Posted on 17th May 2010 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening | green
city farming, food, frugal, gardening, large families, michelle hogan, michelle kennedy, organic gardening, urban farming, urban homesteading
All day Saturday and Sunday we placed compost thickly over the side yard (we live on a corner lot so most of our yard is on the side) and started planting the tomatoes and peppers I started in March. Eggplants went in as did rows of lettuce, brussel sprouts, more broccoli and cauliflower. We also placed mounds of compost over sod we dug up and planted squash, pumpkins and cucumbers.
Because we have so much yard and terrible grass, we are smothering the lawn and digging up places for the plants. We’ll see how this method works. We are trying very hard to use only hand tools and rid ourselves of gas guzzling machines (yes, getting rid of our mower is next on the list!). We hope to rely on mulching and compost to help us in this endeavor so that maybe I’m not nearly as sore next weekend as I am this weekend!
These photos are from Saturday, but we actually continued the smothering to the path on Sunday with another load of free compost from the yard waste center. If you have a yard waste center near you, check it out, don’t waste your time buying bags! This place is amazing!
Jack helps get compost out of the truck
Technorati Tags: city farming, food, frugal, gardening, large families, michelle hogan, michelle kennedy, organic gardening, urban farming, urban homesteading
Posted on 16th October 2008 by Mish in frugal
frugal, frugality, homeless, homelessness, living in the car, michelle kennedy, one paycheck away, poverty, saving money, sleeping in car, without a net
With gas prices rising, food prices rising…OK – the price of everything rising…I am often asked about how to get by on very little.
As you may already know, I spent the bulk of the summer of 1997 living in my car with my three small children. Before that, I lived in the cabin from hell (a tar-paper shack in Northern Maine with no running water). Before that, I was your basic middle-class young mom. To read how all that happened, buy this book.
Needless to say, I’ve learned a bit about living on very little in the last 10 years. Because I am deathly afraid of it ever happening again, I’ve struggled to maintain my simple standards – even when times are good! I am so tired of watching people on TV morning shows tell me that the best way to get through a tough time is to save money. Well, if you are anything like me – you don’t make $100,000 or more a year as a television talk show host – so you probably don’t have a lot to save.
Instead, you need ways to save money – or make money – right now, so that you can put food on your table, gas in your car and pay the electric bill.
(more…)
Technorati Tags: frugal, frugality, homeless, homelessness, living in the car, michelle kennedy, one paycheck away, poverty, saving money, sleeping in car, without a net
Posted on 19th June 2008 by Mish in homeschool
activities, big book of happy, books, family, games, homeschool, kids, michelle kennedy
Have a toddler or preschooler? I spent this past winter compiling 500 games and activities to keep them busy, learning and having fun! I hope you’ll enjoy them.
Want me to sign one and send it out to you? Just email me at michelle@organicallyinclined.org and I’ll send you the info to buy one or send me one you’ve already bought. By the way – this offer is good with any of my books!
Technorati Tags: activities, big book of happy, books, family, games, homeschool, kids, michelle kennedy
Please click here to download the plugin required to make recent comments work!