Living the Pantry Lifestyle - The deck garden and the freezer pantry

It has been a busy week so I haven't had a chance to replace the Feedburner widget.  I should have the information next Saturday.

Although we are going through a brief cold spell, the temperature had been at or near 90 degrees causing every bit of nature to blossom and bloom... including the bushes by the fence and the leaves on the big trees.  I told a friend one day that with the addition of a misty rain, it gave the illusion of living in a tropical rain forest.

While a bird sitting on a window ledge would have heard me grumbling a bit about the constant rain and the humidity, I must admit that I love the way all the shades of green on the outside looks so pretty through the windows each year.

The herb container garden is planted and sits on top of the larger and older deck table.  While there was a tall flower in a pot sitting in the middle of the table, it still needed something else so a visit to the Menards nursery a few times helped to add "color" over a couple of weeks.

Our local Menards tends to get continuous shipments this time of year of new plants and flowers so I was delighted to see a bright yellow dahlia was now available.  It was planted into a flowerpot as soon as I arrived home and now sits next to its' rust colored (dark orange?) cousin that was purchased on a previous visit.  

Once I had a collection of flower pots and a couple big bags of potting soil, it didn't cost much to add more herbs or flowers.  The starter plants are quite inexpensive.  Although I love the look of real terracotta flower pots, I had a lot of them crack and break over the years due to sudden freezing temperatures before I could take them inside. So, some of them have been slowly replaced with good quality molded plastic pots that require little maintenance. 

There was a time when I would have thought spending a significant part of May's household budget on herbs and flowers as silly.  There are far more important needs than plants and flowers that only thrive for a few months before looking tired and spent.  However, when I did begin investing in first my raised bed garden and later my deck "container garden"... what it did for my soul was of such worth that doubting the investment was never again an issue.

Having said that, I do try to spend carefully by first spending money at the local nursery and then filling in with the Menards flowers and herbs, which are less expensive.  I have found that walking around the garden area at Menards can often help to find bargains.  Such was the case when I came upon a very pretty hanging basket of flowers for less than half the price for other baskets hanging just across the aisle.  It now resides on the deck in a plant holder I bought about fifteen years ago.

So, with the addition of some "color" and the backdrop of the bushes and trees in their full foresty beauty, the outside world looks quite amazing.  I have learned not to expect Eden perfection but to appreciate what does grow.  Investing in the lovely has become even more important in these uncertain times.

Speaking of imperfections, our dogwood tree was shall we say... trimmed?... by our Rural Electric guys quite a few years ago.  It is something they do when backyard trees are getting too close to power lines.  My husband soon after that tried to even out the tree and it looked even worse.  My beautiful tree!  This year when it bloomed, it finally has begun to look lovely again.  Even though it has the shape of a rather large Japanese bonsai tree.

So, what did I do for the pantry last week?  Before it became too hot, I decided to go through the small deep freeze in the garage and to pull everything out of the above-the-frig freezer to take inventory.  The first thing I realized was that I had been buying enough chicken on sale and now had to turn my budget attention to purchasing some beef, which I most often get at Aldi.

I purchase cranberries to freeze during the Holiday months, they are tucked away in the deep freeze.  I purchase frozen vegetables and some fruit when they go on sale and we are also getting low on them.  We agree on most frozen preferences, except once again... green beans.  Fortunately, we can buy them fresh most of the time.

It took some time and the feeling of getting frostbite but I have a good idea what is available in the freezer pantry now.  I have four quart containers of homemade soup residing in the deep freeze and two quarts of homemade chicken stock in the refrigerator-freezer.  It's about time to order new quart size freezer containers.  Those I have were reused over a couple of years.

I have important people arriving in June, so very soon I will begin making cinnamon roll dough and cookie dough to have available to bake when they are in town. I don't bake and then freeze cookies.  Frozen cookies are delicious and tempting.  Do not ask me how I know.

Mentioned in this Blog Post

Quart size freezer containers... here.  The brand that I previously purchased no longer has this size available but these have excellent reviews, too.  They are what I will be purchasing.

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Image:  Artist, Doris Lee  (I don't know the title but doesn't it just shout SUMMER?)