We have lots of tomatoes planted in the garden this year so I am looking forward to making homemade tomato soup with lots of fresh ingredients. Love the idea of drying the tomatoes to make tomato powder. This looks like a really good recipe.

http://amazinggrazefarm.com/tomato-soup/

Little Mountain Haven: how to build a herb spiral

Little Mountain Haven: how to build a herb spiral: Last year we built a permaculture herb spiral and I've been asked a lot about them since. I first read about herb spirals in  ' ...

http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2013/03/12/growing-a-garden-for-canning-how-to-plan-to-can-and-save-big/

This is a nice site with information about gardening and canning.

I am in the middle of spring cleaning. My guys went out to glean some wood from someones scrap pile for my 14 year old son who wants to make bird houses and other wood working projects. It is cold out but I want to work on the garden. I have started some things indoors but need to get more started.  

I really like The Prudent Homemaker Blog, so thought I would take a leaf out of her book. These are some of the things that I have done this last week to live frugally this week.

1. I cooked a turkey that I purchase for .49 a lb at Thanksgiving time. (I got 6 of them at that time).
2. I will use the leftover turkey for meals for the next few days and freeze a meal for later.
3. I will cook the turkey bones with the broth for soup and put it with the leftover rice that I cooked for dinner with some kale that I dried this summer from the garden.
4. I used my homemade laundry soap all last week for laundry. Love it!!
5. We all used the homemade toothpaste that I made. We have been using this for about  2 months. I had a dental apt. and the hygienist said my gums and teeth looked great and to keep up whatever I have been doing. Yea!!!
6. I made homemade pancakes for breakfast today and Friday and Saturday morning made 'Dutch Top Hat' for breakfast and we used my homemade Chokecherry syrup on top.
7. My 16 year old made homemade pizza for dinner with freshly ground whole wheat flour (Wheat Montana Red Winter Wheat).
8. I used kambucha tea that I have going constantly and mixed it with my homemade apple juice made from our apple trees. Looked at the price of store bought Kambucha tea and decided I can mimic most of their flavors right here at home.
9. Started putting together my seed order for gardening this summer. I have some saved over but we are planning a garden twice the size we had last year.
10. I made rhubarb/raspberry crunch from fruit from our frozen fruit that we grew.
11. I started a batch of keifer this week. I need to look up how to use it. I like Kambucha but not sure how the keifer will taste, but want to heal my stomach lining. Would love ideas anyone else has on how to use it.
12. We got about 3 dozen eggs from our hens this week. We only have 13 hens so for winter that is not too bad. 
13. I started herbs and tomatoes and lettuce in plastic salad containers with a fluorescent light used at night to help them grow. Had to replant a few things that hadn't done too well. Mini-greenhouses.

 I just asked my youngest son if he could think of anything else frugal that I had done this week and he said he thought I had it down pat. I think he thinks we live frugally all the time. Guess we do.

Oh, this week I need to give the guys hair cuts, too. Keep watching as I will try to post more as I think about it.

I made some wonderful homemade laundry detergent using the directions at

http://www.mrshappyhomemaker.com/2012/09/homemade-liquid-laundry-detergent-plus-a-free-printable-label/#

It turned out very well, I think. I had saved an extra empty large Free Clear All  bottle and a small one that I purchased on a trip away from home. I also filled and labeled 2 bleach bottles and still have about 1/3 of a 5 gallon bucket left. I washed my first load with it this afternoon and it worked just fine.  

Also, I made homemade toothpaste 2 weeks ago from 1/2 c. Coconut oil, 1/2 c. baking soda, 3 packets stevia and several drops of peppermint oil. I only made about 1 cup of it and it was almost gone today so I made another batch today. There are four of us using it. I keep a spoon along side the jar in the bathroom so each can dip the spoon in and then dip their brush in that. Then we wash the spoon in hot water and viola, good as a tube. (And WAY less expensive than health store brands of toothpaste.) It seems to be very healing to the gums as well. 

Dealing with possible kidney stones, so putting into practice what I have learned from past experience. I purchased extra bags of cranberries at Thanksgiving time and put them in the freezer, so now I have them when I need them. I cooked some with honey and have been drinking this juice yesterday evening and will today as well. I also have some kidney tea that is full of herbs that are supposed to break up and help stones pass. I will try to post the list of what is in that. We also purchased a large ginger root last night and will grate and boil that. I feel a lot better this morning but have a plan in case it starts hurting again. I have been drinking coffee (organic from Costco) and I think that is causing the stones to form. I read in Hulda Clark's book "Cure for all Disease" that black tea, coffee and hot chocolate can cause kidney stones to form in just one day after a cleanse. It has been quite a while since I have done a kidney cleanse and I suppose the results of the last few months of enjoying coffee is catching up with me. I will be drinking LOTS of water today, and also, I have Kambucha tea.  I haven't tried this with kidney stones so we will see if that helps.

Have lots to do today and can't afford to be under the weather.

Cheers!

http://heart-hands-home.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-mozzarella-cheese.html

Might try this sometime.