Taking Stock

summer squash from my garden

Well prodded by a readers comment (thanks for that, Nancy!) I am reminded I need to update a few things on this page.

This has been a terrible hot dry summer and even tho we finally got some monsoon rains, it wasn't nearly enough and my place didn't always get any even when it was raining by the bucket load just 2 miles away.

But the last few mornings have been much cooler and there is a taste of fall in the air. Fall in Arizona means wanting the heater in the morning and the cooler in the afternoon. Many summer crops, like the beans and squashes are still going strong, but I am making room where I can and seeding in the fall and winter crops. Gardening in the winter is much easier than in the summer and costs almost nothing once things get going. I've been going over my wish lists and gardening records and thinking about what I want to do next year.

The kitchen cupboards, Oct 2009

In 2009 I had a very large successful garden and did a lot of canning and pickling. This year the garden was a bit smaller and not as prolific and I have not canned much of anything. I decided this year to try and eat fresh from the garden each day, rather than do a lot of preserving. Some of the food in the picture, especially the pickles were still in the cupboard this summer. They have either been eaten or dumped as the quality deteriorates a lot after a year.

However, when the weather cools off I will probably can some jars of bean soup, potato soup, chili and chicken stock. These are great convenience foods that make life a little easier on hectic days.

The garden has been producing over 100 pounds of vegetables a month during June, July and August. With all the winter squashes September's totals could top 200, but I'll have to wait and see. 

Now I'm sure you are wanting to know a bit where I've gotten concerning the grocery budget, eh? Well I think I'm doing pretty good, actually. In July I spent $148.22 and in August I spent $149.08. In analyzing what I'm buying it breaks down into basically meat, dairy, fruit and marinated olives.

I can't do much about the dairy situation until I am able to retire from my regular job so I can once again have dairy goats. I have been finding wonderful deals on pork and stocked up a bit, but the meat category should come way down next month as I will have several ducks to put in the freezer. There may be a couple of young chickens to join them by December, depending on whether or not they are actually roosters. The marinated olives with feta are something I eat a small amount of nearly everyday; they replace regular salad dressing on my salads. I am on the look out for something similar to replace this with, as it is about $10 a pound and I usually go through three or four pounds a month. Right now I can't do much about the cost of fruit, except to stock up when ever I can when things are on sale, as the garden doesn't make much fruit yet.

In other financial areas things are going well, the line of credit on my house is nearly paid off and then I will only have my land payment and regular bills to pay. If you've joined me recently, I use a software program called YNAB or You Need A Budget. You can read about my experience with this software here. I've also written a bit about getting out of debt using YNAB here.

Now I have been spending money this summer, but not frivolously. I have been using it to set up infrastructure for the future; to make my future more independent of political and corporate situations and natural disasters. I am expanding the garden area, building up a poultry flock that will provide me with meat, eggs, and income through the sale of young birds and eggs. I am hoping next summer to be able to add pigs to the mix and or some meat goats. Which order I do things in totally depends on what falls in my lap first.

Right at the moment the poultry enterprise is running in the red, as there are a large number of young birds that won't pay for themselves until next summer. Also this is molting season for the hens and they don't lay well when they are molting. From 6 hens I'm only getting 1-3 eggs a day. But the younger girls should begin laying any time now, then I will have eggs to sell and they will begin to pay back the investment. By this time next year the poultry operation should actually be a money maker.

Grocery Budget Update; June

red & yellow new potatoes cooked together

June's grocery total was $141.31 This again was mostly dairy, meat and some pickled olives. The garden is beginning to really come on now, with potatoes, tomatoes, squash, corn, greens, and herbs. I even managed to get peaches & plums in June and harvested summer apples in July.

Of course the water bill for May was $175. However I think part of that was a slow leak that went undetected most of the month. Part of it also can be blamed on having to use sprinklers to keep things watered because my work schedule was is so crazy I don't always have enough time at home to hand water like I usually do. And of course I must also blame the weather. I went from March 18 to June 16 without rain and then I only got .2" Got another .5" on July 4th, but we have been having a lot higher humidity as our monsoon tries to get going so things are not drying out so badly as they were. You can see lots of garden photos over at The Edible Garden.

Even if the water bill continues to be high, it will all come out ok in the end. The water use now is not only growing what I'm eating now, but part of what I will eat this winter in the form of squash and potatoes.

I haven't had time to total up the harvest poundage for June, but will try to get to that soon. I also need to sit down and check out the numbers for the chickens feed and eggs delivered. In the mean time the flock has been expanding, in addition to the original 4 hens and a rooster, I bought 4 pullet chicks in March. Recently I was gifted 4 poults about 6 weeks old. A poult is a young bird that is big enough you can't call it a chick any more. It will be a bit before I see if they are girls or boys. In addition one hen is sitting on some eggs, due to hatch around July 20. I also received 4 young ducklings and am going to go pick up about 8 more this weekend. So it might be awhile before the poultry enterprise hits the black.

Welsummer poults

However, by the time the young pullets begin laying in September, that should really move the egg money ahead and of course I will harvest excess roosters and drakes for meat.

In the meantime I make a few dollars each week selling excess produce at the farmer's market and of course eat my fill of what ever veggies are ready.

Grocery Budget Update

A harvest in May

May's grocery total was $176.99, quite a bit more than April's. Most of that is still meat, milk, organic yogurt, butter, cheese and olives, along with some fresh and frozen fruit. The good news is that June will probably come in very much under budget, unless there is a great sale on meat and I stock up.

The garden is giving me a fair variety of items now, besides chard and red amaranth greens I have tons of small tomatoes, a small amount of lettuce that I'm babying through the heat and yummy new potatoes. I got a few handfuls of purple beans before something ate them. I think it was a pesky squirrel which also ate my first cantaloupe. I did however get revenge and mr. squirrel is no more.

First eggplant

The eggplants are beginning to trickle in along with squash, peaches, plums, green onions, with corn and more varieties of squash and potatoes to come. Does the garden pay? I think so, though I haven't had time to total up all my expenses and harvests yet, I do think that it will pay big time, even with having to pay for city water to grow it.

The chickens are still a bit in the red, since I'm feeding 4 pullets and a rooster that aren't laying eggs. But once these new girls begin to lay I think we'll see the numbers begin to change. Besides, how can you calculate the advantage to the new garden space of having it scratched up and manured by the chickens? What value can you place on the number of bugs and grubs they eat, reducing the numbers of things that might munch on the veggies?

In other news I'm making yogurt. I really hate that so much of the time a gallon of milk costs less than a half gallon but I can't drink the gallon up before it goes bad. So I've been culturing my own yogurt and this should also get the grocery budget down. I've taken to having fruit and yogurt nearly every morning for breakfast, so go through it pretty fast.

Also of note, many of my tea herbs have been big enough to harvest and dry so I'm no longer buying tea, but drinking home grown. You can see more pictures of my garden harvests and my garden at my gardening blog;, The Edible Garden

Even if you can't have a garden, you can save a lot of money by buying staple items in bulk and learning to make your own convenience mixes and 'fast' foods. It's easy to buy oatmeal, dried fruits and nuts in bulk and make your own granola. There are great recipes out there to make your own biscuit mix, cake and cookie mixes, even seasoning mixes for tacos, hot sauce and many more things. It doesn't take that long to make a bulk batch once in awhile, then you'll always have it on the shelf, for much less than the price you pay at the store. And you can use much healthier ingredients and leave out all the chemicals.