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6 ways to save
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doghead said:
on November 17, 2009 03:56 AM ET
6 ways to save: (These have to do with food - which is the biggest drain on our budget - and smallish repairs - also a drain on our budget): 1. Some low-income seniors are eligible for using food banks. In Oregon, anyway, you can get a copy of the food banks in your area by calling the Department of Human Services - they could send you a list of food banks in your area. It's a little bit of work calling all those places to find out their upper income limit, but it's worth it. If it's tough for you to get around, consider asking one of your children or grandchildren to pick up the food for you - I'm sure the food bank would make arrangements for this. Some food banks do deliver, also, if it's hard for you to get out of the house. 2. Buy a large freezer - I believe it will pay for itself in saved food. Many older female folks like myself have been taught by their Depression-era parents how to can and freeze. (Many males do too - I'm not trying to be sexist here! But if you don't know how, consider getting a book on stocking up foods for using later.) If it's tough for you to go to U-pick places, consider, as # 1 above, getting your children or grandchildren to do it for you. Also, Consider making large batches of main or side dishes,(last contest's slow-cooking recipes are a winner here!) then dividing it into meal-size portions, labeling it, dating it and freezing it. 3. Per the above, if you like to can, create a space in your house or apartment for canned foods. Depending on what you can, you might need a pressure canner. Do the same as #2 above except making large batches of main or side dishes (although you could if you are ambitious and really know what you are doing) 4. Grow your own herbs and spices. Consult a nursery to find out which ones grow best in your area. If you own a computer, you can google for how to grow them in your area - many universities in your general area have publications on the internet for how to grow different plants. Depending on how much space you use (usually they don't take up much space) you wouldn't destroy your water bill and you could still get good quantities of herbs and spices. (See # 5 below, related to this one.) 5. Consider buying a food dehydrator. Not just for fruit rolls and such, but to dry home-grown herbs or fruits from the food bank for seasoning and teas. I dry my own mint tea, basil, lemon and orange zest, and ginger (cut up ginger root and dry it, then grind it in a coffee grinder, then dry it) , and they taste much better than what you can buy in the stores, not to mention saving money (The prices of store-bought herbs and spices around here is outrageous!) You can even grind up celery in a blender (cut it up and cover the cut-up celery in the blender with water, grind in blender, then lay on the drying trays) or a food processor, I suppose, (I have never owned one) and keep it in used spicejars to add as seasoning for stews, soups, etc. You can chop onions and dry them also. I slice up my own mushrooms and dry them all the time. To add to your food, or to make tea, just use the herbs and spices as you would regularly, but mushrooms and onions take a little while longer to reconstitute and a litle goes a long way. 6. When it comes to smallish repairs around the house, you might be able to avoid hiring someone. ($$$$). You could do it yourself! There is an excellent, easy-to-read book called DARE TO REPAIR (meant for women, although the directions would work for anyone - male or female) by Julie Sussman & Stephanie Glakas-Tenet. I have used it to repair, unclog, patch, spackle, etc. (although I must not have very good manual dexterity or something - I still can't snake the toilet to save my life!) Also, a little tip I learned for painting - if you need to both paint the walls and stain the moldings and you don't want to remove the moldings and later nail them back on - is to mask the moldings, then paint the wall, let it dry, then mask the wall immediately above the moldings and stain the moldings! Hope this helps someone! (some of it involves learning new things, but I never believe that you "can't teach an old dog new tricks" - consider (1) Edison invented the light bulb when he was 80 or so, and (2) you're not a dog! Humans can learn new "tricks" all the time, and they are doing it in this change-change-change world!) For obtaining all these items like food dehydrator, freezer, coffee grinder, pressure canner, etc. consider the excellent suggestion I saw on this post about swapping instead of buying.
Best, Doghead - I'm not a dog either - "Doghead" is a word my husband uses when he doesn't want to cuss!
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Thank you! I admire what you are doing in spite of your disability. You know, you happen to like the same kind of garden I like! We do have a lawn now because my husband likes lawns and because he is hoping our twin grandchildren - a girl and a boy - will be able to play on it, which I think is a good reason. (They are actually his grandchildren by blood and mine by marriage - his 1st wife and him had his children, if you follow me.)
Maybe I can "follow my dream" by taking classes here and there. However, right now my husband - who is the physically disbled one - I am the "learning disability-among-other-things disabled one" takes a good deal of care. In fact I often have only 1 hour to go to my computer because there is so much to do during the day. (One of my cognitive disability problems is that I can't organize very well - another one is that I forget almost everything I am supposed to do to the point that I have to write down everything in order to get thru each day.)In spite of this I manage the whole house and the outside too. He has a brain injury which means he is cognitively impaired as well as physically impaired, and most days he can't even walk but short distances. So it is a busy life for me. I do manage to plant & keep a vegetable garden (plus raspberries) each year and water the plants in the summer (just about every day in those hot Oregon summers) so maybe if I can plan something I can do some studying - it will require a lot of practice on my part to plan each day and stay focused. (One of my untreated problems is ADHD.) I'll do my best. Maybe soon you'll hear from me that I am taking some classes!
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I, too, am partially disabled, but not on disability. I have dropfoot in my right foot which has been broken 3 times + vertebrae problems in my neck & back - all due to being in a total of 13 car accidents over my 59 years on this earth. I was the passenger in 10 of them - 3 with a high school boyfriend, 3 with my husband, 1 with a friend & 1 with each of my sisters - the driver in 3, 2 of which were when I hit patches of black ice during the Winter. So, because I can't do all the lifting & hauling involved with landscaping, I've concentrated on getting to know more about plants & using them in designing landscapes.
I posted some photos on my profile of what I've designed for my garden here. I don't want a lawn to mow, so I've used ornamental grasses, trees, shrubs, flowers, groundcovers, stone & decorative mulches in the front & front side yards. I want to put a vegetable bed & a small grassy area in the back near my gardening shed - just because its good to have some grass mixed in the compost. I want the strip of grass to be small enough that all I'll need to keep it short will be a small, push reel mower. I don't believe in contaminating the air, soil & peace of the rural landscape with more gasoline-powered tools than are already in use. I try to live as naturally as I can in most aspects of my life.
If you're still physically able to do landscaping I'd encourage you to persue it. Is there a local garden club in your area? Some are affiliated with the county, town, city, etc., while others work in concert with a local university or school. They usually offer courses that are on evenings & weekends at a lower cost & let you take whatever courses are needed for certification as a floral designer, landscaper, landscape designer, master gardener, etc. over your own timeline. For questions about certain plants, etc. each state has a cooperative extension office that residents can contact. Some of them also offer courses throughout the year on various subjects; plus, many of them have a local program on your PBS station that airs twice a week or so.
Hope you find some of this info helpful in fulfilling your goal of becoming involved with landscaping. Follow your dream!
Dear kaj1951:
My email shows that you sent another reply to me, but I can't find it. Plus my computer errors out sometimes when I try to find that new reply. did you actually send another reply to me? If you did, may I ask you to send it again? I'm sorry. Something seems funny with my computer.
Thanks!
Doghead (Lauren)
Dear Cydunne,
Excuse me! I'm really impressed! I had no idea you were so well versed in gardening! That is wonderful. I am actually on Social Security Disability at the time (mostly cognition and memory problems) after 2 years at university and then working at various jobs, mostly printing, cooking and clerical - for 25 years. But I think even with those disabilities I could garden commercially. I would like to go back to school as a landscaper, but that is precluded because my husband sustained a brain injury at age 20 (he is now 45 almost 46 and also on Social Security Disability) and he has a lot of residual effects from that brain injury, mostly pain, loss of cognitive and memory abilities. I have to take care of him now more than ever before, it seems (we've been together 13 years). It takes up a lot of my time. Not that I mind it - we are very much in love.
Who knows - maybe some day he will be healed and I can go to school. He likes to garden too, and knows quite a bit about it himself. It sure is gratifying to see those plants (garden plants as well as veggies and fruits) grow up after I've followed the instructions - soil testing, amending the soil, planting and transplanting, etc. J'adore les plantes (french - I love plants!) Great good luck with your gardening and your endeavors too!
Best,
Doghead (Lauren)
I have about 25 gardening books + a 12-volume set of garden reference books in ringed binders, some of which I haven't unpacked yet (I've only been in my house 1 year last month), so I can't say for sure if I've read the particular book you reference. I get monthly gardening magazines & I took a lot of gardening courses at the Civic Garden Club in Rochester to get certified as a floral designer. I spend time with people who had success growing plants I'm interested in.
I haven't had the time yet to get that involved here. I've mostly done research on-line, or contacted the NC Cooperative Extension program to find out what I need to know at that time. Once I get more settled in, I hope to take whatever courses I need to take in NC to become a certified Master Gardener in this area of the country. As for the plants that are acting peculiar this year, I brought about 45 plants from NY down here & put them in a raised bed over last Winter, then transplanted most of them again this Spring/Summer into garden beds. Some seems to do OK, even blooming in season, although not profusely - but then they died back earlier than normal. I'm going to leave them where they are over this Winter & see what happens next Spring. Could be trama of being transplanted twice in 8 months, going from a Zone 5 to a Zone 7a or the difference in the soil between NY to the raised bed to the ground bed. Its all an adventure.
Couldn't seem to get through the hot/humid Summer here without help in the garden, so I have to acclimate to that, too. Just reinforces my favorite season as being Fall, then Spring, & now its Winter in NC, whereas in NY it was Summer. When I get used to the heat, I'm sure that Summer will go back to the 3rd position in my ranking of seasons.
Friends who moved from NY to NC & brought about 20 plants with them said they lost half of them over the first 2 years. I hope I have better luck. So far I've totally lost 5 plants & there are another 7 that are in question. All the rest appear to have made it through the 1st year. There are also some plants I bought from local sources that I've never grown before, so I'm not sure how they behave over the Winter. I ought to have a very interesting Spring this coming year! Good luck with your gardening!!
Yep - I was born Lauren Louise Peterson (I'm married and my last name is Chilson now) in the little tiny town (then) of Coos Bay, Oregon in November 1955.
My dad told me I was named after Lauren Bacall. I only met two other Laurens my age, one is a high school classmate, and one is my current doctor.
In those days Lauren wasn't a common name for girls so I got called Laureen, Lorraine, Laverne, and sometimes received mail addressed to Mr. Lauren Peterson. At a young age I changed it to Laurie, then went back to Lauren in about 1986. When Lauren Hutton was famous as a model, a very large group of girls were named Lauren. Now I know lots of Laurens, but most of them are lots younger than me.
You sound like you read the Sunset Garden Book. do you? I found it helpful, and I found VERY helpful getting the web address of a nearby college that has agriculture in its curriculum. Usually they tell you specifically how to grow certain plants. Very helpful.
Take care!
Lauren (doghead)
Can't believe your name is Lauren! I have a college friend I keep in touch with named Lauren, another elementary friend named Laura, a cousin Lori, and a recent acquaintance named Laurie. I seem to keep meeting people with same names as my sisters - Sherry, Donna & Mary - or my cousins Gerrie & Cheryl, although some names are spelled differently.
As for different things being able to be grown in different climates - I'm just finding out the difference between things I grew in western NY & what will grow & when in western NC. Its 2 zones difference, but some plants that say they're good in zones 5 to 8, still don't seem to grow too well in this zone 7. I figure it'll take me a few years to find the ins & outs of gardening here, but I enjoy the fruits of my labors because I get a real lift out of arranging the ferns, flowers, leaves & stems in decorative ways + eating the veggies, nuts & fruits from either my yard, or those of my neighbors.
Dear Cydunne,
Thank you for your kind comments! When I first heard my husband explain "Doghead!" I thought it was a kick! Also I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that always valued learning - at any age.
As I said to kaj1951, I suppose I was lucky, too. My mother was a Depression child but she was raised in the breadbasket of Oregon - the Willamette Valley. (grows and sells lots of fruits, vegetables, wine, wheat and nuts.) I was in Coos Bay, Or till I was 9 and it's a seafood- and dairy-rich area. I suppose lots of places can't necessarily use my hints - for instance, in Edmonton, Canada where I lived for a year, it's too cold to grow apples or peaches. They rely mostly on wheat and oil for their exports and I don't think they can grow much of any fruit or vegetables locally.
Thanks again!
Best,
Doghead (Lauren)
