Ghetto Garden Update, week2 may

Well...basically this is our 3rd round of seeds - the first one I lodged (overwatered - they grew straight up and tipped over), the 2nd ones got fried by a sudden week of 103 degree weather and what did survive was eaten by the dog...Half of this 3rd round grew strong then withered and died.

It's really starting to frustrate me. I'm kind of that typical overachiever and try to get a handle on things early on be it painting, cooking, writing, grades (yeah i'm a 4.0-er), whatever it is - I try to stay at the top of the class. This gardening thing is a whole different monster because you have some control but not complete control.

But it's a learning process and truly I wish I would have learned earlier.

Mom2 said that there are skills that you must learn to get along in this life - spiritual, familial, school, driving, swimming, cooking, cleaning and sanitation, table manners and at least have a grasp on a couple languages...but surprisingly she said shooting and gardening. This really surprised me because she is a Physician. A bonafide doctor. Turns out that part of her externship was being a jungle survival medic for the military. LOL - my GodMomma can rock a machine gun and a glock with the best of them. Mom1 said "I just don't understand why my daughter is doing these things"...and Mom2 said,"because these are things that people should know, especially when America is changing..." I guess we are getting the change the Clown in Chief promised us. Bastid.

Anyhow these are the little metal cubes I picked up at a garage sale and use them for seedlings. Sometimes I look at other peoples garden pictures and it seems like theres are so much further along than ours.

What can you do.







We transplanted the HOPI tobacco - 6 of 12 seedlings survived. Just keeping it pushing along. We also started some sacred tobacco in the house to baby until the fall.
















I think these are black squash...they'd been in there awhile and out of nowhere they came out.

















Same thing happened with these carolina cucumbers - they had been in the dirt for a month and I was just randomly watering them and then all the sudden they sprouted. You can see the tomato seedlings underneath.

Who knows.







There is the evil plant eater. Funny how now her favorite sleeping spot is facing the raised beds. Truth be told it makes me a bit nervous.











We still have some organic potting mix and will get another 50 just in case we need it. The big terracotta pot is ready to go when it's time to put something in there.










My gardening coach Mushroom suggested I plant some random stuff around for the bad doggie to eat so I threw some watermelon seeds down - but she hasn't eaten them. Go figure.










Mr. Man built these nice raised beds himself. Today I found this linen cloth in a trunk and just weighed down the corners with rocks. Mr. Man (aka afroprepper) was nice enough to cut down the sticks and drill them into the corners









As you can see there is a red border around the inside of the bed. All I did was cut up the old bags from the compost and tie them onto the stakes and cut V's so the air could flow through them. It's a little barrier for the curious doggies. Looks like the beginning of cucumbers, peppers and green beans. We have some flowers and other things in the white pots that we will slow grow until around July. maybe.












This is the smaller bed. We put the butternut squash all on one side because we didn't know if they would all make it since we were having such fatalities. That chunk in the middle is canteloupe, on the left are contender beans and in the front is sweet pepper and some kind of tomato plants that hid alongside the squash. I didn't bother to move it for fear that I would kill it.

Maybe we'll start a window farm too.

May Haul, week 2...non stop disco preppin!! haha

It's finals week but somehow I still made time to fit in some stuff in the last few days. I just wanted to clarify that when I call it a week - it's 7 calendar days. So week 1 is May 1-7, week 2 is May 8-14 etc...

It's getting a bit harder to get deals and I haven't had time to run to and from my usual stores - but I am doing what I can when I can and that includes buying non food related preps. I've also decided that I have to can at least once a week. 1 full batch of canned stuff whether it's meats or fruits or pickles - 1 batch has to happen per week MINIMUM.

My kitchen is really busy these days since I just had 3 1/2 moms here and there are still 2 Moms here. That kind of crowding encouraged me to take a break from dehydrating. Besides I'm waiting for the boys to build my sun drying rack things.

I started off week 2 with 6 lbs of strawberries. I was told by a friend that the FDA approved a pesticide for strawberries known to cause cancer - so that will be in effect by next years harvest. Since I'm not so talented at gardening and Mr. Man loves strawberry I might as well get the jump on it. These ones came in at $1 a pound from Sprouts Market.







The first 6 lbs of strawberries were dedicated to preserves. To me preserves are more whole and to be enjoyed on desserts, ice cream sundae's or maybe even belgian waffles. Trim and Wash and Rest in Sugar...

Follow the Blue ball book for heirloom strawberry preserves and you can't go wrong.



They are so pretty I had to take a picture of them












Boil hard and skim...then rest for 12-24 hours












Wouldn't you know a few days later the darn things went down to 87cents a lb so Mr. Man picked up another 10 lbs.

This is the 3rd batch we've bought this month and definitely the most delicious.








I even managed to throw in 4 quarts of chicken teriyaki. So the 16lbs of strawberries made 3 quarts of sauce, 1 quart preserves, 8 pints preserves and 3 pints of loose jam. The sauce can also be used as sugar in your strawberry green tea. The reason I made loose jam is so that it can be used for strawberry ice cream - I find the best strawberry ice cream is made of 50% preserves mixed with 50% fresh berries. But that's just me.



Walgreens deal:
Sugar 1.99 w/coupon
Kleenex .89 cents w/coupon
Nexcare Bandaids: free from rebate










I stopped by the local Dollar Tree looking for some more 2.5 gal buckets but they were all out. They did have my favorite fuze drinks for 50 cents and the Butler GUM toothbrushes 2 for 1. My aunt is a dentist and actually suggests butler GUM as her preferred toothbrush.







Fry's Grocery/Marketplace had these arrowhead stackable 1.5 liter bottles for .49 cents. Personally arrowhead is not my favorite tasting water but I feel a strong urge to put stuff up lately. Stronger than usual. So even though we have water stores we are buying these more for the reuse possibilities of the containers. The price is still holding this week so I may just buy another 20.




Fry's best deal of the week is their American beauty pasta 1 lb for .49 cents. So I picked up 20 bags of it since it does not expire until 2014.
















The Ragu brand stuff was only $1.09 and I picked up some tuna as well for Mom 1 (she only likes the one in oil)....69 cents each on those.










Mangoes at Fry's Marketplace were only 3 for $1 and the quality was there.












I had a totally random list from Mom 1 about what she wanted for the house and in filling that list I found 3 clearance tables at the local Fry's. A dozen wide mouth lids and bands were only $1.79. The pickling stuff was only .49cents, The funnels were only .59 cents. I took them all. Why? Because now I don't have to worry about back up. But I did treat myself a bit...




To the "NEW" secure grip jar lifter...in the faux brushed nickel and modern looking rubber. I paid 10.99 for this thing. But I didn't want to wait and I didn't want to pay shipping and handling either.

I'm excited to see that Fry's carries canning jars and accept competitor coupons so I will end up buying jars there for a bit cheaper than Walmart.




Basha's has very good whole corn and this week it was 5 for $1. The chicken was also 1.77 a lb for breast so I bought eh maybe 7 or 8 lbs of it...I don't remember. It made 4 quarts canned.









I popped by the 99 cent only and El Super to look for another cuticle trimmer since Mom2 said she really wanted my sally hansen one and she couldn't find it at any of the drug stores lol. Instead I found 4 pkgs of melba toast at a buck a pop and the large valentina hot sauce for $1.29 that's 50 cents off the usual price - and I forgot to snap pics - but braeburns 3 lbs for 99 cents, and broccoli crowns - 3 lbs for 99 cents. and this fantastic curry stuff...see below.


I love Kikkoman Brand stuff...I was really surprised to find teh Curry Sauce with beef or chicken with vegetables that you can heat and eat over rice. I will taste test this - or Mr. Man will and we will review it on youtube.

But I know these will be at the MINIMUM good. Best case scenario they will be GREAT and I will have to buy 2 cases instead of half a case for variety. They were only .79 cents ea.


I bought a couple of these to cut into 16 pieces to make mini starter logs in case we can't get the fire going right off the bat. I will just saw them into disks and wrap them in old Christmas wrap so they have something you can light.









Oddly enough they had the off clipons (replacement disk and 2AA batteries included) for only $3 each compared to the usual 10 bucks that these cost. I figure it wouldn't hurt to have a couple besides Mr. Man could always use this while golfing.








Today Mom1 comes home from the Doctors office and romping around and says,"here do something with this..." I said what lol - she said 4 for $1. Great right.

Yeah great more work for me haha.








The prep I didn't take a picture of is my 2 new pairs of glasses and contacts. Don't ever go to America's best they suck big giant rhino balls. But I needed my scrip asap and just took care of it. BUT...next to the optometrist was a little store called Dd Discount...it looked like Ross but not Ross. My Mom2 was in there picking around while I was picking up my glasses, so while I was looking for her I found this speckle pot thing that would be good for making rice over a fire or soup - neither too big nor too small...



The little pot was only a little under 4 bucks - and I also picked up a couple sundresses for about 5 bucks each since I knew that Mr. Man would "get on me" about not doing anything for myself and just always put everything into the prepping lol.


I'm very happy that even if we are in the prepping together we still live in today...





Also stopped by another Walgreen's today looking for these Johnson's Q tips since I had a $1.99 coupon - don't you know they had them hidden in the baby stuff lol. 500 count q tips for 1.99. I also picked up 2 totes golf umbrellas on clearance for $4. Normally these are 12-15. Hey it never hurts...and at least they are quality.







Last stop - Bashas Grocery for their whole ground chuck which is really good to me - it even smells good I think it was like 1.97 a lb and the beef bouillon only came to about .75 cents a piece.










6 lbs of ground beef made 2 quarts and 4 pints of beef. Instead of just boiling water I put beef bouillon and a teaspoon of red chili flakes. That's just a preference. Since there was room and I had the produce around I also bottled up some jalapeno, cauliflower, and carrots with a bit of pickling stuff and it came out looking pretty good. It has a bit of space from the shrink but that's better than over stuffing and not getting a seal at all.





Tough business this prepping...but I'm glad we do it. Sometimes when I'm tired a do a little preps tour and I feel like I can sleep even better.

I had about a 7 day period where I felt extremely exhausted to the point where I could barely lift my head at 3pm and keep it together. Saturday Sunday and Monday I spent almost the entire day and night asleep. Then today I woke up and felt normal. Very strange business.

My last final essay was assigned last night in Bio Ethics. I will dedicate the time to it and see it through. I got an A on my Math Final and can relax until July or August. I would really like to reorganize the house and work on the Ghetto Garden more. But I can't shake this feeling of urgency that I need to get things together very quickly. It is what it is...I still have a couple days left for week 2 - lets see what we can do.

3 day Haul, may1-3, Stayin on top of it.

Well I'm still at it...every time i want to take a break from things something new happens. It has been raining a LOT in the heartland area. Last Saturday (the 30th) floods wiped out a lot of peoples crops and over 500 chicken farms. The projected damage on the farmland could't be measured until it subsided and the damage of the chicken farms getting knocked out is up to 300% for consumers.

So my plan went out the window to relax on Sunday. The 3 moms went to church, then out to Korean/Chinese buffet with my brother and I asked them to stop at the Vietnamese grocers and pick up 20 lbs of chicken








They picked up a bit of extra - so 22 lbs. Minus the 1lb that mom put into stir fry.











21 lbs of large sliced chicken breasts makes 7 quarts plus 7 pints of canned chicken. Instead of just having plain boiled water I dissolved 2 chicken bouillon in 4 cups of water and put a tsp of red chili flakes in each jar









I just followed the instructions in the Blue Ball Canning Book or whatchamacallits. 1 hour and 15 minutes at 10lbs of pressure.










When I put the 7 pints in there was room for 1 more jar so i put in 15 pcs of beef sausage and canned that as well. I figure even if it doesn't have the perfect texture it will still be passable for biscuits and gravy.











You know it feels good to put this stuff up, it's nice to reach in your cupboard for something and your preps wave back at you. It's kind of like if I didn't go to the store for a long time I wouldn't even have to worry about it









I was out buying beans (super price this week) - and walked by the "clearance cart" they park in front of the store and noticed the little cocktail onions and dried beef. The onions will always have a purpose even if its just thrown onto something and the beef I never tried but since it is in the shape of salami It would never hurt.





This beef expires 2014. The normal store price on this is like 3-4.29 a bottle. Apparently most people use it for chipped beef on toast or with cheese and crackers. It's no big deal to me - I'll eat whatever.

Some people even save the glass container and use it as a childs cup or something....





These do not expire until 2013. The cocktail onions were 45cents, down from over 2 bucks - like I said I don't really have a purpose for them - at the very least we can make filthy martinis with them because Star is a good brand and it's just an unbelievable price.







Someone was showing me their hauls and I noticed that this lady (ckillingsworth - she's on my blogs I follow) had pest control type things and I was thinking holy crap we don't have any of that except boric acid and fly paper.

I picked up a few things just to get us started. Those black ones are like reusable rat traps that snap shut like an evil chip clip haha.



Summer sausage was 50% off doesn't expire for 2 years they just aren't stocking it anymore at my store. I noticed that a lot of places have stopped stocking stuff that doesn't sell too much so they mark it down to super clearance just to get it out of the store.







The aunties just wanted to pick up postcards down the street at walgreens and while they perused the cards I checked out the clearance aisle and found an off mosquito powerpad for only $2.50. Nice little buy there. We sometimes get mosquitos here towards the end of the summer as some of the irrigation canals dry down. But that is quite a buy - now i just have to find backup pads on clearance and we are set. It comes with one pad and candle free included lol.








2nd Best deal of the day was the triple cleaned pinto beans - 4 lbs for 96 cents. So we have 24lbs of beans for $6. You coudln't beat that price with a stick. Now I just have to bag it, o2 pack it and tag it.








Humanitarian effort 1: 12 pkgs of punch mix and a box of electrolyte packets 2 bucks to add to our friends stash.












We were also able to add 5lbs of cornmeal mix, 4 cans of sweet corn, 5 lbs of beans, 2 bottles of soy sauce, Betty crocker potatoes Au gratin and 2 bottles of iodized salt - about $9.28 for about 15 lbs of food.

We're doing all we can despite this political and financial mess the country is in. Some days it is just too much bullshit and you have to unplug or listening to them lie on the news makes you irate! And I'm angry but not that kind of angry and truth be told; the more people irritate me the harder I prep, the more people threaten me I double my preps, the more stupid people act the heavier my shopping cart gets, the more dangerous people become the fatter my first aid kit becomes. Keep on doing all that stupid shit - because pretty soon stupidity will become inexcusable.