What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

"50 Dollar February" will be for the whole month of February!

Ooo! I missed this. Is it $50/week, or for the whole month?

I've read about these kinds of challenges before. It's part of what inspired me to try to limit my grocery store spending to $100/week. For just DH and me, that should be plenty. It's also $100 at THAT store. I get a lot more than food there, so it includes socks, soap, headlights, wiper blades, shampoo, etc. It does not include prescriptions or dog food.

This is my third year, and if you say $5200/year, I think I'll be under by about $400 for the third time. There are some weeks I'm under, but a few I've gone over.

 

[littledog]

Luckily my employer is reimbursing me for the order (it's a sustainability perk benefit)

Wow, amazing, my employer should do that! It's the type of perk that should be in their wheelhouse, maybe it could happen if I get other employees on board and make some noise.
I'm like a million pages behind, also really behind on my garden. Only one bed is winterized, the rest are waiting for me to pull up dead plants, take down trellises, put down compost, rake leaves and mulch. Never mind planning for 2023!
At least, I kept up with processing everything I grew, filled the shelves and freezer with tomato sauce, sauerkraut, cuke soup, peas and beans.
My excuse is I've been spending all my time with my horses - I moved them to a new barn Nov. 1st, and they're so much happier and healthier - this new place has better turnout and super-quality hay for them, plus an indoor arena, two round pens, two huge outdoor arenas, one with jumps, an extensive trail system right off the property, and an obstacle trail course, that I haven't used yet.
It's more of a drive with worse traffic, but it's worth it for their healthy and shiny condition. My 28-year-old retired eventer acts like he's 4 again, cantering around with a few bucks in the round pen, and my OTTB is improving every day.
The next two weeks I'm on vacation, so I'll hopefully catch up on winterizing the garden. And maybe getting around to buying Christmas presents in time, cleaning the house, and getting the garden planned for Spring.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Came across this fun video today...luffa farming

Thank you for sharing, that was fascinating.

First of all, I wish my loofahs grew that large!

Second, I want a hand-held sickle like that!

 

[TJAnonymous]

Lavenders are a cool plant to have around because it makes a flavorful drink. Bugs in my area don't bother them and they can live up to 15 years. They are also easy to clone.

Yes! I love lavender but it hates me. Always goes toes up and dies. That being said, I did pick up a new variety this year so we'll see.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Ooo! I missed this. Is it $50/week, or for the whole month?

I've read about these kinds of challenges before. It's part of what inspired me to try to limit my grocery store spending to $100/week. For just DH and me, that should be plenty. It's also $100 at THAT store. I get a lot more than food there, so it includes socks, soap, headlights, wiper blades, shampoo, etc. It does not include prescriptions or dog food.

This is my third year, and if you say $5200/year, I think I'll be under by about $400 for the third time. There are some weeks I'm under, but a few I've gone over.

I thought it was $50/month... Maybe Andrea will pop in and tell us!

It crossed my mind because I picked up a new book on my Kindle talking about long term food storage. It was giving suggestions on how to save enough food that you wouldn't need to go to the grocery store for a year. They claimed, at a minimum, you could do this for about $160 per person. Of course, that's pretty much living off of bean soup mix and vitamins. Who wants to do that?!?! Anyway it made me think of the challenge Andrea was doing and I wondered how it was going....

 

[TJAnonymous]

Wow, amazing, my employer should do that! It's the type of perk that should be in their wheelhouse, maybe it could happen if I get other employees on board and make some noise.
I'm like a million pages behind, also really behind on my garden. Only one bed is winterized, the rest are waiting for me to pull up dead plants, take down trellises, put down compost, rake leaves and mulch. Never mind planning for 2023!
At least, I kept up with processing everything I grew, filled the shelves and freezer with tomato sauce, sauerkraut, cuke soup, peas and beans.
My excuse is I've been spending all my time with my horses - I moved them to a new barn Nov. 1st, and they're so much happier and healthier - this new place has better turnout and super-quality hay for them, plus an indoor arena, two round pens, two huge outdoor arenas, one with jumps, an extensive trail system right off the property, and an obstacle trail course, that I haven't used yet.
It's more of a drive with worse traffic, but it's worth it for their healthy and shiny condition. My 28-year-old retired eventer acts like he's 4 again, cantering around with a few bucks in the round pen, and my OTTB is improving every day.
The next two weeks I'm on vacation, so I'll hopefully catch up on winterizing the garden. And maybe getting around to buying Christmas presents in time, cleaning the house, and getting the garden planned for Spring.

Very nice! I just came inside from feeding my 3 retired eventers. I take care of the geriatric children while my oldest daughter & our trainer manage the other two who are still actively showing. While training never stops, it is nice to be in the off-season! No shows until February...

Yeah, my employer offers each employee $1500/yr as a perk benefit reimbursement for most anything related to mental & physical wellness or sustainability. You can use it for gardening supplies, buying tickets to a concert or sporting event, getting a massage, buying a gym membership or gym clothes, whatever... It's a nice benefit! In fact, I'm thinking about using some of my benefit next year to buy a new potting station.

 

[TJAnonymous]

"50 Dollar February" will be for the whole month of February! I should be fine but with all of the illnesses my family encountered during prime growing and storing periods, we will definitely have a much more limited selection than I planned on. Based on what we grow most of my budget will be spent on grains.

Do you ever buy from Azure Standard? I signed up with them several years ago but I've never actually ordered anything.

 

[Sally PB]

Yeah, my employer offers each employee $1500/yr as a perk benefit reimbursement for most anything related to mental & physical wellness or sustainability.

What a forward thinking company! I love this!

 

[CNJ]

Yes! I love lavender but it hates me. Always goes toes up and dies. That being said, I did pick up a new variety this year so we'll see.

We only have Spanish Lavender at my local Home Depot and Lowes. Their leaf branches and flower taste the same to me, but the flower are more potent. I use those mini 12 slot/dome seed starter trays and keep the dome on for at least a month. I notice that the ones that had their leaf touching the potting mix died and the ones that didn't survived. I made some clones to give away as gifts.
The Lavender that I have, thrive in potting mix that kills my tomato plants. I think its immune to nematodes.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Ooo! I missed this. Is it $50/week, or for the whole month?

I've read about these kinds of challenges before. It's part of what inspired me to try to limit my grocery store spending to $100/week. For just DH and me, that should be plenty. It's also $100 at THAT store. I get a lot more than food there, so it includes socks, soap, headlights, wiper blades, shampoo, etc. It does not include prescriptions or dog food.

This is my third year, and if you say $5200/year, I think I'll be under by about $400 for the third time. There are some weeks I'm under, but a few I've gone over.

It's actually going to be $50 for the entire month other than what we produced ourselves or otherwise foraged for free. Some bartering is also allowed as long as I'm trading something that I produced on the property, such as trading eggs from my chickens for pecans that a friend grew.

I also swapped pumpkins for goats cheese for example. It's mostly produce that I grew myself and preserved, freezing, canning, freeze drying, etc.

It will definitely be a big challenge because my hubby ended up needing a heart procedure and I recently got sick so it not only slowed our production and preservation but I also dipped into my stores a bit, lol.