More Learning

The little girls and I did more vegetable seeds today.  Tomorrow, we are going to plant some flowers outside by our steps.

Next we are going to try our hands at container gardening.  I am going to try growing potatoes and carrots in containers by the door.

Learning Together

Given that I have never tried my hand at gardening before, this year is a learning experience for me and the kids.   Today, the girls and I planted some seeds to transfer to the greenhouse later.  I also planted the green onions I rooted.  I am going to try rooting garlic too.

I don't know how successful I will be, but it is a fun experiment.   The girls are having fun learning with me.

Harvesting

We have been having some fun harvesting goodies off of our land.  The tomatoes growing in our greenhouse make me so happy and the apples growing on our tree are wonderful!

Prince Charming and Princess Belle picked us some apples.

Then Prince Charming and the little girls picked some tomatoes.

I made 2 large bottles of salsa with the tomatoes. YUM!

The leftover tomatoes look lovely sitting next to the pumpkin we bought today.

USES FOR HYDROGEN PEROXIDE:

• Wash vegetables and fruits with hydrogen peroxide to remove dirt and pesticides. Add 1/4 cup of H2O2 to a sink of cold water. After washing, rinse thoroughly with cool water.
• In the dishwasher, add 2 oz. to your regular detergent for a sanitizing boost. Also, beef up your regular dish soap by adding roughly 2 ounces of 3% H2O2 to the bottle.
• Use hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash to freshen breath. It kills the bacteria that causes halitosis. Use a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water.
• Use baking soda and hydrogen peroxide to make a paste for brushing teeth. Helps with early stages of gingivitis as it kills bacteria. Mixed with salt and baking soda, hydrogen peroxide works as a whitening toothpaste.
• Soak your toothbrush in hydrogen peroxide between uses to keep it clean and prevent the transfer of germs. This is particularly helpful when you or someone in your family has a cold or the flu.
• Clean your cutting board and countertop. Let everything bubble for a few minutes, then scrub and rinse clean. (I’ve been using it for this a LOT lately!)
• Wipe out your refrigerator and dishwasher. Because it’s non-toxic, it’s great for cleaning places that store food and dishes.
• Clean your sponges. Soak them for 10 minutes in a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and warm water in a shallow dish. Rinse the sponges thoroughly afterward.
• Remove baked-on crud from pots and pans. Combine hydrogen peroxide with enough baking soda to make a paste, then rub onto the dirty pan and let it sit for a while. Come back later with a scrubby sponge and some warm water, and the baked-on stains will lift right off.
• Whiten bathtub grout. First dry the tub thoroughly, then spray it liberally with hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit — it may bubble slightly — for a little while, then come back and scrub the grout with an old toothbrush. You may have to repeat the process a few times.
• Clean the toilet bowl. Pour half a cup of hydrogen peroxide into the toilet bowl, let stand for 20 minutes, then scrub clean.
• Remove stains from clothing, curtains, and tablecloths. Hydrogen peroxide can be used as a pre-treater for stains — just soak the stain for a little while in 3% hydrogen peroxide before tossing into the laundry. You can also add a cup of peroxide to a regular load of whites to boost brightness. It’s a green alternative to bleach, and works just as well.
• Brighten dingy floors. Combine half a cup of hydrogen peroxide with one gallon of hot water, then go to town on your flooring. Because it’s so mild, it’s safe for any floor type, and there’s no need to rinse.
• Clean kids’ toys and play areas. Hydrogen peroxide is a safe cleaner to use around kids, or anyone with respiratory problems, because it’s not a lung irritant. Spray toys, toy boxes, doorknobs, and anything else your kids touch on a regular basis.
• Help out your plants. To ward off fungus, add a little hydrogen peroxide to your spray bottle the next time you’re spritzing plants.
• Add natural highlights to your hair. Dilute the hydrogen peroxide so the solution is 50% peroxide and 50% water. Spray the solution on wet hair to create subtle, natural highlights.
• According to alternative therapy practitioners, adding half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide to a warm bath can help detoxify the body. Some are skeptical of this claim, but a bath is always a nice way to relax and the addition of hydrogen peroxide will leave you – and the tub – squeaky clean!
• Spray a solution of 1/2 cup water and 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide on leftover salad, drain, cover and refrigerate. This will prevent wilting and better preserve your salad.
• Sanitize your kids’ lunch boxes/bags.
• Dab hydrogen peroxide on pimples or acne to help clear skin.
• Hydrogen peroxide helps to sprout seeds for new plantings. Use a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution once a day and spritz the seed every time you re-moisten. You can also use a mixture of 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 32 parts water to improve your plants’ root system.
• Remove yellowing from lace curtains or tablecloths. Fill a sink with cold water and a 2 cups of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Soak for at least an hour, rinse in cold water and air dry.
• Use it to remove ear wax. Use a solution of 3% with olive or almond oil. Add a couple drops of oil first then H2O2. After a few minutes, tilt head to remove solution and wax.
• Helps with foot fungus. Spray a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water on them (especially the toes) every night and let dry. Or try soaking your feet in a peroxide solution to help soften calluses and corns, and disinfect minor cuts.
• Spray down the shower with hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria and viruses.
• Use 1 pint of 3% hydrogen peroxide to a gallon of water to clean humidifiers and steamers.
• Wash shower curtains with hydrogen peroxide to remove mildew and soap scum. Place curtains in machine with a bath towel and your regular detergent. Add 1 cup full strength 3% hydrogen peroxide to the rinse cycle.
• Use for towels that have become musty smelling. 1/2 cup Peroxide and 1/2 cup vinegar let stand for 15 minutes wash as normal. Gets rid of the smell.
• Use hydrogen peroxide to control fungi present in aquariums. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt your fish. Use sparingly for this purpose.
• De-skunking solution. Combine 1 quart 3% H2O2, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon Dawn dish detergent, 2 quarts warm water.

Dryer Sheets

I love finding uses for things I would have previously thrown away.  Like using bones and vegetable peelings to make broth.  I recently read about uses for dryer sheets.  I am definitely going to start saving my dryer sheets now.  Here are some of the things I have read about (most seem to involve odor removal and static removal!

1. Fabric softener sheets are designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television and computer screen with a used sheet to keep dust from resettling.
2. A sheet can be used to dissolve soap scum from shower doors, and the tile walls. Clean the surfaces with a sheet.
3. Collecting pet hairs. Rubbing the area with a sheet will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.
4. Wiping up sawdust, on the shop workbench, from drilling or sandpapering is easy. A used sheet will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.
5. Use old dryer sheets to easily wipe up talcum powder, flour, and other messes of this type.
6. Used sheets usually have enough fragrance in them to freshen up other areas in your home. Stuff them in tennis shoes, place them in closets, in laundry hampers and in pieces of luggage -- anywhere your house needs a little "refreshment."
7. Did you purchase some old, musty books at a garage sale or thrift shop? Make them smell good again! Simply place the books in a sealed plastic bag with a used dryer sheet. Allow the bag to sit undisturbed for a day or two, then remove the contents. The musty smell will be gone!
8. Place a used dryer sheet in the bag of your vacuum. Sweep your house, and, once you're done, the air will smell as fresh as your clothes do.
9. These wonders of the 70's are also said to repel mosquitoes as well as other annoying, flying insects. Don't rub it on you. Instead, stick a used sheet in your belt loop.
10. You can use dryer sheets to clean and polish the chrome on your vehicles.
11. Is the interior of your car or truck smelling a little stale? Forget the pine tree on a string! Place a few used dryer sheets under the seats of your vehicle instead!
12. Is your hair dry and full of static electricity? Gently wipe a used dryer sheet over your head to get rid of it.
13. Dryer sheets make great dusting cloths for your wooden furniture.
14. Help keep dust and other contaminants out of your house. Simply place a used sheet inside every furnace/AC register in your house. Make sure it covers the openings and replace once they are dirty.
15. Keep your window blinds clean longer by wiping them periodically with used dryer sheets. The anti-static properties of the product will actually help to repel dust and dirt.
16. Are your scissors not cutting as smooth as they should? Wipe the blades clean with a used dryer sheet to remedy this problem.
17. Dryer sheets can be used on the chrome in your bathroom as well as your car!
18. Dryer sheets repel bugs and small animals. Tuck one in your picnic basket, or near mouse droppings and you won’t have problems with small animals again. And if you got a problem with mice at home, find where they are entering your house and stuff the hole shut with a used sheet. Mice won't chew through the smelly material.
19. Before you put clothes in the attic or in storage, put a dryer sheet in the box and it will prevent them having a musty smell when you retrieve them.
20. If your pots and pans have burned food stuck on them, place a dryer sheet in the bottom before you fill them with water and leave overnight. The burned food will come off easily in the morning.
21. Put a dryer sheet in your camping stuff before you store it.
22. If your iron gets dirty, clean it on a low setting with a dryer sheet.
23. Dryer sheets will reduce static cling on clothes. Rub a dryer sheet over your clothes and it will remove pet hair too.
24. Remove bugs from the front of your car with a simple wipe from a dryer sheet.
25. Roll up a dryer sheet in your toilet paper roll. Each time you spin, it releases a little freshness into your bathroom.

OR . . . you could replace your dryer sheets entirely. 

1. Instead of using a dryer sheet, ball up one or more sheets of aluminum foil and toss them into the dryer. It removes the static electricity from your clothes. One can last up to a year or more under regular use. Be certain to remove any edges or areas that can snag before use and you have a perfect dryer sheet replacement.
2. Another substitute is to pour some liquid fabric softener on a wash cloth or towel and put that in the dryer with the clothes to be dried. 
3. Or instead, squeeze a few drops of hair conditioner onto a clean washcloth, throw it in the dryer with your clothes and run the machine as usual. The conditioner will soften your clothes just like a dryer sheet would. An additional boon: The cloth can be reused up to three times.
4. Toss a (or two or three if you like) tennis ball in the dryer when you're drying your clothes. It prevents static cling and also helps to keep things soft and fluffy!

Just thinking

I keep watching an ad for a house in rural Nova Scotia.  It is QUITE rural and it hasn't rented yet.  It has a tire swing in the front yard, it is in the country, it is large enough to accomodate everyone and still has a place for us to do homeschool, and it is an older home, which I like a lot.  I feel like it would be perfect for us, but we are stuck in our lease for a while longer yet.  I keep hoping that it will still be available when I am ready to rent. It disappeared for a week and I was heartbroken, but then last night it reappeared.  I cheered out loud when I saw it was back. 

I don't have my heart set on it, I know it may not be right, or it may not be available when we are ready to move.  I have my eyes on several other places which are all rural, all big enough and all cost less than where we are now (including a farm!), but I do like this place a lot. 

Dreams of Country Living

When I dream of country living, I dream of getting back to basics. I dream of open spaces, of spending time outside, of using my hands to make and do things for my family, and of teaching my kids to use their hands too. 

I have goals and lists of things I want to do and learn. 

I want learn to grow a garden, it doesn't have to be big, but I want to grow some of our food.  I grew a few herbs in pots this summer and it was wonderful.

I want my kids to spend time outside.  I want it to be a part of every day, just a part of what we do.  I want exploring the outdoor world to be a regular part of our life and of their childhood.

I have already started making our own bread.  And adding the no-knead bread, the damper bread and the soda bread to the regular bread has made it quick and easy to do that.

I really, really want to learn how to make homemade soap.  I would love to be able to make some different kinds, even to make some for gifts.

I want to increase the size of my stored food.  I want to fill my freezer, and to learn to use my water bath canner to start canning food for future use.  I recently bought one, but I haven't learned how to use it yet.  I also want to start drying and dehydrating foods to preserve them.

I would LOVE to get a few chickens and rabbits.  I would like to start eating our own fresh eggs.  But I know that may not be possible. 

I want to use my dryer less and hang dry my clothes.  I did this all summer last year and I do love the smell of line-dried clothes.  (although, I need to find a way to make them dry softer.)

I want to sew more.  I would love to make cloth diapers for Little Prince.  I would love to make curtains and things for our home and maybe even branch out to dresses for the girls.

I want to get to know the local farmers.  I would love to buy things from them directly.  I would love for the kids to know where food comes from.  I would love them to see real farms and real farm animals.

I joined in on a Barn Hop this week.

Budget stuff

You all know that we are moving out of the city later this year.  With the robbery, the daily issues with bullying for Princess Belle, the vandalism, the terrible neighbourhood, I have had enough of the city.  I have been doing my best to save as much as I can to get this move done.  And I will have enough to move. 

My secret wish was to move to Ontario.  The homeschool laws are SO much better there and with the changes here, I am nervous.  But no matter how I do the budget, we will be a few thousand short from having the funds to move to Ontario.  I can make a comfortable move here but as for Ontario, I can't make it happen.  So we have resigned ourselves to moving to the country here in Nova Scotia. 

There are some nice areas here and I can only hope that moving out of the city may mean that the homeschooling decision makers leave us alone.  I wish I could come up with some way of making more money to save, but as much as I try, there isn't any. 

The thing is, if it weren' t for the homeschooling worries, I would be thrilled to be moving to other parts of Nova Scotia, they are beautiful and the people are so friendly.  I am just really scared of having homeschool issues and I CAN'T make Princess Belle face public school again.  I WON'T do that to her!

Gratitude Sunday

Sunday's heart felt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful.

My list of gratitudes for this week:

• a cuddly baby boy who slept in until almost 8 o'clock this morning so I got to wake up on my own.
• meeting a friendly neighbour who has four children like I do.
• a clean kitchen that is starting to be a better reflection of and my tastes
• quiet evenings with Prince Charming planning our life together in the country after our move later this year.
• friends who may be near or far who are always in my heart.
• children who love each other and play together constantly.
• quiet mornings cuddling my baby boy before the hustle and bustle of the day starts.

• Good coffee in the morning and tasty tea in the evenings.
• thrift shops that carry lovely vintage items like pretty fabrics and this tea set

• a diet that is finally feeling comfortable for me.
• getting my house a little under control.

Moments that bring me Joy

Last night, Prince Charming and I were snuggled up under a blanket watching television together.  This is no shock, we do this most nights.  Last night, we paused the television to chat for a moment (again no shock, we have never been able to get through a whole show without chatting.  It has been known to take us 2 hours to watch a 1 hour show and it is even worse now with the kids around LOL).  But last night we got chatting for hours while our show was paused waiting for us.  We never actually watched it.  We got talking about our plans for when we move out to the country.  Things we would like to do, learn, and accomplish.  How we would like our life to look and how we plan to make it that way.  It was fun and exciting.


I LOVE early mornings with Little Prince.  I love cuddling him for a little while, and then putting him on the floor and watching him play while I take an early morning moment to enjoy my tea.  I am never thrilled to be getting out of bed early, but those mornings with Little Prince are special.  It is quiet and sweet and lovely. 

While out yesterday running some errands, I stopped in a little thrift shop and bought an old china tea pot and cups.  Princess Belle has been asking to have a real tea party with me and I knew she would be thrilled.  The tea set is beautiful and it suits my style of vintage, old fashioned country.  I am thinking I would like to collect pretty tea cups and pots from various thrift stores and things and display them in my kitchen and in a few years when Princess Belle is ready to leave home, I will et her pick out her favorite to take with her.  I also bought some cute little glass cannisters for my spices and I saw some vintage fabrics that I might be going back for.

No-Knead Country Wheat Bread Recipe

I decided to try another bread recipe.  This one seems easy and I love having fresh bread for my family.  The idea of them waking up to a house smelling of fresh bread is wonderful to me.  So I am giving this a shot today.  It is going in the oven shortly, I will let you know how it turns out.  (I added a little extra water when I made it and that may have been a mistake)

This country wheat no-knead bread recipe produces a crisp-crusted country bread so good people will think it came from a bakery. Like all no-knead bread recipes this one is simply mixed and left to rise. With bread this easy, you'll find yourself making it on a regular basis.

Makes 1 Loaf of No-Knead Country Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

    1 1/2 cup tepid water plus 1 tablespoon
    1/4 tsp dry active yeast
    1 1/4 tsp salt
    1/2 tsp sugar
    1 cup whole wheat flour
    2 cups white un-bleached bread flour
    cornmeal as needed

Preparation:
Add the water, yeast, salt, and flour into a mixing bowl. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir well to form a wet, very sticky dough. Do not try to knead with your hands, as it is too sticky to handle. Once mixed, cover the bowl with a towel, and leave out at room temperature for 12 hours.

Flour a work surface well; using a spatula scrape the bubbly dough on to the flour. Flour your hands and pat down into a square shape. Fold each corner to the center, and flip the dough over so the folds are facing down. Shape into a round loaf. Generously sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet about twice the size of the loaf. The dough may stick unless you put a good amount on the pan. Transfer loaf to the pan, folds facing down. Sprinkle the top with flour.

Place a clean, dry, floured towel over the loaf, and allow to rise for 1 hour in a warm spot. Place a pie pan half-filled with water at the bottom of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Remove the towel, and make a 1/2-inch deep incision across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Bake on the middle rack for 50 - 55 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Update:  this turned out soooo good!  It was a huge hit and it will definitely be appearing regularly in my house from now on.

Here is a pic of the bread I made when I doubled the recipe using my large bread pans instead of my small ones:

Some thoughts before Bed

Not to much happened around here today.

I made Princess Belle clean her room.  She was so slow at it and poked around at it that she will have to continue at it tomorrow.

Princess Magpie came up to us earlier today because she had seen a spider and we needed to come get it because it was very mean!  LOL

Princess Snifflefritz has been thrilled to be able to snack on leftover Halloween candy.  She was quite disappointed that all the decorations went away and wanted the pumpkin back.  But then she asked for a nola pop (lolly pop) and all was forgotten.

Little Prince is getting to be SUCH a light sleeper that having him sleep in in the living room is driving me a little crazy.  I am glad music helps to calm him down but having to tiptoe around and whisper while he is sleeping is frustrating!

I have decided that when we moved, I want to have a yard big enough for us to have a garden.  I want to learn how to garden and it will be a learning experience for Princess Belle and I to go through together.  If we live somewhere where it is possible, I would love to have some animals too at some point.  Just a few, starting with rabbits, then expanding to chickens (or ducks) and maybe even a couple of goats.  But I am going to start with a garden first and we will see from there.  It all depends on where we get a place.  I do know that where ever we get a place it will be OUT of the city.  I am leaning towards the Annapolis Valley.  It is SO pretty there and it is farming country which I love.  But Prince Charming has pointed out that the houses on the South Shores of Nova Scotia are quite inexpensive and it is  rural, it is just a different kind of rural than the Annapolis Valley.