We took the plunge this past weekend! Ever since we moved to Michigan we wanted to try tapping our maple trees and making our own syrup. Since it takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup it seemed a little daunting, well, along with the whole sugar shack or sugaring kettle thing.

This year we decided to set our fears aside and give it a try. I have to admit that it was a lot easier then I thought. The season lasts four to six weeks and are only 5 days into it so we will see if we make it the whole season. Even if we don't we still had a lot of fun and will enjoy the several quarts of homemade maple syrup that we did get.

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Raw milk sales in 28 of the 50 states are perfectly legal. Michigan, is not one of those states. In fact they have some of the most strict laws here in the Great Lakes state. Since 1948, raw milk sales have been illegal here. What's not illegal is consuming raw milk from your own cow.

So since we won't be adding a cow to our long list of pets here on the one acre in town ranch, how is it that we can consume raw milk legally?

A good question. And the answer varies from state to state.


Why raw milk? Why now? Why not?

Pasteurization not only kills off the good bacteria that is naturally in milk, but also kills off the enzymes that some of us need to process lactose. Due to my intolerance, we've been buying two kinds of milk for some time - organic and lactose-free. While the lactose-free milk does not wreak havoc on my digestive system, it is kinda like consuming white sludge. Result? I could never drink it straight. Cereal and cooking only really. I could only drink a glass of it if I laced it with chocolate syrup.

So we're keeping two kinds of expensive milk - both of which can be difficult to get a the grocery store. The solution? Raw milk. Beautiful, delicious, raw milk.

For about 70% of those who are lactose intolerant, switching to raw milk will solve your issue. It did for me. We discovered this after trying some raw milk from a friend. After that, and discovering how amazing it tastes, it was only a matter of time before we signed up. Now, we are the proud owners of half a cow share - allowing us one and a half gallons per week.

But wait - What's a cow share?

Imagine buying stock in a company. By doing that, you now own part of that company. Usually, that amounts to about 0.000006% of ownership. Our half-share gives us, by my estimates, gives us 3.4% ownership, by which we have rights to 3.4% of the milk which comes out to one and a half gallons per week. Now we still have to pay for the milking of the cow. The cost is comparable to the price of organic milk at the grocery store, except here, all of the profit goes to the farmer - not a bunch of middle men. I like that.

The best part? Everything you can do with it.

Now raw milk doesn't come to you like that processed stuff from the grocery store - its' raw. Not pasteurized. Not homogenized. And that's just the way we like it. For one, you can decide how you like the milk - skim, 2%-ish, whole - as the cream is resting on top. That's right, you can skim it to your taste, and best of all, have the cream to use elsewhere. More on that later. Also, it's all intact, just the way God intended it to be. Enzymes, good bacteria... in their absence, bad stuff comes in. Leave a bit out in a cup for a few days along with a cup of it's processed counterpart. The difference is amazing.

By now, you've figured out how important quality food is to us. Raw milk is no exception. We subscribe to the theory that if you have the best ingredients, you don't need all the fancy recipes and seasonings. The simplest dish will stand on it's own. Here is a few things we have made with our raw milk that have absolutely rocked our world.

Butter: As much as the Mrs. would enjoy it, we aren't doing this with an old fashioned butter turn like her Grandmother's. No, no, you can make this in you food processor or blender. Just add cream, and switch it on. After about 5 minutes, it will 'pop' and solidify, taking on that distinctive yellow color (yes, real butter is quite yellow). And the taste? It tastes like butter is supposed to taste and that spreadable garbage in the tubs will never fully emulate. I'll take it a step further. Take that fresh butter and stir in a bit of sea salt for the only spread you'll ever need for crackers or bread.

Ice cream: You've seen the Mrs.'s blueberry ice cream (which was amazing), but we didn't stop there. At a gathering with friends, we brought our ice cream maker and ingredients. Cream (from raw milk), raw milk, sugar, and eggs (from our hens). We made it on site and served it up fresh with our peach syrup. Our friends devoured every last drop. Now, back to our theory from above - notice what was missing from the ingredient list? Flavoring! No vanilla, no chocolate, no fruit, no nuts. It is actually the Ben and Jerry's Cream Base recipe which is intentionally unflavored. No one noticed.

Whipped Cream: Add a little sugar and vanilla and whip until stiff peaks. This stuff is thick and rich.

Yogurt: Some friends of ours get raw milk solely for making yogurt. There are several ways to do this.

Oh, and it's pretty awesome just to drink too.


So, just how deliciously illegal is raw milk? Very.

Ever tried it? Ever wanted to?

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Do you sometimes wish for a simpler time? A time when life was not full of distractions? No cell phones constantly ringing, tons of emails to check, TV, 24 hour news, tons of school activities.

I know I do! Sometimes I just wish I could go back to a time when life was centered around a self sufficiency and survival. Just raising my family on a small family farm. The kids would only go to school a few months of the year during the winter when they were not needed in the field. Most of our time was spent together with none of the distractions.

Recently I got a taste of what that would be like.

My grandmother has an old fashion glass butter churn. It was handed down to my 82 year old grandmother by her uncle. She was not sure how old it was but thought that he might have been given it used himself. She used it for many years when they had their own dairy cows after WWII. We asked her if we would bring a half gallon of fresh raw cream if she would let us use it. Of course she agreed.


When we got to her house she had it all cleaned up and ready to go. It was amazing that after setting for 40 years it worked so well. We all had a blast sitting around the kitchen table visiting, listening to old family stories, and taking turns churning the butter. Grandma said she never remembered it being this much fun back when she "had" to do the butter chore, but that day with her grand kids and great grand kids she enjoyed it. There was no distractions of life that day, no tv, no cell phones work on the farm, no running to do.


It was all so simple that day.

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Sometimes it's hard to find recipes that taste good and are healthy. That's when I take the time to be creative in the kitchen. However, I'll admit that instead of re-inventing the wheel I prefer to use my favorite cookbooks and save the creative juices for the sewing room and our budget.

I found it hard to narrow it down since I do have several cookbooks I use on a somewhat regular basis, but here are my top three favorite cookbooks.

I tried several different bread machine recipe books. This is the only one I use now. We love all the recipes. When I made the homemade pizza this was the book that I used for the pizza dough recipe.

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A couple weeks ago I posted my peach syrup recipe. I included a photo of the syrup on top of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with my homemade granola. [Editor's note: Yum!] Amanda asked in the comments for my homemade granola recipe. So Amanda, here it is!


This recipe, like most of mine, are a combination of several. I've tweaked it be a good compromise between what my picky eaters will eat and still have it healthy enough that I'll let them eat it. It's sometimes a hard balance to find in our house.

Homemade Granola Recipe

3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup barley flakes
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the mix to add the wet ingredients. Toss the combined ingredients until they have an even mix. Then spread out the granola onto cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.

Bake for 40 minutes stirring two to three times while baking. Let the granola cool completely. At that point you can add dried fruit.

To see more great recipe ideas join us on:
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There is no shortage of great tomato recipes. It must have do to with the large volumes of tomatoes you can usually find in ones garden. This year I'll be putting up tons of tomatoes (most of them from the farmer's market, not my own garden). Some of the things I'll be making are katcup (w/ the secret family recipe), bbq sauce, tomato soup, plum tomatoes and pizza sauce.

I've found several pizza sauce recipes that sounded almost perfect for our family but for one reason or another were not perfect for our taste. So what did I do? The usual, combine the best of each recipe. I ended up combining a Martha Steward recipe that sounded a little bland with a friend's recipe (not sure her source) that had sugar in it. What I came up with was a great tasting recipe that has the taste of fresh tomatoes but a good balance of garlic and spices.


Pizza Sauce
2 lbs Fresh Tomatoes
2 T Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves
1 T Pizza Spice Mix

• Saute garlic

• Add tomatoes and cook until soft

• Add spice mix and simmer for 5 minutes

• Put through food mill

• Return to sauce pan and reduce until thick

This recipe makes enough for two normal sized pizzas.


Like usual, my favorite recipes are very simple. Less is more. You just need to start out with good fresh ingredients and you have it made! I'll be making a lot more batches of this recipe and freezing it in small containers to use over the winter months.

If you are wondering about the pizza in the photo. It is a homemade whole wheat crust, the pizza sauce per recipe, local all natural hot sausage and local mozzarella cheese. Even our picky eaters devoured these yummy creation.


Would you like to check out more tasty recipes or share your own? Join us on:
Tasty Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Food Roots
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This post is a little heavy on the photos so please forgive me in advance if you really just came here looking for the peach syrup recipe. I really enjoy peaches and use them as the main ingredient in our smoothies. I also have a favorite canning recipe that is a peach syrup. It makes for a wonderful gift since it can top off pancakes, french toast, waffles or ice cream. I have yet to have someone turn me down (or turn their nose up) when I offer them a jar of peach syrup.

As I'm sure you have gathered I use a lot of peaches during the season. I am able to buy "Market Ready" peaches that have only about 24 hours left of peak freshness time for $0.50 a pound. The peaches are still in perfect condition and I'm paying less then the u-pick price. The catch you ask? I have 24 hours to freeze, can or eat all that I buy. With a little planning before buying that is not a problem.


The peach syrup recipe I'm sharing today is actually a water bath canning recipe. If you would like to try the recipe but not can it then follow the directions through add the vanilla then you can cool the syrup and use (it will stay good in the fridge for about a week).



On to the recipe!

Peach Syrup
5 cups of pureed peaches
2 cups sugar
5 t. Fruit Fresh
2 t. vanilla

Combine puree, sugar and Fruit Fresh in a pot. Bring to a boil then let simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Pour into hot jars and process for 20 minutes in a water bath canner.

Variations: There are three ways you can easily vary this recipe. You can not add vanilla, substitute honey for sugar or use 2T. of lemon juice instead of Fruit Fresh.

One of the many ways we enjoy this yummy syrup is on top of vanilla ice cream with homemade granola sprinkled on top. Truly a divine peaches' n cream dish.


How do you dish up your peaches?


Would you like to check out more tasty recipes or share your own? Join us on:
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Our youngest daughter is affectionately nicknamed "The Blueberry Monster". So as you can imagine, we go through a lot of blueberries at our house. This year I froze 30 lbs of berries. We will see if it lasts a full year. Last years supply ran out fast. We use our berries in lots of things from pancakes to smoothies. Just this year a friend gave me a new recipe for blueberry ice cream. It was an instant family favorite.

We used fresh cream from raw milk. Using the real fresh stuff helps with the flavor and texture. This ice cream was the richest and best tasting ice cream I have ever had in my life. The best part was that the kids loved it because of purple color.


Here is the rich creamy recipe.

In heavy 2 qt. saucepan heat blueberries, water and sugar to boiling. Stir for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Add lemon juice and chill until cold (or overnight). Add creams and place in ice cream maker.

Yes, it was just that easy. I would suggest serving it in small dishes with only one small to medium sized scoop. It reminds me of french dessert. It is so rich that you only need a small amount.

What are you favorite blueberry recipes?

To see more great recipes and share your own, join us at:
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The best ways to save money on food is to grow your own. Hands down, it's the best way. I know you can clip coupons and get hamburger helper and boxed brownie mix for pennies, however there is a hidden cost to those food items. You and your children's health. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that if you eat on healthy foods you never get sick, but you will be healthier and your odds of getting serious health issues like cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes does greatly decline.

So why is eating your own home grown food so beneficial? I'm glad you asked. Here is a list of ways you "Save".

• You save on gym membership fees and the cost of buying a home gym since you are getting your exercise in the garden.
• You save gas since you are not driving to the store or farmers market as much.
• The cost of food (seed, etc) is cheaper then the store produce.
• It saves the planet by not polluting the air with carbon imissions from tractors and semis.
• If you use organic methods you will save our precious water supply and soil by adding fewer toxins into our water supply.
• You save on health costs by eating healthy.
• You save your life by adding more healthy days onto your life span.
• You save your kids lives by teaching them where their food comes from and educating them on how to cook healthy food.
• You save your friends and family by setting a good example for them to follow.
  
• Save your neighbors money by selling them your extra produce.
  
• If that's not enough, you also get a good tan, free highlights and killer thighs for no added cost!
  

As you can see the list could go on and on. The impact that one home gardener has on their health, wallet, environment, and those around them is endless.

Here is just one of the healthy garden fresh meals we had last week. Grilled mozzarella and tomatoes sandwiches using a homemade Italian herb loaf, corn on the cob and fried zucchini.


Why do you garden? Have you been eating garden fresh meals lately?

To see more great recipe ideas join us on Food on Fridays.

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Sweet Cherries are in season up here in Michigan. Just like sweet corn our favorite way to eat sweet cherries are fresh with nothing extra. BUT... that doesn't make for much of a recipe to share now does it? So I thought that I would share with you one of our summertime drink favorites.

Fresh squeezed lemonade with sweet cherries. Now I could lie to you and tell you about how this is a family recipe passed down from my grandmother. But that would be a lie. It's actually a Martha Stewart recipe that was perfect the way it was. Why mess with perfection?

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I have always had a green thumb when it comes to green beans. They seem to be easy to grow and deer are not crazy about them. Luckily, we are! There are lots of things to do with green beans, but my favorite recipe for freshly picked is as simple as growing them.

Seasoned Green Beans

Green Beans (enough to feed your family)
Olive Oil
Grey Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper

In a sauce pan put in enough water to just cover your beans. Bring the beans and water to a slow boil for 5 minutes.

Drain the beans. Add just enough olive oil to your hot sauce pan to lightly coat your beans, usually around a tablespoon. Next add a little sea salt and pepper for flavoring. Then return the beans to the hot sauce pan and coat with the oil mixture.

It's just that simple. With only about 10 minutes you can make a tasty healthy side dish that will not break the bank.

What is you favorite green bean recipe for garden fresh beans? Feel free to link back to your blog with the new McKlinky we are testing.

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This year the weather has been perfect for our lettuce. We have been enjoying it for weeks now. There is lots to do with lettuce.

Ways to use Lettuce:

• Salads- We have been enjoying cranberry walnut salads, ceasar chicken salads, taco salad, and small side salads
• Tacos- We have been loading our tacos with lettuce to make them a little healthier
• Burgers- We have been adding lettuce to our hamburgers and porkburgers

I'm sure there are tons more ways to use all the yummy healthy lettuce. What are some of the ways you use your fresh garden lettuce?

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My fondest memories of childhood include me helping my grandma pick fresh strawberries out of her enormous strawberry patch located right outside her back door. Just the smell of sweet strawberries takes me back to her kitchen. I get teary eyed just thinking about those precious memories. So as you can imagine they are hands down my favorite fruit. It's hard to mess them up and they so great fresh with nothing done to them.

However, sometimes you need to jazz them up for the kids or company. Here is one of my family's favorite strawberry recipes.

Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

1 c. sugar
4 Tbsp. oleo
1 egg
2 c. budget mix (click here for my recipe)
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
strawberries
cool whip

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease one muffin tin. Cream sugar and shortening. Add egg, budget mix, and then milk mixing in between. Add vanilla. Fill 12 muffin slots in tin. Bake for 10 minutes, then serve with strawberries and cool whip.

I find my version of shortcakes to be easy and fast because of using the budget mix and the muffin tins. No rolling and cutting with this version.

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Asparagus is one of our family's favorite veggies. We have our own asparagus patch and we seem to never have enough. We could eat it once a day and still not get sick of it. But, we don't eat it year around. We eat it only when it is fresh and local. Our family works hard to only eat local foods. Here is one of our favorite frugal recipes for beloved asparagus.

1. Steam your asparagus
2. Place on platter and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3. Fry an egg
4. Place egg on top of the asparagus
5. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, it really is that simple, affordable and delicious. What is your favorite way to prepare asparagus?

Image from Muffet's Flickr site

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I few years ago I found Mary Jane Farm's Budget Mix. Before then I had never used Bisquick or the likes. I never even had the desire to try them. After having several people recommend MJF's Budget Mix I gave it a try. I was hooked from the first recipe I made. Since that day our budget has become a lot tighter and a lot of those little extras have been cut from the budget.

After living without the budget mix for almost two years I decided to try and make my own version using the bulk supplies I keep on hand. I spent way to much time searching online to find just the right recipe only to not find it. Most baking budget mixes include shorting and only white flour. Some even include sugar. Those were all things that I would rather leave out or cut back on.

After a little trial and error I came up with the perfect baking mix recipe for my kitchen. It has only four basic ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt. With this basic mix I have made perfect muffins, cookies, scones, and more! The nice part about this mix is that I can use it in all of my favorite recipes. There is no need to use a special recipe. You just have to substitute an equal amount of the baking mix in place of the flour. Then you leave out the other four ingredients when making the recipe.

Here is the baking mix recipe:

5 cups White flour
5 cups Whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
4 Tbsp Baking powder (Aluminum free)
3 tsp Sea Salt

Mix it really good in a large bowl. Keep in a sealed container in your pantry.

Oh yeah.... I really is that easy!

As excited as I am to have a nice baking mix back in the kitchen, my family is even more excited. The house smells so good to from all the baking.

For more great recipes join us on:
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I have often talked about taking a cooking class. The Mr. always says that he would be just fine with the girls and I could enjoy the evening out. There are two reason's why I have not done it to this day. Money and time. I'm sure most of you are like me and don't want to spend the money or time when you really don't have it to spend.

Some day I will budget for this unnecessary cooking class. Until then I've found a wonderful online resource that is completely FREE. The website is The Prepared Pantry. They sell all sorts of neat kitchen related items AND they have a section called "The Baker's Library". In this collection are tons of free resources to help improve your baking. They include 8 free baking lessons from Pros, free e-books, articles, recipes, and much more. I have not had time to go through all of there free resources, but so far what I've seen has been very educational.

I hope you enjoy this free resource. Do you know of any other free cooking class or learning materials? If so feel free to share the info in the comments below or leave a link to your blog post.

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I love mason jars! It all started when I was a freshman in college. I needed something to keep my pens and pencils in on my desk in the dorms. With no money to my name I decided to re purpose something. I found an old quart sized mason jar and put it to work.

Since then I have used them for everything! I'm still amazed at the number of times I solve a problem with a glass mason jar. It's almost like a woman's version of duct tape really. In fact, I just solved another problem with them just the other day. I wanted to put my bulk food into glass containers to store them instead of the flimsy plastic bags they come in. We really don't have room in the budget for the jars and I did not find any at garage sales and estate sales this past summer. I was not sure what I was going to do when I remembered that I had some 1/2 gallon mason jars in the basement that I "inherited" from my mom's best friend's mom's estate. I've never used them for canning and they have just been sitting in the basement. It was a perfect match for my bulk flours, sugar and rices.

Here are 16 of the many other uses for your canning jars other then canning.

• Pen/Pencil holder
• Utensil holder
• Bulk food canisters
• Cookie jar
• Storing leftover food
  
• Loose change container
• Hold plant clippings you are rooting
• Candle holder
• Flower vase
  
• Sorter/holder for loose screws, nuts, etc
• Store extra buttons
• Custom mixed wood stain holder
• Holds gifts like dried cookie mixes or homemade bath salts
• Bird feeders
• Use as a drinking glass
• Eye Spy container for kids
  

Oh I love mason jars! Besides all the wonderful uses for them they are made from glass so you don't have to worry about toxins in plastic or any of the other issues with plastic.

How do you use your mason jars? Do you feel like they are the female version of duct tape? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section!

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The national economy is in the dumps. The local economy is no exception. In fact it has been hit pretty hard. So it didn't surprise me when I saw that the local news had a running segment coming up about feeding your family on a tight budget. Made sense to me.

What did surprise me was the amount.

"We'll teach you to feed a family of four on $100 per week."


My suspicions were confirmed when I checked the budget. Our monthly food budget is $400, roughly translating into 100 dollars per week. So they were going to teach me to be myself?

No. I know that many would consider this amount to be scant. I also know that our kids are quite young, though at times, our 5-year old can put away as much as we do. Still four mouths to feed.

I also know that we've gotten by on less - a lot less. I can recall, during my SAHD days, having to explain just how we could possibly be spending only $250 per month on groceries. I had to be wrong - it just couldn't be possible. Though the person in such disbelief was spending $700 + per month on a family of the same size, and our kids were the same age. I would have been in shock too.

So I put it to you, dear readers -
What is your monthly food budget? And how many are you feeding with it?

Some caveats that came out of the above debate:

• Our food budget is just that - food, for us. Not some, "we buy it all at the same store, so it's the same money" fund.
  
• We buy our dog food elsewhere, but it likely comes out of the same pot.
• Eating out is not included in this number as it is a separate line item called "Eating out"
• Even on our $400 / mo., we are buying organic milk and eggs, all natural beef, chicken, pork, and turkey, and many other organic products. No Kraft nothin'.

So let's hear it. Bust out your budget and pony up!

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Back in June Mr. NtJS asked me to write a post about frugal baby food. I informed him that I was not an expert and all I really do is just mash bananas and serve. Well, almost three months later I still do not feel like an expert but I would like to share what I have learned about making our own baby food and feeding our baby on a budget.

Like usual, we went against the norm and did not introduce rice cereal first. In fact, I still have not introduced grains yet (daughter is 9 months, started solids @ 4 months). I found no evidence that supported the notion that you have to give cereal's as one of the first foods. In some cases due to allergies it is better to wait.

Instead, I started with bananas. They are the easiest to prepare and one the first foods on all the list to try. It's as easy as keeping a few fresh ones on hand and mashing 1/3 of it at a time with a fork. Since we have an older child we would give her the other 2/3 of the banana with her meal. If you don't have another child to eat the left overs you can cover the cut end with a small piece of plastic wrap and it will keep it from browning.


Since I was trying to feed my daughter healthy, but frugal foods the next logical choices where direct from the garden. Zuchinni, carrots and peas all came straight from our garden. I did purchase sweet potatoes, peaches, apples, and other fruits from local farmers (equaling a good deal for both of us).

I was amazed at how easy and quick it is to make the food! The veggies I would steam while steaming them for us as well. So if we where eating peas I could steam the extra's for the baby. Once they were steamed, I just put them in the food processor or the food mill (our food mill is awesome, by the way). Then I fill ice cube trays with the pureed food. Once it's frozen I move the cubes into marked containers. The fruits I just slice up and give her them in a mesh feeder. That is her favorite way to eat right now. I did make apple sauce which takes more time but if I'm going to put up over 50 quarts for my family what are a few more sugar free ones for the baby?

My baby loves the food. She has yet to find a food she did not like. As for my older daughter, she did not like my homemade baby food. I think that the issue was that I started her on jarred food and then decided to try to make it when she was a little older. My guess is that if I would have done it from the beginning she would not have minded the taste or texture.

Another interesting observation is that our still toothless infant is eating cheerios, while other kids we know, who have been raised on jarred food AND have teeth, are unable to handle solids and gag unless everything is liquefied.

By making my own baby food we have saved a lot of money. We have not made any charts or formula's to calculate how much, but when you look at the high price of jarred food compared to fresh fruits and veggies you will see a huge mark up.

Do any of you make your own baby food? Do you have any tips you could share or stories to tell?

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Actually, we didn't pick them, and we had a whole bushel (4 pecks, I think). But it's a fun title. Despite all the hand labor, we're in good spirits at the NtJS house. This weekend we picked up a bushel of bell peppers from a local organic farmer.

So what is all the excitement about?


If you haven't noticed (and really, how could you miss it), bell peppers were a major victim of the grocery price hikes over the past year or so. Locally, they have been $3-4 per POUND. And that's not even for organic ones. a couple of years ago, I can recall buying them for closer to $1 per pound. We've been so put off by the price hikes, that we've been speaking with our wallet and not buying them. We stand by the decision, but oh how we've missed bell peppers!

Italian, Tex-Mex, and stir-fry - all staples at our house - have been bell pepper-less for far too long. We tried growing them in the garden, but several growers lost their crops this spring, and the ones that we did plant were eaten by deer while we were on vacation. Ug. There seemed to be no hope.

In a moment of weakness, the Mrs. picked up a bag of three bell peppers a couple of weeks ago, from the grocery store.
Later we looked at the sticker only to find that they were a product of Holland! The county!
We quickly used them before we had time to think about all the things they had to do to these things to get them to make the journey across the Atlantic and come out picture-perfect. Then, things started to turn around for us.

A friend was talking about buying organic tomatoes in bulk from an organic farmer that frequents the weekly farmer's market. Would she do the same for bell peppers? It took some time to get an answer - what with having to have enough to sell otherwise. But eventually, she came back with an affirmative answer and a price per bushel. $23 - same as what she sells them to restaurants, maybe a bit less than that even. With 35 peppers in a bushel, these big beautiful organic peppers come out to 65 cents each - some of which may have weighed a pound each. Best of all, they traveled 20 miles to get to our table (or freezer), not 2000.

Now, with about an hour or so of hand labor and some time with the Food Saver, we have plenty to ensure our meals will not be pepper-less for quite some time, and we didn't have to give in to those terrible grocery store prices. We also ended up with some very nice compost fuel!

It was a big win for us, but maybe we like bell peppers more than you. Another great deal, simply because we ASKED!

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