A Giveaway to Celebrate my Blogiversary!

Guess what?! SimplyForties is one year old! To help me celebrate, EcoSMART has teamed up with SimplyForties for my first-ever giveaway!

EcoSMART’s products are both kid and pet-friendly and most importantly, are non-toxic. According to their information, EcoSMART was the first company to apply modern science to essential plant oils — creating the first 100% safe pesticides. Their products are based on the natural defenses that plants and trees have used for their self protection against insects and pathogens for millennia - essential oils.

According to EcoSMART, university research has shown that these oils attack octopamine neuro-receptors. Octopamine is a key insect neurotransmitter that regulates insect movement, behavior and metabolism. The blockage of the receptor activity prevents the transmission of the octopamine signals, knocking down and killing pests as well as repelling future pests including cockroaches, ants, dust mites, flies, wasps, spiders, crickets, and fleas and fruit flies. Their blends of natural plant oils are every bit as effective as synthetic chemicals, killing bugs fast without any toxins or harmful residues.

EcoSMART has a mosquito repellent that reportedly, “keeps bugs away for hours and is safe for the entire family. ­Our powerful, all-natural formula is made from organic plant oils, and repels mosquitoes, ticks, gnats and other annoying pests for hours”. Sounds pretty good!

In addition to checking out EcoSMART products, check out their organic insecticde blog. Leave a comment over there and you might become a product tester!

So, back to the giveaway; leave a comment on any SimplyForties post this week, and/or Twitter about the giveaway with @SimplyForties in there somewhere and you might win a great bundle of products from EcoSMART. I’ll give one entry for each comment (one comment per person per post will be counted, starting with Sunday’s post and ending Saturday the 5th), and one for each Tweet with @simplyforties and a link to my blog starting today and running through Saturday, September 5th. I'll also give an entry for any new subscriptions to my blog between today and the 5th. I’ll use a random number generator to select the winner, who I will announce next Monday, September 7th, and who will receive their product bundle directly from EcoSMART.

End of the summer bugs getting you down? Help me celebrate my blogiversary this week, and you might win some EcoSMART insect repelling products! It’s a win-win!

Five Vegetable Stir-fry with Lentils

This recipe comes from Food & Wine Magazine.

SERVES: 4

A dinner of Brussels sprouts, turnips, carrots, and lentils may sound more like a punishment than a treat, but believe me--the combination is delicious. In fact, the general effect is actually rather delicate.

Ingredients -

1/2 cup lentils
3 1/3 cups water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 scallions including green tops, chopped
2 turnips, peeled, quartered, and sliced thin
3 carrots, sliced thin
3 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced
1 10-ounce package frozen cut green beans (if you use fresh, as I would, be sure and blanch them.)

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, combine the lentils, 2 cups of the water, and 3/4 teaspoon of the salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are just tender but not falling apart, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain if necessary, cover, and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick frying pan or a wok, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderately high heat. Add half of the ginger and scallions and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the turnips and carrots and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of the water, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the vinegar. Boil until the vegetables are tender and no liquid remains in the pan, about 10 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a large bowl.

3. In the same pan, melt the butter with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over moderately high heat. Add the remaining ginger and scallions and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the Brussels sprouts and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the green beans and the remaining 1/3 cup of water and 1 teaspoon salt. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are just tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrot mixture and the drained lentils and toss gently to combine.

Did you try it? Did you like it?

Cabin in a Box

My friend's hunting cabin from Home Depot

After exploring unconventional living arrangements like tiny houses (Tiny Texas Houses, Tumbleweed Houses) and communal living, I thought I’d take a look at another low-cost alternative. Did you know that you can buy a house at Home Depot? One of my friends bought one to use as a hunting cabin. After touring it, I know I could easily live in one fulltime.

In 2002 Tuff Shed partnered with Home Depot to develop a line of products available exclusively through Home Depot stores in select markets throughout the United States. Currently, Tuff Shed products are available in more than 1,500 Home Depot Stores across 36 states, with the products pre-fabricated and delivered out of a network of 55 Tuff Shed owned and operated factory locations.

You have to own your land free and clear, which can then be used as collateral for the cabin. The Tuff Shed Company even does the financing.

My friend chose a 30’ x 30’ Ranch Basic model, which sells for $30,500. She made various upgrades which brought her total to just under $35,000. A crew of three men showed up in a travel trailer to construct the house, which arrived from Home Depot and included all the necessary parts. Once the cabin was complete, they noticed a mistake in the roof rafters. New rafters were sent out and the team replaced them at no additional cost. They even left the original set of rafters, which she’ll be able to re-purpose at some future time.

Back of the cabin

The first floor is 900 square feet, with an upstairs loft of approximately 300 additional square feet. My friend’s cabin is outfitted for hunters and the rustic décor reflects its use. Clearly it could be finished out in any number of ways to suit any number of tastes.

Open loft sleeping area

The lower level is an open plan with kitchen, dining and living areas and a full bath. In my friend’s case, the loft has an enclosed bedroom at one end and several other beds in the open area. The cost of running electricity to her cabin was prohibitive so she used all propane. I was surprised at how far propane appliances have come!

Kitchen with all-propane appliances

Open living/dining area

These neat wall lamps emit light from the bottom and heat out of the top. The propane tubing runs between the interior plywood paneling and the exterior cedar lap.

Propane light/heater

It’s a really neat, very affordable house and a great alternative to today’s high-priced dwellings.

Looking up at the loft, which is located above the kitchen

Are you looking for a less-expensive alternative to the current high-priced homes? Maybe this could work for you. Find that perfect piece of land, stop by Home Depot and place your order and very quickly you could have your own little dream house.

What do you think? Could you live here for $35,000? I could!

Guinea Fowl; First Critters on the Farm!

(The solid ones are pearls and the ones with white are pied.)

We have a little problem with ticks and Japanese beetles here on the farm. Guinea fowl are a perfect natural way to control these two common pests. The cooler weather of fall will take care of both of them but they will certainly reappear come spring and I want to be ready. I'm not going to get my new chickens until next month but I decided to go ahead and get a dozen guinea fowl.

(Here's what the pied will look like.)

My mom and my older sister who were visiting, and I all went down to Gregory Poultry in Stuart, Virginia, a few days ago. We met Jay Gregory who retired after thirty-one years in law enforcement and is now raising a number of different breeds of chickens and guinea fowl. He showed us around his pens and we visited a bit. His interest in his birds was obvious. He really has some nice ones! If I hadn't already decided on Buckeye chickens I would have bought some of his Cinnamon Queens, which if I remember correctly, are a cross between a Silver Wyandotte hen and a Buff Orpington rooster. They were beautiful. Jay said they started laying eggs at fourteen weeks, which is pretty amazing.

(This is a pearl guinea.)

Hard as it was, I kept my focus and bought six pearl guinea and six pied guinea babies, which are called keets. Half were two weeks old and half were five weeks old. We brought them home in a temporary cage and then headed to town to find a big box. A couple of hours later, recliner box turned into a brooder, we settled down to enjoy our evening. I've never had keets before but I can now say that they are much stinkier than chicks!

Luckily, it's warm enough that as soon as I get their portion of the coop ready, they can go out in it. Their smell is a good incentive to get that project completed! After a month or two in the coop, they'll be ready to go out and explore the world. It is my intention to free-range the guineas. I hope they'll come in to the coop at night but they are wilder than chickens and may not. If they totally free-range, meaning they are always loose, they will be much more susceptible to predation. Jay hatches a lot of guineas so periodic trips to Stuart to re-populate my flock will probably be in order!

The left behind pug was not cutting it as livestock so I'm happy to finally have some sort of animal on the farm!

Have you ever had guineas? Do you have any tips for me?

Real Waste Mangement - An Awakening

There’s nothing like not being able to quickly and cleanly dispose of your trash to make you really think about your waste management. I thought I was pretty focused on the whole reduce, reuse, recycle thing but now I know I was barely scrapping the surface. I was a poseur.

My Texas town dealt with residential trash by using a dumpster system whereby lots of dumpsters were placed all around town. Residents deposited their trash in the nearest one. In my case, there was a dumpster in the alley at the back of my yard. It was incredibly convenient. Recycling, which had to be hauled to the recycling center, was somewhat less so. I was a fair recycler but have to admit to occasionally dumping it all in the convenient dumpster just to be rid of it.

Where I live now, eight miles from a very small town in Virginia, there is no trash pickup, dumpsters or any other convenient way to dispose of trash. Every piece has to be hauled into town to the landfill. Residential trash dumping costs $3 a carload. Since one is paying by the carload it’s not fiscally responsible to drag one bag of trash into town so it has to be stockpiled, preferably in some clean, odor free way until a carload is achieved. For me that’s about five trash bags full. Now I know what it means to be conscious of the amount of trash I am creating.

I’m finally really considering the amount of packaging on every purchase I make. Even more importantly, before every purchase, I’m stopping to consider whether I need to make that purchase. Before I stick it in the trash, I’m contemplating what other use I might make of every item or whether it can be composted. I’m wondering if there is any way I can stop from putting the item into the bag.

I always knew that if I wasn’t using them for seedling pots, the cardboard tubes inside paper towel and toilet paper rolls could be soaked, torn up and put in my worm bin. I knew the worms would also make short work of my oatmeal canisters. Sometimes I’d let them, other times I’d take the easy way out and just chunk them; well, no more.

I participate on a self-sufficient living forum and the other day I read a post where someone said the real way to be self-sufficient is to never throw anything away. That way, if you need something there’s a chance you might have it. This person clearly was not referring to household trash but all the little its and bits that we collect that might possibly be reusable. Unfortunately, the literal effects of that method of trash control are all too visible on the farm on which I am currently living.

Five outbuildings filled with junk that must be cleared away for the buildings to be usable is not my idea of the perfect way to “reduce, reuse and recycle”. If all these items had been carefully considered as they were being purchased or after they’d been used, they could have been dealt with in a responsible manner. Unfortunately, a lot of what is in those buildings is now going to end up in the landfill. I’m struggling with the recyclables and possible reusables in all that mess. The sheer volume of stuff makes it almost impossible to really sort through. A good example is the jars. The farmer’s wife canned a lot of produce and, in addition to saving canning jars, she clearly saved every jar that ever came through her hands. There are hundreds, if not thousands of jars on this place. I’m going to save the canning jars but all the others are going to have to go. I plan to start boxing them up and hauling them into town to drop in the glass recycling bin with every trip I make. It just may not be possible to deal with all of them in that way in any workable time frame. Some may have to just be thrown away.

Clearly a balance needs to be struck. I’m keeping “Reduce” at the top of my list of environmentally responsible choices. There’s nothing like losing the clean, convenient way most of us dispose of our trash to really wake us up and make us think. It may not be in your outbuildings, but your trash is stored somewhere, in some landfill and there is too much of it!

Are you a good recycler? Do you consider the packaging when you buy an item? Do you buy items made from post-consumer waste? Do you think about what you are throwing away? Do you really? What are you doing to reduce the amount of trash you are producing? I've finally gotten the message and I hope you have too!

Carnival of Debt Reduction - August 10th Edition

In light of my current adventure I’ve been rereading “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau, which was published in 1845 and was struck by how much of his chapter on economy is still appropriate today. All the quotes in this carnival are from that chapter and all the photographs are from the beautiful countryside to which I have so recently moved. I hope you enjoy both!



I have no doubt that some of you are unable to pay for the dinners which you have already eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing out.

Debt

Debt Goal reminds us that Debt and Employment are Related. He points out that some of the same skills that are required to reduce debt are needed when job seeking. It’s an interesting comparison.

Home equity loans can be a slippery slope. This week Fine Tuned Finances offers Borrowing Against Home Equity – The Dangers. Consider carefully before taking this step!

Nothing here about debt reduction just really incredible debt. Free Money Finance has a tale of A College Debt Nightmare, that is almost too bizarre to believe. See what you think.

Unlike the subject of FMF’s post, Christian PF is trying hard to get a paid-in-full student load debt cleared from his credit history and reports on his progress in Getting Credit Report Errors Removed. It’s an uphill slog but he’s persevering.

When getting out of debt and reviving your credit it’s important to know about Credit Card Scoring Variations: FICO vs. Vantage Score. Silicon Valley Blogger gives us the 411 on credit scoring.

Along this same theme, The Smarter Wallet discusses using Credit Monitoring Services to Check your Credit Report and gives a good review of several of these services.

Are you struggling with your mortgage debt? Banker, Saver gives us 4 Financial Tips to Weather the Mortgage Crises. These are some good, practical tips that everyone with a mortgage should keep in mind.



Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

Credit Card Debt

One Advice explains quite clearly the negative order of payment that many credit card companies use when it comes to applying your funds. Are You a Victim of the Credit Card Debt Trap? Read this informative article and find out!

Not much in the post but My Journey to Millions gives a quick link review of how he eliminated his credit card debt with Happy First Birthday to his blog. Congratulations!

Ask Mr. Credit Card relates the story of one of his readers who beat credit card debt in the True Story of A Guy Who Beat Debt. It’s certainly a wonderful feeling!

Balance transfers can be a useful way to help get high interest credit card debt under control. Credit Card Offers IQ asks that we consider Balance Transfers for Life Offers, which may be preferable to short term 0% introductory rates.



I have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters.

Making More/Spending Less/Saving

In an excellent article Prime Time Money reminds us that Clean Finances, Clean Mind is a very relevant mantra. Since I arrived in my new home two weeks ago I still have not gotten my office organized. It’s really starting to bug me so this post hit home!

Do you and your significant other have seemingly opposing personalities? Debt Free Adventure explains how he and his wife use their differences to reduce their grocery bill in Grocery Hacks - How to Save Money on Groceries.

AutomaticFinances shares 7 Easy Ways to Save $100 or More Today. Maybe you can pick up some tips from Jason’s list. When you’re trying to get out of debt, every dollar counts!

Are we still worrying about keeping up with the Joneses? I’d hoped we’d learned that lesson but perhaps not. Financial Methods gives us a little reminder in Keeping Up May Set You Back. Get it?!

In another list post, Finance Tips 101 gives us 5 Simple Tips to Help You Save Money. If you’re battling debt and not attending to these areas, shame on you!

Finally and perhaps the most important lesson Thoreau has for us -

When man has obtained those things which are necessary to life, there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities; and that is, to adventure on life…

Thank you for your excellent submissions this week! Don't forget to link to the carnival, give your co-authors a little attention, and spread the word through Twitter, Stumble Upon and/or in whatever other social networking communities you are active. Next week's carnival will be hosted by Debt Sucks. You can submit your article here.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by this week's carnival!

Lentil Stuffed Tomatoes

My younger sister whipped these up recently while she was here helping me settle into my Virginia home. I was outside doing something and asked her to come up with a side dish from our meagre on-hand groceries. I don't know what I expected but I was so impressed to come inside and find her making stuffed tomatoes! I'd never had them before and she'd never made them before. They were delicious! You can adapt this recipe in innumerable ways. Now that I know how good they are, I'll be stuffing all sorts of things into a tomato!


(Random stuffed tomato image)

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup uncooked white rice (she used orzo)
1/2 cup red lentils
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
8 medium tomatoes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 clove crushed garlic

DIRECTIONS

Rinse rice and lentils in a strainer. Place in a small saucepan and stir in boiling water. Cover. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.

Meanwhile, melt butter or margarine in a saute pan. Add onion, and saute until golden brown over medium low heat. Stir in lentil mixture and mint. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Slice the tops off tomatoes, and reserve. Scoop out the middles, and reserve. Fill tomato shells with lentil mixture, and replace the tops. Stand in a baking dish.

Chop reserved tomato middles, and place in a small bowl. Mix in oil and garlic. Pour around the stuffed tomatoes. *

Bake in a preheated 450 degree F (230 degree C) for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

*We omitted this step and used the reserved tomato middles to create a dressing to serve with the finished dish. I chopped the reserved tomato, added some finely chopped garlic, some mint, salt, pepper and some balsamic vinegar. Create your dressing before you put the tomatoes in the oven so the flavors have a chance to combine.

To get a firmer tomato Alton Brown suggests sprinkling your tomato shells with coarse salt, turning them upside down and letting them drain for 15 minutes and then rinsing before stuffing in order to draw out more moisture.

If you're overrun with summer tomatoes (lucky you!) give stuffed tomatoes a try!

A.M Yoga For Your Week - a Review

Following my review of Rodney Yee’s Yoga for Beginners, my friend and I moved on to Rodney Yee’s A.M Yoga For Your Week. This DVD includes five twenty-minute workouts, each focusing on a different part of your body. These workouts include Standing Poses, Twists, Backbends, Forward Bends and Hip Openers. We did one workout each morning for a week.

I liked the idea of these workouts because my weight training experience tells me that it’s a good thing to work out different areas of your body on different days. Moving on to a different area each day allows the other areas of your body time to relax and rebuild, resulting in better muscle growth. I know that’s not the immediate goal of yoga but that’s my background and I was interested to see how these workouts went.

Although the workouts are good and thorough, I was struck by the fact that they lack any sort of warm up poses. Since they are supposed to be good for beginners I expected there to be either warm-ups or at least an instruction to do warm-ups before beginning the workout. Each workout ends with the expected relaxation or corpse pose so you get the cool down, but no warm-up. That surprised me.

Lack of warm-up aside, the workouts are very focused on the area of intention. I think this DVD would be good for working out kinks in a particular part of your body, creating an integrated workout, or perhaps for an end-of-the-day workout.

Rodney Yee certainly knows his yoga and I think this is a good DVD to add to your library. If you’re a beginner, I would urge you to look to another of your yoga DVDs for a good warm-up to partner with any of the workouts on this program. If you’re a more experienced yoga practitioner, be aware that you will need to do a sufficient warm-up before launching any of these workouts.

You can get this and many other excellent yoga DVDs at Gaiam.com as well as all sorts of interesting products related to living a more relaxing lifestyle. Check out this Solar Shoji Lantern. I love it!

Chicken and Goat House - First Project!

One of my first major projects on the farm is to turn this junk-filled building into a combination goat and chicken house.

Inside it’s divided into three parts, basically stalls, with a loft. My intention is to turn the area behind the right hand door into a chicken coop. This is what it looks like now:

After clearing it out, I need to fix the walls and line everything with hardware cloth to keep the various varmints out. I plan to retain the dirt floor, lining it with hardware cloth to keep creatures from digging in. I’m going to add a layer of gravel and sand for drainage and then deep litter. Deep litter is a method whereby you add new litter and stir a couple of times a week or whenever things get damp. A little food grade diatomaceous earth sprinkled in helps keep things dry, fly-free and fresh smelling. Every six months or so you shovel it all out and start again. Once shoveled out, the deep litter makes excellent compost. At least ventilation won’t be a problem!

The lean-to part on the left side of the building will eventually house a few dairy goats and the intermediate areas will be for food and supply storage. Here’s a glimpse inside the storage area:

One of the neighbors told me that there used to be an irrigation system to the old garden and I think these hoses may have something to do with that. I see a pressure canner back there. Wonder if it still works? I think that ladder may have provided access to the loft area at an earlier time.

There are snake skins everywhere in this building so clearly there is a rat snake or something similar in residence. If I can keep him out of the chickens he’ll be a good co-inhabitant as he’ll help keep the mouse population in check. I read somewhere that an old chest freezer makes an excellent varmint-proof feed storage bin. I’ve counted three old broken ones in various other buildings. I’m not sure how I’m going to move one but I like the idea so I’m going to contemplate that a bit!

I’m looking into getting one of those big construction bins out here into which to empty the contents of this and the other outbuildings. I’m anxious to replace my Texas flock before winter gets here so I’ve got to get going on this project. My other immediate issue is getting a fall garden planted but that’s another post!