Jay oh Bee Not

Have you ever heard that news quote about how the majority of Americans are just 2 paychecks away from being homeless.
Two, dos, one two.
Husband, along with his coworkers have been downsized or in plain terms no one will have a  J O B by the end of next month. So in reality three paychecks.
While we're not gonna be homeless nor go hungry we are just 3 paychecks away from zero income.
Zip, zilch, nada, goose egg.

Hard days night or slept like a baby ?
While I would have hoped to have every last one of my mason jars filled or shelf after shelf filled with commercially canned food it's all good. We have 4 cords of firewood, no car note, and a good half gallon of elbow grease coupled with good old fashioned survival skills.

We've been practicing living on the (poverty) line. Now we just need to kick it up a notch.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Bringing Home the Bacon

Well not really 100% bacon but pretty close for free, SPAM with Bacon.

Let me backspace a bit.
I finally (actually took 15 days to redeem) got the $50 Amazon Gift posted to my Swagbucks account this morning. Yes, I actually got 50 clams, smackeroos, greenbacks, half a dead president for free. Well not free it did take some elbow grease on my part but compared to baking a pie to earn $ it was free.

So now that I had $63.99, $13.99 left over from last month's redemption of $25 worth of amazon gift cards I went grocery shopping on amazon.
Dairy & meat has for the most part been the two grocery categories that I have a hard time bartering for or obtaining for free so I am going to concentrate on those two.

SPAM with Bacon 12 oz. cans, pack of 6 for $14.88. Use the subscribe & save option knocking the price down by 15% = $12.65 / 6 tins or 18¢ per once or $2.10 each. Free shipping & handling. No coupon clipping. No driving to the store.
I set my delivery for every six months and ordered 12 cans.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Prepping 4 Peppers

3rd follow up to my posts on solo gardening. 

Two year old Green Bell Pepper Plant misshaped  & looking ruff but still alive and producing. All told I've harvested over a dozen bell peppers from this one plant generally averaging around the size of an orange.
I'll repot in a larger container for the winter. On days that are especially cloudy add a grow light. Right now this time of the year the Sun is lower and the trees still have enough leaves to block sunlight in this side window.

Hopefully we might even get a Winter harvest which would be a nice addition to the salad fixings that we are able grow in the cold frames.

Hearth and stove are dusty from remodeling not use even though we've had more than a few chilly nights. Later this week weather forecasters are predicting lows of 40 with rain. It will be nice to have a small fire in the evening to take the dampness out of the house.

This is the two Yellow Bell Peppers that I received from a barter this Spring (Plant Sale) that a former co-worker's mother started from seed. Got 4 good sized peppers which I used to make 9 pints of Zesty Salsa pg. 207 Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Canned 8 pints left one in the fridge for hubby to snack on. Lasted two days which is a good sign that we approved of my canning efforts.

These warm cement steps belong to my next door neighbor who still receives sunshine on her front yard in the waning days of Summer.
When it's one of those wonderful sunny bright Autum afternoons I sit with her and we watch her granddaughter who is two as she thoroughly enjoys chalking up the city sidewalk a few feet away.

The line up on the top step on my neighbor's front porch just after the Sun was eclipsed by a city tree; Yellow Bell Peppers transferred to a larger pot, Italian Roasting Peppers, a Habanero Pepper plant from a coworker of Wood's, bright red peppers of made it into the Zesty Salsa, and the old timer of the bunch Green Bell Pepper plant.

They are all looking a bit wilted due to high somewhat dry winds we've had lately. Need to come up with a good liquid fertilizer for Winter Feeding.
Hopefully the grow light won't be too expensive to run.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Free Coffee

Ask me how happy I was when the ups man delivered my latest amazon package.
Free coffee.
I love coffee soo much as my children you to say I should marry it. The problem of course is that I couldn't remain faithful to just one bean with so many flavors to choose from. I won't even start discussing grinds, my heart will flutter.
No doubt I would be a serial bigamist coffee spouse. Wrong on so many levels I know.

Amazon's deal on coffee for September is save 10% when you enter this code 8COFFEE4 @ checkout.
Use Amazon's subscribe & save option for an additional 15% off.
25% off of a name brand quality coffee.
Use your Amazon gift cards earned on Swagbucks and you get a free cup of coffee for ... depends on how much of an addict you are. This stash should last me 3 or 4 months if I don't alternate with another flavor. Did I mention it was free ?

Here's what my packing slip reads - four 11 oz. bags of French Vanilla Whole Bean - $18.13, minus promotional code $4.53, minus the 15% from subscribe & save  = $13.60.

If flavored coffee isn't your cup other varieties of 8 o'clock coffee are also on sale remember to use the promo code 8COFFEE4.  

One bag is going on the kitchen shelf the others will be vacuum sealed then placed in a 5 gallon bucket marked coffee for long term storage. Whole beans store better then ground coffee. These bags of coffee have an expiration date of 6/27/12 08:43. Down to the hour hmm anyone wanna make a bet that they last that long ?

In honor of my new supply of whole bean coffee I'd like to introduce a new label on my blog 

Non-Electric Tools. 

The coffee grinder pictured above was brought to the homestead when I married hubby. 

It's a Mr. Dudley International I believe that he bought it @ a thrift store for under $5. Interesting enough he wasn't a coffee drinker when I met him. 

Yeah I turned him. 

~~ pelenaka ~~

Free is my Cup of Tea

Amazon green tea order bought with my August swagbucks which makes all 120 Lipton Green Superfruit Black Currant & Vanilla Tea bags free.
Here how the deal went down - $26.60 minus a promo code for $3.99, minus the subscribe & save option (free shipping), total was $22.61 or $3.77 per box a savings of $2.88 on each.
Kept one box out for immediate use the rest were vacuum packed in canning jars earmarked for next Summer when a tall refreshing glass of ice green tea sweetened with home grown Stevia is called for.

What is it with cats & boxes anyways ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

Almost a pound

Sink full - these are the tomatoes that were grown by the gf who had bartered pork for tomato seedlings last Spring.  Hodge podge of what was ready to pick that morning, including Cherokee Purple & Howard German. The third variety floating in the sink is a hybrid canning tomato she bought @ a local nursery. 

Her garden receives all day sun like no body's business.

I have garden envy. 

Proof is in on the scale a 12.8 oz. Howard German Canning Tomato.

Dry & meaty but a bit bland. I would mix this variety with a stronger tomato tasting one such as San Marzano when making pasta sauce. 

I am on one hand very proud that she has already put in her seedling order for next spring not to mention that her neighbors have all asked her where she bought her tomato plants. One, a little old Italian gentleman asked for a tomato so his friend could seed save. He apparently was a bit taken aback when he was told that the large horn shaped tomato wasn't an Italian canning tomato. 

On the other hand seeing one grown to this size makes me realize I need to come up with a better plan or quit gardening in my backyard.  

~~ pelenaka ~~