Monthly Archives: March 2016

9 Ways (and counting…) to Save Money on Organic Food

This post has been updated to (hopefully) give you real-foodists even more helpful ideas to save money. 🙂 It contains affiliate links- that means if you make a purchase through a link, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for your amazing support. 

Love buying organic but hate the price? I feel the same way. I cringe when I see a sticker that’s double, sometimes even triple the price of conventional food. However, I still feel it’s very important to avoid pesticides and GMOs as much as is possible within my limited budget. So what’s a girl to do?

Nine Ways to Save Money on Organics

 

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We’ve all heard about buying the dirty dozen organic and buying the rest conventional. Helpful, yes. But what if I could do better than that? Here are some other ways to get your organic for less:

1) Check for markdowns. My local health food store has a basket of marked down organic produce at the end of the aisle. Once I scored organic pink lady apples for $0.49/lb, 6 oz. of organic pre-sliced portabella mushrooms for $0.99, and organic broccoli sprouts for $0.99. Slightly blemished or less fresh produce can save you big. Also, check the meat aisle for cuts close to their “use/freeze by” dates. I’ve gotten organic, grass-fed ground beef for less than conventional beef this way. Just be willing to be flexible with your meal planning in order to make the most of your discounted finds.

2) Compare local farmers. Farmer’s markets can go either way. Sometimes the price is jacked up, and sometimes it’s very reasonable. However, it’s entirely possible to buy quality food for less from an individual than from a grocery store. For example, I’ve bought my organic pastured chicken eggs for $3.00/dozen from a local lady rather than the standard $5.00+.

3) Look for “organic practices.” When shopping from a farm stand, you can always ask about their practices. Some farmers don’t use pesticides but aren’t certified organic yet. Consider all aspects of crop management: pesticide usage, GMO’s, crop rotation, soil management, etc. You can often get a more affordable product that is still much healthier than conventional.

4) Buy in bulk. Buy a 1/4 of an organic, grassfed cow to put in the deep freezer for the year. It will definitely save you cost per lb. Or purchase a whole bushel of organic apples and can them or store them for winter use.

5) Consider an organic CSA program. Community Supported Agriculture boxes are getting more and more popular. Basically, you buy into a season’s worth of produce from a local farm at a discounted price for buying in advance. Most CSA programs also require you to put in a work commitment at the farm as part of your payment. This can be a fun and educational process for families who care about knowing where their food comes from.

6) Check big box stores. Okay, so I’m all for shopping local. I really am! But sometimes the prices of organic food are ridiculously high at a specialty health food store. If I just can’t afford it, I’m willing to look around. Oftentimes, you can find at least some organic variety at big name stores, such as Walmart, Target, or Costco.

I like Wegman’s because they offer a good compromise: Wegman’s often features local famers’ produce at a much lower price than small stores, and they also carry store-brand organics. This can really cut the bill down considerably. I’ll often buy the bulk of my organic produce at Wegman’s, then stop by our small businesses to pick up a few favorites- eggs, locally brewed kombucha, or a special treat. (And no, this isn’t sponsored. I just genuinely enjoy shopping there.)

UPDATE: Since birthing a third child, the 35 minute drive to Wegman’s is something I can only work myself up to do once every few months. I’m mostly back to shopping at the smaller closer stores and getting what organic produce I can there. We have also bought laying chickens and learned how to make kombucha, so I no longer need to procure eggs & booch. 😉 

7) Check discount stores. We have an area discount grocery store that offers tons of organic options on average at 40-60% off. It’s worth checking if you have one nearby.

8) Try a membership site like Thrive MarketThink of applying a Sam’s Club membership principle to specialty organic products, and you’ve got the idea of Thrive. I don’t buy from them frequently because I make so many things from scratch (so I don’t usually need pre-made organic tomato sauce), but for the things I do need (natural laundry and dish soap that actually work, for example), I’ve found Thrive to be less expensive than other discount sites like Amazon. I tend to place a bulk order every few months to fetch those things that are hard to find elsewhere.

9) Grow your own. I have to say, this one is my favorite. Know where your food comes from, take pleasure in the work of it, learn something while you’re at it, help restore the earth and your mini-ecosystem, and save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year. A few years back, for my family of 3 (at the time), I only spent about $30/wk at the grocery store all summer long because of our productive garden. Sound appealing? (Keep your eyes out for when this summit becomes free again! We’ve found it full of very helpful information.)

UPDATE: Besides gardening, we’ve also found raising animals to be a valuable part of reducing our grocery bill. As mentioned before, our laying hens give us organic, free range eggs at a fraction of the price of similar store-bought eggs. Our goat gives us delicious raw milk and the cost of her feed is less than keeping a cat (though whether or not we’ve saved money on her overall is debatable). We are also hoping to be able to process more of our own meat in the coming year. 

How do you save on organics? What’s the best deal you’ve gotten? Share in the comments!

 

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Spring Has Sprung! (An Update)

Spring Has Sprung

It’s officially spring, but it doesn’t feel like it too much this morning. I shivered my way over to the goat field for milking, and found all the animal waters frozen. Sigh. But I probably shouldn’t complain as we’ve had an extremely mild winter this year.

I wanted to give you a springtime family update. I’ve let the blog slow down a bit as we’ve been working on several big projects in our “real life.” We’ve had a lot of momentum going in our household as we work towards several goals, but also a lot of stress as we try to make it all happen. Progress is never easy, but at least you grow through it, right?

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First: homeschool. This whole year has been a search for balance and an exercise in trial and error. I suppose I’ll never come to a point where I feel like I’ve “arrived” with successful homeschooling, but it would be nice to not have to wonder whether or not I’m a massive failure as a mother and teacher. BUT recently I’ve been blessed with some encouraging talks with friends, other homeschool moms, and posts from bloggers I love (like this one) that have given me the courage I need to press on. So, despite a momentary cave and desperate calls to area schools for pricing and schedules, we’ve decided to carry on.

#sap boiling away in my husband’s #cinderblock #evaporator. #maplesyrup #sugaring #latergram

A photo posted by Abigail Zieger (@theyrenotourgoats) on

On the homestead: We cut our maple sugaring season short. It’s been a weird spring, with February temperatures getting up to almost 70, and mid-March temperatures getting down below freezing. We’ve also had too much other stuff going on to properly watch our sap, leading to another burnt syrup disaster. Sigh. You think we would learn after three or four years doing it.

And remember that seed starting post I just wrote? We still haven’t started ours. And NOW is the time to do it in our zone. So, today, I’m going to try to make a rough draft map of the plot, then hopefully team up with the hubby to get those plant babies growing. (I’m really a dreadful procrastinator.)

The hubby has been keeping himself busy with essentially re-building our garage. Off with the old cardboard siding through which we could see daylight, on with new sheathing and siding. We had a nice pavilion for a day or two:

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But now he’s really making progress:

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It’s been a bit of a construction zone around here, but it’s only for a time.

With the animals: We lost our first litter of baby rabbits. Five of them, dead, found in the cold early morning lying out in the run instead of in the nesting box. We lost another hen to an unknown cause. But, on the plus side, the goat has been unusually well-behaved as of late.

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With music: Oh yeah, remember that music thing? I do have an entire category devoted to music, but I write on it rather rarely. However, we’ve been working towards pursuing our music more now that I’ve finally gotten into a perfect routine, err, a manageable schedule, umm, now that I’m surviving having three kids. Kind of. Regardless, I’ve got some concerts to sing in this spring, I’m teaching more voice lessons, and the hubby and I have been accepting more gigs to play in together. It’s reviving to my soul to be singing together.

Here’s a spring haiku song, written by my husband, roughly recorded, and played with friends. What do you think?

And lastly, I’ve taken up therapeutic art journaling alongside my kids. I have NO idea what I’m doing, but it’s been keeping my hands busy and my mind relaxed while the munchkins are playing outside or working on their own art projects.

So that’s what’s been going on around here. My life is full, and while it’s sometimes hard, it’s been rewarding too. Not much good comes without some hard work along the way, right?. 🙂

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The Ultimate Garden Planning & Seed Starting Guide

Let me be honest. Deep down inside, I am NOT a green thumb. I love spending time in the garden. I’ve gardened for years- even as a teenager, under the direction of my gardening mother.But I truly believe our current garden would shrivel up due to my inept methods of care and lack of knowledge. (Thank goodness I’ve got a husband who knows how to make plants grow.)

Another confession: I’ve never started seeds on my own. I leave that little basement science experiment up to my husband. Though I’m familiar with the process and and have helped on the rare occasion, he’s the one in charge of growing conditions, charting sowing and emergence dates, hardening off the young plants and transplanting.

And yet, seed-starting season is upon us in our region. So, I defer to those I know and trust for the resources I need to get planning. Dearest husband, wouldn’t you want to write a seed-starting post for the blog? Pretty please? (I’m working on him. Keep your eyes peeled.)

I also asked my awesome blogger friends from Homestead Bloggers Network to share their posts on seed starting and garden planning. And holy cow, do these people know their stuff. I expected to gain some new knowledge, but I got nearly fifty posts submitted from these groovy gardening friends.

The ultimate resource guide to planning your garden this year!

So, get ready for the ultimate collection of anything you ever wanted to know about seed starting and gardening planning! (This post contains affiliate links.)

Pssst- get my free printable seed starting planner when you sign up for my new email list!

Garden Planning

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  1. Planning Your Spring Garden by Survival at Home
  2. Garden Planning When You Aren’t Sure by Grace Garden and Homestead
  3. How to Grow a Garden by Homesteading on Grace
  4. How to Plan Your Garden by Pure Pearl Homestead
  5. Planting Timeline for Your Best Garden Ever! by The Cape Coop
  6. 5 Things to Consider Before Planning Your Vegetable Garden by Lady Lee’s Home
  7. Vegetable Gardening Basics: Choosing the Right Location by Lady Lee’s Home
  8. 7 Steps for Planning a Vegetable Garden by Lady Lee’s Home
  9. How to Track Shadows to Choose the Best Spot for Your Garden by Learning and Yearning
  10. Vegetable Gardening 101 by Learning and Yearning
  11. How to Choose the Right Seeds for Your Garden by Grow Cook Forage Ferment
  12. Garden Crop Rotation: A Simple System by Better Hens and Gardens
  13. Starting the Garden by Homeschooling the Well Prepared Child
  14. Plan Your Garden by Living Life in Rural Iowa
  15. Planning a Vegetable Garden with Meals in Mind by Untrained Housewife
  16. Garden Planning: How Much Do You Eat? by Untrained Housewife

Specific Garden Types

  1. Planning Your Natural Dye Garden by Joybilee Farm
  2. Tips for Making an Herb Garden Plan by Herbal Academy of New England
  3. Beginner’s Guide to Square Foot Gardening by The Cape Coop
  4. Square Foot Garden Layout by Essential Homestead
  5. 10 Herbs and Vegetables Perfect for Growing in a Shaded Garden by Untrained Housewife

Seed Starting Resources

  1. 10 Steps to Starting Seedlings Indoors by Grow a Good Life
  2. Seed Planting Schedule by Growing Organic
  3. Starting Seeds Indoors by the Cape Coop
  4. Quick and Easy Way to Start Seeds by Essential Homestead
  5. Give Your Plants a Head Start by Pre-Sprouting Seeds by Learning and Yearning
  6. Pre-Sprouting and Cutting Seed Potatoes by Better Hens and Gardens
  7. Starting Seeds by Living Life in Rural Iowa
  8. How to Harden Seedlings and Protect Your Garden by Herbal Academy of New England
  9. 5 Steps to Starting Seeds by Herbal Academy of New England
  10. Easy Seed Starting Guide by Herbal Academy of New England
  11. How to Plant Seedlings Outdoors by Untrained Housewife

Tools of the Trade

  1. How to Make Newspaper Seedling Pots by Stoney Acres
  2. Making Homemade Seedling Mix by Stoney Acres
  3. Using a Soil Blocker to Start Seeds by Schneider Peeps
  4. Making Soil Blocks to Start Seeds by Learning and Yearning
  5. Soil Blocks Grow Superior Seedlings by Better Hens and Gardens
  6. Can Fluorescent Shop Lights be Used to Start Seeds? By Learning and Yearning
  7. Make Your Own Seed Tape by Learning and Yearning
  8. Seed Starting Pot You Can Turn by Turning for Profit
  9. Seed Organizer by Frugal Mama and the Sprout

Courses & Resources

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  1. Seed Starting Simplified– By the incredible Rick Stone! Grab this Udemy course for only $15 by using this link.
  2. Making 2016’s Seed Starting & Planting Schedule (with downloadable template) by Better Hens and Gardens.
  3. Garden Planning Calculator by Seeds for Generations- what a clever tool!
  4. The Art of Gardening by Susan Vinskovski. (You can read my full review of this book here.)
  5. Gardening Like a Ninja by Angela England

There you have it… 46 resources on all things garden planning & seed starting. Have at it, and don’t forget to grab your printable seed starting planner here.

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Unplugged Update

If you remember, I issued myself an “Unplugged Parenting” challenge a few weeks back. I promised to turn off the screen and social media unless my kids were taking a nap or having quiet time. I’m a little over halfway through the challenge, so I thought appropriate to give you guys an update.

Unplugged Parenting

The short of it? It was really awesome until I completely fell off the boat last week. And when I say completely, I mean it. I got sick last week with some weird bug, and spent the large majority of the time vegging out. I hurried through homeschool, put the kids in front of shows, scrolled through the smartphone unabashedly, and we all had a dreadful few days hooked on screens again.

Well. We could use a reset button, couldn’t we?

Before that, as I said, I felt that “going unplugged” on a long-term basis was really beneficial and enlightening. I can think of very few times in my life when I’ve had little or no access to screens, phones, video games, tv, computers, etc… However, each occasion where that’s been the case has been so rewarding.

As for the last three weeks, I’ve been surprised by how much more time we had. (Who knew? The internet is a time sucker!) We got more accomplished and played more together. I didn’t have that uneasy feeling that I had just wasted a perfectly good half hour doing who knows what on Facebook.

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We were SO much less distracted. I didn’t “just check” this or that throughout the day- and so, I was present with my children. It sounds simple, but actually listening to, learning from, and being with my children without going down so many technological rabbit trails was a really beautiful thing. It’s amazing how much we can miss without realizing it.

We spent more time outside, played more music- and I would wager to say, just enjoyed real life more.

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Consequently, we were also less grumpy. (Generally, of course.) I think that’s because we were spending more quality time together, and better tending to each other’s needs.

The best night was a night that we made heart-shaped pizza together. We made a TOTAL wreck of the kitchen mixing dough, rolling it out, using cookie cutters, and topping teeny Valentines-ey culinary creations. To make thing messier, we baked a quadruple batch of friendship cake at the same time. We ate by candlelight with the counters in complete shambles around us.

After dinner, my husband turned on Pandora, plugged in his bluetooth speaker, and turned up some music. My daughter stood by my side, “washing” dishes with me, while I handed my son a dish at a time to dry and put away. My husband chipped away at the countertop. It was a cheerful scene, reminiscent of Snow White and her animal friends whistling while they worked. The kitchen got cleaned relatively quickly and we ended the night with family reading time.

Now why couldn’t we live like that all the time? Undistracted, cheerful, hardworking, kind? Focusing on the relationships instead of all the screens that steal our time and attention?

I’m not fooled into thinking that removing technology will create a perfect world for our family. And of course, technology isn’t bad in and of itself. However- at least for this mama- removing it for a time definitely seemed to help us refocus our priorities.

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So here I go again. I may have flopped and failed for a bit, but it’s time to just pick up where I left off and carry on for the rest of this challenge. I know I won’t regret it. <3

 

 

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Rainbow Ferment!

Rainbow Ferment

I have to apologize for my recent fermentation kick. I went a couple months without fermenting much of anything, but spring has renewed my efforts. I don’t know what it is about warmer weather, but it always inspires me to start afresh and try to live healthier.

Along with spring and sunshine comes St. Patrick’s Day. And if you have children, you know that St. Patrick’s Day necessitates the celebration of all things rainbow. We’ve already had rainbow veggies around here:

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And then rainbow veggies got me thinking… what about a rainbow ferment?

I found this really awesome recipe called “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” from The (mis)Adventures of a Born Again Farm Girl and decided I had to use it as my starting point for a rainbow ferment.

Here are the veggies I chose to make my rainbow:

  • Red- Red pepper strips
  • Orange- Baby carrots
  • Yellow- Yellow pepper strips & yellow baby carrots
  • Green- Broccoli
  • Blue/Indigo- Errr…. I cheated and didn’t include these. But I’ve heard if you ferment garlic cloves they might turn blue-ish?
  • Violet- Purple baby carrots

I also included radishes, which are somewhere in the pink/purple realm when they ferment.

Working on a #saintpatricksday themed #rainbow ferment! #lactofermentation #fermentools

A photo posted by Abigail Zieger (@theyrenotourgoats) on

Obviously, you could substitute any veggies your family most enjoys.

This is a simple project. Simply chop your veggies into bite-sized pieces. Mix ’em up (or layer them if you’re feeling fancy) and pack them tightly into a wide-mouth mason jar.

Make a 3.5% salt brine with a good salt for fermenting. (See Mindie’s post for details.) Pour over the veggies, ensuring that the brine completely covers the mixture.

Next, weigh down your vegetables under the brine and use your favorite method to allow for the release of CO2 gasses put off during fermentation. (More info on that in this post.) I love my Fermentools weight and airlock kit for this purpose!

Now, let it sit and do it’s thing. It should take about a week at room temperature until it’s ready to eat. After that, move it to cold storage and enjoy for months to come!

Have you fermented before? Answer your fermentation FAQ’s here.

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