Life's Challenges

We all know them from time to time, those hurdles that keep popping up in the seemly never ending race to an image in our mind where we can relax and pursue our own passions. You know the dream of that steamy cup of hot tea placed next to your creative adventure for the day and no demands on the schedule. Ah, that place! Soon, right?

Life is busy. So busy it seems these days that I had to take a vacation to have a moment to blog. It has been since the end of summer of 2013 that I have blogged. I miss it sometimes but I can't say that I am not having a good time.

Doodlebug has found a passion for ice skating. It started a couple of years ago when we were home schooling. This past year she has competed several more of the designations and will be competing for the first time in a few weeks. Leading up to this has been a total commitment for her Papaw and I, not to mention our closest rink is about 20 miles from our home. We have been at the rink on average of 4 days each week. It has been so fun to watch Doodle's ability and confidence grow but classes, coaching and program practices are very time consuming. So much so, I would crindge when an appointment needed to be scheduled or a must do came up.

Soon it will be time to start the gardens, clean and mulch the flowerbeds and get reacquainted with my my tractor. I am looking forward to the garden goodies and digging in the dirt again.

Maybe one of these days I will get to toss a tea bag in a mug and enjoy its comfort and aroma while creating. For now, I guess I'll settle for what each day blesses me with and know, someday I find those creative spaces in time and I shall not squander them.

Many blessings!

That's A Wrap Folks!

I am ready to shout, "that's a wrap" to the summer of 2013. With the very light winter past here in the southeast and an abundance of rain, the bug population got a huge leg or wing up this summer. Papaw took this photo of a preying mantis in the garden last week. I am not sure if you can tell but it was almost 6 inches long. Yes I said, 6 inches long! Get your rulers out and mull that one over.

We have been overrun with bugs of all types this summer. The most hated among them for me are, the mosquitoes, gnats and those dog gone squash boring beetles. Those bugs have wreaked havoc all summer long and I am so over them. Can't you almost just invision me stomping my foot and pouting?

With all the excess rain, nothing really wanted to grow in the garden except for weeds and grass. We did get some veggies but it wasn't bumper crops for sure. You can note all that grass in the photo too.

With all the moisture this summer, there are no need to worry about the extinction of the mosquito and gnat species. They made working in the garden unbearable because, it would take days to recover from being bitten so much. I am a mosquito magnet and tend to be a bit allergic to the bites so, I avoid being bitten almost at all cost. I missed the evenings spent in the garden picking with Papaw like last year. I just couldn't take the bites.

With all my dissatisfaction with summer, my curiosity about winter peaked and I popped over to see what the Farmer's Almanac was predicting for winter this year for the United States. You can read it for yourself here. We need some seriously cold winter to equal the score up with the insect population so, bring on winter. I am ready!!! OK, I say that now. I do hope I am not blogging/whining in February about the cold weather.

I am excited about fall. I am wondering when the real break in the temperature will come. I can't wait for the first cold snap in the air, when walk outside brings a rejuvenation of spirit. To feel the need to lightly bundle up, see your breath in the air and to smell the fresh air with the hints of burning wood from homes in the neighborhood. I do think fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. Oh yes, I am ready for a change. I am ready to say goodbye to 85-89 degree, humid days of summer. Oh well, I guess I should stop complaining and go get on the tractor and do a bit of mowing and trimming around here. Did I mention that I am really tired of mowing grass too? LOL Here's to fall and winter! Forgive me for complaining. I can look on the bright side of it all too. My grass has reseeded several times over this season. I am going to have a fabulous lawn next summer. Oh yea!

Hope you all have had a blessed and maybe less buggy, moisture laden summer than we have.

Many Blessings!

Saving Seed...

We happened to run across a vendor at the Asheville Farmer's market that had a few pints of an tomatoes called Purple Zebra Cherokee Heirloom.  These are more like a cherry tomato. After a bit of research into the variety, there is a Purple Zebra variety that will grow larger fruit. The vendor allowed us to sample one of these and we liked the flavor. We bought a pint to bring home to enjoy but thought right away about saving see from some to grow them next season.

As it turns out, it is pretty simple to save tomato seed. Although, I had not given much thought to the possibility of the seed needing to ferment before drying. As it turns out, allowing them to ferment for 3 days will help prevent any disease from forming on the seed. It is a pretty simple.

All you need to do is wash the tomatoes, slice them open and scoop out the seeds. I used a small melon baller for this. Once all the seeds are scooped out and placed in a clear jar, simply cover the top with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in the top to allow air to circulate. Place the jar in a window so that it will be exposed to sunlight. Each day, just give the jar a bit of a shake. You will start to notice, the seeds start dropping to the bottom away from the flesh of the tomato.

After 3 days, carefully pour the liquid slowly off the top to allow the tomato flesh to drain off. Then place the seeds in a wire strainer and give them one last short rinse with water. Spread them out on wax paper on a plate and allow them to dry for a few days. Store in a paper envelop to help cut down on the possibility of mold to grow. Once the seeds are completely dry, they can be stored in the refrigerator or a cool, dry place to plant next season. Make sure to note and date the variety.

We are looking forward to seeing how this works out. I'll let you know when I start them in February.

Hope you all are making the best of all that summer has blessed you with.

Many Blessings!

Giving Up Paper Towels...

Is it possible to give up paper towels? I think so. A few weeks ago, I read a gals blog that I follow. She wrote a post about giving up paper towels. I honestly can't remember which blog it came from but I wish I could so that I could give credit where credit is due for the idea. It was one of the blogs that I follow or follow along on Facebook. The post was about making non-paper towels and giving up buying paper towels. Now, I am always looking for ways to cut back, save money and natural resources in the process so, I was curious.

After reading her post, I decided this just may be a neat thing to try. I ordered a few yards of diaper cloth from Fabrics.com and got to work. It took me about an hour to make about 30 towels. The measurement is very close to an 11X11 when finished. I measured out a yard of fabric, folded it in half and made two cuts, one at the 12" mark an another at the 24" mark on the cutting board. This gave me three strips of fabric that were 12 inches wide and almost 36 inches long. I proceeded to cut each strip into 12 inch blocks. The fabric is a little shy of being able to make it a true 12 by 12 inch block but it is no big deal. 

Once the blocks were cut and tossed in a pile near my serger, I  loaded it up with multi-colored thread and set out to serging the edges. I tossed them all in a pile and when finished. I used a large eyed needle and tucked the end threads back into the stitching. I then washed them with a load of bath towels.   I added a cup of vinegar to help improve the absorbability.

When they came out of the dryer, Papaw and I folded them long ways and tossed in a basket on the kitchen counter. I still have paper towels on the counter. I had  a large store of them in the pantry but I am retraining myself to grab one of the fabric ones most of the time. I revert to using the paper towels when cleaning bathrooms and wiping down the toilets. I am sure, I will always till have a few rolls of paper towels on hand for cleaning our bathrooms in the future.

The cloth towels made from the diaper fabric are thin but more durable and absorbent than a regular paper towel. I used a single layer of diaper cloth. I suppose if you wanted to have more absorbent towels for cleaning, you could serge a couple of layers together.

We are folks that pull off paper towels and fold them for our dinner napkin so, having fabric replacements for our everyday dinner napkins is a bit of a treat for us.

Little by little, I guess we can all do a few things here and there to scale back. I am all about going green as long as going green makes real sense and does not use more natural resources in the long run. So many times when looking into what seems like a great idea for going green with some things, in the long run really isn't helping the environment, such as solar energy. When one really looks deeply into solar, it is easy to see so much pollution to our planet is happening in the process of making solar panels and batteries and in the restoration of batteries. Going green for us has to make sense all the way around for us. So far, we are thinking that the reusable non paper towel is a good thing. They are small and many can be tossed into everyday loads of laundry without adding too much bulk. It really seems like a smart and economical thing to do for us.

Many blessings,

Mamaw!