Thanks for stopping by! I'm Magi, a scratch cooking, homeschooling mama, learning to raise good kids, good food, and good fun on our teeny-tiny little farm!
Ah! It’s getting to that glorious time of year when I start counting down the days to the end of my work season. I’m so looking forward to some much needed time at home with my children and catching up on some homekeeping projects. I […]
Our area has been overtaken by wildfires for the last week, and the air quality has been so bad that anyone with underlying medical or resperatory issues has been advised to leave the area if possible. It’s cleared up at my house today, but many areas are still listed […]
Dang! Can you believe summer is over? That went way too fast. Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to.
In June the national fish hatchery near our home hosts a kid’s fishing day. Daddy was so proud of the girls and their catch. The girls were mighty proud too!
Dad worked a lot of weekends this summer, which left the three of us ladies to do some adventuring on our own. This is our first camping trip sans Dad. We had a great time and confirmed my suspicion that camping with littles is a lot of work for moms. It was really no different from camping with Dad. Hmmm.
The Fourth of July is almost as good as Christmas around here, at least for Dad. For me it’s a little nerve wracking. I always run around with a hose and fire extinguisher at the ready. Luckily we’ve never ignited anything serious.
The kids made Snake and Whistling Pete volcanos which I thought was pretty cool. They’re nothing if not creative, and their love of pyrotechnics tells me they are indeed their father’s children.
Don’t worry, the dry mountain in the background is much further from the fireworks than it appears. Also, I think we might be hillbillies.
As part of the celebration, Daddy brought us ice cream AND CONES!
I’ve noticed recently that this particular child is never, ever, ever clean for more than twenty minutes running.
We were fortunate to be invited to join friends for a weekend camp out next to this beautiful pond on one friend’s family homestead. Highlights included a huge hot tub water fight at the host’s house and a jeep ride through the surrounding hills.
Our garden was growing well and looking great by early July. It is still growing well, but it looks a little lot weedier. I don’t even know if weedier is a word, but if it isn’t then Mr. Webster ought to drop by our place.
August was long and hot in the thick of it, but looking back, has clearly gone too fast. We took a few hikes, another camp out or two and enjoyed the river near our home, but I neglected to photograph the fun. So sad.
Before we knew it the first day of school was upon us. Double dang it! That’s my sentiment not Araya’s. She loves school, and is overjoyed to be in Kindergarten. That’s a blessing. I still wish it wasn’t time yet.
Since the first day of school is a half day in our district, I took the opportunity to take the afternoon off work and take the kids to the lake. This is the kids’ favorite beach but we haven’t gone all summer because it’s such a combat zone in the tourist season. Now that most have gone back to school it’s perfect. The bright sunny day was perfect for checking out the coppery strands in Montana’s hair. I know it’s silly, but it drives me nuts that most people will look at her and think she has plain old brown hair, when I know she has bright red highlights many women would pay huge money for, and never hope to maintain. I suppose a mother might be the only one to sit and stare at her child long enough to notice these little details.
That’s a wrap on summer. Sigh. On the other hand, fall has it’s charms too. Pumpkins, sunny but cool days, sweaters and hot tea are some of my favorites. And our neighbor just dropped by to invite us to help ourselves to the pear orchard. Let the canning begin!
What is your favorite thing about fall?
Summer means plenty of fresh dipping veggies. But if you’re not careful you may consume a cup of mayo and a cup of sour cream, before you can say “ranch dressing”. Yikes!! Instead try my guilt free ranch dip. I won’t lie. Nothing is as […]
With a heat wave hitting many areas, a lot of us have water on the mind. And with recent power outages, and a weekend camping trip, I find myself refilling our water storage today. It works out since the two containers I used up were […]
I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time now. I feel like I’m a little mentally foggy after work, but it’s worth the extra effort to keep the blog updated. I’m still trying to find time and energy to balance it all. Seriously, if any of you work-outside mamas are also “keeping it all together” at home please tell me how you do it.
Last time I told you about my love of the Homestead Drying Rack. Today I’d like to share my recipes for laundry detergent and fabric softener. Both of these recipes are simple and inexpensive. My kids love to help me make them both. Since the ingredients are all fairly mild, my biggest concern with letting children help is the heat from the stove when melting the ingredients for the detergent.
The detergent is easy to make, economical, and seems comparable to the commerically available brands I’ve purchased in the past. It is low to no suds and is generally considered appropriate for use in HE machines. I still occasionally have stubborn stains, but that happened with the name brand products I’ve used too. It would probably help if I treated stains promptly and washed clothes regularly instead of letting them pile up during the week. The fabric softener works as well as any I’ve used without the heavy perfume smell. Clothes smell fresh coming out of the wash, but I can’t really discern a particular scent after drying. I like this since many of the commercial brands make me sneeze.
Detergent
Shred 1/2 a bar of Fels Naptha into six cups of warm water over medium heat. When the soap shreds have all melted add 1 C washing soda (not baking soda) and 1C borax. Continue to stir until the ingredients have all dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool then put it into a larger container. I use an old 1.5 gallon dispenser from the laundry detergent I used to buy. Then just top it up with cool water and stir to incorporate the ingredients well. Use 1/8 cup for a medium load, a bit more for a large or heavily soiled load. You may need to re-stir or shake the jug before each use as the solids tend to glob up.
Fabric Softener
Start with a gallon jug of white vinegar. Store brand is fine. After it is about half used up add one whole bottle of cheap conditioner like White Rain or Suave. Stir gently, do not shake as it will foam. Then, again, top up with plain water. Use as you would store bought liquid fabric softener. To make your own dryer sheets dilute the solution to 1/2 strength with more water and soak pieces of a ratty old tee shirt in the mixture. I keep some solution and tee shirt squares in a lidded “tupperware” type dish. Ring out a tee shirt piece and toss it into the dryer with wet clothes.
Both of these are eco friendly, and economical solutions for your laundry needs. The ingredients for either can be found at the grocery or big box store and should cost less than ten dollars. Each batch of detergent lasts me 4-6 months, and each batch of softener lasts me about one month. It would last longer if I used it solely for making dryer sheets, but I like to hang clothes out to dry so I mostly use it in the rinse cycle.
Does any one have a good recipe for a spray on type stain pre treater? I’m thinking of filling a spray bottle with diluted dish soap and spraying it onto stains before clothes go into the hamper,(Ok, honesty check. They usually go into a pile on the mudroom floor. Shame.) but I would love to know what has worked for you.
Happy Homemaking!
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With the return of beautiful weather I’ve been doing more outdoor clothes drying. I thought I’d share my opinion of the Homesteader clothes drying rack from Homestead Drying Racks. This is an unsoliceted and uncompensated product review. You may be sure I am sharing my […]
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? But so easy to skip if you get out of bed at the last possible minute, like I do. I find having “instant” options on hand makes breakfast more of a sure thing, for my […]
We’ve been busy on the farm for the past couple weeks. Pair that with returning to the 40 hour work week, and taking care of kiddos ( I know, welcome to the real world, boo-hoo, poor me) and I just haven’t had much mental energy left over for blogging. But I have had the camera by my side so I’ll share some of what we’ve been up to. I hope you’ll forgive my lack of photography skills.
I’ve been trying to think of a good Bible verse or Dr. Seuss quote for over my garden gate, but my husband came up with this, and I think it’s perfect.
We are good at a few things around here, but building isn’t exactly one of them. Nevertheless, we have some very cozy bunnies, and the placement of the hutch in the garden will make it simple to spread all that wonderful rabbit poop out where it can do some good. I’ll have to do a little research, but I’m thinking that I’ll rake the poop out into the garden each fall when we’re putting the garden to bed for the year. It’s nice to have these guys out of small cages on the shed floor.
Wall-O-Water season extenders are pre-warming the soil in the tomato bed, where lettuce will grow in the shade of tomato plants. I’m hoping this will slow the bolting of the lettuce when the weather gets hot. The Wall-O-Waters went in last weekend and I aim to transplant my best looking tomatos this weekend. Also sugar snap peas are sprouting under soda bottle greenhouses. Peas don’t really need the protection but I was trying to get them extra warm so they’d sprout sooner. I think it worked since many of them are starting to poke little green heads out of the soil, while their neighbors planted on the same day, but without the soda bottles aren’t up yet.
Shelling peas are waiting to sprout below the sticks against the fence. I used to just let them climb the fence, but this year we have planted blueberries on the other side of the fence. Also, the chickens, who mostly free-range now, would help themselves if the peas were to poke out of the fence. I don’t have a solid plan for keeping chickens out of the blueberries when the time comes. Pardon the ugly color of the house. It’s one of those things we just haven’t gotten around to changing from the prior owners taste.
Nate finished the new strawberry bed and a mixture of June-bearing and Everbearing strawberries are happily growing in it. We’ve used a scrap length of fence to keep our dig-happy puppy out of the beds until the strawberries are established and hide the oh-too tempting soil. Last year’s strawberries spent the winter in the greenhouse and have already begun to blossom. I can nearly taste them now.
What is new on your homestead?
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We recently traveled to attend a friend’s wedding and knew we’d need to keep the kids happy on the plane. We stocked up on fresh coloring books, crayons and snacks and put together kits for their backpacks. Placing crayons in old Altoids tins ensured that […]