The Penny Worthy Project

Can it be?? I'm posting on the right day? A miracle, alert someone.


 I spent the better part of the day at the Alaska State Fair, I should get a sainthood for that right? I mean livening next door to it and driving by it everyday means I hear constantly them "can we go to the fair?" me "NO"--repeat ad nauseum. Also living by the fair means I that I hold a grudge against the fair, for it's traffic, it's noise pollution, it's huge waste of money and energy. So going to the fair and paying 47 dollars JUST to walk in the door bites me in the rear a little bit. But I know a LOT of people LOVE the fair so I will attempt to contain myself.

To soothe my fair frazzled nerves I hit the thrift shops, balm to the soul I tell you. I found 4 corningware Christmas mugs,

never seen anything like these before so I snatched them up. I'll be listing them in a few weeks, building stock you know.

I also found this funky little salt shaker.

And a stack of Quick Cooking magazines, I love to have a stash of magazines for winter perusing. Last week I picked up a bunch of Cooks Illustrated magazines so now I have about 20 total magazines for winter.

How about linking a thrifty living post? Recipes, thrifting, ebay, etsy all make great links, join the fun!

Peace and Love--



 

Lacto Fermentation-athon

I've been on a kick over here, a lacto-fermentation kick. I've dabbled in it a few times but this week I went to the u-pick farm and loaded up. I think it helped that I bought roughly twice what my fridge would hold and needed to use it up quickly. It also helped that I didn't want to spend hours in the kitchen making vinegar based pickles when I could be doing something else. So I busted out the mandoline and the crocks and spare jars and got to work.

before mashing

after mashing

I think I should give you a quick rundown on lacto-fermentation, you're going to be seeing it a whole lot more around here. Basically you can preserve produce (and meat!) with the simple addition of whey and salt. When these ingredients are added to cleaned sliced vegetables, or even fruit, lactic acid starts to form. Lactic acid is a non putrefying preservative, it bubbles and pickles things at room temperature. It's the age old way of making pickled anything.

 So say you are making sauerkraut, after you slice some of it you sprinkle on a bit of salt and whey and give it a good mash with a wooden rod or a potato masher. This stimulates lactic acid to flow which builds and build and eventually covers the kraut completely. Left to sit on the counter it will bubble and ferment for a week or so. After a week it's ready to slow down and go in the fridge where it will keep for upwards of 4 months.

Lactic acid is super good for gut health. You need all those lovely probiotic live cultures, hard at work in your kraut or pickles, in your tummy! You know those expensive probiotic drinks? Yeah you can get the healthful bacteria with minimal work at home. The GAPS diet for healing stomach ailments recommends eating fermented foods with every meal. The beneficial bacteria can aid digestion and also boost the immune system. Sign me up.

covered and ready to bubble for a week

fermentation corner

I also like the part about not standing in from of the stove for days making pickles which may or may not be too vinegary. Lacto-fermented ANYTHING are quick and easy to make and so alive because you don't have to boiling water bath them, in fact thew are raw. I'm even making a beet and zucchini relish in the next day or two. So far I've made pickled carrots, carrot relish, a gallon of kraut that was 7 whole heads of cabbage and a jar of the wrapper leaves from the cabbages for our chickens to nibble on this winter. Yep I even think our chickens will enjoy the benefits of lacto fermentation.


Peace and Love--



 

Just Another Meatless Monday Zucchini Kale Fritters

Zucchini season is here. I know you must be thrilled! So much zucchini to make all those recipes. What? You don't have zucchini? Yeah well me either, the slugs have almost won this year! AGAIN. Every year I plan on a HUGE squash harvest and it's meh at best. I'm beginning to feel like a bad gardener. Good thing zucchini is cheap and plentiful at the road side stand and in the grocery stores. You're going to need about 2 pounds to make these fritters.


Zucchini Kale Fritters

2 pounds of zucchini
3/4 cup of kale-any variety
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder or  1/2 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
good dash of pepper
1 egg
1-2 TBSP cooking oil

wash and dry your veggies
grate them in the food processor fitted with the grater blade or use a box grater on the zucchini and finely chop the kale
mix together the zucchini, kale and salt
let rest in a colander for 10-15 minutes
squeeze out as much water as possible
mix the the zucchini with the curry powder, garlic and egg
heat a frying pan over medium heat when hot add a dash of oil
wash your hands, grab a small handful of the fritter mix, give it a squeeze, roll it around and flatten it to make a patty
fill the pan with patties but leave enough room to turn them
when they are browned on the bottom flip and brown the tops
remove to covered platter to keep warm
repeat with the remaining mix adding more oil to the pan as needed
serve warm with a dollop of yogurt or chutney if desired

Peace and Love--

 

The Penny Worthy Project

I'm here! We may have had a bonfire last night. And I may have said goodbye to our last guests at 11:30. I may have crawled out of bed for a parade by 9:30 this morning. I may have hauled home my best thrifted find ever today. I may still be slightly hungover. I am functioning mostly and here I am.


Check out my thrifted awesomeness

4 burners and 4 feet of griddle--yes indeed this is a range for a mom of three boys and ALL their friends

here it is loaded up and on the way home

and now it's safely on our garage. This will be the centerpiece of our new kitchen. We are planning the remodel for next summer and I'm sure it will be long and painful but well worth it.

What's making you tick on a budget this week? Share a link with me!



Peace and Love--



 

School Clothes Shopping

This year instead of my normal "thrift it all" mantra for school clothes shopping I decided to go another route. The "brand new" route, sure it was going to cost more but in the long would it really? I've been known to patch jeans so many times the only thing left when the jeans finally wear out is the patches I've been putting on.  But somewhere along the line I got to thinking about how maybe I wouldn't need to patch the clothes so much if we started with better quality clothing. And so my summer was spent mulling this over, the thought of going up in quality to see if it made any difference. Here's my experience.

Usually I start thrifting clothes for school the spring before summer even hits. Having just come up up the idea of quality versus patching and mending, I quit even thinking of school clothes. I felt free, no need to buy clothes or feel pressured in my thrifting. Of course I kept a keen eye out for good clothing but living where I do there is a definite glut of cheap Walmart clothes and nice things are rare. I found next to nothing.

Fast forward to the last two weeks before school started. I felt slightly panicked about not being completely prepared but I had a plan. The plan involved finishing a HUGE volunteer cooking effort for our school's playground. I, and a team of volunteers, planned, shopped, cooked and served meals to between 100-200+ people a day for three days. It was exhausting and yet energizing, weird I know but sometimes those big effort build wonderful relationships. After the build I had to do the school clothes shopping.

With just a less than a week before school started we began shopping. We replaced the things the boys needed. Underwear for one, socks for the other and school shoes for both. Easy enough to find and bring them home, part one done! We don't need school supplies because our school buys all the supplies and we pay a fee to the school, such a great idea!

 The next day we headed to the local Sears for the Land's End store to buy the essentials. The clothes. The clothes that are guaranteed to last or they give you your money back. And the really do. Upon entering the Land's End department I returned a pair of pants I had bought last year, they were ripped. The clerk handed them back and said sorry they're ripped, to which I pointed at the sign that said basically this

She found a manager, had a little chitchat and came back, apologized and gave me a gift card for the original purchase price.

 Each boy was dispatched to a fitting room to find their size and we commenced to buying clothes. Did I cringe at 29.00 pants, you bet. Do I know they will never wear out and if they do I will get a new pair OR a gift card, you bet. It still hurt to spend so much money when I knew I could find decent looking clothes in thrift shops. BUT these will last and my mending time is greatly diminished. When all was said and done each boy got 3 pairs of pants and 3 new shirts. I had to physically drag one of my children out of the uniform area because he was convinced they both needed matching blazers, white shirts and ties, wow. Each had a few nice shirts left from last years clothes and presents from grandma so our school shopping was done. The frosting on the cake was that Land's End had a 25% off everything sale and so we saved not only with the gift card I received but 25% off too.


I felt super relaxed as soon as the bag was in my hands. I had spent a LOT of money, for us anyway, but the value in the end won me out. I can not get over how calm I feel. "Oh you ripped your jeans, no problem we can take them back" is just waiting to fall from my lips. Bring it on testosterone.

Peace and Love--








 

Just Another Meatless Monday Fresh Pea Soup

It's pea season! Well for us it is anyway. My garden is pumping out snow peas and sugar snap peas and the local farmers are selling shelled peas. PEA SEASON. I stopped the other day and grabbed a ten pound bag, we came home and started eating them right away. My kids are always amazed at how sweet and delicious raw peas really are. For our afternoon snack we had big bowls of shelled peas and glasses of fresh milk from a new local creamery.

The state subsidized local creamery had defaulted on its loans and quit paying the local farmers who bring in their milk. One local farmer decided enough was enough and put in a whole creamery on his farm. They are producing 800 gallons of milk a day. I am happy to buy as much as we can every week. Small business in my home town?? Yes please! Especially farmers, that makes me doubly happy. Sorry couldn't help but report on the new creamery, it makes me really excited, but back to fresh pea soup.

** you will need and immersion blender or regular blender for this recipe **


Fresh Pea Soup

1 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 an onion chopped
3 stalks of celery chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
2 quarts water
1 TBSP chopped fresh mint
2 TBSP chopped fresh dill-divided
2 pounds fresh peas
1 TBSP of salt

heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium heat
add the onions, celery and carrots lower heat to avoid scorching and cook for 10 minutes stirring often
add the garlic and cooked and stir for one minute more
add the water, mint and half the fresh dill
cover, increase heat to medium high, once it almost boils reduce heat a bit simmer for 15 minutes more until the vegetables are cooked through
add the peas and salt bring back up to a simmer and cook four minutes or until the peas are cooked through
use your immersion blender and blend in the pan
or blend until smooth in your blender
return the soup to the pan and taste for salt
stir in the last of the dill and serve
you can also chill this and serve it cold

Yummy! The bright green color was quite a different look for us but our kids took it in stride and slurped up huge bowls of it. It was fun to make, delicious to eat and a great way to use some seasonal local grown produce.






  Peace and Love--




 

The Penny Worthy Project

It's been so long since I wrote a Penny Worthy Project Post I almost forgot how to pop the button in at the top! Whoops. I needed a vacation, my mind was so full there was no way I could add writing to the mix there for a while. But now I am back, refreshed, revitalized and ready to write. Or thrift which is what I did today and it felt GOOD to shop for as long as I wanted. No small people whining are we done yet, I have to use the bathroom  oops too late, can we go, I want that, MOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Oh it was so peaceful and nice I didn't want to go home and mow the lawn. But I did. Check out my goodies.

Rocket kit for a nice big rocket.

 My kids love these things. We usually build our own from cardboard and glue and stuff but this is a kit you add rocket engines to again and again. Endless fun for a some soon to be 7 year old. MY BABY!

I found a chicken waterer.

Yes a chicken waterer. I've never seen one in a thrift store before. Of course I bought it, we currently have 54 chickens but soon it will be a manageable  41, 10 to the freezer and 3 back to school. Well we have a bunch of roosters we'll need to cull too. So all in all we'll have about 36 chickens in our laying flock. Having one more waterer will make separating the flock and putting them in tractors next summer so easy (and cheap!).

I got a nice XLT undershirt for my husband LL BEAN new in the package and all! I haven't even given it to him yet, ummm honey I have a shirt for you!

And this very odd Milton Bradley game from 1968, Swahili, never opened or anything. I think I'll sell it, what do you think?

Peace and Love--

 

I'm back, really I am, I truly am back

It got kind of crazy there for a while, where did the last of summer go? I mean last I know it's mid July and we're planning a little family vacation and the next thing I know the kids are back in school. It went in a rush too. A week after we got back from our vacation and fishing trip we had a huge playground build at our school and I was the food coordinator for it. My job was to plan to feed random unknown amounts of people. It was fun! I had a team of helpers, tons of donations and a very busy weekend. Our school went from no playground to amazing playground and I hope to share some photos soon. What an great experience the whole thing was to everyone involved.

Today I noticed yellow leaves on the lawn and a nip in the air. Summer has forsaken us I do believe. So much rain, not enough sun and everyone I to talk wants a redo. Even the farmers are complaining but maybe they always complain and I'm just catching on because my crops suck to this year too. Lets talk gardens, the only thing growing well over here are chickens and slugs and children but we don't eat those. I don't know it;s just been tough this year and I'm not the only one saying so. Ugh ugh ugh the slugs ate every squash and zucchini I had going. They have scaled my kale to the upper most leaves. I have used eggshells and diatomaceous earth to no avail. Now DE becomes useless after it gets wet so repeat applications have been used to. We have copper tape to repel them but my little reenactors rebel at the thought of using copper tape (THE PRECIOUS) for anything but armor use. And steampunk stuff so copper is out unless I lay out pennies which I might just do.

My greenhouse on the other hand, although not painted or floored or even finished, is pumping out the tomatoes. Tumbling Tom and Beaver Lodge are BIG producers and we have nice bowls of tomatoes daily, enough to share even, if we wanted to. I have a few peppers too. The plus with the greenhouse is in the planning for next year. I can start plants in it I have a darling little wood burning stove for it. And I can PLAN big for tomatoes and really pack it full. I am super excited about the greenhouse both this year and for next year.

School. Can we talk about that for a minute? My last baby just went to first grade *sigh* I cried on and off all day now I'm exhausted. I have not been alone for almost 9 years I have had one of three children with me on and off. It is so weird to be totally alone. I will never get anything done because apparently I need someone on my behind all the time to remind me of what I should be doing, because today I did nothing. I'll have to learn time management skills again.

The Penny Worthy Project AND Just Another Meatless Monday will be back, come back for that. I am here, I am alive and so are my kids. Now time to go thrifting, well in the morning anyway.

Peace and Love--




 

Leftovers

We're Back!

And we actually got back last week but the work from cleaning up from our adventure just knocked me out for a while.

We left on a day like this

traveled through mountain passes like this

did this a lot

saw a whole lot of this

did a bunch of this

and caught us a whole bunch of this

Wonderful time spent with my husband and two little boys. I have so much more to say but my eyes are drooping and I need to sleep. Again, such is life.





Peace and Love--