Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

The little Green Project 2011

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littlegreenproject

Welcome to The little Green Project 2011! 
Saving Green, Eating More Greens, Earning Extra Green,
Going Green, Your Green Thumb, Crafting Something Green

This year, I decided to share a few of my favorite tips in each of the GREEN categories. I could have come up with something new and green, but I got a little bit lazy busy, so old and green it is. But let’s not call it old and green. That sounds like something that got lost in the back of my fridge. Eh, call it whatever you want. Here’s my little Green Project 2011:

Saving Green

My favorite way to save green is to simply not buy stuff in the first place. There is no need to try to keep up with the Joneses. If you don’t have money, don’t spend it. Even if you do have money, consider carefully if you truly need something before spending the money on it. Like socks. I think it’s okay to spend money on socks…if in fact you need socks. I also think it’s wise to spend money on nutritious food. But stuff? Stuff just gets dusty. Or I step on it in the middle of the night and it hurts. Don’t buy stuff.

Eating More Greens

If you haven’t tried my Strawberry Peach Slushie recipe, you really should. There’s green leafy spinach hidden in there and no one ever knows. These slushies are a great way to eat more greens.

And also, if you’re going to be eating greens in a salad, I strongly encourage you to easily make your own salad dressings! It’s unfortunate that most commercial salad dressings have icky ingredients, turning your fresh green salad into junk food. (Not completely, but you know.)  If I want junk food, I’ll eat a Cheeto. (Not that I ever want junk food.)  (Especially Cheetos.)  (The crunchy kind.)  (Laura, will you stop already and go eat a some lettuce?)

Anyway, here’s where you can find my simple, money saving and healthy salad dressing recipes!

Earning Extra Green

I haven’t talked very much on my blog about earning extra green, although I do have a wonderful guest post: How to Find Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities. Otherwise, I have just two tips to share: 

  1. Look into Heavenly Homemakers Affiliate Program. One of the main reasons we set up an Affiliate Program was to give all of you an opportunity to earn some extra money. We would be so honored and excited if our Affiliate Program could benefit you and your family.
  2. Sign up for Swagbucks. Then tell all your friends about it. It’s free. There’s no catch. It’s just a search engine that earns you FREE gift cards. I love Swagbucks and turn most of my earnings into Amazon gift cards. It helps our family buy books and organic groceries…for free. Swagbucks are a wonderful blessing!

Going Green and Your Green Thumb

I’ll combine these two categories because for me, they go hand in hand (or thumb as the case may be). I’m not a gardening expert, but I have been doing this for a few years and have a few gardening tips to share. Here is a link to all of my gardening and preserving posts. We garden organically and in case you want to see my husband holding a bucket of my kitchen garbage (and you know you do), hop over hear to learn how we compost.

Crafting Something Green

Well, of all the green tips I have to share, crafting something green may be where I fall short. I don’t do a lot of crafting at my house, mostly because my boys are a little bit too busy building cities and knocking them over to sit down with glue and glitter. I do have a fun post about how to make Flubber…and since you have to put food coloring in it…use green. There. I came up with a green craft. Hopefully you’ve got something better in mind to share.

SO…what’d you come up with for your little Green Project this year? Tell us about anything green:

  • Saving Green
  • Eating More Greens
  • Earning Extra Green
  • Going Green
  • Your Green Thumb
  • Crafting Something Green

You’re welcome to link up an older post if it fits the above categories. You’re also welcome to link up more than one post. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment letting us know of your little Green Project! Then let’s all go visit everyone’s blog and learn more about their little Green Project!

If you’re linking up a post, please copy and paste the following link into your post…

Join us at Heavenly Homemakers for the little Green Project!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Sniff…

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If you recall, this is what our corn looked like just a few weeks ago. Matt babied it and worked so hard to keep it weed free.

garden_four

You can imagine, then, our despair when we woke up one morning this week after a big rain and wind storm to find this:

corn

I saw it first…and I HATED to tell Matt about it. It was probably only a couple days away from being ready to eat. sniff 

We learned a little bit from this experience about creating good hills around the base of the corn to prevent this. Of course, we are glad that it was just a small part of our garden and not our livelihood. But still…

We are now about two days out from this unfortunate corn flattening and since the plants are still alive, it would seem that we may still be able to eat some of the corn. Maybe?!

And while I’m whining, I may as well show you this, which ALSO happened this week:

broken_jar

Apparently I had filled it too full of broth when I put it in the freezer because it cracked quite a lot. Which means that not only did I lose my beloved jar, but I also lost a half gallon of nutritious broth. I mean…maybe I could have strained out glass pieces from the broth…but did I really feel like taking a chance that one of us would have a tiny little piece of broken glass in our chicken and rice? Um, no.

So there you have it. And you thought you visited my blog for a daily dose of encouragement.  Instead, you come visit and Laura is whining about her fallen corn and her broken jar. 

Let’s see…maybe I can come up with some encouragement for you:

  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. When this happens you have to throw away a bunch of good broth and bear the bad news to your husband that a lot of his hard work just went to waste. It’s a chance to practice being a good help meet. (That was not at all encouraging.)
  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. Broth kinda looks neat with glass floating in it. (Better?)
  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. At least the corn all laid down the same way in the garden so as to be consistent. (I’m trying.)
  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. It’s a good thing two of my kids aren’t big on eating corn on the cob anyway. (Right?)
  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. When I poured the broth onto the ground (in an untraveled area) I bet some raccoon had a really great and nutritious feast lapping it up later. (Always good to help the coons build strong bones and better immune systems.)
  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. Eh, I don’t really like jars that much anyway. (Yeah, right.)
  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. It’s a delightful chance to talk to your kids about how when we don’t stand with our feet firmly rooted in the strength of Jesus, we just blow over when a strong wind comes. (And then they will look at you with a blank stare because today the wind isn’t blowing.)
  • Sometimes jars break and corn falls over. Basically, you just have to get over it and move on. (Which is real encouragement because it’s the truth.)

And there you have it. ;)

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The Garden

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Several of you have requested to see how our garden is growing this year. Therefore, I braved the millions of mosquitoes and took several shots of our glorious soil with green things growing out of it.

I can take absolutely NO credit this year for how the garden looks. Matt has worked VERY hard and keeping the weeds under control and everything looks so, so pretty.

I basically started on one end of the house and went all the way around the back to the other side taking pictures. Yes, we have more than one garden spot. If it has the capability to grow things (and it isn’t an area used regularly to kick soccer balls), it has been tilled and it shall bear fruit. Well, vegetables as the case may be.

garden_one

Here we have several tomato plants and some pepper plants. 
Looks like the beginnings of salsa, wouldn’t you think?

garden_two

Ah, more tomato plants. Yes, there will be many tomatoes. We are not afraid.

garden_3

Ooh, the first fruits. Vegetables. Wait. Tomatoes are a fruit. 

garden_four

We planted the corn in two stages so that it would be ready at two different times. 
The first round is just a bit taller than me. We’re so proud.

garden_five

Here are more pepper plants growing in the raised garden bed Matt made last year. 
Our yard is really not crooked. I just took a crooked picture.

garden_six

Here’s our little garden of potatoes. See all the blossoms? 
That means there are lots of french fries growing underground.

garden_seven

Beside the potato plot grows our beloved peach tree. 
There are only a few peaches on it, so this year we will be mooching peaches off of others if possible. 
The tree sure looks pretty though.

garden_eight

And last but not least, the green beans. Four long rows of green beans. And look:

garden_nine

I picked a whole bowlful on Tuesday!! 
When I steamed some that night, I thought perhaps I was in  heaven. 

And then we may or may not have steamed more of them for breakfast this morning. Who could resist?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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I suppose it goes without saying that we’ll be eating a lot of strawberries and salad this week. I’m experimenting with a healthy strawberry shortcake recipe today that I can hopefully share soon in the Healthy Celebrations series!

And speaking of healthy…um…or not so healthy…take note of what we’re having for lunch Tuesday. It’s Asa’s birthday, which means he gets to choose everything we eat that day. He hesitantly asked if we could please have ramen noodles.  Blech.  Okay, since it’s your birthday. Can’t be worse than hot dogs. I find it funny that he thinks of ramen noodles as a treat! And um…$0.18/pack? WHAT is this stuff made of? Never mind.  I don’t want to know. 

In other news, we have an extra little boy “moving in with us” for a few weeks off and on all summer. Remember the red head? We love having him here! Plus, some friends from out of town arrived last night to stay for the week. We’re in for some busy, fun days!!

Here’s what we’ll be eating:

Sunday, June 6
Strawberry bread, bananas
Pizza casserole, tossed salad, strawberry shortcake
Grilled cheese sandwiches, strawberries and cream, carrot sticks

Monday, June 7
Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, creamy orange cooler
Taco salad, fresh pineapple
Grilled hamburgers on whole wheat buns, potato salad, peas

Tuesday, June 8 (Asa’s birthday choices)
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, fruit
Chicken strips, ramen noodles, pineapple, strawberries
Southside Grille, lemon pound cake, ice cream

Wednesday, June 9
Strawberry crepes with whipped cream
Picnic lunch at the park – sandwiches, fruit, chips
Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans

Thursday, June 10
Chocolate chip pancakes, applesauce
Creamy mac and cheese, steamed broccoli
Homemade pizza, tossed salad

Friday, June 11
Strawberry peach slushie, peanut butter honey toast
Tuna salad on crispy cheese crackers, cantaloupe
Tacos on homemade tortillas, watermelon

Saturday, June 12
Whole wheat donuts, fruit
Chicken quesadillas, apple slices
Rice and veggie stir fry with chicken, zucchini, carrots and broccoli

Snacks to have on hand or to make for our guests:

Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu planning inspiration.

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Gratituesday: Ah, Lovely Dirt

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Before Saturday, I STILL had not had a chance to get my hands dirty. I hadn’t had a chance to get into my garden at ALL. (You’re shocked at me, aren’t you?!)  I had longed to get out there, but just not had even one moment to think about the garden yet.

Thankfully, Matt had found a few bits and pieces of time during the past few weeks to get our garden areas tilled up and to plant a few things. Ooh, and he even brought us home a big truck load of horse manure. Crazy how excited I was to see him that day. Saturday, we were finally able to both work in the garden together and get several more things planted.

The day was sunny and beautiful. Just ask Matt…I was completely giddy. I was running my  hands through the soil…just for fun. It felt so good.

Yes, in case you didn’t already know that I am a garden geek…now you know for sure. I can’t help it. The garden gives me so much joy.

Wanna take a look at a few parts of it with me? (There’s more to be planted…these are just a few shots.)

lettuceWe have lettuce ready to eat…it is so beautiful!

cornYou can’t see it…but there’s corn in these rows!!

 

peppersAw, cute little pepper plants.

potato_containerOh yes…I did plant potatoes in my trash can again!!

I’m just so thankful for our garden. I love how we can see God in the entire process of watching food grow from a seed. I can’t wait to share more with you during the coming months!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The little Green Project 2010

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 littlegreenproject

My husband and I decided that this year for our little Green Project, we’d show you how we manage our compost. Composting is SUCH a great way to use produce waste to put nutrients back into the soil. See, we have this great little plot out in our back yard that we…

Hold on. Why don’t I just let Matt tell you about it. For the record, can I just tell you what an honor it is to have my beloved describing the contents of my bucket of garbage to you?

And there you go. Our compost plot. 

As you can imagine, digging a hole and burying our slimy banana peels and cantaloupe guts is one of the boys’ favorite summer chores. Nothing…I repeat nothing is more fun for them than being sent out with a shovel on a 103° day to bury a bucket of slop. 

SO…what’d you come up with for your little Green Project this year? Tell us about anything green:

  • Saving Green
  • Eating More Greens
  • Earning Extra Green
  • Going Green
  • Your Green Thumb
  • Crafting Something Green

You’re welcome to link up an older post if it fits the above categories. You’re welcome to link up more than one post. If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment letting us know of your little Green Project! Then let’s all go visit everyone’s blog and learn more about their little Green Project!

If you’re linking up a post, please copy and paste the following link into your post…

Join us at Heavenly Homemakers for the little Green Project!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!