This is my closet

You can see that it's not terribly large for a grown woman's clothing. Now imagine winter bedding and spare pillows in here, too. Since I shrank and moved those items to another closet, I can actually see what I have.

I spent an afternoon sorting out winter clothing and doing some basic organizing in my closet. And here it is, about as organized as it will likely get for now.

I like to keep pants and skirts on the bottom bar, blouses, jackets, and good tees on the top bar, a stack of sweaters, easily visible, and shoes on the floor where I can lazily grab them with my feet. A summer hat and visor are on the top shelf.

And yes, I do hang my jeans. They stay nice longer that way. I have a pair of dark denim and a pair of black jeans on the bottom bar.

I use the hooks on the door for a couple of casual bags, an umbrella (still using that this week!) and pjs.

The boxes on the top shelf hold most of my winter clothes. In addition, I have 2 sweater dresses and 2 pairs of wool slacks hanging in a tall closet elsewhere.

(The blue bin is my laundry bin.  And in the left-hand, back, lower corner is a box of projects and gifts that just haven't made it to better storage locations. I could still squeeze more clothing storage space in here if I cleaned up that spot.)

Some things I noticed about my clothes . . .

I tend to dress drab. I think I've been in some sort of funk for the last decade or so -- just look at all the beige, black and brown. And these are my summer clothes!

I also noticed that I don't seem to shoe shop much. Those shoes, some winter dress and rain boots and the sneakers on my feet, are it.


I do like sweaters, even in summer. They cling in all the right spots and skim the bulges I'd prefer to ignore. The sweaters are stacked in the milk boxes on the left of the lower shelf. Those cardboard milk boxes, the kind that 2 gallons of milk come in, are just the right width for a folded sweater.

On top of the boxes of sweaters are a selection of summery scarves. I have a large scarf selection. Some of them were my mother's and date to the early 70s. Most of my scarves were jumbled in a drawer, so I culled through them to find some especially summery ones that I can use this summer to change up some of my outfits.

I seem to buy the same item over and over. I have 3 long-sleeved white blouses. And in packing away my winter clothes I came across 4 black sweaters. As a woman with not very much clothing to begin, that is a lot of repetition.

When I do buy color, I seem to just buy from a very limited palette. Pale blue-green and coral pink are evidently favorites of mine. Yet, I'd never given that any thought before.

Although I only buy 1 or 2 clothing items per year, I can see that if I go back to work this next year, I will have enough of a wardrobe to cover my needs. I do take very good care of my nicer clothing. You probably can't guess which, but one of those sweaters is from the 1970s. Someone reading right now is probably saying, "the 70s! I wasn't even born then!"


I also have a couple of drawers of casual tops. I'm an especially poor shopper when it comes to casual clothes. Of my two casual shirt drawers, one has been dubbed "the ugly shirt drawer". These are the shirts that I'll wear only if I haven't gotten to the laundry, and my "first pick" tops are not available. Unfortunately, "the ugly shirt drawer" contains far more tops than the "first pick" drawer. I have a drawer of stretchy casual pants, a pair of capris, and a skort, as well.

My around-the-house casual clothing is where I really need to focus my attire attention. I've been looking through some of my hanging clothing and trying to think of new ways to incorporate some of those items into my casual daily wear. One of my white long-sleeved blouses has been slated for the next dye bath -- I'm thinking a light shade of purple. I could wear it as an over shirt with a purple tee-shirt that I like. The hanging shirts to the left are already casual shirts. I just need to remember to wear those as well as my tee-shirts in the drawers.

I can really see where a tidy closet is essential for dressing smartly. (Mom, you were right, a tidy room is a happy room.) "Seeing" my clothes clearly, without the added encumbrance of winter bedding, has opened my eyes, and my mind, to how and why I dress as I do. And now, I can go forth and make changes that I think better reflect who I am today.

How do you store winter bedding?

This is about half the pile that I shrunk. It doesn't include a queen-size
 comforter, pillow and 2 large bath sheets

In past years, my closet has become the receptacle for all items needing storage, including winter bedding and guest pillows. I don't need to explain just how much room extra pillows and poufy comforters take up!

This year -- no more! I take back my closets and insist the assorted off-season linens live elsewhere!

One teensy-weensy problem. This stuff won't fit anywhere else, not in it's current state.

So, while talking with a friend on Sunday about cleaning out closets (her's had become the receptacle for her grown children's dolls, games, childhood books and school papers), she suggested I try the vacuum bags that you fill with stuff, then suck the air out with your vacuum. I'd seen these before, but didn't know if they really worked all that well. She assured me that they worked well for her and one of her grown daughters. Ziploc Space Bag is the product.

I picked up a set of these bags from Bed, Bath and Beyond (using a 20% off coupon -- they have coupons in the mail and magazines on a regular basis), brought them home and began stuffing away with blankets, flannel sheets, comforters, duvet cover and shams, king-size mattress pad, guest pillows, and even a couple of nice guest bath towels.

And yes, they really did shrink the size of my pile, by about 1/3 to 1/2. I did discover that I got the maximum shrinkage with the poufier items, like comforters and pillows. Heavy, dense items, like flannel sheets didn't shrink as much, as they already lie fairly flat.

All the bedding, fleece lap throws and towels in 4 space bags

The end result -- I now have been able to get the winter bedding out of my closet and stacked neatly on the top shelf of a hall closet, where before all that had fit was one comforter and 1 pillow.

And, can I tell you a secret? I actually thought this was a fun afternoon. I got a thrill watching all that stuff get shrunk down into tidy, little slabs.

Some tips for using these bags:

• Lay the bag out flat on the floor and just in front of the opening, begin your pile of items to go into the bag, taking into account that your pile needs to be a few inches less in width and length than the bag.
• Fold long and flat. You don't want a bunch of small bundles, but one large mass of layers.

• Slide the pile into the bag all in one shot, and don't overfill. The zipper will pull if you fill above the line near the top edge of the bag.
• After the pile is in the bag, stand the bag on end and shake the items down into the bag a little.
• Run your fingers or the zipper pull along the tracks several times. The zipper pull itself does not work very well, and I had to use my fingers to pinch the zipper closed, and slide the pull back and forth, pinching as I went. (The zipper pull is so flimsy that it flew off the bag on first zip. It's easy to get back on, but almost pointless, as it doesn't work very well.)
• These bags can tear, rendering them useless (of course, I imagine mine will someday be covered with duct tape to cover up gashes, holes and wear spots), so store them away from sharp objects, like a nail sticking out of a closet wall.
• The bags are reusable, but the area that I think will be most likely to fail is right around the vacuum hole and gasket. When opening and closing the vacuum port, hold the surrounding plastic bag in place, with your fingers on the edge of the vacuum port itself, to reduce the possibility of the port tearing away from the bag.
• Your vacuum hose may not fit onto the port exactly (mine didn't). No worries. Just press the vacuum hose up against the port, it will still work just fine.

How and where do you store your winter bedding in the off-season? Have you been blessed with a house with a lot of storage? Or is your situation much like mine, where the family has accumulated more stuff than you have closet space?

There was a bonus benefit. This got me to clean out and organize my closet. I realized that I do indeed have a lot of clothes. I've just gotten into a rut and haven't worn many of the items. 

How to make fruit jello from real fruit or juice

When we begin to tire of some of the fruit we grow in abundance here in the gardens, I look to alternate ways to prepare fruit. Gelatin is an easy, keep-the-kitchen-cool way to make a wholesome, light and delicious dessert. And all it takes is some unflavored gelatin (in the packets or in bulk) and the fruit or juice (plus sugar and lemon juice to taste).

Some suggestions if using whole fruits:

berries, very ripe peaches, nectarines or plums

Some suggestions if using juice:
grape, white grape juice, apple, blueberry, cranberry or any combination of juices 

Using unflavored gelatin is a two-step process.
1) The first step involves separating and softening the gelatin granules. This is achieved by softening the gelatin in cold liquid.

2) The second step actually dissolves the gelatin. Dissolving gelatin requires a hot liquid. If you try to skip the first step, you will wind up with lumps of gelatin in your finished product.

(You may be wondering how you can only follow the second step with packaged jello mixes. Combining gelatin granules with sugar, (as is found in boxed jello), is another way to separate the granules. But as these instructions here concern making jello with minimal added sugar, this won't work well for us.)

To make jello with whole fruit, I use:

4 cups of fresh or frozen fruit (today's jello is made with 3 cups of frozen wild blackberries and a 1 cup of fresh strawberries)
2 packets  (or 2 tablespoons) of unflavored gelatin
sugar (2 to 4 tablespoons, to taste)
lemon juice (1 tablespoon, to taste)
water (to bring the pureed mixture up to 1 quart)

Begin with about 1 quart of berries, or whole fruit, peeled and cut into chunks.

Puree berries/fruit in a food processor or blender, until smooth.

This is 4 cups of pureed blackberries, strawberries, water,
sugar and lemon juice

Measure, and add lemon juice and sugar, to taste. Add water to bring puree up to 4 cups.

In a medium bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1 cup of cold fruit puree. Allow to stand for about 5-10 minutes (in my experience, softening the gelatin requires a bit more time in fruit puree than in juice alone).

Stir into the puree, making sure to break up any clusters of granules (this prevents gelatin lumps in the finished product). You should have something resembling a paste at this point.

Microwave, or heat on the stove, the remaining 3 cups of puree, until bubbling. (This takes about 4 minutes in our microwave.)

Slowly pour 1/3 of the hot mixture over the bowl of cold, gelatin mixture, while stirring constantly. Now pour the small bowl of gelatin/puree into the large hot container of puree and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved, about 2 minutes.

Pour into serving cups or dishes. I like to use these pretty, little Italian canning jars. But fruit saucers and custard cups are also just the right size.

Chill for about 4 hours.

This makes 8  1/2-cup portions.

Add-ins:
Adding softened cream cheese, or silken tofu, to the jello, just before pouring into serving dishes makes a creamy jello dessert. For amounts, reduce the total fruit puree, lemon juice, sugar and water to 3 1/2 cups, total (this will likely mean not adding any water, or just a little). Add 6 to 8 oz of softened cream cheese, or pureed silken tofu to the gelatin/puree mixture, just before spooning into dessert dishes. You can run the entire mixture through a food processor or blender to thoroughly combine, as needed. I make my Creamy Rhubarb Mousse Jello (link to recipe) by adding cream cheese to the rhubarb gelatin.

                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is simply bottled cranberry juice cocktail and gelatin

To make jello using fruit juice (bottled, frozen concentrate or fresh), I use:

4 cups of fruit juice
2 packets or 2 tablespoons of unflavored gelatin
(**optional -- sugar, 1-2 tablespoons, lemon juice, 1-2 teaspoons, all to taste)

In a medium bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1 cup of cold juice. Allow to soften 2 minutes. Stir.

Bring 3 cups of fruit juice to a boil, on the stove or in the microwave. Slowly pour hot juice over softened gelatin, stirring constantly, until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Add optional sugar and lemon juice, to taste, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

Pour into single serving cups or dishes. Chill for 4 hours.

Add-ins:
You can add chunks of fruit, canned or fresh, chopped nuts, mini-marshmallows, whatever sounds fun! Simply pre-chill the full bowl of gelatin for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until thickened, but not set, and stir in the extras. Now spoon into individual dishes, and continue chilling until set.

Pure and fresh, a real fruit gelatin dessert, minus the artificial colors, and artificial flavors.


**Real fruit juice jello will not be nearly as sweet as boxed jello. It's a lot like comparing Kool-Aid drink powders to real fruit juice. I like the refreshing, less-sweet taste of just juice and gelatin. But if you or your family are used to the commercial jello, you may be more pleased with the addition of lemon juice and sugar. You are still cutting out the excess sugar, additives, artificial flavorings and colorings from the boxed varieties.

About the fruits that cause gelatin to not set:

Some fresh fruits contain enzymes which impair gelatin's setting ability. These include fresh figs, papaya, mango, pineapple, prickly pear and kiwi. With exception to the kiwi, you can mediate the enzymes effect on gelatin by boiling these fruits for 5 minutes, before adding to gelatin. Heating the fruit pieces denatures the enzymes, allowing gelatin to set. That is why canned pineapple works in a jello salad, but fresh pineapple does not. The canned pineapple has been processed with heat, denaturing the enzymes.

Likewise, you can use canned/bottled or processed, frozen pineapple, mango, fig or papaya juice to make fruit juice jello, as it's been heat treated. There's a popular jello salad recipe that uses lime jello and canned pineapple juice, for example. The canned pineapple juice works, because it's been heat-treated for canning.

So, avoid kiwi in jello salads. If you want to use fresh pineapple, mango, papaya, prickly pear or fig, you need to boil the fruits or juices for 5 minutes (per the instructions on the Knox website).

Simple patriotic door hanger for the 4th of July

Because, I believe

"that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life,

Liberty

and the pursuit of Happiness."

My yogurt-making save

(for summer posts, see note in left-hand sidebar, under Welcome)

Making more yogurt than will fit in my cooler/incubator

So, y'all know that  I make my own yogurt, right? 

The other day, checking the whole milk supply, I discovered 3 half-gallons of whole milk that needed using right away. 

"I'll just use it all in one big batch of yogurt. No problem," I thought to myself.

I heated the milk, mixed in some starter from the freezer, and poured into glass jars. Only, there was a problem. My cooler/incubator was not large enough to hold all my jars! Ack! 

What to do?  What to do????

I came up with a two-tiered incubator solution that worked incredibly well. 

After placing brim-filled jars into the cooler/incubator, I had one last half-pint that didn't quite fit.

So I moved all the tall jars to one side, and short jars to the other. Then on top of the shorter jars I added a glass bowl, filled with warm water, to incubate that last and final small jar. The lid shut over all of this just right, and all the yogurt incubated nicely. Problem solved.

It occurred to me that this could work to make multiple individual jars of yogurt, for easy brown-bagging. I could use all half-pints, and again make a 2nd tier to incubate double the number of jars. This 2nd tier could be made from a rectangular plastic container, placed on the lids of the bottom layer of jars. 

I'll let you know how that works out . . .

Are you on track with your retirement savings?

(Just so ya' know, I'm not a financial planner, and the information in this post is not designed to be financial planning advice. Make sensible, informed decisions for your own future. As my father used to say, "you're on your own, kid!")

This is a scary question that my husband and I have to grapple with every year. And this is a milestone year for us, as he (that old guy) turned 55 this year. Are we saving enough for our golden years? While, for the moment, it seems like we could just continue earning up till age 70, the reality is that age-related difficulties could cut those earning years short.

Many folks put off saving for retirement until the day when they're finally making The Big Salary. We've just recently seen with this past recession, that day may never come.

We save for our next vacation, to buy a home, to pay for children's education, or to buy a new car, before we put serious thought into how much we save for retirement. Most Americans are not saving enough. The assumption that if we make the minimum contribution, or even a bit above, this will amount to a great amount of money at the end of our working years. But it just does not bear out in reality.

Are you saving enough for your retirement? To figure this out, here's a general rule of thumb that many experts agree upon, based on your income and categorized by age:

By age 35, you should have one (1) times your annual salary

By age 45, you should have three (3) times your annual salary

By age 55, you should have five (5) times your annual salary

By age 67 (what will be the standard retirement age beginning with the tail end of the baby boomers), you should have eight (8) times your annual salary


To add it all up:

1) Take your personal savings/investments that you do not intend to spend until retirement. Don't count in savings to buy a home, or to finance your children's education, (unless the deal with your children is they will pay you back every single cent, in which case I suggest you draw up a legal and binding agreement with them, concerning repayment).

2) Add in any IRAs, 401(k) (or similar) savings through your employer.

3) Add any annual pension or annuity pay-outs (but not Social Security payments) you expect to receive multiplied by 17 (men), or 19 (women). These are the current number of years a person can expect, on average, to live beyond age 67 retirement, here in the US.

4) Add the realistic value of any significant property that you expect to sell at retirement. Do you have a business, practice or partnership that you will be selling your interest in? Do you have a particularly valuable collection (be realistic here, we all think our treasures have value) that you intend to sell to fund retirement (be honest, do you really plan on selling, or were you thinking to pass this on to heirs)? Are you holding land for investment purposes?

How are you doing with your retirement savings?

Are you on track? If not, it's never too late. Take a look at your current budget. Can you make sacrifices someplace to double-up on funding your retirement?

Is there a way you can increase your income? It's a lot easier to work extra hours now while you're young and fit, than it will be when you're 80-something and needing to work a few hours a day, just to pay for your meds.

Can the above figures be scaled back because you feel you have many frugal talents, which could bring your costs for retirement down? Well, yes and no. In the best case scenarios, we'll all be strong, vital and healthy enough to garden, chop wood for heat, cook and bake from scratch every day, and camp for vacations.

But best case scenarios don't always pan out. One spouse may become seriously ill and require so much of the other spouse's time and energy that these frugal activities just can't be fit into a day. Or, if you're counting on your hubby to do the wood chopping, and he no longer can, who will chop your wood? Or will you rely on your furnace (costs money, and older folks tend to like their homes a bit warmer than us young'uns). What if you need elder care or assisted living?

So, if I was guessing for my own circumstances, I might possibly scale the above figures back only 5% and we'd do okay. It's a tough gamble to take. My spouse and I have demonstrated a commitment to frugal living, in the past. But there are so many unknowns looming in our futures.

In addition, retirement can bring it's own financial challenges, such as more free time to shop, dine out and travel, increased medical/healthcare needs, and for some, the feeling like "I've been careful with money all my life, now it's time to live a little".

In my opinion, it's far better to over-save than under-save. If you over-save, worst case scenario, you have a blast spoiling your kids and grandkids rotten, you travel the world, you give generously, you enjoy dining out (and not just the early-bird special), and you leave a tidy little inheritance for the heirs or charities of your choosing. If you under-save, you face many years of scrimping, being less than comfortable, and perhaps feeling a burden on your kids.

If you are still young-ish, and haven't really made serious attempts to save for retirement, get going now. Compounding is an amazing thing. Small amounts saved at age 25 grow to large amounts by age 67. And keep in mind, the longer you can delay retirement, the smaller your next egg needs to be -- stay healthy!

For my husband and I, it looks like we're on track, when we lump together personal savings, IRA's,  401(k)s, and a small pension. Some folks add in the value of their homes. But as we prefer to stay in our home, we've not included its value in our retirement pot. I must say, it's a bit frightening when I open up individual statements, and see such a puny amount put away. But by adding it all together, I can see that we're on track for a comfortable enough retirement. And that is a huge relief. Next milestone, age 60 -- will we still be on target? I can only hope so!

Making homemade hummingbird solution (and a few random hummer tips)

We were up visiting my father-in-law and his wife on Father's Day. Their gardens are absolutely beautiful. Late in the afternoon, the gardens were swarming with hummingbirds, reminding me that I needed to get the hummingbird feeder out of storage and out into our garden. Several years ago we received one of those gorgeous, blown-glass feeders. They can be a bit tricky to use, at first. But with just a few tricks, they are easy to keep drip-free and attracting those hummers.

The ideal food for hummingbirds is the nectar found in the plants they visit. However, there are times when the attractive blooms are either not ready or just passed, and you'd like to keep the hummingbirds around your place for viewing. A sucrose solution is just the thing those hummers need for fuel for their amazing metabolisms. A quick feed will give them the energy to hunt down some insects for protein.

A popular hummingbird feeding location can mean going through gallons of sugar solution every month. The store bought stuff is really an unnecessary expense.

I make my own solution with a blend of 4 parts water and 1 part white cane sugar.  Some speculate that cane sugar is more attractive to hummingbirds than beet sugar. So, to get a good viewing of hummers, I stick with the cane.

I use regular tap water (not softened, too many salts for the birdies). And I make only a week or two's worth at a time (even sugar water can grow mold).

I use the boil method, to prolong the refrigeration life of my solution, and store in a sterile jar (I just add a jar to my sterilizing kettle when I'm making jam or yogurt).

Simply:

Place 1 part sugar and 4 parts water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 2 minutes. Turn stove off and cool before filling the feeders.

If you are hanging a feeder in your yard for the first time this season, or ever, you can also do a 3:1 ratio of water to sugar, as an attractant for the first fill-up. Then switch to the standard 4:1 for the next. 

This 4:1 formula has actually been studied and determined to be an ideal solution for the hummer's metabolism, and most closely approximates the ratio of flower nectar that hummingbirds normally feed on.

Store any leftovers in a sterile jar in the fridge and use within 2 weeks. Throw out any cloudy or discolored solution, or solution with mold growing on it. 

If you want to make a large batch ahead of time, you can freeze leftovers in portions necessary for each fill-up. Bring to room temp before adding to your feeder.

• Check your feeders daily, for refilling or tossing out old/cloudy solution.
• Don't add red food coloring, salt or anything other than the plain tap water and white cane sugar. Don't add honey (can spoil rapidly once water is added), or sugar in the raw (too high iron content for hummingbirds).
• You don't need red nectar, or a red feeder, just something on your feeder near the port where hummers feed that is red. A red end, or even a piece of red plastic tape wrapped near the end should be enough to attract hummingbirds.
• Hang in a partly shady spot, near shrubs and trees to which hummingbirds are naturally attracted. If you're using a glass globe, or other gravity feeder, solution heated up in the sun will be more likely to leak. As well, wasps and bees seem to prefer being in the sun, and you'll have fewer insect problems with your feeder, by placing it in partial shade.
• If bees and wasps persist, try increasing the water in your formula to a 5:1 ratio. It's less appealing to flying pests.
• Wipe the outside off with a damp cloth after hanging. Syrupy stickiness seems to attract wasps and bees.
• And just an FYI, it can take a few days for the hummers to find your feeder. Be patient. If no hummers have found yours after a week, try moving it just a bit closer to some bright red or purple flowers.
• Once a week, clean out your feeder with warm water (no soap), a bottle brush and pipe cleaner (to reach inside feeding tube). If mold has become an issue, you can also soak in equal parts white vinegar and water. Then, follow-up with a hot water rinse. This should also be done once per month, to disinfect the feeder.

Do you have one of those difficult to use, but simply beautiful, glass globe feeders like ours? A big complaint is that they leak. Mine did too, at first. With a few tweaks mine was made leak-proof. First, I shoved the straw all the way up to the top of the stopper. Then I filled the globe to the brim, so much so, that when I pushed the stopper in as far as I could, a bit of syrup oozed out. Taking it outside, I quickly turned the whole thing over, and voila -- no leaks.

Next month, our garden club has an expert coming to speak on hummingbirds. I'm excited to hear what she has to say! I'll relay any info I glean from this meeting.

10 ways I'll be saving water in my garden this summer

You would think that in rainy Seattle, we wouldn't give a thought to conserving water in summer. But in reality, the months of July, August and September are very dry. We do what we can to minimize water waste in our yard, but still keeping the plants healthy looking.

I've listed 10 of the ways we'll be saving water on our gardens this summer. Maybe something here will spark an idea in you. Share your tips in the comments. I'm always looking for new ways to conserve.


1) Soaker Hoses

Instead of watering an entire area (and encouraging weed growth in bare patches), I use soaker hoses to water specific plants and areas. I use leader hoses (non-porous hoses) to bridge the gap between the faucet and the area to be soaked.

2) Mulch Plants 
For the most part, I use free mulch -- coffee grounds (both from Starbucks and home), dried shredded leaves, grass clippings, compost, and when I see a tree company in the neighborhood, I always ask if they're trucking the clippings somewhere, and ask if they'd like to dump them in our driveway. I've gotten a lot of free branch chips this way.

3) Donut Berms
With trees and shrubs that are newly planted this year, I'm making donut-shaped mounds of soil to surround the trunk of the shrub/tree, keeping clear about 6 inches or so from the trunk itself. These berms prevent run-off of water, keeping it near the root zone of these new babies.

4) Homemade Drip Irrigation For The Yard

Using 1 gallon milk jugs, flip the jug over.

Poke 2, 3 or 4 holes into the bottom of the jug, with a nail, corkscrew or ice pick (I use a cork screw, and just screw it through the plastic).

Add a few small stones to the jug to keep it from blowing away on a windy day.

this is rain water, hence the dirty coloring

Place on soil near shrubs, fill with water, replace cap, but leave it just a tad loose, so air can come in as water seeps out. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour for the water to seep out, minimizing run-off. Refill as necessary. Great for places where you don't want an entire length of soaker hose, or are too far away from any water supply.


5) Homemade Drip Irrigation for Potted Plants 
Using 1 or 2 litre bottles with lids and a power drill with very small drill bit,

drill or poke 1 hole into the cap of the bottle.

Flip the bottle over and drill 1 hole into the bottom of the bottle.

bad photo, I know --
trying to get a pic of the hole drilled into the bottom

Hold 1 finger over the hole on the bottom of bottle, and fill with water, place cap back on.

Turn upside down and bury slightly in your pot of plants.

The water slowly seeps into the soil, instead of a huge rush of water that happens with a hose or can, and most of which then comes back out the base of the pot. In my pots, these take about 20-35 minutes (small vs. large bottles) to drain into the soil. These can also be used on house plants, tucked in the back of the pot, they're less noticeable and your plant will thank you for the continual sips of water.

6) Saving Kitchen Water
I have 2 watering cans, I keep one down by the rain barrel, the other I keep up on the deck, just outside the kitchen door. I wash lettuce and other leafy greens in a salad spinner. I dump that rinse water into the watering can on the deck, to be used to water plants up near the house.


7) Rain Barrels

We have 2 rain barrels under downspouts from rain gutters on our house and garage. Typically, the rain water lasts until late June to early July. One good rainfall in summer will fill each can to the top, and we'll be good on water again for a week or two.

8) Letting The Lawns Go Without Watering

We don't water the lawns in summer. The front lawn won't dry up until early August. But the back lawn will stay green all summer, due to shade.

We mow less frequently in summer, and keep the mower blade set to 3 inches. Longer grass blades shade the root zone and slow any evaporation of rain or dew. It may not look as prim and tidy as a short lawn, but it will stay green longer.

Also, with the front lawn, once June hits, we leave the clippings on the lawn, as a mulch. We bag the back lawn clippings, as that lawn stays green, we don't want to be tracking in grass all summer, and we can use those clippings as mulch around shrubs.

9) Repairing Hose Ends

We've driven over the ends of some of our hoses that were left in the driveway. This leaves the metal screwing end of the hose slightly crimped, just enough to keep the hose from sealing to a soaker hose properly (spraying water all over a walkway or driveway).

I've bought one of these inexpensive hose end repair kits and will be attempting to repair the hose myself (first time for doing this -- hope it's easy). Likewise, with hose reels which have developed leaks where the hose attaches to the reel. Ours needs a repair with some watertight glue and a crimping band. I'll be attempting to make this leak-free once more.

10) Relocating Plants to the Correct Placement for Their Sun and Water Needs
In our dry patches (which believe it or not we do have here in the pacific northwest), sedums and other succulents are the way to go. I am slowly moving these succulents to the dry spots where I don't wish to spend my precious summer hours with a watering can. In addition, I have some water-loving plants which could really benefit from being placed out of direct, hot sun. A little plant swap is in the plans.

Ten of the ways we'll be saving water this summer. I remember a time when water was so cheap and plentiful, my parents didn't give much thought to water conservation. But times have certainly changed, haven't they? Do you have any tricks for saving water in summer?

A case for cooking with single-ingredient foods

What is a single-ingredient food product? It's a food product that either needs no ingredient label at all (whole fruits, vegetables or grains), or when you turn the package over, the list is short, maybe just the base food and water (and maybe salt), or possibly some vitamins and minerals added (as in the case of liquid milk).

In the last two decades, there has been an explosion of flavorings, colorings and additives to the foods that line our supermarket shelves. Foods that used to be so simple, have now been re-created as complex products, with proprietary information that is rarely divulged to the general public. Have you ever phoned a food manufacturer for ingredient information? You would think I was asking for the top secret pass code to the vault at Fort Knox. All I wanted to know is, what goes into a brand's flavored coffee?

Single-ingredient foods seem to be passing the way of the covered wagon. Nostalgic to think about, but not really profitable for the giant food manufacturers. And this is a problem.

Food manufacturers have been working to create ultra-appealing products, through the use of added ingredients, such as flavorings, colors and other additives. Teams of market researchers work in tandem with kitchen chemists to produce more lemony lemonade, yellow-er cakes, cheesier-appearing mac and cheese, and softer whole grain breads, than any home-cook can do using basic ingredients. These contrived food products are as enticing in their aroma and looks, as they are memorable on your tongue.

Check that box of cake mix in your pantry. Are there any colors added? A common trick of the trade is to add coloring to the mix, to fool you into thinking the product is richer in flavor. Do you know what? I don't like to be fooled. I had to bake a cake using a mix last month. It was yellow cake mix, and it called for whole eggs added to the dry mix. So, it should have come out yellow on it's own, right? My scratch-baked yellow cakes always come out yellow. But the manufacturer of the mix didn't think their product would be quite YELLOW enough. More yellow coloring implies richer flavor.

A product with more implied flavor, sells better. Plain and simple. The main goal of the major food manufacturers is to get you hooked. You see a boxed product on the shelf. It looks better than you have ever baked from scratch. And so, you return to the supermarket, week after week, to buy your family's new favorite manufactured food products. Don't be deceived by the pretty picture on the front of the box. Always check the ingredients to know what you're buying.

Besides being deceptive, why is ultra-enhancing a food product a problem? Well, for starters, how can you get a child to choose a plain piece of fruit over a additive-filled, super colorful, aroma-enticing pouch of fruit snacks? And it isn't just children. Fully grown adults have trouble making the healthier selections. Have you ever made scratch mac and cheese? It was probably a pale shade of cheesy orange, in comparison to the blue-box mac and cheese product. You set the two dishes side by side, scratch-made mac and cheese, and blue-box mac and cheese. I think that the bright orange stuff is going to have a lot of appeal for the non-nutrition savvy person. And yet, the scratch made mac and cheese, if made well, can be a main course, with protein, calcium, and whole grains. While the blue-box stuff is best left as a side dish to an otherwise healthy meal. So, nutritive value is another very compelling reason to opt for the close-to-nature version of our foods.

The other significant problem with these ultra-enhanced food products affects so many in our population. These extra ingredients, even in minute amounts, cause allergic or sensitivity problems for many of us. Case in point, I have a strong allergy to malted barley flour and extract (as well as some gluten sensitivity). I had bought a small bag of decaf French vanilla flavored coffee for myself to have as a calorie-free treat, without even thinking about the ingredients. It's coffee, right? How bad can that be?

So, I was enjoying my cups of flavored coffee, over the course of a month or so, and I wind up with a severe gluten sensitivity reaction, the one that brought me back to GF living. But I didn't realize that it was this coffee that I may have been slowly poisoning myself with. (Obviously, without lab testing, I can't be 100% certain, but with a series of eliminations, it appears that this was one of the culprits, at the least.) No where on the packaging was there any mention of malted barley extract. It simply stated that it was artificially flavored.

After about 2 weeks of feeling pretty good on a GF and dairy-free diet, I had another reaction. I scoured my food journal and could not come up with one single slip. I had been faithful to the GF thing, completely. No eating out, cooking all my food at home, watching out for cross-contamination in the kitchen. The only change I could identify was that I had run out of my plain decaf coffee and been using the artificially-flavored French vanilla every day, several times per day. I went online. Did some research, and discovered that I am not the first to have a gluten or allergic reaction to this kind of coffee or artificial vanilla flavor in general.

It appears that, in the US at least, some artificial vanilla flavoring is made with some sort of malted barley extract. This does not have to be listed on a product like artificial flavorings or flavored coffees, here in the US. Simply "artificial flavorings" is enough in labeling. Well, not only do I have some gluten sensitivity, but I am also allergic to malted barley. I've known this for 25 years, and have done a good job reading labels on food products and avoiding ones which clearly state this as an ingredient. But some things have managed to slip past me over the years.

Recently, I had been sipping "poison" several times per day, completely oblivious to any possibility that I was bringing harm upon myself. The flavored coffee has since been put away. My husband, who does not have gluten or malted barley issues, will probably enjoy the last few cups. And I am symptom-free once again.

I never paid close enough attention to all-purpose flour, either, in my home-baking, thinking that if I made it at home, then I was in control of the ingredients. Well, in my kitchen audit this last month, I really read all packages, including my 50-lb sack of all-purpose flour. Malted barley flour is an added ingredient to many US brands of all-purpose flour, as it feeds yeast, caramelizes the crust and improves texture and flavor of many baked goods. It's typically not added to 100% whole wheat flour, just so you know.

I had always known not to eat malted barley extract, but not thought about malted barley flour. If I return to gluten baking for myself, I'll be trying one of the brands that is free from malted barley flour.

And what about artificial vanilla flavoring that we buy in small bottles for home baking? I have started another batch of home-brewed, real vanilla, but it won't be done infusing for another couple of months. So, to tide us over, I bought a small bottle of artificial vanilla. All the ingredients' listing states is "water, sugar, caramel color, artificial flavor, citric acid, sodium benzoate". There is no information on the ingredients used in the artificial flavor. I had been adding this artificial vanilla extract to my gluten-free brownies, for the past month, and did have a few stressful days, when I ate more than a couple of the brownies. Here I thought I was "being good" in my eating.

If I had been smart to begin, I would have researched every ingredient that went into my home cooking/baking. You live a little, you learn a lot. I know better now.

So where does this leave me? My cooking (and eating) style has shifted to using primarily single-ingredient foods. I've cooked and baked this way, for the most part, for years. But now I'll be even more diligent about what I consume. Any multiple-ingredient foods that I cook with will be scrutinized. That means I may be making my own ketchup, worcestershire and steak sauces this summer. I'll forgo manufactured extracts and flavorings. Even something as simple as baking powder has more ingredients on the label than are really necessary. A home-blend of cream of tarter and baking soda will work well in practically all baking (you just can't "hold" the batter or dough, once the dry and wet ingredients are mixed, without losing some of the leavening power). I'm now very glad that I make yogurt, bake bread, can salsa, pickles and chutney, and make pie dough from scratch. These activities that seem so very homemake-y, are the very activities that will keep potentially allergenic and sensitive food products and additives out of our family's diet. When you cook or bake using single-ingredient foods, you can see in an instant, the harm or health you'll bring to the table.


You may not have any food allergies or sensitivities in your household. But you may care about the wholesomeness of your meals. Cooking and baking from scratch, using single ingredients, will deliver whole foods' nutrition and save you some money, to boot. What's to lose?!

What's growing in my garden

When I buy hydrangeas from the garden center, they look like this. But after a couple of years in the ground . . .

. . . they come up like this, and only have 2 or 3 blooms per bush. I'm planning on keeping the hydrangeas well-watered this summer, in hopes that will help with more blooms in future years. Do you have a knack with hydrangeas? What is your secret?

This is the area of the woodland gardens that I've been working on this spring -- lilies of the valley, hydrangeas, hostas, grape hyacinths, rhododendrons, and in fall, I'll plant a bunch of yellow daffodils under the river rock. I still have a bunch of work to do on this area, but I have ALL summer to finish digging out the salal, haul rocks, add mulch, stepping stones, etc.

Basil looks good this year. I've got it in a large trough-style planter on the deck. In my yard, basil does best in large pots on the deck.

Now lookie what I found! If the seed packet was correctly labeled, this is an itty bitty eggplant. Imagine that, here in the cool pacific northwest I have an eggplant growing!

On a whim, I planted a purple potato. They had purple seed potatoes for just a few pennies a piece at the produce stand last month. So I bought a couple of purple and a couple of Yukon Gold, to go with my regular garden potatoes.

The four strawberry beds are looking full this year. Strawberries are just beginning to ripen here. Beyond the strawberries is the raspberry hedge. Bees are busy as ever in the raspberries this week. Should be a good year for both strawberries and raspberries. And that's a good thing, because . . .

 . . . the blueberry harvest will be poor this year. Only 3 of my 8 bushes have a significant number of blossoms. Last year was a stellar year for blueberries here. Maybe the plants have gotten into an alternate bearing habit, or maybe we didn't have enough winter chill hours this year. In any case, it looks like I'll actually be buying blueberries this summer. And that's not the only fruit that isn't going to be super-productive this year.

The apple trees just have a handful of apples on each. We'll probably take a day to go apple picking at a local orchard in late summer, early fall.

My rosemary is doing very well this year. I've got the two plants in large pots on the deck. I've been taking snips for roasted rosemary potatoes this last month. Mmmm, I do love rosemary!
Can't wait to bake some rosemary bread.

And finally, some impatiens that I planted in a pot next to the kitchen door, late last week. I planted these just for smiles. I'm taking really good care of them, giving a jar of water every other day, and adding some bloom-boosting fertilizer. I'm hoping the pot will be bushy with blossoms by the 4th of July. They look like lipstick, don't they?

So now you know what's growing here, tell me, what's growing in your garden?

This and that: Prom, frugal-style and Gluten-free Brownie Bites

This . . . Prom, frugal-style

I guess they do look a bit alike.
Someone asked them the other day if they were sisters. Ya think?

I was talking with my sister on the phone the other day. She has a son and two step-sons, no daughters. Her girlfriends, who do have daughters, were telling her that prom was a huge expense these days. Dresses can run several hundred dollars. Professional hair stylists and make-up artists are hired. Jewelry and shoes are purchased just for the event. You get the picture. Anyways, my sister was asking me if prom was expensive for our two daughters. Oh, did I ever get a laugh out of that. I hadn't really thought about staying within a budget for prom. We just did prom the way we do most things, frugal-style.

So, this is prom, frugal-style.

One daughter wore a dress that she had sewn for herself last summer. She wore sandals and a pair of my pantyhose. She used a gift card (Christmas present from her brother) to buy some costume jewelry. She borrowed my electric curlers, and used a touch of her own lip gloss.

My other daughter went to Value Village (thrift shop) on 50% off day, and spent a whopping $5 for a dress. She, too, wore sandals, but chose to go bare-legged. She borrowed a bit of eye-liner, used her own mascara and lip gloss (my girls are not into make-up yet). She wore earrings that I gave to her for her birthday and a necklace that belonged to my mom as a girl.

Tickets were $25 per student. My daughters' school does prom really cool, I think. Everyone comes single, so that it doesn't feel like a couples-only thing. Then, for the price of the ticket, they provide a catered dinner, karaoke, talent competition, video dance games and dancing. It's a very fun night, and not at all pricey.

Anyway, I just had to laugh a bit, when my sister asked if prom was expensive for us. We weren't trying to do this frugally. It just turned out that way.

And that . . .

Now, for the other thing on my list today -- the recipe for Gluten-free Dark Chocolate Brownie Bites.

Basically I've just adjusted my regular brownie recipe. As these are strictly for me (sorry, I don't share my chocolate), I make them how I like them, less sweet and more chocolate. This recipe makes 12 mini-muffin size brownie bites. I've made these with both home-ground rice flour and commercial rice flour. The commercial ones are definitely smoother. But in a pinch, I'm happy to have the grain-ier home-ground ones as well. My brownie bites are not chewy, but closer to torte-like.

1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (brown rice flour, millet flour and xanthan or guar gum -- my blend is here, if you need an approximation, use 2 tablespoons rice flour, 2 tablespoons millet flour, 1/16th teaspoon xanthan or guar gum)
3/8 cup cocoa powder

In a small bowl, beat together egg, sugar, salt and vanilla, until light. 

Add melted butter. Continue beating until thoroughly blended.

Mix in GF flour blend and cocoa powder.

Place cupcake papers into a mini muffin tin. I also like to spray the papers with non-stick cooking spray, so that not a speck of the brownies stick to the paper (I take my chocolate seriously, and don't want any wasted). This is probably not totally necessary. But it's what I do.

We all know why we really make brownies, to eat the batter, right? Brownie batter is one of the best kitchen creations, IMO. But, unless you're going to eat all that batter today, you might as well bake some of these up.  So, scoop a spoonful of the batter into each muffin section.

I have no self-control -- I ate one right away, before I could get a picture
these are done cake-style, btw

Bake at 350 degrees F, for 12-13 minutes for gooey brownies, or 14 minutes for cake brownies. The cake brownies are still dense, due to the extra cocoa powder, not light and airy, as some cake-like brownies can be.

Store in a covered container. I've enjoyed these a week after baking, but never later than that. They don't last any longer with me around!