Gardening ~ Cooking ~ Frugality
Live from Zone 7b in New Jersey
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One Mode After Another
I’ve been thinking about how I seem to pass from mode to mode. Picture a Venn diagram with circles that overlap to some degree. One of the circles, perhaps the largest, is “survival mode.” In survival mode, the cheapest option wins. Eat at home, hobbies can’t cost money, entertainment needs to be free or cheap.…
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Growing Tomatoes (Indeterminate) in Zone 7b
Republishing for spring 2026. It’s not too late to start tomato seeds! Tomatoes! Nearly every year, I grow more tomatoes than anything else. Enough to make gallons of sauce and to give them away in free piles outside my house. Indeterminate tomatoes are those that vine and sprawl all over. Determinate ones have neat and…
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Cracking Good Time
As so often happens, because I had a “bad” week last week in terms of spending too much on takeout and work lunches, I was motivated to do better this week. We “only” had takeout one night, and I bought lunch just once (and stretched it to be my dinner also). And I haven’t bought…
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Taskmaster
I am somewhat addicted to this game called Township that I started playing through Fetch. I guess it’s similar to Farmville; I never played that. I don’t usually play games on my phone, but when I do, I get addicted. I am all in. The game has a lot of tasks, and at times it…
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Ye Olde Homestead
Signs of life observed this week: Buds on the hydrangea. Arugula sprouts. Unknown flower bulbs. This weekend I really just wanted to pretend I was on a homestead (after watching several videos during the week about people buying farms in Ireland, Portugal and more — Tom’s idea). It kinda worked. I strode about the backyard…
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Sunny Sunday
After a rainy, gloomy week, the sun came out Sunday and the temperature hit 71 degrees. I spent some time outside topping off a planter and adding compost, and then sowing three types of carrot seed (Scarlet Nantes, Royal Chantenay and Little Finger). All the straw on the strawberries — I brushed that off. I…
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Sewing, Birding, Jamming
What a difference a week makes. We had a high of 57 on Saturday and we made it to March. Hurray! Can I just say how much I love sleeping in a little on Saturdays, then coming downstairs to sunshine pouring in the windows. Slowly making coffee and toast, not rushing. Jotting down a few…
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Birdie Birdie
Finally seeing some birds at my feeder! I think the blizzard made the food and shelter attractive! Today we had dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, and Carolina wrens visit! I honestly can’t tell you how excited Tom and I were when we woke up to the photo notification. We are getting old. We also woke up…
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Fon-Didn’t
My frozen yard and my cold heart both melted a little this weekend. Temps close to 50 on Saturday started the thaw. I went out back to enjoy the mildness and lay eyes on the garden. I hadn’t been in the yard for weeks. It was heartening to see some creeping thyme, perfectly alive under…
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Literally Dreaming of Spring
Maybe we should have bone-chillingly cold weekends more often. Being stuck in the house made me very productive. This weekend I have made meatballs, gravy, stuffed shells and banana bread. I have all the ingredients for pasta fagioli and was contemplating knocking it out, but will push that to tomorrow night. I’ve done three loads…
Garden State of Mind 