wildlifehabitat

This no spend year has been much harder on the Mr., instead of myself. He’s is the spender and I am the saver. I was so proud of him for not buying me expensive stuff for my birthday! He even reused a gift bag that I had saved! ❤️

As a gift, I got a grab bag of seeds, compost thermometer and a new pair of sanuks, since mine were getting holes. (Btw, MIgardener has these grab bags for only $10!) Phenomenal deal!

61C7268F-C48D-4727-BA8A-BB84F9201AE8 — 30 seed packs picked at random! 💚

I also decorated the house for Fall with what I grew. Everything is from the garden and I spent a whopping nothing!

10216D67-6BCA-4BDA-9DA3-BF5712A2E23C — Our beautiful glass gem corn!

I have also been saving lots of seeds, so that I don’t have to buy more next year! So far I have put up several types of beans, dill, cosmos, ground cherries and I’m working on fermenting cucamelon seeds.

8F37A9B3-4F59-4E3E-B655-5BE7A79B4499 — Cosmos seeds

E025FF5D-15C2-4296-8641-6B0B30901A38 — We saved the Paw Paw seeds from our hike

Speaking of hike, we enjoyed going out to a local trail. We stopped at a comic book store that my boy loves along the way. So, it was a great family day!

C7FE8CCE-4FD9-4672-ABA0-DF7A9CE29506 — Beautiful hike

I also enjoyed raising some monarchs that were on the milkweed! It was free to do and so much fun! The whole family enjoyed searching for the tiny caterpillars on our plants!

0F9C74E9-0834-4615-80A3-C1C5291632A5 — One of our handraised beauties

We were able to start paying more on the house since I am back to work and are planning on becoming debt free in less than 5 years, pending health and staying accident free! Keep pushing on and thinking twice before buying those wants!

Does anyone else have some tips for saving more? Please share in the commmebts! 😊

One of our goals for the new year was to turn the front lawn by the garage into a wildlife habitat, and I’m happy to report back that we did!

The check off sheet for certification:

D8925A62-16D6-4916-B5BB-FBEDC459761F — Food, water, cover, places to raise young and sustainable practices

After lots of hard work getting rid of the grass

AD607B5E-0E00-4F8C-B0D0-1D40A0AF392A — And this week!

And now all of the requirements:

food: we have raspberries, lots of pollen and nectar, a walnut tree and sunflowers for both pollen and nectar as well as seeds

water: we have 2 bird baths and a tiny pond back by the garden

cover: we created a small brush pile and we have a wooded area and tiny pond

places to raise young: we have milkweed for baby catapillars, pond, bat house, pollinator hotel and trees for the birds

sustainable practices: we capture rain water, use lots of mulch to reduce watering and keep soil from eroding, reduce watering, plant lots of native plants (and plan on adding more every year!), hand pick weeds and invasive plants/insects, reduce lawn area and compost like no one’s business!

We started many native plants indoors last winter (coneflowers, milkweed, yarrow, bee balm)

55F188D5-6064-4740-B627-4A2799351A99 — I keep seeing beautiful cardinals enjoying the seeds

053F6670-0A1A-4793-9427-072909BE3465 — Not Native, but a polllen and nectar source

12000AD0-07C3-4D24-9145-10D4D6385D5B — Nasturtiums and the pollinators are enjoying the blooms now

C039C70F-1DAE-4474-A90B-A4B82C7F162B — Another variety of black eyed Susan with a native bee

EC2B6D5C-BC64-4A9F-B8A2-A18A18C0A972 — Birdhouse gourds volunteered to come up here

0E71A2EE-5C3D-43AF-ABEB-547E401C2BB4 — Upcycled bamboo sign post

CD7BB114-B826-4C38-AF4E-9DDE41FEA7C9 — The solar lights along the walkway

It is far from perfect, but I plan on working on and adding to it every year. My husband enjoys not having to cut the grass in that area anymore and the wildlife have really moved in to this area! I see so many different birds, lots of different bees and beautiful butterflies flitting around. Plus, with more birds, I have had less issues with some insects in the garden! I’ll post a picture of it at the end of the season! Keep blooming friends!

llewellynhomestead

No Spend September Update

Certified wildlife habitat!