I first heard about the pantry challenge two or three years ago. It seemed like a great idea, and we gave it a try and it worked fabulously. We saved quite a bit of money that month and used up some foods that we hadn’t known what to do with. We also tried a number of new recipes, many of which we still use today.

While we ate pretty well back then, we still had a number of processed or prepackaged foods as stand bys, so I’m not sure if we would do so well again now. We buy very little prepackaged or processed, and because we try to make meal plans and stick to them, we don’t have a lot of food that doesn’t get eaten. When I make my meal plans, I try to take into account any food we have in the house already. I’m going to give it a try though, as I may be surprised by what I find. We’re trying to come up with ways to save money before Christmas, and this seems like a good start. I’d like to start today if I get the time to go through all our cupboards. Otherwise, we’ll make a regular two-week meal plan this time and I’ll slowly do the inventory/organizing over the next two weeks and start then.

Related posts:

1. Meal Plans
2. “Hiding” Vegetables
3. Meal Plan

This time, I’m already feeling nesty. Last week, I finally put up a clothesline I’ve been talking about for, well, two years. My yard isn’t the greatest spot for a clothesline since we have a forest directly south of us, but it gets enough sun that it’s good enough. I had ordered a bunch of used prefold diapers for the new baby, and they came more stained than I had expected.  But they were super cheap, so I can’t complain too much. I had put them aside in a “to do closer to baby” pile, when it occurred to me that if I want to sun them before baby comes it will have to be now. So those are all hung up in the sun sunning out.

There are about 20 preemie prefolds and 20 infant prefolds, a mix of natural and “bleached” (though they’re actually whitened without bleach). I plan to embellish the infant ones. I may dye them as well, I haven’t decided yet. I’ll probably do some of the preemie ones too, simply because I don’t care as much about those ones if I mess up so they’d be good testers. The preemie ones will be great for the meconium poops and for avoiding the umbilical cord before it falls off, but I’m sure baby will grow out of them pretty quickly and then they’ll be used for spills and as burp cloths or inserts. I have some old clothes of Meredith’s that are too stained or torn for donations even, so will use those, and probably see if I can find some cute new fabric ends or something too. It means a lot of them will be girly, but that’s okay, even if baby ends up being a boy. Real men can wear pink, right? I also want to buy some plain white t-shirts (or kimono shirts, haven’t decided which would work better yet), and make some that match the diapers. Meredith spent the first 6 weeks of life pretty much naked and skin to skin with me, and I assume it will be similar for this baby. My mom complained that I rarely got dressed the whole time she was out here, ha. He/she may even spend more time naked, since he/she will be born at the beginning of spring instead of near the end of summer. So I figure some diapers and t-shirts and we’ll be set.

I also have spent some time cleaning and tidying, and even got around to vacuuming our sofa that we’ve been talking about selling pretty much since we moved here. We ended up selling it and replacing it with a love seat that fits much better in that spot (though is ugly, I need to invest in a slip cover for it!). I’m going to finally clean out our spare room upstairs and turn it into a space for Meredith, if she ever wants it.

I have a few other projects in mind too, like reorganizing our kitchen, cleaning out the pantry, painting at least the bedrooms, gutting our study, going through our big boxes of books and figuring out a better way to store them for now… I’m not going to count on getting it all done before baby, but hopefully can get a good chunk figured out.

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1. Clutter and Stuff
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Potatoes from the garden.

I’d almost given up on getting any potatoes this year. I misread how to grow them. You’re not supposed to water them until they start to get leafy, and I had mistook that for don’t water at all. So we did lose a few plants with no potatoes. But I went out yesterday to check and there were lots! The big ones on top are Yukon Gold. The smaller ones are Russets. There were actually some nice big Russets too, but we ate those already. The Russets were a bit of an experiment. I put them in a spot that gets literally no sun and very little water. I didn’t think anything would grow, but we got a fair number of potatoes. I’m sad that I can’t use the same spot for potatoes again next year. Not sure what else will do so well. There are more potatoes to be harvested too, but the plants are still looking good so I didn’t want to pull them up until these ones are mostly gone.

These are paintings that Kris' grandmother (who recently passed away) painted. There are two or three in each package. I can't wait to get them open and find places to put them. Random toys in odd spots are just the story of my life right now.

It's a bit of an eyesore, but we got this pool for $3 last year at an end of season sale. It was regularly over $40. We kept forgetting to put it up while it was hot, so it might be too late this year but hopefully we'll get some use out of it. The hose hooks up to it and it sprays water in the middle.

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1. Snapshot Sunday
2. Snapshot Sunday
3. How does your garden grow?

Some of my potatos were looking ready to harvest, and after seeing Kyre’s I was really excited to see what mine looked like. I was disappointed to find nothing but tiny tiny potatoes, smaller than a marble. I only pulled one up, so I’m just going to water the heck out of the rest of them and hope for the best. They didn’t get covered nearly as high as they should have been, because I ran out of dirt and the dirt was getting so high it was falling off anyway.

Some things are doing really well though. I harvested broccoli last weekend. We had sticky chicken with fresh broccoli and peas from the garden. It was really rewarding to eat food that I grew.

There's already more broccoli ready to harvest back there.

Cherry tomatoes starting to fruit

Roma tomatoes

The butterfly flower garden, with my sunflowers in the back. I've seen tons of butterfly and bumblebees here already.

Delicata squash flowering

Corn and beans. The corn isn't growing as tall as fast as I'd hoped, so I have to stake all the beans. I haven't done that yet.

Snap peas

Zucchini

In other news, we’re off to beautiful Tofino and the west coast of the island for a few days with Kris’ dad and little brother. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been starting to feel a little queasy in the evenings though, so I really hope the actual nausea can hold off until after we get back. I’ll probably have lots of pictures when we get back. For those who have never been, it’s a beautiful place. It rains a lot though, or so I’ve heard. I don’t think it’s ever rained when we’ve gone, so hopefully our luck holds out this time too.

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3. Snapshot Sunday

My very first homegrown food ever! My family had a garden growing up, but this is different. We did all the work ourselves. It’s such a small thing in the scheme of things, but hopefully the start of something much bigger. Meredith and I shared the strawberry, and it was delicious. We bought some strawberries from the store later and they tasted so bland and had such a different texture. The only problem with growing my own food now is that the storebought foods won’t taste nearly as good as they used to!

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1. Cranberry, Orange, and Chocolate Chip Muffins
2. “Hiding” Vegetables
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I also transplanted my tomato plants and started hardening them off. I didn’t realize how windy it was one day though and left them out during very heavy winds and two of them are looking pretty unhappy. From what I’ve read about this though, it could still be okay and I’m just going to leave them both and see if they bounce back. Then the last one, which I hadn’t really put outside at all yet, got knocked off a table by my cat and the stem broke. Again, I’ve read this is something tomatos can sometimes bounce back from too if you bury the stem in dirt, as they’ll sprout roots all along the stem. So I’ve done that too. I may not get any tomatoes this year though! My friend Kyre also pointed out to me that when sites say you can put tomato plants outside once they have developed two leaves, it does not mean the two first leaves. I had noticed some sites did specify it had to be two true leaves, but they looked real to me. Well, I know for next year now at least.

Almost everything else that I’ve planted has sprouted or is starting to. Here are some more pictures of the progress.

The biggest major change is that we got the extra slab of concrete in our backyard taken out. I don't really have any great before pictures, but here's the edge of it with the garden covered to protect it from dust.

Here it's been started.

The big pile of concrete that we ended up with!

And here's that garden now. I love how it turned out!

Originally I was going to use the side where the slab was for veggies, but the friend who took out the slab pointed out that something may have leached into the dirt underneath from the slab. I did some research and posted some questions on a forum, and the answers I got ranged from it was definitely safe, to it’s most likely safe but there’s a chance that heavy metals or toxins may have leached into the soil and we should get a soil test to be safe. Since I wanted to get everything planted before we leave, we decided to play it safe and plant our vegetables in the dirt that wasn’t under concrete and put flowers on the concrete side. I’ve ordered some Indian Mustard seeds, as I’ve read that it’s great for phytoremediation (using plants to suck up heavy metals or toxins from soil). I’m also going to plant sunflowers on that side, as they’re supposed to be good for phytoremediation as well. I did plant raspberries on the concrete side too, but they likely won’t have fruit until the fall, so we’ll get the soil around them tested later in the season after the mustard plants and sunflower have grown. The walkway is just tile we got really cheap off Used Victoria. They’re actually meant for indoors and so crack easily, but I wasn’t looking for a long-term solution, just something cheap that would do for now. A few of them have cracked already, but it doesn’t bother me.

Because I’ve changed the layout somewhat, I have less room for veggies, meaning my veggie garden is going to be a bit squished. Oh well, I’d rather have more different vegetable plants that each produce slightly smaller yields. I’ve put my tomatoes in containers and planted some potatoes out in front of the house to give a bit more room too.

Peas, my favorite garden veggie

Peppermint

Strawberries

My Russet Blue potatoes are doing great and have lots of leaves coming up.  I noticed that four or five of the Yukon Golds that my dog had kept digging up are starting to push up leaves, so obviously she didn’t kill them! I am so excited about that. I have some carrots, lots of beets, and most of my greens coming up. I planted some more carrots and mescluns today. The only thing that hasn’t really sprouted are my onions, which is disappointing. I planted the broccoli seedlings outside today, and started some new cauliflower seeds outside. I also planted some peas along the fence where the hydrangea used to be. I’ve started corn, squash, pole beans, melon, and peppers inside, which I’ll plant out in June, depending on how warm it gets. Before we leave I’m going to put black plastic or landscape fabric down in certain areas to keep the soil warm. One of the seed packages I got was a mix of corn, squash, and pole beans, but there were only 7 squash seeds total in the whole package! I had wanted to plant seven squash. So I planted them all in separate containers and am hoping for the best with those.

I am so excited about my garden this year! I can’t wait for fresh vegetables.

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1. How does your garden grow?
2. Garden 2009
3. Snapshot Sunday

Here’s my Snapshot Sunday for the week:

I found these in the cupboard just like this lol. I'd been wondering where those toys were.

Tomato seedling repotted and hardening off outside

More gardening supplies, I'm trying to get everything done before we leave. I'm lucky to have a good friend willing to keep an eye on the garden while we're away.

Meredith's current favorite. We got it for $5 off Used Victoria.

Mother's Day chocolates already gone. In my defense, I got them a day early and I shared!

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One of the first things I did this year was to take out the azalea that was in the corner by the house. It was in a very shady spot, surrounded on all four sides by concrete, and it just didn’t do very well. I threw some wildflower seeds into the little patch where it was, and a few are sprouting, so they might grow.  One big problem with that plot is that it is already as high as it  can be, because there is a drain for rain there and it’s only about an inch over the soil now. So unless I dig the dirt there out, I can’t put new, nicer soil down. And I’m not sure it’s worth it anyway for this particular spot. I might try potatoes and mound the soil away from the drain, or winter spinach. I got some bleeding hearts to go in the side bed, and planted herbs all around it. I left the rhubarb in. The herbs are chives, English thyme, regular thyme, lemon basil, and parsley. None of those have sprouted yet. I think it’s because the dog runs in that bed. We’re going to Calgary in mid-May and my mom may end up keeping our dog there (long story). I may end up having to replant the herbs the day we leave or something in order to actually get many to grow. (Luckily I have extra seeds).

Before:

Azalea that never bloomed

Befores of the side garden. These are actually more like partway through pictures. Previously, the weeds were so thick and tall, they obscured everything around them and were up past my knees. I didn’t think to take pictures until after I’d cleared the worst of the weeds. (This is true for all of the before pictures.)

After:

The barbecue that we moved so we can take out one of the two concrete slabs that make up our patio. The two planters have peas and potatoes. The potato one doesn’t normally sit under the barbecue like that, but I had moved it because it was supposed to rain.

The rhubarb and two bleeding heart plants in the herb garden. We’d like to pull up the stepping stones, put weed barrier underneath, then put them back down and fill in between them with gravel. Alternatively, I might put some sort of evergreen groundcover in between them, though that would be more maintenance.

In the back corner by the shed is a part of the yard that never gets sun. I decided rather than fight it trying to find something that would grow, it would make a good spot for my compost bins. I got two compost bins off of Craig’s List for $25. One is filled to the top with sod, the other I’m using for food and kitchen waste. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep that big pile of sod that didn’t fit in the bin or not. I may cover it with a tarp and leave it to compost until next year. There’s a lot of dirt because we dug quite deep, wanting to replace the clay that most of the yard was with good soil.

Here’s a before of the corner across from the shed:

Again, the weeds were so tall and thick that we didn’t even know there was a rose bush in there until I’d pulled them out. The rose has been transplanted, and I also pulled out the little willow tree and freecycled it. This year I dug a bed out about 4 feet, and raised it up, and here’s the result:

From left to right: carrots, beets, onion, romaine lettuce, and mixed mescluns. The last plot I will probably do either chard or spinach, or maybe even divide it in half and do a row of each. Depends if Kyre has extra seeds. This bed gets a lot of morning sun, but not much afternoon sun. I wasn’t sure where to put the onions until I read they are great for deterring pests from carrots, beets, and lettuce. Perfect! There is a big plot of potatoes to the right of here too, but it didn’t end up in the picture. I’ve put up a fence around this whole thing for now. Otherwise the dog would destroy it. The potatoes were planted for two days before the fence went up and she managed to dig them up three times. I’m really hoping they’re okay. I just bought some chicken wire and used some sticks we already had to put it up. It’s not pretty, but it’s only for three and a half weeks, and the chicken wire can be reused for a chicken coop afterwards. If she really wanted to, she could get under it, or even probably knock it down. I’m hoping she doesn’t try because if she gets past it, I would probably have to start the whole thing from scratch again. The only problem with the fence is that there is no gate, so to get in I have to unwire the edge every single time. A bit of a pain, but I shouldn’t have to get in there too much before we leave in May since I can water from outside it, so I’ve decided it’s less trouble than figuring out a real gate of some sort. You can see where the potatoes are in the corner in this picture.

Down the side of the fence I’ve dug out a bed that will be for corn, beans, and squash. I’ll probably throw in a few sunflowers as well. It won’t have to be planted until June so it’s not quite ready yet and needs a lot more dirt still. 

Before:

Now:

Originally I dug it out three feet wide, but I changed my mind and decided I wanted it four feet instead. For the extra foot I put down newspaper and covered it with dirt instead of actually digging it out. Next year the grass and newspaper will have composted and can be tilled in. For this year, I’m planning on staggering the corn, etc by putting one close to the fence, the next closer to the other edge. Those ones will be planted right on the edge of where the bed is actually dug, so their roots have room to go down, but aboveground there should be enough room for the squash to spread out. Here’s a picture partway through expanding this bed so you can see what I mean:

 The last bed is still a work in progress. I plan on having butterfly and bee flowers and a hummingbird feeder against the window, and then putting veggies around the rest of it. Hopefully the extra slab of concrete will come out this weekend. I’ve got peppers, watermelon, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries to go in that bed. Once the concrete is out, I’ll need to go to the beach and get more driftwood, as I have none left after edging the other beds. Then fill it with dirt (I’m hoping I have enough to do that!). I will have to dig up the roses and hydrangea that are there in order to raise the bed. Hopefully they all survive being transplanted this time of the year. I plan to dig huge holes around them and hopefully I won’t have to disturb the roots too much to raise them up. The dog will be a problem for that bed too, but I have no more chicken wire, so I think I’ll start everything inside, and plant them out the day we leave. A good friend has said she doesn’t mind checking the garden while we’re gone, so I think that will be the best option. Once the slab is out this weekend I’ll post more pictures of that part of the yard. I think this post has gotten long enough though.

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I am enjoying gardening so much this year. I really loved it last year too, but I had a crawling baby and not a lot of time or knowledge, and didn’t want to spend much money. This year we have more disposable income and Meredith is much more independent and I have a good friend nearby who has been giving me lots of good planting advice. I’ll have to post pictures later, but it is so much fun to watch things sprout and to imagine all the delicious food we’re going to have (hopefully) this summer. My dirt is still not very good, and my dog likes to run in the beds, so I’m not going to get my hopes up for a huge crop this year, but even small amounts of everything would be really great. Plus, looking at my before pictures and seeing all the work I’ve done this year (and last) pay off is really rewarding too.

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The second one turns out to be sitting on the edge of a huge ravine, with over half of the 2 acres being down the side of the ravine. The house is just metres away from the edge. The ravine has had erosion problems in the past. The house itself is slanted, and looks really pieced together. Roofs from new additions don’t actually match up with the old one. The kitchen is beautiful, and the usable property is pretty nice, though definitely hasn’t been well maintained. But it’s probably less than an acre and we felt like the house is barely safe to live in.

However, the first one seems to be exactly what we’d hoped to get from the second one. It’s only an acre, but the entire thing is usable. There’s also land next to it that is used by an Easter Seals camp as their septic fields, and so there’s about two acres that will never be developed and that the kids can play on. I cringed when I heard it was next to a septic field, but from the preliminary research I’ve done there don’t seem to be any problems with smell or disease or anything like that as long as they’re well maintained. That’s definitely something we’re looking more into though.

The land has been extremely well kept. Even our realtor was really impressed. He told us it’s rare to find rural property that is so neat and landscaped. We’ve decided to at least look into getting a mortgage, etc. I still have the same reservations I had last week, but it is a really beautiful property. Future plans would be potentially extending the house over to where the carport is and making all the bedrooms bigger and adding another bathroom. (I don’t like only having one bathroom!) Also, the laundry area is in the bathroom right now which I’d want to change. Here are lots and lots of pictures.

Huge raised beds (the big one at the top is probably the same size as my entire yard currently) and a greenhouse. We didn’t get pictures because of the season but to the left of that there are a number of fruit trees.

A huge chicken coop already made and ready to use. It hasn’t been used as a chicken coop in a while but has roosting spots inside already too.

Rabbit hutches. They’ve also been used for chicks. I don’t know if we would use these. Bunnies would be a good source of raw food for our animals but I sure couldn’t kill a bunny.

One of the ponds on the property (there are two)

A campsite at the back of the property. This is across a little creek. We might take the fire pit out and build a tree house/play area for younger kids. When they’re older we could set the campsite back up.

An aviary that was likely used for finches or doves. My dad has a parrot he would like us to take, so we might redo this for a parrot. He couldn’t live in it full time (he’s very social and also an Amazon so susceptible to cold), but it would be a nice place for him when we’re outside. He doesn’t fly, but I would worry about him just wandering around because of predators.

Front garden

It’s just a block or so off of the lake. You can see the lake through the trees looking out from the driveway.

There’s a fairly large unused area in the front (it goes to the left of here too). We’ve thought of perhaps putting up a small cottage or house here and renting it out or using it for family. Before we invested in something like that we’d have to find out what the rental market is like in the area. We’d be pretty picky about renters too if they were living on our land. Also, I’m not sure just how much room would actually be “our” land, and since part of the draw of moving out to a more rural area is not being right next to neighbours, we’d want to be able to have some privacy between the two and also we’d have to be picky about the renters. Maybe find someone likeminded willing to help out around the garden in exchange for a break on rent.

I didn’t like the house at first, but the more I saw of it the more it grew on me. It’s not a cookie-cutter house like so many are nowadays. It’s made from the timber that was cleared to make room for it too, which I think is really neat. The outside is all solid wood from the trunks, no stucco or plastic siding.

The living room, with a sunken sunroom and a pellet stove which is apparently efficient enough to heat most of the house in the winter.

The sunroom. I can see this being a nice reading nook with some of her toys down here too.

The master bedroom, which has a huge walk-in closet and doors going out to a balcony.

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