The unseasonably warm weather has us looking forward to spring and our garden! When we purchased our home last March, we weremore excited about our yardthan we were the house. We have one acre with a fenced in backyard and ample room for gardening.
We spent quite a bit of time planning a garden last spring. We bought supplies for four raised beds and built one. That’s as far as we got. A few weeks later we found outI was pregnantand soon after morning sickness followed and the garden was abandoned.
This year is going to be different. We’re already making plans and looking forward to gardening as a family and fresh vegetables!
Here’s our garden space:
The garden as of yesterday. Nothing much to look at, there’s one raised bed and that’s it.
The one bed that was built last year. We’re going to be getting the weeds and last years dead plants out and adding more soil!
We purchased this barrel via Craigslist for $10. John David has plans for it, I’m not quite sure exactly what he’s going to do with it {he has the mechanical mind!} The plan it to put this out in the garden space, although we’re not sure where exactly it will go.
As we work in the garden, I’ll keep you updated on the progress!
Are you looking forward to spring time and gardening? Do you do raised beds, a traditional garden or use some other method?
When we moved into our new home, I wanted to change the decor in our living room, making it more modern and a better reflection of us – without spending much money! A gallery wall is a perfect way to use elements you have and love and give them a new life creating a new look.
My first step was to pick out all the elements that I wanted on the wall and arrange them on the floor! {Thanks to a long nap!} Once I created an arrangement I liked, I then took newspaper and traced each frame/item, noting where the hangers were and taped it to the wall. {This was not an original idea, it’s one of the many clever tricks I’ve found at Young House Love!}
A positive to hanging the newspaper was that it was super easy for my husband to hang everything for me! {He is the ‘picture hanger’ here since he’s the real perfectionist. He always says, I’ll happily hang anything as long as you tell me exactly where to put it! This sure is telling him exactly where to put it!}
Our completed current gallery wall.
The best part, I spent less than $25 for this look because I only purchased one item, the Urban Soul Fruit of the Spirit Wall Art. {It is only $25 and I used a coupon for 20% off!} Everything else was reused from our decor stash!
We threw this up in time for Paxton’s birthday party {so our living room wouldn’t be completely bare!} I have plans to spray paint the wooden tone frames black, paint the star an apple green and replace the blue fabric in one of the frames with apple green zig zag fabric that matches our throw pillows {that I still have to sew!}
Here’s a shot of the living room as it is today! The gallery wall is the only wall with anything on it, still! I have no clue what I am going to put on the other walls! {I am open to suggestions!}
I love that I captured Paxton sitting on the rug, reading a book and looking like an angelic child. {It literally lasted about 20 seconds but doesn’t it make it look like I live such a peaceful life? ha!}
It’s already been a month since I shared about beginning our garden and unfortunately nothing much has really changed! It seems life happened and had set our garden plans back – going out of town, dealing with getting our pool open and the water balanced and two busy weeks of transcribing for me! There has been a little progress, but not much!
Our one raised bed is showing progress, our two banana peppers are looking great and so are our 5 tomato plants {we were given these plants!} The other 3 beds still haven’t been built. We really need to get on it!!
We actually have a teeny, tiny pepper growing!
Our seedlings have not fared well (mainly due to me forgetting to water them a few days last week!) Our cantaloupes recovered from a few days without water and are looking good again. Now, we just need to build another bed so they can be transplanted!
Not much to report and I have a feeling I’m going to have to let go of some of my lofty gardening dreams this year!
I’m continuing to share about our grocery budget and meals this week! Last week, I gave you a glimpse into our pantry and shared what food we had stockpiled as well as a detailed plan.
We’re working with a $175 budget for the month of May. After last week’s grocery trip we had $125 left.
Our grocery trips this week:
3 Chickens (@$1.79/pound)
Total: $21.38
6 Avocados $9
Chicken Sausage (marked down) $2.49
4 Oranges $2
2 boxes Whole Wheat Pasta $.98
2 blocks Cheese $3.58
1 box Butter $3.19
Plain Yogurt (organic) $2.69
Spaghetti Sauce $2.58
Northern Beans $1.89
Milk (organic) (marked down) $3.29
4 bags Chips $3.96
2 boxes Cereal $1.98
Annie’s Chocolate Bunnies $2.81
Total: $40.44 (minus coupon plus tax) $36.83
Grocery total for the week: $58.21
{$66.79 left in the grocery budget for the month.}
*Yes, I did purchase a few processed foods and chips! {We love those chips by the way!} We have pretty good eating habits but not perfect!
Our Meal Plan:
Monday
Breakfast- Cereal
Lunch- Lunch Out
Dinner-Chicken Soup (using broth from a boiled chicken)
To Do- Soak Pintos
Tuesday
Breakfast- Fruit & Yogurt
Lunch- Leftovers
Dinner-Small Group (make tortillas & guacamole)
To Do- Cook Pintos, Layout Venison, Make Bread, Make Mayo, Make Tuna Salad
Over the past few months, I’ve been working on incorporating more vegetables into our diet. As we’re trying new vegetables and cooking vegetables in different ways, I’m finding that I simply love vegetables!
Two of my favorites are cabbage and squash. I ate cabbage growing up, only in a stir fry though! The thought of cabbage any other way wasn’t exactly appealing. As far as squash goes, I just started eating it a little over a year ago. It’s delicious!
Steamed Cabbage and Squash is so simple to make!
Ingredients:
Squash (1 medium/large, sliced)
Cabbage (about 2 cups worth diced up)
Butter (about 2 tablespoons)
Salt/Pepper
Directions:
1. Melt butter in large skillet.
2. Add in squash and cabbage, stir to mix with the butter. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
3. Cover and let steam for a few minutes or until the vegetables reach the tenderness you desire.
4. Serve and enjoy!
This makes a great side dish. I frequently fix this for an easy and yummy lunch. Paxton enjoys the steamed squash and I just love it!
