10 Ways to Hike Up Your Homestead

The Realm of Home Improvement is a special level of hell reserved for masochists and wide eyed dreamers. You fix and change, renovate and re-do, and you always find more waiting on the horizon. But my, how we love it! The scent of sawdust is a near aphrodisiac and nothing beats the instant gratification of a splotched, hopeless wall suddenly gleaming to life with fresh paint.

If, like us, you have some outstanding credit card debt, or perhaps a devil-loan that seemed a good idea at the time, a few small upgrades to your home can raise the value and boost your budget more than even years of gardening and preserving. With even less done than the suggestions in this post, we increased our property value by over 30%, inspite of slow home sales and falling prices, from our last valuation two years ago. The subsequent equity line paid off 86% of our high-interest debt and gave us a financial buffer to get us through any unforeseen hard times.

1. Paint it Red: Okay, maybe not red, but a fresh coat of paint can't be beat for bringing new life to tired walls. Strip off that 70's wallpaper and add some neutral favorites, but don't be afraid of a splash of color! A red wall in a bright room can be a beautiful touch. If you work in a trade, see if the boss will let you keep paint leftovers, or try to mix a few colors from previous home paint jobs. Just make sure the bases are compatible! No free paint? $40-50 for a quality can of your favorite hue will make a world of difference.

2. From the Floor Up: With a little money and a bit of time, you can update your floors to their previous farmhouse splendor. It may not go perfectly—We met with un-aged wood in stripes beneath sticky carpet adhesive—but even a slightly splotchy wood floor outranks an aging carpet or, heaven forbid, dated vinyl. You'll need a hired sander, an edging sander, sandpaper (in grits of 40, 80, and 100 or 120), spirits for clean-up, and a stain/sealant of your choosing. All totalled, the investment is around $200 for two midsized rooms and a hallway.

3. Kitchen Re-Do: Kitchens and bathrooms make up, perhaps, the largest segment of a home's sale value. They are the rooms we rely on for our most basic of needs and we like 'em pretty! Unless you are blessed with original wood cabinetry and shiny Wolf ovens, you might want to kick up the kitchen with a little bit of work and very little money. Plan ahead and find a friend who is re-doing their own better-than-yours kitchen. Offer to take the old stuff off their hands! You may have to make some adjustments, and you'll likely have to put off your new kitchen awhile as you hunt for the friend in question, but it will save you hundreds and earn you thousands in equity.

4. Organization is Key: A few well placed shelves, as well as orderly, clean appliances, tidy nick-knack displays, and removal of all yard debris will give the heads up to any appraiser that this home is well maintained. It also can't hurt your own personal peace of mind. Check out flea markets, op shops, and yard sales for secondhand shelving solutions, or build your own! Speaking of yard sales, why not have one? You'll clear the unneeded clutter and make some spare renovation funds along the way.

5. Garden Quick Fix: Mow the lawns, water as much as you're able, and then trim, trim, trim, shaving those hedges, trees, and roses into clean shapes. Rip out old, clunky or unruly plants, replace with potted color, such as pansies, or decorative grasses for hotter climes, or edible beauties like red cabbages, berry bushes, and curly lettuce. "Re-purpose" your bulbs from hidden nooks of the garden to simple driveway borders and garden wall liners. Put a fresh layer of mulch on everything, and weed those veggie beds. Remember, the goal is to have a clean garden that is attractive and appears low-maintenance, even if you know better.

6. Space it Out: One might think furnishings have nought to do with house value. This couldn't be further from the truth! While it's fact that your favorite sofa will never be packaged in a sale price, the location of that sofa can change everything. We Plotters are the (not so) proud owners of a huge L-shaped purple, overstuffed, micro-suede sofa. This monster used to sit with one end protruding into the dining area. A bit of effort in moving it to the opposite corner and it's a whole new room! Visually, the floorspace is doubled. So get to rearranging! Even if you change it back after the inspection is done.

7. Cleanliness and Godliness: I've no doubt that the majority of 'steaders out there keep a lovely house, but one final wipe-down can do wonders for perception. Wash the front windows, give the floors a shine with a bit of oil and lemon, scrub the sinks until they gleam using baking soda and muscle, and don't forget the baseboards and corner cobwebs too. It brightens the whole place, and light is a big factor in the value of your space.

8. Community Investment: Your house is well squared away but the neighborhood leaves a bit to be desired. This, unfortunately, affects everyone's property value. So, if your neighbor has a worn out yard, or clearly didn't make it past "Go" on their last clean-up day, offer to lend a hand. This is a good idea for any reason, but it will only serve to boost your appraisal when the bank (wo)man comes a-callin'.

9. Mother Nature Knows Best: In a hot climate? Don't schedule that valuation for the dry, dead season. Same goes for the winter-woes. Make Mother Nature work for you and try to squeeze in those appraisals while your yard is at it's best. We Plotters narrowly escaped drought disaster, having our valuation only weeks before the current record-smashing heatwave. The appraiser would've been met with wilted vines and shriveled shrubs instead of a lovely, green yard.

10. Common Scents: The nose is our most aware and evocative sensory tool. Your valuer isn't immune! Schedule your weekly bread-bake for the hours before inspection, or just simmer up a pot of spiced water on the stove. Aromas such as baked goods and warm cinnamon are known to inspire thoughts of hearth and home.

You only get 10-20 minutes of the bank valuer's time. Make the biggest impact you can! But please do your research before trekking this path. Housing prices have suffered only somewhat in Australia, but greatly in the Northern lands (US, UK) so know your neighborhood. Look at comparable houses that are actually selling, talk to your mortgage broker, and get ideas from friends. We all have learned our lessons and know debt-free is the way to be. I hope these tips help you on the road to freedom.

10 Ways to Garden Yourself Skinny

Weight loss and gardening...really? Is there a connection? Of course there is!

We all want to be healthy, fit, and many of us want to slip into slimmer party clothes for the days when we've dusted the dirt from our heels. But who has time (or money) for gyms, memberships, classes, and equipment? Not I, said the City Mouse.

I began my own weight loss journey at the end of Aussie winter, sometime around early August. Since then, I've managed to slough off a respectable 12 kg (that's over 26 lbs, for the Americans out there). There were several aspects to the whole deal, but the most significant of these was, you guessed it, gardening.

My nightly hour of garden upkeep, and weekend half-day blitzes, have played a huge role in my newly increased fitness. It feels great when you see the scale creep downward, and when clothes begin fitting better than ever before. And, in the process, I made food grow! Personally, I find fitness a whole lot more palatable when it has deeper purpose than what might seem like vanity.

There's still a fair bit to go, on the veggie patch and my waistline, but I just thought I'd share ten great ways to get fit while gardening.

1. Shining it up: Getting your dose of sunshine each and every day is the perfect way to boost your body’s levels of Vitamin D, a vital ingredient for strong bones and a healthy immune system. Keep those ankles strong for your next power-walk by getting out in the garden and letting the sun shine in.

2. Raising the roof: Hammering, lifting, drilling, and filling. If you don’t see the calorie burn in landscape construction, you aren’t looking! Build a bench in your favorite flower bed, or reach for the sky with a homemade tomato trellis and your body will build right along with it. One hour of general home project-making burns off between 200 and 400 calories, depending on what's topping your To-Do List, today.

3. Getting dirty: Squat, lunge, thrust, bend! Nope, not a gym class on whole body toning, but it may as well be. Grabbing the shovel and hand-working your backyard veggie patch will get those biceps showing, thighs tightening, and it’ll shrink your belly too. Add in some weeding for butt-firming squats and you’ve got a full body workout right outside your door. Weeding knocks off around 296 calories for each hour. Digging earns you an extra 40, on top!

4. Stretching it out: Increasing flexibility is always a good bet when it comes to getting in shape. It builds endurance, strength, and helps stave off a laundry list of injuries and strains. The garden is full of rigorous stretching routines just begging to be discovered. Prune a tree or pluck a plum and you’ll feel the stretch down to your core. And the senior-most putterers amongst us don't have to miss out a bit! Table-top gardens allow for a lot of the same movements, with less back stress.

5. Walking to the beat: Pop in those earbuds and grab your watering can. Turn daily watering chores into a beat-driven frolic in the flowers. A spring in your step, set to music, can serve to increase your walking pace and boost your heart rate. Sing while you work and you'll exercise your respiratory system at the same time. Your plants will thank you, and your heart will too!

6. Getting brighter everyday: If knowing really is half the battle, then gardeners are winning the war! It takes real green smarts to make that garden grow, and what better way to plan your nutrition than to know where it comes from? Growing veggies in your back yard, patio, or even a balcony, can grow a wealth of knowledge, not just great food. We do so much for our veggies, so get to know what each veggie does for you. Don't just plant it. Know it.

7. Lifting you higher: Who doesn’t feel better after seeing a rose bloom, or a berry burst forth? Gardens are well known as stellar mood enhancers, and the fresh air can’t be beat. Carve yourself out a little corner with a view that allows you to truly appreciate the bounty you've scratched from the green earth, or take an evening stroll through your favorite beds, not working, just walking, and admiring what's around.

8. Cleaning up your act: One thing about which nearly all dietitians can agree is that chemicals in your food are doing you no favors. Organic is the way to go for optimum nutrition, but the prices can often send you running for the frozen peas! As homesteaders and semi-steaders, we have a unique advantage in that we have 100% control over everything we feed our food.

9. Reaping what you sow: Nothing beats harvesting the evening’s dinner salad from your home-grown garden. Fresh corn, peppers, fruits, and greens help us add vital nutrition to every meal. This is not news to the seasoned gardener. We wouldn't do this without knowing the value of fresh food, cooked with love. But there's always room for improvement, right? Next planting season, make a concerted effort to have a veggie of every hue in your garden patch. Antioxidants, vitamins, and healthful enzymes come in every shade of the vegetable rainbow.

10. Sleeping it off: All that gardening will wear you out! No more listless nights and bouts of insomnia, that’s for sure. Studies have shown that the hormones produced during a full, solid night’s sleep aid in reducing pesky belly fat, and we all know great sleep recharges you for the next day’s good mood and healthy living. The sleep brought by hard, satisfying work will set you firm and fast on the road to a slimmer, healthier you.

So, there you have it! Many of you out there are doing every single thing on this list, whether you call it fitness or not, and kudos to you! Let this serve as a pat on the back for taking care of your health and family.

But, next time a friend tells you they long for a leaner, meaner shape, you can spread the gardening gospel as a path toward health. If a pal is down in the mouth, and needs a self-esteem and confidence boost, let them know that nothing makes you smile like your plants bursting with fruit.

If you've got this fitness gig nailed, why not invite your gang over for an afternoon gardening together? After all, almost all things are best when shared.

10 Fantastic Foods and Drinks You've Always Put Off Making

All we hear in the news, these days, is that the world's economy is faltering. But we don't need news reports to drive it home that property values are stagnating, fuel prices aren't matching up with the decline of oil cost, and food prices are higher than ever.

Take heart! In our home, this financial necessity has birthed some lovely invention, especially in the kitchen. I've spent a good deal of time researching what, exactly, I can avoid buying at the grocer's and begin making for myself.

Added bonus? You get the emotional satisfaction of these hand-crafted treats, made to your perfect preference. Sure, it's a lot of work at times, but in the end it's more than worth it.

Here are ten family favorites you can make all on your own.

1. Bread: The most obvious of this week's list, and still so few actually put hand-to-dough. It may take a bit of trial-and-error to get the flow right, but do give it the old college try. A basic wheat bread couldn't be easier, but why stop there? Spice it up with some cinnamon, sweeten with raisins or jam, or, if you're feeding a strapping Aussie like I am, paint the unformed bread with Vegemite, tomato paste, and sprinkle a bit of cheese for an amazing breakfast and snack bread.

2. Goat Cheese: Ohhhh, nothing will set the City Mouse drooling quite like a tangy, creamy chevre. I'm not sure if it's the farm-fresh in me or the food-snob, but whatever it is, this homemade treat tops my personal list for foods to make in the new year. Find a local goat and as her kindly for a pint or two, or visit your nearest market for some milk-to-go. Roll those chevre logs in your own blend of homegrown herbs and serve it up with the next delectable snack on the list.

3. Wheat Thins: These delicious darlings will be spreading their toasty aroma through our kitchen, tomorrow. What wonderful sensory therapy! Costing next to nothing in materials, and with only minimal effort, you can have these crispy warm crackers anytime you want, sans the $3-$4 price tag. If you're watching your fat intake, like I am, substitute margarine for butter, and use light milk.

4. Cordial: Better than soda, cheaper than juice, this UK and Aussie staple may be unfamiliar to North Americans. Raid the nearest berry bush and simmer yourself up bottle after bottle of this flavor-maker. My favorite use? A dash of cordial into an icy glass of soda water. Instant Italian Soda, right in your kitchen, without the trip to Starbucks.

5. Yogurt: And Yoghurt too. Say it however you like, but what breakfast can't be improved with a creamy little dish of this honeyed, fruited or vanilla-flavored dream? We have a small bit every day. Unflavored, it is the ideal starter for tzatziki sauce, labneh, and other tempting Mediterranean accouterments.

6. Salad Sprouts: Nothing spruces up a hummus sandwich like a handful of refreshing alfalfa or broccoli sprouts. And what Pad Thai is complete without healthy helping of crunchy little sprouted beans? When store-bought, these crispy additions can often be soggy and slimy before they even hit the plate. Home-sprouted, they can be grown in amounts small enough for the occasional muncher.

7. Tea: Why rely on a shelf-weary tea bags for your cuppa when you can have your own satisfying assortment of home-mixed brews? With homegrown berries, chamomile, mints, roses, dried tree fruits, and your own aromatic camellia sinensis (basic tea) plant, you can craft any number of soothing blends of black, green, and oolong tea. Want to give the trendy White Tea a go? Just pick the baby tea leaves as you would for green or oolong, and skip the roasting and fermentation stages, heading straight for a fast, early dry.

8. Soda Pop: If, like my husband, you go through one or two canned sodas each day, you can rapidly find yourself spending $50 in fizzy drinks each month! How great would it be to bottle up an array of your own, personalized root beers and sarsaparillas, cream and grape sodas, and ginger beer and ales? Not only could you keep cool all summer, but a basket of your home brewed, hand-labeled bottles would make a beautiful gift for loved ones. We're definitely giving these recipes a try at the Holidays!

9. Beer and Ale: Kiddie-pops not working for you? With some experimentation you can cook up some adult beverages, microbrewed to your specifications. Don't try it for a quick fix, as proper beer takes weeks to ferment and fizz properly, but a swig of your home brew on a hot day just can't be beat.

10. Toffee and Taffy: Few among us are without memories of wax-wrapped toffees in our grandma's candy dish, or dime store sweet treats bought with a week's allowance. I know I have heady childhood thoughts of the clean, warm scent of salt water taffies made on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk. Relive it in your kitchen, and have a great project to work on with your kids, twisting toffees and having a real old fashioned taffy pull!

Whether in the Northern Hemisphere or South, times are nearing when we spend more time indoors to avoid the elements, be they snow or sun, and these are great days for finally getting around to that "I'll try it, someday," project you've considered year-long.

Enjoy these ten things on my procrastination list and make sure to share the fruits of your labors!

10 Best Fruits & Veggies to Grow in Small Spaces

Photo by Dawn Perry

A handful of my friends have dropped by The Suburban Plot and are envious of my new found space for gardening. As a former apartment-dweller, with nought but a balcony to call my own, I wanted to make a list of tips on what someone with limited wiggle-room can grow for themselves.

Of course, most of these require a fair bit of sun, but you don't need a lot of space to eat fresh even if you have nothing more than a small patio or postage-stamp yard. So let's get started!

1. Cherry and Plum Tomatoes: The best of the best, tomatoes can brighten up any salad, make the perfect sauce, and are the key to any good salsa. The best part? These smaller varieties of tomato do beautifully in pots, or even hanging upside-down! Just buy your seedlings, a pot, and mix up some good compost-rich soil and you're on your way. Keep the soil moist and the plant in good sun.

2. Lettuces: This salad staple is made-to-order for container gardening, what with its compact shape and shallow root system. A window box would show off your multi-colored lettuce display and they only need around four hours of light each day. Grow varieties you just can't find in your neighborhood store.

3. Climbing beans & peas: Hooray for climbers! And big cheers for fresh green beans and peas from your own little cement patch, adding tons of vertical visual appeal. Rig up a trellis pot or build a decorative cage and have sweet greens to munch all summer long. Be brave—experiment with yellow, white, and purple varieties, and all the flavors of peas.

4. Carrots: What, you say? Yep! Carrots can do very well in containers. Go for smaller, early-ripening varieties, like Chantenays, and sow into pots twice the depth of the full-grown carrot. Consider round, bulbous varieties like Thumbelina or Mini-Round as well. Less length means less soil, means easier container growth. The foliage is like having your own tasty pot of edible ferns!

5. Herbs: This one is likely a given. Most apartment dwellers in search of green-gourmet immediately pot up a bunch of rosemary or mint. Done properly, herbs of nearly every imaginable flavor can cheer up the window sills of your little home. Be sure to investigate the soil needs of each herb, as they do differ, and don't be afraid to grow something unusual. How about Thai basil and choco-mint? Give it a go!

6. Dwarf fruit trees: In honor of my friend, Maggie, I can't leave dwarf fruits off the list. How jealous will all your party guests be when you grab limes, lemons, or even pomegranates from your own patio?! Keep them sunlit and well-drained, bring indoors during the frosty months and these little treasures will sweeten your days.

7. Pumpkin and Squash: Aside from my husband, who doesn't love a tasty, cool summer squash? Varieties of yellow squash, acorn, butternut, and zucchini will be a nostalgic delight on hot summer nights. If you have a railing or fence line, try training some squash vines across it and simply harvest what grows! (I don't recommend this method for those gardening above ground level, ouch!)

8. Spring Onions & Garlic: Sick of paying ridiculous prices for jars of minced garlic and bunches of spring onions that waste away in the crisper? Grow them yourself! These indispensable flavors grow like a dream in confined quarters. Spring onions can be grown from seed in the most dense conditions and can, within reasonable time limits, be picked as needed. Garlic is even better, though not terribly attractive. But it makes up for beauty in what it adds to your cooking. To store your harvest, get a needle and thread and do them up Italian-style, hanging, as edible art, from the kitchen ceiling.

9. Peppers: Be they chilis or sweet peppers, these beauties can open the door to cuisines from Mexico, Asia, and the Mediterranean. And they do love a pot! Sunlight and warmth are the keys to getting these little darlings to do their best. Be careful not to over-water, and keep harvesting to coax more peppers off these yummy plants.

10. Berry Bushes: Want some fresh strawberries on your morning cereal? How about a blueberry tart for dessert? Berries can thrive in small spaces if care is given where it's needed. Water carefully and fertilize with a balanced mix of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and other trace elements. These tasty treats are mostly perennial so, with love, they can keep you in berry-goodness for years.

What do you do if there's no available sun? Make a small investment. Even we space-rich gardeners have to shell out for supplies now and again. Buy some decent quality grow-lights and it can be daytime anytime you like!

I really hope this list helps the small-spacers out there. No one should be deprived of their own homegrown goodies. Happy growing!