Top 10 Reasons to Love Bakersfield

When you move to a new city, you more than likely dread it. That's how I felt when I first moved here. I was new to California, had no friends or family around, and had the hardest time finding a house. After living here almost four years and finding out we may move yet again, I've come to love my crazy Bako family and the small city itself. These aren't in any order, but they are my top ten reasons for loving it here in Bakersfield, California and Kern County.


10. Free admission on certain days for the city and county museums. Some museums don't even charge admission. Crazy, huh?

9. Melting pot. Although Bako is considered one of the "armpits of Cali", the citizens are demographically diverse. You can find white, wealthy, Hispanic, African descent, middle class, Indian, rednecks, Asian, and several other cultures. It's great to expose the kids to different people and backgrounds. Makes a great geography lesson at home. So when people talk about the small dot on the map called Bakersfield, it's NOT 95% Hispanic population. Should I include all the ufo sightings we have? Seriously.

8. Speed limits. Where else can you drive 55mph down a major road in a city? Last time I drove through Omaha, Sacramento, Vegas, and LA, most of them have to drive 35-45 in town. The only thing about the 55 mph is people here don't know how to drive when the roads are *gasp* wet.

7. With our great melting pot in the greater Bako area, comes food. Almost in every corner of the city, you'll find awesome breweries, restaurants, and bakeries. We don't eat at many franchises, so when I see a Sequoia Sandwich or Lengthwise Brewery, I know it's going to be yummy.

6. Speaking of food, farmer's markets are abundant in the city. For a city of 300,000 (last time I saw the population sign), there's 5 farmer's markets available. Ours, on Brimhall, is the closest on Saturdays. There's also one on Sundays at Ming and Haggin Oaks. We live in a farming community, why wouldn't you take advantage of that

5. Like I said, Bakersfield has around 300,000 last time I looked at the sign. There's probably more than that now, but whatever. There's also a mixture of cultural backgrounds and with that, it usually creates a diverse community. Not here. People are friendly and will usually help you with anything they can. The city's motto is "Life as it should be." So Bako has tons of people with a small city atmosphere.

4. Trying to find a place to live is a breeze here. Since it's one of the armpits, house prices are much lower than other cities (Sac, Fran, LA). Right now there's actually a housing shortage and they are having to develop more housing communities. Even the older houses are scarce to come by.

3. Bakersfield: NorCal or SoCal? We're actually CenCal. According to NorCal residents, we live in SoCal and vice versa for SoCal residents. Do they even know where Bako is? "Yeah, I drove through" doesn't count. It's great living in Bako. You're five hours from anything. 1 hour from the mountains, 3 hours from the coast, 4 hours to Sac, 5 to Fran, 5 to Tahoe, 2-3 from LA (depends on Grapevine and traffic), and 5 (with no traffic) to San Diego. Oh and don't forget Vegas... a mere 5 hours away. Talk about the perfect location!

2. The summers are 100+ degrees outside. I don't know how pregnant women make it through the summers here. Luckily, the city and NOR have installed sprayparks- an alternative to large swimming pools. Kids of all ages can run through large sprinkler heads to beat the heat. I'm not sure about the hours, but they are typically open before Memorial Day and are open until September or October (depending on the weather). It's great for toddlers and those of us who don't swim.

1. Another family favorite is the San Joaquin Valley library system. I use Beale Memorial for my book needs. They have a great selection and if you need a book from another library in the system, they can get it for you! I can't tell you how many different books I've checked out. The Beale Memorial is the largest library in Kern County. They have 4 levels of books, a section for audio-visual, a computer lab, reference, and much, much more. There's no reason to educate yourself through the library. Anything you want to learn is at the library. The best part of the library is storytime. I take the kids to the preschool storytime where the librarian reads 4-5 stories with rhymes and songs in between. Then afterwards is craft time. It's a simple creation made out of basic items. Best of all-it's free! A big thank you to the library for providing mommy one hour of almost freedom.

I'm going to put in another great thing about Bakersfield: year round gardening. It's the perfect climate to grow lettuces, broccoli, carrots, and many other veggies right in your own backyard. You can grow tomatoes and summer type produce if you throw a plastic sheet over your garden. It makes me wonder why Bakersfield doesn't have more vegetable gardeners when the city is in a zone 8b and 9! Not only does it help the environment, but also the grocery bill. Too bad there aren't any tax credits/incentives for gardening...

Homemade Grenadine

A lady at the Farmer's Market was selling bags of pomegranates for $5. So I grabbed a bag! I couldn't pass it up. There were 6-7 in each bag, so I figured I would make pomegranate juice, marinade (since we were eating chicken at the time), and put the fruit on our salads.

The first night, I peeled the pomegranate to put the seeds on our salad. The salad was very tasty, but I really hated chewing and swallowing the actual seed part. That idea was out.

I knew Christmas was coming up and I didn't know what to get the friends and family. We don't have a huge budget for Christmas since we have to spend at least $100 on our Secret Santa (thanks MIL- I don't have a job)!  For hubby's co-workers, family friends, and neighbors, I decided to Googled what I could do with all those leftover pomegranates. Homemade Grenadine! Sorry the pictures aren't that great. They were taken with my sad little Android (never buy an Android).

Bag of pomegranates

Slice open the top. Then quarter it. This will prevent the seeds from bursting open. Cut along the inside skin.

Place in a bowl of water and discard the skins.

Some seeds will float. They are still good. Just watch out for and discard old brown seeds.

Place in blender.

Blend just enough to get the seeds out of the membranes. If you blend too much, you will blend the hard seeds into the juice.

I don't have a cheesecloth, so I used a rubber band to hold a rag onto the top of a glass measuring cup. Make sure you're rag is thin to let most of the juice go through.

Squeeze the juice through the rag with a spoon like above. Discard the seeds.

Heat 2 cups pomegranate juice with 1 3/4 cups sugar. You can add more sugar to make sweeter.

Let cool, store or jar, and viola! Homemade Grenadine

I can't find the actual blog I used to make this, but here is a similar blog: http://www.reclaimingprovincial.com/2011/12/10/homemade-grenadine/

Let me know your results. Another website for this is allrecipes (no pictures though)

Fridge to Freezer...a well worn path

We spent a lot at the farmer's market last week. Then we went to Costco and a grocery store (well, hubby did). Major drain on the grocery budget. However, the pantry, fridge, and freezer are stocked, ready to go. Glad I didn't go with hubby to Sacramento or Bishop this past month! Don't get me wrong, I love Bishop and sometimes Sac, but I am really trying to save money overall. That didn't happen whatsoever when hubby and the kids grocery shop with me.

Luckily with it being fall, apples are in season. My kids love anything with natural sugars aka fruit, so when I saw apples with no food wax at the farmer's market, we bought some! They only had two varieties to choose from: pink lady and gala. I'll take pink lady apples any day.

So how did I get my fridge, pantry, and freezer full? Ok, I lied. The freezer isn't quite full, but the fridge is. I hate having food packed in the fridge. I love being able to see the light and how dirty my shelves are. We don't really need to buy all the extra food especially with hubby gone. So I froze the squash, zucchini, bell peppers, and potatoes for when he returns. Potatoes O'Brien sounds really good...

Today's project was to get the store-bought tomatoes into the fridge. Hubby bought some vine ripened tomatoes that weren't quite ready, so they sat in a paper bag. I'm glad I checked that paper bag today since I completely forgot about them! There was absolutely no room in the fridge and the only thing to do was to remove the extra veggies and freeze them.

They say you should eat colors of the rainbow!

It wasn't hard It took me maybe an hour to get all the chopping and bagging. Bell peppers are the easiest thing to freeze. You wash, chop, bag, and freeze. This time I tried something different. I put the seeds inside snack sized baggies and froze them for next year's garden. I probably saved between $3-$6 right there.


The squash (and zucchini), I froze without blanching. Looking at the reader's comments at http://pickyourown.org/, squash can be frozen without cooking it at all. Easy peasy! Another slice, bag, and freeze method. Another quick and easy way to save my precious food. The only catch is you have to eat it before 4-6 months in the freezer.

Glad I don't have to toss these

 The potatoes, I figured since hubby isn't home, I might as well freeze them. You can't freeze raw potatoes, so I half cooked them/simmered them and let them cool. Then I drained them, bagged them, and froze them. It's a little different than the website: http://www.best-potato-recipes.com/freezing-potatoes.html, but we'll see how they turn out since they are cooked before frozen.

Food for the chickens

There you have it. Another opportunity to not waste food, but to save it for later. Maybe I should buy some stock in Ziploc...

Thanks for reading!

Homesteading. Is it worth it?

Homesteading. Some think it’s a day's long list of chores on a plot of land. Others see it as a way to avoid any communication with the retail grocery stores. Me? I’m just trying to provide for my family. I want to be able to provide the best for them. What do you get at the grocery store? A ton of processed, preservative filled food. Crackers, juice, canned vegetables- you get the idea. Now I don’t plan on raising my own cattle or pigs, but I do plan on raising chickens. If you don’t have one, you should. Not only do they eat leftover food, they also provide eggs without the rooster (and I enjoy watching them). Currently, we don’t have a homestead thing going on, but hopefully soon.

Currently, we purchase our groceries at the Farmer's Market. This way I know hubby's hard earned money goes back into the community -local farmers. They work so hard to produce a quality item that benefits you and them. I do admit there are some items we can't get at the farmer's market that we will buy from Sam's or Costco since their organic doesn't cost an arm or leg like the typical grocery store. For household items, we will buy after realizing we can't DIY it. I know it sounds cheap and crazy to try making your own pillowcase or tiling the floor, but we are on a fixed income (halfway to becoming senior citizens).

One time at Sam's, hubby (not quite 100% on board with my new plant-based diet or saving as much as we really can) bought an 8pk of canned peas, 8pk of canned corn, and 12pk of green beans. All because he can just open it and heat it quickly. That added up to over $20. $20.00! Each canned item is full of salt, laden with pesticides, and will last through another ten years. If I have to purchase canned vegetables, I'll buy the salt free canned vegetables or frozen, but only sparingly if I can't get it at my farmer's market. I could have grown these vegetables and saved plus grow triple that amount! All for convenience. I looked at the canned peas ingredients. They actually put sugar in their canned sweet peas. They have absolutely no taste, not even a slightly sweet one.

So the true question is this new urban homesteading phase worth it? There will be a higher water consumption for our household, but I know I won't be using any pesticides or insecticides on my mini farm. I will have more flying insects around to pollinate the plants, but the chickens will eat the crawling ones. I will have to learn how to organize our produce and properly can, freeze, and preserve, but we will save money in the end. I, as well as hundreds of others, think homesteading is worth it.

The initial start-up cost will be a few seeds, egg cartons (seed starting trays), plastic wrap (keep moisture in), and tomato cages. Plus the water. I will have to install a sprinkler system, but a hose or my yard's sprinkler system is just fine for now. I don't plan on building a greenhouse. It's not in our budget. It might be later, but we have to start small and save what we can. I don't work, so this will be my "job" to provide fresh produce for our family.

Homesteading takes planning and commitment. We are able to start a winter garden here soon, but I haven't quite planned that yet since we are waiting to find out some news about hubby's career. We are praying he transfers to Sac although I really do love the Bako Depot. I think homesteading will be worth it, not only for me, but also for my family. This way, I'll be able to find what I need when I need to- unlike the grocery and department stores. My produce will be original, unlike the orange crunchy "tomatoes" imported from Mexico year round. My kids will learn what it is like to grow and do instead of shop and depend on others for food (sounds like a homeless or welfare person). Plus, if I fill my yard with growing produce, I can sell the extra (if I want to) and have less lawn to mow (sounds like a win-win).
Do you homestead? What do you think?

Our Junk-Filled Economy

Walking through the grocery store or department store with produce, it boggles my mind to try to find anything. I went to the grocery store for one item the other day and had to walk around the store twice to find what I needed. It's not my usual grocery store, but shouldn't items be easy to find? It made me aware of how much junk we have in our lives. Cookies, potato chips, salad dressing, canned vegetables. What happened to self-sufficiency? Have we gotten so lazy that we can't make anything anymore? A box of cake mix is $2+ per box. Are you waiting for the bugs to start invading your flour at home? Are the eggs in your fridge for decoration?

Someone said America cannot live without convenience or something to that effect. They are 100% right. Fast food, prepackaged potato salad, bagged salad, the list goes on. Since I've cut back on spending, I found myself couponing and only shopping at grocery stores for awhile. I became burned out trying to find a specific product for a specific amount at a certain location. The coupon mission really didn't make buying food any cheaper. So I stopped and realized coupons are primarily for junk food. There's a few for health foods (still processed), organic, and rarely produce.

People buying whatever is inexpensive because they think that is all they can afford. Whenever there's a new product, there's a coupon for cheap or even free. No wonder people are obese and lazy. People need to change their mindset. Cheap is not good. Cheap is unhealthy. I'm not saying buy only organic and expensive things. I'm saying purchase quality. Don't think the grocery store is the only place to purchase produce.

With all these coupons available, comes trash. The trash bins overflow with boxes, plastic bags, paper, food cans, etc. It is horrifying to trash bins bursting with items we are made to think we need every week. Our pantry was bursting at the seams and yet we went shopping for more every week. That's the mindset we have. The prepackaged food never goes bad and although we only consume so much per week, we continue trek on to the grocery store.

A year later, my family started watching a show called "Clean House" through Netflix. It was mesmerizing to watch families with a mess so big that it often had $1,000+ yard sales. Our house wasn't as bad as most of those, but we knew we needed to change. What did we do? Our family downsized. We got rid of the extra clothes, baby toys, extra camping gear, etc. We freed ourselves of the trash, from our cupboards, our closets, toyboxes, yard, and most importantly, we got the junk out of our bodies. Sounds like a cleansing, doesn't it?

Getting out of the house is the hardest part. You can live your "cleansed" lifestyle at home, but when you drive down one major street in town, you'll find a plethora of drive-thru chains for breakfast, lunch, snacktime, and dinner. Wow. Yes, its nice to have someone else cook or not have any dishes to wash, but you end up filling the landfill and your arteries. Unless you order that iceberg salad, there's not much left on the menu.

Another issue I have when dining out is where does the food come from? 99% of it comes from foreign countries and/or an overcrowded feedlot. That's why its cheap. Inexpensive antibiotic filled meat-that's not counting the soybeans and corn syrup companies add to the meat. Grass-fed animals are expensive, but in my opinion, 100% worth the cost.

Meat is like Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart sells low priced items, based on quantity. Target sells a little more expensive items than Wal-Mart, but they are based on quality. See the difference? I'm not promoting or bashing either company, but I get tired of spending countless hours and hubby's hard earned money to these big corporations that will not benefit me or my family in the long run. I'm not getting my money or health back. Once your money and health leave, it's gone.

The one-stop shopping is convenient, especially when you have kids. Who has time to unbuckle them three or four times and put up with temper tantrums? Why would you take your kids to a sit down dinner when the drive-thru is just as convenient? As a whole, we are lazy and obese Americans. I'm not saying I'm energetic or at a healthy weight. I'm just seeing the big picture of how these corporations and the government operates.

Junk in Pantry

Convenience has pushed us consumers at a cost. It has created a government and corporations to throw junk (and trash) in our homes, our bodies, and minds. We have come dependent on other countries for our food and their hard work in making our products. This makes me wonder what are Americans good for? Yes, we are the leader of the world, but why? What do we, as a people and not government, provide?

Our self-sufficiency mindset has been stripped away. Why do something yourself when you can just pay for it? I challenge you to look at the labels. Buy local, buy organic. Don't buy from the big box store or fast food chain for one week or one month. Before purchasing anything. Ask yourself two questions: 1. Can I grow it? 2. Can I make it myself?

Just because the store might be cheaper, ask yourself who is my money benefiting? My local economy or the billion dollar corporation? No wonder so many are under and unemployed.

Thanks for reading!

Managing debt in Bako

As I don’t work in the wonderful world of Bakersfield, CA, I would love to find a part time job where I can work during the kids nap time and school hours. Tall order isn’t it? I don’t exactly have a ton of friends to sell party items to, so those direct selling/MLM companies are out of the question. I have my $0 income photography business, but with us being almost $25,000 in debt, we’re barely staying afloat. 

I’ve learned how to manage the household somehow. The kids eat, are bathed, and clothed. The dishes washed, the floors mopped/vacuumed, and the dog is given food. Just because we have this debt doesn’t exactly mean we do nothing. 

Bakersfield has a few great things to do around town for free. My number one favorite free destination is the Beale Memorial Library on Truxtun. Not only do they have internet/downloadable audiobooks I can load from home, their children’s program is phenomenal.  They have a large selection of books, audiobooks, DVDs, and resources. Plus, if you can’t find the book you want, you can order it through the San Joaquin Valley Library System. There are very few books I have not been able to borrow through their system. They will even pull books off their own shelves for you if you place a hold on it. You don’t know how great that is when you have two young kids with you en route. The library’s hours aren’t the best, but hey, its California- 300% broke and spending more.

Another favorite activities are the sprayparks. I can’t tell you how much the kids use them. NOR just opened Polo Community Park half a mile from us. As soon as the gates opened, we have been walking there 2-3 times per week. Other than the spraypark, there’s numerous sports fields and 3 different playground areas for the kids. One is for 2-5, the other 6-12, and 12+. The only thing that the park is lacking is shade for the play areas. 

Bakersfield’s museums also have free days. The third Thursday of the month is the Buena Vista Natural History museum. If you have kids, you must absolutely go downstairs. The entire downstairs is a learning playground for all ages. It’s a little well-loved, so bring wipes or sanitizer for when you’re done playing/learning.

The third Friday is free admission at the Art Museum. We haven’t been there in awhile, but they have an area where kids can make a postcard and a leaf rubbing. At least that’s what we got to make. It’s a little small, but if you stop at each piece of art and ask the kids what’s going on in the picture, it makes it worth the trip- and don’t forget about the Art Museum’s garden off to the side. There’s a few neat sculptures in it and tons of shade! Who doesn’t love a pretty shade area?

Barnes and Noble also has storytime, but I dread going there with the kids. They see other kids screaming, wanting to pull books off the shelf, and tear up new books. Great if you’re into that sort of thing. I think I’ll stick to the library.

Neighbors. What kid doesn’t love other kids’ toys? Some neighbors even have a pool or a slip in slide. You can’t beat what others have. And it doesn’t cost anything.

As my family is in debt, we still have to live and manage what we have. We, at least I am, are grateful for what we’ve been given and am exhausted of all those advertisements and commercials for every materialistic thing. I’m tired of my kids thinking if we need something, we can just buy it at the store. We didn’t exactly shop ourselves in debt ($20,000 is the car; less than $5,000 is medical/bills). So instead of trying to find a part time job (where I would either never see my family or use ALL of my paycheck for daycare) I’ve decided to manage the household in a completely different manner.

One kid is out of diapers and the other is having a hard time remembering to use the potty. Only when he naps or goes to bed, he gets a diaper. Other than that, he can wear underwear or go nude (some days are just too hot to force clothes on kids). 

Shopping for necessities. Yes, I would love to buy a thinner bathroom rug, but the overly shaggy rug is doing just fine. I’ll just have to look for bugs before I step on it and pray nothing is breeding in it.

I purchase $20 worth of vegetables each week at the farmer’s market. We didn’t have a successful garden this year, so it made it hard to actually get anything from the garden. The birds and worms got to our tomatoes, the cucumbers produce a few too less, and the jalepenos who usually thrive in this weather quit on us. I think it was just way too hot this year for the veggies, hubby says it’s too many weeds. It was also poor planning on both our parts. My goal is to work on the garden this year so I can harvest and live off my garden next year. Little did I know, in zone 9, we can have a winter garden! You don’t know how excited I am about that! 

I buy milk, meat, luxury items, and gas at wholesale stores. I have a membership to both Costco and Sam’s Club. I purchase the two pack milk at Costco since Sam’s stopped carrying milk that way. I’ll buy gas at whichever. I buy only necessities and few luxuries (artichokes, Mac n Cheeese) at Sam’s since I know they carry the items I need year round. It seems like things are hit and miss at Costco for me. I’ve also found that Costco carries more foo-foo (gourmet/healthier) items at a slightly higher price. 

Another new way of managing the household is the diet. Do we really need 10 packages of packaged butter noodles? Ten boxes of Oreos? Absolutely not. So I’ve decided that we are going to eat healthier. Yes, $20 at the Farmer’s Market doesn’t seem like much, but skip the fruit and you can get a week’s worth of veggies. Bargaining also helps-they aren’t set prices. We, at least I, am trying to cut out sugar and carbs. No more fillers. Yes, the kids love PB & Js for lunch. If I make the bread, then they can have them, but no carbs for mommy and daddy. This means two vegetables and one meat at dinner. Period. Still hungry? Eat a salad or if you have some, fruit. Fruit must be in moderation.  My daughter thinks Lucky Charms and M&Ms  are good for you, but after telling her it’s chocked full of sugar, it really hurts her tummy and her teeth.

Speaking of teeth, $1,000 of our debt is I had to have an emergency crown put on one of my back molars. When he put that cap on, you don’t know how bad I wanted to bite my dentist. That sucker hurt not only my mouth, but our finances as well. Since then, I’ve brushed and flossed like there’s no tomorrow. I really don’t want my kids going through that pain.

These may seem drastic, but to tell you the truth, how much do you really need to buy? How much do you really need to eat? I know I don’t exercise, so I need to adjust my intake. We live in a 1,800 square foot home. How much clutter do we need in our life? If there’s a fire or earthquake, we won’t be able to save anything from our house. Life is about what is within yourself, not your house, fridge, or wallet.

Eventually we will get out of debt and someday hubby and I will take our honeymoon. Even if it is eight years late, that’s okay. We have each other and really, that’s all that matters. Yes I become anxious about the finances, but like hubby has told me numerous times, there’s really nothing I can do about them unless I get a job. I want the best for my family and my best is to be there for them.