Just Built!

No, it's not a wigwam, though I had considered that as an option. My goal was to build a chicken shelter with materials we already had on hand. Thankfully, I managed to find enough scrap lumber around the property to complete the job. So this shelter is made entirely with recycled materials and hand tools. I didn't spend a red cent.

Among my sources for salvaged wood was an old goat shelter that we found in the woods a couple years ago. It looked like it was thrown together with scraps as well. It was covered in vines and brambles and was falling apart, but some of it was still intact. I took it apart, toted it across the field and was able to use a good bit of it, though the ends and edges of the wood were rotted and had to be trimmed, and the pieces of tin roof needed a few minor patches with caulk. I was also able to straighten and reuse some of the nails, though I must admit that I used up Luke's stash of leftovers first.

Other sources of wood were an old shed door, a pallet, and a free standing nesting box Luke had made several years ago. The nesting box was missing a back, so I put a hinged flap on it to allow for easy access (the hinges were also from the old shed door). Now all it needs is a latch for the flap and a paint job. Maybe I'll find some paint to salvage too.

I really had a blast making this, and am so glad my dad took the time to teach me basic carpentry skills when I was a little girl. It brought back many fun memories for me as I recalled everything I learned from him whenever I would "help" him with a project. Especially when Virginia stopped playing for a little while to come and hand me nails as I needed them. She can drive a nail pretty straight herself, and once built a ramp so she could push her bike up into the shed. I'm looking forward to seeing what else she and her sister and brothers come up with.

The Best Fresh Bread Hack Ever!

Once in awhile, amidst the meandering wanderings my many interests take me on the internet, I stumble on something really, really awesome, something so useful, easy and delightful, it's almost too good to be true. Thus it happened on a day when I was reading an article about how to make wigwams (more on that later) on the Mother Earth News web archives, I looked to the sidebar and noticed the link entitled, "Five Minutes a Day for Fresh Baked Bread."

The article shows how to mix up a big-ass recipe of dough, store it in the fridge and, voila, fresh bread items on demand.

I've made a few minor adjustments to both the basic recipe and the method. So here's my version, though I would recommend reading the article first to familiarize yourself with the process. There are some great tips to make your oven work like one at a bakery.


6 cups warm water (just above body temp is good)

6 cups all-purpose organic flour

7 cups whole wheat flour

2 T. sea salt

3 T. instant yeast for first recipe, then decrease to 2 or less for subsequent recipes.

Mix all ingredients just until flour is incorporated. Let rise till double. Store in the refrigerator, and whenever you need dough for something, sprinkle the top with flour, flour your hands, and remove enough for your project. Work in a small amount of flour as needed, but do not knead. Just shape and set on a well floured surface to rest for about 40 min. Bake in preheated 450F degree oven on preheated stone, sprinkled with flour, oats, wheat germ, corn meal, or whatever you wish to keep the dough from sticking. In the rack below, place a broiler pan or cookie sheet. When the oven is hot, slide your bread onto the stone and pour 1 cup of water in the pan below to create steam. This will make a wonderful crust.

The dough can be used for artisan bread, such as the French boule pictured, buns, bread sticks, cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, dinner rolls, stromboli, etc. When there is only enough dough left for about one loaf of bread, mix up your next batch, mixing in the remaining dough to act as a starter, including scraping the dough off the sides of your container. The more you do this, the less yeast you will need, and the more flavorful your bread will become. It will soon take on sourdough properties. One batch will keep two weeks in the refrigerator (although it gets used up long before that in our house).

Waldorf Gnome Tutorial

I've had a blast this week end making these Waldorf gnomes out of some recycled wool sweater scraps I had stored away and some large wooden beads from a bag of craft odds and ends my mother-in-law gave us. They are super quick and easy. If you're interested, check out this tutorial I wrote on hubpages.

Build a Snowman

Here in South Carolina, we don't get to build snowmen very often. Maybe once or twice a year. But with this easy felt game, we can have lots of fun and stay warm and snug in our cozy kitchen. Ok, so nothing beats the real thing, but this project comes in for a close second and makes a great homemade gift that the kids can help you with.

To make this game you will need 1 sheet of white felt, scraps of black, brown, orange and other desired colors for the scarves. Then you will need four colors of felt for the building surfaces, each made of half a sheet. Also, you will need 1 die.

First, draw your patterns onto paper. I drafted a whole snowman, rather than three separate balls. Virginia designed the hat, scarf, carrot nose and stick arms. Next, on the sheet of white felt, trace four snowmen, cut them out and then cut into three "balls". Trace and cut out the accessories. Make four hats, four scarves, four noses and eight arms.

To play, each player chooses a building surface. Then, they take turns rolling the die and adding each piece that corresponds to the number rolled. Here's how we did it:
1. snowball
2. nose
3. give a piece away (if everyone already has the pieces you have, you don't have to)
4. hat
5. scarf
6. arm

The winner is the first to assemble a completed snowman.

The game has become quite a hit with the kids. Miriam asked for it first thing in the morning. And they can't just play one game at a time. It usually takes 3-5 rounds before they have lost interest, which makes for a great rainy day activity.

Jammin'

Last week we were blessed by some kind folks who chose to share their abundant harvest with the freecycle crowd. I responded to their ad and was invited to come pick muscadine grapes from a very old grapevine. It had been planted by the owner's grandmother, and has now seen five generations of happy pluckers.

After a moderate 30 minute drive, the kids and I were greeted by Lynda and escorted to that venerable matriarch of the plant kingdom. It grew over a long trellis, which it covered completely, and its foliage formed a hollow tunnel along the entire length. The children were just the right size to crawl underneath, and could easily stand upright once inside. They chattered happily with Lynda, who helped us with the picking, and the conversation was pleasant all 'round. The baskets were quickly filled and, after a heartfelt thank you and gifts of our fig preserves and apple butter for Lynda, we left with three gallons of grapes in the floor well of the station wagon.

The next day was spent almost entirely making muscadine jam. First we washed, stemmed and crushed the grapes, using a potato masher. These were cooked for a little while, then pressed through a colander, resulting in a purple, pulpy juice. Sugar was added and the mixture was cooked down to a thick sauce, then processed in the pressure canner. I did all three gallons in two batches, but I wasn't quite sick enough of the kitchen not to make some biscuits to have with tea and fresh jam. Mmmmmm.....


















cooking the jam.....













Jam and Biscuits...















other yummy stuff we preserved this summer

Homemade "Gatorade"

Staying hydrated is so important in the summer heat. But just plain water may not be enough. When sweating occurs, the body loses vital salts and minerals that need to be replenished. Our cells require an electrolytic solution to function properly. In chemistry, electrolytes are salts that allow an electrical current to pass through a solution. These solutes also play an important role in cellular activity, particularly in osmosis- the process that controls the passage of water in and out of cell membranes. When there is a high concentration of dissolved particles inside or outside each cell, water will move in or out to balance the concentration. Our bodies require the proper balance of salts and minerals to carry out the many functions of each cell, including the electric signals with which it communicates with the rest of the body.

Commercial electrolytic solutions can be expensive. And they wrongly advertise that you can't make them yourself because you don't know the proper ratio. Well, I'm about to tell you the proper ratio, so you can! In his book, "Your Body's Many Cries for Water", Dr Batmanghelidj instructs his readers in proper hydration. 1/4 tsp. sea salt for every quart of water will supply the balance your cells need. And you should drink at least half your body's weight in ounces each day. You don't have to drink salt water, though. You can just put the salt on your food.

Most processed food is loaded with equally processed sodium chloride, or table salt, so it is best to avoid these foods and eat pure sea salt on your other whole foods, which also contains trace minerals your body needs. Unprocessed sea salt will not look like tiny, perfect cubes as does it's manufactured counterpart. There are various types. Celtic sea salt is gray and damp, mined red salt is, well, red and dry, and Mediterranean is white, and less damp.

But in the heat we are currently experiencing in my neck of the woods, unless you want to sit around in a controlled climate, you are going to sweat. And sweating is good for you. It is God's gift of detox. Most of us don't sweat enough. And that's when you need that little bit of extra. So here is my recipe based on Dr. Batmanghelidj's ratio.

1 pint pure or filtered water
1/8 tsp. sea salt
2 spoonfuls frozen juice concentrate of choice.

Shake ingredients together in a mason jar. You may want to put less water and top it off with ice after mixing. Or make a whole bunch and place in the refrigerator for an instant chilled drink. Enjoy!


AHHHHHHHH! Now that's a tool for conviviality.

Blackberries

I went out early this morning and picked about a quart of berries while it was still cool. I have about that much more in the freezer and there are LOTS more out there along the driveway and around the field, as well as a sizable patch in the garden. The kids are begging for another blackberry buckle and I'm looking forward to making sauce to top some pancakes. But they are also good right off the vine. Looks like a bumper crop this year. I love free food!

Homemade Dog Bed.

I had been wanting to buy a dog bed for Daisy, the family dog. We had an old blanket and pillow on the floor for her, but those kept getting moved around by her and the kids. I had been pricing them, but the cheapest one walmart had was $20, and it looked wimpy. I checked Ross and they had some for $13, but it still looked kinda crappy, so I decided to make one myself! I took the blanket and pillow Daisy had been using, and cut out the shape of the pillow on the blanket. I sewed it on the machine to make a covering for the pillow, then I cut a strip about a foot wide and long enough to wrap around the outer edge of the pillow. I sewed up the side and then stuffed it. It looked like a really long noodle pillow. I then sewed it by hand onto the outer edge of the pillow, and voila! A comfy dog bed :) It's been Daisy's favorite spot ever since, and I saved at least $13. I wish the picture was better. Had to use my webcam since we haven't replaced our digital camera yet. As you can see, Simon managed to get his cute little self in the pic.

Wooden Dollhouse

My husband and I had been wanting to get or make a dollhouse for Lacey. We were given a new entertainment center, and our old one was falling apart. Jon decided to try to make a house from the old entertainment center. He made it in like 2-3 hours one Saturday afternoon! I was shocked at how quickly and efficiently he made it :) I painted it with some leftover paint from when I painted the toy room. The outside is white, and the inside walls are blue. I left the floors unpainted, so that it looks like hardwood flooring. Lacey LOVES it! I've been working on making furniture out of bits of wood. I made some beds and a kitchen counter out of an old clementine box. There's still a lot more I want to make for it, but it's an ongoing process.

Seth's New Shoes

Last night, inspired by the moccasins bro-in-law Scott had made for my nephew, Liam (which are waaaay cooler than these), I decided to make some soft soled shoes for Seth out of some suede panels from an old jacket that had a broken zipper. I used this pattern and tutorial , although I had to adapt it a bit to fit his chubby, wide foot. I should have made them even wider because they barely fit. But at least for now, he has something other than socks to keep his little feet warm.

Teething Doll

Just made this teething doll this afternoon from some organic cotton material I had. The ribbon around the neck is also sewn on. The knots can be soaked in cold water or chamomile tea for baby to chew on.

This is so cool

Toast Please

On Saturday we all worked together to create this mouthwatering wild muscadine jam. Luke, using a ladder and handmade picker, harvested the grapes from the shrubs at the edge of our meadow. He managed to get a whole gallon. The girls then helped me pull them off the stems. Virginia also helped to stir the pot of strained juice and pulp and sugar, which cooked into jam. Reuben (and everyone else but Seth) taste tested. We had broccoli cheddar omelets and jam with biscuits for dinner! Mmmmm.
If you would like to read more about how to make this scrumptious spread read my latest hub here.

Teeth

Okay, so some people have been after us to post here, so I suppose I'll do so. We've given up toothpaste.

Okay, now the initial gasp is over, I'll explain. We've moved from using toothpaste to using tooth powder. I got the idea from my research into early 20th Century life, but found some

natural recipes. It doesn't have that nasty toothpaste taste and my teeth and mouth feel cleaner than they ever did right after brushing.

After messing about with ratios, I finally hit on 4:1 mixture of baking soda and sea salt with several drops of peppermint oil. I mix the baking soda and salt then drip in the oil. Then I stir it up again and mush up the clumps caused by the oil to get an even distribution. I put it in a container that used to hold breath mints and a mixture with 6 tablespoons of baking soda fills it up and it lasts for several weeks.

To use it, I wet my toothbrush, then give it a good shake. This leaves me with damp bristles which I touch to the tooth powder. You only need a small amount and if you leave the tooth brush in too long, the water seeps into the tooth powder and you're left with clumpy tooth powder.

Easy Skillet Pizza

During the summer months especially, I am always looking for ways to prepare meals that do not heat up the kitchen very much. I found this idea for skillet pizza in a Backpacker magazine, but adapted the recipe for a slightly healthier diet. It was delicious and everyone loved it! We made 3 to feed our family of 5, and as you can see, there wasn't much left over.

Quick Skillet Pizza
For each 10" pizza use
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 T oil
5-6 T water.
Pizza sauce
2 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
Favorite toppings

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and water and mix. Oil a 10" skillet and heat on med. heat. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead 2 or 3 times, then roll or pat into 10" circle. Place dough in skillet, spread with sauce, sprinkle with cheese and add other toppings. Cover skillet with lid and cook 5 min. or till cheese is melted. Cool slightly, then serve.

Thrift Talk 4

Around the House:

There are many ways to save money with everyday household tasks. Here is an example of a frugal mom who makes her own household cleaners for just pennies.

And here is a list of some other ways we save too:

1. We use simple Ivory bar soap for bathing and washing clothes.
2. We don't buy paper products (except toilet paper) but use cloth napkins and rags, etc. instead. Some people use cloths instead of toilet paper, but we're not there yet.
3. For handwashing dishes, I use Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid. This may not seem like a money saver, since one bottle costs 3 times as much as your toxic dollar store variety, but it lasts 3 times as long! It is very concentrated, and, best of all, won't poison the earth and is far gentler on my hands than the cheap brands. If you have a dishwasher, here is a cheap alternative to the bleach based detergents on the market.
4. For other household cleaning, I use mostly baking soda and white vinegar. Vinegar makes a good disinfectant spray and baking soda will clean most surfaces.
5. Make dust mitts or cloths from old felted wool sweaters found at thrift stores. They work great! I usually have plenty of scraps left over after making diaper cover pants with the sleeves, and shorts with the front and back. From 1 sweater I can get 1 pair of long pants, 2 shorts and several dusters.

And here are some other random ways we get by on the cheap:

1. We save gas by combining trips and not going far from home, nor going out very often.
2. We drive an old car, so no payments there. It helps to have a husband who is mechanically savvy, too! He can fix just about anything, and if he doesn't know how, he'll search the web, call his father, etc. till he figures it out. That goes for home maintenance as well.
3. Speaking of the web, it supplies most of our home school materials, diy info and entertainment, so it more than pays for itself. The library is also a great resource.
4. We cut our own hair.
5. We get most of our clothing and shoes from thrift stores and factory seconds, and wear them till they are worn out. T-shirts then get recycled into diapers.
6. Using cloth diapers some or most of the time saves a lot of money!
7. Diy health care! Staying away from processed food and conventional medical practice is the best way to stay healthy in my opinion (and experience- I can share some stories). We treat our illnesses at home using vitamins and herbs, but mostly through preventative nutrition. This approach takes constant study and research, but it really pays off. I can see us in the future seeing a chiropractor or other alternative practitioner, but so far, by God's grace, we've lived a pretty happy, healthy life without them. I mentioned it here because this approach does save money, but our family's health is the primary objective.
8. We have our babies at home unassisted! The total cost of materials, including an inflatable birthing pool, is less than $100. But again, our family's health and safety are top priority, and we would not hesitate to use emergency medical care if the need arose. But we believe that birth is as natural and normal as breathing, digestion and making love, requiring no more interference in a healthy person than these other bodily motions. It's not for everyone, but when I was pregnant with our second child, I knew without a doubt it was for me.
9.We like to make gifts for Christmas, etc. Like this one!

What are some ways you save money around the house, or wherever?

Warm Weather Menu

The days are growing quite warm, and standing over a hot stove in a hot kitchen is not very appealing, especially when it is soooo nice outside. So I have redone the menu, making use of the organic canned beans our local grocery store put on sale last week for Earth Day, which I took the opportunity to stock up on. The price was too good to pass up, not to mention the added convenience and smaller energy use- mine and our electric stove's.

Monday- Still Mexican night. Refried bean tacos with greens, salsa, shredded organic cheddar cheese and hot sauce. (I stocked up on shells, since they were also on sale. The Taco Bell brand does not use hydrogenated oils like the other brands, so that's the kind I get.) All I have to do is whip out a can of refried beans and....struggle...with the.....ugh...@#$%*can opener!!!! Ahem... warm the beans on the stove, pop the shells in the toaster oven, put out the condiments and, presto, time to eat!

Tuesday- Pasta Fagioli, or a cold pasta salad with kidney beans and whatever veggies I have. We're getting green onions from the garden now and these make a delicious topper. For tacos, too. And salad. And just about anything else. I hope some of them get left in the ground long enough to grow into mature bulbs.

Wednesday- I guess I'll stick to the stir fry, though I might make omelets if we have enough eggs on hand (and asparagus from the garden, mmmmmm). But the stir fry is about to be transformed with the sugar snap peas that will soon be ready to pick. Added right at the end so they're still crunchy. Drool on, my friends.

Thursday- One of Luke's childhood faves, fish sticks and egg noodles, with salad to round it off. I use whole grain egg noodles, and I actually found a store brand of fish sticks that doesn't have msg- BiLo's, for all you here in the Southeast.

Friday- Still pizza, gotta have it at least once a week, but at least it doesn't bake for very long.

Saturday- Hopefully, the bread will last till then and we can have sandwiches. No one wants to cook after spending the day working and playing in the yard and garden. Tuna, cream cheese, or peanut butter and jelly/ honey are all family favorites. And the kids must have their carrots (cut in matchsticks) with Ranch.

Sunday- 3 bean salad and green salad. These are great any day, really, and the nice thing about having so many quick and easy meals on the menu is that we can mix and match according to our mood or the weather. Too hot to bake pizza on Friday? Switch with the day with the thunderstorms in the forecast. Sick of pasta? Make potato salad instead and serve with a can of baked beans, and green salad or veggies and dip on the side. Or just top the green salad with cold kidney beans, maybe a little cheese, and a vinegar and oil dressing sweetened with honey (I also love a hard boiled egg sliced on my salad, but I'm the only one in my family who likes those). There are any number of possibilities.

Natural Dishwasher Detergent

I recently ran out of dishwasher detergent, and really didn't want to pay for more, so I did some searching online for a natural (and cheaper) detergent. I found one that seemed like it would work, so I tried it out. All it consists of is half baking soda and half borax, which you can find in the laundry detergent section at the grocery store. I tried it out today, using about two tablespoons of the mixture in my dishwasher, and it worked wonderfully! It was also brought to my attention that my microwave was filthy, haha, so in my search for detergent recipes I found a neat tip. Put about a cup of water in a container, mix in 2 tablespoons of baking soda, and heat that up in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. After that, take a cloth and wipe down the inside of the microwave. The ick comes off so easily! Try it :)

Thrift Talk 3

Food:

This post I'll share some of the many ways we save money on food.

1: cook from scratch (including breads and cereal)

2: buy grains, beans and a few other things in bulk from a co-op.

3: plan menus (this is an amazing money saver)

4: look for sales, marked down items, shop in season at farmer's markets, etc. and stock up by canning and freezing

5: grow a simple garden, forage for wild berries and nuts

6: eat at home

7: eat up the leftovers

What are some other ways you save on food?

Thrift Talk 2

Thanks, Grace and Mom H. for the money saving tips. I'll go on to the next category soon, but first I thought I'd share what some further research and thought has unearthed in the area of electricity savings.

I found Michael Bluejay's site to have some very useful information. His strategy is to attack the biggest power eaters first, like central heat, air conditioning, the water heater, dryer and refrigerator. Unfortunately, most major home improvement solutions are simply out of our financial range. I can't see paying over $1,000 for an Energy Star refrigerator when our 90's model works fine. It would take a long time for the power savings to repay us for the initial cost. We are working on a few ideas, however, that would help to bring our electricity use down.

Future Energy Improvement Ideas:

Refrigerator- In winter, we can put jugs of water outdoors to freeze at night, then bring them in and put them in the refrigerator. This will keep the temperature low enough to prevent the compresser from having to run. Cleaning the coils is also important for it to run efficiently.

Water Heater- Luke is working on a solar water heater made with a recycled tank and other salvaged materials. Basically, it allows the sun to heat the water before it goes into the indoor electric heater, taking the load off in sunny weather. He'll probably post more about this project as it nears completion.

Wood Stove- Both of us grew up in homes heated with wood stoves and now we own several acres of woodland, which would supply more than enough fuel for our comparatively mild winters if managed properly. The only catch is that insurance companies don't really like wood stoves in mobile homes. Hopefully, we will soon be mortgage free and can shop around for the type of coverage we want, or opt for no coverage if we want, rather than having to satisfy the bank. Anyway, we're planning to install one before next winter.

Cooling the House- We are searching for ways to cool the house naturally and reduce the need to run the air conditioner. Most of the heat that comes into the house via the roof and windows is radiant heat from the sun, which regular insulation doesn't block. A reflective layer is necessary for this and it is claimed that this can block 97% of the sun's radiant heat. Once again, however, installing this type of insulation would be very expensive and labor intensive. As would painting the roof with a white roof coating, which is another effective strategy, or installing a tin roof-over. These can be planned for in the future, but we have been toying around with some ideas for cheap, short term solutions that can be put into action this summer. Some of these are: 1- building a long planting box up on the ridge line and planting trailing vines, like pole beans or morning glories, to create a "green roof" effect. Half of the house is already shaded, so we would only need to do this on the exposed area. 2- making a temporary canopy over part of the roof out of a tarp with maybe a layer of heavy duty foil glued to it. The foil would act as a reflector, but without an air space underneath, it would also act as a conductor of heat if placed directly onto the roof. Hence the need for the canopy, which would also provide effective shade by itself. 3- putting transparent shade cloth made for greenhouses over exposed windows to block the sun's rays.

More about this later- we'll see if any of these ideas work and let you know if they do!