Just curious who else is living super frugal

[gevshiba]

I have a question for you all. It involves paying alot more money for something but supports local farming. I drink 2 Gallons of milk a week. I am considering moving from store bought processed pasteurized milk for $3.29/gal x 2 per week to raw milk at $8/gal x 2 per week. Steep, I know. I am not rich by any means. Plus, you pay a fee of $50 initially to join. Yikes!! But again, it's from cows here just a few miles from where I live. And it's whole and real and fresh and local. I was given a complimentary free half gallon to try. Amazing difference and 1st time in my life!!

That's what I pay for raw milk. It's high, but I think it's worth it. I don't pay any buy in fees, but basically, you'r paying to keep that farm running and the cows fed.

 

[lazy gardener]

I go thru mine quickly too and like you I live alone. Cannot live without it. Let us know if you get a barter going with that farmer.

3 of us living here, and often a 4th for the weekend.

 

[donrae]

I miss my raw milk. I used to make yogurt and soft cheeses, and oh the cream! The family I bought it from was wonderful. Just a few cows, mostly Jersey and Jersey/Dexter crosses. They're in a small town 30 miles from my home, but I worked in that town several days a week. Then, once I changed jobs and didn't drive out that far, they would call me when they made their weekly trip to town and we'd meet at the feed store parking lot. I'd keep a cooler and clean jars in the car, we'd swap and I'd pay them and it was good.

 

[Julie Birb]

3 of us living here, and often a 4th for the weekend.  

I apologize. I got you confused with another person

 

[Julie Birb]

That's what I pay for raw milk.  It's high, but I think it's worth it.  I don't pay any buy in fees, but basically, you'r paying to keep that farm running and the cows fed.

that is so true and is why I am gonna stop in consistently from time to time to buy raw.

 

[Julie Birb]

I miss my raw milk. I used to make yogurt and soft cheeses, and oh the cream! The family I bought it from was wonderful. Just a few cows, mostly Jersey and Jersey/Dexter crosses. They're in a small town 30 miles from my home, but I worked in that town several days a week. Then, once I changed jobs and didn't drive out that far, they would call me when they made their weekly trip to town and we'd meet at the feed store parking lot. I'd keep a cooler and clean jars in the car, we'd swap and I'd pay them and it was good.

The cream? Oh geez, you're killing me.

 

[Julie Birb]

I can completely understand any choice that a person makes regarding raw milk.  Whole milk at our local store is almost $5 a gallon so $5.50 isn't that much more for us.  Ever so often they will have it on sale 2 gallons for $5 and I'll buy two and freeze one.  It doesn't thaw as nice as raw milk but it's still milk.  We're a family of three and my biggest milk drinker is my grandson and he doesn't come over everyday, next is me. In fact I've got brownie's cooking in the oven right now and I plan to have a glass of milk with my brownie.  I wouldn't pay the $7 a gallon from our dairy, I wait till it's on sale and hopefully next time I'll have eggs I can trade for milk.

I have a friend that lives in New Hampshire and she pays $4 for her gallon of raw milk.

$4 a gal for raw milk. That is so nice. I can understand the higher price though since these tiny farms are local and I bet the overhead is tremendous so I would never expect or demand a price that low but it would be nice for sure.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

I know doesn't Rachel just kill you....she's supposed to be sick and all...but she's too dam busy for that ole illness to catch up....go Rachel...

 

[lazy gardener]

I apologize. I got you confused with another person

Apology certainly not needed.

I know doesn't Rachel just kill you....she's supposed to be sick and all...but she's too dam busy for that ole illness to catch up....go Rachel...

She's outrunning it.

 

[malndobe]

This does not really involve my every day life but this idea is about chickens. So my hens were not laying so well since the days are getting shorter and I did not want to put a lamp in the coop because that costs money. I thought about my dilemma for some time and finally came up with a cheap idea. At Home Depot near the garden section they had these little solar lights that you put in your gardenand at night they will turn on. So I put one in my chicken coop the next day I got 2 eggs and I have been getting more eggs ever since. But during the day you have to take it out and put it in the sun.

I have two of these in my coop. I put them near the window so they can charge during the day. They don't get a full charge, which is perfect because they only run about 3 hours after the sun goes down. Enough to extend the day so the chickens keep laying, but not enough to disrupt their sleep cycle by being on most of the night.

I only had a window on one side of the coop, so on the other side I cut a small hole, the same size as the solar panel on the light, and fixed it so the panel fills the hole, which blocks most breeze and anything from getting in through the hole.