Just curious who else is living super frugal

[perchie.girl]

For a while there I was keeping my cash and cards in a Fishing permit pouch.... hung from a lanyard around my neck. They are about a dollar. Then everything tucks in the blouse. I dont carry money any more... Partially because I dont have any ;.... LOL.

deb

 

[DennisK]

We harvest the wild strawberries (mostly just for eating, it'd take waaaaaay too many of the little guys to can, but the kids love picking them) and have wild blackberries that grow all around my yard. I pick dandelion and lambsquarters as long as I can for fresh greens to use. I just started with plantain for medicinal purposes. @erinszoo do you use the plantain as an eating green? I've heard you can sautee it and it's pretty tasty. My goal is to identify all the "weeds" in my yard and the surrounding woods and learn about them and figure out how to use as many of them as I can for either herbal or food purposes. Its a fun and tasty challenge but I have to cross reference my identifications with multiple sources to be sure (so no poisonous mishaps occur).
@perchie.girl those mustard greens sound really good! I've never had them, but a few people that I know have mentioned how good they can be sautéed like that.

PlaidBattleAxe, are these lambquarters? The pictures I see on the internet show a long seed stalk - these seem to have only a small bunch at the base of the leaves - other than that, they look like the pictures I see.

The stems and leaves have a fuzz on them.

 

[Arielle]

Hi I am new reading back posts as I go.... but I spotted something right away I can contribute... I am a city girl... even though I have eighteen acres I am not living there at this time. My Grandpa was a share cropper... Dad has shared many of those stories with me.

I have gathered Mustard greens here in San Diego.... filled my jacket and strapped it to the back of my saddle. Seared in bacon grease... and served up with what ever meat you have for dinner... Wild greens are pretty bitter so sprinkle with a little vinegar.... OMG good.

.deb

Thanks for the reminder DIb-- use vinegar on the bitters. DH bought collard greens yesterday and when I took a bite-- it was strong. Maybe I really need to just put it in the freezer or the top section of frig for a day . . . .if collards act like most varities in the cabbage family , that should sweeten them up.

ALways keep bacon grease in the frig . . .

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

PlaidBattleAxe, are these lambquarters? The pictures I see on the internet show a long seed stalk - these seem to have only a small bunch at the base of the leaves - other than that, they look like the pictures I see.

The stems and leaves have a fuzz on them.

I'm not positive what those are in your picture. Very similar coloring, but the lambsquarters have an almost serrated edging on the leaves. My plants are about 3 foot tall with a woody stem towards the base. Mine look like this:

The plant you have looks almost like the lambs ear that I have growing in my garden as an herb. I'm not sure though. Do they have any flowers? I know I've seen your plant before, I've just got to keep picking my brain to think of it (and my morning dose of coffee might help me out too!).

 

[Arielle]

Thisyear we are putting in an orchard and a number of berry bushes. FIgure growing our own will beat the store prices haands down. Trying for varieties that grow easily in the acid soils like blue berries aronia, and the like. Even ordered paw paws.

Planted 50 hills of wintersquash.

Grocery prices are climbing. We buy the meat seconds-- Gotta get there by 11 am though. Used to be able to able to find 100% meat( no bone) for under $2, not that number is at $3.

Trying to figure how to make the land produce the food for the chickens.

 

[DennisK]

I'm not positive what those are in your picture. Very similar coloring, but the lambsquarters have an almost serrated edging on the leaves. My plants are about 3 foot tall with a woody stem towards the base. Mine look like this:

The plant you have looks almost like the lambs ear that I have growing in my garden as an herb. I'm not sure though. Do they have any flowers? I know I've seen your plant before, I've just got to keep picking my brain to think of it (and my morning dose of coffee might help me out too!).

Thanks PlaidBattleAxe, what I have is defiantly not lambsquarters. I think I’ve seen the plant in the picture you are showing – somewhere .. can’t remember where. I’ll keep an eye open for it.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THis is very similar to what my mother calls sea spinach. Coastal Maine-- along the beaches, above the high tide mark.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

DennisK- You're welcome. I'm sorry I couldn't figure out what it is you have found. If I do figure it out, I'll let you know. Discovering new usable/edible vegetation is always an exciting adventure.
Arielle- My daughter loves mermaids, I should start calling it sea spinach. I think it's in the same family as spinach/amaranth. Coastal Maine is one of my favorite places ever---I always wanted to move there "when I grew up" but wound up in the Pennsylvania woods instead lol.

 

[perchie.girl]

Thisyear we are putting in an orchard and a number of berry bushes. FIgure growing our own will beat the store prices haands down. Trying for varieties that grow easily in the acid soils like blue berries aronia, and the like. Even ordered paw paws.

Planted 50 hills of wintersquash.

Grocery prices are climbing. We buy the meat seconds-- Gotta get there by 11 am though. Used to be able to able to find 100% meat( no bone) for under $2, not that number is at $3.

Trying to figure how to make the land produce the food for the chickens.

When a holiday comes up and the sales go on I buy double what is out there. For instance night before last I took a corned beef out of the freezer I bought around St Paddys Day. Five bucks for a whole brisket. I bought two cooked one that week and here a couple of months it served the three of us Lunch and dinner with left overs.

When I do Corned beef and cabbage I do it in the crock pot. I use the mini potatoes and instead of cabbage I use brussles sprouts All about the same size. I pile them on top of the Corned beef potatoes first then sprouts after. Cooked on low for ten hours.... Oh yumm.

I too hit the sale isle on the meat. Those steaks that look a little brown only need a rinsing and they can be frozen.... but not for long. They are usually pretty tender because they have been accidentally aged.

One time my mom and dad bought a Quarter beef. I must have been around sixteen at the time. We had a big chest freezer in the garage and it would hold A LOT of beef. All hand cut and wrapped in paper marked and ready for the freezer.... Bought from a real butcher... Those have pretty much disappeared in San Diego... But mom and dad brought the meat in to the house first then Mom wanted to pack the freezer so she was going to and fro from the garage... Safely stored away.

About two or three days later mom noticed big green flies zooming around the house. So she started cleaning... She found a grocery bag behind a door that had Meat in it. she was sooo up set. She called dad and he said DONT throw it out. The meat was still wrapped so mom put it in the refrigerator.

Dad came home from work he unwrapped the meat and inspected it. No the flies didnt get in but they could smell it. He rinsed the meat off ... Some T bones and a roast. He cut slits in the meat and put in slivers of garlic then salted and peppered them and broiled them.... OH MY GAWD.... I have never had aged beef before then. The garlic helped with the strong flavor. He also washed and inserted garlic in the roast but went a head and stuck it in the freezer in the refrigerator.

Dad was the son of a sharecropper and they never had a meat freezer in the family The coolest place they had to store meat was the pump house. They would salt the meat down and wrap it in cheese cloth. Then hang it in the pump house. They did pork and beef the same way. And Yep those hanging slabs would grow mold all over them. He said they would un tie the cheese cloth and cut what they needed off then tie it back up.... Then in to the house for a wash and cooking. There were six kids and two adults in that family.... They share cropped from Florida to California never living in a State that had much snow.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Thisyear we are putting in an orchard and a number of berry bushes. FIgure growing our own will beat the store prices haands down. Trying for varieties that grow easily in the acid soils like blue berries aronia, and the like. Even ordered paw paws.

Planted 50 hills of wintersquash.

Grocery prices are climbing. We buy the meat seconds-- Gotta get there by 11 am though. Used to be able to able to find 100% meat( no bone) for under $2, not that number is at $3.

Trying to figure how to make the land produce the food for the chickens.

With regard to growing food for your chickens... Free range is the closest answer..... Which may not be practical.... Another way to boost the food value of your existing feed is to give Fermented Feed a try. I am going to do that when I move back up to the house.

I have read that by fermenting your feed it makes the feed more nutritionally available. And I am not talkng about using ACV... I am talking about taking a five gallon bucket putting in feed then filling the bucket with water. Fermenting takes about 24 - 48 hours.... I have also read that it cuts your feed costs by at least half. More complete digestion makes a bird that is healthier too.

I cant prove it though by experience I have to give it a try before I can fully endorse it. But I have read enough success stories to have me convinced to give it a try.

deb