If you didn't see last week's blog, click below for more details about the bundle and our book:

EAT YOUR WILD YARD: SPRING
Growing & Foraging for Wild Edibles in Your Own Backyard
​Text & Photography by Theresa & Bear
Graphic Design by Theresa

You can view some sample pages here.

Bear here...

A quick blog... We have decided to stay away from grocery stores for as long as possible. Challenging yes?

Here is the why and what's up...

We  seem to be going to the store a lot, often every week. Usually we spend $100 - $250 per trip.  It doesn't matter if we buy in bulk or have a list, we usually buy "extras".  Those extras are snacks, junk food we don't need, or things we could make ourselves (like bread). The extras can add up quickly at the register and don't help us lose weight. That sucks since we're trying to get our butts down to 16 inches so they will fit in a plane seat and we're trying to save money for a trip to Scotland.

Theresa sprung this challenge on me as we were driving home from our last trip to the grocery store. So I didn't get to plan well (... er..at all!). So she's letting me have one more "last trip" this week. Gotta get the basics, so far my list is peanut butter and beer. (Bear has simple needs...).

Theresa says the pantry's pretty full, but maybe she'll buy milk and cream and we'll branch out into storing frozen dairy products, which is one of the main things that sends us to the store in the first place, since we can't raise a cow in our tiny yard.

Then we'll not go to any grocery store until we can't stand it anymore.

Oh, and when will we run out of toilet paper?  Theresa notes that there's an e-book she's been reading about reusable cloth that is part of the e-bundle we're participating in. It's for sale for a week only starting Monday.  Click to see more about the bundle and our contribution, Eat Your Wild Yard.

We are hoping to provide frequent blogs about our Avoid the Grocery Store Challenge to let you know how it's going.

Type at ya later...

Click below for more information about our e-book, entitled:

EAT YOUR WILD YARD: SPRING
Growing & Foraging for Wild Edibles in Your Own Backyard
​Text & Photography by Theresa & Bear
Graphic Design by Theresa

Or click here to go straight to the outside website where the bundle will be sold next week:
Back to Basics Living Bundle 2017

Eventually, we hope we'll be selling this e-book (and others we write!) on this website,
but honestly, we don't know how to do that yet,
​ and are not sure how long it will take us to figure it out.

Bear here...  

Here is the story,  When I get days off of work and Theresa isn't here, I usually don't eat "well". I usually have ice cream. chips or some other junk food, I use my time "poorly" by watching TV or sleeping. I had the day off work today and cooked a manly salad and decided to make a new patch for the cooking vest The results are pictured below. 

 Salad for guys!

​So... What do you do when the bacon and shrooms in the frige are about to go bad?  Fry em up! Don't have eggs to go with them but the wife has large amounts of kale in the frige? Grab that too! Kale is the greens of early winter and if you go to farmers markets you can get some from the farmers who have greenhouses.  Wilt the kale in the pan (about 5 - 10 min.) you cooked the bacon and shrooms in, the kale will suck in more flavor.  NO DRESSING NEEDED! (Although,,, I had toyed with adding some cheese. Just sayen...)

Yep... The patch ain't perty either. So what? I have been told by some, my food looks grey, brown or burnt but they still like the flavor. Good food is good food.  I will take a split sungold tomato that is in season over a grocery store "perfect" red one any time. It has been a good day off!

​Type at ya later...

Bear here... HI EVERYBODY!  long time no type...

Time to make a top 10 list for the old year to bring in the new year! My list is our favorate meals of last year (that I have pictures of). Since I am summoning my inner Cook of Anarchy, the meals will be in random order & I found 13 good pictures so I am going to use them all.  Also, these are home cooked, not "foodie" meals. Not all of them look inviting, So what? ...

Not  quite done yet...
Burdock root, chive blossoms, and shrooms fried together
then I scrambled some eggs with them.

Eggs over easy on salad, sauted brussel sprouts with bacon.
​The toasted hamburger buns adds class, don't ya think?

Zuchinni "pasta" with homemade pesto, sun gold tomatoes, and choice of cheeses.

Zuchinni pasta with a no cook tomato sauce. Corn on the cob as a side dish.

The burgers have beans mixed into the meat,
the fries are made out of blue potatoes,
​and the salad is one of Theresa's creations.

Cheesy garlic bread with salad and
choice of heirloom tomatoes.
​(This picture still makes me drool, just sayen.)

SHAKSHUKA!!  
Popular in the Middle East.  
Peppers, onions, and hot spices in tomato sauce.
When it's cooked through you "poach" the eggs in the sauce.

I scrambled eggs in a pan that had leftover pesto oil still in it.
(Sometimes a "dirty" pan is the best pan to use.)

One of Theresa's awesome salad creations,
with cucumbers, peppers, onions, basil, and other stuff she pulled from the yard.

Mmm,.. pizza!  
This one has homemade pesto, peppers, bacon, two types of cheese, 
and "from the garden"  cherry tomatoes. 

Outdoors: Grilled steak with sides of grilled corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.

Indoors: Chicken cooked on coals in the wood stove
with a side of pasta in a creamy garlic and parmesan sauce.

Yep, I saved the best for last...
Our Winter Solstice meal of  wood stove "grilled" steaks, garlic potatoes, and mushrooms,

Type at ya later...