A great way to save money on food is to grow your own, then can what you don’t or can’t eat. Then you have homegrown, preservative free foods for the rest of the year and until your garden is up and producing again.

An even better way to save money is to have family do this then share!

Dwayne brought home a baker’s dozen of assorted goodies on Friday after visiting his brother. We now have green beans, tomato sauce, and even some lovely venison (a great alternative to beef).

Thank you Dennis and Tina!

Mmm, Mmm Good: The Way to One’s Heart is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Farmers markets are a great way to support your local economy and find healthier food options. The longer food takes to go from farm to table the fewer vitamins and minerals it retains. Local foods taste better and are better for you (and the environment).

Help Your Farmers Market Be America’s Favorite Farmers Market!

It’s summertime and that means two things:  1) There are loads of delicious farm fresh produce available at your local farmers market every week; and 2) American Farmland Trust’s America’s Favorite Farmers Markets™ contest has kicked into gear!

The process is simple.  To vote for your favorite market, all you have to do is:

① Go to www.farmland.org/vote

② Type in your favorite local market name

③ Click “Vote”

That’s it. That’s all it takes to bring your favorite farmers market one step closer to being America’s favorite farmers market!

American Farmland Trust has introduced leader boards where you can keep track of the Top 5 markets receiving votes in your state.

Want to support multiple markets in your state? Search by state and you can vote for more of your favorites – just remember, you only have one vote to cast per market!

According to American Farmland Trust (AFT), the purpose of this contest is to re-connect local consumers to local farms, with the ultimate goal of keeping our nation’s farm and ranch land productive and healthy!  Buying at the farmers market keeps money in the local community and helps farms and ranches remain economically viable. By voting, you’re helping support farms and communities across the nation. As American Farmland Trust says, “No Farms No Food™!”

♲♲♲♲♲♲♲♲♲♲♲♲

Going Green: The Farmers Market is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

This one’s staying close to mama:

I spotted four total while out there and mama is very protective of her babies. There have been around 20 eggs under her so I won’t be surprised if we see a few more babies pop up.

We Have Babies! is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

There is nothing like a fresh from the garden tomato, potato, green beans, onion, you get the picture. I love eating food just harvested, right out of the ground, dusted off and nothing more. Oh, my mouth waters just thinking about it. But you can’t do that if you are using chemicals.

Why would anyone purposely use chemicals in their very own garden?

Sure, it’s easy. It’s cheap. It’s there. You might as well keep buying your veggies from the grocer with that attitude! No, not me. We practice organic gardening at my house. And I encourage you to take the plunge, too.

Need some help getting started?

Go check out MyOrganicGardeningBlog. No, it’s not mine. Well, actually, it kinda sorta is. It’s yours, too. See, MyOrganicGardningBlog is made up of gardeners from all over. Learn the best way to grow tomatoes from William in Chicago. Thinking about greenhouses? See what Kay from the Southeast has to say. And Deborah in Vermont will tell you why she wants to plant 500 garlic bulbs, but will only plant 50; it’s much more manageable that way. Oh, and don’t forget about composting with Julie in the Midwest. If you are serious about gardening and even more serious about doing it organically this is the place for you. You can follow on Twitter, too.

~ Savings Alert ~

Right now you can save on your organic gardening needs. Use Coupon Code: SBSSMOGB to get 20% off site-wide at http://www.saferbrand.com. You’ll also get free UPS ground shipping on all orders over $49.99 [some restrictions apply].

Grow It Delicious, Grow It Organic is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Springtime in Virginia ~ in pictures is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Chickens hanging out under the shed.

There is a boat under there.

Smiley face.

Trees.

Old Union Hall Schoolhouse.

Swinging in the Trees.

Sleds Waiting Patiently.

More Snowy Shots From Ye Olde Homestead [A Photo Journal] is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

I shot a 3 minute video today using Megan’s FLIP camera. Then I put the camera up and hit the hill! The going down is so much fun, but that hike back up the hill is one crazy workout. Dwayne says we need to invest in a ski lift. Okay, maybe not, but it is a trek to say the least.

Tomorrow will be more sledding and maybe even an attempt at a snowman. I’ll be sure to post more pictures, too.

Snowy Chickens and a Simple Christmas Tree is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

We had a lot of fun. The girls and I hit the freebies at CVS on Thursday. I did not have to worry about getting their early since my parents live in such a small town. Everything was in stock. Then we ate lots of turkey and mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. And of course my mom had pie. There was apple pie [with and without raisins] and pumpkin pie. My aunt made cookies shaped like turkeys and there were brownies.

On Friday the girls and I were at the mall a little after 4 am. We stopped in JCPenney first and collected our free snow globes. My mom collects these. Then we drove over to Target and waited. Just before 5 am we went to get in line only to find it was wrapped around and behind the building. Needless to say, we left.

We drove back to the mall and got food. Then we hit Sears, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and a few others. We did not make too many purchases. I did get stopped by one of the Dead Sea people and tried to leave without buying anything. All I can say is these sales people are good. I took the girls to get hair cuts then we walked over to the people selling hair straighteners. Amanda wanted them to re-straighten her hair. We left with three straighteners and various hair stuffs. These things are amazing! We left after that.

We made one last stop at Publix for some Black Cherry soda ~ the best around ~ and this is always a must for any Florida trip. I tried to take a nap when we returned, but my parents had other plans. We headed out to a working farm and orange grove. I have to say, these oranges were so good. Fresh picked and oh so tasty. We brought back six small boxes of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and lemons. I also got some orange blossom honey ~ farm fresh.

Mom made a ham dinner for us on Friday and there was leftover pie and a Carvel ice cream cake for dessert. I think we can all live for a few weeks on all the food we ate on our trip.

We left Saturday around 11 am and arrived back in Virginia around 9:30 pm. Sunday we were greeted by our chickens and today I have to go by the vet and pick up Ivy. I really miss her. Amanda and I took Megan back to Radford yesterday and hit more traffic on I-81 then we did on any of the roads coming back from Florida the day before.

Today I am working on finishing up NaNoWriMo [2400 words to go as of this posting] and will be a bit MIA for the next three weeks as I finish up my final college class ~ which is going to kick my ass ~ and get ready for the holidays.

Well, so much for my super quick update. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, ate lots of turkey, and enjoyed the company of friends and family be it close to home or far away.

Image courtesy of fmsparis.

Super Quick Update is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

So, yeah. Today I went shopping with Amanda. I would post her picture, but we have this deal ~ I don’t post pictures of her and she doesn’t post those really unflattering pictures of me ~ no problem. I have been wanting a new Scrabble game because I love Scrabble and my board is some 30 years old and I think it’s missing some pieces. It was off to Target for the $20 Deluxe Edition with the carry case & a free Scrabble card game to boot! I cannot wait for Christmas!

Class of 2009

I started my final college class towards my Bachelors in Accounting. YAY! I need to find out everything that is required of me, but I should be an official college graduate in December. My final class is Government & Institutional Accounting. Next order of business, find a job to help pay off all of those student loans that will come a callin’ in six months.

NaNo Novel Update

I have cracked the 35,000 word barrier and am getting some positive feedback over on my writing blog for those few excerpts I have bravely shared. I have lost a bit of my direction, but am okay with that. I will figure it all out and work on the editing and reworking after November has ended and my college studies have completed.

On another writing front, I will be picking up 3 shoe boxes of love letters and pictures when I visit my parents over Thanksgiving. The letters are correspondence from my grandparents while they were courting [isn't that a phrase that should be revived?] and when my grandfather went off to fight in WWII. I am really excited about this. I really am a romantic old sap at heart.

Which Came First The Chicken Or The Egg?

In March we decided to get some chickens. We started with 24. We had 7 roosters and 17 hens. These were mostly Rhode Island Reds, some Bantams, and four were Leghorns. This summer we lost one of the leghorns when she was hit by a truck. After that we debated what to do with the 7 roosters, which were really worrying the hens with their constant, uh, desires. We decided to cull them down to 2 roosters. Not as bad as you would think, but not something I would want to do again if at all possible. That left us with 2 roosters and 16 hens. Then, this past week we lost 3 more hens ~ 2 of the leghorns & I think a bantam. We think a hawk got them.

Our purpose for the chickens is to get eggs, for us to eat and to sell. Lately we have been getting 8 – 9 eggs a day. Today we got one that had no shell and no yolk. It was also quite small. This is the second egg we’ve found this size, the first with no shell.

In Case You Haven’t Seen It

I originally found this posted over at The Succulent Wife’s Favorite Things. This commercial has had me and my family laughing all weekend:

Shopping ~ Graduating ~ Writing ~ Chickens & Eggs [shells are optional] ~ & Finally, A Little 'Clean' Humor is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Megan was a member of her school’s FFA organization. That stands for Future Farmers of America. She took Agriculture in 8th grade because she loves the earth and wanted to know more about how to help it grow. Then, in her junior year of high school, she took Horticulture and was the only girl person in the class that was not your typical farmer-type [read: she did not wear jeans and t-shirts every day].

Why did Megan take Horticulture when she is now and had always planned to study education? Music education, no less. She wanted to expand her horizons AND she loves her earth. Yes, she is a [gasp] treehugger. In fact, she recently called a professor a tree killer because he handed out notes, many, many pieces of paper, without using both sides. Go Megan!

We have a small farm

It is our sincere hope that our small farm does expand some, at least enough to support much more of our family’s nutritional needs. Currently we have a small garden, some fruit trees, and 18 chickens [16 hens and 2 roosters]. Next year we plan to expand our garden with the help of our recently restored [got to love a man who is handy] Farmall tractor and have a few cows grazing the property.

One thing I have learned since moving to Virginia is working the land is hard work. Which is why I do not do as much as I should. I do not like getting callouses. Oh, and the brown recluse spiders are all over the place out there. {shivers} But I am so grateful for all the men and women out there working hard to provide all of those things we take for granted: milk, eggs, beef, etc, etc, etc. You did not think these things just magically appeared at your local grocer, did you?

Together We Can Make Good Things Grow

Campbell’s will be preserving 5 barns across the United States based on your votes. That is right, you can help choose which barns will be preserved by heading over to Help Grow Your Soup and voting for your favorite barn out of the 10 nominees. I am voting for the Rollinghills Farm in Staunton, VA. Why? Well, because it is right down the road from me. Not literally, but it is only about 2 hours from where I live. And I want to support a local farm.

It gets even better. For every vote Campbell’s will donate $1 to FFA (up to $250,000). You can vote once each day. Voting started October 1, 2009 and continues through January 5, 2010, so there is plenty of time to cast those votes and help raise $250,000 in support of the FFA. Now doesn’t that give you a warm fuzzy feeling all over?

Great Eco Tips Delivered to Your Inbox

Have you signed up for ideal bite yet? They were the first to alert me to Campbell’s campaign to preserve barns and raise money for the FFA. That is right. They told me before Campbells did. Oh yes they did! Don’t you want to be the first to know about these great happenings? Well, then sign up today and get this and other great eco-friendly tips delivered directly to your inbox! Just click on the image below to get started.

Get back to basics * Support farmers * Support Campbell’s ‘Grow Your Soup’ Barn Revival is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010