About Me

I am a wife and mother. I have a son (W) who is ten and a daughter (E) who is 8. I have two bonus children: a stepson (N) who is 18 and a stepdaughter (A) who is 14. My bio children are educated at home while the bonuses go to regular school.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Garbage

I hate garbage. I hate the idea that something will sit in a landfill forever doing nothing productive. I cringe when I see people throwing recyclables or compostables in the garbage.  I have been known to actually pick things out of other people's garbage, bring them home, and put them in the right receptacle.  Yes, I get weird looks; I really don't care.

In our house, we have very little "garbage." I find a use for a lot of thins most people simply toss.
Some people compost. If they have a food item that cannot be composted, it goes in the trash. Not us. *Our rabbits get fruit/veggie scraps. (Check on line before giving rabbits any food.)
*We save our onion skins in a gallon freezer bag for naturally dying Easter eggs.
*Veggie scraps (that the rabbits can't eat such as lettuce cores, peels, broccoli stumps, etc.) also get saved in a  gallon freezer bag for making veggie stock.
*Veggie water (water in which you cooked vegetables) gets saved in an ice cream bucket in the freezer until it is full. I use this water to boil the above mentioned veggie scraps for veggie stock.
*Meat/Egg scraps get fed to the cat.
*Egg shells get dried and ground up for gardening.
*Stale bread gets made into croutons.
*Food scraps that the rabbits can't eat, and for which  we have no other use) get fed to the chickens.

Then there are things that are not food but must be dealt with.
*Metallic chip bags  saved for wrapping paper.
*Glass jars tend to be saved for storing left overs as I am trying to phase out plastic containers.
*Plastic bags get put in their appropriate bag in the stair well as mentioned in a previous post.

Whenever we eat meat with bones in it (which is most of the time), I cook the bones and fat in a slow cooker for about a day. It makes wonderful stock. When I am done canning the stock,  we set the bones next to the compost and wild birds and our chickens pick them clean.

When J brings home fish, he cleans them. The guts are a much appreciated treat for the chickens. I keep the carcasses in an old ice cream bucket in the freezer. When it is full, I boil them to make fish stock. Admittedly, this has an awful odor. Once I strain everything out, the stock gets canned and the rest goes to the birds, another much appreciated treat.

J also water foul hunts. We know a man who happily takes the large flight feathers for making fishing tackle.   The rest of the feathers get composted. Some people say you shouldn't do that, but we do and have had no problems. I scrape the fat and render it down. From the offal, we eat the heart (usually that day) and the liver (for pate).   Oddly enough, even though our cat hunts and eats her prey, she won't eat any of the left over offal. The rest of the guts we give to the chickens. They eat a good deal of it.

Appliances and random things destined for the trash, J takes apart. The metal parts get taken to the recycling place for money. The non-metal parts hopefully get put in the regular recycling been; if not, then they go in the garbage.

Everything else, which isn't much,  goes in the garbage. We only use a bathroom sized garbage can  which is lined with old grocery bags in our kitchen.  We usually take the garbage out every 24-36 hours.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Plastic Bags

Almost everyone I know has a stash of plastic bags some where in their home.  If you don't, I hope that is due to the fact that you simply don't use them and not because you just toss them in the trash.

When I shop, I try to remember to bring my reusable bags. I do on occasion forget.  Lately, when this happens, I ask for paper. If the store is really busy and they have already started bagging the groceries in plastic, I just take the plastic. I so use them in garbage cans for the house and in the car so I don't worry too much.

I really dislike throwing plastic bags in the garbage and our garbage removal company says not put them in the recycling container. So what does one do with all those other plastic bags that end up in your home? What does one do with all the ripped plastic bags?

I organize them, label, and store them in the basement stair well.
*I keep a big bag of plastic bags that have no rips and can be used as garbage bags.
*I keep a small bag of small plastic bags that are too small for the garbage but you never know when you need a small bag.
*I keep a bag of bags that have holes in them.  This bag also hold all the sandwich bags that are no longer usable. I simply cut off the seal and put them in with the other bags. When the bag is full (and I remember), I take them to the grocery store and recycle them there.
*I keep a bag of bags that intentionally has holes in it, like grape bags.
*I keep a bag of bags that are  resealable and meant to be disposable, like the kind of bags in which shredded cheese comes.  I have been trying to use these instead of buying more resealable bags. Does it really make sense to throw out the cheese bag and then buy sandwich or quart size bags? Not in my mind.
*I keep a bag of bread and bagel bags.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Wrapping Paper: Why Buy It?

This year while wrapping presents, we ran ran out of wrapping paper.  Yes, we have gift bags some where. Where exactly, I didn't know, and I was not about to search for them. What to use? Newspapers? It was a possibility, but not very fun to look at. We had a bunch of paper grocery bags I had been saving for an art project so I got some down from their perch. I cut them so they would be flat and removed the thick bottom section. After I wrapped each present, the kids drew pictures on each one.

A few days after Christmas, we had some friends over. They brought with them some bagged popcorn, and when the bag was empty (like normal people) they threw it out. Can you  imagine: just throwing out a non-reusable, non-resealable bag?


I have a hard time throwing things away; I don't like to waste. So I removed the bottom seam from the bag and cut along the tear that was already in the bag. Then I washed the bag.
I plan to use it for wrapping paper. We don't buy  a lot of things that come in bags like this. At least, I don't think we do. My plan is to save them through out year. It will be interesting to see how many we accumulate. I do plan to ask my friends for their bags when we are at a function together like a picnic or beach day.  I don't think I will be lacking when presents need to be wrapped this year.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Want to save money on cleaning supplies?  Read on.

When I was pregnant with my son, I loved the smell of cleaning agents. I would walk down the cleaning isles at the store for fun and smell  the different scents, especially the laundry detergent. What wonderful sounding names, "Mountain Breeze," " Lavender Fields," "Clean Linen," "Spring Rain."  They all sounded so beautiful, and they all smelled great.  

After my son was born, I started to think about all the chemicals in those cleaning agents. Did I really want all those unpronounceable concoctions near my new baby? No, I didn't. So I stopped buying them.  I  don't buy many cleaning supplies anymore.

For windows, I  use a bucket of soapy water and a rag. Some times, I use vinegar, but I don't like the smell.  Some essential oil can be added to the vinegar for a different scent.

For cleaning the bathroom or kitchen sink, I use a mixture of dish soap and baking soda.

For cleaning the hood above the stove, I again use baking soda.

For general dusting, I either use dish soap in a bucket of hot water or I substitute the dish soap for Murphy's Oil.  I have read that olive oil can substituted for Murphy's Oil, but I have never been happy with the results.

I do still buy dish soap and laundry detergent. I would like to make my own, but so I have not been happy with any of my results. (I use "soap" and "detergent" inter-changably even though I know better.)  For my dishes, I make sure the soap is not anti-bacterial. For laundry, I go for a scent free. I have been experimenting with essential oils, but so far I have not found a combination I like. I also keep a small bottle of bleach on hand for things that MUST be bleached.

For cutting boards, I wash them as usual then  I spray peroxide on them followed by a vinegar spray.

What does that leave me with? Dish and laundry detergent, bleach, vinegar, baking soda, and some Murphy's Oil.
Even after filling up the dishwasher and doing dishes by hand (I am done doing dishes when the clean   side is full), I still have dishes left. Many of my friends can't sleep until all the day's dishes are washed. Dirty dishes have no such power of over so they will get washed with the breakfast dishes. 
So here is the mess I made just making dinner (spaghetti and sausage) and dessert (cupcakes). The cupcakes were a new recipe and a bit messy. Otherwise, spaghetti doesn't usually cause such a mess. And, it's not all from dinner; there are some dishes left over from throughout the day.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

One of the homesteading skills I really enjoy is canning. It is a lot of work; it takes time and energy, but when all is done, you have food. I am lucky enough to have a large basement and a husband who can build shelves. This is not one season's worth of work.  This is years of work and learning. 

When we bought our home in 2008, we had a small "pantry" in the basement. It consisted of 6 or 7 shelves about 3.5 feet wide and about 2 feet deep.  I thought, "If I could fill these shelves with home canned food, I would be happy." Seven years later and those shelves have been replaced by second-hand and homemade shelves that take up about a quarter of our basement. 

Well what's in all those jars you ask? I can many things: stocks (ham, chicken, pork, beef, fish, vegetable, venison, duck, goose, and rabbit), meat (all the things listed previously), peaches, applesauce, pears,  peppers, ginger tea, greens, salsa, tomatoes,  beets, beans, pickles,  lard, bacon grease, duck fat, goose fat, jam, (oddly enough no jelly), marinades, croutons, spaghetti sauce, and soup. I probably forgot a few things. 

As it is winter, canning has slowed down a bit, but I will post when I can some thing. I will try to take pics during the process so you can see how messy things can be.

I generally do not enjoy homesteading blogs that only include pics of things that go right. Their "messes" still seem pretty and quaint. Not mine. They are real, and I hope to share them with you.