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Carrots

God Provides

September 19, 2013 by mamakay 2 Comments

This year our garden was nearly a bust!

We started a little earlier with a backyard garden planted the end of April. We enjoyed some peas and lettuce and had hopes of carrots, onions, beets and potatoes. Only the potatoes materialized. (So far we have had 3 meals from our own potatoes and there are still lots in the ground that I haven’t dug up yet.) Sunflowers also took over the garden. (I think from the chickens’ feed as they wintered in this spot.) At least they are pretty and we can use them for feed for the chickens this winter.

In May we tilled a much bigger garden in the back pasture and had a wonderful time purchasing plants at the local nursery and planting seeds but our return was very sad. We tried to fence that garden to protect it from the cows but alas they found a weak spot and broke in. What they did not eat they trampled. All that remained were 2 patty pan squash plants, 1 green bean plant, 1 pumpkin plant, and 2 watermelon plants. Just before they closed for the summer I returned to the nursery and bought a few more tomato plants to try again. We planted them the next day. Not one but two storms raged across my garden uprooting all we had planted for the second time. But somehow a few tomato plants remained.

By August I completely gave up on working in the garden. The weeds have taken over and everything has been sadly neglected. But I just couldn’t justify pouring my time into it for so little return. We were able to harvest a few pounds of cherry tomatoes, some patty pan squash, 1 watermelon, enough peas for a couple meals, and a few salads. The potatoes are looking promising although we’ve only dug a few of them up so far.

Midway through August a cousin called me to ask if I’d like to buy some peaches they had trucked up from Colorado. Of course, I said, “Yes!” We went that evening to retrieve them and she gifted me with 28 pounds of cucumbers and 11 pounds of green beans from their garden. The next week she called again asking me to come get more cucumbers and beans. The following week another friend who had planted a one acre garden asked us to please come pick from their garden. She couldn’t deal with anymore produce and didn’t want it to go to waste. Then last week another friend called to ask us to please come pick peaches from her tree. (Who knew peach trees could produce fruit in Montana!) She just had too many and not enough time to deal with them all!

The Lord has provided above and beyond what I could have ever imagined even (and maybe because) my own efforts failed to produce fruit.

 Praise the Lord!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
    in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the Lord,
    studied by all who delight in them.
Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
    and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
    the Lord is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him;
    he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
    in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
    all his precepts are trustworthy;
they are established forever and ever,
    to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people;
    he has commanded his covenant forever.
    Holy and awesome is his name!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have a good understanding.
    His praise endures forever!

Psalm 111

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Filed Under: Faith, Gardening, God Stops Tagged With: Acre Garden, Backyard Garden, Beets And Potatoes, Bust, Carrots, Cherry Tomatoes, Chickens, Cows, Cucumbers, Garden Weeds, Green Beans, Lettuce, Onions, Pasture, Patty Pan Squash, Peaches, Planting Seeds, Pumpkin Plant, Second Time, Squash Plants, Storms, Sunflowers, Tomato Plants, Watermelon Plants, Weak Spot, Wonderful Time

Cooking Day 11/4/11

November 22, 2011 by mamakay Leave a Comment

I got together with another friend whose family is similar sized to ours for a cooking day. A successful cooking day is made possible by spending a couple of days getting ready for the cooking day. We planned out our menu, made the grocery lists, went grocery shopping, did prep work and then finally spent 6 hours together assembling and cooking the meals on the actual cooking day.

Here is a list of what we made:

120 Meatballs
4 9×13 Chicken Stuffing Casseroles
4 9×13 Poor Man’s Casseroles
6 9×13 Sloppy Joe Casseroles
4 Gallons Black Bean Chowder
50 Beef, Bean & Cheese Burritos
40 Calzones

Chicken Tenders — were on the list but we decided to make them up separately since I forgot to thaw out the chicken ahead of time

Spent $332.33 for 56 meals which comes out to $5.93/meal or $0.74/person. (We both have 8 people in our families.) These meals are main dish only in most cases and will require additional sides such as bread, salad, etc…

Prior to cooking day we split up the following list of items to prep:
Cook ground beef
Cook chicken
Make chicken broth
Make bread crumbs
Chop onions
Chop celery
Chop carrots
Cook black beans

 

On cooking day we tried to be as efficient as possible. Here’s how we worked through the recipes.

1) Started the Calzone Dough
2) Made the mashed potatoes for the Poor Man’s Casserole
3) Made the white sauce to use in the Chicken Stuffing Casserole
4) Boiled the pasta for the Sloppy Joe Casserole
5) Assembled the Sloppy Joe Casseroles
6) Cut up the cooked chicken
7) Prepared the stuffing (from mixes)
8 ) Assembled the Chicken Stuffing Casseroles
9) Assembled the Poor Man’s Casseroles

10) Made the meatballs
11) Flash froze the meatballs
12) Took a break — yeah! look at all we accomplished so far!
13) Made the Black Bean Chowder
14) Assembled the burritos (the whole crew helped with these which resulted in some crazy looking burritos but boy were we done fast with 8 kids helping!)


15) Assembled & baked the calzones (again with all the kids helping)
16) bagged up the meatballs, burritos and calzones
17) bagged up the extra ground beef all cooked & ready to go
18) divided up the food and dishes

19) Cleaned up the mess (well, partly anyways)
20) Rested! Shew! That was a long day but so worth it!

Filed Under: Investment Cooking Tagged With: Black Beans, Bread Salad, Calzone Dough, Calzones, Carrots, Celery, Chicken Broth, Chicken Casseroles, Chicken Tenders, Cook Chicken, Couple Of Days, Grocery Lists, Grocery Shopping, Ground Beef, Meatballs 4, Onions, Poor Man, Potatoes, Prep Cook, Sloppy Joe

Meal Plans: Week of 10/10/10

October 10, 2010 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Here’s my plan for this week:

Monday:
Breakfast: Eggs
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Cabbage Rolls (aka Bierocks)
Make Bread

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Banana Bread
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Black Bean Chowder
Make Pumpkin Dip for Ladies Bible Class

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Cheesy Noodles
Dinner: Crockpot — Roast Beef with potatoes & carrots, rolls, peach rhubarb cobbler

Thursday:
Breakfast: Dutch Babies
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken Stir Fry

Friday:
Breakfast: Smoothies & Toast
Lunch: Cheesy Chips
Dinner: Brazilian Carnival to celebrate our travel to Brazil for our homeschool

Filed Under: Menu Plan Monday, Uncategorized Tagged With: Banana Bread, Bible Class, Brazilian Carnival, Breakfast Smoothies, Cabbage, Carnival, Carrots, Cheesy Chips, Dutch Babies, Homeschool, Leftovers, Lunch Sandwiches, Noodles, Oatmeal, Peach, Potatoes, Pumpkin Dip, Rhubarb Cobbler, Roast Beef, Toast

One of the Best Ways to Invest in Your Health: Planting A Garden

May 21, 2010 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Garden May 2010

One of the best (& cheaper) ways to invest in quality foods for your family is to plant a garden. You can choose the items your family likes to eat, control what goes on your food and even get some exercise in the process.

There are so many different ways to garden. You can plant a salad garden in a container on your patio if your space is limited. We have planted several raised bed gardens and particularly like the Square Foot garden we planted last year.

We also got lots of good ideas from watching Homestead Blessings: The Art of Gardening (In fact I highly recommend this series for learning all types of skills.)

Mother Earth News also has a great article on getting started with a garden including a nice garden plan. We are hoping to implement something like it next year when we have our own place again.

This year we are blessed to be able to garden in a much bigger plot at my grandparents’ house. We planted onions, potatoes, peas, corn, beets, turnips, lettuce, carrots, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, banana peppers, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, and broccoli. onion setsWe still have sunflower seeds, pumpkins and beans left to plant.

It is such a wonderful experience for the whole family and provides so much quality food for so little money.

I highly recommend it!

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Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: Banana Peppers, Bed Gardens, Beets, Broccoli, Cantaloupe, Carrots, Cherry Tomatoes, Grandparents, Green Beans, Lettuce, Many Different Ways, Mother Earth News, Nice Garden, Onions, Planting A Garden, Pumpkins, Quality Food, Quality Foods, Square Foot Garden, Sunflower Seeds, Turnips, Watermelon

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