Square Foot Gardening, part 2

So, the jury's still out on this Square Foot Gardening thing... or really, just this "gardening" thing.

Since I last posted about SFG, we built a little 4x4 SFG according to the book. We planted several peppers,basil, lots of lettuce, one square of corn and two of pole beans. We also started 15 heirloom tomato plants in containers (the free nursery kind). We really wanted tomatoes, hence all the plants. The rest of the garden is based in part of expenditure (soooo much money spent each week on greens that usually go to waste!), partially on the timing of the season (a little late to plant, missed spinach season, etc) and also in part an experiment to see what would do best in our little homestead project.

Sadly, no sooner was the garden set when a deer strolled on by and munched its way haphazardly through. Most offensive was the fact that the deer ate some of our tomato plants!!! I thought those were poisonous!??!? We lost about 15% of the original planting. I bought some string and tin foil and used it to bolster the height of the fence around our yard. A week later, the deer returned, finished off the pole beans and peppers, took out two more tomatoes. :-(

I guess gardening is about learning and experimentation. The start-up costs have been significant and grossly outweigh any potential costs of buying fresh vegetables at the farmer's market. I'm hoping that by next year, it will be more equitable, since we won't have to re-purchase materials to make a box, add soil or deer abatement.

Thusfar, we're in the hole $265 in this endeavor.

$75 materials for box

$75 for soil mix ("Mel's Mix" of 16 square feet of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculit, 1/3 compost)

$75 for new deer fencing

$35 for plant starts (next year will have time to grow from seed)

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$260 --- that would be TONS of vegetables

Also, the hidden costs in this project is our time and all the water we're going to use to grow these vegetables.

We'll see how it all pans out by the end of this growing season... One of the advantages of the SFG method is that you can swap out mini-crops and therefore, grow through three seasons.

Even Yet Still More Broke-Ass Gourmet: Black Bean Soup

Have I mentioned my new obsession with BrokeAss Gourmet yet? ;-)

The third recipe I've tried so far was the Black Bean Soup. This is a very, very simple recipe that is so pure (and inexpensive!).

I swapped out the canned beans for dried. I triple-washed the beans after they'd soaked, so we haven't been living in a fartastic household. (There's a little tip for ya - wash, wash, wash your beans after soaking and they won't be so much of the "magical fruit.")

Also, on a wild hair, I whipped up this Cilantro Chile Cream notion I came across at Recipezaar. Finally, I added a little curry to the cream. The flavor combinations is outstanding.

More Broke Ass Gourmet - Kale and Cannellini Soup

Another recipe I'll endorse, so far, from Broke Ass Gourmet:

Kale-Cannellini Soup with Garlic Toast

I doubled the recipe, mixed in some Swiss Chard (from a pre-mixed, pre-washed, pre-cut bag of kale / chard from Trader Joe's) and added chicken for my sick hubby - he's already requesting I make it again! The second night, instead of having it with garlic toast, I ate it over a baked potato. Delish!!!

Even doubling the recipe, the dish cost less than $20 ($18). It was super nutritious and made two complete meals for us - that's $5 dinner / head!

Broke Ass Gourmet - Hearty Quinoa Salad = Yum!

I recently discovered "Broke Ass Gourmet" and have road tested a few of the recipes. So far, I'm impressed! They're inexpensive, simple and very tasty. They also require very little time.

I tried the Hearty Quinoa Salad today. There are no tricks up this recipe's sleeve, everything is so straightforward that I assumed it would be fairly bland, but it was fantastic! Such a fun mix to flavors! The simplicity of the recipes is great because it's teaching me about some basic combinations that work very well together.

I altered the recipe a bit by tossing the garlic into the pan for the last few minutes of cooking the sausage, instead of using the garlic raw. Also, the recipe seems to be missing the information about what to do with the sausage. Fortunately, while I'm fairly new to the ways of the kitchen, I'm not a complete idiot.

I don't eat pork, and it's nearly impossible to find a sausage that doesn't use pork casing, so I substituted the Italian Sausage flavored Tofurky. Also, I forgot to add the olive oil at the end, but the salad was more than succulant enough without it.

Square Foot Gardening

Frudgal Dad makes a great point on his blog that the drought in California is going to skyrocket produce costs this year, which should inspire many people to take up growing their own. This is the case for us for sure!

I've been reading up on making a square foot garden - a way of economically utilizing space and water resources to produce three crops / square foot. Again, Frugal Dad has a great article about square foot gardening, or "SFG" as it's sometimes called. I wish his site had more follow ups from his previous year's attempt, though!

A great resource for SFG is the Square Foot Gardening website, which has videos and books about the method, as well as lots of info on how far apart to plant certain crops, etc.

Thrifty Gifts

Everyone is feeling the pinch this year. If someone tells you they're not, they're either lying or seriously deluded.

In order to give presents to everyone on our lists, this year I made 13 pounds of chocolate almond toffee. It's remarkably easy to make, delicious and wraps beautifully in cellophane baggies that have Christmas trees on them.

I hope each recipient appreciates the love that went into making them! Besides being able to give something from the heart, we were able to give a meaningful gift to all our friends and family for a very reasonable cost.

I'll post my toffee recipe here soon!

Aaah... Those "Deals" on Grocery Endcap Displays

This is something I'd never noticed before, at least with the "sale" endcap displays... Obviously, at grocery stores, some endcap displays are for promoted sales and others are just there to... I dunno... Pimp out certain products that aren't selling fast enough?

I came across this niftiness in an article on cost-cutting your grocery bill:

If ‘salad dressing’ is on your list, do not pick up a bottle from an attractive endcap display. Even if it’s advertised as being on sale, it is probably not the best deal. Instead of buying from a display, always go the salad dressing aisle where you have the full selection of brands and prices to choose from. If you still want to buy the brand featured in the display, it will be there too.

From Suite 101

I'm going to have to pay attention to that... I know there are less expensive items to be found (generics, eg) on the shelf, but what about comparable products? I've noticed this with toilet paper - that the big deal "on sale" brand is not necessarily the least expensive, but usually the least expensive is the cheapest - the kind of TP that'll tear off and stick to your butt once it gets a little wet, if you're not careful enough.

Anyway, thought this was a piece of nifty thriftiness, if it rings true, so passing it along.

Stretching Cooking Stock

Problem:

Often times, recipes call for using a little bit of stock (vegetable, chicken, beef) to prepare a sauce or add flavor. I almost never use all of the stock that comes in a can or box. Every time I cook certain recipes, I need to buy new stock and only use half of it! (Yes, the thriftiest thing would probably be to make my own stock, but, this isn't Martha Stewart's blog, it's mine and I just ain't got time like that).

Solution:

Pour the extra stock into ice cube trays, freeze and bag for later. I date the bags of cubes so that after 6 months or so, I'll replace. A cube equals roughly an ounce. Ergo, 4 cubes = 1/2 cup, etc.

Bonus thriftiness:

Keep an eye out for stock after big holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Stores load up on extra stock (used for roasting turkeys, creating gravies, etc) pre-holidays and then usually sell them for at least 1/2 price immediately after.