Strawberry Freezer Jam

Well, can I just tell you how proud I am of my little ol' strawberry patch!

 I planted it two years ago around our back yard deck with starts from a friend's garden. Last year, it produced a small bowl full of berries. This year, it has far exceeded my expectations! Last week, it produced a small mixing bowl full of berries. Enough, to mix with rhubarb and make  cobbler. This week, it has provided me with a large mixing bowl full of very ripe strawberries.

Plenty of strawberries to make two batches of Strawberry Freezer Jam. Eight pint jars worth! (Notice that I used empty peanut butter jars to store the jam. The peanut butter jars stack beautifully in the freezer.)

My hard working little patch has also been frantically sending out lots and lots of  runners (baby strawberry plants).

Hopefully, next year those little baby plants will produce even more strawberries! YUM!

This Year's Garden

If you are a faithful reader here at Tightwad Mom's, you know that growing a garden is one of my favorite frugal tools. Almost everyone can grow some of their own produce. Whether it's a few tomato plants in buckets, and some lettuce and herbs in the flower beds, to square foot gardening in raised beds, or a full scale backyard garden plot.  I live in a suburban neighborhood, and I do not have a huge backyard, but I have adapted to make gardening work for me.  You can read more about it HERE and HERE.

Usually by this time my garden is really filling in and starting to blossom. However, this years garden has been slow in growing, and a little bit behind. We had an unusually cold and wet spring that lasted well into June. I did plant the whole garden Memorial weekend (which is about the right time to plant in my corner of Idaho), but it rained steadily for a week after I planted. It didn't help that because of my unusually busy June, I ignored my poor little garden, and left it to the wolves (er, weeds).  I finally got around to pulling all of the offensive weeds this weekend, and once they were all gone, I was able to take stock of the my garden.

The yellow squash (or maybe the zucchini) plants seems to be doing well; the other, not so much.  I can't remember which is which. I guess, I should have paid better attention when I planted them. Not to worry, once they start producing I will be able to tell.

The banana squash plants are doing growing well, and just about ready to start climbing the fence trellis. I decided to grow banana squash, because they are a great substitute for pumpkin, and if you trellis them produce well in a small space.

My pepper plants, however, are not doing well at all. They are pretty tiny still, and don't seem to have any desire to grow, quickly. I was really hoping that I would have a bumper crop of green and hot pepper to freeze, and use to make salsa.

The green beans are really starting to grow. I am hoping they will start climbing up their trellis this week.

Most of the carrots must have washed away in the wet weather. I have very few that have sprouted. The same with my cilantro and dill weed. I am going to replant the herbs in hopes that they will grow now that the weather is hot and dry.

The beets are doing great. Let's hope a stinking vole doesn't come help himself to this years crop!

The cucumbers are a little dicey, as well. Only four plants germinated. That will give us enough to eat fresh, but my hopes for making pickles have been crushed (for this year, at least).

The tomatoes in the back garden are starting to grow, but I don't know how well they will produce. They were twice this size last year at the same time. I may be buying tomatoes this year if I want to make salsa.

The peas that I planted way to late, loved the cold wet spring (and the shady area of the garden they have been planted in), I do believe I will have peas before to much longer.

The onions are thriving. They must have like the wet weather, too.

The lettuce and spinach are pretty patchy. Only a few spinach plants have survived. Then only lettuce that grew well, was the butter crunch. I planted the lettuce in shady part of the garden, too. I plan on planting more spinach and lettuce tomorrow.

The front garden has cherry tomato plants, Child #4's cabbage plant (that he is growing for a school project), some kale, parsley, and a few more onions. The kale is growing well. I am hoping to harvest it in a couple of weeks.

My poor tomatoes in the front garden are spindly and stunted. My big organic, heirloom tomato plant project seems to have fizzled.

I still have hope that my garden will come out of it's slump, and surprise me! I am really hoping for a long, lovely, warm Indian Summer that will allow my garden an extra few weeks to produce. My fingers are crossed!

Swore Farms

(Click on the picture above for directions to the farm.)

One of my favorite places to visit during late summer and throughout the fall is Swore Farms (I really am a farm girl at heart!). Mike and Wendy Swore and their five children own a small local farm that has been in their family for three generations. I admire their willingness to carry on the family tradition. As well as, provide local produce and agricultural education for the community. I end up at the farm on many weekends buying corn. I have been eating (and freezing dozens of ears) of their yummy corn for several years now, it's the best sweet corn I've tasted. I also like to peruse the "garage" while I'm there to find other fresh veggies to supplement what I can't grow in my own garden. They have a great variety of vegetables; I especially like the red potatoes.

You can visit the Swore Family at the farm Saturdays from 10:00am - 4:00pm (daily from 10:00am - 7:00pm during corn season). If you don't want to drive out to the farm, you can visit them Wednesday (from 4:00 - 8:00pm) and Saturday (from 9:00am - 1:00pm) at the Portneuf Valley Farmer's Market or Tuesdays at the Chubbuck Farmer's Market (from 3:30 - 7:30pm).

Starting October 1st Swore Farms will be hosting their Annual Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch every Friday (4:00pm to dusk), Saturday (10:00am to dusk), and Mondays (4:00 to dusk) for Family Night. Groups and classes are also welcome to call Wendy (705-0991) to schedule a visit. I have taken my Cub Scout groups on several occasions, and we have always had a fabulous time. I love that Wendy teach the kids about farming and agriculture while they are having a fun time.

Go check out there website soon to learn more about Swore Farms, and be sure to take advantage of all the fresh, yummy produce they provide. Thank you Swore Farms!!!!!

Tina,Tina,Quite Contrary.....How Did Your Garden Grow?

I know I was horrible about posting updates of my garden this year, but I thought I'd give an end of the year report....so to speak (plus I am using this post to journal for next year, so I will know what to and what not to do next year). We had a short growing season this year. I was not able to plant my garden until the tenth of June. Usually, we are able to plant the week before Memorial Day (if you cover your plants the hot caps or walls of water), but this year cold weather and rain prevented that. It really did not warm up, or get sunny, until the very end of June. My plants did grow big and healthy, they just have not produced the yield I had hoped for.

The tomato plants around the deck did beautifully. The sad little plants in my previous post have really grown! We have picked about a dozen ripe ones so far, but if the warm weather holds out I should get enough to make a big batch of salsa:


The cherry tomato plant did especially well. We have gotten four picking off of it. Next, year I am tempted to plant two.

The jalapeno peppers ( I planted 8 plants) have been very prolific I have canned 14 (1/2 pint jars) of chopped peppers so far. At the rate they are producing I should get another batch before it freezes. The green pepper plants (also planted 8 of those) are big and healthy, and I have gotten 8 peppers off of them. They are loaded with pepper the size of silver dollars right now. I'm crossing my fingers that they will get a little bigger before the freeze hits. I would love to put a few more in the freezer.


In the backyard the garden is coming along, and producing enough to keep my family and my sweet neighbors across the street in fresh produce. I know it looks like a jungle, but the plants don't seem to mind fraternizing, and they naturally choke out the weeds (Yeah!). (Note to self: broccoli was not a good choice. The plants grew huge, but the buds never got very big. Oh, and the stinking, nasty aphids took up residence, in BIBLICAL proportion, after the second cutting. I pulled them up by the roots last week (covering myself in dirt and aphids. Whew! Nasty!) After three years of planting it with similar success each year, broccoli will NOT be in the 2011 veggie lineup!)




The carrots and beets have gone great guns! I planted extra beets, so I would have enough to make pickled beets ( I just LOVE pickled beets!). The onions only grew to the size of golf balls, though (I'm going to have to work on that next year). Most of the herbs have gone to seed (I'm just not great at keeping up with the herbs). Oh, and here is a picture of my fifth child. This is Abigail. She's 7 years old. I guess that makes her the youngest of my brood (Shh! Don't tell her she is a dog. She thinks she is a kid). She loves to help me glean garden.....and roll in the garden if she gets a chance!


Cucumbers didn't grow well this year. Must be the weather. That's okay, cucumbers are really something you can't expound on.


The summer squash and zucchini were lacking, too. That is probably good, I get tired of summer squash after a while. I tried a new variety of zucchini that grew round like pumpkins, instead of long and ginormous! The plant wasn't a giant producer, though. I did get enough to make several batches of Chocolate Zucchini muffins. I will probably go back to the tried and true variety next year.

However, the spaghetti squash has made me proud.


Here's one of the many squash hiding amongst the leaves.


The buttercup squash is doing fabulous, as well. I decided to plant buttercup squash instead of pumpkins, because they are much easier to manage. The plan is to bake, puree, and freeze them to use in place of pumpkin in baked goods and pie ( no one can tell the difference. I have been pulling this little trick for years and nobody is the wiser....until, now!).


The beans were also a disappointment. I was really hoping for buckets full like last year, but I have only gotten three ice cream buckets full. Bless my wonderful sister in law for supplementing me out of her garden so I could make Dear Hubby his coveted Dilly Beans!


Abby helped pick beans this week. In pick, I means see was pilfering them out of the bucket when she thought I wasn't looking. At least one of my "kids" likes eating her veggies!




This week the garden produced all of this. The cucumbers got out of hand. These are going to be made into hot dog relish! There are my funny shaped zucchini's, kind of look like striped pears. This is about how much I have gotten out of the garden weekly, not bad, just not enough to can like I wanted to.

I guess this World War II poster rings true:


As you can tell from the pictures the nights are getting colder lately. The leaves have been nipped by frost, and are drooping or are dying. One of these nights it will really frost, and it will all be over. I always greet this time of year with mixed emotions. I love autumn, but it is sad to see my garden slow down, and eventually die. Like the poster says, gardening is work. Sometimes frustrating work, sometimes glorious work, sometimes itchy and painful (when you knock the rake or shovel over onto your head, or rummage around the squash plants in short sleeves, when you are allergic!), but always gratifying to see what your labors have produced. Whether on the shelves in jars, in the freezer, or at the dinner table. I guess I am hooked. I can profess to be a gardening junkie!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I have to tell you I am a country girl at heart. That is saying a lot, considering I was born and raised a city girl. In my world meat came from the grocery store. My only experience with gardening was being sent to Grandma's house to weed (and occasionally glean) the garden. It wasn't until I married a country boy (who had come to the city to work and attend school) that I gained an appreciation. It was quite an education to realize that you can grow and hunt your own meat, and that vegetables don't miraculously sprout on their own. It has taken a few years (and I'm still not all that crazy about wild game....shh! Don't tell my husband), but I love being able to grow and can my own vegetables.

When we bought our first house, we planted our first real garden. It was huge; mainly because the yard was lacking in lawn, and growing a garden on half the lot was cheaper than covering it in sod. We had also drained our savings purchasing our (very little) house of dreams, and growing our food was much more economical than buying it. Unfortunately, as our little brood increased we quickly out grew our starter home. Dear Hubby and I decided to buy a house that our family could grow up in close to schools, and work. Our house has fit the bill, except for the yard(it is not very big). It has made gardening a little more challenging.

I have learned that you have to use all available space:



I am lousy at growing flowers (I kill them), so I planted tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries in my flower beds. I also have discovered that even though landscaping fabric is not the most frugal option it is definitely my friend (and it can be rolled up at the end of the season and be saved to use the next year).


In areas of the garden where the plants won't fill in and choke out the weeds; black landscaper's fabric cuts down on the weeding, big time! Roll it out, and stake it down or hold it down with pieces of wood or landscaping pavers (which I got at a discount at the Home Improvement store, because they were chipped). If you notice the white plastic pipe and sprinkler heads along the fence; Dear Hubby rigged a sprinkler system to easily water the garden.



Cut out holes where you want to plant your veggies. Pots help keeps the plastic blowing away in the wind, and they are great for planting herbs in.


Pieces of fence stretched between fence posts make great trellis' for beans, winter squash, cucumbers, and melons. Anything that vines can be trellised. Two years ago I trellised banana squash, and I had an 18 pound squash that hung off the fence with out falling off. It was amazing!!! If your accident prone or have kids (that would be me on both counts) cut a slit in old tennis balls and place over the tops of the fence posts to protect against potential accidents.





As you have probably noticed the garden runs along the backyard fence. To utilized my garden space I use the Square Foot Gardening method in areas where I want to grow smaller plants, like carrots, beets, spinach, onions, and lettuce. The landscaping pavers divide out the areas I have planted, and giving me some place to stand when I am weeding or gleaning the garden( they also act as a weed barrier). Our main garden space is 5 feet x 175 feet. I am able to grow enough produce in it to feed my family, the neighbors, and can enough to tide us over in the winter. This year I have planted: tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, yellow summer squash, zucchini squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, green beans, broccoli, beets, carrots, onions, spinach, leaf lettuce, basil, parsley, dill, and basil.

Happy Memorial Day

Finally, I am starting to feel better (I have been sick for the last week), so today I am planting my garden. We have had two weeks of cold rainy weather!!!! It is promising to be a nice day today, so I am going to try to get as much planted as possible! I'll be posting pictures and ideas on gardening this week! Have a Happy Memorial day!!!!

Starting Your Own Garden Plants

I have finally started my tomato, green pepper, and jalapeno pepper seeds. It has been on my mind for a week and a half now, but unfortunately, life got in the way. Now that it is done, I fill like spring is a little bit closer to being here in all of it's grand glory! I was going to give you a step by step tutorial, but my sister in law Shannon, has done a fabulous job describing the basics on her own blog (great minds think alike). Therefore, I am going to cheat (I hope you don't mind, Shannon, I owe you one!) and LINK you to her blog for the particulars!

Since I have started the Waste Not Want Not Challenge I thought I would show you some cheaper ways to start your own seeds.

Egg cartons are great for starting seeds in (they can be planted directly into the ground because they are biodegradable). Just poke a hole in the bottom of each well with a large nail for drainage.
Plastic yogurt cups are a wonderful, too and free. Just poke a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage.
Peat cups are also good and usually cheap. Watch the clearance tables at the end of the summer. You can nab them for next to nothing.
I also have saved the black plastic pots from previous years trips to the green house. Lots of times if you can get them for free by checking the trash or asking a salesperson at the nursery if they have any they are going to throw away. If so stock up and save them for later.


I was a lucky duck last year and I was able to salvage 4 large black plastic trays (the kind that they use to set the displays of plant starts in) out of an abandoned cart in the Walmart parking lot. The trays are great for catching the water overflow when you water, and for when you are transporting them to the garden.

Watch for sales on potting soil or seed starting mix. I usually use potting soil, but the starter mix was cheaper (the small bags came from Family Dollar. They were $1.50 each. Each bag filled 5 medium sized pots).

This is the part I am proudest of! I have been saving deli containers (it's a weird fetish, I know). Usually, I use them to transport food items to church or family functions, or when I take meals to a friend or neighbor in need. That way I don't stress if my dishes don't come back. I digress! Anyway, when I was reading my sister in laws blog (see you inspire me Shannon) I thought, self, those containers would make fabulous greenhouses for your plant starts! When the seedlings get tall enough, I will prop the clear plastic tops up to give them more room. Also, notice the shelf in front of the French door. That particular window gets sun from about 1:00pm until the sun sets; making it the perfect warm, sunny place for little seedlings to grow. The shelf is metal which also helps keep the plants warm.

So far, I have started 10 Early girl tomato plants, 10 Beefsteak Tomato plants, 10 green pepper plants, 8 jalapeno plants. I am heading to back to Fred Meyer's (this week their seeds are on sale Buy 2 Get 1 Free with in store coupon) to get a few more seeds to start (broccoli, cabbage, and banana squash). Hopefully, they will all grow, and with any luck we will be producing major quantities of vegetables this summer!

Gardening Reminiscing and Tightwad Mom's Book Pick of the Month

The weather here has been almost "spring like" the last few days, and I have to say, it has gotten my gardening juices flowing! I even went so far as to buy a few seed packets at CAL Ranch on Saturday.


I'm itchy to go start tilling up my garden, but I'm sure that if I do, it will snow three feet the next day! It's not to early to start tomato, pepper, and herb seeds indoors, though. I discovered several years ago that starting your own seeds is much cheaper than buying the plants at the nursery, and in some cases they actually were heartier than the commercial plants. I am hoping to start mine later this week, and I will also be posting how to do it. Growing some of your own veggies is a great way to save on your food budget. Anyone can do it, and you don't have to grow a half acre garden, either. Which brings me to my next thought ( and the Tightwad Mom's Book Pick for March).



The square foot gardening method is a great way to get a lot of (manageable) produce in a limited space. A couple years ago when gas prices soared, crops were failing, and food prices were on the rise I had a little freak out ( okay, a huge, breathe into a paper bag because you are hyperventilating freakout). I had no idea how I was going to afford to put gas into two gas guzzlers, and put food into six (seven if you count the dog) hungry tummies on our budget. I needed to increase the amount of produce that I could grow in my limited garden space. I also wanted to add to my food storage in the basement without breaking the bank.I checked " Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholemew out of our local library, and it was an answer to my prayers. With a little tweaking to his method ( I used black ground cover around my tomato and squash plants because I am NOT a fan of weeding. I also used good old fashion manure for fertilizer. I could get that for free from the local pet store that also has a petting zoo. All I had to do was come and get it). I was able to produce enough veggies to feed my family, the neighbor's family, and can 75 pints of green beans, 24 pints of beets, 40 pints of carrots, 12 pints of yellow squash, 24 1/2 pints of jalapeno peppers, and 48 quarts of tomatoes. I froze 2 gallons freezer bags full of chopped green peppers, 36 quart freezer bags of banana squash (don't tell your kids, but you can use any pureed winter squash in place of pureed pumpkin in any recipe that calls for it, including pumpkin pie. You can't tell the difference!),20 quart freezer bags of shredded zucchini, and 18 quart freeze bags of brocolli. Not bad, considering my garden space is maybe 200 sq. ft. The beauty of this method is that you can plant vegetables in 5 gallon buckets (tomatoes, and peppers), in flower beds, along fences (cucumbers, green beans, and peas), or in raised beds (he explains how to build raised beds in his book). You can start out small or on a grand scale. He also has a website that is very informative (the book does explain some things in more detail.)

It has been kind of fun for my kids to watch their dinner grow. My experiment was such a success that last year I planted eight blueberry bushes (unfortunately, I have since been told that Idaho's soil stinks for growing blueberries, so I'm afraid this project may be doomed), and dug out an old flower bed where I planted strawberry starts ( that I bummed off of a friend for free). So start watching the sales ads for seeds (here are a couple links if you would rather order online Henry Fields, Burpee, Abundant Life Seeds . Spring is on its way!