It's Monday & I've been thinking

And with Monday comes a much needed laundry day. However, at the moment, I would almost kill to have my clothes lines put back up in our backyard. Brian took them down last spring, as the lines were sagging and due to the ground freezing and thawing over the years, the posts were starting to come up. I bought new line, and even offered to help dig the posts up the rest of the way, and then re-dig some holes and put my clothes line back up. Never happened. At first, I was missing line drying my sheets & bedding, and our jeans too. I have never hung our "unmentionables" on the line, mostly because I didn't want to take the time to hang up every pair of socks & underwear, and a little because they are our, well....our unmentionables for Pete's sake!! lol Usually, that was the only load I'd put in the dryer when doing laundry in the spring, summer, and fall, as long as it was dry enough outside to hang all the other loads. Missing fresh spring smelling sheets was the first thing I missed, having a much lower electric bill is the other thing I miss. In the summer time, when the heat is at it's peak, as well as the use of our central air, line drying our clothes easily saved us anywhere from $10-20 per month. Grilling and cooking using the microwave more also helped with that as well. So, in my desperate attempt to have my clothes line put back up this year, I am going to start bugging Brian about it. I could probably easily wiggle the posts out of the ground now, and save him the trouble of having to dig to get them out. I am hoping that we'll have the lines back up by Easter, as long as the weather stays mild, and we don't get a lot of rain between now and then.

I've been thinking a lot about ways to save money. I've always loved the idea and thought process behind frugal living, however, I wasn't always one to practice what I preach. I'm still not. A few years ago, at my request (demand, actually), we bought several dwarf fruit trees. We bought and he planted 3 apple, 2 pear, 1 peach, and 2 plum trees. One of the plum trees the deer destroyed. I don't remember the apple or pear trees blooming last year, but the peach tree had a couple blossoms, as well as the plum tree. The plums never developed, I'm assuming because of the notorious changes in Ohio's weather at any given time. However, we managed one peach. I am hoping that perhaps this year, we'll have enough apples to maybe put up a batch of applesauce and/or pie filling. I'd also be thrilled with enough pears and peaches to maybe put up a batch of each, and enough plums to make some plum jelly. Peach jelly would be good too! At present, my vegetable garden measures approximately 30'x70'. I plant a lot of stuff: sweet corn, tomatoes, bell and hot peppers, lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, melons, onions, green beans, and occasionally, I'll plants potatoes and/or carrots. This year, I am planning to do things a little different. On one end of our garden, closest to where the fruit trees are planted, I am going to plant some red raspberries, and maybe some black raspberries. They will take up about 10-15 feet of the 70'. I also would like to put in 2 sections of raised beds, each being 3' wide by 6' long. I am hoping to plant my lettuces, radishes, onions, and perhaps some potatoes in these. In the rest of the garden, I am wanting to plant some sweet corn, not a lot, just enough for fresh eating and maybe to put some up for later use, and I'd also like to plant my usual- tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and green beans. I am planning to can both tomato juice and stewed tomatoes, as well as as many quarts of green beans as I possibly can. I also hope to share our bounty with friends and neighbors.

I heard on the news the other night that people/families growing their own food, as well as urban area community gardens, is expected to dramatically increase this year, due to the sad state of our economy. While on one hand, I think it's wonderful news, but on the other, all I could think about is how, with the exception of the summer after the twins were born, we've always had a garden. Though admittedly, I don't always care for it the way it should be, nor have I always canned or froze everything we grew. I am hopeful that this year will be different.

So tell me, do you plan to have a vegetable and/or fruit garden this year? If so, what do you plan on growing this year? Planning to can and/or freeze your harvest?