Rachel Royce

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!

George, I’m curious. Why did you make the leak of your building so high?

I use 100% cotton tobacco baling rope. It has lasted through two seasons and is on its third. I can’t remember where I got it locally. I have seen it for sale online but the postage seemed high. https://www.agcareproducts.com/products/11608-cotton-twine-2-lb-tobacco-balin

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!

Megan, I spread the slum gum on the paper wrapper of toilet paper rolls, cut it  into nuggets, and cram the nuggets into 1/2 of an empty tp roll!

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.