End Of Week

I love Friday evenings. All my family are home by 5 and we just sit around  enjoying not having to be anywhere for a few days. As I am writing this my hubby and son are catching up on NBA stuff and NCAA basketball.  I am sitting here in front of my wood stove listening to them arguing over whether something was a foul. The kettle is on the stove and cup of hot tea is in my future.

Its been a crazy week on the urban farm. We started with pretty warm weather, then snow, then temps dropping to 17 and the furnace not working. The boy was sick but even when he started feeling better his medicine cause him to be sick. The hubby had a stomach bug and while we are freezing we are getting texts from the girl who is spending her spring break with my sister with their legs in the sand.

I tried a few new cleaning recipes this week and I am quite pleased with them both. One is for   cleaning wipes and the other a homemade dish soap. I feel so guilty when I use paper towels for cleaning, I love the idea of cleaning wipes but the ones you buy are a little pricey plus all the chemicals that are in them. The dish soap worked great on getting a casserole dish with baked lasagna clean. It has a little bit of fractionized coconut oil in it and it really help soften things stuck to your dishes plus softens your hands.

Dish Soap
1 1/2 cup of cooled boiled water
1 cup of unscented castile soap
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp fractionized coconut oil
12 drops grapefruit oil
8 drops tea tree oil

Put in a pump bottle and give a little shake each time you use. This takes a little getting use to because its not as sudsy as what we are use to but it gets the dishes clean.

Not Clorox Wipes

Rags or buy bar towels at Walmart for $5 for 8 cloths

2 cups water
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
2 Tablespoons Dawn dish soap ( I haven't completely given up my dawn)
2 Tablespoons ammonia (optional) I did use this but if you do make sure your dawn is the old fashioned kind and does not contain bleach. Ammonia+bleach=fumes)

As you can see in the picture I recycled a large peanut butter container for my wipes and a Mrs Meyers hand soap container for my dish soap. If all my dish soap wont fit in the container I just store it in a mason jar. I do not have a dishwasher so it doesnt take long to use it up.

I hope to get a few pictures of our raised garden beds this weekend. We have several things growing, tomato and pepper seeds started today, onion sets ready to be put out and lots of herbs to get started. Have great weekend.

Older and Wiser?

Have you have heard the term "older and wiser" or "with age comes wisdom". I am beginning to wonder if I have missed the boat. I am getting older but the only thing I have gotten is more lactose sensitive. I wonder if you could make money off bumper stickers that say "Older and Lactose Intolerant"? 

I have tried almond, soy, cashew and rice milk and have not really minded them in things. Fortunately I was never a milk drinker anyway so its not like I am missing sitting down to a big glass of milk. Not enjoying ice cream isn't very fun though. The thing I don't like about buying the alternative to milk is that I usually end up throwing it away, which is very expensive. 

Imagine my excitement in finding a recipe for oat milk. I admit it doesn't take much to excite me. It only makes 4 cups which should be pretty easy to use up. 

Its so simple all you do is take 1 cup of old fashioned oats, put them in a container and cover with water for at least 20 minutes. I let mine set for about 2 hours. Drain off the water, put the oats in a blender and add 3 cups of water and blend for a minute or two. You can strain it if you want. I did not and since I used it to make a smoothie it didn't bother me to have the  little bits or oats. For the smoothie I just used about 1 cup of frozen berries and a cup of the milk. You could add a bit of honey but I thought the berries made it sweet eough. I will be trying this milk in some other recipes this week.

Something else I don't like wasting is water. My hubby and I figured up that we let anywhere between 4-6 gallons of water a day go down the drain just from our family of 4 waiting for the water to get hot for our showers. So a few years ago we started collecting the water in a bucket as we wait for it to get warm. We give the water to our dogs, rabbits, pigeons and chickens. If you do not have an urban farm and no animals you can use it to water plants, your garden. grass or filling up bird baths. 

Maybe I am wiser than I think. Enjoy your day and do something that excites you.

When Life Gives You Lemons

I started this blog only a few short months ago. It was my intention to post at least 3 times a week and build up to a little something every day. That didn't quite happen. Life can be quite messy sometimes. Does it drive anyone else crazy when things don't go like you have planned? It was a really great plan too. So I deleted all my posts, got a new plan and am ready to try this all again.

Life is going to throw you some curve balls. It's okay to get distracted. The important thing is to not give up. Find people who encourage you, do things that make you feel happy, and remember asking for help is not a sign of weakness.

So when life gives you lemons don't make lemonade, all that sugar isn't good for you.
Drink lemon water. Lemons are said to help reduce your risk of stroke, they help your body produce collage which helps reduce wrinkles, its suppose to help our body process foods more slowly and keep insulin levels steady. I usually start my day with a cup of hot tea and a tall glass of water with lemon in it. The bright yellow color can perk up anything so paint something bright yellow. My daughter actually wants to repaint her room yellow. Just the smell of lemons can perk you right up. I diffuse lemon oil during the day with other citrus oils to keep me upbeat.

A Few lemon recipes that I use around the house.

Lemon Rosemary Salt

zest of 2 lemons
4 teaspoons sea salt
1 tsp of fresh rosemary

Place in food processor until chopped up to desired texture. This tastes really good on chicken and seafood.

Citrus Room Spray

Just add 10-20 drops of essential oils of your choice to a 4oz spray bottle of distilled water. I like lemon, bergamot, orange and grapefruit oils all together. Just a few sprays in the air freshens the air.



Homemade Dusting Spray

1 cup water
1/4 cup distilled vinegar
2TBS olive oil
15 drops lemon essential oil
a spray bottle to hold everything

The only negative things about this spray is you have to shake it every time you use it. In my opinion that's a small price to pay for knowing what you are using in your home. Plus the shaking is added exercise.