1. Eating. I am so over it.
2. You are never to old to drink a Shirley Temple
Clarence’s Farm Stand $15.25
Last week my mother and I stopped by Clarence’s farm stand to pick up 10 pounds of Yukon potatoes. I had seen his little vegetable stand earlier in the spring but since there was a sign out front for hay, I didn’t think he offered anything else.
Then Mrs. HB came to visit and as we drove past it one day on our way to the recycle center, we noticed he had a few more items out for sale. So we stopped. And now it’s my new favorite place. Clarence is 78 years old and grows everything himself. He even dries corn in a little screened hutch and grinds cornmeal.
He likes to keep things simple and just about everything he sells is $0.75 a pound. Tomatoes, squash, potatoes, you name it. I LOVE his little stand and I’m totally tempted to buy one of his 50 pound sacks of potatoes to get us through the winter. And, because it makes my heart happy to support a 78 year old farmer who takes pride in his work and obviously loves what he does.
Have you ever heard of hickory nuts? A few weeks ago I noticed a few funky looking green shells in our backyard and had no idea what they were. While we were waiting for Clarence to weigh our potatoes I noticed there were loads of them outside his little shed and asked what they were.
Apparently we have a hickory tree! Have you ever eaten hickory nuts? Are they good for baking? Curious minds want to know.
Market Basket $125.08
To say my husband LOVES Market Basket, would be a HUGE understatement. Honestly, I like it too and it’s my favorite “big” supermarket to shop at. Plus, it’s a local company and they’ll hire kids as young as 14 to bag groceries and keep the store clean. It’s simple, the prices are good and the selection and prices are spot on.
Plus, according to my husband, you can get a coffee and a donut for $1.76 in their little cafe. I told him getting coffee and a donut before shopping at a grocery store seemed like something old people would do…. and wondered if we are in fact getting old, inching towards that stage in our lives where sitting down for a bite to eat to gather our strength before buying groceries will soon be our new reality.
After all, I did buy myself a tube of Gold Bond lotion this week. 😉 45 year olds aren’t supposed buy Gold Bond, are they?
ALDI – Mom’s Treat!
My Mother: “It’s a nice place to shop if you like cookies, crackers and cheese.”
Mavis: “I love cookies, crackers and cheese.”
Grocery stores, there’s one for everyone.
HAVE AN AWESOME MONDAY!
~Mavis
*******************
Total Spent This Week $140.33
Total Spent in September $151.32
Total Spent in August $259.90 <– $30 on salami splurge
Total Spent in July $276.56 < – $38 Spent on Amish meat and cheese
Total Spent in June $206.47 <- Attempting once a month grocery shopping
Total Spent in May on Groceries $216.50 <- Included a stock up trip to King Arthur Flour
Total Spent in April on Groceries $169.98
Total Spent in March on Groceries $306.75 <– Apartment life, moving across the country and settling into a new house
Total Spent in February on Groceries $259.81 <- Living in an apartment and buying a lot of ready-made meals
Total Spent in January on Groceries $240.15 <– Packing mode and not cooking from scratch as much
Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.
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Kristin F says
My great aunt in Iowa posted on FB recently to see if one of her neighbors had any hickory nuts. I guess she uses them to make a cake? I’ve never heard of using them either! But now TWO people have commented about them in the past week…is this a sign I’m missing something amazing???? Try them out and let us know!
Judy says
As people tend to spend more at the grocery store when they are hungry….hubby’s coffee and donut before shopping could be a money saving tip!
Robin in WI says
I love Shirley Temples! And hickory nuts. They’re my favorite nut to eat as-is but not easy to find. We used to gather them on a relative’s back 40. Now if I want them I have to drive an hour and pay $10 a pound.
Patty P says
Hickory nuts are awesome. They have almost a mapley walnut kind of flavor. They, however, are a pain to shell…You will need a nutcracker and a pick…but we shell most of ours in the winter, so that could be a new activity for you to do by the fire this winter. My husband makes a hickory nut shortbread cookie….to die for. This time of year we generally wild harvest hickory nuts and butternuts. We have sometimes come across Carpathian walnuts (I can’t stand the taste of black walnuts).
suzanne says
Your mom is an awesome house guest. Yeah for hickory nuts and farmer Clarence. Can’t wait to see your newest surprise activity. My 3 year old niece uses Gold bond. Finally, your husband is just putting into practice one of your goals. Slow down and enjoy life. Hope your folks have a terrific visit.
Stephanie says
Those pictures of food are making me really hungry! I need to go spend some more time in the kitchen…
Marti says
We have a lot of hickory nuts in Wisconsin. They are awesome tasting. When you harvest them, spread them out in a flat box to allow them to dry and cure a bit. We usually never crack them until the winter months. Then we always seem to have a dish full waiting to be picked out. You probably will need a nut picker. I use a small railroad iron and hammer to crack them. If you hold the nut correctly when cracking, it is easy to get halves instead of pieces—but pieces taste and work great also. We also have a look alike nut but with a thinner outer skin called we call bitter nuts which taste horrible. Not sure what the proper name of the nut is. Someone else mentioned butternuts which also are a great nut. But yuck to black walnuts.
Teri says
Glad to hear your weather is nice enough for dining outside now! How are your blisters? Hopefully all cleared up so you can enjoy the time with your folks. Hope you write more about what you did while they visited and how they like N.E.
Ct Bargain Mom says
Hickory nuts are yummy. A bit of a pain to shell but worth it. Let them dry a bit with the husks on then it should pop off. Use a screw nut cracker or mallet to open and those little hooks to get the meat out. They are a hard woody nut. Or save them and place outside in winter near the bird feeders to distract the squirrels
Laura says
Love your Dollar Tree birthday candles! We used those this year with my 19 yo son’s birthday as we had all the numbers but 9!! Such a great item for only a buck!! Hope you are having a wonderful visit with your folks. Hope they are staying long enough to see the fall colors in your neck of the woods.
Amanda says
#1! Yeeeessss! My husband gives me such weird looks when I tell him eating is boring and I wish I didn’t have to do it so often!
nancy from mass says
Market Basket also has loyal employees. when the in-fighting caused one part of the family to fire art demoulas, the entire store chain picketed to get him back. That’s loyalty! (it happened back in 2014 – google it! business schools were using it to teach students)
Mavis Butterfield says
We watched the documentary. Pretty cool if you ask me, and I LOVED that the customers held out in support too. I would have been one of those people taping their receipt to the window in support.
Gail C. says
Here’s a blogpost in which the author gives a great deal of info about the hickory—what the leaves on the tree look like, how to shell them, related nuts.
https://ouroneacrefarm.com/hickory-nuts-foraging-pignut-shagbark-hickory-nuts/
Ann says
Hickory nuts are wonderful in baked goods: cookies, cakes, coffee cakes, etc.
Linda Sand says
My cousins had a hickory nut tree. Mostly what I remember is fresh green shells will leave black marks if you try to open them. So, I was glad to see all the advice to let them dry first. I just wish we’d known that back then.
Renee’ says
We used to collect hickory nuts and black walnuts any place we could find them. My mother would make a pie similar to pecan pie but use hickory nuts instead. They are also wonderful in chocolate or brown sugar fudge.
Linda says
We stored our hickory nuts with the green husks off to let them dry until mid winter, then shelled them. After you’ve done about a million you start to know that there is a “sweet spot” to hit that makes shelling easier and gives you bigger pieces, or even halves. They are great in cookies. There are black walnuts everywhere here in Ohio in the fall, but I just can’t like them in the same way I like English walnuts. And they are miserable to shell.
And you are only as old as you feel – with all the gardening and poison ivy you’re just feeling older.
Mavis Butterfield says
Yesterday and today I thought I was getting a fever. Then I read the side effects and noticed it said HOT FLASHES!!! Oh my word. I now know what hot flashes feel like…. Not fun.
Rebecca in MD says
Hot flashes convinced me that human spontaneous combustion is indeed a possibility!
Mavis Butterfield says
I am down to one pill a day and STILL getting them. It’s nuts. I’ve had to wear a tank top two days in a row! 🙂
Kipper says
There was an old t.v. ad for Grape Nuts years ago that featured Euell Gibbons . He would taste the Grape Nuts and say “they remind me of wild hickory nuts”. I think Mr. Gibbons was sort of the Bear Grylls of his day. I’ve never had wild hickory nuts so cannot compare them to Grape Nuts.
Pam Kaufman says
I love the sea salt pita chips from Aldi! They are light and crispy. Not as hard as some brands. The pictures of your meals this last week look yummy!!
Mavis Butterfield says
I think they are lighter than Stacy’s Pita chips. I like them. 🙂
Amanda Heatwole says
Whenever I start feeling like I’m over food, it’s time to try out new recipes. We’ve stumbled across some great meals that way.
Pat says
I’ve eaten hickory nuts since I was a kid. They are a pain to shell. We always used a hammer and a nut pick. We have a shag bark hickory up behind our house and the squirrels take off the outer shell and then bury/plant them in my flower beds!