Category Archives: Rural Life in Mendota

Daily adventures in a rural farming community.

My No Spend January – Friday, January 10

Day 3 – My No Spend January

It’s Friday, January 3, and I made it to town to pick up all my groceries and did not order from a window!! However, I got to town and realized I had not eaten breakfast, so I was very, very hungry.

I thought…“who would know?” The answer is me. Ouch. I can’t lie to myself.

I went to Walmart, Sams Club and Aldi’s. When I went to Aldi’s I broke open the apple bag after checking out and there was no more perfect sight than this.

So I had an apple and it kept me from breaking the rule of eating out. It was a little difficult. I drove by Hardees and thought how yummy a gravy biscuit and Coke would be. I drove by Pal’s and thought about a jelly biscuit and a peach tea. I drove by McDonald’s and thought about a sausage patty and scrambled eggs. Those three all all my go-to breakfasts. The learning here is to eat before I head out because being hungry really lightens my resolve. But I did persevere and I feel good about that tonight.

I’m also realizing how quickly I’ve been going to Amazon to order things. I found a hole in one of my socks, and my very first thought was to order a few new socks from Amazon. But, really. I don’t need new socks. I have plenty of other socks.

Second, I have cabbage plants out and they are very healthy. Unfortunately, I doubt they’ll make it though this cold spell, but I want to try. First thought — I went to Amazon and started pricing frost row cover cloth. Again, I stopped and thought — “do I really need this?” The answer is no. I’ve got an old sheet and a plastic baby pool over the cabbage plants. That will work fine for the next two weeks.

I can do better. I don’t want to be wasteful.

Today was a bit of a wasted day. The only home organization project I did was to straighten a basket. Lame, I know but at least I did something.

I’m going to do my Bible devotion in a minute. Check that off the list.

And, for today, I’ve met the goals set during January No Spend. Check that off the list.

I don’t think I’ll be leaving the house until Tuesday with the bad weather. I’ll catch up on organization projects during those days.

Stay warm!! Don’t spend!

Day 2 on My No Spend January

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Today was another successful day of not ordering from Amazon or Etsy or Belk or wherever. I did order pet food through Chewy but that’s allowed. Here’s what I’m doing if you just arrived.

Today was easier than yesterday without a Coke, too. The sugar withdrawal is real.

A few people I know are doing the same thing — or something similar. If that’s you, please comment and let us know how you’re doing.

One friend is doing a Pantry Challenge of sorts where she eats from her freezer and canned goods. She’s further along than me. I wish I could do that but my pantry is not that well stocked. Yet. Next year, maybe. However, what is shocking is the number of empty jars that leave my dishwasher every few days. I wonder if I’ll have enough canned stuff to last the winter?

I like having shelf stable food on hand, but I don’t want to have food that we don’t use or eat or even like. I have been guilty of that in prior years. In 2023, I learned to can chicken and found a spaghetti sauce recipe Mike and I really like. They were my success stories that year. In 2024, it’s been baked beans (which I need to can again soon), vegetable soup, cucumber relish and beef stew. Having these–as well as jellies tomatoes, etc.– on my pantry shelves gives me a sense of security and accomplishment.

Here’s the baked beans. They turned out nice. I took the rings off after the picture.

Here’s the vegetable soup. It’s pretty, too. Listen to her brag on her canned goods. LOL.

And the most recent. Having a meal in a jar is so convenient. This beef stew is a win.

My green beans this year were a failure as apparently, I put too much salt in them. Imagine that — I wasn’t paying attention. My canned tomatoes were good but they are always good. It’s hard to mess up canned tomatoes.

So as day 2 winds down, I feel pretty good about things. In addition to just general tidying, I cleaned one area good (the refrigerator). I’m getting ready to do my Bible devotional before I go to sleep and I didn’t spend any money on crap.

We are getting ready for the cold weather that is supposed to arrive and stay for the upcoming two weeks. We transitioned to wood heat today for the apartment/airbnb and the house. We have a woodboiler, and we only use it when it’s really cold. If everything works properly, we will stay warm, have hot water that’s free, and we won’t be worrying about our electric bill. It’s just work–no one likes going outside at night and putting wood in when it’s 10 degrees. But it’s worth it. (It’s easier for me to say that than Mike as it’s ultimately him that does the work — although I help.)

Most city people think it’s an outhouse. I kid you not.

The woodboiler requires that we have separate thermostats from the heat pump so today I replaced all of the batteries. Then, I changed out all of the vent filters. As we plan for the cold, we have plenty of propane for the inevitable power outage. I placed a large grocery order for pickup tomorrow so that unless we want to, we won’t have to go anywhere next week. I’ve got games, puzzles and enough house projects to keep Mike and me busy all next week.

I think we’re just about set.

I used to be embarrassed about my need to be plan and be prepared. And then there was Covid. And I had 100 rolls of toilet paper and everyone wanted to be my friend. I stand redeemed.

No Spend January 2025 For Me!

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As I finish out Day 1 of my No Spend January that’s detailed below, I’ll have to say not ordering on Amazon is the most challenging. Today, at least twice, I’ve considered breaking my own rule! On Day 1!! What a slacker. I didn’t, however. When we have extreme cold, we heat with wood using our wood boiler. We are currently bringing it “on line” right now and I realized Mike doesn’t have a good pair of work gloves, and he needs a new pair of gloves for this. I started to order a pair on Amazon. It would be oh so easy. However, he can go to Lowe’s or Rural King and get the gloves himself. If I get started breaking my own rules, I’ll continue. Besides, he can get exactly what he wants.

I have some goals for January — I’m going to walk on the trail 3 times per week, do a daily Bible devotion, and I’m going to systematically de-crapify my house. However, the one that I’ve thought most about is my No Spend January. It started today.

I did this once before but I would give myself about a C+ on my results. This year, I made rules that are more flexible. I’ve also got more buy in from Mike. Mike is not participating in the No Spend, but he cannot break the rules and buy me something that is on my list as a NO!

Here’s my list:

Not Allowed:

Don’t buy anything from a window or convenience store (no fast food). There is one exception. After church on Sunday, I can get a Pal’s tea and hotdog. One per week.
No soft drinks or candy
No clothing or footwear purchases (admission here–I ordered a pair of boots yesterday. They were on sale and I’ll save them for Fall 2025. They are excluded because while they’ll arrive in January 2025, they were purchased and shipped in 2024.)
No home decor purchases
No Amazon purchases (extremely difficult)
No quilt fabric purchases (very difficult)
No skincare purchases (very difficult although I am pretty stocked up)
No trips to the movies
No Audible book purchases
No streaming videos for additional cost or new subscriptions from what we currently have
No home cleaning/home organization purchases
No hair appointment in January

Allowed

Normal groceries and pet food (but no Azure Standard, etc.)
Medical for pets and Mike and me if needed
RX’s if needed
One meal out per week for the two of us in a sit-down restaurant
Car wash as needed
Any emergency supplies we may need for cold weather etc.

It’s important to note that Mike is not a participant. If you see him out buying from Pal’s or getting his haircut or stopping to get a snack, that’s on him. It’s my No Spend. I think he’ll support me and go along with most of it, but he’ll do what he wants to do. I have no control over this man, so why in the world would I think I could influence his spending?

In preparation, I went through my credit card statements and looked to see what subscriptions I have. I found two for streaming networks that I haven’t watched in months. I paused my Audible account and I may close it out as I can use the Washington County Library’s Libby ap. It’s paused until April. I found that there was a car wash subscription that I thought was closed out because I’d verbally told the carwash but the account failed to close — got a credit back on that one.

My January is about staying home, staying healthy, using what I have and enjoying it.

We Saw The Bob Dylan Movie “A Complete Unknown”

My First Azure Standard Experience

Since I have had a strong interest in food preservation for the past few years, I’ve watched many You Tube videos on home canning and freeze drying. Concurrent with those shows, Azure Standard came up frequently. Azure Standard offers natural and non-GMO groceries and other products in bulk. What is also unique is their delivery method. Customers may have orders delivered to their door, however, it’s very expensive. What is affordable and more common is the Azure drop experience.

You can opt to use their drop location which is manned and organized by an Azure coordinator. My Azure coordinator, Gloria, is located in Kingsport, but the drop location is convenient to all of the Tri-Cities by being in Blountville near the Tri-Cities Airport. It was actually in the parking lot of Second Harvest Food Bank (the former Sam’s Club building).

I was emailed a date by Azure of the drop but I was advised to stay in close contact with my coordinator and my email and text as the delivery time could change. It did change so this was useful information. I believe it was originally scheduled for a Friday and ended up being on Wednesday.

Mike went with me to the drop as I had no idea what to expect. At that time, I didn’t even know where 500 Jericho Road was — only later did I realize it was the old Sam’s Club location. We arrived at 4:30 pm with the drop at 5:00 pm. The lot only had about five cars and a tractor and trailer on it. No one was out of their vehicle, so realizing we were early, we went to a nearby restaurant (Wendy’s) to use the restroom.

When we came back about 15 minutes later, activity had picked up. A lot! There were about 75 people there. Here’s what to expect if you order from Azure and use a drop.

Our names were on 3 x 5 cards on the ground.

I found mine quickly.

Everyone was in a line — but they were not lined up to get their packages. They line up to help unload the truck. Otherwise, this would not work.

So. you get in a line, you get packages (if they are too heavy, they’ll give you smaller ones), and you go to the orderer’s name on the pavement and stack the packages there. Then, you get back in line and do it all over again until the truck is unloaded. It takes about 20-30 minutes. There was a lot of stuff on that tractor and trailer.

The coordinator said to bring a tarp if it rained. Now I know why. Rain would be a bit of a disaster.

My order was small. I ordered three bags of different types of organic pasta. I ordered elbow macaroni, penne pasta and spaghetti — ten pounds of each. Most of the orders were quite large.

Here’s some more…

Now, Mike is still puzzling over why we did this.

When we got home, I put some of the pasta in jars which I then removed the oxygen from. I put quite a few pounds in reusable Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. While they’ll keep for years, these will be used up during the next year.

So my cousin asked if it was worth it. In my case, it was a break even. I’d priced organic pasta and it was the same price or in some cases, a little less. There are many other items where the savings are quite dramatic. If I needed 25 pound bags of flour, I’d really save. For large families, Azure Standard appears to be very useful and very affordable. Interesting fact–I noticed that female names were on the pavement, but males were picking up the orders.

Other reasons people buy from Azure is because the company has a strong commitment to NON-GMO and organic foods. Also, if you are concerned about packaging waste and the environment, bulk ordering might make sense for you. For me, I like having a “grocery store” of sorts in my pantry so that if there’s an emergency and the grocery store doesn’t have a lot of stock, it doesn’t affect me adversely. My pasta is on the pantry shelf and will be used and replaced at some point.

I have an Azure catalog and I will order again from them again. It probably won’t be in the winter months because I can see where this could be problematic.

So that was my Azure Standard experience!

How Do You Do Things?

I watch people work, and I realize how differently we all approach tasks. Most of the time, we all have the same outcome — task completed! However, we each do things differently. I do better when I’m doing multiple things.

For instance, I came home from church on Sunday and milk was spilled in the refrigerator. At first I was slightly annoyed, and then I realized I needed to clean the fridge anyway, so why be hateful about it?

The cleaning began. First I took everything out. I was also unloading a few groceries.

There were “science projects” inside the fridge — moldy food. Yuck.

As I pulled out the potatoes, I thought “why not make some potato salad?”

Which required some chopping..

So while I had the celery out…I thought I’d rinse it in vinegar and seal it so that it’ll keep longer. (If you have not got a Mason jar sealer yet, you need one. Trust me.)

Do you see a pattern here? I’m not even thinking about wiping down the refrigerator at this point. Also, notice the groceries never got put away.

And then…the potato salad. I made it.

It was yummy! So…I sat down and ate some. Still no movement on actually cleaning the refrigerator.

But….then…I got moving.

Cold cut drawer. Check.

Removed shelves, wiped, disposed, cleaned and then put things back in. Check.

All clean. Everything put away nicely. I see two prepared dinners in there. There is a frozen casserole on the right with the red lid that is thawing for tonight, and beef kabobs on the left for dinner on Monday. (We have frozen casseroles on Sunday night because I hate cooking on Sunday. I actually hate cooking every day, but on Sunday, it’s particularly offensive. )

And…tidied the kitchen. Everything came together at the end.

Barn Swallows Made Me Think

For the past two weeks, I’ve had a mother bird with babies on the back porch. This is the third year a bird has built a nest in this spot. Is it the same bird? Maybe, I don’t know.

I didn’t know they were barn swallows until I posted this picture last week. Someone who knows more than me told me what they were.

In that picture in that tiny nest, there are four baby birds that are absolutely huge. They are almost as large as their mother who loyally comes to feed them. I keep judging her….”your children will never fledge and be productive if you keep doing all the work for them!” She doesn’t listen.

Then…on Thursday, I went out and watered my hanging plants on the porch. While the birds were used to my doing so daily, apparently I startled one enough to shift a tiny bit and it tumbled out of the nest, caught itself by fluttering its wings, and it flew. It flew away. In the next 60 seconds, the other three did the same. They finally fledged.

I didn’t want to destroy the nest until I was sure they were through using it. So, I left it up until the following morning. Then, bright and early at 7:30 am, I cleaned the porch. The birds had made a very nasty mess. You can imagine.

It was so nice to have it clean. I went in the house and sat down for breakfast, and thought about my former houseguests, the barn swallows. I learned that they are very beneficial. They eat insects. I started feeling very bad for all the things I’d been thinking about them. Like…why didn’t I left the snake that almost got them…just get them? I had that thought many times.

Even though I was disliking the baby birds when I saw the snake getting ready to climb the post, I just could not watch this happen. This snake was getting very comfortable with us. When we were out in the garden, we’d watch it climb the fence looking for birds in bushes. But..on the back porch…this was too close to home! So, on that day when the snake lurked around the baby birds, I went in and read what would be a deterrent for a snake, and I came out and threw vinegar on the snake. I have not seen it since. I hate this as this is a beneficial snake.

But the porch is now clean. I want to show you something I’m very proud of. See this little table below? My grandfather that I never met made this table. Peter Livingston Barker.

It has the outline of a biscuit cutter so it was made for someone’s kitchen. Probably my grandmother’s kitchen. Martha Kaylor Barker. I never met him, nor did I meet her. You can read a little about him here.

So…the table is probably about 100 years old.

My sister had this table, and she gave it to me. I am so grateful. I am going to move it in the house, but for at least a few weeks, I’m going to enjoy it out here. I put a burlap sack on it for protection. When it moves inside, I’ll work on it a little bit, but I like the character that time and circumstances have given this table.

We had guests this weekend…family. I was happy the little table was at the door to greet them.

While admittedly, I did clean the house…at one time I would have worried myself sick on what to cook, etc. I am not a great cook. It’s so nice to be a little older and not fret over useless stuff. No one cares! I sat the table with what I had. We ate what we would have eaten that night anyway…just added a little more to it. And the time we spent was precious.

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. It’s my blog about my life in Mendota, Virginia and nothing. Mostly nothing!

Our Vegetable Garden 2024

One of the reasons people choose to live in a rural area is to grow their own food. We have had many years with gardens since we built this place in 1999, but we’ve also had years where we didn’t have a garden. The years I worked a lot and the years we operated Adventure Mendota — we were just too busy.

Even on those busy years, however, we could still grow a few things around the house. I grow Romaine lettuce in flower pots. We cut it off and eat it and it grows back and we do it all again — this works for quite a while!

Now is a perfect time to return to having a garden. I am working far less, and Mendota, Virginia has a wonderful climate for growing things. Grocery prices are high, and there is a sense of uneasiness in many parts of the world. Having a garden gives us an opportunity to push back on those high prices; and, for me, a sense of food security. My garden, if all goes well, will yield a freezer filled with corn and sweet peppers, many jars of spaghetti sauce, tomatoes, tomato juice, salsa, relish, pickles and so forth. I’m still hunting for that wonderful vegetable soup recipe that doesn’t taste “canny.”

One thing we’ve always been challenged with is how to keep tomatoes from becoming a total train wreck in our garden. I see perfectly tied tomato plants all the way to Hiltons, and then there has been ours–a tangled mess. We are trying to do better this year. I watched a You Tube video called the “Florida Weave Method” of stringing tomatoes. It involves nylon string. It’s what you see above — while it’s not as exact as the You Tube video, it seems to be working. They’ll grow taller, and I’ll add more string. I also have to do some pruning of the lower branches of the tomato plant. I’m watching a You Tube video tonight on how to do that. Fact: A garden is a place one can always learn.

It has been really rainy and we’ve had a lot of weeds. I tried to hoe and keep up, but it was very difficult. Mike came to the rescue with a little mini cultivator which left things looking nice.

We were so happy that the corn germinated. Some years we’ve had problems with this, and then other years, the corn germinated and the crows grabbed the tiny seedlings to eat what remained of the seed. In the picture below, we have two rows planted two weeks ago–that’s the corn you can see– and two rows planted just four days ago–you have to look closer to see those. Beside those rows, there is a row of tiny seedlings of zinnia flowers that are coming up. They’re not visible in this picture.

My friend says that if you don’t have half-runner green beans, you don’t have green beans. We planted Mountaineer half runners as well as Rattlesnake pole beans. The Rattlesnakes get their name from the way they curve and climb. Mike placed sections of wire fencing called “hog fence panels” which are 4′ x 8′ from Rural King to give them a place to climb. With hog fence panels, the squares are smaller at the bottom than at the top. We accidentally put some of them upside down, but no matter, we have no hogs.

I’ll be picking Japanese beetles off those beans soon. I hate those little creatures.

We also have cucumbers coming up. They were planted very late but they have made their appearance and will grow fast.

I planted green peppers close to the house because we use so many. I’m now second guessing this decision. I’ve got them in a Tartar metal thing and in whiskey barrels. I had thought about planting crookneck squash in the whiskey barrels but the seeds didn’t seem to germinate. So…I planted these peppers and all of a sudden, squash popped up. I’m not sure how this will work out. I placed an old tomato cage for the squash to grow up vs. out. We’ll have to see how this works out.

And I have them in this Tartar thing I got at Lowes. These Tartar raised beds were not cheap, and I’m disappointed with myself for getting them. My green peppers have something eating at them and I’ve never had this before. Also, they are not as robust looking at what I’m used to. I’m blaming the galvanized raised beds. This could potentially be a big mistake as we eat a lot of these peppers. I freeze enough to have peppers each week of the year. The lower shelf of my upright freezer is typically full of packs of frozen green peppers as we approach fall.

Over at the barn, we’ll use more hog fencing when the gourd seedlings get larger and start to climb. I use the gourds for fall decorations.

Here’s a picture from years back where I’ve enjoyed my gourds…

I keep them until Christmas and spray paint them gold. Here’s a version of that..

But for now…there is no gourds. Just a tiny seedling that I have big dreams for.

Gardens, while practical, are for dreamers. We dream about what we’ll plant in the winter. We dream about what we’ll harvest while the garden is growing. We think about eating what we’ve grown.

And it all starts with dirt.

Thank you for reading. I used to keep this blog current and had so many followers and then I stopped. You know how that it–life gets in the way. I decided to start again and just keep it my little secret until someone finds it. If you found it, please comment and let me know.

The Grape Cart Flower Cart

Back in the days when there there was no Amazon, magazines like Country Living or Better Homes and Gardens had sections where novelty furnishings or garden items could be purchased. In the late 1990’s, we had a townhome in Louden County, Virginia with a really nice screened porch. During that time, late one night, I ordered a grape cart flower cart for that porch. Here’s the flower cart today:

The funny thing about that order was this–my husband traveled and worked away most of the time so I was in the habit of staying up very late at night and then sleeping late in the morning. I saw this cute little grape cart and decided it would be a great addition to the screened porch in Northern Virginia. I was living in a town called Cary, North Carolina when I ordered it. (Mike was living in the Louden County townhome.) It was about 2 am. There was a 1.800 number number and a Pennsylvania address. I thought it was a number for a call center that took orders for the magazine. So…I called it.

The phone rang a few times and then a sleepy voice answered…“Hello.” I didn’t know what to say–I was stunned that it was not a call center, so I just said “I am ordering the grape cart.” While I don’t recall the details, I didn’t order it that night. I ordered it the next day.

I’m glad I did. I have always liked this little grape cart. It’s had the box remade several times. The box that appears in the photos above is taller than the original box and it’s made of old wood from church pews that were modified to be shorter in length than a church pew normally is. The downside of the current wooden box is that I cannot grow lettuce in it, etc., and it’s built with wood that has varnish, etc.

Here’s the box as it used to be:

This grape cart has been moved to the following locations as we moved around. It started in Louden County, Virginia. It moved to Basking Ridge, New Jersey. From there, off it went to Boca Raton, Florida, and then it came to where it is now in Mendota, Virginia.