I am probably being paranoid about the end times coming sooner. At any rate, I need to get my recipes copied from Pinterest before society totally crumbles and takes the Internet with it.
So I’m just sharing a few ideas that I came across while researching options for recipe books. I realize that it is April Fool’s Day but this post and the links are real. The guy in the picture is my boyfriend. The kids and I would starve without him. He is essential. Also, no joke. 🙂
This would be a good option if you have tons of time and are artistic. You would only need the journal of your choice, pens, markers and time. It would not cost very much, just the cost of the journal and art supplies.
Decorating your own binder is a way to make your recipe book more personal. You could type the recipes onto the cards if your handwriting is not great. It’s still a cost effective option.
So if you are short on time or artistic ability, you could visit Create My Cookbook and make your own cookbook. I just started cutting and pasting recipes this week.
I have finally figured out how to use my Instagram photos. If you share them to Facebook from Instagram, it should work. Maybe . . .
4. DIY. The old fashioned way.
Buy some recipe cards and a binder at the store. You should probably get some pens. If you have kids or grandkids with decent handwriting, they could help you write.
The other night I had a nightmare. One of my neighbors dug up my garden. There was nothing left – not even the fence. I know that I was screaming at him as he drove off with all of the flowers, vegetables and herbs that I grew over the summer. It was traumatizing.
When I woke up, the garden was still there. I was so relieved. Of course, the garden isn’t perfect but it’s still a success. Next year some things will be different. This year was a learning experience for sure.
There are about ten things that I learned about gardening either from making mistakes or Pinterest. Here’s my garden board on Pinterest.
Bugs, etc.
Bees are good. Butterflies will eat the leaves but I can’t deny a butterfly. Locusts and slugs are not that great. I only saw one locust. The slugs were a little sneakier. If you put beer in small containers around the garden, it should take care of the slugs. Slugs like beer.
I made a DIY pesticide with vegetable oil. It worked fairly well and didn’t kill the plants.
Weeds are inevitable. This year I didn’t have any major problems with weeds in the garden. I spent plenty of time pulling weeds when I was digging in the yard to make room for the garden. I didn’t use weed killer in the garden. It kills everything including what you’re trying to grow.
Rabbits
There are rabbits in the area so I fenced in the garden as much as I could. So far they haven’t crawled under it.
Birds
The birds were lurking around the garden. However, I didn’t really have any plants that they wanted. If I had any berries, I would have put a net over the garden.
Mulch/Compost
Since I live in town, I put my compost pile in a big trash can with a lid. It stinks but the garden will benefit from all of the grossness. Did you know that you can put hair in the compost pile?
There’s not a magical portal.
My kids would come out to find me but not see me in the garden. Seriously, there’s no where to hide. I wish I could say that there’s a portal to another world out in the garden. It’s been pretty good for my mental health. Maybe because I’m not stuck in the house with my kids.
Planting things too close
I definitely planted the carrots too close together. I forgot to separate them when putting them in the garden. Lesson learned for next year.
Tomatoes will take over the world starting with your garden.
I had so many tomato plants that I lost count. At one time I had 30 or so. I gave some away and some didn’t make it. There are still so many tomato plants.
Did you know that if you don’t cage them or string them, it will be like urban sprawl but with tomatoes? The tomato plants will be everywhere. I’m pretty sure that they multiply.
The next step is to do something will all of the tomatoes.
When I started planting seeds, there were intentions of labeling. I did label most things. Unfortunately, the cats kept knocking over the containers and the labels fell off.
For the better part of the summer, I thought I was growing peas. They weren’t peas. They were pods for radish seeds. So there will be an abundance of radishes next year.
In case you didn’t know, my latest obsession has been preparing the garden for the winter and planning a bigger garden for the spring. I tell everyone that I’m preparing for the apocalypse. I’m only half joking.
Before we moved to our current house, we had the start of a decent vegetable garden. I had a mulch pile but Lucas ran it over with the mower. It’s fine. I’m almost not mad about it anymore. In fact, he reminded me about it yesterday.
We used to live in a rural area but now we live in an actual town. So if we wanted to build a fence or a greenhouse, we’d have to get permits and things. We are a long way off from living off of the grid or anything like that. We’d just like to grow some fruit and vegetables for now.
Our current house has a large backyard that we could use for planting. There used to be a pool so I’ve been hesitant to plant anything. We’ll probably do a raised bed garden. Lucas is also excited about not having to mow the whole yard.
Two summers ago, there was Poison Oak in the side area. It got me and I was done in the yard for awhile. This past summer, I did some recon work – killing the Poison Oak, weeding and mulching. The soil is not very good for planting – yet. I’m thinking of maybe planting flowers and a burning bush next spring. The burning bush is a real thing. (Lucas thought I was really going too far with all of the talk of the apocalypse.)Â
Anyway, the point of this post is to share a few podcasts about homesteading, which you may find interesting if you’re into gardening or living in a more sustainable way.
It was a struggle to find a falafel near me. We live in a small town near other small towns. So we found a place that serves falafels when we went to Cleveland. Actually, there were several places that had falafels on the menu.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the falafel. It turns out that I love falafels. I would even buy a restaurant just to be closer to falafels.
My grandpa used to make homemade ice cream during the summer. He had a little ice cream maker. It was always delicious. My grandpa made the summers special.
I found this recipe for ice cream that doesn’t require a churn. Where would someone even get a churn? Would I even know what it looks like?
When I started, I had all of the ingredients. Halfway through making the ice cream, it came to my attention that I didn’t have a blender. Or a whisk. No loaf pan in site.
Still, I carried on and made the ice cream anyway. It’s in the freezer. Thank goodness that we have one.
Hopefully, someone will be brave enough to try the ice cream.
This is the recipe that I used in case you guys want to try it.
