Home Life

While watching “Good Eats” several months ago, I happened to watch Alton drying herbs.  His way was very interesting.

Buy some of the cheapest air filters you can find for a furnace. Lay out your herbs on the filters and stack the filters on top of each other, putting one at the very top to prevent the herbs from falling out.  Bungee cord these to a box fan and turn the fan on for 12 hrs.  Stop, reverse the order of the filters keeping one at the top to prevent herbs from falling out, and dry for another 12 hours.

I’ve also heard about hanging herbs, still on the stems, upside down in a dark, cool place (or inside a paper bag if you don’t have a dark place), until dried.  What ways have you found?

How do you store your herbs once dried? 

Keep in mind you can also freeze fresh herbs if you don’t like them dried!

I have been using the home-made detergent through several loads.  The first load I washed some clothing I had forgotten about that was wet and incredibly smelly.  I was prepared to run two loads, as I usually have to with storebought detergent to get the stench out of the clothing.  However, I didn’t have to.  Using 2 tablespoons of the home made detergent, the clothing came out clean and smelling fresh.

The real test came while washing cloth diapers.  However, I have to say the home made detergent did a better job than the storebought varieties we’ve tried.  The diapers came out brighter, cleaner, fresher smelling and softer. 

So far, I’m impressed.  Check out the very low cost and very easy to make detergent recipe in the Make Your Own category.

I finally located the ingredients i need to make homemade laundry detergent.  Look in the “make your own” category for a recipe I am using.

For anyone who can’t seem to find fels naptha soap, I found it today in the paper plate aisle at Meijers, at the end with the bulk packages of soap.  It’s on the top shelf.  The other ingredients were in the laundry detergent aisle.

I bought a few bars of soap, and intend to also make some of that nontoxic bug spray and we’ll see how that works.

I’ll give a review when I’ve had the chance to use the detergent and bug spray for a while!

http://www.sugarmountainhome.com/livestock/livestock.html has neat information on butchering and curing meat, for anyone interested in it.

www.sugarmountainhome.com is a great resource for anyone interested in homesteading.  They have their personal journey, tons of great information from “been there done that” experiences, good information on buying a homestead and living the homestead life.

As I dive more into the “homestead way of life” the best I can in my apartment setting, the more I enjoy it.  There is a LOT you can do in an apartment to help preserve/improve the earth your live on, save your money, and enhance your lives through back to basics living.  Those of who own your own home or even better a chunk of land, have many more opportunities (depending on where you live) to raise livestock… Something us apartment dwellers are not able to do (although we are considering rabbits, we can put a line of hutches along our staircase in the back of our apt. that lead up to it… but then again our apartment setting is a bit unique to allow something like that!)

A duck can fertilize a goose egg?

I had no idea. Then again, I never really gave it much thought until reading the current issue of Backyard Poultry. 

I am so thrilled to see my garden growing as much as it is.  This is my first year growing our very own garden.  my husband used to be into lawncare and gardening so he’s been helping me but with him working so much the garden has mainly been my baby.  I had a huge issue with weeds early on, but we laid down mulch and don’t have a big problem anymore.  Everything is growing so nicely!

I have two garden beds, and then herbs in pots.  Right next to my porch I have two sunflowers, parsley, garlic, chives and a sweet pea plant.  I really just planned on having the sunflowers there, but started running out of space for the other things from the other garden and needed a place to stick ‘em.  They’re growing well there.  My larger garden has a few varieties of sunflowers, tomatoes (beefstake and cherry), beets, carrots, green beans, green peppers, garlic, sweet peas, green onions, squash, zucchini, jalepenos, cucumbers, chives, dill, basil, strawberries, cabbage, and merigolds surround the perimeter.  In the pots, I have basil, dill, chives, oregano, spearmint and peppermint.

Next year I will plan my garden much better - I’d love to add celery, lettuce, onions, more carrots and a few more things. 

So, how does YOUR garden grow?  Whatcha got?  I can’t wait to preserve our harvest by way of dehydrating, freezing and canning… And of course enjoying it fresh!  Our meals taste so much better now with homegrown herbs, I can’t WAIT to experience homegrown veggies again.  My parents had gardens, but they were never something I was very active in.  But I certainly enjoyed their hard work when eating a fresh picked tomato!

Most of us probably learn about homemaking and homesteading from family.  But for those who don’t have that option - how did you learn?

My mom tried so hard to teach me the skills I’d need as an adult.  however, as a rebellious teen I shrugged off most of her lessons.  I wish I’d never done that!  I try to learn what I can from her now, and have picked the brains of other people, used the internet, and have actually read and studied my cookbooks

I’m interested in knowing of other local resources.  Are there classes or groups where people can get together and re-learn or learn the skills that are being lost intodays world of convieniance?  I have often thought about starting a group that met weekly or twice a month where someone would host the meeting and we’d learn the skills of yesteryear.  Wouldn’t that be neat?  Baking bread, sewing, gardening, etc.  Think of the things we’d learn together!  Being a child of God, I value Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 and groups such as this do exist around the world, with an added element of fellowship and discussion of Christian life and struggles.

Does this exist locally?  Tell me about it if it does.  Or, tell me if you’d be interested in getting a local group started? 

How has everyone been doing with the heat?
I have been so busy with a new book I’ve released in cloth diapering – it seems right before and right after releasing a new book is the busiest time.  Things are slowing down a little now, but I’ll still be pretty busy for a while.  However I’ve missed blogging in the bit that I’ve been away and had to get back to it!

I’m curious to hear how those of you who don’t have air conditioning make it through the summer.  My husband and I are trying to keep our electric bill low, so we’ve only had the air on twice this season (two evenings).  I avoid cooking during the hottest times of the day, keep the windows wide open and have a fan or two running in the rooms we are in.  We drink cool liquids, mostly water, and try to eat cool foods, mostly salads, fresh fruits and veggies.  We stay in doors during the hottest parts of the day, or fill up the kiddie pool and bring the hose out to squirt everyone down when the heat is at it’s highest.  For some reason it seems that having wet hair helps keep us cooler?  Positive thinking also goes a long way, when I start to think how hot it is I start feeling hotter! J
So what do you do, to beat the heat when you don’t have (or choose not to use) your air conditioning?

Questions to Ask your local store manager, butcher or farmer about the meat and dairy you buy, to be sure you are getting quality, well raised and healthy food.

I’d like to see where the Monroe locals buy their meat, if not from the grocery store. Do you have a favorite butcher or farmer?  Where at?  Contact info?  What makes them your favorite?

Let’s support our local resources any time we can - I’d like to know about as many of them as possible and maybe there is one near you that you didn’t know about.