Make Your Own Diaper Wipes

These are so easy to make and will save a ton of money. You can use these to clean the makeup from your face or where ever you would use a wipe.

I use Viva Paper towels. One of the few times I buy name brand but they hold up when wet.

 

Cut the roll in half. If you have an electric knife it is a little easier if not just use a large sharp knife. 

 

After you cut it in half pull out the center core, sometimes you need to tear it a little to get it started.

 

 

Get  a cup and a half of water.

 

Add 1 Tablespoon of Baby oil and one Tablespoon of Baby bath. I got my baby bath from the dollar store for a dollar.

 

This is optional a couple drops of tea tree oil and about 7 to 8 drops of Lavender. I like to add these for the antiseptic quality's and they make the wipes smell good.

 

Mix all together.

 

Put you half roll in a plastic container. with a lid You can get this from wal-mart or just about any store for not to much.

 

 

Pour the water mixture over the towels and you are done.

 

 

To use pull from the center. Cover when not using. These are so handy for all sorts of things.

Week 21 Food Storage Challenge

12 Mac & Cheese / Dried Potatoes

12 Boxes Mac and Cheese You can use cheese powder and pasta to make your own in that case you need to get Cheese powder. For the price of a few boxes of mac and cheese you can get a can of cheese powder, just make sure it is one you like I have gotten some in the past that I didn’t like.

Dried Potatoes You can get dried or instant potatoes. Or you can dry your own you can go here to see how . I have be wanting to buy frozen hash browns and dry them just to see if they would work I don’t see why they wouldn’t. I will let you know how it works when I do it.

Keep putting back water.

Add some more to your money stash.

Memorial Day

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend, enjoy your cookouts and camping trips , just working around the house or what ever you have planned. But please do not forget the reason for Memorial day, it’s to honor all the brave men and women who served and sacrificed for this country, to protect us and our constitution . Let us honor these sacrifices by not letting TPTB (the powers that be) strip us of our constitutional rights, because if we do all the sacrifices that these men and women made will be for nothing. We are at such a pivotal point in our history we are so close to losing our rights that so many have fought and died for.

So in the midst of all the fun things we are doing please take a moment to honor all these brave individuals who sacrificed so much for each of us. And please remember them, not just this weekend but everyday, and fight for our rights so the sacrifices they made will not of been in vain.

　

Week 20 Food Storage Challenge

Well I just realized I forgot to do this last week, so I will make it a short list today.Sorry so late.

8 Cans of tuna / Popcorn

8 cans of tuna for every two people you are storing for.

Popcorn learn how to cook it on the stove or get a hot air popper.
Popcorn is a great snack and you can make Carmel corn or popcorn balls with it.

Keep putting back water

Add some more to your money stash

Dehydrating Strawberries

I ordered a flat of strawberries from bountiful baskets we ate a few then I decided to dehydrate the rest of them dehydrating Strawberries is pretty simple. There is no pretreatment required

I soak mine in vinegar water for a few minutes to clean them.

 

Then take off the green top  and thinly slice, lay slices  on your trays. ( Sorry didn't get a pic of them on the tray).

 

Dry at 125 degrees it will take about 12 to 18  hours to dry they  will be hard when dry.

 

If drying in the sun it will take 1 to 2 days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To use

1 cup boiling water to 1 cup dried strawberries, pour boiling water over dried strawberries soak 3 to 4 hours pour off any remaining liquid.  

Strawberries may be refreshed and used in any dish calling for fresh strawberries or you can use teh dried chopped strawberries in cake,cookies or bread mixes

1cup dried yields about 11/2 cups refreshed

 

 

Prayers for Oklahoma City and surrounding area.

.
Please keep the people of Oklahoma City and the surranding area in your prayers, as they were hit with a massive tornado. As I understand it the elementary school as well as the high school and the hospital took direct hits. Entire subdivisions were wiped out. Please pray for all the family’s that have been affected by this and also the first responders to keep them safe and to let them find the people still in the rubble. I cannot imagine the devastation, my heart goes out to all the people of Oklahoma City and the surrounding area.




　

Dandelion Jelly

This is so good taste a lot like honey. Very easy to make.

Dandelion Jelly

1 quart dandelion blossoms

2 quarts water

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 package sure - jell

5 1/2 cups sugar

Start by picking several dandelions. You do not want to get from the road sides.   

 

Cut the stems and collars try to get as much of the green off as you can. As you can see I still have a little green but a little will not hurt a lot will make it bitter.

 

You will need 1 quart of blossoms. Raise well, I do this after I cut them if you do it before they are a little harder to cut as the flowers want to close up. 

 

Add to two quarts of water and bring to a boil let simmer for about ten minutes turn off heat and let sit a couple hours you can even let it sit overnight.



 

Cool and strain ( don't look at my strainer to close I have a new one but have no idea where it is lol ) Pour3 cups of the liquid into a large pan.

 

 

 

You will need to add 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1 package of Sure -Jell or equivalent

 

Stir well

 

Bring to a boil

 

Add 5 1/2 cups of sugar and stir well.

 

Bring to a boil and trun down to mediume heatand let boil for 3 minutes stirring occasional.

 

When done pour into sterilized jars, You can use what ever size you would like.  Put on the lids and rings

 

Put into a water bath cover jars with hot water and boil for 10 minutes.

 

Take out and let cool.

 

 

 

 

I doubled the recipe that is why it looks like a lot I got 13 half pints so a single batch will give you a little over 6 half pints.

 

 

Self Sustaining Pantry, Catch Up

Been a while since I have posted this but we have got a few things.

We got two hives of bees our first time to have bees so we are learning as we go.

I found out our town has a bountiful Basket so I signed up for that I got a lot for 15 dollars several avocados, 2 heads of lettuce, bananas, cantaloupe watermelon, lots of bell peppers broccoli cucumbers a bag of apples and I did an add on of a flat of strawberries for 12.50. They do this year round and you get what is in season. If you want to see if there is one in your area you can go to http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/ You will have to create a account then you can go to your state and see if they have one in your area.

Our chickens have finally stated laying good again so now I have eggs coming out my ears.

Got several jars of beans canned.

Learned how to make my own socks.

Dandelion Jelly made and some dandelion tea made for jelly.

9 gallon bags of frozen mashed potatoes.

Strawberries in the dehydrator.

I got a soda stream for Christmas I ran out of the co2 Wal-Mart has the co2 cartridges that you trade in, they are 17 dollars (more than I want to pay) so we took it to the wielding shop and they filled it for 5 dollars that I can live with.

Pepper and tomatoes plants bought, ran out of time to get them started ourselves.

Got the two new areas for our garden spots cleared out. Now to just finish getting them ready and planted. We don’t plant until the first of June to make sure it will not freeze.


Well that is about all I have gotten done the last few weeks be so busy with trying to get water going on the fields, working in the yard and I have had a few extra kids so not getting as much done as I would like. Oh well it will still be there to do when I can get to it lol. Plus school will be out next week and the girls will be home to help get things done. It is so nice that they are such good helpers I would like to say that they never whine about helping but they do have there moments lol. All in all though they are great little workers.

Have you been able to get much done these last few weeks?

Week 19 Food Storage Challenge

This Weeks food storage challenge is.

 50 lbs Sugar / Canned fruit

50 lbs sugar if you are going to be doing any canning you may want to try and get a little more sugar than this.

 

Canned fruit, get the fruit that your family likes even if you plan on canning your own you might want to pick up  a few just to have. Then if the fruit freezes or something happens to it you will still  have a little. Pie fillings also count as fruit.

Keep putting water back.

Add a little more to your money stash.

Don't forget garage sales this time of year a great place to find things you may need.

When planting your gardens and flower beds, don't forget to add some herb plants to them.You might also think about putting them all on a drip system if you don't  already use one. It cost a little in the beginning but you will save a lot on your water bill, plus you can put it on a timer and not have to worry about remembering to water.

Have you worked on learning any new skills? I would love to hear what they are.

I Am Making My Own Socks

 

This is my new skill for the month.

 

I am hard on socks I wear them around the house all the time so they are always getting holes in them.I have been darning our holey socks but there is only so much you can mend something till there is nothing left to mend, so I was wondering about crocheting my own socks I have seen a lot of knitted patterns but I do not like to knit and haven't done it in so long that that wasn't even an option.

I was looking around and found this site  that has a crocheted sock pattern. I changed it up a little just to see if it was going to be a doable thing as you can see it worked, it does need a little improvement but with a little practice this should work out. They will be nice to make for winter and for warmer weather I can use a lighter yarn. I can't wait to play around with this and see what I can make.

When I told Andy I was making socks he asked if we were all going to get socks for Christmas now lol ( Just for that they will all be getting homemade socks for Christmas lol ).

Have you been trying tom learn a new skill and if so what is it.

Control Burn out of Control

 

 

Andy and I were in town the other day when the pager went off. A control burn had got away from some one. So we hurried back out. The fire was about a mile south of our hay barn. It has been so dry that the fire just took off. Burned some small barns and got pretty close to the house. Almost lost one of the brush trucks. It was parked on the road and the fire got very close it melted the seat on of the guys had to cut the hose and get it out.

 
It is so easy for these fires to get away from someone, especially as dry as it has been. When you do a control burn you need to have a least two people shovels and your water hose with a spray nozzle on it so you can have the water already turned on. Then if you need the water you can just pick up the hose and use it.

If you have a large area you need to burn, some fire departments will come and do a stand by while you are burning.

Mothers Day

Hope everyone had a great Mothers Day.

We went out to the point and cooked Andys Mom brunch and did a little yard work for her. Then we came home and built electric fence around the horse pasture after that we got 3 strings of irrigation pipe laid . Then I came to the house and worked in the yard till dark ( why is it my flower beds can grown lots of grass where I don't want it and my lawn hardly grows any lol )then came in and got the house ready for this week.
Andy made me an arch to go over my stone bridge in the front yard for Mothers day it looks so cool have been wanting one for a while. 

Joleen had a wild land fire class all weekend, finished up Sunday afternoon. She is wanting to work on the Fire Dept this summer helping with brush fires. She was pretty excited to take the class.

We finally got a little rain the last part of last week thank goodness. It help green up the pastures so we could stop feeding.

Our irrigation water gets turned on today,( lots more pipe to get laid) they have cut us back some but I feel fortunate that not as much as some around us. Hope we get some more rain but it looks like it is just going to turn off hot now.

I was wanting to get some dandelions picked for jelly this weekend but didn't get to it want to get some picked before it is to late maybe this week sometime.

Have a great week.

Make Your Own Cream Soups

This is so easy to make, and if you have the mix already to go it only takes a few minutes to make. You will never have to worry about not having cream soup for your recipes plus you will know just what is in it.

Homemade cream soup

2 cups instant non fat dry milk powder
1 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup instant low sodium chicken bouillon granules
2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes or powder
1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine all ingredients and store in airtight container.
To substitute for one can of soup, combine 1/3 cup of the mix and 1-1/4 cups cold water. Whisk well, and cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Add to casseroles as you would the canned product. I also make it with Beef bouillon granules as I cook more with beef then with chicken

Mushroom soup: Add ½ cup finely chopped or dried mushrooms
Celery soup: Add ½ cup minced celery or dehydrated
Chicken soup add ½ cup diced chicken or dehydrated
or you can add any think you would like or use as is.

Start with 2 cups powder milk

 

Add 1 cup Corn Starch

 

Add 1/4 cup Chicken Bouillon granules

 

2 Tbs dried onion flakes or powder

 

1/2 tea. Pepper

 

Mix Well

 

Store in a airtight container

 

 

 

 

To Use

Add 1/3 cup of mix to 11/4 cups cold water.

 

 

miw well and put over a medium heat.

 

Heat and stir until it starts to thicken

 

Bring to a slow boil until thick

 

It is kind of hard to see but it is thickened  take off heat and use as you would canned cream soup.

Now that you can make your own it is one less thing to take up room in your storage and pantry.

The Family Cloth

 OK I know this will not be for everybody. But it is something to
think about especially when money is extra tight “The Family Cloth” it is kind of like reusable TP, actually I guess it is reusable TP. Now don’t run away yet, just hear me out. Just think, you would never run out, it is a lot softer then TP, it doesn’t rip or leave pieces behind,and your not filling the septic up with extra paper.

Now some people use them for pee and poo but I haven’t got that far yet ( maybe someday) it is just pee for now .I have a small bucket beside the toilet to put the dirty ones in then I throw them in with the whites ( I just dump the bucket in, that way I don't have to touch them.)when I wash that way they get washed with hot water and bleach. They don’t take up a lot of extra room in the washer so I am not really paying extra for water and soap. I have to admit I really do like using them I am having a hard time getting the girls on this band wagon lol ( They think I am crazy when I come up with these things) but most of the time they come around.

These are so cheap and easy to make . I just go to the second hand store and buy a bag of rags which is mostly T-Shirts bring them home and wash in hot water with bleach. After they are dry I cut them out. You could also use an old flannel sheet.

I use my rotary cutter which is so handy for this.

Just lay out your t-shirt

I have a 8x8 square that I use for a pattern just cut around that. Do this to all the shirt and you will have a nice little stack when done. I do not sew around the edges like some I have seen. Being t-shirt material it won’t fray so I see no point in sewing the edge.

 

So even if you don’t want to do this it might be a good idea to have some on hand if you run out of TP or if money gets extra tight.

So what do you think? Is it something you would consider doing?