Growing up I can’t remember any rhyme or reason to the meals we had. Raising two children we have fallen into meal patterns. We have taco Tuesday every week but we have it on Wednesday! Most Mondays my husband and I have composed salads and I cook some kind of animal protein for our teenage son. On Fridays we always have seafood and challah for shabbat. My husband cooks that meal. Every Saturday morning we have pancakes or waffles. Every Sunday night we have some kind of pasta for dinner. The rest of the days of the week what I cook depends on what vegetables look good and whether the hens are laying. I do have a set of vegetarian recipes in high rotation. I usually make a legume main dish each week - lentils, dal, etc. I try to make a chicken dish once a week for my son. My husband will not eat any creatures except for ocean dwellers or freshwater fish.
During the pandemic’s early days we planned the shopping weekly around a set weekly meal. That made a huge difference in ease of planning and less wasted food. Now we are back to chaos and much more frequent trips to the store. Luckily, it’s an easy and pleasant walk to the store.
Refurbish is my middle name! Or is it repurpose? Anyhoo, there have been a couple of times when I’ve led children’s tie dye projects. That dye, once mixed up, is only good for 24 hrs. Can’t waste that! I had a big stash of yellow napkins with lots of stains. They got transformed into amazing explosions of color. Very much improved. Boring beige silk top and linen blouse turned one of a kind mauve and gifted to my niece who treasures them. I’ve repaired moth holes in my wool long undies by felting polka dots in each hole. My kids laugh at me when I wear that shirt so that’s fun too. I’ve repaired tears in silk blouses with simple embroidery.
Lastly, I had a pair of worm out terry cloth potholders that were just right in size and flexibility. I couldn’t find a replacement even though I looked high and low. I refurbished them by cutting up a pretty dish towel and using it to re-cover the potholders. Sewed right over them with an x in the middle and top stitching all around. They’ve lasted another 12 years!
We have a nice little peach tree that my son claims to have planted with his friend when they were little by spitting pits all summer into my herb garden Its just by my door in an inconvenient place. I kept meaning to move it but never got around to it and then it got to be too late. It’s a sight to behold in the spring, a beautiful pink cloud. It sets fruit nicely but just as they should be ripening the fruits start to rot. It happens to just about every fruit so we get no yield. They say that peach trees down here in NC require lots of different sprays. I wonder if there would be a way to protect the fruits.
Great ideas! Thank you all! I have a stash of baby food jars somewhere. And I have a lot of cotton fabric left from mask making. I wonder if bee propolis could be used instead of pine resin. It’s the bees transformation of tree resin!
This is my first beeswax harvest! The first thing I made was a batch of board butter- beeswax and coconut oil salve to treat dry cutting boards and wooden spoons. It is solid but kinda squishy. I want to give it away as presents but I don’t have a stash of containers. I can re-melt it and pour it into any container. Altoid tins would be great but I don’t buy them so I have none. What would you use?
I get wicking in spools from Michael’s. My local bee keeping supply store sells wax foundation - Bailey’s Bee which you can get from them online https://shop.baileybeesupply.com/cproduct/939/foundation-medium-cut-comb-5lb-bx. This stuff is thinner and harder to roll than the colored sheets they used to sell there for candle making. Now I have had to get that online at the vendor I hate to support.
If you end up with leftover mashed potatoes you can make a Shepard’s pie or between layers mashed potatoes out a filling of grated cheese, onions and leftover fish (or canned tuna fish). Top with cheese and bake. Or use your hands to make a ball of mashed potatoes then press to flatten a bit to make room for a stuffing such as curried peas, then close up the hole and sautéed in butter or oil.
Potato latkes!!! Grate about 3-5 lb potatoes, coarse holes. Salt and put in colander over a bowl for 20-30 minutes to drain. Meantime, heat up some cooking oil to fry them up and get the other ingredients ready for the batter. Grate a big onion (also on coarse) add an egg and a tablespoon or so of flour (you can leave this out too). Press on the grated potatoes to squeeze out extra liquid. Add potatoes to egg mixture. Carefully tip out the potatoes juice so the white potato starch residue stays behind. Mix the potato starch in with the potatoes. Drop spoonfuls of this batter into the hot oil. Patiently wait until they turn golden then flips to cook the other side. Drain on a paper towel and keep warm on a plate in a low oven while you cook the rest up. To serve - add a dollop of apple sauce or sour cream and eat! these can also be baked.
This year all the pecan trees in my neighborhood in central North Carolina have given bumper crops of nuts. The crows have gone crazy, gathering by the dozens over the weekend, cawing to each other and pecking open nuts to feast on along with the busy squirrels. The loud crunches and pops when the cars drive by and squash the ones on the street do upset me. The pecan trees in my yard yield the smallest nuts. The ones across the street are medium sized. And the ones in my neighbor’s yard are behemoths. Funny thing is, they all taste the same, scrumpdilicious! I think they are all wild ones. In five minutes we can fill our pockets to overflowing with free food. That’s one think I’m thankful for this season.
Katie Dee wrote: chillblains, caused by putting cold feet next to a very warm rice bag.
Thanks for the reminder. Make sure that the rice bag is not heated to a dangerous level. Although I use a microwave that takes 4 min to heat the perfect level for the amount of rice that I have in my biggest bag, the amount of time would have to be adjusted downwards for a smaller volume of rice. Also, it is probably possible to heat the bag of rice on or near a woodstove if it is put in an appropriate container and turned frequently until warmed. BTW, chilblains, a painful, itching swelling on the skin, typically on a hand or foot, is caused by poor circulation in the skin when exposed to cold.
We have a progression of sheets, duvets, and duvet covers to correspond to the seasons. Sheets and duvet covers cycle through the seasons from linen (IKEA has the least expensive linen) to cotton flannel. Extra layers: wool-filled duvet, thick Peruvian alpaca blanket (purchased in 1977!). The real trick for me is to heat up my feet before going to bed in the shower or a foot bath. And to warm my side of the bed with one or more heating bags. My husband is furnace man. He needs none of this. We both like to sleep in a cold room but my side needs a heat boost. My main heating bag has about 3 lb of raw rice (the cheapest white rice available) sewn into an old pillowcase. I sewed a removable and washable cover out of scrap flannel. I heat this in the microwave for 4 min. It radiates heat all night. In the day, I use it on my lap when I sit at my computer. When I’m not typing, I rest my hands there too and they stay thawed out. I have made these rice bags of different sizes and shapes for different purposes. I’ve filled old wool socks and these work wonderfully draped around my neck. The rice in the bag lasts more than one season. When it gets too broken down it can be cooked up for the hens or composted.
Calamondin orange! The delightful fruit makes fabulous marmalade, with its sweet skin and tart, juice interior. I live in 7A, USA so it has to live in a pot and come indoors to avoid the frost. I grow Meyer lemon, kefir lime, and cotton (etrog) that way. I use the leaves and flowers too.
Our bunnies (n=2) love comfrey. The bumblebees love it too. I have it growing along my apple Belgian fence along with fennel, asparagus and alpine strawberry.
I bought a big candy roaster at the farmer’s market from apple farmer who comes down every week from the NC mountains. I sliced it longitudinally and roasted it to stuff for a large potluck gathering. (See the fork in the picture to get an idea of its size) Wowza! It was so delicious, better than any winter squash I ever tasted. I couldn’t stop eating the top half while I stuffed a red lentil bulghar pilaf into the bottom half. I eventually made a garbanzo squash hummus-like dip from it. The seeds were outstanding too, large, green, and nutty. I saved them all to grow next year. Apparently this variety was developed by the Cherokee people. The internet says it’s one of the best storing squashing. I can’t wait to buy more from him and to try growing my own next year. I hope it likes to be trellised.
I’m not sure that’s the right question. Implementation in average existing housing stock prevents people who learn about it from moving forward. I looked at a bunch of the videos and dove into learning about rmh. While learning I have kept open my mind for how we could make this work in our house. I don’t see it yet. I have not heard any discussions about making this work for the majority of houses in the US. Most people do not live in MOntana. (We only wish we did!). Get some architects involved and make some RMH that would work in the average middle class home. Back to my situation. Our house was built in stages. The first stage was the late 1700’s. Those rooms have shallow fireplaces meant for heating with coal. There are three more fireplaces from renovations in the mid 1800’s, including a huge stone double hearth fireplace - one hearth faces the dining room and the other the kitchen. We installed a Morso squirrel in the dining room hearth. In the den we installed a small Jotel stove in that fireplace. I cannot fathom how we would reconfigure to include a RMH into our situation. Where do I go from here? Where are examples that look more like they belong in average houses?
Rachel Royce wrote: There was some sort of succulent, a type of sedum, that we played with too. We would pick a leaf, carefully press it all over between our thumbs and forefingers then separate the top and bottom layers of leaf at the stem end and gently inflate with a puff of our breath. We called that making frog bellies.
What fun! I want to try it!
And I have a 17 month grand niece with whom I look forward to sharing the fast approaching magical years of exploration and play.
I’ll have to start practicing making frog bellies!
Can you remember how wide the leaves were?
About an inch wide and 2 or more inches long. I remember working diligently to learn to do it carefully in order not to tear the delicate leaf membranes. A very important skill:-)
Thank you Greg! We will try that next time we are by the river where the jewel weed grows. That’s the payoff for putting myself forward to post; I learned something new!
Jewelweed seed pods make a wonderful toy! We spent time as kids trying to find the pods that would explode when we touched them. I taught this to my children and they have loved doing that too. There was some sort of succulent, a type of sedum, that we played with too. We would pick a leaf, carefully press it all over between our thumbs and forefingers then separate the top and bottom layers of leaf at the stem end and gently inflate with a puff of our breath. We called that making frog bellies. We also would strip the petals away from vinca flowers to get at the fairy toothbrush hiding inside.
Thanks for the ideas! I have several aloe plants growing for looks. I have never made use of their gel. Ready to try it! Do I just split the leaf and scrape out the gel or does it have to be processed in some way (heated? Diluted?)
Carla, what would it look like to dye salt and pepper hair with indigo? Would the gray/white hair become light blue or dark blue? The pepper part of my hair is almost black. Would it get darker? Thanks!
What I really need to learn how to make is some sort of hair gel to tame the frizzies. Any solutions out there?
We have a lot of plantain in the yard. To infuse the oils do I use the leaves, the flower stalks, flowers? Do I have to dry them first or use fresh herbs?
Instead of freezing extra leftovers as is, I dehydrate them. Sauces become like fruit leathers (works well for tomato sauce, tomatillo green sauce, etc). Beans and rice become crunchy. The volume is very much diminished. These are great for camping or for convenience meals. Some need to be refrigerated or frozen still. Some that are completely dry (beans or rice) can be stored in a jar at room temp.
We want to bury my mother in law’s ashes in the flower garden next to the apple trees. Long ago she gave me the yarrow planted there from her garden. I also have a lot of fennel, comfrey, feverfew, poppies, daffodil, dahlias as perennials in the apple tree bed. I plant zinnias and other annuals there too. The internet says that human cremation remains have too much salt and are too alkaline to be good for garden plants. How can I neutralize her ashes and deal with the hypothetical high salt content so that the apple trees and flowers do not suffer? Thank you for your help!
I used to have to park in a rich neighborhood and walk the rest of the way to work. Over the years I picked up a great haul from that neighborhood’s trash - a worn oriental carpet, a pressure cooker, and a vintage sewing machine.
We recently built a new mobile chicken coop 6’x6’ and planned to use corrugated metal roofing for the sides and roof. That stuff is expensive! Right after I priced the metal I was out for a walk and noticed that the fancy modern house going up around the corner was getting sided in a special shade of blue corrugated metal. I peeked in the dumpster and saw many large pieces ready to be rescued. I wonder when the new neighbors move in if they will notice the coincidence of our coop matching their fancy schmansy house.
I wonder if that is the same as the liquid that forms on the top of sourdough discard that I keep in the fridge until I use it in something. The liquid is clear and dark brown/blackish.
Here is an example of using black Sugru to repair a ceramic bud vase my son made. It leaked but I could not part with it. And also, here is an espresso cup whose handle broke and I repaired in this same manner with black Sugru.
Last winter I winter sowed two types of alpine strawberries and then planted them in a long row of along my driveway in a bed that has 15 apple trees that I’ve shaped into a Belgian fence (espalier). The squirrels are them all but one. Yarrow is taking over the space between them but maybe I should plant asparagus there. The soil is not that deep there. And I wonder if that would be too much competition. Btw, I never fertilize my other asparagus and they have been going strong for 23 years where they get enough water.
In my gardens and landscaping (7b) I have the following perennials or re-seeders that provide good food or garnishes in their season: cactus (for nopales and the fruits), purslane, chives, mints, poke berry leaves (my kids’ favorite green. Needs to be harvested only from young plants shorter than 12”), mache, sorrel (great as green sauce for fish or soup w potatoes), tulips, begonias, fennel (fronds, flowers, pollen, seeds), elderberry flower umbels, and tumeric (tubers and leaves. dig up each fall and overwinter inside), hop vines (shoots in spring are tasty vegetable). Lots of other herbs and seasonings are perennial in my yard, including saffron crocuses and bay laurel. I figure if they help make bland food extra palatable they should be counted.
Carla, it’s true that the wool content is 28%. Thank you for commenting. The rest is Tencel, a fiber made out of cellulose from trees. Tencel is considered by many to have a lower impact than cotton and it is biodegradable.
