Coming Soon – The Little Homestead Orchard

The Z Man and I have been wanting to add fruit crops to our little homestead but couldn’t decide what we wanted.

I had dreams of a big strawberry patch and making strawberry jam and strawberry wine and strawberry shortcakes and strawberry pies and strawberry syrup and strawberry everything.

While the Z Man was having nightmares of more work for him and an aching back. Admittedly most often my ideas do create more work for him, so I understand.

We decided on apples and pears and off to the nursery we went. I called ahead to make sure they still had trees in stock and the man on the phone said, “yep we’ve got apple trees, come get what you want cause the wind is blowing them all over the parking lot and I’m tired of picking them up”

He wasn’t kidding either. When we got there the trees were all laying down and scattered about. And, I guess he was tired of picking them up because he marked the trees down from $24 to $7.00 each.

We got 13 trees! 3 Liberty Apple, 2 Golden Delicious Apple, 1 Red Delicious Apple, 1 Pink Lady Apple, 1 Macintosh Apple, 1 Winesap Apple and 4 Kieffer Pears.

It was a good decision to go with apples and pears instead of strawberries.

In about 3 or 4 years we’ll be enjoying the fruits of these trees for many years to come.

I can see apple butter, apple pie, apple cider, apple wine, apple crisp, apple everything.

I feel like our little homestead is complete now. We have our vegetable and herb gardens, we have our chickens and pigs, we have goji berries and wild blackberries and now we have apples and pears.

Well, complete at least until I get my next crazy idea…. I can feel the Z Man just shaking his head at me now and wondering what’s next.

Friday’s Frugal Five and One Frugal Fail

I’m going to start with the frugal fail.

I made the worst meal of all time this week. It was so bad that even the Z Man who is a Saint said “Baby, you don’t need to write this one down” (sometimes if we have really enjoyed a meal, I’ll make notes about it in a recipe journal I keep)

The concept of the meal worked in my mind, but the follow through and end result was so bad, so so so bad that I threw the whole meal out and didn’t even try to repurpose it.

In my electric pressure cooker I put brown basmati rice, diced onion, diced carrot and water. Then I put the steaming rack in the pot and put cod filets on it. I pressed the button for rice and let her rip.

What I ended up with was one large glob of overcooked rice and cod filets that were so over cooked they resembled a dried up old sponge. It was awful. FRUGAL FAIL! (well the chickens got the rice)

Friday’s Frugal Five:

Earlier this week we saved $17.00 on each apple and pear tree we bought for our little homestead orchard, paying only $7.69 for each tree.
I returned some clothes that one of my other personalities purchased on an impulse and they were not at all my style. I don’t know why she does that sometimes!
I colored my own hair, which is not unusual… the unusual part is that I foiled my own hair and put darker undertones in it. Foiling your own hair is NOT easy. The products cost me about $5 saving me $115 of what it was going to cost at the salon. No, it doesn’t look as good as it would have had it been done professionally, but the Z Man likes it so I’m ok with it too.
I spent $27.44 at the grocery store this week which brings my total for the month for groceries to $66.45.
Laundry was dried on the clothes line, no meals were eaten out or carried out, lunches were from leftovers or salad in a jar, bills are paid, still adding to the pickle jar and still breathing fresh air and loving it.

How about you, what frugal fun have you had this week?

Till Next Time,

Lori

Herb Time

I use a lot of herbs in my cooking which makes it important for me to take tender care of my herb garden. Ha, actually I mostly neglect them all year long except for early spring and late fall when I clean their beds and perhaps the Z Man gives them a fresh coat of mulch. Herbs are very forgiving and are the easiest thing to grow.

Well, except for cilantro! I have the hardest time growing cilantro which really stinks because I use a lot of it in cooking and when canning my salsa.

In the early spring I always have some pop up in the garden voluntarily but it doesn’t last long.

This year the Z Man transplanted some of it into pots for me and they are looking pretty good (for now).

All the other herbs (rosemary, thyme and mint) made it through the winter and are growing nicely.

I’ve already made the first round of cuts on the herbs and have hung them to dry. I like to try to get 3 cuts dried for winter use. Especially the sage, I use quite a bit when we grind our pork sausage in the fall.

My oregano is going crazy this year, the first cut didn’t even make a dent in it. I’ll need to do another cut this weekend.

The sage is a little slower growing, but I managed to get two good size bundles hung.

Here is a picture of the sage before I cut it. This sage plant is probably 5 years old now.

To dry my herbs all I do is cut them, wrap a rubber band around the base and hang them in the kitchen for a few months. Looking at them hanging during the summer months gives me this kind of old day medicine woman feeling. Which reminds me I want to share my rose toner with y’all when the roses start blooming.

I once saw Jamie Oliver on a cooking show going nuts over finding some dried oregano that was still on the stems in a little specialty food store. Look at me having that in my kitchen all summer long… 🙂

Herbs are good for you and add so much flavor to meals, you may even find yourself using less salt in place of fresh (or dried) herbs.

If you are new to gardening or perhaps have limited space, try growing herbs. You can make your flower beds multipurpose by planting herbs in them. And, think about all the money you’ll save by doing it yourself.

Have fun and have a great day!

Till Next Time,

Lori

Omeprazole Update

Today is the beginning of week 7 of weaning myself off Omeprazole. I have to say that it really hasn’t been bad at all. I believe the L-Glutamine and digestive enzymes have helped it go smoothly. After reading the book Eat Dirt by Dr. Axe I have self diagnosed myself with leaky gut syndrome.

Here is a little information on leaky direct from Dr. Axe’s book Eat Dirt:

What Is Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Think of the lining of your digestive tract like a net with extremely small holes in it that only allow specific substances to pass through. Your gut lining works as a barrier keeping out bigger particles that can damage your system.

When someone has leaky gut (often referred to as increased intestinal permeability), the “net” in your digestive tract gets damaged, which causes even bigger holes to develop in your net, so things that normally can’t pass through, are now be able to.

Some of the things that can now pass through include proteins like gluten, bad bacteria and undigested foods particles. Toxic waste can also leak from the inside of your intestinal wall into your bloodstream causing an immune reaction.

Leaky Gut Symptoms and Progression

This leads to inflammation throughout your system and can cause symptoms, such as:

Bloating
Food sensitivities
Thyroid conditions
Fatigue
Joint pain
Headaches
Skin issues like rosacea and acne
Digestive problems
Weight gain
Syndrome X

Dr. Axe also states in his book that leaky gut can be attributed to long term usage of medicines such as Nexium, Prilosec, Omeprazole (generic Prilosec). Well hello, I’ve been taking Prilosec or Omeprazole for over 20 years.

A few things I’ve learned while weaning off of the Omeprazole are:

Daily stomach pain, cramping and bloating is not normal.
Portion control of every meal is important in eliminating acid reflux. This was especially hard for me because I’ve never specifically portioned food, I just filled the imaginary sections of the plate. I also ate untill I was full, which by that time was too late, I had already overeaten.
Drinking a good amount of water through out the day, but limit beverages during meals.
Allow plenty of time for digestion before bedtime and try to prop yourself up a bit when sleeping. I start out that way but end up always sliding down in the bed during the night.

So this is where I am in the process. Last week I did experience some discomfort but it was directly related to some foods that I ate. I can add white pasta to the list of things that are difficult for me to digest. I did fine with the honey wheat bread I made, and honestly I didn’t have any issue with the buns I bought for our hamburgers, so I don’t believe it’s a gluten intolerance. But something about boxed white pastas causes me discomfort. Looks like I’m going to need the pasta attachment for my kitchen aid. 😉

I’ve been putting some probiotic fermented whey lemonade in my morning water. I got my recipe for fermented whey lemonade from http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/ I love her website as it is filled with a lot of great information and videos.

This is going to be a long, well actually it’s going to be a lifetime process for me. Changing my diet from where it was to where it needs to be with organic real foods, quality over quantity and eliminating the chemicals from our lives as much as possible.

Today I started the lower dosage of removing 175 of the 200 little balls in the 40mg Omeprazole capsule, which means in next week I’ll start the every other day process for a week and then hopefully I’ll have completed the weaning process ( I hope, I hope, I hope).

Have A Great Day!

Till Next Time,

Lori