Invigorating Herbal Tumeric Tea

I have recently been reading a lot about the health benefits of eating turmeric. I don’t cook with it very often so I was trying to find ways to incorporate it into my meals. I discovered that a sprinkle added to Twinings Lemon and Ginger Tea with a few sprigs of fresh lemon geranium (optional) is perfect. It tastes lemony and slightly sweet. Enjoy a cup today!

My Dollar Tree Shopping List

·         Baking Soda is usually .59 here at Dollar Tree. This is a great deal.
·         Mix for Seasoned Apple Cider in little packages. Yum!
·         Days of the week pill organizers for putting jewelry or craft supplies into them.
·         Makeup when I have coupons for them.
·         Bags of animal crackers that have the icing on them. These are a great snack.
·         Oregano in a cool shaped container. They have other seasonings too, but I find oregano to be the best deal. The red pepper is okay. These fit very nicely in a cabinet and can easily be reused for other things later.

·         Sometimes I have found organic canned tomatoes, but they do not seem to be a regular carried product.
·         Dry red kidney beans both to eat and to plant in my garden. They grow really well.
·         In the past, I was able to find sliced almonds, but have not seen them recently.
·         Hefty sandwich bags if I have coupons.
·         Epson salt for soaking my feet and using in the garden.

What I Learned Today at 38

•        Don’t assume if you are unemployed and unable to find work where you live that you will qualify for public assistance. It doesn’t matter the number of applications or interviews you have completed!

• ·         Education is not a priority in this country or attending college wouldn’t disqualify you from public assistance.

• ·         A complete understanding of why some people are unable to get off of public assistance and why it becomes generational. Also an understanding that the government is the cause of this.

• ·        Getting help to pay your electric bill from the county can cause a lean against your house if you own it (but nothing happens if you rent it.) Realizing I would rather just be without electricity.

• ·         Realizing that people should do everything in their power to become completely separate from the government, utilities, grocery stores, big box stores, products from China, oil companies, debt, credit cards, war, processed food, GMOs, hate, and pesticides. Realizing that people should do everything in their power to smile at people, be friendly, build community, buy from local farmers even if costs more, take walks, and look for ways to help people without them having to ask.

• ·         Anger is the best catalyst for change.

• ·         A bike ride can relieve stress.

• ·         A garden can save your life in more ways than one.

• ·         Giving to neighbors can help ease the worry of your own problems.

• ·         Bacon is a great comfort food.

• ·         When you have money, everyone is your friend. This includes the bank, the electric company, your acquaintances, some family members, etc. When you have nothing, a few are all that are still standing.

• ·         An understanding that things have often happened in my life in which I could only depend on myself for support. (This has been both a help and a hindrance. Today was just one more day that has contributed to slowly transforming me into someone that is fiercely and overly independent.) 
  

• ·         Confirmation that the government wants us to be uneducated, dependent, unthinking, hateful, unemployed, and in debt.

•        A revelation of the rarity of kindness. (My cousin’s husband recently passed away at a very young age. He left behind a wife and three small children. He was a man of God who gave his all in helping others. He made me think of an old song that said that "there are angels among us." His funeral helped me to see just how many people whose lives he had touched. The recent events in my life have made me see just how rare it is to have known someone like him. Thank you Jake for giving of yourself even after you have gone!)

Ordinary Money Saving Gardening Tips

Here are some money saving tips for the garden.

1.       Buy seeds that will give you a high return. For example, one package of mustard seeds has lasted me multiple seasons. I still have seeds from my original package I purchased. Each spring I get volunteers from my original mustard bed as well as each plant producing a large number of seeds at the end of the growing season. I have enough mustard seeds now to start giving some away this year too! Mustard greens are good when eaten with a strong salad dressing like Catalina. Other non-GMO seeds that I have received a high rate of return are chives (grown in hanging baskets), kale, flat parsley (grown in my kitchen window), and one type of lettuce.

2.       Buy seeds from a company with a similar growing season. I live in upstate New York. I have had very good luck with seeds I purchased from Denali in Alaska. I am hoping to find some other gardeners/farmers in my area to exchange seeds with this spring. This has proven more difficult than I expected it would be when I first moved here.

3.       A new gardener is often given the advice to only grow what they will eat. I would disagree with this. I have never liked onions until I planted some in my garden one year. The fresh taste changed my hatred of these bulbs forever. One way to save money is to put the white ends of green onions in a jar of water. They will regrow over and over in a sunny window. I usually keep them trimmed at about 2 inches long. I love these sprinkled on my baked potatoes.

4.       Last year I made my own small greenhouse out of a plastic container and an old window. You can read about this here.

Onion Bag Scrubbie

I recently stumbled on a great tutorial for making a dish scrubbie out of old onion bags on Pinterest. When I went to the website a few days ago to make one, the blog was deleted. I was not able to find another directions for making one so I decided I would make a tutorial of my own.

First I found a mesh bag for freezie pops to use for my scrubbie. I folded it a few times to get the size I wanted. Then I cut the tag off the top.

Next I picked out some 100% yarn in beige to use for the edging. I used a size H crochet hook to make the edge to hold the scrubbier together. I am not sure if what I did was a true stitch, but it worked for me.

1. I made a slip knot on the hook.
2. Wrapped yarn over. 
3. Slid the hook through a hole in the mesh.
4. Wrapped yarn over.
5. While pulling the loop through the hole, I removed the hook.
6. Wrapped yarn over and pulled the new loop through the other two loops on the hook. Leaving one loop left on hook.
7. Repeated steps 3 through 5 until all the way around the scrubbier. 
8. Cut the yarn leaving about an inch. Pulled the tail tight through the loop to secure.

I didn't bother with the tail, but you can easily weave it into the edging. These scrubbies work surprisingly well and can be thrown in the washing machine when you are done for the day. It took me approximately 10 minutes to make. I used maybe .10 cents worth of yarn and the mesh was used packaging.