Sprouting Time!

New addiction: sprouting! Good on sandwiches... Good on salads... Good for you!  I had heard that those little sprouts had more nutrients then their elder counterpart, the full grown plant.  So, I figured why not try to grow then myself?  Our family always needs more "good stuff." 

Day 1:  Take seeds ( I used spinach) and soak them in water overnight in a jar.

Day 2: Drain and set jar at a 45 degree angle in order over the course of the day to prevent seeds from getting moldy.  That night add water to the jar, giving the thirsty seeds a drink.  Then immediately drain and set jar at a 45 degree angle.

Day 3 -5:   Each night add water to the jar.  Then immediately drain and set jar at a 45 degree angle until seeds sprout.  Keeps up to a week in the fridge!

 

 

Cold Process Soap

I finally had the courage to make Cold Process Soap.  The lye factor scared me, but after hours and hours of research, I bought my materials, had my wonderful husband watch the kids, and made my first batch of soap.  I couldn't have done it without The Soap Makers Companion, by Susan Miller Cavitch.  I must admit, it was a meditative adventure... it was a first time in awhile that I was completely present and not thinking of anything else, but what I was doing at the moment.

I used Cavitch's "Soap Essential's Bar II" recipe: olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil.  I added vanilla EO to it... but suprisingly, I couldn't really smell the vanilla.  It was the olive oil that took over.  After some reading, I learned that maybe I should use the extra light olive oil.  I will try that for my next batch.
Here is a picture documentary of me soap journey!  The final soaps did come out looking like unfrosted cake...  hope that's ok....  Would love to here your thoughts!

Measuring the Sodium Hydroxide

Adding the Sodium Hydroxide to the water to make the LYE

Adding the Lye to the melted oil

Stirring it until it traces

Quickly adding it to my mold

Insulating it for 24 hours

Cutting it in bars and letting it cure for 4 weeks!

Onesie Bouquet Basket

Ok... so I'm not Martha Stewart, but I think I did pretty good with this one.  My girlfriend is having a baby at the end of July. She is going with a garden theme for her shower and baby's room.  So, I had to try Martha's bouquet tutorial... it would go perfect with the mother-to-be's theme.  But no such luck for me.   I could not, for the life of me, wrap the floral tape around the thicker socks or onesies.  So...  I made what I could into flowers, found a basket, stuffed the bottom with diapers (to hold the 'flowers'), and stuffed what I couldn't wrap the tape around into the basket as well.  Viola... a onesie basket!!!!  And the mommy loved it!

Clipping chicken wings!

Well, it has been a long time!  Bringing a new child into this world has taken up most of our lives the past two months, and it sure has been a joy!  And while this has been going on, we have managed to keep our chickens in the yard by clipping their wings.  Here is a video on how we did it.  This is our first time at it, so we very much would appreciate any suggestions!

Baby Booties using the Knifty Knitter

I finally had the courage to make socks!  I've been wanting to for sometime.  But I'm not a pattern maker... I need instructions!  Unfortunately, my on-line searching skills are not that great and I had a challenging time finding one for the Knifty Knitter.  Rostitchery has one for an adult foot using the blue loom, but I was nervous to commit to it... I needed something smaller... a baby sock would do!  The Knifty Knitter yahoo group recommend Bev's Country Country Cottage for a pattern.  So this weekend, I sat down and tried it.  I had to modify her pattern a little to make it fit the KK flower loom...  but after three tries, I found something that worked for me!  The blue sock in the picture was my first attempt.  I used the same amount of rows Bev recommended (but remember... a different loom)  and the sock fits my 3-yr old.  I then modified the rows for the cuff and ankle, but not the foot. This sock would fit a baby with a REALLY long foot (purple sock!).  Finally, I figured it out by sock three (purple and black sock) and am happy enough with it that I will make it's pair!

Here is what I came up with thanks to the wonderful guidance of Bev's Loomed Newborn Booties!
Material:  KK flower Loom, 2 colors of Baby Yarn.  You will use 2 strands throughout!

Instructions:  E-wrap around the loom twice, and knit off 1 over 1
Knit 10 rows
Turn up for a cuff (like making a brim on a hat)
E-wrap and knit 3 more rows

Make the Heel by: E-wrap 8 pegs, knit off those 8 pegs (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
E-wrap backwards only on 6 pegs (7,6,5,4,3,2), knit off
E-wrap forward again 4 pegs (3,4,5,6), knit off
E-wrap backwards again  2pegs (4,5), knit off

Now increase the number of pegs by two.

E-wrap peg 6 (knit-off) then e-wrap 5,4,3. Knit off.
E-wrap peg 2 (knit-off) then e-wrap 3,4,5,6,7. Knit off.
E-wrap peg 8 (knit-off) then e-wrap 7,6,5,4,3,2,1. Knit off. 

Form Foot:  E-wrap and knit 6 more rows (if you want you foot longer, keep going!)
Use the gathering method to to end!

Let me know how this worked for you and thanks again to the KK yahoo groups and Bev's Country Cottage patterns!

Brewing Saison and Pale Ales

A beautiful day was spent brewing beer...  two types to be exact, a saison and a pale ale.  We began in the morning to escape the afternoon sun, only to be delayed by our search for the copper coil that cools the beer once boiled (the immersion chiller).  The previous weekend we had cleaned out the garage and I guess our organizational skills aren't up to speed, since we couldn't find what we needed!  So, by lunch time the coil was found and we were off and brewing.  We brewed both batches from a kit we got from the Northern Brewer Catalog:  Petite Saison D'ete and the Smoked Amber Ale.  In five weeks, I let you know how it tastes.

No more TV!!!

It was a great surprise to come home on Monday and see this wonderful sign!  We had been talking about it for a whole year...  "We should really get rid of TV... it's a time and money suck! "  We even "practiced" not having a TV to see if we could survive... we went tops... three weeks. The only reason we would sneak was because we STILL had cable/TV .  Now we don't, and boy does it feel good.  It means more outdoor time, more family time, and more time to be creative!  Lovin’ it!  So far in the past two days, we have poured a foundation for the chicken coop, made two batches of heart shaped rice crispy bars, put a fence around garden beds so the chickens will stay out,  brought home a truck load of free mulch that we put into the backyard, and played 4 games of UNO all between the hours of 4pm -9pm!  If we were scoring a point for each activity that the TV distracted us from, we would get 10 points!  This is a fun game, let's see how many more points we can earn this week!