Inspiration

If you are a college student like myself, it is possible you live in a thimble sized apartment with no garden to speak of.  And yet, all over the world people are producing their own fruits and vegetables in those tiny-ass apartments.

I am a frequent follower of the blog "Design*Sponge" and have taken much of their advice to heart.  For those of you who do not have space for a garden, please peruse this post from Design*Sponge for advice on how to grow a garden in containers:  Design Sponge Online

Spring has Sprung

Good day bloggers!

I have been wondering how I was going to approach this post for a while, because I seem to become less eloquent when I am really excited, so forgive the botched writing where present:

My birthday was last Friday and true to the Daenitz family tradition, my father got me something practical and as always, I love it!  This year for my birthday, dad set me up with basically an entire garden and I used the rest of my birthday money to fill the gaps (thanks Grandma, Nana, mom, Glynna, and Janalee for the money!).

To be honest, I never fully appreciated the fact that my birthday was so close to the spring equinox and therefore right at the beginning of the growing season for most plants. I most definitely appreciate it now, as from now on all I want for my birthday are plants and pretty things to put them in!

It has been a very exciting few days because I not only found some excellent plants-tomatoes, peppers, herbs, carrots, onions, and garlic-all heirlooms of course, but I also found some amazing containers to put them in!

Dad and I went antiquing on Saturday and as we were driving home we saw a sign on the side of the road that said "Half Wine Barrels FOR SALE." Naturally we stopped to take a gander, though I didn't have high hopes because typically wine barrels sell for a pretty penny, which a college student never has. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when the gentleman running the trading post offered to sell me an a quarter barrel for cheap as well as two half whisky barrels.  Dad and I purchased them and headed off to the home depot to collect some plants as well as some more containers.  Then on Monday, I rounded off my little plant and container family by getting a few shallow bowls for my herbs and some heirloom squash.

Please click the below link to view the photos of my new and improved garden with information about each plant and their genus and species where available:

Garden Clean-Up: After

Howdy everyone!

I apologize for the laps in posting, I have been a very busy bee cleaning the garden whilst making sure I manage to get my homework done! Prepare to be overloaded with posts!

I have FINALLY cleaned up the garden, getting rid of most of the weeds that were plaguing my lovely yard.  Of course, a few stragglers have resolutely remained but I will deal with them, mark my words!  Additionally, the fallen tree has been removed. Here are a few pictures, as promised, of the cleaned up yard! Enjoy :]

Budget Surprise

Up until very recently, Bobby and I had spent the majority of our grocery money on those corporate junk foods meant to save us time and money.  With my new project as well as a desire to do Barbara Kingsolver proud, I set out to purchase primarily locally produced foods at the farmer's markets and do my best to at least avoid the frozen foods aisle. I decided that I would make an honest effort to buy organic where I couldn't buy local, so off to the store I went.
I visited Ralph's, my supermarket of choice, with my grocery list in hand and determination on my sleeve. I did very well until I hit the soup aisle.  Looking at the Ralph's brand price and the organic price for beef and chicken stock, my resolve started to waver.  I thought to myself there is no WAY that this can be a less expensive trip to the grocery store! I began to worry that our $100.00/week food budget would be very difficult to stick to.  Of course I made sure that I had an extra stash of money labelled "just in case!" in my wallet, but I didn't want to resort to that if I could help it.
I need not have worried however, as it turns out, those time/money-saving frozen foods we previously purchased were what cost the most.  Cutting them from our list was liberating in a rebellious sort of way.  I felt like beating my chest, or else biting into a beer can a-la Teen Wolf style just to show how crazy I was getting. I compensated by giving Bobby a high-five.
Not only did we lighten our financial burden, we also made a move in the right direction health-wise.

This week, we gained something more than a few saved dollars, we gained a spiritual sense of freedom as we cooked our way into health and happiness with organic and locally produced foods.

Weekly Meal Planning

Many of the meals listed are from this
book. ISBN: 9781445405681 

It is almost silly how excited I get over lists. The newest addiction, I mean addition, to my list of lists is the weekly meal plan.

Sitting here with Seamus (my spoiled rotten cat), I open my multitude of cookbooks and allow my mouth to water at the pictures of roasted vegetables and roast chicken. Calling on my memory bank, as well as my journal, I begin to jot down ingredients for next week's meals on two separate-you guessed it-lists: one entitled "Farmer's Market!" with a smiley face and the other "Grocery Store" (you can tell which shopping experience I will enjoy more).

Next week's list of dinners goes as follows:

Monday: Homemade Vegetable Soup
Tuesday: Chicken Fried Steak and Scalloped Potatoes
Wednesday: Rotini and homemade garlic bread (I'm actually going to make the bread myself!)
Thursday: Eggs & Potatoes with bacon, roasted veggies, and buttermilk biscuits.
Friday: Beef Stew and Dinner Rolls
Saturday: Grilled Lime Chicken and Roasted Asparagus
Sunday: Garlic Shrimp on a bed of Angel Hair Pasta

I will be making cookies with the dates I bought at last week's Farmer's Market as well, with the recipe to follow if they turn out okay.

I am much better at planning than actually following through on cooking. I enjoy cooking the tried and true meals I know but am very hard-put to try something new. I am also sure that the sight of me in the kitchen will bring a questioning look to Bobby's face. My amazing boyfriend has thus far done the majority of the cooking.  This will be an excellent exercise in breaking bad habits, it only takes a week to do that... right?

At the Farmer's Market

This picture borrowed from:
this website.

I can hardly contain my excitement about last week's farmer's market, though it has been nearly a week since I experienced it. It was undeniably the best time I have ever had at a farmer's market, for one reason: I actually talked to the vendors instead of idly choosing a single vegetable and moving my way closer to the kettle corn.

I will admit to an initial hesitancy towards this particular part of my project. I was that girl when I was younger that needed someone else to ask my questions, most of the time remaining silent even when I was dying to ask a question. I was too shy for my own good.  Well, I either grew out of that or else my burning curiosity cannot be denied any longer.  I learned so much about various fruits and vegetables that I never knew before.

One fruit in particular stood out to me: dates.  Now, I don't claim to be incredibly open minded about food;  I am, without a doubt, the pickiest eater in my family.  Though, one of my own personal goals (one of the many) for this project was to broaden my culinary horizons and try new foods no matter how unfamiliar they may look to me. It was with this mindset that I threw back my shoulders and walked resolutely to the date stand that was placed right next to a stand of raspberries that were calling to me, "Heather! We are safe and familiar!"
The man tending the stand was wearing a fur-lined cap and a smile that immediately put me at ease, he reminded me of my grandfather.

Cleanin' it Up

Howdy there!

I apologize for the brief lapse in posting, I have fallen prey to being human, I am sick. Let me recap for you what I have been up to in my blogging absence: I have been listening *a-lot* to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver whilst gardening, driving, and (during the last few days of sickness) sitting on the couch, crocheting. Her book is an excellent read regardless, though especially for any person looking to live self-sustainably. But more on that later, today I want to give you an update on my garden.

We are moving swiftly into the spring growing season and I have yet to get my plants in the ground. Mother nature has not been kind to my yard, a lovely wind has knocked over one of my orange trees into a portion of it, preventing me from weeding a large area until the property managers can remove said-tree.

But, being the stubborn Daenitz that I am, I persisted to weed the rest of the yard as best as I could, even with the looming cold that was already beginning to stuff my sinuses.

Below are a few pictures of what my yard looked like before weeding.