Done canning!!!

It has been a busy few weeks.  Most of my time has been taken up by canning and scouts.  It is popcorn season for Scouting families, some with multiple scouts.  This has been an exercise in trying to think things through.  We have two scouts in our home, both with sales goals of $1500 or more.  I have a love hate relationship with the whole popcorn thing.  On one hand the boys do learn quite a bit.  Estimating sales, working towards goals, handling disappointment, as well as accountability practices when handling the money.  On the other hand the popcorn is pricey, the council gets a chunk of change from each sale, and did I mention it is pricey?  Standing outside the grocery store for hours on end on a Saturday just isn't working for me anymore.  I know it means the boys can go to camp, which most families couldn't afford without some sort of fundraiser, but I think there is a better way.  I'm just not sure what it is.

As for canning, I think we had our biggest year yet.  We wound up with our own berries, but friends had extra zucchini, green beans, and plums.  So my pantry is beautifully filled right now.  I had a goal of 25 jars of everything, and we made it.  So I am hoping we can save a little on groceries and throw some money at our debt.  All of  our debt is house debt, either the mortgage or the windows we had to replace when we bough the house.  But I would like on of them to go away!!!!

We haven't gotten any work done our closet, between the boys selling popcorn and other "the school year has started" chaos.  I am ready for a three day weekend!!!

That time of year again...

Well, I didn't do much of anything two weeks ago.  House work and dance camp, but nothing shopping related.  We had enough food to get us through, so we ate what we had, and saved the grocery shopping for later.  But this week, I did have to go shopping, but not for food.  For school supplies.  I couldn't find a single local store that had even a portion of what I needed.  Sure I could kind pens and pencils everywhere.  But not the specific calculater or the right kind of folders.  So I wound up at the great shrine of American consumerism.  Wal-Mart. Oh, what joy.  The grand total was $200, and that was for two kids.  I'm not sure if that was a good price or not, but it's done now.  I do make the kids reuse their backpacks/lunch boxes from year to year, so that helps with the budget.  They have to use til it falls apart.  I have to do the same with my purses, so all is fair there.

I don't how we could get a store that could carry things things like that seasonally.  We have an awesome general store that carries everything, but they don't always have what you need. Although you can find plenty of might needs or "we could use this" while the hubby is getting that piece of piping he needs!  Maybe the schools just need to send home shorter lists.  Pens, pencils, paper.  You can get that anywhere.

We did get some zucchini, and I discovered I had a zucchini relish recipe!  So I have made two batches and am on my way to some more today.  They neighbors also let the kids pick plums, so I have conserve to do as well.  And hopefully some fruit leather.  They never do anything with the plums, so kids go and get then all.  I'll send a couple jars of conserve over when they are done, as well as some of the fruit leather. 

The secret to saving money?

Don't spend it!  This week we really didn't buy much out side of gas and groceries.  The one thing we bought was a water bottle for the youngest at a scout event.  I hate buying bottled water, especially when you can fill your own for free.  We have good water, and really, most bottled water is tap anyways.  If we lived in a large city that might be different, although when I was teenager we did, and my dad just put a filter on.  That was still cheaper than buying bottled water. 

I have come to the conclusion that grocery shopping with a conscience maybe more trouble and money than it is worth.  This maybe because of where I live, or the size of the family, or the amount of time and money I have to spend on it.  Take honey, a fairly basic thing.  I can go to the supermarket and buy a plastic honey bear made who knows where for round about $4.  Or I can get locally produced honey at the local grocer for $8.  Maple syrup is another one.  My hubby is a "food is food" person. He just doesn't care as long as what he buys is edible.  He buys the generic version of Mrs. Butterworth's.  Corn syrup and food coloring, but it's only $3.  Me?  I like maple syrup. Real Maple syrup. Which is $20 for a bottle.  And the bottle is so much SMALLER!  And I have yet to find a locally produced maple syrup. Admittedly, I haven't searched that hard, because, hi! we live in the northwest.  Not known for maple syrup production.   I may just start making fruit syrups, since i have the berry bushes!  That maybe something to do next year.  

Last time I posted I had made my first batches of cordials.  Here is what they look like now.

Everyday the berries get whiter and whiter while the juice gets darker and darker!  And they are just so pretty to look at!  I can't wait til the holidays when they are all done! Yummy! Oh, and the magazine the recipe came out of was Hobby Farm Home, I think last summer.

New things to do!

So I have been picking up a magazine about farming at the grocery store lately.  Last year, I actually managed to successfully grow some of our own veggies, as a project with S2 for Scouts.  I am blessed to have a wonderful friend who does a lot in her yard.  It is amazing!  She has been doing DIY since before there was DIY!  Thanks to her help and support, we had carrots, lettuce, peas, blueberries, and enough strawberries to snack on.  So this year, we did it again.  We didn't have as much variety, and the weather has been bad for food gardening.  We did peas, beans, onions, strawberries, blueberries, and marionberries.  But not enough berries to DO anything with. Our reason for the berry bushes is primarily to make jam.  With 6 people, that's a huge chunk of the groceries every week! 

So, anyways, what to do with our berries?  Back to the magazine.  Last summer, when I had enough berries to throw on french toast, I had picked up an issue that had how to make your own cordials in it.  Sounded yummy.  The best part? With good planning, you only have to buy the vodka!  Now, we didn't do proper planning, and that's okay.  We're working on it. And one of my favorite local stores is making a lot of money off me for 1 gallon glass jars right now!  And they should be ready just at Christmas time!  I like the fact that I can start with growing my own raw ingredients, add a couple of store bought ingredients, and have the whole process go from start to finish in my own yard and kitchen.  And the kids can still help, but they aren't going to be taste testers for this! LOL...one more step in the right direction, I think. 

Chain store savings....

or not.  I priced the baseboard trim at our local hardware store. The exact same trim at our local store was a whopping $0.04 more expensive per foot.  Maybe it's me, but that's not worth driving to the next town!  So I bought 24 feet.  And the paint was the SAME.  So, a local hardware store has the same prices, but the Home Depot has all the fluff. Martha Stewart paint instead of paint.  Eco-friendly cedar instead of cedar.  It's all in the marketing, and consumers are suckers.  Hence the consuming. 

I am pretty happy that I got to do the distributisty thing for the house projects and buy local.  I even got paint that is from the Northwest. I'm not sure how "from" that Northwest it is, but I want to say Tacoma or something.  I could drive to the plant!  Not that I want to, but I could.

I still haven't gone for a real grocery trip, but my peas are coming in, so we may do stir fry all week!  Who knows!  We'll see what this week brings!

Well....

as far as packing lunches go, there weren't a lot of options where I live.  Deli meat?  Chain supermarket.  Juices?  Same. emergency run to the store for cat litter? Again, chain supermarket. The only things I could find at our little locally-owned grocery was snacks, at about twice the price, and some fruits and veggies. 

I didn't do a lot actual grocery shopping, because I knew we would be at day camp all week.  This weekend I have been shopping for our church's VBS, and that hasn't worked out for shopping locally or stretching the dollars.  Our local Goodwill had one item on the list, and Joann's Fabric had some. But neither fit the bill of locally owned and operated.  It may involve a trip out of town.  This is an issue that happens frequently where we live on the Olympic Peninsula.  It seems that the local stores take pride in not providing what locals want or need.  And it is summer, so almost all business is aimed at the tourists.   

We are also hoping to do a few home improvements this summer. Smaller projects like painting and replacing trim.  The trim I like is available at Home Depot in another town at less than $2.00 a foot. The paint is also at Home Depot at $25 a gallon.  We have local hardware/lumber stores, but they tend to lean towards builder's items.  Which would be handy if I was building.  I may keep checking, just in case.  And again cost becomes an issue.  With a family of 6, there's only so much room in the budget for "projects" of any variety, so the savings at Home Depot gets put in the grocery budget. Of course, the decision may be made by summer gas prices!

One of the things that strikes me about Distributism, in a deep and buried kind of way, is there seems to be an element of quality versus quantity.  Having one amazingly beautiful, well-made item, is worth ten cheap, mass-produced of the same thing.  Trying to convince my family of this is a bit difficult, as the youngest doesn't believe there is such a thing as "too many Legos" and the girls are, well, clothes horses.  The oldest has learned this lesson through trial and error with camping supplies, so he is pretty on board with this little experiment.  He is admittedly trying to upgrade ALL of his camping supplies through this.  We'll see if it works.

Here's the thing...

In all my thoughts regarding the economy, "social justice," whether Unions are good or bad, which candidate do I want to vote for, how do I make my money go further, how much is milk this week, etc, I have yet to find anything enjoyable or challenging to DO.  I have opinions, some of which change regularly as new information has come to light.  Some are pretty concrete.  But I haven't found anything that makes my job as a wife and mother easier. 

To boycott or not.  To coupon clip or not. It's all pretty much not part of what makes me love what I do. My kids not arguing about dinner, my husband being happy to come home, my home being livable, and yes, pretty.  That's really all I want at the end of the day.  But in the constant go-go-go-ness that is life, I want to scream stop!! Stand still! Be quiet and just enjoy it!!!

In my internet surfing I came across a funny word.  I didn't think it was a word.  And I married a human dictionary!  The word was "distributism".  Huh, I thought, well, GK was cool with it, and even my youngest loves GK so I should check it out.  And I did. And it is a funny word. But as a funny word it has some great, simple ideas attached to it. I think. That's what this blog is about.  Is distributism doable?  Not in an economictheory sense, but in a grocery list, keep the house clean and the kids clothed sense.  There are tons of articles about the theory, and comparing and contrasting Distributism with Capitalism, Socialism, etc.

If you want to read more about the economic theory of Distributism, check out The Distributist Review. The authors seem to be pretty good about responding to questions and comments in the comboxes.  I'll leave the theorizing to them.