Pinching pennies, Bermudian Style. For the first time in many years, I am seeing more gatherers of nature's bounty along the railway trails and side roads in Bermuda.

The loquats are ripening; the Surinam cherries and bay grapes have had a run. In prior seasons, the many fruit bearing shrubs and foliage here have blossomed, borne fruit, and shed it all onto to the road where it lay, crushed and rotting in the sun. Can it be that some families who are feeling economic strain are thinking of economising whenever and wherever possible?

As a child living here, anything free that could be turned into palatable table food by my mother and her neighbours was highly sought. We started right before Christmas picking beach plums, then bay grapes, loquats, Surinam cherries, and our own grapefruit and oranges. Paw-paws were much desired, both green and orange, the former great for meat tenderisers, or as an ingredient in Montespan, while the soft orange fruit became a great source of vitamin C.

Our neighbourhood turned fruit picking into a picnic; it was a source of family pride to boil, mash, strain and caramelise fruit into jellies and jams. Our mother created a prized hot loquat ginger jams that was unparallelled for flavour and popularity. Other inventive recipes turned excess green tomatoes into chutney, ripe ones into tomato jam. Nothing was wasted.

More Frugal Fare ideas. It is not easy to plan frugal family fare anywhere; it is more of a real challenge here because of limited land space for a garden and lack of free time, but it can be done.

• Home-made Fruit Wine. Men don't want or need jam. Turn those berries into home-made wine. Yes, some say you need a fancy wine kit. Nonsense, old-timers in New Hampshire just used bread yeast, sugar, fruit and very, very clean extra large glass jars. If it works out well, in four to eight months, you've got quite a treat on your hands. Years ago, we even made dandelion wine. It tasted like smooth old sherry. Ah, but a bad batch - was just awful.

• Your own eggs. Did you know that if you can catch feral chickens (the kids think this is just a gas) they will lay a few eggs for you here and there? If you create a movable chicken house, they will also do a tremendous job of improving the soil in your garden. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2007-04-01/Portable-Chicken-Mini-coop-Plan.aspx Right, you are scoffing at this idea, but I know locals here and now who have free chickens and free eggs. Chickens love all the table scraps, scavenge for ground bugs and other assorted planting rejects. There are a couple of drawbacks, unfortunately. Condominium associations may not allow them, course you can try and change the rules - we are talking about the simple life of survival here. Also, feral chickens can fly. Yup, if they don't like you, they may just move on or spend all their time way up in a tree.

• Home-grown pineapples. Set up a few cheap pot planters and some soil, ask for pineapple tops from supermarket grocer or a deli. Plant a couple inches in the soil, leave outside to catch rain and sun, fertilise once or twice and 18 months later, after watching a glorious blossom emerge, presto, your pineapple. This one requires patience, but if you plant a pineapple top once a month imagine pineapples forever! For free, or almost! Ditto for paw-paws, except they will grow happily just about anywhere - just plant the seeds.

• Batch Bread Baking - have a cookathon and completely fill the oven. Share the utility, ingredient costs and the friendship; create your own pita, regular bread and pizza. Buy the yeast in a wholesale pound package and freeze; it's enough for a year of bread, don't get the little three packet for $3.00. Find the largest bag of flour that you can afford, preferably multi-grain. It costs little; it's fun; you can secretly ramp up the protein content and kids love the process. There is something about kneading that warm gooey dough. You can also do the same thing with corn bread, baked beans, meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese. Call it a cooking marathon. See Mom's dump and pour high-protein bread recipe in the next set of Pinching Pennies.

• Recycle favorite clothes. This requires a sewing machine and some know-how. This is where your granny - who is an expert in these matters - will be in great demand.

• Jeans - cover the patches in fabric pictures, hearts, stars, sequins, buttons, beads, anything off other old clothes. Ditto for old men's jackets. Now they are uniquely yours.

• Dresses - old and tired hems - turn them into blouses.

• Long-sleeve blouses - Cut them off and turn to sleeveless, will get you one more season.

• Old dress pants for guys, cut off, hem and turn into great Bermuda shorts, same for ladies.

• Wool patchwork blankets - made from shopping the $3 per bag rummage sales. It might take a while to get all the colours, but the sense of accomplishment is amazing.

• Save all clothing in favorite fabrics - make a foray into stitching a wall hanging - let your imagination go - this becomes a personal art statement.

• Hand-made soap - this is for the adventuresome, but makes great gifts. Lots of used frying oil is thrown out here every week. Again, a lost art practiced extensively years ago.

• Refrigerator soup. Never ever throw food away. Sort your produce bin every week, all wilted veggies should be cut up small and sautéed with couple of onions and bit of hamburger if so inclined. This includes tired lettuce, broccoli bottoms, old peppers, potatoes, celery leaves, you name it. Cook for a couple of hours with pinch basil, salt pepper, can of tomatoes, beans and sufficient water. It will serve eight easily, accompanied by homemade cheese biscuits.

• Clothes-lines for everyone. Sunshine is free - there is nothing like sun and breeze dried clothes and linens. This is my never-ending mantra - remember $5.00 wasted every time you use the dryer.

Some of the following tried and true ideas above may not win the approval of your immediate neighbours, while others can be turned into sources of family communication and togetherness. Try them and let me know what works for you. Search the Internet for other tips; there are hundreds out there at www.frugalliving.com and other sites.

I am looking for narratives from you, your parents, grand and great-grandparents and their tales of survival in Bermuda. What did they do to get by when jobs and hard cash were not easy to come by? Pay a tribute to their determination and fortitude and get their stories published.

You can call me on my cell 735-4720 or reach me at martha.myron@gmail.com">martha.myron@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.