Nature's Bounty

We forage as much food as we can. Fortunately, we live in an area that pretty much abounds with natural food from june through October. Blueberries grow well here, so we always load up at a local U-Pick that is super cheap. We fill up several freezer bags and keep them frozen all year, using them in smoothies, muffins, pancakes, etc. 

Over the summer, we kept our eyes on a wild pear tree growing on the edge of a cow pasture near our home. When the time was right, we planned to ask the farm owner if it would be alright for us to pick the pears. The time to pick came suddenly, and the asking was opportune because the farmer was right out there on his tractor. So, we tromped up to him and asked. He was the most agreeable man I've ever met. He had his two little dogs riding behind him on the tractor.

He seemed pleased as punch that we were interested in them and gave us quick permission to pick to our pleasure, warning us that his electric fence went right by that tree. Being shocked by an electric fence is certainly not a pleasant experience, but it's not bad (in fact, it's a little interesting feeling) so we weren't worried. It was a double-fence, so crossing it proved to be difficult, but we managed it.
There were lots of pears on the ground, but there were still plenty on the tree, so Brian got up there and shook several to the ground. We took them home and they fairly filled up our back porch.

They're not that ripe, so they were difficult to cut, but we immediately set out to can them. I love canned pears. They were highly sought-after growing up, and although we made tons of them, we always ran out quickly. In fact, if I remember my Mom's story right, my brother used to hide jars of pears so that when the main supply ran out, he'd still have his own supply to draw from. They're yummy. We can them in a very light syrup: 1 1/2 C sugar and 3 T lemon juice to a gallon of water. It ends up just perfect. I don't have a water bath canner, so I hot-pack my fruit.
I peel, core, and half my pears, and boil them in the above syrup for 25 minutes. While they're boiling, I prepare my jars by washing them thoroughly. When the 25 minutes is up, I put a good ratio of pears to syrup in the jar, clean the rims, put on the lids, and screw on the rings tightly. Then it's a waiting game, and by morning all of the jars are sealed. It's as easy as that! Seriously, the hardest part is peeling the things. Pears are gritty and hard in the center, so you have to make sure you get all of that out. Anyway, it's a satisfying feeling to know that you'll be eating from that pear tree all winter, and I like canned pears almost more than fresh ones too.

More Decoration Ideas

These may not work for you, but we use pottery and books to decorate.

 My mom is a potter, and her cast-offs are just as good as the real thing to me, so we always collect her throw-aways. Most of these are just that, and I can barely tell anything is wrong with them.
I realize that's convenient to have a mother as a potter, but you can get pottery elsewhere. Some of these pieces came from thrift stores. Places like the Salvation Army, GoodWill, Deseret Industries, Savers, Thrifty Shopper, etc, have all contributed to our pottery collection. They're beautiful and affordable, so why not? You can also get cheap pottery at some small potter shops. In my mom's home town, for example, there is a potter who sells his castoffs (which are all incredibly good and beautiful) for $5 a piece. All potters have throw-aways that they can't sell for the full price, so they may be willing to sell them. We actually use these pieces to eat on. Might as well have functional decorations, especially in a small apartment.

Books might seems like a weird way to decorate, but when you absolutely love books, it's not. They are a feast to the eyes, and whenever we have visitors, they always end up scanning our bookshelves. We get our books mostly from a sale in our area called "Friends of the Library". This sale lasts 3 weekends twice per year. The price diminishes with each weekend of the sale, ending up with 10 cent day, which is veritably treated as a holiday in our household. I even take time off to go to this. You can get everything there, and we always end up purchasing around 200 books at each sale. You can find cheap books though, at thrift stores and yard sales. We've landed some real finds at yard sales when a family is getting rid of an old collection. And again, it's functional decorating! We love books, so having so many right in our home is a pleasure.

Pretty Storage Idea

This picture was on my previous post, and I forgot to talk about it. Using old-fashioned wire-bail jars for dry storage in your home is an attractive way to decorate with spices, flour, popcorn, barley, etc. We got most of these jars from my grandmother, but we've found tons at yard sales for next to nothing. They're not as reliable as regular jars for canning, so I don't recommend that, but for dry storage, they are just beautiful. We use them as vases as well, which always looks great.

Red

I don't wear red...it's a little too loud for me, but I must admit that red really is a great statement in decoration. Brian says that whenever a photographer takes a picture of something with red in it, he has to make the red the center of the picture, because your eye is naturally drawn to it. We've incorporated some red into our home decoration, and I love it:

This is just two boards that Brian found at the local dollar store, put together by two small pieces of scrap lumber, painted red, and adorned with hooks from the dollar store.

This is just an old chip-board shelf that we've had forever that was an ugly shade of white. We painted it red, and now it's beautiful!

Picture Shelves

Brian came home with this idea one day. I was super skeptical at first (as usual). Shelves on the wall with pictures? But as usual, he was right. I just don't have the eye he has.

It works like this: Brian got some wood from ReUse (see "...Or make your own furniture" for what this is) to make these. They are just simple 2 x 4 boards cut lengthwise to a couple of inches. Then he put a small piece of board in the front section of the 2x4 to keep the pictures form sliding off. He drilled holes almost all of the way through the boards front to back, then screwed them into the wall through these holes. The holes were unsightly, so he covered them with another thin piece of wood. You can see all of the components in the picture to the right. I love these shelves. We had a huge wall that needed to be filled up with something, and every other previous attempt didn't turn out so well. Brian is a hobby-photographer as well, so it's an opportunity for us to display his pictures. He takes pictures of rural nature (barns, fields, fences, and some waterfalls), so his pictures blend into our home