Tomatoes Are Finally Ripe!

They've been taunting me for weeks. A few got almost ready to harvest and then succumbed to blossom end rot. Finally, these three are ready! I believe this is two Big Romas and an Amish Paste. (They got all mixed up as seedlings and are interplanted all over the yard.)

Now if the six million green ones would just ripen, I could start canning! Anybody have a good homemade spaghetti sauce recipe they can share?

4 Best Online Survey Companies

A bunch of readers have asked for my survey company recommendations. There are a lot out there—some good and some bad. I’ve tried most of them in the past few years, and there are only a few that I’ll recommend.

Here’s what makes a good survey company in my book:

• Easy qualification or rewards for completing the screener. Many companies ask demographic questions (the screener) before they dive into the full survey—and if you don’t fit the profile they want, you’re disqualified. Shady companies (like OTX) will drag you through the whole survey, getting all the info they need, and then disqualify you at the end.
• The rewards have to be something worthwhile or useful. I prefer checks or gift cards to stores I like to shop at. The checks help me save up for Christmas and the gift cards can be for Christmas or a treat for me! One company only offered Blockbuster gift certificates and airline miles, which I don’t use, so I resigned from their panel.

Company: MySurvey (also called National Family Opinion)
Date joined: 2006
Earnings to date: $540 by check

Company: Lightspeed Consumer Panel
Date joined: April 2009
Earnings to date: $70 by PayPal

Organization: eLab at the Yale School of Management
(see article on university psychology studies)
Date joined: May 2009
Earnings to date: $155 in Amazon gift cards

Organization: Vanderbilt University eLab
Date joined: July 2009
Earnings to date: $45 in Amazon gift cards

These are the panels I joined and quit because they were too hard to work with or otherwise didn’t meet my criteria above.

American Consumer Opinion
ClearVoice
Elite Opinion
eRewards
Mindfield
NPD
Survey Exchange
Surveyhead
Valued Opinions

Do you participate with any survey companies? Which do you recommend? Share with us in the comments!

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!" 


If your fridge is full of the kids' artwork, it's time for a change of venue! Staple their art to the garage walls. It's a fun family art gallery and will take a lot longer for you to run out of room.

Mulching the Garden with Straw

Our friend C showed up (by request) with three bales of straw. Yet another reason why it's good to have a friend with a truck.

What's it good for and where does it go? Why, thank you for asking.

It keeps weeds down and protects soil moisture around your (wild, unstaked) tomatoes.

As it decomposes over the winter, it will provide nutrients for the soil where the garlic grew this year. It's currently also surrounding the green bean area (sticks on the ground to discourage Neighbor Kitty's visits).

It's also a great source of "brown" for the compost bin. Boy, if I can get this to heat up I'll really be in business.

The very best reason, though? To provide His Highness, Neighbor Kitty, with a place to recline.

(And receive belly rubs.)


Educational note: hay is harvested on the first pass through the field and is used for feed. Straw is the second pass and is just the hollow stalks--hence, the name. Theoretically, mulching with straw will not cause weeds to sprout. Only time will tell...

Dinner Recipes with Lunchmeat

Last weekend, it was HOT. Temps maxed out over 100 and I decided I wasn't going to cook. We dropped by Costco and I grabbed some turkey, ham, and salami. We had sub sandwiches for dinner that night, but it didn't make a dent in the gigantic amount of lunchmeat. After all, there's no such thing as a small package from Costco.

Since I didn't want the meat to go to waste, I decided to see if we could have lunchmeat for dinner the entire week (without the family going into revolt). Here's what I came up with:

Sunday: Sub sandwiches

Monday: Chef salad

Tuesday: Homemade pizza (dough recipe coming soon!)

Wednesday: BrownThumbMama-style Cuban sandwiches (I used tortillas instead of bread)

Thursday: Multi-meat omelettes with garden veggies

Believe it or not, the meat is holding up just fine in the fridge--but my brain is out of ideas. Do you ever use lunchmeat for dinner? How do you fix it? Share with us in the comments!

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!" 

Use powdered laundry and dishwasher detergent instead of liquid. The only difference is the addition of water--and all the transportation, energy, and packaging that entails. 

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!"


Everybody loves freshly baked cookies, but you don't always have time to get all the ingredients together and make them from scratch. It's easy to grab a tube of cookie dough at the store, but who knows what polyunsaturated hydrogenated gunk is in them?

Prepare for cookie cravings by making an extra batch of dough and freezing it. Roll the dough into a log, wrap it really well in wax paper and store in a ziplok bag. Then when you NEED a fresh cookie, slice off and bake as many cookies as you want.

Gardeners: Is This You?

Did EVERY SINGLE ONE of your vegetable seeds sprout?

Are you doorbell ditching your neighbors with bags of produce?

Do you lie awake at night trying to figure out how to use 50,000 zucchini in one season?

There is an answer.

Bring your garden’s overflow to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS). This amazing organization has been “giving a hand up, not a handout” since 1976.

Why SFBFS?
• They provide a five-day supply of emergency groceries to working families in need six days a week.
• Over 18,000 individuals receive an abundance of fresh groceries every month.
• Food is distributed to clients in a respectful and dignified manner. Families receive health and nutrition resources as well as food.

Come by after work or on your lunch break! (Need directions? They’re right off Hwy 50 at 3333 Third Ave, Sacramento CA 95817.)

How? Just drop them off!
Donations are accepted:
• Monday-Tuesday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
• Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Not in Sacramento? No problem. Find the food bank that serves your area at FeedingAmerica.org and keep them in mind when you harvest those zucchini.

For more information on SFBFS, visit sacramentofoodbank.org.

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!"

Today's tip comes from BTM reader Autumn, and was an real "aha!" for me. Jackjack loves to play with Play-doh, and it makes a crazy mess.

Tape a piece of wax paper on the table before Play-doh time. It keeps the mess contained, and the Play-doh doesn't stick. Plus it makes cleanup super-easy. Now if I could just figure out how to get the Play-doh out of the carpet...

Seed GROW Project: Baking in the Sun

My poor little nasties are baking in the sun. This spot in the front yard garden is south-facing and boy, does it get hot. They're hanging in there, as are the mini-cukes--but there's not a lot of growing going on with all this heat!

Last month, I transplanted some seedlings in my turtle's enclosure. They didn't make it. I suspect she ate them, but she's not telling. I'm going to try again but will block off the area so they have a chance to grow bigger than her tummy.

Tune in every first Sunday for updates on my seeds and visit GROW to see reports from across the US and Canada.

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

What's Growing

The veggies are doing great! Here's a peek at what's growing at our house:

Cocozelle summer squash from Botanical Interests. This was my first year growing these and they are absolutely delicious, with a nice nutty flavor.

Rolande filet bush beans from Renee's Garden.

Green Fingers Persian baby cukes from Renee's Garden, safely sprouting in their TP tube forts (the unsprouted one in the foreground is jicama from Kitazawa).

In the other side of the same planter box, Catalina baby leaf spinach and a Cherries Jubilee nasturtium from Renee's Garden.

Early Yellow crookneck from Lake Valley.

Amish Paste tomatoes from Peaceful Valley.

An unknown heirloom from seeds I saved last year. A friend brought me half of a tomato and said, "This was fantastic--can you grow me one next year?" We'll see how it goes.

Spaghetti squash, also saved from last year (and a marigold peeking out from underneath).

Volunteer watermelons sprouting from the compost. We'll find out later this summer what variety they are.

Oodles more garlic and onions are drying in the garage. I just need to figure out what makes two onions that grow side-by-side in the same soil come out so completely different:

Looks like I need to do more research on onion farming...anybody have any ideas?