Just curious who else is living super frugal

[stevethack]

Walmart..Target...almost any fabric shop. Cheap pantyhose (preferably new) stuck in simmering, but not rapidly boiling water for 3-5 minutes works (gets rid of dyes and sizing) ..so does thin muslin.. Thin Aluminum screen wire works... just about any thin cheap cloth works for the old ring/screen/sprouting jars. Cheesecloth isn't an absolute necessity.

 

[donrae]

I never used cheesecloth. I used my fingers for larger seeds, and a dishtowel for smaller things.

 

[lazy gardener]

Have decided to make sprouts as a cheap veg. Appatently from all i read the vitamin content is much higher than as a seed. Need cheese clothe. Still trying to find. Lots of seed good to sprout.

Yes, sprouts are an incredible dietary boon. Also gives us garden addicted folks something to GROW during the winter months. You can buy some plastic needle point canvas in various sizes and cut it to fit the mouth of a canning jar. Hold in place with the canning ring. You can fill and rinse right through the plastic, then place mouth down in a bowl to drain. Important to rinse at least 2 - 3 x/day so they don't get rancid.

Don't forget to grow some sprouts for your flock!!

I never used cheesecloth. I used my fingers for larger seeds, and a dishtowel for smaller things.

I wondered how you grew sprouts in your fingers! Then, it dawned on me that you MUST be using a jar also!!!

 

[donrae]

Yes, sprouts are an incredible dietary boon. Also gives us garden addicted folks something to GROW during the winter months. You can buy some plastic needle point canvas in various sizes and cut it to fit the mouth of a canning jar. Hold in place with the canning ring. You can fill and rinse right through the plastic, then place mouth down in a bowl to drain. Important to rinse at least 2 - 3 x/day so they don't get rancid.

Don't forget to grow some sprouts for your flock!!

I wondered how you grew sprouts in your fingers! Then, it dawned on me that you MUST be using a jar also!!!

Tried to grow them on my fingers, but they kept coming off on the keyboard when I'd get on BYC

 

[lazy gardener]

I've heard of a green thumb, but you take it to a whole new level!!!

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Lazy Gardener..your advise is always priceless...my life the last few months has become the definition of frugal...I'm trying to make my life happen with the hoard I have accumulated....

 

[lazy gardener]

Thank you Phil!

 

[lindalouly]

Just started reading this thread... So far I'm on page 19.. I must admit I do skim past some of the theoretical posts. I have decided to make a few changes at a time.... Trying to trim the fat of a 7 member family.... I'm the only girl!!! Lol I love reading the recipes and love learning new tricks. Thanks for the thread.

 

[jas humbert]

I've been following this thread and an very impressed with all the ideas.

I'm an appraiser and I just finished appraising the most impressive semi-self-sufficient small property I've ever seen. This was a single older woman with maybe 1/3 of an acre town sized lot. Every inch was used. The entire back yard was fruit trees and garden beds with paths in between. She had a small chicken house and 4 hens in a medium small run. She had a small pond (maybe 8x8) with freshwater prawns (shrimp). She says buys them wiggler sized in the spring, lets them grow all summer and nets them out every fall before it gets cold and gets a few dozen pounds. She has a beehive too. She showed me her variation on raised beds; she takes a piece of 4 ft high wire fencing and makes a 2-3 foot wide circle and secures it with wire twist ties. She fills it with straw from the chicken house, grass clippings, raked leaves, etc and plants in the sides right through the wire. She had potatoes in the middle growing out the top and tomatoes hanging down the sides. She has raspberry and blackberry bushes on her fenceline, small fig bushes/trees up against the back wall of the garage, Absolutely no grass to cut in the backyard. Every inch used. It gave me a lot to think about.

 

[lindalouly]

I've been following this thread and an very impressed with all the ideas.

I'm an appraiser and I just finished appraising the most impressive semi-self-sufficient small property I've ever seen. This was a single older woman with maybe 1/3 of an acre town sized lot. Every inch was used. The entire back yard was fruit trees and garden beds with paths in between. She had a small chicken house and 4 hens in a medium small run. She had a small pond (maybe 8x8) with freshwater prawns (shrimp). She says buys them wiggler sized in the spring, lets them grow all summer and nets them out every fall before it gets cold and gets a few dozen pounds. She has a beehive too. She showed me her variation on raised beds; she takes a piece of 4 ft high wire fencing and makes a 2-3 foot wide circle and secures it with wire twist ties. She fills it with straw from the chicken house, grass clippings, raked leaves, etc and plants in the sides right through the wire. She had potatoes in the middle growing out the top and tomatoes hanging down the sides. She has raspberry and blackberry bushes on her fenceline, small fig bushes/trees up against the back wall of the garage, Absolutely no grass to cut in the backyard. Every inch used. It gave me a lot to think about.

How cool is that!!!!