Summer has been keeping me busy. I have been putting all local fresh fruits and veggies I can into jars to keep for the summer. I have really enjoyed the process of producing rather than consuming.
My mother canned; more out of necessity than any real desire to put things in jars. There were always pickles, jellies, veggies, soups, and even a salmon stored safely in a Ball glass jar until needed or wanted.
So far, I have four kinds of pickles, three jams, and I am putting up oranges that Sly bought while visiting his family in Florida.
Outside my window ... Sunny! Lovely day. I am thinking... major plans for this blog. Maybe Wed? Defiantly by spring break.
I am thankful for... a relatively clean house.
From the learning rooms ... lots of things, but it is all related to my future plans for the blog. I won't tell you!
From the kitchen... granola
I am wearing...Purdue sweatshirt and cut off shorts. I am creating... I know that I want to make this soon!
I am going... work on lots of changes for this blog.
I am reading... Casting On. (actually, the book got set aside for a while)
I am hoping... it will finally stay warm.
I am hearing... the soft hum of my computer, the whir of the space heater, and Trooper grunting! Around the house... small amounts of laundry. vacuuming. I plan on spinning and knitting this evening.
One of my favorite things... my spinning wheel.
A few plans for the rest of the week: shopping of the JH swap.
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...
Demon dogs!
The little guy is Trooper, aka "Pooper." He is new here, but getting along fine.
I have been tinkering with a cheaper, eco-friendly laundry detergent alternative. At first, I just tried cutting a regular power detergent with baking soda, borax, and washing soda. My concoction worked reasonably well, but I wanted to get away from detergent.
After much trial and error, I have something that works really well.
I use Fels Naptha soap as the base for this recipe. this is normally found on the laundry aisle and is wrapped like a regular bar of soap. Fels Naptha is for laundry, never use it to bathe. It has been made for over 100 years, and it gets out all sorts of stains.
1 bar of Fels Naptha, grated (should yield 3 cups of flakes) 2 cups baking soda 1.5 cups washing soda 1.5 cups of borax
Pour into air tight container and mix.
I use 1/2 a cup for a load of laundry in cold water with about 10 minutes of agitation.
If there are really bad stains, use a little of the plain soap to pre-treat. The stain will be gone. I don't use fabric softener in the summer because I use the clothesline.
This mixture is cheep, and it cleaned some of DH's hardest to clean old tee shirts. I mean clean so that DH noticed!
There isn't much of a "recipie" but I normally mix 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water in a spray bottle with some essential oil to clean pretty much everything else in my home. Tough messes will get scrubbed with a little baking soda, and the sprayed with the vinegar and water.
