Carla Burke

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since Oct 29, 2013
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Biography
A Christian & devoted Patriot, wife, soap maker, herbalist, formerly a homeschooler, baker, truck driver, and more. I was born in the South, but actually grew up around the Great Lakes. Both of my childhood families had big, lush gardens,& preserved everything they could for the winter. I carried that into my own life. But, change happens and for over a decade, it just wasn't an option. Now, retired in the Ozarks, on 29 heavily wooded acres of mostly ravines, our best crops are nearly inaccessible wild blackberries, rocks, wild herbs, and ticks. We're utilizing our burgeoning small-livestock collection, straw bales, raised beds, and containers to build soil, and a better, healthier life for ourselves and our beloved critters, who provide us with eggs, meat, milk, fiber, honey, beeswax, fertilizer, tick control, brush control, 'lawn' mowing, loads of entertainment, and even help turn the compost.
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Recent posts by Carla Burke

I prefer a supported spindle. There's a REASON they call 'em 'drop' spindles. And I find the grip required to hold them by the spun yarn is just a bit more tight, thus a bit rougher on my arthritic & 'trigger' fingers.
12 hours ago
Same way. It takes me back to sitting on my grandma's porch swing, with a bag of them between us, a bag on the porch floor, in front of us, for the hulls, and a bowl in each of our laps for the peas.
12 hours ago
You can also make yogurt cheese. Just put some in a cloth-lined sieve,  fold the cloth over the yogurt. Set the sieve in a bigger bowl, and refrigerate overnight - or even longer, if you like. Move the cheese from the cloth/sieve into a bowl, and taste it. Add a little salt, and mix it in, we'll, if you think it could use it. It can be used like cream cheese. You can also add herbs, or really, almost anything you want, and use it as a spread, a dip, or in anything that strikes your fancy. You can - if you want,  press it, to form it up even more.  
14 hours ago
I have the compact drill - I love that thing! It's hands-down my most-used tool.
14 hours ago
It makes a lot of sense, to me. Seasonal changes happen in pretty much everything, for us. Our truly cold parts of winter are relatively short (here), and our truly hot season is longer. My sourdough, kefir, hubby's sir kraut, kimchi, & beer all ferment at different rates, depending on the season and how we are keeping the house temps regulated. And, I'm ALLLL about making things as easy as possible.
1 day ago
I think the idea of using her old clothes is a great way to ease him through his grief. As he scent in them fades, so will his grief, and he will gradually acclimate to his new life. It sounds like you're doing a fantastic job with him.
1 day ago

M Ljin wrote:This has happened to me with losing track of things. As soon as I've asked about it, they suddenly appear.



In our family, that's called the "has anybody seen my oh there it is" effect - because of me. It seems like whenever I get frustrated enough in hunting for something, that I actually ask if anyone has seen it, before I even finish the question - there it is.
2 days ago
It depends. How much do I love the piece? Does it still have 'good bones'? Have I already mended it so many times that the patches have patches and cover more real estate than the original fabric? Do I care about that, or do I like it even better, with all the mends? Does it look like junk? Or art?

At some point, if I've done it right, even if it's falling apart as a garment, it just might find a new life as some other useful item, like a pillow cover, patches for something else, a bag, etc.
4 days ago

Tereza Okava wrote:i am ashamed to admit they are good reminders that come when I need them. Knife that needs sharpening hits my fingernail instead of chopping off my fingertip, machete aaaaalmost nails me in the toe, reminding me to pay attention and also use boots. It happens every so often.



These are my most frequent ones, as well. Though there was one time when I was putting up a cattle panel fence, John said something that really pissed me off. I didn't say anything back to him, but, I continued what I was doing, without stopping to calm my shit. I ended up smacking myself in the eye with the bent side of the tip of the 42" long, cork-screw style hinge/ connection leaving the white of my eye aching and blood-red for nearly a week. Yup, I was injured, but if it had hit the other side that was only an inch or so in the opposite direction - the raw, bare end - I would have lost that eye. Just because I was working with a crappy attitude, that made me careless.
4 days ago
I have albums in both 33 & 78, as well as CDs. But, no turntable or CD player, lol. So, I listen to both albums and individual songs, streaming. The upsides: I don't have to invest money into buying them, or labor, space, and time to maintain them. The downsides: what I want to listen to isn't always available, and if I can't think of the name of a song or album, or a fair amount of the lyrics, I'm just sorry out of luck, if the streaming device can't pick up on whatever cues I can give.
5 days ago