Traditional Homemaking: Late Summer/Autumn 2010

[APBTlover]

I kept hoping someone else would start a new thread... but no one did... so here it is!

How is everyone doing? I'm pretty burnt out on the summertime and am gearing up for a much-awaited autumn (when we'll also be welcoming out first baby!). How about you?

The original Traditional Homemaking thread
Summer 2009
Fall (and Spring!) 2009
Winter '09-'10


I can't wait to hear from you ladies again! And even if you weren't part of any of the previous threads, please, come in and join us!

[trghig]

Hi I am new to this thread but have read a lot of the other ones. Currently, we are in the process of moving to a new home and so not much going on other than packing and cleaning. Hopefully, by next week I'll be unpacking and setting up the new house.

[zoebird]

well, this spring (since that is where we are heading in the southern hemisphere), i have the following exciting things up my sleeve:

1. more fermenting! we already ferment veggies for ourselves (very enjoyable), and then we are looking to make natural soda and also sour dough bread. I just need to get some of the right sized jars and containers for it all. and a dutch oven.

2. Wool Felting! i have just started gathering the necessary supplies to begin both wet and needle felting. i am going to start with a few home decorations and gifts, and then move on to slippers, scarves, and hats (to do home-made christmas for family and friends).

3. herb gardening with all the herbally goodness that goes with it. i'm doing both culenary and medicinals--from which i mostly plan to make teas. still, i need my mint tea blend and my chamomile. i have a hard time finding the blend that i need here, so i'm growing what i need. even my herbalist can't find everything, but we could find seed, so that's how it's going.

otherwise, more making from scratch!

[1jooj]

Hey mamas!

I've spent most of the past year trying to "get back."

I agreed in Jan to a job with my old employer, and it quickly grew into something of a monster that took over my life. It was OK during winter when I didn't have a lot to do, but unfortunately, as spring and summer came it kind of exploded for a variety of reasons. I am just now regaining my footing and getting some down time, if you can call it that. The farm is in full swing, and I am beat!

So what's left of my traditional home has been very farmy. It has been all about keeping up with the garden harvest and dairy. I am milking 2 goats and have learned to make yogurt and feta. Making the usual pickles and canned and frozen things. I'm extracting honey this week. I've started a lambskin to learn how to tan those, since we slaughter several lambs over the course of a year.

Now my dh is talking about an overseas job, though, and I don't feel great about it. While I love to travel, our farm has had me really tied to home, even while working, and I'm not drawn to the particular part of the world he's looking at. I don't know...in the meantime, I'm just trying to keep things afloat at home. I have had too much arthritis pain to do much that's crafty.

zoebird, I'd love to try fermenting vegetables. I'm a huge fan of kraut and kimchi. That's a great idea.

This fall, I want to learn some basic sewing skills, save a couple more lambskins and get back to creative writing. I also want to spend more time teaching skills to the kiddos. I've been cranky mom at the computer waaaay too much this summer.

[APBTlover]

Zoebird, I should be whipped with a wet noodle for forgetting about our Southern Hemisphere homemakers!

As for us... the garden was an utter, complete flop this year. Part of it was just the bad luck that sometimes happens in gardens -- why, oh, why, did NONE of our strawberry plants even so much as sprout?? -- but mostly it was due to a heart attack in my extended-but-close family that kept us practically living in ICU for 2 weeks and then living at said relative's house to help out. It was a critical time in the garden and almost everything went to heck. Ok, everything. I'm still hoping to get some garlic, greens, carrots, etc, going for the fall, though.

Mostly our focus is on preparing for our baby due in October. I've only crocheted small items before but I'm currently working on this blanket. It's looking good, if not quite as perfect as the original. There are several other baby projects in various stages of completion and likelihood.

We're also considering getting some Silver Fox rabbits. We raise New Zealand Whites right now, primarily for meat, but DH uses the hides, as well. Silver Foxes actually are a "meat rabbit," their production is just not quite as good as NZWs. However, they have an awesome black coat shot with silver. Add that they're also considered critical by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, and they seem perfect for us. Our only problem is the local source we found wants $70 for a pair, and we are really strapped for cash right now since it looks like our insurance is backing out of covering our midwife. I really want to dig up the money since I'm not sure I'll be able to find them locally again, but...

[1jooj]

Wow...if that's a good breeding pair...if I were raising rabbits and using pelts, I think I'd swallow hard and buy them. Any way you can do a partial barter? They sound beautiful. And good luck with baby preparations!

[APBTlover]

More about the Silver Fox rabbit.

It really is a good deal... I am thinking of calling later today and just making it work if the pair is still available. We even (conveniently) will have a cage for them, since one of our NZW does has recently turned from moody to evil, lol. DH says he's DONE with her.

1jooj, how long have you been "making honey"? We have been considering bees for our place but it hasn't come to fruition yet.

[thedenverduo]

Hey ladies! I am new to thread but excited to get to know you all! I have one son who is one year old (today, actually: happy birthday bud!). Our situation has recently changed and so I am really excited to be more of a homemaker.

I am a nanny for a great family. I take care of twin girls who will be 7 in a couple months. Ds comes with me to work. The girls are starting school on Monday and so I won't be working very much, which is great! I think once we have another baby I will SAH fulltime, but for now it is a fabulous situation. So anyway, I've been working looooong hours this summer and am very excited to be home a lot.

Also, Dh and his BIL have just started their own business doing hardwood flooring. For now Dh is going to hold onto his late-shift job for the benefits until we figure out exactly how this owning-your-own-business thing is going to work out. So this means he will be gone from 6 AM to 9 PM on weekdays! Yikes! He will mostly be home on weekends, but will probably work sometimes. He has always been great around the house: doing laundry and dishes and grocery shopping... but I am eager to do as much as I can so that his limited time at home can be spent with me and ds relaxing and having fun!

[boogiemonster]

Hello! I'm new to this tribe.

All of my energy right now is going toward preserving the abundance from our CSA. We're in a new house and only have the above-fridge freezer, so I'm trying to can as much as possible.

So far I've made some saskatoon berry jam with a friend.

I'm sterilizing the jars right now for a small batch of dill pickles and either some pickled beans or carrots (or both!) Our CSA farmers let us pick a bowl of chokecherries off their bushes this afternoon, so there will be jelly in our near future. I'm also waiting for my friend's crabapples to be ready for a few jars of crabapple jelly.

Oh, and I ordered some bulk organic peaches and roma tomatoes that should be delivered next week. Those are getting canned too. I see a yummy winter in our future!

We rented over the winter last year, so I left my regular compost at the house we sold and gave my vermicompost to a friend. I'm happy to have both of those up and going again. It gets too cold here to compost outside year-round, so I'm hoping to have a mini worm empire going in the basement for all of our winter scraps.

[1jooj]

Originally Posted by APBTlover

1jooj, how long have you been "making honey"? We have been considering bees for our place but it hasn't come to fruition yet.

This is our third year. I think we managed about 100 pounds total this year, with 2 productive hives. We lost a couple hives to mice over winter; seems it's always something. I've been borrowing a neighbor's extractor, but I'd really like to get our own, since I like to extract a couple times a year and the extraction takes me several days each time. If I were starting, I might try a top-bar hive. They look pretty simple, and simple is good.

This week, the kitchen was just a ridiculous mess--honey, cucumbers and tomatoes everywhere until I got the canning and extracting done. Plus, it's Ramadan, and last night I hosted an Iftar here. Not a big one, just a couple families, but still. I had to whip the house into shape and cook a giant meal for 9 fasting adults and 9 kids (about 5 of them fasting, too).

[holidaymama]

Hello all! I think I was a part of the very original thread, but that was a long time ago as it looks!

Well, we are suburb dwellers with a fast-paced life, but I am trying to slow us down and live more simply. I always feel like falll starts a new year since hubby and I are both teachers and our older son is in school now...so this feels like the perfect start

It was great over the summer, we could be home all the time and I was able to do a lot of homemaker things...I shopped our farmers market and froze a lot of good things for the winter as well as making jam. I would have liked to can the jelly, but apparently in TX, they don't sell canning supplies in August! At least not where I am!

Now that we are headed back to school (TOMORROW) I am trying to focus on homemade meals and a clean organized house! Talk to you all soon!!

[Callimom]

Oh 1jooj I would LOVE to keep bees. Our house isn't set up for it at the moment but we are house shopping for a place with a bigger yard and I hope we can find a place for them.

I'm currently up to my eyeballs in canning, drying and freezing at the moment - about half way through the 3 bushels of peaches. Will start tomatoes this week.

I'm working on knitting socks for the kids for winter and looking for some nice jersey knit material for making some dresses for my girls. I need to get started on sweaters for winter.

Thanks for restarting the thread.
Karen

[ltlmrs]

Hi, I'm new I've lurked off and on the other threads, but this is the first time I'm chiming in.

I'm a mama to one almost two year old. Sometime soon we hope to be TTC again, but at the moment I'm recovering my health and trying to get my life organized so that when I quit my job as we get closer to being debt free (I work PT as a bookkeeper), I can seamlessly transition back home again (I was a SAHM for a year and loved it!).

Here's what I do so far and would like to perfect:

1) Cook almost everything from scratch. We eat a TF diet, so it seems like I'm always in the kitchen: making stocks, fermenting and dehydrating foods (I don't have any particular wish to pressure can), baking sourdough, etc. I can't say that I love it, but it does give me a great deal of satisfaction to be able to do this. After years of trying to bake bread, I can finally say that I make a wonderful whole spelt sourdough loaf At some point I'd like to get into charcuterie and cheesemaking, but probably not while we're living in an apartment in the suburbs...

2) Knit & crochet. I haven't had time to do this at all since starting work a year ago. Specifically, I'd like to learn how to make lace and make mantillas for me and Ladybug and maybe curtains for our future home.

3) Sewing. I can sew by hand, do some mending, etc. but I can't actually "sew." That is, I can't use a pattern to make clothes or household things. I can't alter things that are too small/big. I don't know how to even thread the sewing machine. This is my next biggest educational project.

4) Upcycle. I've made soakers/longies so far, but I'd love to learn to upcycle other things too. I'd especially like to be able to make our own furniture and refurbish things. We never by things new and a lot of our furniture is very shabby.

5) Natural medicine. I'm really into homeopathy and herbal medicine. But, I don't have time to read and study it seriously. We've decided to stop vaxing Ladybug and not vax any future kids, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable with my decision if I knew more about home remedies. Not "go look it up," but "I see a problem, I can diagnose it and have a remedy" for most common illnesses.

[APBTlover]

It's so great to see a lot of new posters!

1jooj, I really had no idea how much honey one could get from two hives! I'll have to consider bees even more seriously now.

ltlmrs, that's a wonderful list. Maybe I'm just saying that because it looks a whole lot like mine? I can sew with a sewing machine and pattern, but I really want to get some skills in altering and drafting patterns. My DH is actually much better at this than I am. Something to do with spatial perception, I think -- he can just "see" how something will look when assembled, whereas I have to basically hold the fabric in position to figure it out.

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by 1jooj

This is our third year. I think we managed about 100 pounds total this year, with 2 productive hives.

How does that translate in terms of quarts? 100 lbs seems like a lot! What do you do with your wax?

Originally Posted by 1jooj

If I were starting, I might try a top-bar hive. They look pretty simple, and simple is good.

Do you know if these survive in colder winter areas?


LOL I really want bees.

[1jooj]

Honey is about 3lb per quart, so by that estimate, we got about 30-35 quarts...but we got more than that. Maybe 40 quarts. We collected twice. I have a cupboard filled with honey, I can tell you that, and at this time of year, it looks like so much, we're tempted to give away/sell half of it, but then we'd run out before we collect again if the bees survive. Dh wants to order 4 more colonies this fall. My arms get tired just thinking about that.

I don't know how bees overwinter in top bar hives. Even in standard hives, we get big losses in WI. I think, even with the cost of replacing bees annually if 100% died off in winter, my dh would still want his own bees. I don't know much about bees, though. There's so much to learn.

A big part of the reason we want honey is its healing qualities. It is more than just food. I make salves and balms from the wax, too.

I'm actually making feta right now. When I hit the gallon-plus mark for milk in the fridge, I make either yogurt or feta. I'd make another cheese, but feta is simple enough and doesn't require special ingredients or equipment...and I still have a fridge full of yogurt, so feta it is. It's so good with the tomatoes and cucumbers in season.

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by 1jooj

Honey is about 3lb per quart, so by that estimate, we got about 30-35 quarts...but we got more than that. Maybe 40 quarts. We collected twice. I have a cupboard filled with honey, I can tell you that, and at this time of year, it looks like so much, we're tempted to give away/sell half of it, but then we'd run out before we collect again if the bees survive. Dh wants to order 4 more colonies this fall. My arms get tired just thinking about that.

I don't know how bees overwinter in top bar hives. Even in standard hives, we get big losses in WI. I think, even with the cost of replacing bees annually if 100% died off in winter, my dh would still want his own bees. I don't know much about bees, though. There's so much to learn.

A big part of the reason we want honey is its healing qualities. It is more than just food. I make salves and balms from the wax, too.

I'm actually making feta right now. When I hit the gallon-plus mark for milk in the fridge, I make either yogurt or feta. I'd make another cheese, but feta is simple enough and doesn't require special ingredients or equipment...and I still have a fridge full of yogurt, so feta it is. It's so good with the tomatoes and cucumbers in season.

Thanks for the info. I need to get on this.
Can I follow you around and ask you "How?" today?

How do you make feta? Most instructions I have seen says it requires lipase and rennet - neither of which I keep handy. Do you have another method?

Thanks
Karen

[1jooj]

I am learning as I go, so don't be surprised if I turn around and ask you, "How?"

I sort of morphed two recipes so that I can use yogurt in place of the lipase. Rennet I can get at the health food store in town, and a little bottle lasts through several batches of cheese. I heat to 86 degrees, add some yogurt, let stand an hour (maintaining temps), then add rennet and let stand 40min or so, cut curds, drain 24 hours, salt and let stand a couple days, then brine and refrigerate. Tonight, I will cut and salt. I am straining ricotta from the whey, and that I will mix with honey and vanilla and we'll eat it when we break our fast tonight.

Oh--and if you are going to order bees...I have to place my order in November for April/May pickup. I get mine at a shop about an hour from where I live.

I am tired of pickles.

[zoebird]

i would go with those rabbits, too, for such a price. it is a very good price. it is hard for me to hear of "meat rabbits" since i was so devoted to our pet rabbit, but he always said "there, but for the grace of god, go i." he was a rex mix, and a meat rabbit for sure, and understood his nature as a prey animal. it was illuminating, being with him.

i'm looking forward to composting. i don't think it will be a huge issue, looking at the state that the neighbors keep their trash. so, my little bins should work nicely.

i look forward to eventually keeping bees. i love bees.

[trghig]

Wow ladies you are all doing such cool projects!!!

Right now I am in the process of unpacking and down-sizing our belongs. We just moved from about 1600 sqf to 1000sqf. In the year that we lived in the other home we gather a lot of stuff to fill up the extra space!!!! (Before that house we lived in 900sqf, we're military so move a lot!).

Sometime this week I do need to get some peppers prepped and frozen for use this winter. I have some sewing projects in work as well. I am working on a Christmas stocking for my new niece and some blankets for Christmas gifts. I am also need to make some new heat packs. I made some rice ones last year but the rice is starting to smell like cooked rice. So, I am looking at other possible fillers that won't have that same issue.

Right before we moved I was starting to learn how to make bread and I am looking forward to getting back to that.