planning and preparing for your next vegetable crop
While much of Australia is moving towards winter, here in Queensland we are beginning a new planting season. The tropical rains are just about over and with them goes the flash flooding, humidity and mouldy conditions that aren’t conducive to growing healthy vegetables.
When it comes to gardening, I’m very much a novice – not a natural green thumb at all. Each year I learn a little more, and our garden gets a little better. I think too, the longer you live in one house, the more familiar you get with your little eco-system and this knowledge helps when growing your own vegetables.
The steps below are those we are taking to prepare and plant our next vegetable crop. They are very much the ideas of a novice gardener.
tropical pina colada green smoothie
Encouraged by the wholefood workshop that I’m taking online, we’ve been having a lot of smoothies lately. We started off gently with some fruit smoothies I used to make years ago and progressively got more daring, adding things like homemade sunflower seed milk and kale.
This particular smoothie is tasty, dairy (and gluten) free and full of nutrition. You can add a teaspoon or so of natural peanut butter (which is what we did) for protein – it will change the flavour slightly.
How much honey you add will depend on your personal tastes and the sweetness of the banana and pineapple. Start with none and add it in as you like.
I use about half coconut milk to a quarter filtered water – you can use just coconut milk for a creamier texture.
You don’t have to add the kale (or alternatives like spinach or silverbeet). Kale is however packed full of Vitamin C and K and is rich in calcium, carotenoids and iron. Adding it to smoothies is an easy and tasty way of increasing raw foods in your diet (and your kids’ diet – the little fella loves these). Add just a leaf or so to start with and increase the amount to taste.
three years and still at it – the 3rd blogiversary of frugal and thriving
Well, as I say each year, I can’t quite believe it. I’ve been pounding away at this keyboard for three full years. How quickly time flies.
I can’t imagine what life would be like now without writing. Or not carrying a notebook around everywhere to jot down ideas.
And as usual, I have more ideas and plans for the blog than I have hours in the day. So many ideas and plans.
I love doing this. I look forward to working on the website every day. It’s definitely become a part of my life and the family’s daily life.
do you make these 5 financial mistakes when planning your holidays?
This is a guest post by Kristy Alexander of Hotelclub.com.
The experience of planning your holidays on a tight budget can definitely be stressful nowadays, when even a simple weekend away can cost you upwards of $500, if you’re not careful. The stress of organizing a trip that won’t leave you with a killer credit card debt can sometimes make it feel like your holiday planning is not as exciting as it should be. But planning your holidays can actually be fun if you avoid unnecessary financial blowouts such as the ones listed below.
Ask the reader–what would you do with an unexpected windfall?
Here’s the scenario: you receive a small windfall: you win a gift card, or maybe you get one from a loyalty programme, or maybe a little cash – not a lot, around $50 – $100. What do you do?
Do you:
- Use the money to buy what you need?
- Splurge on something that you wouldn’t normally be able to buy?
- Use it to pay down debt?
If you’re struggling with debt or bill payments, do you feel compelled to use a gift of money to buy something ‘nice for yourself’ as the giver intended, even if it would make your life easier to put it towards your debt / bill payment?
What do you do with unexpected windfalls?
raspberry, oat and white chocolate muffins
We’re on a muffin fest lately. Maybe it’s pregnancy and the cooler weather, but muffins, muffins and more muffins are coming out of our oven and into our stomachs at an alarming rate. But I’m enjoying coming up with my own creations and the little fella enjoys licking the bowl helping me bake.
These are one of my latest creations – they do include sugar because I didn’t have time to work out substitutions. I also didn’t have choc-chips but I did have a block of white chocolate left over from Christmas (I do have some self-control, see) that was just asking to be cooked with, so this was the result.
ways with recycled glass jars roundup
Recycled glass jars are great for storing all sorts of things, from pantry staples to nails in the garage. They are also make cheap drinking glasses in a pinch.
But there are many other uses for recycled glass jars as the tutorials below demonstrate.
If you’re like me and have trouble throwing out glass jars, here’s a few creative ideas for reusing them.
the earth is full– an interesting video on creating a sustainable future
I watched the following TED talk the other week when Sustainable Suburbia shared it on their facebook page and thought it would be a great one to share here.
Despite the title, this is not a population rant (which is at least what I thought it would be – I find them kind of unhelpful). It is instead a rational look at our philosophy and practice of continuous economic growth and how this is unsustainable (and could possibly lead to a scary future), but it finishes with a positive and uplifting call to action.
I really love this quote from the talk:
You see, those people that have faith that humans can solve any problem, that technology is limitless, that markets can be a force for good, are in fact right. The only thing they’re missing is that it takes a good crisis to get us going. When we feel fear and we fear loss we are capable of quite extraordinary things…We are smart, in fact, we really are quite amazing, but we do love a good crisis. And the good news, this one’s a monster. Paul Gilding. [source].
This talk is only 17 minutes long, great to watch during a quick cuppa break.
tip tuesday–save your lemons with this lemon saver
If you’re looking for the perfect lemon saving device, then look no further, because have I got a beaut one for you today.
When I first discovered this lemon saver, I fell in love. It keeps our cut lemons fresher for longer – a great way to store lemons in the fridge, reducing waste and saving you money.
This also works well for storing avocados too.
And here it is…
rice and cabbage casserole
This vegetarian dish is packed full of goodness, is inexpensive and tasty. There is a little bit of prep work, especially if you make your own cottage cheese before hand, but you can make this dish ahead of time and just top with cheese and bake before serving. The protein comes from the eggs and the beans, and along with the brown rice, is actually quite a filling dish. Serves 4 – 6
