A good gardener's hand soap can be easily made using the following method. The measurements are vague ... because that's the way I operate ;) ...

Take a bar or two of bath soap ... can be home made or store bought. Castile soap sold in some laundry sections of the grocery store is preferred if you don't make your own bath soap bars. Grate soap using a cheese grater (medium to fine shreds ... not the side for hard cheese ... that will take too long. Place the soap gratings ... about two cups (approximate) into a double boiler placed over rolling boiling water. Heat until warm/soft (it shouldn't completely melt. Add about a tablespoon of finely ground egg shells* and a teaspoon of your favorite essential oil. I happen to like tea tree oil ... so that's what I add. Mix with a fork ... it will be stiff. When the soap shavings have been mixed ... carefully take about two tablespoons of it and form a ball (think of making a meatball ;). Press firmly making the soap as round as you can. Let dry for several days or until hard. This soap will really scrub the garden dirt from your fingers and make them soft if you use a good quality soap. Yields approximately 3-4 soap balls.

*ground egg shells: I save my egg shells by washing them, patting them dry, then baking on a cookie sheet for about 3-5 minutes at 350F to kill any bacteria. Then they are ground up in my spare coffee grinder to a fine powder. Wait until you have at least a dozen egg shells so you have enough to make it worth the effort. (These shells are also sprinkled in the garden around the carrots and lettuce when I plant to increase the calcium in my veggies.) I hope you try this easy to make hand milled soap. You don't have to use lye ... because you start with already made bars of soap. Sometimes I even add a teaspoon of finely ground oatmeal and a pinch of finely ground dried lavender.

The turnip greens are growing. I had to thin out this section of the garden. Soup's on! Today's fare included the wilted turnip greens and a few small turnips, thinly sliced ham, garden garlic. Can't get much fresher than that!
Last winter when time was plentiful, I froze and canned chicken stock ... and cooked white beans to freeze. These are handy items to have available for a quick batch of soup at lunch time.

To freeze cooked beans: Sort and wash your beans. Soak overnight. Discard the water and place the beans in a large pot. Add water to cover the beans by one inch. Add some diced ham if available (optional). Add a few pinches of salt and bring to a boil cooking until just barely tender. Let cool. Ladle beans and liquid into freezer jars 2/3's full to allow for expansion when frozen. Label the container and date. These will keep frozen in a deep freezer for at least six months. To thaw and use, just remove from the freezer a few hours ahead of time. I like to rinse the beans before adding to soups. If I'm short on containers, I've used plastic quart size freezer bags ... just squeeze out the air before freezing.

The garden this week received four afternoons of rain showers. This is the type of deep watering that can really make a garden 'take off' ... a good thing. My parents are visiting for a few weeks. Dad grew up on a family farm and has been a great help clearing a path around one of my veggie gardens. Wild berry growth was pushing up against the deer/moose fence surround ... we can now walk around with ease. He is eighty years young and is used to hard work. This is what has kept him so young and in good shape for so many years.

With the garden growing leaps and bounds, we have begun harvesting (finally) some edible crops such as radish, lettuce, herbs, and using up the thinned out onions in salads. I have picked a few turnips and will use them along with the green tops in a nice rustic Italian soup for lunch tomorrow that includes greens cooked with smoky bacon, white beans, chicken broth, garlic, and topped with bread croutons.

Speaking of the deer/moose fence, a few moose have been spotted this week lumbering around our neighborhood. I'll never tire of seeing them ... of course, if they find a way inside the garden fence, then I'll be hopping mad!

The 'Mother' ...

of all mothers :)

Have you tried organic raw apple cider vinegar??? If not, run out and buy yourself a bottle. It's the best tasting stuff since ... since I don't know what! I bought this brand at the health food store. We like to slice fresh garden cucumbers ... or the English store bought ones .. sprinkle with a little course sea salt, a few pinches of sugar, and a few splashes of the vinegar. Tonight I made a salad dressing with this zesty ingredient.

The 'mother' is explained here and is what makes the vinegar so flavorful, special, nutritious, and delicious.


Salad Dressing:


1/2 C vinegar
1/3 C olive oil
1-2 tbls honey
pinch of sea salt to taste
1-1/2 tbls. dijon mustard

whisk and enjoy

Ex-chlorine-bleach-queen discovers old method proves efficient.

Being unable to use chlorine bleach products with our septic system, I have resorted to scrub some of our whites with my handy dandy wash board. It's very efficient and convenient as it sits next to my electric washer in a laundry tub sink. There's even a place for my handy-dandy bar of Fels-Naptha laundry treatment soap. This soap works great for removing stains and is part of the ingredients used when I make my home made laundry soap. If we should ever not be able to afford the electric bill in years to come, I can wash the clothes manually and hang them up to dry on my outside line;). Gosh, now I know why our forefathers only had two sets of clothes.

How Does Your Garden Grow ? ...

Of late, I've been eating, sleeping, breathing all things garden related. This year I've doubled the size of last year's garden ... and added a new separate section. I cheated a bit and ended up buying my tomato plants. With last year's poor production and short season, I got a head start with some nice four inch pots. In the photos you will notice the blue/green tents in the garden. These are my wall 'o water plant covers that help to get the plants growing quicker. Today, I was able to remove them as the plants have grown to the top. I replaced them with wire cages. We planted eight tomato plants this year. Several varieties.

Here's what is growing:

tomatoes
potatoes
red & Spanish onions
walla-walla onions
scallions
turnips
radishes
thyme, Italian parsley, basil, cilantro, tarragon
mint
carrots
sugar peas
rhubarb
strawberries
asparagus
blueberries
raspberries
corn
cabbage
peppers
garlic
watermelon
cantaloupe
cucumbers (two varieties)
zucchini & yellow crooked neck squash
pumpkins (two varieties)
green beans
lettuce
apples
sour cherries

later we will plant

rutabagas
winter squash

Most of my 'babies' have at least sprouted. The radishes are ready to eat ... but then, they are always the earliest to harvest.

Lest we have hail or pests, this year is off to a good start ... LORD WILLING AND AMEN!

My 'Thrifty Garden/Home' has been hard at work ... just haven't had time to do much posting though. Friday found hubby and myself sale-ing at the local rummage and garage sales. I had a great score and scooped up a box of soap-making supplies including this book. For the past four months, I've been dabbling in the soap making business: Laundry (liquid & powder), shampoo, bath soap, liquid hand soap, etc. With this newest book, I can turn basic cold pressed soap into milled specialty soaps. You know, those bars that cost a fortune at the spa shops. I haven't purchased laundry, bath soap, nor shampoo since last year. OK, let's come clean; it's a fun and rewarding scientific experiment/hobby that gives you a luxurious product made by your own two hands.

This week started out with great weather, so I've been able to work two days in the garden enlarging it by two and a half times the original size. There is plenty of room now for corn and two rows of potatoes (in trenches). Five or six raspberry plants and two blue berry bushes were relocated to a permanent home there. Rows were hoed for strawberry plants ... and tripod steaks were erected for pole beans and cucumbers. Everything and every plant is now being drawn up in my mind (and on paper ... a safer bet ;). Welded wire fencing was installed around the entire area to keep the deer and moose out. A gateway was left open for easy access ... some type of actual gate will be installed in a few weeks. It's a good start and I thank the Good Lord for the great weather. At the end of the day I'm feeling a 'good' tired from all the digging and pounding in fence posts. I'll post a few pictures soon.

Oh Darn!! :) Running a thrifty home means making do with what is at hand (or foot :) I actually went to the fabric store while in town to get some darning thread to mend hubbies white socks and was shocked they didn't sell any ... I then asked for cotton floss instead (which they had an abundance). The store worker said I was the 10th person in the last few weeks asking for darning thread. Seems that more people are making do with less and fixing rather than tossing. If you've never darned a sock, give it a try. You can 'google' how to darn I'm sure*. I find it rather therapeutic and rewarding to mend. If you don't own a darning egg, you can use a round ended light bulb to stick in the sock.

[*This only means I'm too thrifty with my time and don't find it necessary to make a darning tutorial when you can easily find one on-line such as here, and here. I'm also too time spent to go dig through our family photo albums to find the one of my daughter Elizabeth ceremoniously receiving her great grandmother's wooden darning egg that was given to her in the early 1900's and used to darn the socks of eleven children and those of her farmer husband.]

photo credit here

The dreadful job of cleaning a sink. We have eight sinks in my home (including the two laundry sink-tubs). Since I've given up buying chemical cleaners I had to come up with a way to clean all of these watering holes. Five sinks are porcelain, two are some type of white composite, and one is a double stainless steel kitchen sink. Then we have four bath tubs (three are shower combos) made from acrylic ... and one tile shower stall in the master bath. I'll spare you the toilet count for a later post ;) (what was I thinking when I designed my home?) Needless to say, that's a lot of surfaces to keep clean. BTW, I don't have to clean each one daily ... some are cleaned weekly ... some only when we have company using them :)

My tried and true cleaner is ... are you ready? baking soda Just pure unadulterated BS (baking soda). I keep a small covered plastic container in each bathroom with this magic cleaner. It doesn't scratch even the shiniest of acrylic (that being my nice big claw foot bathtub). Simply sprinkle a bit on to a wet sink/tub surface and scrub with a wet cleaning rag ... rinse well. For my stainless steel kitchen sink, I use a light sprinkling of salt along with the BS. The sink comes out stain and spot free.

Buttery Spread. I've been experimenting with making a butter based spread for toast. I'm not a big fan of margarine ... yet butter is very expensive if you're on a thrifty budget, and it's impossible to spread on bread when cold. Years ago I read about a mixture that had equal parts of light olive oil and butter ... a half/half recipe. Yesterday I tried my hand at such a mixture and tested it out on my kids. They all like the end results. Not having any light olive oil, I substituted vegetable oil. Next time, I'll try using the light olive oil.

1 stick very soft butter
1/2 cup light olive oil (or vegetable oil)
pinch of salt

In a bowl, mix the two oils together along with a pinch of salt. I used my stick blender. Put in a covered container and store in the refrigerator. The consistency is soft enough to spread right from the fridge. My next attempt will be to make a light whipped buttery spread ... stay tuned.

Furniture spray wax can be replaced with a home made formula to easily clean your wood furniture. By mixing 1/2 teaspoon olive oil with 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (or vinegar) in a glass jar with a lid, you can dab a bit on a soft recycled cleaning rag when you dust (shake well before using). You can find similar recipes by searching the web. Bye-bye dust ... bye-bye expensive store bought products that pollute the air and take up space in the landfill. I like to think of it as 'salad dressing' for your furniture :) It really does work.

We've become a generation of consumers ... and less and less producers. The economy is in the tank ... and big gov. is encouraging people to spend, spend, spend. To me, this does not feel right (the spending part). I think there are too many factors involved to be brief here ... but the treadmill spending of the past several decades has come to an abrupt halt. During this time of uncertainty is an opportunity to make do with what you have, re-purpose items that would otherwise be tossed in the landfill, and think outside the box. Our forefathers had to get by with very few staples ... and yet they survived. This month I hope to focus on a few steps to shrink your grocery bill.

Today's money saver tip:

Cut back on your use of paper towels

My kids were the biggest offenders in wasting paper towels. How did I get them to use less? I put away the paper towel holder on the kitchen counter and replaced it with a two-ring fingertip towel holder. Each day I stock it with two clean wash cloths. At one time we used about 1-2 rolls of paper towels a week ... now a roll lasts us about three months. Another big waste was using them in the microwave oven to cook bacon. How about cooking bacon in a cast iron skillet?

Washing windows and mirrors.

This was another area that paper towels were used. Recycling your newspaper really does work well and is lint free. Before you use the paper, take a full sheet and rip it in half along the crease, then crumple it up a bit. It takes about thirty seconds or so to start absorbing the window cleaner, but once the paper is a tiny bit damp, it works wonders. You will have to wash your hands or wear cleaning gloves due to the newsprint. I toss the damp paper into the compost bin. You could also use non printed newspaper ... the type used for packing moving boxes. One box would last several years.

Here is a list of products we no longer buy:

• window cleaner
• toilet bowl cleaner
• pre-moistened cleaning wipes
• tub/sink cleaner
• floor cleaner (Pinesol/Mr. Clean)
• furniture polish
• disposable dusting products
• disposable floor cleaning mops/pads (swiffer)
• fabric softener/dryer sheets
• laundry detergent
• bath soap
• plug in type air fresheners
  

This coming month I will post some tried and true recipes you can make for pennies. You probably have most of the ingredients sitting on your pantry shelf.

Now don't think we're all covered in dirt that I've included 'laundry detergent and bath soap' to my list of products we don't purchase ... these are easy and fun to make ... stay tuned ... or do some research and find a simple recipe to replace your store bought product ... you really will save money and know what's in your cleaning arsenal.

In paper towels alone, we're saving a minimum of $60-75 a year.

An Irish Blessing .... for ye garden.

May the frost never afflict your spuds.
May the leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms.
May the crows never pick your haystack.
If you inherit a donkey, may she be in foal.

Trash to treasure gardening :)

Progress is happening in the portable greenhouse set up in my dining room. The French door provides light to all of the shelves in the unit. You can see here how the newspaper pots turned out holding some beefsteak tomato plants.