Kreative Blogger award...

Yep that's a blogger award :) So excited to have it given to us by Kendra of Our Homemade Happiness. She is super sweet and excited about making what she can at home, a rather good combination I'd say.


7 interesting facts:


1. I am the Fair Coordinator for a Self-Reliance fair that will be held in the East Mountains 30 miles outside of Albuquerque, NM. It has been a fun and interesting experience.
2. I used to have bright red hair, and purple and orange and blue. I dyed my hair enough for my whole life time. I haven't dyed my hair in nearly 10 years and I love my natural color. 
3. I love the band The Civil Wars. I love old timey folky blues grassy music I can't listen to it constantly I love me some variety! But sometimes I think I was supposed to live in a different era...but not really cause that would have sucked, you know what I am talking about ladies. -DeAnn


Now to pass the torch onto Carla to answer some questions...


1. My husband and I have a constant running conversation about where we want to move to "someday".  It entails many things we like about our current location, but infuses dreams of the actual presence of water and greenery.  As much as I dream of homesteading, I worry I am too much of a city girl.  For example, I love the IDEA of fresh eggs, but not so much the REALITY of chickens that peck at you or chicken poop.  Sigh.
2.  At our house we jokingly say we are "85% vegetarian" (we officially have "that" kind of house; some of the girls that babysit for us have no idea what in the heck to feed the kids  because there is NO FOOD IN THE HOUSE - meaning lots of grains and veggies but not much in the way of processed foods.  There are days when even my husband says this, haha!)
3. While I love sewing and quilting, most of my time is spent researching / trying out different things about self reliance and natural living, .  Maybe that is more practical for the day to day grind of life with four small children and homeschooling  :0)
4. I think I might have a mild case of ADD - I go to the library and can't help but bring home 30 different books on at least 15 different subjects that seem utterly fascinating.  I think this has spilled into my interests in hobbies and would explain my (many) pile of projects around the house. Not sure there is a way to possibly do all the things I would love to do in this lifetime.


Carla :0)

We are passing on this award to these 7 other blogs...




New life on a homestead   Another Kendra, also super sweet...must be a requirement. Her and her cute little family of homesteaders are always cooking up something fun. The post I linked to from her blog caught my attention, I would love to have one but I guess I should have stuff to put in it first.


Natalie from Prepping with NatSprat,  we actually became blog friends through both of our other blogs. She started her prepping blog very recently and is off to a great start. If you think you have to spend big bucks to be prepared then you need to see her posts on Dollar Tree 72 hour kits. 


I found Becky's post on Canning potatoes well because my dad bought and gave me 100lbs of potatoes and I don't want them to go bad! I have a pressure caner so it's time to start canning...potatoes anyone? :) She has a lot of neat posts go check her out at Simply Self Sufficiency. 
 - DeAnn


Karen Lynn at Lil' Suburban Homestead has a variety of subjects she blogs about. I have particularly enjoyed her homesteading posts on beekeeping, herbology, and especially her apothecary post for making homemade crystallized ginger that I am dying to try out - yum!


I was very inspired by so many posts from Chele at Seriously, that's my life..., she is an amazing lady that has been through some crazy and difficult challenges, and has leaned on the Lord to get her through with grace and a humble heart.  She is a great example of starting where you are and taking small steps to make a huge impact.  


While this is a little more than we are ready for right now, it has been wonderful to share in the experiences of life off grid.  Glo doesn't sugar coat it, and shares the harshness of her challenges, the beauty of nature, and the reality of life on a homestead at Off the Grid at -30.


Last but not least, I love Cari's messages of motherhood, real food, faith, and homeschooling.  Check out some awesome messages as she shares her families journey at An Intentional Life.
-Carla :0)

Here are the rules for those nominated by us:

1.Copy the Kreativ Blogger Award logo and place it in your post.
2.Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog. 
3.List 7 things about you that people might find interesting.
4.Nominate 7 other bloggers for their own Kreativ Blogger Award.
5.Leave a comment on the blogs you nominate to let them know about the award.


Thank you Kendra!

No poo for my hair, thanks

An Alternative to Sham-poo

by Carla Ludington

What shampoo do you use to wash your hair?

I don't use poo.

Sounds deceptive, and a little frightening, don't you think?

Apple Cider Vinegar

Baking Soda

That's what I thought too, when I first heard of no poo shampoo.  It sounded like someone had fallen off the crazy wagon - why wouldn't you use shampoo???  That's a little too crunchy for me, thank you very much. However, after hearing the details,

I confess I have been converted.

Shampoos are (typically) detergents with chemicals such as mineral oil, sodium lauryl sulfate, and sodium laureth sulfate, just to name a few.  Sulfate detergents act as foaming agents and degreasers, and were originally designed to clean machinery.  When shampooing in a warm shower, the hot steam opens the pores on your scalp, allowing your body to absorb even more of the chemicals than they would otherwise.  This can be especially harmful for younger children, as the sulfates can affect their eye development.  (See here, here, and here).

My previous shampoo was "Sulfate-free", but still contained disodium laureth sulfuconate.
While is only half as toxic and irritating and irritating to the skin as SLS, that is only one ingredient in a list of many...

In the process of cleaning your hair, shampoo strips your hair of its natural oil, which is why most people add conditioner (to re-oil your hair).  With all the sebum (the natural oils from your hair) being stripped away, your hair produces even more oil, which ends up sort of over producing, leaving your hair even greasier.  Which is why it feels like you need to wash it every day (and with that routine, you do).  Hhhmmmmmm.......

Besides avoiding all the unfamiliar and unpronounceable chemicals in shampoo, here are a few other reasons someone might choose to try the no poo method:
      - very inexpensive (the ingredients are water, baking soda, and apple cider vinegar)
      - simple / easy to use
      - healthier hair (it will revert to a more natural state)
      - can save time and water (only need to shampoo every few days)
      - (usually) eliminates the need for additional hair products



Here's the skinny:

For washing your hair, use 1 Tbsp baking soda per cup of water.   This usually lasts me a couple of days.  If you have longer hair, just double or triple the recipe, but keep the proportions the same.  Too much baking soda will dry out your hair and leave residue. The theory on this is the baking soda mixture is a base and cleans your hair and scalp. You can recycle almost anything to store this in (I use a picnic style ketchup or mustard type bottle from the kitchen section at the grocers since it has a pointed tip with a lid that just slips on and off).  Apply to your scalp, let it sit for a minute, then scrub into your scalp with a circular motion, just like you would shampoo.  Rinse with warm water. (For those who prefer a visual run-through, Stephanie at Keeper of the Home shared a video blog.)

To detangle and clarify your hair, rinse your hair with a mixture of 1-2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (ACV) per cup of water. I use another picnic type bottle, but some people use a spray bottle.  Ideally you would rinse your scalp in cold water for this one, but I admit I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to cold water in the shower (or anywhere else, for that matter!).  The ACV rinse helps neutralize the pH of your hair after the baking soda mixture.

Can you say detox?

So here's the catch - remember when I said your hair will produce oil to counteract the oils being stripped by the shampoo?  Well, when you switch over to no poo, it may take your hair awhile to realize it is not being stripped anymore.  In the meantime, expect anywhere from 2 weeks to 8 weeks for your hair to adjust and revert to a healthier version of itself.  Emily at Live Renewed suggested a shampoo bar or decreasing your shampoo routine to every few days to try to decrease the amount of oil produced from shampoo stripping your scalp.  (She also mentioned that since the ACV rinse is not so much for your scalp as it is for the ends of your hair, it can actually encourage the natural oil production of your scalp, so when first starting out you may want to limit the ACV to just the ends of your hair.)  Katie at Kitchen Stewardship found that if things weren't going so well with her hair, sometimes the recipe just needed a little tweak.

I wasn't ready to go crunchy cold turkey, so I initially tried a shampoo bar (which lathers like shampoo).   It left my hair feeling a little weird, dried out and frizzy, but I think it was just going through the de-tox.  Once I ran out of the shampoo bar I switched to no poo, which was about the same initially, but got better fairly quickly, but again, I think that a lot of that was the detox for my hair. Whatever the reasons, my hair was pretty gross for what felt like forever.  I was ready to give up on several occasions.  Living with hair that felt thick, greasy, and dirty was not so pleasant.  Thank goodness it didn't last forever!  Now I am so happy with it.  It feels softer and has better body to it, and it just feels good to know I am taking care of it in a way that is easy, inexpensive, and earth friendly. My husband misses the flower-y smells of my previous shampoo, but ironically his favorite ones were advertised as having herbal types of smells like 'rosemary-mint'.  I am thinking I will try adding some essential oil to my ACV.

A few tips:

After the de-tox phase, if your hair is still too oily, try decreasing the amount of vinegar in the rinse, or switch to using lemon juice instead of ACV.

For hair that is too dry (i.e. from winter weather), add 2-3 drop vitamin e oil to the ACV rinse.

For hair that is too dry (not from winter weather), try using less baking soda or using honey in the clarifying rinse instead of ACV.

For an extensive list of suggestions on how to tweak the recipe for your hair type (i.e. greasy, frizzy, dry, itchy scalp, dandruff, etc.) and a list of herbs you can add to improve the health of your hair, see here.

Have you tried no poo before? How did it work for you? What factors make it more or less likely for you to try it out now or in the future, or to stick with it? If you aren't quite ready to leave the poo, how about trying a shampoo bar , using a greener option, or maybe just using your traditional shampoo 1 day less a week?

Bug out!!! A guest post from NatSprat!

I am so excited that Natalie is here today I have gotten to know her from my other blog The SIP project and her first blog NatSprat and when I found out she was into self-reliance and just started a new blog called Prepping Up with NatSprat I had to have her guest post...still following me? She did this fabulous post on 72 hour kits and I wanted to share it with YOU. I haven't seen a better post for a 72 hour kit. If you didn't know what to put in your 72 hour kit...now you do!

Hi! I'm Nat from over at NatSprat.blogspot.com and I am SOOOO incredibly excited to be guest posting here at OJTSR! These women are absolutely incredible and I am just so honored to be here! I was asked to share a post I did on putting together my 72 hour kit, or as I call it, my Bug Out Bag!

Basically, it's a 72 hour kit, which if necessary, can be thrown on and carried if there is some sort of emergency. We live in Colorado, so I have packed this bag according to things I might need in Colorado. If you live in, say, Florida or Hawaii you might pack differently. Also, if you have babies, you'll need to pack accordingly for that: diapers, baby food, etc. However, I think most things I have will apply to pretty much anywhere. So, what do I have in my Bug Out Bag? Let's take a peek, shall we?

First, let's go over some of the basic tools that I have in my bag.

Basics

1. Binoculars so you can see over the river and through the woods, of course...

2. Gerber Multi-tool. Basically...a pocket knife which also folds into pliers and has other "accessories" such as screw drivers, mini saw, various other blades, etc. I made sure it was a good brand, because if my life depended on this knife, I sure as heck wouldn't want it to break on me.

3. A knife sharpener...don't want a dull blade!

4. A compass with magnifying glass (also included with this but not pictured is a Colorado map, so include one from wherever you live!) Um...and know how to read a map. ;)

5. Extra Batteries (for the walkie talkie and flash light)

6. LED Flashlight: I recommend LED flashlights because the bulbs last about 100,000 hours, whereas an incandescent bulb will burn out around 40 hours. LED flashlights are also more rugged and drain batteries 3 to 5 times slower than regular incandescent flashlights. They cost more, but it's worth it. I know I sure as heck don't want my flashlight going out in the middle of the night while trying to find camp. We all know that this is when Bigfoot attacks. *shudder*

7. Walkie talkie. My husband has the other one in his bag, so we will be able to communicate with each other in case we get separated. Make sure you have your stations set right and you know how to use them."Marco!"....."Polo!".....

8. Waterproof/windproof matches

9. Flint firestarter...just in case the matches don't work or I run out.

More camp basics:

1. Roll of toilet paper and Germ-ex wipes: Because...well...when you gotta go, you gotta go.

2. Camp cookware and utensils

3. Folding camp stove

4. Portable cooking fuel (Sterno). So, basically, you unfold the stove, light the fuel, put it in the stove, and cook on top of it. And you don't have to worry about building a fire or anything.

*Here's a link to a folding camp stove with cooking fuel on Amazon.

See? Easy Peasy.

5. Work gloves.

6. Gerber camp axe: because the mini saw in my multi-tool just isn't going to cut it. Literally.

7. Tarp: can be made into a shelter (I'm still searching for a good tube tent that isn't the same thickness of Saran Wrap!!!)

8. Rope: a necessity!

9. Winter hat because as much as 45% of your body heat is lost through your head!

Personal Care Items

1. Mascara. Because even if I'm in the woods, I at least have to have mascara on to feel like a human being.

2. Travel size shampoo, conditioner and lotion.

3. Travel size soap. Because I don't want to stink.

4. Kleenex

5. Body powder: also helps if you are chafing!

6. Diaper wipes: These are for if you need to freshen up and no water is available.

7. Feminine products. Because Mother Nature doesn't care where the heck you are.

8. Chapstick because I would die without it.

9. Bug Spray

10. Sunscreen

11. Travel size deodorant

12. Travel toothbrush and toothpaste.

13. Mini sewing kit. You know one of your kids is going to get their shirt ripped on a tree. It is inevitable.

14. Folding hairbrush/mirror and hair ties.

Keeping Warm and Dry

1. Emergency blankets...I got the more durable kind. Hopefully they will hold up to wiggly little kids better!

2. Hooded poncho: never know when it may rain.

3. Marker, paper and tape: leave notes to help people find you, etc. And duct tape is just flipping awesome and you should ALWAYS have some with you. ;)

4. Trash bags: these are all kinds of useful. Use them as back up ponchos, use them to keep your stuff dry, use them as extra liner to sleep on. You can even use them to collect rain water or make a solar still.

*What's a solar still? It's a great way to collect water in emergencies. Click HERE to learn more!

Drinking Water

*Just because most people can live from 3-5 days without water doesn't mean we should!

1. Actual ready to drink water bottles. Can you believe it!?! Now, remember that a gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds. While water is very important in a survival situation, so is being able to actually stand up and walk.

2. Flavored drink packets just in case I have to use the water purification tablets and the water tastes funky.

3. Water bottle with built in water filter. This water bottle filters out 99.9 % of Giardia Lamblia and Cryptosporidium cysts. VERY IMPORTANT!!! Never drink out of rivers, lakes or streams. Unless you want to be vomiting out of one end and more unpleasant things coming out of the other end.

*want one? Here's a link to them!

4. Water purification tablets: another good thing to always have with you, just in case.

Food

Food seemed to be the most stressful part of packing my Bug Out Bag. Especially because I have 3 little kids. I wanted foods that were portable, had a long shelf life, and actually EDIBLE. I found that there were actually a lot of options for food. Here are a few!

Mountain House Freeze Dried Food

One bag of these runs around $6 and has 2 servings. They last a looong time. If water isn't an issue, these are great. They are super light weight and don't take up a whole lot of space. But if you aren't planning on having much water with you, I'd look at the other options. You have to add 2 cups of boiling water to these pouches. I think these sound pretty yummy!

Another very popular option is MRE's, or Meals Ready to Eat. These have a shelf life of about 5-7 years. (or longer, depending on the temperature they are stored at). I have a Brother-In-Law who was a Marine, and he said that these are actually pretty good. These run about $2.50 each, and each meal is 1 serving. You don't have to add water, just heat up the pouch, open it up and chow down. There are lots of different meals to chose from, as well as snacks, side dishes, and desserts! I got mine from

BePrepared.com
(I seriously love that place.)

Another option is just finding things at your local grocery store! This is an example of breakfast: Instant oatmeal, cereal bars, and hot chocolate. I got all of these things from Walmart! Keep an eye on the expiration dates, though.

These are more grocery store foods. (One of my lunches, to be exact!)

Tuna salad with crackers, granola bar, applesauce, fruit snack, and a crystal light energy water pack.

These Compleats are good, too! The shelf life is about a year, and they have lots of really yummy flavors! I'm planning on just dumping mine into my cookware and heating it up. I can only imagine how wonderful this would taste after a long day of surviving in the woods. :)

This is one of Kate's lunches. Mac & Cheese, applesauce and fruit snacks. Things I know she'll actually eat! And again, no water needed, and the Chef Boyardee things have a pretty good shelf life.

Medical Supplies

1. General First Aid Kit:

* Band-aids of various sizes

* antibiotic ointment

* thermometer

* triangular bandage

* eye rinse

*antiseptic wipes

*Calamine lotion (anti itch cream)

* medical tape

* Sterile gauze bandages various sizes

*Sterile gauze wrap

* acetaminophen and ibuprofen

*antacid tabs

* non-latex gloves (2 pairs)

* burn cream

*tweezers

*scissors

2. Snake bite kit (sure hope we don't have to use it...)

3. Blister Care Band-aids

4. Masks

5. Various commonly used OTC medicines at our house: children's Tylenol, Mucinex packets, my Zoloft (yes...I need my happy pills!) and Whitney's inhaler. Ohhh...it would be such a bad thing if we didn't have it with us!

6. ACE elastic bandage

7. First Aid Guide: In case I freak out and can't remember how to put on a Band-aid.

A few other things to put in your bag (I didn't take pictures of these...sorry!)

*an extra change of clothing
*important documents
*cash!!!
*a portable handheld radio (the kind you can wind up by hand)
*folding camp shovel
* fun things for the kids: coloring books, card games, etc.

*scriptures and journal

 Can you believe that all of those things are crammed into that backpack? ROCK ON. If I forget anything or add things I'll update as I go. Also, my kids each have their own Bug Out Bags, and they just carry the very basics. Otherwise, they would fall over and cry and we would never get anywhere. The end.

If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment and let me know! Hopefully you found this helpful. You don't have to get everything all at once, just little by little! I made a goal to get at least ONE thing for my pack every time I went to the store. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps. Baby steps to Walmart....baby steps to the back pack isle....baby steps to the camping section....hahah. :)

Annnd, that about covers it! Thank you SOOO much for having me here, ladies! It's been a pleasure!

Homemade Foaming Hand Soap

Handmade Foaming Hand Soap
by Carla Ludington

Currently we have two kids that are mostly potty trained (meaning mostly potty trained, most of the time, lol) & a baby in diapers. No joke, I feel like I am washing my hands ALL. THE. TIME. And I don't just mean that figuratively!

I have been thinking a lot about the chemicals I am exposed to on a routine basis, and how many of them I bring into my own home. How crazy is that??  I follow Katie on Kitchen Stewardship, and I always come away with something that makes me think for a good long while about how we do things and  consider what is in my life and how earth friendly things are as well as how healthy / safe for my family they are.

We (meaning I) have been switching over to more natural products in our home as things run out and need to be replaced.  In the shower I have been trying out hand made bar soaps with a limited number of ingredients (that are easy to pronounce and traditional / well known).  However, at the sink is the standard soft soap bottle with a huge refill jug in the garage.  It is close to the last little bit of it, and I was wondering, what is out there for the sink besides a bar of soap?  Bar soaps are not super kid friendly at the sink in our house unless you really like goopy soggy bars of soap that get played with in the water X number of times a day to wash Littlest Pet Shop cats, barbie hair, and even the mirror via toothbrush on occasion (hypothetically my sons favorite, lol :0) !  I had heard of homemade foaming hand soap, and was ready to try another 'make it at home' product and hopefully find a toxic free way to do it.

Supplies I used to make my soap:
Water 
Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap
Foaming hand soap dispenser bottle
Aura Cacia Lemongrass essential oil

I was surprised how many YouTube videos and blogs had instructions for homemade foaming hand soap.  There was a divergence on the recipe, half insisted the soap to water ration was 10 or 15% soap to 90-85% water (respectively), and half indicated the ratio was closer to 25% soap to 75% water. I am sure it is flexible as it is not at the same level as rocket science.

Recipe:

~ 1 cup water
~ Approximately 2Tbsp (for @ 10% soap) to 1/4 cup (for 25% soap) liquid soap (I used Dr. Bronner's
   liquid castile almond soap)
~ 8-12 drops essential oil. I would go easy with it to start; this could go either way depending on the oil/
   concentration. My family LOVED the Lemongrass scent - especially, (SHOCKER!!), my husband. He
   even had complimentary remarks about it that he shared voluntarily!!!

Combine and mix gently. This should literally take all of about 8 minutes, and that is only if at least 7 minutes of that is cleaning out the soap dispenser if it has been sitting under your counter for the last 2 years while you empty your jug of soft soap refill.

I recycled a previously purchased / used foaming hand soap container.  If you care to clean it out before you put in the new soap, (see above comment) it takes quite a few "squirts" to get the previous soap out. That being said, give your new soap scent some time to get through the straw and pump mechanism before you add more essential oil, since it does take awhile before it will work its way out and exhibit the 'true' scent in some cases.

That's it.   It's not like it was top secret, but I did have to look it up. Why did I wait so long?  How could something so yummy smelling and good for me (toxic free) be so easy and inexpensive?And I LOVE the smell, every time I wash my hands.  LOVE. IT.  The only way it could get any better would be if I didn't have to do it a billion times a day.....

Since I can remember the last time I refilled it, it is nice to know we are only using 2-3 Tbsp of soap per 'batch' of soap.  For future batches, I think I might try some different essential oils.  I am curious what other scents my family might love.  What is your favorite?

So, to sum this all up: I love the smell of this stuff every time I wash my hands.  This was super easy and cheap, and I will totally keep doing it.  Did I mention how much I LOVED IT ???


You need to check these out:                                                                
        
Straw bale gardening                       Making rolled oats                        The best jerky - How to

Give away winner! Steve Solomon's Gardening When it Counts.

Whoops!!! I said I would announce the winner of the giveaway Thursday at 6pm? Well it's Friday and it's 8pm so I guess that makes me a day late and a dollar short?
 Well you still win Mrs. Diedre Mower!!!
Just e-mail paynelessphoto@gmail.com your address and the book will be in the mail via Amazon. You have 48 hours to get it to me or I have to redraw! Oh...and you could post on Facebook that you won a give away on our blog...just a suggestion though ;)

Thank you all for your entries!!!

This book is AMAZING!!! I highly recommend it!

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil Giveaway!!! Well, sort of...

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil      

                                                    

Carla here, and the big news is: my computer has gone the way of all the earth. Hopefully we will be getting a new one sooner, rather than later. Blogging without your laptop isn't so fun / easy.

That being said, this will be another short & sweet post.

Technically, this is not a giveaway, since we are not the ones giving it away, but there IS a giveaway, and I AM posting it on here, hence the 'sort of' in the title, haha.

We are running low on coconut oil at our house, so I have been checking out the tropical traditions website, contemplating what to pick up for our pantry when I saw a giveaway on captain fussy bucket for a GALLON of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil. Now THAT is some GOOD STUFF! So I thought I should get myself over there to enter the giveaway. The tricky part was, I get extra entries for posting it on my blog, but that also decreases my odds of winning, hmmm, well, I guess you can tell what I decided, this stuff is just too good to keep it secret, and sharing the good stuff IS the whole point, right? :0)

The giveaway ends THIS FRIDAY the 30th, so don't delay!! Best of luck!! :0)

Here's the link to go to the giveaway! - Troical Traditions Coconut Oil Giveaway on Captain Fussy Buckets

Straw bale gardening plus Gardening when it counts giveaway!

Here's the deal, last spring me and my husband dug up/turned 450 sq ft of grass...which we should have done the previous fall...lesson learned. Which doesn't matter now that we are back in New Mexico and we don't have to worry about our garden being over taken by crab grass...cause grass doesn't grow here like it does in Tulsa.

 

Here are my reasons for trying straw bale gardening:

1) We have lots of plans for the 5 acres we are living on assuming things go as we hope they will. We just don't want to put in the work of digging up a spot only to want to move it somewhere the next year or two.

2) Not having to bend over and weed a garden in the heat sounds lovely! It won't be as big a problem here but in Tulsa it was since it could be crazy humid and HOT at 5am.

3) I don't like square foot gardening after reading Gardening when it counts Steve Solomon explains in depth how hard it can be on plants and limit their growth. I understand the appeal and I am sure there are many that are shaking there heads in disagreement with me but Steve Solomon was just too convincing. Straw bale gardening seems like a cousin to square foot gardening but the roots are able to go a lot deeper.

4) It just seems absurdly easy! I don't know if it will be work but if it works like I hope it will then it will be awesome!

wenatcheeworld.com 

Here is a good link to a video explaining straw bale gardening. There    
doesn't seem to be much literature as far as books go, all I have seen is this e-book. His site also includes other info about Straw bale gardening not just the e-book. I also couldn't find any books on Straw bale gardening on Amazon, my go to for books. I think the reason for the lack of literature is because it's so simple. You simply lay some chicken wire down if you are worried about gofers and such, get straw bales NOT hay bales since hay includes seeds. Put about a bag of compost on each bale and plant your garden. Put a souker (plus you don't bury the hose = a lot less work) hose if you want and boom! I would also like to put some kind of trellis behind the straw bales for squash, beans, bell pepper and such...grow up not out!


Here's the rest of the deal...I am no master gardener! We learned a lot about how little we know about gardening with the garden we had in Tulsa. Every state has it's advantages and disadvantages. There is a huge learning curve if you have never had a garden or have only been gardening for a few years and I would rather learn now then when in a time of great need. I'm not an extremist when it comes to preparedness but I don't know the future holds...my crystal ball isn't working at the moment. Gas prices are going up which means food prices will continue to rise and I would like to be able to provide a significant portion of my families produce from our garden.

I don't know if this helps you or not, or where you are as far as gardening ability goes but I would just encourage you to keep going, keep learning. For instance does the lunar cycle really effect when you should plant?

One other thing I WILL be doing this year with our garden is keeping a garden journal because as much as you think you will remember things you won't...at least I won't.

I will do a follow up post when I get my straw bale garden going!

This is the first give away on our blog but I love this book and want to share it with you :)


Here's how to enter:


1) You must like our FB page and leave a comment so we know you stopped by and "liked" us.


2) If you really like us you should just commit and follow us :) But you don't have to, I only want people to follow our blog if they want to.


The giveaway ends on the Thursday the 29th, winner will be announced at 6pm. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me via paynelessphoto@gmail.com or by leaving a comment with contact info or a new winner will be drawn. 

Stayin' Alive with hard & fast CPR

My computer has died (again) and will be gone for the next 2-3 weeks. So, this post will be short and sweet since it is giving me carpal thumb from typing it out on my phone. :0) CPR has recently changed. If someone collapses, you should : #1 ask someone to call 911. #2 push hard & fast in the center of the chest. While there are still times that you might do traditional CPR (30 compressions to 2 breaths) FOR THE MOST PART you would perform hands only CPR. As Vinnie Jones quoted on the UK version of the video, "ya ain't kissin' your girl". The long version is that there is 16% oxygen in their lungs on collapse, and when mouth to mouth is performed we replace it with 13% oxygen (at least that is the explanation my husband, an ER nurse, gave me about it). My favorite part of this video was the way he put his hands through his hair, then pointed to the crowd disco style to find someone to call 911. If nothing else, this spoof video will help you remember what to do :0) Hopefully you will never actually NEED to know this. For more information go to: http://handsonlycpr.org/
 

Turn unused space into useful storage for prepardness

This picture makes these jars look smaller but they're 2 gallons each, I got them at Wally world for $10 a pop. 

Well the whole point of the post is I used this space above our garden bath tub which otherwise had been empty to artfully display and store some preparedness items. It's a large space and these jars look nice and neat sitting there. Groupings of three are pleasing to the eye and there size fills the space nicely. I mean, what else would I put there that's water proof...my kids do a lot of splish-splashing when taking a bath. Somehow they haven't been messed with yet by my two little turkeys. Notice I said yet. There is a space just like it on the other side of the bath tub as well that I would like to store more items like this in. They really do hold a lot. All that soap in it's packaging took up a lot of space in my sons closest now it's on display and stands as a reminder to consistently stock up on items like this. If you are into making your own soaps etc then you could store those items in these jars. Now a previously unused space is turned into prettily displayed well used space. The first jar has toothpaste, floss etc. I don't have it full because I am going to start making our own toothpaste. So I will buy those items and store them in the jars. The third jar has very little Epsom salt in it now but I am going to work on filling it up. 

Why store so much Epsom salt? It's pretty handy stuff. For preparedness I want to make sure I have stored plenty of medicinal things as well.

Well there you have it! Now take a walk around you house and try and see areas in your home that could be put to better use. It doesn't have to be unsightly, put things in new containers to disguise them or to put on open display like soap.Things grouped together in large quantities can look pretty smart.

If you have done something similar I would love to hear about it!!!

You might also like:

Natural toothpaste

A little about homeschooling

Spice it up     

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

My family doesn't just love these things, they literally DEVOUR them.  I think I will have to start making a batch and a half soon!   These are the muffins I referred to in my post on the oat roller mill.  If you were not so enamored by that post, let me just say that an accumulation of stress and sleep deprivation affects my speech filter and editing skills (thank you baby #4!).  So, after several weeks of sleep training said baby, hopefully this post will sit a little sweeter.  Here is the recipe with my baking notes included. Enjoy!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
from the Jan/Feb 2007 Cooking Light Magazine

1 2/3   cups rolled oats
2/3     cup all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat flour)
1/2      cup whole wheat flour (I use another flour like spelt or millet)
3/4     cup packed light brown sugar
2         tsp ground cinnamon
1          tsp baking powder
1          tsp baking soda
3/4     tsp salt
1 1/2    cups buttermilk (I sometimes use heavy whipping cream 'soured' with
           lemon juice)
1/4      cup canola oil (I use coconut oil)
2         tsp grated lemon rind (I use dehydrated lemon rind from the bulk
           herbs section at our local Vitamin Cottage)
2         large eggs, lightly beaten
2         cups frozen blueberries
2         Tbsp all-purposed flour
2         Tbsp granulated sugar

1.     Preheat oven to 400°.

2.     Place oats in a food processor; pulse 5 or 6 times until oats resemble
        coarse meal. Place in a large bowl.

3.     Lightly spoon 2/3 cup all-purpose flour and wheat flour into dry
        measuring cups; level with a knife.  Add flours and next 5 ingredients to
        oats in bowl; stir well with a whisk.  Make a well in center of mixture.

4.     Combine buttermilk, oil, rind, and eggs in a small bowl; stir well with a
        whisk.  Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

5.     Toss berries with 2 Tbsp flour and gently fold into batter.

6.     Spoon batter into 16 muffin cups lined with paper liners; sprinkle with 2
        Tbsp granulated sugar.  Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins
        spring back when touched lightly in center.  Remove from pans
        immediately. Place on a wire rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature. 

I should clarify that in addition to the changes I noted above in the ingredient listing, I also don't strictly follow all the directions above.  If I am using my oat roller mill, I actually use the flour setting (since it is a really course flour) and then I can skip pulsing them in the food processor.  Then I just throw all the ingredients together in a bowl, stir it until just combined, and put the batter into 24 muffin cups.  I don't add any sugar to the top of the muffins.  Most of the time, I also skip flouring the blueberries and just let my kids put a couple on the top of each muffin and poke them in.  Even with all those changes, I have to stay they are still DELICIOUS!!

Natural Toothpaste

My daughter after she lost her first tooth!

There are some people that through heredity or good luck have always had great teeth.  I am not one of those people.  I have always had sensitive teeth, and every visit is dreaded with the thought of how many cavities I might have.

My first visit this year was even more dreaded.  After having a baby last spring, I experienced some post-partum depression (wait, can I say that on here?  As women, aren't we supposed to be perfect and hide THOSE sorts of things as not happening to ME?).  Well, truth is, I had some pretty severe post-partum depression.  So what do you do when you have 4 kids, your husband is out of the country for 5 weeks doing humanitarian aid, all the kids take turns having the stomach flu, one kid has strep throat and then a reaction to the antibiotics, your baby won't nurse, etc. etc.?  Let's just say it involves a lot of movies and caramel popcorn after the kids go to bed so you can decompress.  Yeah, last summer I was not at my best.  (Thank goodness for family and friends, or it would have been much worse!  A huge shout out to my mom for staying a week with us and taking us home with her for another 2 weeks and another one for my sis-in-law DeAnn for taking us in for a couple days as well.)
Combine a crazy summer with horrible teeth, lots of caramel popcorn, not much dental hygiene (at least I was showering on occasion, right?), and I was NOT looking forward to my dental visit this month.  Turns out I had to call and go in 3 weeks early because I had a tooth that was bothering me horribly.  Chewing on a piece of bread was excruciating.  Another sign that things were not looking good for me.
 

Oil of Oregano

Add to all this a switch to a natural toothpaste last year.  A friend of mine said she had a lot of teeth that had cavities developing and was going to need a lot of work done.  She started brushing her teeth with just a drop or two of Oil of Oregano, and when she went back 6 months later, the dentist was a bit surprised about how much better her teeth were looking. 

I am at times skeptical of natural types of remedies, probably because I did not grow up with any natural remedies or products, and have always grown up hearing about (and using) the standard pharmaceuticals for hygiene and health care.  My husband is even more skeptical than I am, wanting a scientific study published in a peer-reviewed journal before he will even consider entering into a discussion about how skeptical he is about it.  He is a nurse by trade, so I can't blame him for being a good one!

My friend had sent me home with a small batch of coconut oil mixed with oil of oregano to try out.  So here I was, trying out a natural toothpaste, where the stakes were high:  if this doesn't work, I am going to have to pay on a dentist bill for the next couple years.  The last 6+ months I have been worried about my "new toothpaste" and if it would work, or if I would be getting dentures prematurely.  Plus I would feel bad enough about it by myself, so my husband wouldn't even have to say "I told you so", since he is very accommodating of my weird natural remedies and is generous enough to let me try and fail at these sorts of things on my own.

I read some interesting things on my favorite homeschool site that I would like to research more.  One thing imparticular that I have learned is that our teeth can be re-mineralized to repair damage caused by cavities.  For this to happen, the teeth need to be clean, not covered in a film of toothpaste.  From some of the other research I have done, it seems that toothpaste has a lot of things that are not ideal. 

Here are the things I have tried and liked this year:

Coconut Oil combined with Oil of Oregano

Coconut oil is said to have anti-bacterial qualities.  Oil of Oregano is a little on the strong side for some (my husband doesn't think it has the same qualities as say peppermint flavor!), so I also added a little bit of Clove Oil to give it a little fresher aroma. When using coconut oil, I would sometimes wonder if it was doing anything, since it does not foam or suds like normal toothpaste. As a society we are used to feeling lots of suds to "prove" it is cleaning, but that is not the case all the time. Also, I try to start brushing before I get into the shower and keep swishing to get a little bit of the effects of oil pulling, but that doesn't happen very often - our house tends to be a busy place!

Tooth Soap - soap shredded into small bite size pieces
This one is Orange Cinnamon with Neem Bark & Xylitol
Sold by Rose of Sharon Acres

Toothsoap is more on the expensive side, but it does leave my teeth feeling squeaky clean (albeit with a small bit of soap taste before you rinse) - the orange cinnamon flavor is nice, and I think the xylitol helps a bit).

Here is another one I would like to try soon.  As I mentioned above, I read about this on one of my favorite homeschool sites.
 


Tooth Chips "Spritz" in peppermint
Sold by Rose of Sharon Acres

I warned my dental hygienist that it wasn't going to be pretty.  However, as she got to work, she said she could hardly find anything.  Turns out my severely aching tooth had a crack in the filling, and the cavity was really deep, so brushing wasn't getting to it anyways.  Report card:  Clean teeth, have the filling re-done.  Yeah!!!!!  Who would have thought???

Do you use something besides the usual toothpaste? What alternative hygiene products have you tried or would you recommend?

How to make the best jerky

Welcome, welcome! I am so EXCITED to finally be able to share with you how to make jerky! I have been wanting to learn how to make jerky for some time now. Here I am sharing it with you but in honesty I didn't want to learn how to do it from a blog or off You Tube. I am weird like that sometimes. I don't like eating leftovers in the fridge after 2-3 days either. What does that have to do with anything? Well I am just paranoid when it comes to doing things with meat like canning it or making it into jerky, I don't want to do it wrong and get sick from it. So I wanted my father-in-law and his brother to show me, I trust them and know they are both incredibly knowledgeable. I kept hearing about uncle Lloyd's jerky from my husband how amazing it tasted and how good it looked...is that his way of saying it was pretty? I think so..hehehe. Last weekend we made a trip down to Southern NM and I made  helped make a batch of Hamburger Jerky I had never heard of it before but it's dang good! Don't take my word for it make some yourself! Wouldn't this be good with part sausage?  Have you ever heard of it before? We also made some venison jerky from a deer my brother-in-law shot a month or so ago. 

It's easy! After helping once I feel totally confident that I can make my own.

Step one: Gather your supplies

This is the recipe for the hamburger jerky we made.

My father in laws modeling debut...with some of the ingredients, he could be the next Vanna White, watch out Vanna. Or maybe he could be a Price Is Right model???

 Step two: Put all your ingredients into your mixing bowl. We used a Bosh there but I have a kitchen aide mixer that I imagine that will work just fine. You could also mix it by hand. Of course if you like things spicy like me then add more red pepper or red or green chile etc. 

With the venison jerky we seasoned it with garlic powder, salt and pepper...generously.

                                           Nope we totally didn't have fun making jerky ;)

What it should look like when it's done mixing   

 Lloyd likes to get as much air out as possible so he told me to really make sure I pack it in good especially into the corners. The reason; air left in the bag won't hurt anything but it will leave indentations in the meat keeping it from being perfectly smooth and pretty.

Step 3: Put meat into gallon bag and push all the air out that you can.

                                    Like my nail polish? It's called Tangerine Crush :)

Step 4: Put your bag of meat in the freezer it will take about 7ish hours to freeze through.

Step 5: Cut your frozen bag of meat into 4 parts.

Step 6: Use a meat/deli slicer, electric knife or the hardest way do it with just a regular knife to slice your meat into the thickness you prefer. I personally like it pretty thin. TIP: it will not be the same thickness that it is raw after it's been dehydrated.

Tip : We also cut the venison when it was partially thawed out. We tried to cut it when it was totally frozen and the meat slicer had a tough time with it so we thawed it partially and it worked great.

 Another option for doing hamburger jerky is to use this tool that my father in law is holding.

Step 7: Put your jerky in a dehydrator for about 24hours give or take a little. You will have a nice pool of liquid fat at the bottom or your dehydrator when it's done. Store your jerky in paper bags. Moisture  is jerky's enemy like all other foods that you want stored for long periods of time. 

I asked my my father and law and Lloyd how long jerky will last, they said oh...about two days depending on how many people you have eating it. 

I really had a great time down there visiting and learning to make some delicious jerky, did I mention it's one of my favorite snacks? 

Next on the list: learn how to make jerky with out a dehydrator and learn to make Pemmican, which his uncle told us about while we were there. All this talk about jerky, I think I will have to grab some...if there's any left ;) 

The finished product.