Happy Fall

Finally, I am updating my blog. I hope everyone has enjoyed this beautiful harvest season. We have had a beautiful fall here. The colors have been bright and varied. My heart goes out to all the folks along the coast that had their fall season cut short by hurricane Sandy. I do hope your lives and day to day routines are restored quickly.




           I can't believe I let most of the summer go by without posting a blog or two. I have to just be honest, I guess I was suffering from blogger's block. Even though, I was busy enough with the garden and canning and would have had content to share, I just had no desire what so ever to blog. I guess I just didn't have a desire to share my days. I think I am still suffering from a lack of words but felt I should at the very least, post something. Who knows, maybe my blogging spirit will return this winter.

Our new garden spot was a success this year. We did a lot of canning and putting produce in the freezer. I know we will be feeling blessed this winter. In the garden now, we still have kale, collards, turnip greens, spinach and sugar snap peas. All of those things like the cooler weather. We have really been enjoying our collard greens and the chickens have enjoyed them too.

Our chickens have really grown. From our clutch that we ordered in the late spring, we wound up with 11 roosters and 9 hens. We still have 2 red pullets from the past group but those gals are slowing down production. In the next couple of weeks, we will be pulling some of the roosters and putting them into the freezer. We are amazed at how much feed we are going through with the numbers we have right now. We are going to pick out two of the most aggressive males and keep them. We were in hopes we could free range them but we are not sure how Buddy will behave with them. I guess before we let go of any of the roosters, we will give them a shot. Buddy may just need to be taught a few manners and that many roosters surly can get him in line. We are also surprised at how much Barred Rocks want to hang out in the hen house even on a pretty day. As you can imagine, it sure makes it necessary to clean their house more often.

Doodlebug has been finding things to love about the cooler weather and the beautiful fall days. She has loved doing her laundry and using the clothesline. As you can tell from the photo, she is still very much so into bright colors. I am still having a hard time with how much she has grown. She is now 9 years old. Wow, do I feel old.

Well, my words are few but my heart is full. I wish you all the very best and maybe, just maybe, I'll be in a blogging mood again before long.

Blessings!

A Gift That Keeps on Giving...

This may not be the ideal gift for many of your family and friends but for those on your list that may be frugal or living on a tight budget, they may really appreciate this as a gift. I know I may have blown the surprise for some of my family and friends that follow my blog. Sorry you all but I hope getting the bucket of suds will make up for spoiling the surprise.

This idea came from the blog of a gal that really knows how to be frugal and loves saving money. Check out her blog, Thy Hand Hath Provided  Jane is always posting up tried and true recipes and ideas. I am a devout follower of her blog.  She posted her recipe for making your own laundry detergent several weeks ago. After reading her blog and others folks comments, I was convinced to give it a try. I was thrilled when realizing, I could do a load of laundry for a couple of pennies plus the cost of water and electricity.

After making the concentrate laundry detergent and giving it a try, I found that purchasing those rubber dryer balls would cut out the need for static and fabric softener sheets. I was so excited about the savings and it was about time to start thinking about Christmas gifts so, I decided to make up buckets with all the needed supplies for my family and friends. I am convinced that if they give it a try, they too will be hooked. I only wished I had a chance to get by an As Seen On TV and pick up several sets of the clothes dryer balls but I have not had a chance to do so.

I picked up the 5 gallon buckets at Home Depot for 2.50 per bucket and the lids which are a must were about 98 cents extra. Then I picked up the needed ingredients (Borax, Fels Naptha Laundry Bar and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda) at Walmart. The laundry bar was 97 cents, the Borax was about $2.67 and so was the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. I stopped in at the Dollar Tree for the measuring cups and graters. The cost for putting together the bucket with ingredients was about $13.00. I did purchase two of the laundry bars for each bucket. 

The recipe calls for small amount of the Borax and the Arm and Hammer and you grate up the whole bar of Fels Naptha. You can grab the recipe from Jane's blog Thy Hand Hath Provided (click here)

I grabbed a small clip art image off of the web, made recipe cards and laminated them to toss into the buckets along with the ingredients. I just hope my family and friends that I made the buckets up for love the idea just as much as I did. It is very simple to make and saves tons of money for months.

Below are a few photos from when I made my first batch. 

I first grated my laundry bar.

Then I added 4 cups of warm water to my pot and set the heat on my stove to medium.

Once the soap melted into the water, it was this butter yellow color and smelled so wonderful.

In the bucket first, I added about 8 cups of warm water, 1 cup of the Arm & Hammer and 1/2 a cup of Borax and stirred. Then I poured in the soap mixture from the stove and stirred well. 

At that point, I carried the bucket to my laundry room and finished filling it with warm water. I left a few inches from the top to allow room for stirring the mixture.

This is what it looked like as soon as it was all mixed together. I was skeptical at this point because it was very thin. I followed Jane's directions and covered it and waited over night.

The next day, I checked it about mid day. It had gelled up so much that about a third of the bucket was a thick gel. I started stirring and broke up the gel. I stirred it for about a good 3 to 5 minutes. 

This is what it looked like when finished stirring it. It makes 5 gallon of concentrate. At this point, I filled an old laundry detergent bottle half way with the laundry soap mixture and the other half with water. 

I then washed about 5 loads of laundry using the homemade mixture. I was convinced after my first load that I loved this detergent. The clothes were so clean and smelled so fresh but didn't have a heavy perfume smell. I even put a small amount of the concentrate in a spay bottle with a bit of water and used it as a spot remover on some of our T-shirts. I let it set for about 30 minutes and washed. It works great as a pretreat.

I am grateful to Jane at Thy Hand Hath Provided for sharing this recipe. I just hope all of my family and friends enjoy saving money all year long with their Christmas buckets.

Many Blessings and Merry Christmas!!!