins right away while you're heating it up, they'll plump up nicely.