Firstly, I have come to quite enjoy using two Splenda tabs with my organic stevia; it cuts some of the very mild bitter flavor from the stevia and makes a sweetness combination that really appeals to me. Today I just kept my little box of tabs in my pocket and pulled it out for coffee time.
This stuff is starting to grow on me.
It works really great combined with my stevia.
Also on the "freebie" side of life, I have been getting tons of written off food items and passing them along to my chickens. They seem to really love chicken salad (is it wrong that I am somewhat turning them into cannibals?) and other softer items... and apples! I dice the apples and other larger veggies up a bit so they can pick at the insides better. Since we are out of grain to feed them, I think the free items from work that humans don't want (or won't eat) will become my primary method of feeding my chickens. I have enough in my fridge still to feed them for a few days on top of whatever I'll get on Wednesday when I go back to work. I'm glad chickens will eat pretty much anything! On a sad note, we've lost our rooster (disappeared three days ago), one more chick (Chris stepped on it; we have eight left)... and I haven't seen our other hen today (she might be hiding out under my house AGAIN). I hope at least the second hen turns up.
So, here we go again with garden related items. My first issue came up when I went out to check on my zucchinis that are growing (I had three that were pretty good sized and not far from needing to be picked). I took a close look at one of them and noticed something... amiss.
Snails are NOT friends of the garden.
Don't get me wrong, I kind of think snails are cute, but I find that my enjoyment of snails greatly decreases when I find them devouring one of the few squash I have in my garden. Needless to say, this group of snails went to the concrete and got obliterated by my foot. I am going to have to keep a close eye out for more; I found this huge one yesterday on my stevia and relocated it to my chickens' pen area eventually.
Found this guy on my stevia yesterday.
My daughter (4 y.o.) was NOT amused and wanted it off her.
I am looking at a good jalapeno harvest I think, however. My potted pepper plant looks very nice and is starting to get loaded with blooms and baby fruit. I got a great picture of it from a funny angle!
One of my favorite garden pics.
Jalapenos are on the way; this plant is very healthy.
I am not the biggest fan of hot peppers, but I'll find some way of using these guys, even if it's a very minute amount in stir frys that I do for myself with other veggies. I know better than to use the inside ribs or the seeds though; they are way too spicy for my tastes and not removing them in the past made me waste a whole set of stuffed peppers I was doing! (Great tip for those of you not familiar with hot peppers - the white "ribs" and the seeds are the hottest parts; carefully removing all of those and just using the greener parts of the pepper - or whatever color your pepper is - will remove a large part of the spice of it!)
The herbs are especially growing well; I don't have any pictures that do them justice, but my dill, basil and chives are all thriving in their respective parts of the garden or the pots. I did take a picture of my four or five foot bed where I have a few plants living - including my huge peppermint plant.
Leftmost: Purple bell peppers (yeah they are tiny)
Middle: monstrous peppermint bush.
Far right: Lavender plant which has been doing better.
I'm really hoping my two little purple bell pepper plants greatly increase their growth rate sometime this season so I can get a couple of peppers from them perhaps. They really are struggling, but the topmost one especially is growing albeit in a super slow fashion. I'd say this peppermint bush, at the widest point, is close to three feet wide... and it definitely is still growing. I had to push it back from the peppers so they could get a bit more light and have space to grow.
I ate for free for a few days thanks to a lot of free squash (today the last bit of those went to the chickens; they were getting mushy). I made a few dishes, one of which was free tomato basil goat feta mixed in the pan cooked squash.
Pretty good tasting dish for being entirely free.
Feeding myself, since I eat so little processed foods and no grains, is never a cheap matter if it involves me shopping. I am glad to take home a few very slightly imperfect veggies so I get to have free meals for a little bit. The chickens even appreciate them once they get too mushy!
How are y'all keeping it freebie? I would love to hear from anyone that wants to comment or chat about homesteading, either. Leave me some feedback!
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