Mini Homestead -Week 4

No real changes for week 3. My plants from week 1 got waterlogged and stared fresh. I moved the sunflowers and cucumbers to my garden. My niece helped me with last weekend to do some more planting and planted more this weekend. 

I also bought this cute item from a vintage shop! 

Will be updating as the week progresses! 

Mini Homestead - Week 2

Week 2 - I am still thing to figure out my greenhouse to ensure constant humidity throughout my plants.

Monday

Due to windy the last few days, hadn't been able to spray paint my lawn chairs and table, however got to the tile today and it's now magenta. Fixed my greenhouse tarp due to wind. Added to compost.

As of today, still nothing has of yet. May make more individual greenhouses with plastic items or use plastic wrap in the meantime. 

Tuesday

Decided to water plants in the morning.

Added more kitchen scraps to my compost, tons of water and moved it all around.

Also made changed my greenhouse setup wheni went to do an evening watering (think this will play out better)

Noticed sweet peas and radishes poking out! Radishes were planted on Thursday, April 7th with 29 days to harvest.

Wednesday

I checked my greenhouse this morning and didn't have to water because of the morning dew inside the tarp.

The celery in the last picture rotted, so tossed that into my compost.

Didn't have a chance to add to. Y compost, but I have onions and coffee grinds to add to it.

I also spotted my mixed greens and peppers peeping out! These were planted April 7th. 

Thursday

Lots of rain today; my greenhouse was a tad flooded.

Mixed greens appear to get slightly damaged/possible water logged due to the rain.

I have sunflowers and cucumbers!

Added more coffee grinds and banana peels to my compost.

Lots of flies came from my bin.

Hope to plant some more this weekend with my niece and nephew.

Want to consider rain bin(s) soon, especially for the summer rain.

Friday

It rained. And rained. Rained some more.

The plants under the greenhouse may have been damaged.

The only two that look like may succeed are the sunflowers and cucumber from yesterday.

Hopefully pictures tomorrow. May have to replant the damaged ones.

Saturday

My sunflowers and cucumbers are getting bigger.

I repurposed a ton of plastic containers into mini greenhouses.

My niece and nephew assisted in adding and mixing the compost bin.

Aired out some of the planters that were under the tarp for a bit, however may be too gone and may need to replant.

Planted more mixed greens and green peppers.

Still in need of a work bench.

Sunday

Added and mixed compost bin.

Moved sunflowers and cucumbers to its actual spot!

Planted more tomatoes.

Bought Popsicle sticks to use as markers!

This post will be updated throughout the week with changes til the end of the week.

Mini Homestead - Week 1

With the purchase of our new home, I have finally began to slowly transform my backyard into my mini homestead. Below is a breakdown of week one.

Monday

Bought blocks, soil and formed my garden bed.

Tuesday

Spray painted my blocks to add a Caribbean theme color palette! 

Wednesday

Found seeds I already had and planted peas and parsley in a repurposed box. 

Thursday

Bought my firepit and extra organic seeds. Planted garlic, tomatoe, eggplant and peppers. Washed my two lawn chairs, wooden table and tile that goes with it to prep to spray paint.

Friday

Mounted my firepit. Repurposed an old utensils organizer as a seedling planted. Bought 50 gallon bin to use as a compost bin.

Saturday

Created compost bin. Bought yellow acrylic paint for my citronella metal candle. Began to paint it. Had my first Bon fire and roasted marshmallows in my new backyard.

Sunday

Planted rest of seeds, added to my compost and attempted to create a greenhouse.

From my mini homestead to yours!

Xo, 

Nancy

R.I.P Nana

My first encounter with death came when I was about 4 years old. My last encounter with death came last week when our beloved cat (which we've had for 7 yrs) went into kidney and liver failure after having treated her for almost 3 weeks for a mysterious infection. 

We made the difficult decision to put her to sleep......I held her close to me on my lap....I wanted her to know that we love her and didn't want her to go alone. My tears came streaming down my cheeks as I left her body slowly become lifeless....my husband knelt in front of her caressing her head. She knew she was and will always be loved.

She is still moving with us to our new house this weekend.....and her love will always be with us. 

We love you Nana!

Bring it 2016!

I am starting out the new year weighing in at 255 lbs. yes, I've gained about 15 lbs this year, but never giving up! My goal weight is 180 lbs....so we're close! 

Here's to an awesome 2016!

Nancy

xo

Spaghetti Squash

I am attempting to come up with frugal meal ideas on the heels of the new $4 fast food meal ads that have been going around; to try to prove a point that you can eat so much better with $4 or less! I don't have the exact breakdown to this; however the ingredients are super simple: medium spaghetti squash (less than $2; in season), lentil sprouts (sprouted in my kitchen) & 2 T parm cheese. You do the math! lol I did add a bit of butter to it as well; about 1T.

Below is the yummy picture. Did not do anything special; cooked the squash & then mixed everything together.

Delicioso!

xo,
Nancy

Paleo pumpkin cupcakes

This isn't my recipe....I got it (http://mywholefoodlife.com/2014/09/07/paleo-pumpkin-pie-cupcakes/) and made them tonight....without the topping since not a real fan of frosting. My husband wasn't too keen on the idea and typically I don't go overly crazy when it comes to pumpkin; however the driving force behind making these tonight was due to having two roped bananas ready and willing to be whipped up into something yummy!

After baking, they cooked for about 20-30 mins, then I popped them in the fridge for a while...then finally removed from the cupcake pan. They. Were. Wet. Moist if you will. The liner was drenched. 

Despite the soggy cupcake liner, the cupcakes were actually quite delicious. Will have to add the nutritional information to this blog tomorrow. 

Glad I could share! 

Enjoy, 

Nancy

Xo