Frugal

Doing more while spending less money

A Fruitful Year!

Submitted by EcoMommyo on Thu, 2012/08/23 - 8:55pm
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Apricot Ratafia

It's been a fruitful year! This amazing feat requires some magical combination of weather, timing, pollination, and possibly prayer. I've seen apricots all over town and also pears, apples, plums, and cherries. I'm hoping to gather some apples for sauce soon. The kitchen is in high gear in years like this.

The apricots were a bonanza and their beautiful goldenness showed up in many of our kitchen productions. Here's what I made:

Why I Garden #30

Submitted by TimJFowler on Tue, 2012/08/21 - 9:22am
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Shishito Chile Peppers

As much as I love the herbs and native flowers in our garden I love the food we grow even more. This season we planted four Shishito Chile Pepper starts from a local nursery and they have been bearing quite well so far. We've harvested a few dozen peppers and have several more dozen peppers almost ready to pick. Shishito peppers are quite mild and with a little pan searing and salt make a great appetizer.

More Info:

Wikipedia - Shishito pepper

Just in Time Rain Barrels

Submitted by TimJFowler on Fri, 2012/07/06 - 10:39am
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Rainbarrel Daisy chain

Just in Time Production is a popular manufacturing strategy with the MBA crowd. It's also a popular strategy for the procrastinators among us. At the Santa Fe Master Gardener's Fair this spring I saw a simple demonstration of how to build an inexpensive (Woo Hoo!) rainbarrel.

Why I Garden #26

Submitted by TimJFowler on Tue, 2012/06/26 - 2:07pm
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Thyme in bloom

One of the first things I did after moving in to our house over 10 years ago was plant a small bed of culinary herbs by the front door. Some of these perennial herbs have thrived, while others didn't. Two thyme plants have survived in this planter and grown bigger after some of their competition was frozen two winters ago. These small and subtle herbs bloomed with small and subtle white flowers this spring.

LED's for Nothing (almost) and Lumens for Free (not really)

Submitted by TimJFowler on Mon, 2012/06/11 - 4:19pm
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AmbientLED bulb in lamp

If you live in New Mexico and are a customer of PNM - here's a deal for you. $10 off (at the register) two different Philips AmbientLED light models at New Mexico Home Depot stores. What's the catch? This discount is only available through July 31, 2012. If you buy the Philips 12-watt AmbientLED (60-watt replacement) soft-white light the price is below $5 per 'bulb' (before tax).

Hitch your Wagon to a Bike

Submitted by TimJFowler on Tue, 2012/04/17 - 9:26pm
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Schwinn Speedster with Bike Trailer

Being an EcoDaddyo, and a cyclist, I bike around our fair city whenever possible. Given the short in-town distances we drive, biking is an easy alternative. Recently, we enrolled our eco-kid in daycare and I'm usually on pick up duty. I was happy to find that this is easy with our new dad-powered, bicycle-pulled kid trailer.

Made the Bread, Bought the Butter, pt.1

Submitted by EcoMommyo on Thu, 2012/03/22 - 7:51pm
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Everyday Bread on cutting board

I got my hands upon Jennifer Reese's Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch. This seemed totally up my alley. Here I am trying to live this nouveau home-ec life and here is a kindred spirit in liking to mess around in the kitchen but it rather ended right there. Thankfully, Ms. Reese explained her situation otherwise I would have spent the whole book rolling my eyes at her yummy-mummy lifestyle.

A Thermostat That's Smarter by Half

Submitted by TimJFowler on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 11:35am
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Albert Einstein

Last fall I installed a 'smarter' thermostat as our old bimetal thermostat had started short-cycling the furnace. A local hardware store had a sale on programmable thermostats for $25, and I installed one that day. Within a day or two I had the thermostat programmed to our preferences and I haven't touched it since. The one question remaining - is the new 'smart' thermostat more energy efficient than the old 'dumb' one?

I can happily say that the new programmable thermostat IS more energy efficient!

Too Cool in the Kitchen

Submitted by TimJFowler on Fri, 2012/02/10 - 4:48pm
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Oven Glow Bar Igniter

If you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, your oven is probably working. We had the opposite problem recently - a decidedly cool kitchen. After weeks of our oven taking longer and longer to heat up, it suddenly stopped heating at all. Thanks to a classic Fix-It-Yourself book, Google and a bit of DIY troubleshooting I found the problem. The Glow Bar Igniter in our oven was no longer heating sufficiently to start the gas oven. Happily, it was an easy fix.

A Toast to Fall's Harvest

Submitted by TimJFowler on Thu, 2011/12/29 - 4:28pm
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Homemade Hard Apple Cider

The Winter Solstice has passed and short, cold days are here. If you planned ahead, the fruits of Summer and Fall are stored in your pantry. We preserved some Gravenstein apples in a very traditional American way - by making hard cider! After all, there are only so many jars of applesauce, apple butter and dried apples you can use.

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