Photo Credit: Tomatoes by Ruthie Hansen used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As prices go up, people are always looking for ways to save on their food budget.

Some will resort to extreme couponing while others will look toward bulk buying as a way of dealing with this challenging economic time.

But the best way to save money on your food budget is simple and that is to create nature’s grocery store.

It is always open, there is never a recall on your product and it is very convenient.

Below are my top 10 reasons why I garden.

Hopefully, if you are not gardening, these reasons will inspire you to start. If you are an avid gardener, let me know why you garden.

1. I have control over when my produce is picked and how. No more bruised or underripe produce.
2. I can design what I want to eat verses what a traditional store or farmers market has available.
3. I can control what treatments are administered such as fertilizer and pesticide. Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

Even small gardens can produce staggering amounts of some veggies.

Here are some suggestions and recipes to use up all of the zucchini, chard and tomatoes your garden might be producing right now.

Assuming that all of your neighbors have stopped answering the door when they see you approach with a bag of fresh veggies, you can still use up your harvest without eating the same thing every night.

Zucchini

Zucchini can be blanched and frozen in slices, or steamed, pureed and frozen pre-measured for making zucchini bread later this year. Or, try these recipes:

Zucchini Cranberry Muffins

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar Read the rest of this entry »