DIY Laundry Soap

Today I find myself, the last man standing in a wave of stomach flu. The piles of foul laundry are daunting but fear not, i will prevail! As I need to make some super germ fighting laundry soap I thought I would kick off a new DIY series by sharing my laundry soap recipe. It is so simple and cost effective, it is good for you and the environment. You can tailor the recipe to meet your needs. Besides, why pay for water and mystery ingredients to be shipped all over the place?

here is the recipe:

2 cups of grated soap, any handmade soap or something like fels naptha

1 cup of baking soda

1 cup of borax

1 cup of washing soda

essential oil if scent desired

mix it all together and store. Use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry.

600.00 Grocery Challenge Check In

A day late this week but better than never. We have a house full of sick children which always makes life interesting! The show must go on though right?

This week, I took my whole family with me to do the shopping on Sunday. It was the only way it was going to happen with the boys not feeling well. I will not be doing that again. I like to think, ponder, putter my way through the ethnic market I frequent. It is where I start to make the plans for the next weeks worth of meals. Three children and my lovely husband do not ponder the price of cabbage! Needless to say things made it into the basket that I was just to tired to fight.

Here are the totals for the week:

Farm Box - 33.00

Ethnic Market - 91.00

Trader Joes - 56.83

Weekly total of: 180.83

For a monthly total of: 213.83

Remaining Budget of: 365.17


One thing that has helped a lot has been a loose meal plan. It looks like this:

Monday - Rice of some sort, usually rice and steamed veggies from the farm box
Tuesday - Soup, this is a busy day for us so I need something I can prep in the morning or the
night before
Wednesday - beans or legumes
Thursday - grains
Friday - PIZZA
Saturday - pasta
Sunday - big sit down family dinner, usually meat centered!

Next week, I will post about my food co-op and I promise to keep track of meals and give you lots of yummy photos!

$400 Grocery Challenge

I am coveting beauties shelves!

ok, so maybe you have seen the challenge posted over at beauty that moves. She is attempting to feed her family of three on 400.00 for the month of October. Since we are a family of five these days, I decided to up the amount to 600.00 per month.

My total for the month so far is 33.00 for my weekly csa box. This should be very interesting!

Rainy Day

As the rain falls,

comfy warm socks,

needles in hand,

soup in the pot.

Accomplishments

both big and small. Just in case you have been wondering where I have been! We delivered our lovely baby boy peacefully at home on Jan. 18th!

Yesterday, I managed to make both bread and cookies with said babe in his sling. Mama is getting her sea legs folks.

The View From Here

Pig lounging in the sun waiting for her new house to be built. Her old house finally succumbed to the incredible amount of rain we have had and there is more on the way. Poor Pigalilly, this was a very traumatic experience for her. I had to sit out there and chat with her for two hours to calm her down.

The Pumpkin Feast

The Holidays are upon us! Can you believe it? How this year has flown by and with so little activity here on the blog. I do apologize. This baby growing gig has me plum tuckered me out. Just another two months and I will be chalking it up to a babe in arms! So with the giving season fast approaching, I have been casting about for that special present to make for folks.

With the current economy and life being what it is, I knew I was going to have to get creative. Enter the lovely pumpkin! Many of you long time readers may remember my banana score back in June. So you know what a free food scavenger I am. That combined with my need not to waste anything brought me to this years holiday gift.

After Halloween, what happens to all of those lovely pumpkins that aren't sold? Well many of them are just abandoned in their lots. Sad, forlorn, and looking for purpose! For our Harvest Festival at the Waldorf school, we gathered about 30 of these cast offs and scattered them about. They looked lovely! At the end of the fair, I piled them all up in the back of the Blue Ox and carted them home.


Some have gone to the pig and chickens. I have roasted tons of seeds, so very yummy but most of that delicious roasted pumpkin flesh is headed for my freezer. Later I will process it with the following recipe and give it out to friends and family!

Pumpkin Butter

3 1/2 cups fresh ground pumpkin or canned pumpkin purée
2 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 lemon, juice and grated rind
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

If using fresh pumpkin, mix with sugar, lemon, ginger, cinnamon and allspice in a large bowl. Let stand at room temperature 8 to 10 hours

Transfer to a heavy saucepan, add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat, stirring often, for 40 to 60 minutes, to desired consistency. (With canned pumpkin, mix ingredients in heavy saucepan; bring to a boil and simmer on low about 20 minutes, to thicken.)

Pour mixture into hot, sterile, 6-ounce canning jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal with sterile, 2-part lids and rings, as manufacturer directs, processing 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Cool; adjust seals.

Makes five 6-ounce jars.

and the winner is......

Lucky number three!

Karen, you have won!

Please contact me @ faeriefey84@gmail.com

To claim your lovely lavender basket!

thank you everyone!

The View From Here

When you say POOP? I say Hooray!
Today we put the truck to work and hauled a load of horse manure home!

Happy Garden!

Stocking up for the Holidays - A Give-a-way!

Can you believe it is only 3 months until Christmas?????? How did the year fly by so fast!!!! In honor of the approaching season, I am giving away a Lavender Zen Gift set from the soap shop.

The set includes one of the yummy lavender eye pillows pictured above.

one of these sweet little bottles of Lavender perfume oil.

and two bars of the creamy lavender oatmeal soap!

Wait! There is one more surprise, a solid lavender lotion bar. So yummy but so shy. No photos yet. I said it was a surprise.

Just leave a comment and I will draw a winner on Monday!

Persephone's Pomegranate

Do you know the story of Persephone and the seeds of the pomegranate? Kidnapped by Hades and held in the underworld, she was tricked into eating seven seeds of a pomegranate. This doomed Persephone to spend those months as the Queen of Hades court. Poor Demeter was so heartbroken without her daughter that she allowed the world to fade and die. Only when Persephone emerges again in the spring, is the earth reborn.

In honor of our decent into the dark months, I am offering a special pomegranate soap for a special price. Simply become a fan of Sacred Waters Soap Co on facebook and type FBfan into the notes on your etsy order and the soap will be yours for 4.00 instead of the regular 4.50.

Enjoy!

The View From Here

Babe, my new blue burb!

9/11 Day of Outdoor Service

Normally I never would just copy someone's post here, but this was so well stated that I couldn't do it any better myself. Please find a way to go be outside and do something for the world today. Heal a fragment of yourself and pass it on to others. This is what it is all about folks!




By Juan Martinez on August 31st, 2010

Make a Difference: 9/11 Day of Outdoor Service

Every day is filled with a chance to make a difference, today even more so with the ability to communicate in seconds through a virtual world. We can transfer money to a cause, virtually sign a petition, and spread the word to hundreds of people in our personal networks. Yet, at the end of the day, the challenge lies where words meet action. Where people connect to each other in their communities, to their roots, and create one family. Change is but a single combination of letters unless it is founded in action.

September 11th is a deep wound and just like any other wound either physical or within our soul, one of the cures is found in nature. I think about my Mom’s garden and how it provides Aloe Vera for our cuts and burns. So too can we find healing, hope, and joy in joining together to serve our communities on 9/11. The joy of rolling in the grass, fishing, hiking, or gardening should not be taken for granted just as the simple act of rolling up sleeves and digging within our hearts to rebuild America.

Join us in remembering and honoring 9/11 by hosting a service event in your community.

Visit Sierra Club Serve Outdoors for more information.

Out Of The Box

Every week we go and pick up a box overflowing from our local CSA farm. I can hardly wait to get it home and unpack, sometimes I can't wait. The children and I eagerly dig through the box in the back of the car, each one squealing over some anticipated treasure. It could be the amazing watermelon or perhaps the chalky green bundle of kale but every week there is something for each one of us.

A farm box you say, no control over what is coming? What are you supposed to do with all that stuff in there? How does one get through the whole box before the next box gets here? What was that purple thing in the box? I hear these queries and many more.
I treat it as a game, a challenge to get through all that amazing fresh veg.

This week the box had some really lovely cherry tomatoes, both red and yellow, as well as basil and fragrant bundle of thyme. Out come my favorite cookbooks and the search begins! In my go-to veggie book, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, I found this marvelous recipe for a simple tomato salad. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Cherry Tomato Salad
with soy sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce
pinch of sugar
2 tsp dark sesame oil
4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved crosswise
1/2 cup basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade
freshly ground black pepper

COmbine the soy sauce, sugar and oil in a large bowl. Add the tomatoes and basil and sprinkle liberally with black pepper. Toss gently to coat. Let it stand at room temp. for a little bit, stir and taste. If needed adjust the dressing and eat:)

Now what to do with all that Thyme?????

ready to go!

Back to school that is. He is so happy the day is finally here.
He has been asking since the week after school let out
for summer vacation. For me it will mean some rare time alone.
Time to work, and a little to play just for mama.

The View From Here

Labor Day on the farm.
Doesn't look like any work is getting done.

The View From Here

The crowd is gathering for the second annual backyard concert.
A lovely spaghetti dinner and music performed by all of the teachers
at the Maple Village Waldorf School.

pssst.....that is my backyard!

The View From Here

Yosemite, where I wish I was today!
Look at my darling girl.
When did she get so big?

Polishing a Star

Guess I owe you all a post as to where the heck I have been. Child number three will be joining our ranks in January. So needless to say, the last three months are lost is a foggy haze of first trimester exhaustion and barfiness ( yes that is now a real word). What an adventure the road to our third child continues to be. We are all very excited to meet the tiny being that is busy polishing her star right now, waiting for the right moment to arrive.

our new furry friend

This tiny lump of cuteness was found all alone on our garden path.
No sign of mama or whence he came from.
Poor little buddy!