Photo Montage Frugal Farm Tips

Our farm is a daily place to garner tips to share on line and in person, as we live outside the box. We think long and hard about how to build things with little or no money. We share our humble lives to allow others to know that one does not need to spend a fortune to live an amazing life.

We share that it only cost about $60.00 to heat our home winter long as we heat exclusively with heat.

Because of fire risks, we have to haul the wood down to the farm to cut it up for firewood. Notice one of my sons resting after a good day gathering wood. If you peek to the left of my son, you will see my daughter too! We take up a picnic to the mountain when we gather wood and make it a family outing.

Here are the recycled pens that we have built. They are made out of pallets and logs. We are in the process of cutting the poles all even. The front has the trough and a cooler for water. Because the ram in this pen has four horns he cannot fit his head in a bucket to drink, so we came up with using a cooler! It works well. We are working on a new line of sheep, so we have the ram in with this ewe. By late February we will begin lambing season again!

Notice how clever the gate handle lock is? I write about how one can rethink how they see things. As the gate was a pallet and the lock handle is a rebar with a piece of baling wire holding it securely.

Here is a picture that shares several frugal things at once. I never took home ec in high school, but we have had to learn how to preserve work clothes, so I taught myself how to patch the knees on my sons pants. We also made scythes out of pool post attached to broken blades(from thrift store). We harvested many bales of the native grasses for the goats and sheep.

Here are some of the bales. I used the orange rope that sometimes comes on the hay that we buy to wrap these bales. Nothing goes to waste on our farm.

My daughter came up with the handle for the greenhouse, then my husband attached it!

Here is one of our chicken coops. It cost only nine dollars to build as we salvaged most of the materials.

A friend no longer is running for judge so he gave us all his campaign signs. We used them in all of our pens and shelters as they are double insulated(the perforated plastic signs on plywood).

The coop door is made from two pallets reconverted. The rooster is Colonel Sanders! The coop rest on six pallets.

The windows are made from old refrigerator shelves- neat isn't it?

The perches are made from branches! Once one begins to think frugally there is no limit to what one will create! As our economy slows down many people are rethinking their lifestyles-either from necessity or a desire to preserve the money that they have. I write about what we have done to allow others to realize that it is possible.

Photo Montage Gardening

I share tips on gardening in New Mexico. This I do both on blogs and in person. Many people have memories of childhood gardens but have no idea where to begin. As I share tips on how to live a frugal life, many people come to the understanding that if I can do it so can they!

garlic growing

Mid month September day harvest. Until I began living on less, I could not name most of the items in this picture, let alone admit I had even tried them.

Mustard Greens going to seed. This is a tip I share with online community and on the farm- as one then can be a bit more self sufficient by having seeds for the next season.

Pumpkin Harvest. Have you ever eaten pumpkins in a stew? They are so wonderful!

This year we began a tire garden, and had several people out to learn the how to's. This is spinach.

Green beans in a tire garden.

Corn in a tire garden.

Calendula in tire garden. On this frugal path I have studied herbs and the uses and began an herb garden. Calendula is both medicinal and for shampoos and soaps.

These are Anasazi beans. I only planted nine beans this year and was rewarded with 1 pound of beans. Anasazi beans are native to the southwest and are very hearty. I try to teach that one needs to grow items that are regional specific, to take in the water issues etc.

Photo Montage Refurbishing the Home Frugally

I write about refurbishing items for blogs, and have people visit to see the final product. We have all been so overexposed to television shows where everything is brand new, that many people have no idea how easy it is to refurbish something that they already have on hand into something simple and attractive. This week a young couple from Hobbs, New Mexico, came over with many questions on how to refurbish a very old home that they just bought.

This is my kitchen- I simply painted the cupboards(which are particle board/cardboard material)

This is a more recent photo of a counter top that we completed. We salvaged the tiles from freecycle(on line community nation-world wide, that people donate or pick up items no longer wanted)

Here is my fuse box. I decoupaged it with a Popular Science magazine. It hides the old battered electrical box well- don't you think?

I decoupaged the walls in my pantry- to hide the vinyl walls that are there. It took me a year to collect all the labels. Living frugally means it is okay to not hurry up and have everything at once.

Here is a cupboard that I redid using chicken wire and rope(both left over from a farm project).

We removed all the carpeting in our home as we bought a very old(run down home). We are slowly accumulating the wood to put in a real wood floor, but until then I painted all the sub floors. I wanted a checkered floor for my dining room.

As I wrote earlier, my cupboards are some type of cardboard/particle board material. I wished to liven them up by decoupaging the doors with old recipes from magazines that I have collected over the years.

I do not have classes on refurbishing, as we all have unique taste, and unique homes. I just open my home to share that even on a frugal budget one can have a nice home.

Photo Montage Frugal Craft Projects

I share tips on how to take otherwise seemingly trash items and convert them into eclectic items for the home. Here is my utensil holder in the kitchen.

I share how to reduce the need for buying paper products or using bags from the grocery. Here is one of the totes that I share how to make.

I share how one can make pretty table placemats, all on a frugal budget.

I share how my family makes all our Christmas and birthday presents. Above pictured is a neat table my third son made for me, a cane for my husband made by my second son, and a lap blanket made for me by my daughter. One connects so much more with loved ones by using their own hands to create a gift that will leave lasting memories.

I made a monopoly board game for the family with all the places we have lived. Before my husband was a civilian law enforcement officer, he was in the military and we were stationed in Europe, the deep south, southern California, and Nevada.

I also share how I organize my crafting center- with old denim pockets!

Here are what I call dish scrubbies. I made a loop on them so we can dry it on the sink faucet. This is such a great frugal tip, as I never buy any dish scrubbies any more, and these can be washed and used over and over again.

I stopped buying paper napkins, and spent $12.00 a few years ago and make all the former paper products into cloth for our home.

Here I salvaged a table linen into wash cloths.

I share how to save even scraps from any sewing project or even old torn clothing, to make into rugs.

Here is the braided rug for my master bathroom.

Often I share tips on how to make items instead of purchasing anything. We have become such consumers in this nation(I was so also) and by sharing my frugal tips, others can see that it is easy to even get by with less.

Photo Montage- Raising Goats

Triplets are not uncommon in goat deliveries- here is my third son with our first set of triplets born on the farm.

Here is a picture of my daughter milking one of our does. The milk is wonderful for drinking, baking, and making cheeses. We boil the milk before we drink it.

Goats are always testing the limits of fencing and structures. Fortunately with the way they try our patience, I was able to take this lovely photo!

This is Daphne. She is by far our best mother goat. She is La Mancha-mix(little or no visible ears)

Sometimes when we have multiples(this is Amos, who was a twin) we supplement with bottles of milk from other does, to ensure the health of the kids. My daughter is bottle feeding the kid in this picture.

I cannot accurately count how many times we share with visitors to the farm tips on goat raising and care. Many have stereotypes about raising goats(I know I did). Once we share our frugal tips and ideas, many leave comforted with the notion of raising their own goats. On line I write about how to make cheeses, how to care for the health of the goats, and even the pens we built.

Photo Montage -Frugal Foods

Our final harvest from the garden we gleaned all plants. So I had an abundance of green tomatoes. This is a picture of the green tomatoes resting in pickling salt with onions- to be canned for a marinade. I also canned 12 jars of green tomato salsa.

Simple on line frugal tip on how to make olive oil butter. Above are the ingredients.

Here is the completed Olive oil butter spread.

Making banana butter to can.

Canned banana butter.

Homemade pizza with homemade goat cheese, spinach and onions from the garden.

What to do with so much zucchini? Can zucchini slaw!

When I write about living a frugal life I begin with foods and the preservation and preparation of them. Amazingly enough, one begins to live healthier on a frugal life plan. This fall I have written about canning salsa-green and red, applesauce, pickles, banana butter, making cheese, and pizza. Each post takes approximately 20 minutes to write- but each tip I share takes the minimum of 30 minutes to the maximum of a day to complete the tip for the posting.