Homemade Laundry Soap

Good morning! As Mondays are my scheduled wash day I thought this would be a good post for today.

I got this laundry soap recipe from Sue at Peartree Lane Farmhouse. I could not find her post on it when it came time to make mine up so I emailed her and she graciously sent me the recipe. Thanks, Sue!

My ingredients boxes look a little shabby (...ok, aLOT shabby) but thats because my jug of distilled water for my iron had a pinhole leak and it caused dampness in the sodas.

Anyway, I grated up my 3 bars of Fels Naphta soap and then...

ran it through my blender on the pulse/grate speed.

In the bucket I carefully mixed (being careful not to breathe it in as it creates quite a fine dust as you stir) 4# box of Arm and Hammer soda, 3# 7oz box of Washing soda and 4# borax. After that is combined, I added the blender grated soap and mixed it in.

I keep mine in a 2-gal bucket.

2 of these scoops = 1/4 cup.

I put the soap into a 2-cup measure and run hot water into it to disolve (mostly) and add it to the washer, then pile in my laundry. I have had very good results with this and it saves at about of what commercial laundry soap would cost, of course depending on the brand you buy.

This recipe made 24 cups of soap powder. I use about 1/4 cup for a large load, which means I can wash 96 loads of laundry.and at an average of 4 loads per week, it will last me 24 weeks or half a year.

Get R' Done...

A couple days ago I decided I need to finish up some projects before they got put too far on the back burner (pun intended),

so I got out my Dutch Oven and used the Christmas ham-bone in the makings of Split-Pea soup. There may be 2 servings left..

Last fall when the Amish brought in a semi-load of apples we got 3 bushel; one to make applesauce and two to keep over winter in the "cold room". As I was checking the 'keepers' over yesterday I decided we needed to use some up as the Cortlands were starting to wither some. So today I put a kettle of apples on to make apple-butter.

I have about 1/3 of a gallon of apple cider left from the holidays so that will go in to the makings and give it a richer flavor.

Meanwhile in the evenings I finished my grandson's hat that was to be part of his Christmas, but due to mistakes and UN-knitting it was not ready. This is called "Seaman's cap" and you can find instructions here.

I also had yarn left over from DD's Slouche' hat I knitted for her so I decided to make a scarf to go with it. She already recieved the hat... It was made from the Homespun brand Nouveau; a kind of chunky yarn in painterly color.

I don't make New Years resolutions, but I am going to try to keep on top of things a little better than last year.

For instance, tomorrow I will be making up a fresh batch of laundry soap, as I have only enough left for next weeks laundry, and I don't want to run out. Too easy to just go buy it then.

I tend to be a bit of a procastinator, so I figured the best way for me to keep up is just to "Get R' Done"! How about you ? Do you find it hard to stay motivated, especially at this time of year??

Home-made Gifts

I have been thinking about gifts for miscellaneous giving; ie, mail-person, Hubby's boss and/or co-workers, lady who runs the Todd County Welcome Center..... and came across this recipe from Leh*man's blog and decided to try it out.

Pumpkin Bread in a Jar

This recipe makes 8 pints! That's 8 gifts!!

With a Home-made card I think it makes a nice little gift.

What do you think??

Recipe (because I knew you would ask ;) )

Pumpkin Bread In A Jar
Ingredients:

2/3 c. shortening

2 c. pumpkin ( I used my home-canned)

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cloves

2 2/3 c. white sugar

2/3 c. water

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 eggs

3 1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

2/3 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Directions: In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar; beat in eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add to pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts, if using. Pour mixture into greased wide-mouth pint canning jars, filling them each half full. Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes. When done, remove one jar at a time and wipe off sealing rim with a cloth. Screw lid on tightly with band. The heat will vacuum seal the jar. Makes 8 pints.
Variations: Substitute one of the following for the pumpkin: 2 cups shredded apples; 2 cups shredded carrots; 1 can cranberry sauce; 2 cups mashed bananas; 2 cups chopped peaches; 2 cups applesauce; 2 cups shredded zucchini; 2 cups fruit cocktail; or 1 3/4 cups applesauce plus 1/4 cup raisins.

(Changes; I cut the sugar to 2 cups and 2 T, used 5 very small eggs cause thats what I had, and added 2/3 c raisins. (we cut one open this morning and Hubby liked it really well!)

Add your ribbon and a tag and there ya go! (I made my ribbon out of a strip of plaid flannel left from Hubby's quilt)I was able to gift one yesterday about an hour out of the oven to a lady who came to get a trailer-load of rabbit manure for her garden. When I told her I had baked it in my wood cook-stove oven, that made it all the more special to her!

Well, Merry Christmas to you all. Happy baking! Wishing you all a very Blessed New Year!

Do I NEED another "project"??

While my oldest Dd was here in July, she got me started knitting again.... just to "help me recover" after my knee-scopes (as if I didn't already have enough projects going ;) I already had some yarn and all I needed was needles. She had me try these new-fangled ones that have 2 tips on either end of a plastic wire. I thought I'd never remember which way I was going ....



So here is my project, well underway I might add. I remembered how to knit and how to purl and that was about it (30+ yrs since my last attempt), so after deciding to make a shawl, I had her figure for me how many stitches I needed to cast on, and decided on a wide rib-knit pattern. As I got further along I was glad I had chosen that pattern, as it is real stretchy. I decided it could be dual-purpose; wear as a scarf, with my winter coat to church, and when I take my coat off ..... it is stretchy enough to wear aross my shoulders and pull down across my back to keep me warm, as I am never warm enough at church in the winter. Now, the youngest Dd thinks it would make just an awesome sweater! (is this a hint??? I have been told I am pretty thick-headed)

Also Ihave been following Rhonda's "down-to-earth" blog, and had been interested in all the ways she saves $$'s. Don't we all like to do that?? I saw where she had posted about making these neat dish-cloths with cotton yarn. Great because they last so long and would make nice Christmas gifts! So I checked out the price of the yarn, added it into my budget for this month, and here is my hand-knit dish-cloth .....



Oh, but you see, I had to get the BIG bolt of yarn (cheaper that-a-way, .... just sayin').... plus a couple colors, of course :) .....and different size needles than my shawl needles.
But isn't this neat???

And it looks so pretty all folded up.....

You can find the pattern here, at "home-spun living", another really neat blog.

I have posted before about the socks Dd made me and the tea-pot cozy. So do some of you knit? What do you like to make?

My Frugal Hubby ... on using what you have ...

Time to fence in the new 16-acre field that hubby made hay from this year (we have one week to get our fencing materials together )



We have fence posts that we brought with us years ago when we moved here, many of them pretty rusted up, bent, and many too short, all different lengths. But when my hubby goes to work on something he does a terrific job! And thankfully, over the years, he has accumulated the needed tools and taken very good care of them.......



He needed 100 T- posts to go in between the wood posts, and at about $5 or more each for new, he decided to keep his money in his wallet and make do with what he had. Step by step, and spending many evenings after work he got the job done.

1. Weld posts together to make them all long enough and all the same length



2. Wire brush to remove all rust, with a grinder tool and wire brush disks



3. Move what he can out of the workshop to set up room to paint them, as we have been having rainy weather here for eons.



4.Paint and try to get dry running a little heat in there.... Flip and paint the other side... then again.




Finished product.... 97 like new t-posts!



My hubby is one frugal dude! We are ready for fencing to begin!

Got to Make Hay while the Sun Shines!

Hubby had a good start on making hay 2 weeks ago .....





Then the rain came for several days ......



When the sun came out, a few rounds of the field were made ...... and the old mower flung its last blade and died ..... actually, where it had been welded twice before was again broken, this time too bad to be fixed. There was danger of doing damage to the tractor if we tried to continue using it. And there were 55 acres yet to mow.



Fortunately our calf sale three weeks ago had reaped the funds for a new mower.......



Our old Zetor tractor needs worked on once in a while but it does a good job. I hope it keeps doing just that because by next year the rickety old rake will be the nessessary replacement.



(The swallows follow after the hay is cut to get their fill of bugs)



We are glad the rain held off .....



until he could get this hay field rolled .....



Hubby enjoys what he is doing... being a farmer.... and I enjoy him being happy. It makes me smile!

Rain, rain, go away......

I find it hard to believe that here it is the middle of May and the only thing growing in my garden is last fall's garlic sets and weeds! It just has been inpossible with all the rain to be able to plant, and my neighbor tells me her plants have about drowned anyway. The way it is going, the scare-crow may be in the garden before the plants are :/

Meanwhile here are a couple pictures of our garden last year, just to keep me encouraged ......

I had ordered sweet potato plants this year because I like the compact bush variety, which I hope to save some over winter and grow my own slips next spring ..... but I am getting way ahead of myself. The plants came on Monday and the ground was barely dry enough last night to get them in the ground. We had heavy thunderstorm rains this morning so I hope they will survive. So now there are 3 things in my garden

Plans are to plant when possible, and I am hoping for another shot at cool weather crops in the fall. The areas that don't get planted will be broadcast with buckwheat seed to grow and be tilled in to feed the soil.

We humans like to think we are in control of our lives, and until a little thing like rain lets us know better. We may as well choose to be happy :) and just do the best we can. I am going to!

I choose to be happy with whatever I can get in my garden and not worry about the rest.

Flower Art

Last Saturday's creations......

These look a little drab to me against the block wall, so I will be adding something to "spruce it up" a bit.

This week-end's project

Can you guess what these are for?

I really like using what is at hand, or what I can get for "cheap".

Have a great week-end everyone!

And may all your gardening efforts flourish!

My clothesline.....present and past.

I had had a clothesline strung in the back yard between 3 maple trees for the last couple years, but when the ice storm hit it was torn down by the falling trees branches. Out of nessessity during the resulting power outage, Hubby proceeded to put one up for me in the carport.

I enjoy hanging out a wash ....... maybe because it slows a person down enough to relax, and take a deep breath of fresh air, look up into the sky and watch the birds, or the wind blowing through the leaves, or notice the first wildflowers starting to bloom......

Then there is also the fact that we are not "burning up" electricity for that 45 minutes it takes to run that dryer load. It used to be that it took about $.17 per load to run the dryer on medium heat. Now.... with the increase of electricity costing us 25% more, it is more like $.22-.23 per load, x's 8/wk, x's 52wks per yr, well that adds up to $92/yr at the low end. And that is just for 2 people. Now I am not saying everyone should hang out their wash...

But I do remember the time I didn't have a dryer ........ when my children were little ...... I took my 4th child out in the stroller one day in the fall time of year, while I hung out the wash. It was a warm day... breezy, and the fall leaves were scattered all over the ground. As I hung the clothes to dry, I heard this chuckling belly laugh behind me. Turning around I saw my daughter laughing at the wind blowing the leaves, making them dance as they scurried along across the ground. She laughed and laughed at the sight of them going this way, then that. THAT memory, my friends, is a PRICELESS gift that I would not trade for any dryer.

"Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink Soup"

After a long exhausting week, it was a pleasure to just be able to "add" to the soup my husband started last night.

He took left-overs of chicken-rice soup I had made a few days ago, added turkey gravy out of the freezer, left-over corn, broccoli, cauliflower, and left-over real-home-made mac-n'-cheese. Tonight I added 1 left-over baked potato, half-pkg frozen corn, 1 pint canned carrots, 1 pint canned green beans, and left-over collard greens. Along with that we had cheese quesadillas and that made a fine satisfying Friday night supper. It was even commented on very favorably by last minute guests ( thanks, dear Daughter!) And I even have time to read a story to the little one!

Rendering Lard

Just for the sake of self-dependency,we are going to, for a moment , side-step the health issue in this post. We are choosing to be on a tight budget right now, given the present economical conditions., so making do is "in".I had run out of bread at breakfast time ( I know .... should'a baked over the week-end, butI was involved in other things) and I decided that for lunch I would make chicken-rice soup, home-made of course, and biscuits; forgetting that I had also run out of Crisco last week. Then I remembered I had a small bucket of lard that I had bought as an ingredient in seed cakes for the birds.

Okay, so using lard once in a while isn't going to kill us. I made my biscuits, and they were wonderful. No.... no pictures. They were gone too fast. But it brought back the memory of learning to render lard (as in, make your own...)

The lard I made at the time was made from the hardest white fat of a hog. You need to cut it into small chunks , or if you have a meat grinder you can grind it up. Put it in an old kettle, to which you add water enough to cover the fat, and put it on to boil, stirring once in a while. This takes a few hours, depending on the size of the pieces and the amount you are working with. It needs to boil slowly until all fat is melted. Then put a cheese-cloth over another pot and strain the liquid through it. Place it somewhere cold , as out in your back porch in winter until it hardens. The fat will come to the top and the water and sediment will be on the bottom. You can pick off the resulting solid "lard" and store in a tightly covered container in a cool place.

Many good cooks and especially the Amish, still use lard today for flakey pie crusts and tender cookies, and ever so tender biscuits.

Shower Power ...... or not. (The Saturday night bath)

Okay .... so I may be enjoying myself a little toooo much ........... but, the offer of the neighbor's hot shower during this power outage had a very strong contender. That was to experience what Grandma would call "making do".

I cannot resist the urge to see if I still have what it takes to live "off the grid".
So I devised a plan whereby to 'shower' at home. Okay, first I heat the water (2 kettlefuls) on the wood-cookstove to bath temp, and meanwhile put a low plastic stool in the tub and gather my towels and other bath items to have within reach. I set one kettle on the stool in which to dunk my head so I can shampoo, then dunk again to rinse. I then proceed to finsh the rest of the job, and when done to satisfaction I pour the kettleful of water over myself to rinse. The second kettle of water is to rinse again if I felt the need.

A shower or bath is such a refreshing thing, and doubly so knowing you really can do without all the modern convieniences. For those of you who think this is sheer craziness, you may be right, but what fun is life if you can't be a little crazy? Especially at my age. After all ..... I had to live a long time to earn the right to be this way!