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

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

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

Yes, I Think His Tractor's Sexy is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

What was I doing while DH did all that work on the “farm”?  Homework, studying, and a final exam for Principles of Corporate Finance.  Whew!  Everything is done and I “A”ced the exam (100% – oh, yeah!).  Five more classes to go and my goal is to get my degree with a 4.0 GPA.

More From the Garden is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

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

All day long I look out the windows to see chickens walking the property, scratching for food, resting in the shady areas.  Some are brave and get a little close to the road.  Poor Ivy dog goes nuts with this strange invasion of birds on her turf.  Tonight I captured Amanda running with the chickens since I find it quite amusing.  Hope it brings a smile to your face, too.

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Running of the Chickens feat. Amanda is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Today DH felt it was time to let the chickens out of the coop, so to speak.  We have 4 roosters and 20 hens.  Most of the chickens are Reds while 4 are leg-horns (white).  To me they are all pretty.  I spent some time today photographing the chickens outside of the coop, some from afar and some up close.  They seemed to have spent a majority of their time under the coop with the occasional venture into the wild unknown.

Nobody Here But Us Chickens is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010