Garden Update

Well, the garden is starting to take shape. I added a few broccoli plants, a couple of cauliflowers, and a cabbage.



I have about given up on corn. Only four came up and only two of those are of any decent size. I replanted in the four squares that didn't even come up, but once again - nothing. Someone may have had a hand in their demise.



I planted some corn during the spring and ended up with two rotted, stunted ears. Corn may not be my thing.

The cucumbers are getting going. There are even the beginnings of buds.

The beans, though looking anemic and quite pitiful, are growing pretty well and starting to bloom. I hope to see some little beans soon.


You can see my neighbors pool through the fence. It is a saltwater pool with a little fountain. I have noticed that sometimes my car gets sprayed over the fence. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps my little beans may be suffering from some saltwater exposure. : (

It's still early yet. All my babies are being nourished with John's Recipe. I'll keep you posted.

The Fall Garden

When it became evident that we probably weren't going anywhere for awhile, I decided that I would try my hand at a fall garden.

Hurricane Ike coupled with the lady next door really wanting some sun on her pool means that my trees are a bit thinner than they used to be. I actually have a decent amount of sun on the side of the driveway. That has been the biggest problem with growing something other than pecans and figs on my little patch of urban frontier: no sun.

I had the hubs build me a raised bed.



Then I took a page from the Square Foot Gardener and laid it out thus.



That will give you a pretty good idea of how big it is.

I have already planted my pole beans and fall tomato plants. There were some squash type plants that the lady at Buchanan's swore would grow now, so I am trying a cucumber, zucchini, and a yellow squash.



I planted 3 hybrid and 4 heirloom tomatoes. They are already growing. I'll keep you posted on their progress.


I also have plans for onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuces, but they will have to wait until the weather cools a little. I may even try some sugar snap peas, but you can't plant those until December in these parts.

Any other fall garden attempts out there?

While I Was Away - 2

Do you know what this is?



It is a fresh from the wall of a house honeycomb.

Do you remember our friend the Bee Wrangler and the adventure we had here at the house? Well, she has those kinds of adventures all the time. And one day this summer she had a big job not too far from our house. We kept her kids all day and she brought us the honeycombs from the job.

She instructed us to freeze the whole mess until it was solid. This keeps some potential worm from growing. We froze it for several days. Just to be sure. Really sure.

When you are sure it is thoroughly frozen, thaw it out. Then all you do is squeeze and let it drip. Our mess looked like this.



And let me tell you, it was a mess. A sticky, sticky, sticky mess.

But it yielded us 2 full quarts of deliciously mild, golden honey. We will be using it for awhile. And we did it ourselves which was really cool.

I also learned an interesting bee fact from her. Did you know that it is not all the bees that are Africanized. It's only the queen. If you have an Africanized queen, remove her from the hive and you can requeen them with a nice queen and they will be nice bees. Who knew? An evil queen. Why hasn't Disney been all over this?

Making Do

I have a cold. A miserable, awful, snotty head cold. And we had a cool front roll in this morning, so it's a bone-chilling 50 degrees outside. (Sorry. A little Houston humor there.)

Even though it is not too cold outside, I wanted some soup for lunch. Some onion soup. While I often make a big pot of soup and freeze it into individual portions, I didn't have any onion soup. I'm not even sure if I have ever made onion soup. But I have eaten plenty of it and, well, there is a first time for everything.

No one else wanted onion soup, so this was going to be a small pot of soup. What sounds good? I know, start with some onions and garlic. You can't go wrong there. I sliced some onion very thinly and added it to a giant, minced clove of garlic in a skillet with some butter. Mmm. Smells good already.



Since this is my soup and I can make it anyway I want, I decided that I wanted to add some sliced, golden fingerling potatoes that I had on hand. As soon as I noticed a little brown showing up on the onion, I threw them in, too.


Looking good. When I was convinced the potatoes were tender, I added a little of the leftover beef broth I had in the fridge. I just wanted to get up all the yummy brown bits from the bottom of the pan.



I had the rest of the broth in a pan already. Just wanted to heat it up and add some thyme. When all the brown bits were up, I added it to the rest of the broth and let it simmer for a few minutes.

I took one of my little Corning Ware bowls and grated a little Gruyere cheese in the bottom. I had some leftover from a holiday meal.


I added the soup to the bowl.


Now, I didn't have any French bread handy, so I just trimmed a regular piece of whole grain bread to fit the bowl and made do.



Then I sprinkled some more cheese on top.



Put it in the toaster oven to broil.


Doesn't it look all toasty and warm in there? Watch it carefully. It doesn't take too long to brown.

And here is the finished product.


It really hit the spot. I will say that, if I ever to do this again, I will leave out the potatoes. They didn't add anything to it and their texture probably took away from it. But it was good and warm and soothing.

Go forth and make do. And make soup.

Bleach Alternative

You know I am always looking for ways to be less toxic and all. Well, Sweet Miss Lacy over at Razor Family Farms has posted a safe alternative to bleach over at Grit.com. Go check it out and let me know what you think. I can't wait to try it. It's right here.

Tuesday's Tip

Today's tip: do away with the fabric softener.

There was a time when I decided on what washer to buy based on whether or not it had a well in the shaft for my liquid fabric softener. Those days are gone. I no longer even use fabric softener.

First of all, most fabric softeners are really toxic. They are full of chemicals that we really don't need in our homes or on our bodies. You can read a little about it here or here.

Secondly, does it really make that much difference? Really? I haven't missed it at all. In fact, when I am out on my walk I can smell everyone else's dryers. I don't even like the smell any more. Too much "fragrance".

So save yourself some money. And do without.

But if you can't, there are other options. Of course, I'm going to say it. Ready? Make your own! I can't really speak to how well this works, but I looked it up special for you. Give it a try and let me know how well it works out. Maybe you can persuade me.

Homemade Fabric Softener

You'll need:

• 1 cup vinegar (white)
• 1 cup washing soda
• 1 cup water
• Drops essential oil (good choices include lemon, lavender, mint, geranium)
• Bottle for storage (flip-cap if possible)

1. Assemble the items from the Things You'll Need section.
2. Mix together the washing soda, white vinegar and water.
3. Add a few drops of essential oil. The scent is up to you. Or, you might wish to leave it scent-free.
4. Stir together one more time.
5. Bottle the fabric conditioner for storage. A bottle with a flip-top lid is good for ease of use but any bottle with a lid is suitable.
6. Use the fabric conditioner in the same way that you would use a commercial fabric conditioner.

If you try it or have your own recipe, let me know. I'd love to hear your results.

Tuesday's Tip

Today's tip: try something new with your laundry detergent.

While I was away. I made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent. I had been using a pretty expensive brand trying to cut down on the amount of chemicals that my family is exposed to. That was getting old. Fast. I combed the web looking for a simple recipe. I'm not nearly as ambitious as Lacy, at this point. Maybe someday. I really wanted powdered detergent.

I found a simple recipe and went to work.

First, you grate a bar of Fels-Naptha soap. Surprisingly, I found this sitting on the shelf in the laundry aisle of my local Kroger. I just grated it by hand using the small holes on my cheese grater. It yields about 2 cups of soap.

Then I took a cup of borax and a cup of washing soda and added it to the grated soap.


I mixed it all together and ended up with 4 cups of laundry detergent. While that doesn't seem like much, it only takes 2 tablespoons per large load of laundry. And it cost me less that $3.00 to make that batch.

Of course, the big question is, does it work? As far as I can tell, it works fine. While I'm not doing Pioneer Woman's manure soaked laundry every week, my crew can do OK. I have only been using it for a little more than a week and everything comes out clean and fresh and quite satisfactory. I'm pleased.

Guess what I had for breakfast this morning.

Mmm. Yes, yesterday was fig day. I put up almost 3 gallons of fig preserves. When the figs start ripening, I pick those that are ripe each day. After washing them, I cut off the stems and maybe cut them in two if they are large. I then place them in a freezer bag in the freezer each day until I finish harvesting.

Thursday I took those bags out of the freezer and let them thaw on the counter for awhile. Then I put them in two bigs bowls and poured sugar over them. No, I didn't measure, but I'm guessing it was around four cups. I then put them in the refrigerator over night.

Friday morning I dumped the whole sugary mess in the stock pot and started cooking.

I squeezed a few lemons and added the juice to the pot. I don't use pectin. I don't know why. I just never had. It makes the preserves a little runny, but I've never had any complaints. They still taste good.

After they get going for awhile, foam rises to the top. I just skim that off.

I fill my sterilized jars and processed them and look what I got.


My little figgy army. Now I get to make my dad, my FIL, Aunt Sarah, and a few friends and neighbors very happy. There are actually more jars that that. They were still processing when I took the photo.

Figs are the only thing I have ever grown enough of to actually preserve. I'm quite proud of my little figs. Someday, when I have my orchard and big garden, I will have shelves full of jellies and chutneys. For now though, I am feeling quite content.

The Toys of Summer

We live in a big city. My kids are city kids. They are quite accustomed to big crowds, lots of traffic, and being able to do all the city has to offer. They are also spoiled at home with toys and electronic devices to keep them as lazy and slovenly as anyone can imagine. And yet. And yet, they are really very simple kids. They would much rather play outside than just about anything.

There is sidewalk chalk.


Such masterpieces.

Roller skating. Of course, it helps if you wear a tutu.


But, really, the highlight of this summer is this:

For those of you who don't have Scouts for sons or engineer/carpenters for husbands, this is a push cart. Hubs and the boy made it a couple of weeks ago. It has seen a lot of action in those couple of weeks.

The steering is accomplished (or not) by the passenger's feet on the front axle. The power comes from whomever is behind it running. Like so:

Poor thing hasn't gotten the steering part down just yet.

No motors. No plugs. No screens. And although they sometimes scare me to death, I can't tell you how pleased I am that they can have so much fun playing like this. This is what childhood should be like.

Urban Homemaker's Challenge

Let's just make it official. I was scooting around the Internet and I found Sylvia who has officially challenged us to:

reuse when you can

make do with what you have

seek out and use local agriculture

to make what you can for home use

make everything you can from scratch

to seek out and learn new ways to be frugal

to develop a spirit of creativity in managing your home

to feed and clothe your family well, but to live within your means.

Use it up! Wear it out!
Make it do or Do Without!

That's pretty much the way we live around here anyway. And while I do every now and again, I haven't really made a point to blog about it. I will try to do that more often. Notice the cute loaf of bread on the sidebar and go check her out.

Tuesday's Tip

Today's tip: Hang your clothes on the line to dry.

I'm not sure why, but I just really wanted to say that today. It's not going to help you lose any weight. It's not going to make your life any less toxic. I don't think so anyway. But I really like to do it.

Drying your clothes outside uses much less energy than the dryer does, so it is good for the environment. I usually dry them on the line and then fluff 2 loads together in the dryer to get rid of the fuzz and dog hair. We have a lot of that. Labs. : )

It makes everything smell really good. Your sheets and clothes smell like sunshine.

It gives you an excuse to go outside every so often. If nothing else, you appreciate the a/c that much more!

Oh, and hey, lugging that laundry basket around is good exercise! There, that's a healthy aspect of line drying your clothes.

And yes, we have an extension ladder on the top of our clothes lines. Doesn't everyone?

Just Peachy

There is a peach tree that I see every morning on my walk. I have watched it as it bloomed and set fruit. That fruit is all ripe and hanging heavy on the limbs now. I walked by the other day and the owner was out in her yard. I commented on how much fruit she had. She asked if I wanted it. Apparently, picking peaches off your own tree is not as exciting to some people as it is to me. I thanked her profusely and told her I would be back later with my kids. And I was!



About half went into a cobbler thing. The other half went straight into Bubba's tummy.

Another Step

The boy loves yogurt. That statement doesn't seem strong enough. The boy is so crazy about yogurt that I have to limit how much he eats. It is the first thing he grabs out of the fridge if he is looking for a snack.

We have been buying the little cups of yogurt for far too long. Not only are they too expensive, they are not good for the environment. The city won't recycle them even though they are 1 's and 2's. Guilt got the best of me and I have taken the plunge. I am now going to make my own yogurt regularly.

I have made it a couple of times, just to see if I could. I have made it both in an oven with the light on and in a cute little device called, oddly enough, a yogurt maker. Since it takes so long to culture, I have decided to stick with the yogurt maker so as not to occupy my oven. I have the one on the right. Of course, you can make it overnight, but I tend to get more done in the morning. That's when I get it mixed up and ready to go.

It's a simple recipe. It takes just a minute to heat up the milk before you pour it in the jars. Here is the recipe I use:


Homemade Yogurt

3 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup powdered milk (you can omit this, but it makes the yogurt thicker and with a higher level of protein)
1 cup plain yogurt

Stir the milk and powdered milk together in a saucepan. Warm it to about 115 degrees, stirring occasionally.

Add about a tablespoon of the plain yogurt to each cup from the yogurt maker. When the milk reaches temperature, pour into cups on top of the yogurt.

Let the yogurt incubate for 6-10 hours.

And you have yogurt!

Of course, you may want to flavor it. I add some smashed up fruit with a little honey and stevia. It is best to stir this in after you incubate it. It will probably be a little thinner than you are used to buying in the store, especially if you use raw milk, but it tastes great and is so good for you.

Enjoy!

I Am a Domestic Goddess

I came out of my cave for awhile today. I went to the grocery store and bought some normal things. (i.e. not butter, sugar, and cream). I then came home and spent the day in the kitchen. I made lots of things to freeze and eat later. Nothing made with butter, sugar, or cream. I'm so ready for some normal food.

One of the things I made was my favorite soup. It is a recipe I got from my sweet friend, CCCW. It is adapted from a recipe from The Mansion on Turtle Creek. It is yummy, freezes well, and makes a lovely dinner and on a chilly night. I like it with a green salad and cornbread muffins. Mmmm.


Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 T corn oil
4 corn tortilla - cut into small squares
6 garlic cloves – finely chopped
1 T chopped, fresh cilantro
1 C fresh finely chopped fresh onion
1-15 oz. tomato sauce
1 T cumin powder
2 t chili powder
2 bay leaves
2 qts. Chicken stock
Either 2 chicken breasts cooked and cubed or the meat from a whole, cooked chicken cut into pieces
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Optional: cubed avocado, shredded or cubed cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Heat oil in large saucepan. Sauté tortilla with garlic, cilantro, and onion. Add tomato puree and bring to a boil. Add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, chicken, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, stirring frequently.

Garnish with avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips. Serves 8-10.

Enjoy!

Wrapping Made Easy

I promised you crafts and haven't delivered. Sorry. We have been busy. But today I will try to redeem myself by showing you how we do most of our wrapping.

The grown-ups in our family don't get Christmas presents as such. We make goodie bags for everyone. They might have baked goods or little trinkets in them. Just a little something so everyone feels loved and festive. The kids and I started making bags a couple of years ago to hold all of this merriment. It's simple, fun, and looks really cute.

We start with plain shopping type bags. We cut out some construction paper in the colors of our choice and we get some kind of foamy stickers.


Of course, you will need your handy dandy glue sticks.

This year we went with brown bags, pink, blue, and white construction paper, and pink, blue, and white stickers. Last year we did white bags, red and green paper, and gingerbread men. The possibilities are endless!



Then you must enlist the aid of some cute little hands to start putting on the paper.


We do this assembly line fashion. It doesn't take more than a few minutes to do it.


Add a few stickers, and this is what you end up with. What this bag needs is a tag.


Cut out some smaller pieces of paper, add and sticker and a name and - voila! Instant cute.


Now fill your bag, add some tissue, and you have a darling gift that says and Merry Christmas! OK, it doesn't really say Merry Christmas. Bags don't talk. But you can say it and they will still be impressed.

Merry Christmas!!