Homesteading Carnival

Welcome to the Homesteading Carnival! This week's edition includes lots of wonderful posts, but is particularly rich in goodies from the kitchen. Let's dig in!

From the kitchen:
Make it from Scratch presents Black Bean Chili posted at Make It From Scratch.

Wren Caulfield presents Homemade Pico de Gallo with Garden Tomatoes posted at True Adventures in Money Hacking.

Lisa presents Corn and Molasses Bread posted at Condo Blues.

Rosey Dusk presents Jack Be Little Calorie Pumpkin Soup posted at Seasonal Diet Food.

Rosey Dusk presents Chocolate Covered Oranges posted at Chocolate-Execution.

Rosey Dusk presents Basil Bread posted at The Bread Winner.

Lara DeHaven presents Pumpkins posted at Texas Homesteader.

Thailand Breeze presents Amazing Coconut Palms (Part 1) posted at Thailand Breeze.


Helping the family budget:
Rosey Dusk presents Make Your Own Lipstick with ingredients you Probably Already Have posted at Cheap Natural Skin Care.

Rosey Dusk presents Cheap Substitute for expensive Biore Blackhead Strips posted at Natural Acne Relief.

Rosey Dusk presents Don?t throw those old Clothes out just Yet. posted at living cheap now.

MBB presents Get Paid To Take Free Online Surveys posted at Money Blue Book Blog.

Thank you for joining us for this week's carnival. submit your post for the next carnival using the Blog Carnival Form.

Hosting the Homesteading Carnival.

The Homesteading Carnival will be hosted here on Monday. .

A carnival full of homesteading articles... from your kitchen with yummy recipes, your sewing room with homemaking ideas to planting your garden, raising farm animals, and raising a family on the homestead. Please join us on the homestead and submit something from yours!

Submit your posts via Blog Carnival!

The Garden in October

My poor neglected garden. I planted my fall crops, and then school and school activities filled in the time that was once spent in the garden. I would occasionally stroll through the small garden to pick caterpillars off the broccoli, but other than that the plants were left to fend for themselves. I hadn't even visited the large garden in weeks.

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, and I declared it a work outside morning. I surveyed the big garden, and found that I had waited too long for the tomatoes. They were almost all rotten. ~sigh~ Lots of peppers were harvested though. Okra pods were collected for seeds, and bean pods were collected for soup beans. That is the end of the summer garden. All that remains is to till it up and plant a cover crop.

Next to check were the fall plants, turnips and radishes that had been planted and forgotten. Their lush greens took me by surprise. They were easily three times bigger than the last time I laid eyes on them. Turnip greens were harvested, though the turnips themselves are not quite ready. There were lots of red radishes poking out of the ground. those neglected beauties were about 4 inches long with a mild peppery flavor. We devoured them at lunch.

Little remains to harvest or to do in the garden this time year. Soon the entire thing will be put to rest, and it will be time to evaluate this year's garden and plan for next year.

Save on Infant Formula

Breast is best. I am convinced of that. Breast milk is best for babies no matter how you look at it. Nutritionally, nothing can be beat what we've been created to feed our own offspring. Economically, you can't beat the price of breast milk. Convenience? No bottles, no trips to the store, and no mixing is very convenient in my opinion. Yes, I am a big supporter of breast feeding.

Recently WIC programs have revamped their food packages to encourage more moms to breastfeed their babies. They are encouraging breastfeeding by reducing the amount of formula paid for by WIC. I think encouraging moms to breast feed is a wonderful idea.

But,I also realize that not every mom is able to breastfeed exclusively or for the entire first year. Sometimes it is necessary to purchase formula. And formula is not cheap.

If you do have to purchase formula, consider the options. There is a wide range of prices and choices out there. More expensive does not mean better. According to Dr. Barbara Levine of Weill Cornell Medical College, all formulas are regulated by the FDA and nutritionally equivalent. The store brand formula is just as good as its more expensive and more advertised counterpart. Check out the link above to even get a coupon for store brand formula.

How you feed your baby is an important and personal decision. Breast milk has so many advantages, but if you need to buy formula consider the options, and save your self some money by buying the store brand.

A Little Payoff

Blame it on the change of seasons, the lack of sunshine, and the pressure to get things done before winter is here for real,

Or on Tim's crazy schedule that has finally come to an end, and the crazy busy weekends I've had at work lately.

Perhaps it is the change of focus from the garden to homeschooling, and the numerous field trips we've been going on.

Blame it on the rain...

But I've been feeling rather blah lately. No, blah doesn't quite cover it. Drained is a better description.

There is so much to do, and I am having trouble summoning the motivation and energy to get it all done. I don't feel like going to work, and have begun to wonder if it is really worth it. It is time for a reality check.

Back in January we were facing a financial crisis. We had cut and cut our expenses, and still we were behind on some bills, and not even paying another. Something had to change, and the only thing left to change was our income.

We went to Financial Peace. We considered a number of options, and in the end I took a server job to generate a little more cash flow. In June I reported that it was all worth it. I changed my schedule to work only three days; two very long days and one short evening. That helped us manage our time a little better. We got through the summer and all that comes with it in terms of the garden. We made it through Tim's fall rush at work, and now I'm tired.

To find a little motivation, I pulled out my last pay stub, and took a glance at the YTD gross pay sum. Oh yes, that is a tidy little sum that made me smile a little, but how has that traveled through our cash flow?

The bills have all been caught up, and paid on time for months now. I think I've taken that a bit for granted. Going back to read some of my older posts reminded me of the stress that being behind created. But we want to do more than just stay caught up. We went to get out of debt.

We've been working the plan, paying down our debts. We have our snowball amount, and when there is extra income that also goes toward the debt. I decided I needed to see our progress in black and white.

I pulled a couple snapshots from Quicken showing our account balances. One report from the end of February and one with a current date. Those numbers are motivating. Our credit card balances are down by over $7000. Our savings up by more than $2000. This was all accomplished while not only keeping up with the bills, but also paying a hefty amount on our student loans that we had been trying to ignore. Add a little fluff to all that in remembering that we also replaced our washer and computer, with cash, in this same time frame. I am feeling pretty good about putting the hours in and seeing a little payoff for the work we have done.

It is still rainy and gloomy out. There still are not nearly enough hours in the day to accomplish all that I would like to. But seeing those numbers in black and white was just the little ray of sunshine that I needed. I found some motivation.

Whole Lot of Freebies Goin' On

Have you checked out the Rite-Aid ad this week?

The entire back page shows offers for items that are FREE after rebate. You'll find Sucrets, Carmex, Simply Saline, and many more.

And to make a sweet deal even sweeter take along a $5 off a purchase $25 coupon, and rack up your Fall Gift of Savings dollars to earn additional rebates.

If you haven't participated in Rite-Aid's rebates before, it is super easy. Just sign up at their Single Check Rebate site, and enter all your receipts online through the month. At the end of the month request your rebate, and wait for your check to come in the mail.

Check out some of the deals here.

20% Off at Big Lots

Thanks to Money Saving Mom for posting this!

Sign up for Big Lots Buzz Club Rewards! After you are signed up you can go to this link to print a coupon for 20% off your shopping trip. (Expires October 10th.)

Funny, a friend and I were just talking yesterday about the good deals at Big Lots, and all the fun and fancy foods that can be found there for cheap. I will be heading there this week, coupon in hand!