Archive - Jun 2008 - Blog

Elizabeth and I went to the farmers market yesterday. I always like going there. One of the farmers had gooseberries. I've always wanted to try them, ever since I saw Snow White and heard her refer to gooseberry pie. They also show up a lot in other children's books. I got a half flat for $12. I used half of them to make a gooseberry pie. The other half I'll use to make some gooseberry jam. I'll make it tomorrow.

The pie was good, although a little tarter than I expected. Gooseberries are quite tart, but with all the sugar, I expected them to be sweeter. The crust I made was a little tough too. We also wanted to dig in right away, while it was warm. It is supposed to cool, which allows it to congeal more and make nicer looking slices. All in all, for the first pie I've ever made, it turned out quite good. After I make the jam, I'll let you know how my first attempt at jam goes.

Here is the recipe I used for the pie. I got it from the farmer I got the gooseberries from.

Gooseberry Pie

Makes 8 servings. Takes 1 hour.

Ingredients

• Pastry for 9 inch double-crust pie (I used one from the pillsbury cook book. I added a little too much water.)
• 4 cups fresh or frozen gooseberries
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon light cream or milk
• Sugar (about 2 teaspoons)

Preparation

1. Prepare and roll out pastry for a double crust pie.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine berries and 1 tablespoon water. Cook over medium-low heat till the berries "pop", stirring occasionally.
3. Combine the sugar, the flour and netmeg; add to the gooseberries in the saucepan. Cook and stir till mixture just begins to bubble.
4. Spread mixture on the pastry lined pie pan. Add the top crust. Seal and flute edge. Cut slits for steam to escape. Brush top crust with cream or milk. Sprinkle with the sugar. Cover the edge of the pie with foil.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for another 20 minutes or till top is golden. Cool.

Since I'm not working while working on my masters, finances are tight. Also the cost of gas and food has skyrocketed since I figured the budget for the two year program. Now I need to be creative to save money. One thing I'm learning is how to can.

Canning has been around for a long time, but has lost favor in the last few decades. With the rising costs, it has come back into favor. Also, home canned foods taste so much better. Besides, you get more control. You can decide what goes into it. If you want to can your pears in pineapple juice, you can. I bet you wouldn't be able to find that in the store.

I thought I should take a class, because I've never canned. In hunting around, I found one that was my favorite price. My frugal friends will like it as much as I do. The National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia offers a Preserving Food at Home: A Self-Study course for free. You must register to take the class. You get 6 months to complete the course.

I got my password a month ago, and today is the first time I've logged in. I have 5 months to finish the course. Today I took the pretest and scored 70%. It was multiple guess, so I probably would not have scored so well had it been short answer. I'll let you know more as I continue the program.

Do you donate? If you donate, that is great. I thank you. The receivers of your donation thank you. Everyone should donate. I am not going to presure you to donate, but if you do, let everyone know. Let's challange everyone to donate. Just get the badge below, put it on your site to let your readers know that you donate and then comment below, so I can let my readers know.

My Story

As I was painting my ceiling and listening to Todd Agnew. I began thinking about how poor I am. I'm a student, so I have no money coming in. Then I thought about how poor other people are in comparison. I'm not so poor.

We (my wife and I) often complain about being poor. We live fairly modestly, but we are far from being poor. No one in this household knows how it feels to be hungry. To know hunger you have to have gone days, weeks, months, without enough food. We have and have always had, a good solid roof over our heads. No, we don't have much money. It is likely that our savings will be gone by the time I finish my masters, but we are doing pretty good. Others are not.

God spoke to me through the music. He reminded me of a promise I made that I have not kept good on. I had made a pledge to KLOVE and since I have no income, I chose to not send in the pledge. KLOVE helps people who are in dire straights. Their pastors are available by phone, 24 hours a day, every day to talk people who have nowhere else to turn away from their poor decisions and toward Christ. Last night, I sent in the payment to get me caught up on my pledge. Do you have a past due pledge you need to send in?

I had also promised myself that 10% of all income I get will go to charity. I got a temp job doing some web design work over the summer. I've already sent in the 10% from my first check. I also got a small commission check from my advertisers on this site. Every dollar I make, from this site, from my other sites, from my job, from any other form of income I end up with, I will give 10% to charity. I pray I will do this for the rest of my life.

Challenge

Here is my challenge to you. I challenge you to make a donation. Talk to God, He will tell you how much and where to. Once you have made your donation, post a comment below and let your users know that you donate by including the I Donate Badge below on your page. This will let everyone who visits your site know that you are dedicated to donating. Your badge is good for one year, then you should make another donation. The amount of your donation is up to you, and I have no way of auditing you to find out if you are actually making the donations. That is between you and God.

If you do not believe in God, or worship another god, that should not stop you from helping out a comminity that needs your support. Please don't let my religious beliefs get in the way of your doing a good deed.

What do I get?

Some people need a reason to donate. Other just donate because it makes them feel good. If you donate, let me know, and put the badge on your site, you will get your name on the Blog Roll below. I will periodically visit sites on the list, comment, stumble, etc. I encourage others who are on the list to do the same thing. The more you comment and stumble, the bigger this community will grow. Twit some pages. Add them to your social bookmarking sites.

Badge

Put this badge on your site to announce your participation:

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Blog Roll

Hear ye hear ye read all about it. Tired Garden to hold a contest for all foodies who blog.

Prize

Grand Prize (1 winner):

2000 EC credits (EntreCard)
1 month banner ad (468x60) on Tired Garden (top of site)*
Review of your site with link on winners list.

1st Prize (3 winners):

500 EC credits (EntreCard)
1 week if half banner ad (234x60) on Tired Garden (in side bar)*
Short review of your site with link on winners list.

All Entries:

Link in list on winners list.

*Banner ads on Tired Garden must be appropriate for all ages and link to sites that are appropriate for all ages. Animated banners must be simple and not disturbing to the visitors. Ads must meet admin approval. For speed of page loading, ads will be hosted on Tired Garden unless otherwise approved. All ads will be displayed during the month of September.

To Enter

[**note the rules below are meant to be fun. We are writers, and this writing prompt is meant to get some creativity going. I do understand that the prize may not be enough to convince some to be creative. If this is you, feel free to just create a link to anywhere on the site and that will suffice as an entry.]

To enter, write a food article that includes the following food items (choose two or more). What the article contains is up to you, but the article must be centered around these foods, or if a recipe, the food items must be in the recipe.

Article must include a link to http://tiredgarden.info or to another page on the site (such as this contest)

Article must be permanently archived on your site.

All entries must be received by July 31st, 2008.

To enter, create your entry, then add a comment here with a link to your entry.

Food Items to be included (choose 2):

summer squash (any type)
gooseberries
currants
carrots
strawberries
potato

Selecting winners

Judges decisions are final. All entries will be checked for meeting the guidelines. All those that meet the guidelines will be entered into the drawing. Winners will be randomly selected using random.org. Winners will be selected on or about August 1st. All participant will be contacted by email with a link to the winners list.

While checking out the lovely sites of some of the Tired Garden readers, I saw Liza's strawberry post. I then wrote a really nice article about different minerals and vitamins and which fruits have them. I then accidentally navigated away from the screen I was writing it in and I lost it. I'll try to recreate it here.

Variety in diet is very important and different foods give us different vitamins and minerals that we need. I was curious about which fruits give us which vitamins and minerals, so I did a little research. First I identified 5 minerals and vitamins I was curious about, then I found out exactly what they do. After than I listed the fruits that best provide this need.

Iron

Iron helps with the transport of oxygen in your blood. Without iron you can feel tired, apathetic or cold. High iron foods include blackberry, kiwi, strawberry, tomato, banana and grape.

Calcium

Calcium helps decrease insomnia and helps nutrition enter cells. It also helps bones and teeth to be strong. Without enough calcium, bones and teeth become brittle and break down, your muscles spasm and cramp and in the long term osteoporosis can occur. Good fruit sources of calcium include orange, blackberry, kiwi, tomato, lime, strawberry, lemon, grape, apple, cantaloupe, banana and peach.

Folic Acid

Folic acid is actually a synthetic form of B9. The natural form is called folate. Folate is needed in pregnancy to help the embryo form and build a good neural network. It also helps to produce red blood cells. Getting enough folate reduces certain birth defects by as much as 70%. Good fruit sources of folate include kiwi, blackberry, tomato, orange, strawberry, banana and cantaloupe .

Riboflavin

Also known as B2, riboflavin helps to produce and maintain red cells as well as body growth and reproduction. Only a few fruits have riboflavin in them, the best source is liver. Notable riboflavin carrying fruits include kiwi and avocado.

Niacin

Niacin, also known as B3, helps with the functioning of the digestive and nervous systems. It is also one of the many important nutrients in converting food to energy. Some of the notable fruits that carry niacin include peach, tomato, kiwi, banana, cantaloupe and watermelon .

Yes, I realize it is Saturday, not Friday, but I ran across the Food Friday meme and I had to join in.

Butterflies are beautiful. I want to have more of them in my yard, so I'm creating a butterfly garden. The space is not a mess of weeds with a couple of azaleas. It will soon be a much prettier and with any luck will be full of butterflies and birds sweeping through to get food. To make this garden, I first had to ask, what do butterflies need? After all, they are the visitors I most want to attract, so their needs are what I should think about.

I know that all animals need some things to live. They need food, water, air, space, heat and shelter. The question though, is what types and amounts of each of these things do the butterflies need? I've collected information from several sources and will discuss each one.

Food

Butterflies eat nectar. Young butterflies, also known as caterpillars, eat leaves. Providing the right plants for them to eat is a big decision. Different species eat different plants. For a complete butterfly garden, we need to supply foods that are good for the caterpillars as well as the adult butterflies. If there is food for the caterpillars, the adults will stick around long enough to lay eggs, then your garden will be doing really well. Be sure to pick some plants that are right for the butterflies that are common in your neck of the woods. I'll stick to common butterflies in Oregon. It would be silly for me to try to attract butterflies that are common in Maryland.

Butterfly feeders, such as the one pictured here from Shop.com can also provide good food, if they are regularly filled with nectar.

Water

Like every other creature, water is important for butterflies. A simple dish with some water in it will suffice. Place it in among the plants, in the shade, so that it does not evaporate too quickly. If you are creative, you can create a fancy dish. The dish does not need to be in a location where it is seen, so you can just use a lid from your old butter tub, placed in an out of the way location.

Air

This may seem obvious. Of course they need air. But you should consider the quality of the air as well. Butterflies do not like strong winds. If your garden gets a lot of wind, be sure to build a wind block. You can use some higher bushes for this, or a bamboo fence, or some other simple wind block.

You also might want to consider air pollution. Does your cars exhaust pipe blow on the garden as you start up? If your car is our of tune, this could be rather annoying, or even deadly to your visitors.

Space

Think about the space you will be using. The larger space you use, the more plants your can plant, attracting more species. You need to make sure that the space is big enough that your frieds can enjoy themselves. Do you want to be able to put a chair in among the flowers, to enjoy the sight?

Heat

Butterflies like to sunbathe. As they are cold blooded creatures, they need the sun to warm them up. Make sure your garden has some rocks or other places to sun themselves.

Shelter

The plants your put in the garden can provide shelter. This shelter is particularly important for the young caterpillars who are easy pray for birds and other insectivores. You can also get one of these lovely butterfly houses from Yardiac, pictured to the right.

In the last issue in the Reusing the waste mini-series, Reusing the waste: Crafters Edition, we learned about some cool crafts that can be made using waste material from around the house. In this issue, we will continue using waste material around the house, but instead of crafts, we will learn some of the best ways to reuse the waste to use around the house.

Keep in mind, this is only a start. If you have some ideas, please comment below and let us know. I will give you the 5 things I reuse the most:

1. Rags

Repurpose the old clothes

Old clothes that are torn, can't be sent on to the thrift store. Torn clothes just don't sell very well. Pull off the buttons to use in crafts. You can also use the pieces for quilts and such. If you are like me, then you don't craft with them enough to use it all. I do on the other hand need rags for projects and cleaning. T-shirts make great dusting rags. I have an old piece cut from a pair of slacks that I use for wood oil. I use others to clean up messes in the work shop.

2. Litter buckets

Litter buckets to hanging planters

This is one of my favorites. Take a litter bucket and make a hanging planter our of it. I use this for my tomatoes. You can also plant other things this way. I did find that if you use plastic handled buckets, you need to be careful how much soil you put into them. Smaller buckets can be used for other plants too, like strawberries. Keeps them above the slugs.

Litter buckets for trash

If you can't tell, I like litter buckets. I also use them to pick up the trash that the neighbors toss into my yard. When I pull weeds, I use them to hold the pulled weeds until I get them to the compost.

3. Butter and yogurt tubs

Tubs for paints

When painting, carrying the paint bucket around while cuting in the edges or touch up gets tiring. Put a little paint into a butter tub and carry around the smaller tub. If you need to mix paints, put the lid on when you are done for storage. You can't store for long times this way, unless it has a tight seal, but it will store overnight.

Tubs for leftovers

Tubs can also be used to store leftovers from dinner. You can also store leftover parts from you crafts or workshop projects. I've stored beads, buttons, screws and more in them.

4. Newpaper

Newspaper for wrapping paper

My wife does not let me do this anymore. She thinks it is cheap and you should spend the money on real wrapping paper. I like it thought. Just take the sunday comics and it makes a nice wrapping paper.

Newspaper for compost/worm bin

Not enough brown material for the compost? Add some newspaper. Newspaper also makes a great bedding for the worm bin. The worms will eat it and it is free and plentyful.

Newspaper to clean glass

Don't use a rag to clean the windows, it will leave streaks. Use newspaper instead, it leaves a streak free shine and will give you the cleanest glass in the neighborhood.

5. Glass bottles

Vases from bottles

Many glass bottles are pretty. I had a blue bottle of water that I used for years as a vase, until it broke. It only held a rose or two, but the bottle itself added to the decor.

Yard glasses

When working in the yard, or having a party that might get a little rambunctious you may not want to use your good glasses. Keep around some glass jars to use as glasses. Larger ones are bigger than most glasses, so you will have to fill up less often anyway.

We went out to Tad's Chicken And Dumplings. It is a resteraunt that has been along the Sandy River, on the way out to Columbia Gorge for decades. Nice little place with good food. If you go there though, make sure that you are careful with your leftovers. They put the fried chicken into paper bags which seem to have a tendance to fall apart with the grease and weight.

Anyhow, while waiting for our table, we hung out in the front. Emma say these beetles that I thought were pretty, so I started taking pictures. I've seen these bugs around many times before, so I thought I should not have too much trouble finding them on the net. It took nearly 15 minutes to get a match on them (near the bottom). Then for confirmation, I searched on Western Box-elder Bugs and found a better picture and some good information about them.

I still think they are pretty, they don't really cause much damage, unless they poop on your fabrics. They also stink when you crush them, apparently. I had no reason to crush any, so I don't know what the smell is like. They will feed on certain woods, includgin box elder, ash or maple, but don't seem to damage them much. They can be a neusance, but I don't see much reason to get rid of them, unless you are bug-a-phobic.

Reducing the waste is the first step to being more sustainable. Reusing what you cannot reduce is a good second step. In this issue we will discuss how to reuse waste products in crafts. Below are some ideas, with links to some places you can get more information.

I started this issue by going to our local Saturday Market to check out what they had. They had some cool stuff that people came up with. Check them out below. Not all of them have web sites, those that do I provide a link for. I took pictures at some places. I recommend getting permission before taking pictures at places like this. The crafts are the artists property. They have the right to tell you no pictures.

Metal Bugs

These bugs are made out of scrap metal, old tools, silverware, what have you. He was selling some really big ones for nearly $200. The price tag of one is hanging in the picture. He did not have a website. Says it was more work than it was worth so he dropped it.

They really are cool bugs. He is in Portland's Saturday Market regularly. Anyone with some minor metal working skills could make one of their own as well. I'm not that skilled with a torch, so I'll not be making one for my self right away.

Saw Signs

A little further into the market, I saw a space that was selling metal crafts again. This time, he had taken some old hand saws and turned them into signs. This was cool. Unfortunately he left his stall unmanned while I was there, so I could not talk to him about the signs. I snapped the picture anyway, I hope he does not mind.

Mugwump Bags

Next I stumbled upon a real find. Suzanne Keolker is designing this great bags out of reclaimed materials. She used golden books, maps, board games, air mattresses, and more. Quite a wonderful collection!

Experienced Materials

Gina Nash of Experienced Materials had some wonderful lights made out of tin cans. It sounds so cheesy, but they were really lovely. Her website is still under construction, but you can see some of the cans there. Soon you will be able to purchase some of her line.

Spoonman

Finally at the end of the day, I ran across Spoonman. His whimsical collection of kitchen utincils gone astray is quite fun. He looks like the kind of lunatic who would be spending his days bending spoons and turning cleavers into hats and dinner sets into clocks.

Make a rose from a leaf

I ran across this cool little idea while surfing. Leaves usually go into the yard debris bin. If you have a compost pile, you will toss them there. How about making your dining table look a little nicer for a while with one of these great maple leaves to rose center pieces.

Shoes from tires

Making a shoe from a tire is common practice in many parts of the world. Many people third world countries have no shoes, so these are common. Learn to make them from a blown truck tire.

I finished up the series on reducing the waste, now it is time that we started talking about what we can do with the waste we still have. We have cut back on the waste, but there is still some that we use. Milk no longer comes in glass bottles that we return, get sanitized and then filled again and sent back. They now come in plastic jugs. Most of us do not can or freeze things on our own, we purchase things pre-packaged. This includes waste. So what can we do with the waste so that it can be used again? After we get this down, then we can discuss recycling what we cannot re-use.

Crafting is huge. There are so many projects out there about crafting with leftover materials. I keep a jar full of buttons from damaged clothing. Another one for beads that are no longer used. When I go to Saturday Market, or the Farmers Market, I always check out the crafts that people are selling. If they do not mind, I get pictures and will post about them here. I have a couple that I plan on sharing in the next issue in this series.

I use ripped clothes for rags. Larger tubs can be used to hold paints, the aformentioned buttons and bead. They can even be used for leftovers and other storage. You can use kitty litter bucket or paint buckets for a lot of household and garden related tasks. More about household uses in a later issue.

If I am no longer using something that is still usable, I donate it and let someone else get use out of it. Donating not only gets it out of your house, it keeps it out of the dump, a needy organization gets money from the sale of it, or a needy person gets to use it, and you get a tax deduction. More on donating and some organizations you can donate to in the last issue of this mini-series.

Fell free to leave comments with other reusability ideas you have. Comments are welcome and encouraged. Scroll to the bottom of the page to leave one. If you are a blogger or web site owner, this will also allow you to leave a link to your own site.