American Clothespins

See that big luxurious clothespin in the foreground? I'll be assembling 19 of them tomorrow.
I was so excited when Herrick Kimball released a batch of clothespin kits. They sold out quickly, but I am among the lucky few who got a package.
The pieces are soaking in boiled linseed oil to offer them more protection from the elements.
My laundry is soaking in my homemade laundry soap that smells like Grandma's washing.
I feel frugal.

Vanilla Extract on the Cheap

Every time I buy vanilla extract, I cringe because of the exorbitant price.
So I bought my own vanilla beans wholesale and poured vodka over them.
I have another bottle like this to fill and then I'll be on the hunt for cheap bottles.
I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Venison

Our Amish friends gave us some deer meat. Foolishly, I forgot I had the means to tenderize the meat via the pressure canner, so I told him to just give us a little. Next time I'll know better.

As you can see, we're up at the crack of noon, industrially cutting meat.

Here's Mr. canner, hungrily waiting for us to finish. Becky is way better at cutting up meat into 1 inch pieces than I am. Those white things are pieces of onion in the jars.

I wish my friend Karen had been a little more graphic about processing venison in her post: http://holesinmyjeans-kpannabecker.blogspot.com/2009/11/rainy-days-and-mondays.html

But the fact that she did it and posted about it was enough encouragement to get me started. Thanks Karen.

Update to follow. If I don't blow up the kitchen. Or house.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

This summer, Becky strung the ripe hot peppers and hung them in the attic. She learned this from reading Little House books.
Now that they're dry, she used the Vitamix to powder them.
The powder's really hot!

All American Canner

Thanks to a wealthy donor, I'm the proud owner of an All American pressure canner.
I am now capable of canning chili, stew, meat, and 14 quarts of anything I want to all at one time.
Becky's out with friends for the night, and the rest of us are going to start the new year with high adventure. We're eating over at Gretchen's.
Thanks, FSD and Beach Momma, for the gift. I'm making some Gingerfish so I can ship you a token thanks of soap.

If I Use Blue Corn, What Color Cornbread Will I get?

Purple, of course!
Here's our beautifully feminine colored cornbread batter, and the finished product. I got an order of bulk food from Frankferd Farm in Pennsylvania, including blue corn. I used my handy-dandy Vitamix to grind it. And we stirred up a delicious pan of cornbread.
This tastes so much different from store bought cornmeal. It's like the difference between store bought and garden fresh with a tomato.
We'll make up some cornmeal mush to eat with maple syrup for breakfast, then start grinding our Prairie Gold wheat for the rest of our baked goods.
I've got some 5 gallon buckets for storage, and am just about to order Gamma lids to keep them tightly sealed.
What fun! And to think, I could have done all this back in Y2K, but my kids were little, and I didn't have time to care that the world was about to end.

Fruit Trees

Mr. G is planting a beautiful pear tree from www.treesofantiquity.com
Today, he planted Bing and Ranier cherries, this Bartlett pear, a santa rosa plum (Miss K's favorite fruit), a pluot (plum/apricot) (I think.) And two more apple trees, a Pink Lady, and a Stayman Winesap. Plus the berries.
At this rate, we'll have as many trees as we have goats.

You can see some of the existing orchard behind that handsome guy if you look very closely. Also a thoroughbred horse, Mr. B.

Blueberries!

Here is the place where the first blueberry sticks are planted. Ok, they aren't really the first. I had planted some last year and didn't follow directions. They were dead before you could blink. But this time I'm going to acidify their soil like a good girl. That gas can in the photo has nothing to do with the acidifying plan. It was just there and I was in a hurry so I didn't move it first. Mr. G tilled peat moss into the bed before the plants arrived, and is mulching with the plentiful pine needles for the acid.
You probably think I have imaginary plant friends, but to prove that there are such things as scraggly looking blueberry plants in that bed, I took a close up for you. Cute, isn't it? It will be wonderful indeed to have fresh blueberries!

Raspberries

See the two lines of raspberry sticks coming out from the fence? Neither do I, but there they are. 10 raspberry twigs that will hopefully be raspberry bushes soon.
My goal is to post again when they're huge brambles.

A poem for Trooper

THE CLOTHESLINE

A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link,
For neighbors always knew,
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the fancy sheets
And towels out on the line;
You'd see the company tablecloths
With intricate design.

The line announced a baby's birth
To folks who lived inside,
As brand new infants clothes were hung
So carefully with pride.

And the lines were full of diapers,
So white and bright and clean.
Because in those days of yore,
In stores Pampers were not yet seen.

The ages of the children could
So readily be known,
By watching how the sizes changed
You'd know how much they'd grown.

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It said, "Gone on vacation now,"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged,
With not an inch to spare.

But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work less,
Now what goes on inside a house
Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life.
It was a friendly sign,
When others knew each other best,
By what hung on the line.

~Author Unknown


I don't know if this poem would inspire me to skip the ease of the electric dryer. It seems to take a bigger shock to the system than a cozy feeling conjured up by the sweet ideals in this piece. Poverty usually does the trick.
It was a sacrifice for me to stop using the dryer. I have yet to see the new electric bill's praise for my determination. And it will be harder to keep using the line if there's not a big difference in the amount next month.
The good news is, if I can use a clothesline exclusively, anyone can do it. If you have children, enlist their help by paying them the difference in the electric bill for the help they give in lowering it.
We had a family meeting complete with a pot of tea, and notebooks in which to jot down ways to save. The girls have been more helpful than I imagined they could be since then. Don't underestimate the little folks' help in living frugally.

Keeping Up With the Yoders

As hard as I try, I can never do more work in a day than my Amish friend Emma.
If I hang out two loads, she's hung out three. If I tell her I've canned tomatoes, she shows me 250 quarts of applesauce that she's done.
But we're happy about the small amount we got accomplished today anyway.

The youngest is having a good spell in her colitis ordeal right now, and I pray that it goes on like this forever. At least we have really cool medicine for when it does hurt. And a fantastic and caring family doctor, phew.

Another Widly Exciting Money Saving Tip

Readers, you've gotta try the homemade cleaning stuff! Because I ran out of Cascade powder, I had to try a homemade recipe for dishwasher soap. Under duress and not expecting very good results, I combined 1 tablespoon of Borax and 1 tablespoon of washing soda and added them like I would the Cascade. Voila! Perfectly clean dishes for a tiny fraction of the price I'd been paying.
I'm starting to think that we can do every household cleaning job with Borax, washing soda, and Fels Naptha soap!
Is it a sad commentary on my life when soap excites me this much?

Frugal Living and Homemade Laundry Soap

The girls and I had a meeting today about how to do better with saving. I'll try to pass along some ideas as they occur to us.
Here's one that definitely works.
To make homemade laundry soap, round up these hard to find ingredients:
Fels Naptha soap
washing soda
Borax twenty mule team
A bucket for the finished laundry gel, big enough to hold two gallons. I used the empty Sun (cheap detergent from Wal Mart) laundry detergent bucket.
The recipe says:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha, grated into a saucepan with 6 cups water. Heat and stir till all melted.
1/2 cup each washing soda and Borax. Add to pot and stir well.
Pour 4 cups hot water into bucket, add your soap mixture and stir. Now add a gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.
When it cools, it will gel and turn really interesting!
Use 1/2 cup per load.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that when you're melting your grated soap, your house smells really clean.
This soap is working fantastic for me.
At least give it one try to see if you're impressed enough to go through the trouble of mixing a few ingredients to save tons of money- and the environment.
You can find people showing you how to make this on Youtube as well. Some of them make a powder, but since you only use some crazy amount like and eighth of a teaspoon per load, I do better with the gel- makes me feel like I'm adding lots of soap!