MAKIN' DO, OR DOIN' WITHOUT....DISHWASHER DILEMMA

Farmboy built our little farmette nearly 8 years ago, pretty much all by himself.
We had the help of one awesome friend, who spent months going in to his job at Amway around 6am, just so he could get out a bit early and come over and help.
We spent days, weeks, yea, even months looking for just the right cupboards, flooring, counters and appliances for our kitchen.
We picked out a nice, quiet Sears dishwasher for bocu bucks.
After all, we wanted it to last for many, many years!
Right?
HA!
Hard well water does funny things to appliance motors.
Like corrodes them!
So after less than 3 years our beautiful dishwasher bit the proverbial dust.
And to replace it would be silly.
Just more hard water running through it's veins would only bring the same fate as it's predecessor.
So, I am makin do!
My dishwasher now holds my LeCreuset pots, which are too heavy for me to hoist up into the cupboards.
And it holds my potatoes.

And I am back to hand washing the dishes.
Actually, I kind of like hand washing.
Gives me time to meditate on the Word.
Pray for my kids.
Think about what the rest of my day looks like.
All good things.

But what is especially nice is when Farmboy just takes over and I get to go get of my feet!

Just one of the perks of makin' do!

MAKIN' DO OR DOIN' WITHOUT....THE UN-FLOWER BOX

This is the "before" of our window box, which is outside my kitchen window.
Normally at this time of year it is spilling over with bright, colorful annuals,
but...
with finances being what they are, there was no extra money for my flower box.
And with a baby shower for Giselle being given here on Saturday, the window box simply could not look like this!
So....with several ideas swimming around in my head, I gave a shout out to Joy, and we came up with this....

TA-DA!

Vintage plates tucked in the soil, with some pseudo herb pots taken from around the house!
I still have some tweaking to do, but for now...at least it is presentable!

Perhaps some of that fake moss I probably have somewhere around the craft room tucked around the edges?

Now I'm off to the farm for my weekly produce pick-up, some of which is going into the menu I have planned for the shower.
More on that later!

XOXO,
Cindy

MAKIN' DO, OR DOIN' WITHOUT...CHEAPIE TEETH WHITENER

CAST OF CHARACTERS
baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, toothbrush


I got this info from Gayle over at "The Grocery Cart Challenge",
and thought I would give it a try.
With the cost of teeth whiteners hovering around $25, this distasteful, yet effective homemade whitener fits the bill for my "makin' do, or doin' without" series.

One teaspoon baking soda, 1 capful hydrogen peroxide.
Mix in small bowl.
Dip toothbrush into mix...brush, brush, brush.
Rinse, rinse, rinse.
Repeat no more than once a week.

Tried it a few days ago, and as Gayle noted, there was an immediate improvement.
I scrubbed all over, not just the fronts of my teeth.
Yeah, the taste was yucky, but not anything I couldn't bear to have in my mouth.
Immediately afterward, I just brushed my teeth with my regular toothpaste.
Icky taste all gone.
Make sure you check out the link she provides, as it goes into detail concerning someone's dentist who recommended this.
Safe,
effective,
and....
best of all....

EASY PEASY!

Disclaimer: I am NOT a dentist, so this is NOT medical advice!

LEMON BALM JELLY...OR...MAKIN' DO, OR DOIN' W/O

Lemon Balm in front of "Constance Spry" rose bush


Lemon Balm, also known as "Sweet Melissa" has been a staple in my garden for many years.
I have made lemon balm tea, but other than that, it has been there more as a backdrop for my roses. It is a member of the mint family, I believe, but not nearly as invasive as my peppermint.

While looking for a new recipe for Rose Petal jelly, I came across one for Lemon Balm jelly, and since I have, let's just say, more than enough lemon balm, I decided to try both recipes!

Rose Petal and Lemon Balm jelly

LEMON BALM JELLY

1 Cup Lemon Balm(I used at least 2 cups)
3 cups water
1 TBL fresh lemon juice (I used 1 1/2)
6 1/2 cups sugar (HEY...I DIDN'T SAY THE STUFF WAS GOOD FOR YA!!)
1 pouch liquid pectin
drop of yellow food coloring (not really necessary, as it comes out a beautiful, pale yellow)

Steep lemon balm in boiled water for 10-20 min. (I let it steep for nearly an hour)
Strain. Bring lemon balm water and sugar to a rolling boil, add pectin and cook, stirring for one minute or so.
Remove from heat, add lemon juice.
Add coloring, if desired.
Pour into hot, sterile jars and seal.

I water-bath canned for 10 minutes, tho the original recipe does not require that. I checked my trusty Ball Blue Book, and it had you water bath all jelly for 10 minutes.

EASY PEASY!!!

We have already enjoyed this with a bit of fresh, minced jalapeno pepper, which we then poured over cream cheese. Served with crackers.

I'm looking forward to having it on some whole wheat english muffins in the morning.

I think I'll be doing a whole series on
MAKIN' DO, OR DOIN' WITHOUT!

Are ya with me?

LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS...HOMEMADE GREEK YOGURT

"I would encourage every family to live within their means.
If there be a way---
and such a way there certainly is---
of living as comfortably and happily, on very small means,
as we now do on much larger ones,
it is certainly desirable to know it,
especially in times like the present.
'But suppose the means are very small, what then?'
WHY, THEN, LIVE WITHIN VERY SMALL MEANS."

William A. Alcott, "Ways of Living on Small Means" 1837

I was an eager observer/participant at our 1st CSA cooking class last Saturday.
Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks???
Chef and CSA member Amy Sherman taught a class on cooking with greens, and it was so much fun!
She had brought a big tub of homemade Greek yogurt and shared how to re-create it.
Greek yogurt at the grocers sells for about $1.75 for a teeny 7oz container.
Dannon is around $2.50 for 32oz!!!
DO THE MATH!

1st off...you must buy plain, full fat yogurt.


It must only contain cultured milk.
Nothing else.
No gelatin.
No sugar.
Nothing but milk.

You line a colander with cheesecloth.
You place colander in bowl to catch the whey that will drip.
You put the runny yogurt into the cheesecloth.
Place all in the fridge for 24-36 hours.
The longer you leave it, the thicker it will become.
Be sure to check the whey bowl often, and pour out any that has collected.
After your 24-36 hours is up, you will have something that looks like the photo above.
Nice, creamy, but very thick yogurt.
You can then create dips and spreads, varying your ingredients depending on what you will use it for.
You could use it on baked potatoes.
You could make a salad dressing.

I made a delicious cracker spread using fresh garlic, dill, some cilantro, and salt.


This is what is left of my second batch, which we ate yesterday.
I made an onion/garlic dip we used for chips.
As the yogurt is quite tart on it's own, I added about 3 TBL of sour cream to smooth out the flavor.
It was delish.
And so very easy peasy!

Farm fun

Casey and Gina

Our oldest daughter, Giselle, her husband, Jon, and our new granddaughter, Trena, drove in from Montana this week for some family time.
Last night we were all together for some homemade lasagna, salad from the garden, and garlic bread.
(I cooked the lasagna an garlic toast on the gas grill...took about an hour on med/low...didn't have to heat up the house!)

And some serious horsehoe games.

Farmboy giving instruction to the young punks on the fine art of throwing the shoe.
Pay close attention, Jon!

Precious Trena Constance sitting pretty for her Memere!

We are lovin' having these guys around, and are taking advantage of every minute.

XOXO,
Cindy

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...

Potato hills, that is...
I knew the rules of potato planting.
When the potato plants get "so high", you mound dirt up all around the plant, so that just the top few inches of the plant sticks out above the dirt.
I JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT WOULD TAKE MANY WHEEL BARROWS OF DIRT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS!!!
(neither did Sam, our 20 yos, who I enlisted to get the dirt for me!)
So now that's done!

A peek at our Lincoln peas, growing up around our pseudo windmill.
Surrounding the peas are a variety of lettuces, carrots, beans, leeks, chard, broccoli raab, and radishes.
Growing up all nice like.
We have already had many salads off this garden, with so many more to come.
You know the drill.
Cut, eat, and cut and eat some more!
BRING IT ON!

A portion of the herbe garden.
The sage has taken over, and I have had to hoik some out to make room for some of the other herbes.
Last year I planted one, lonesome dill plant.
It went to seed before I could hardly use any of it.
This year, there is dill everywhere.
Dill I did not plant.
In the garden.
In the grass.
Growing under the sage that ate Manhattan.
Dill pickles anyone???

How is YOUR garden growing?

Making do, or doing without

"No one will deny the importance of urging rich and poor alike, in the present state of things to try and economise the fuel and food which they may have at their disposal. The sooner we make up our minds that what we regretfully speak of as the "good old times" with their good old prices will never come again, the sooner we shall cease to look fondly back on a cheaper past, and brace ourselves helpfully and bravely to face the increased cost of the necessities of life."

Lady Barker, First Lessons in the Principles of Cooking, 1886

Written in 1886???

This could be written in today's newspaper!
(tho I don't subscribe to the daily paper....trying to economise, ya know!)

There are several things we have done to tighten our proverbial belts around here.
The obvious ones, of course, are quite simple.

No eating out.

No movie theatres.
(that is NOT a hard one....is there anything worth watching??)

Driving far less than ever.
(gas prices here hovering around the $3 mark)
And when we DO have to run errands, killing as many birds with one stone as possible.
Farmboy can stop at the grocers on his way home from bidding a job just as easily as I can.

Planting our Victory Garden.

Raising our hens for eggs.

Neutering our pets ourselves....
Just kidding!

Line drying instead of the electric dryer.

Cooking from scratch.
THIS is an easy one for me, as it is something I have pretty much done for years anyway.

Goodwill shopping for anything we might have need of, clothing wise.
(Even our 17 year old daughter loves to shop at Goodwill!)

Bartering with friends and neighbors, rather than putting out cold, hard cash.

What are YOU folks doing to tighten your belts?
Talk to me!

XOXO,
Cindy

GREAT EXPECTATIONS!

I know it doesn't look like much, but the above is our 1st week of CSA farm pick-up.
For those that don't know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.
A fancy word for a farm that sells shares in their farm, (usually in the fall) and with that money the farmer is able to buy seed and pay for the farms needs for the following season.
In exchange, the shareholder gets weekly produce, to be picked up at the farm once a week, usually beginning in June and ending late October.
I had been a member of our local (all organic) CSA for 2 years, but this past fall I knew I would not have the money for this years share. ($450 per season...which works out to be around $24 dollars a week)
I reluctantly told the farmers wife I would not be participating, but she would not hear of it.
She gave me a share for this year, and asked if I wanted to do a weekly blog detailing what is going on in my kitchen with the current weeks offerings.
Also asked if I would be interested in teaching a class the end of July on Frugal Farm Cooking.
Yes, yes, yes, to all of it!!!
So on Thursday we had our 1st pick-up.
Meager offerings at first.
To be expected.
After all, what is growing in MY garden?
Spring greens, radishes, etc.
But let me tell you...
it gets better and better every week.
Around the end of July I have to make 2 trips to my car, there is so much stuff!

So...a quick stir fry using the bok choy, onions, and chives. And a salad with the red lettuce, mixed with goodies from my own garden.

It's gonna be a good summer!!!

PS...Did you know chive blossoms are edible???

Also posted on:
REAL FOOD WEDNESDAY

Kitten update

Kittens are now 7 weeks old, and are raising Cain!
One of the orange/white ones went to their new home this morning, and the tiger is now spoken for.
Anyone want a kitten?

PS...as you can see, I found all my photos!!!

Hip! Hip! Hurray!!!!

I'm back!!!!
And I think everything is where it's supposed to be!
When the company we brought it to originally said they don't work on crashed hard drives, but send them out, at a cost of anywhere between $500 to $10,000, I cried.
Like a baby.
All my photos from the past 4 years are on that hard drive.
Important documents.
Teaching messages.
I was a mess.
Sam's friend said he took a course on retrieving info from crashed hard drives, and he would give it a shot.
Yay for Sam's friend!!!
Now I just have to find everything!!!

CRASH! BANG! BOOM!

HARD DRIVE CRASHED

POWER SOURCE GONE

MANY TEARS

HOPE TO BE BACK REAL SOON

I am on darling daughter's computer,
but you all know how that is!!!

Love,
Cyn