The post on this site that has received the most hits is my homemade laundry soap how-to. For those of you that have tried this, I’ve come up with another way to make this even easier.
Be sure and read the recipe first, or the following won’t make much sense to you. Read more…
WARNING: NEVER eat any wild plant until you have 1000% positively identified it as safe for human consumption.
One of my coworkers and I have discussed several times that I was really born in the wrong century. One of my odd habits is collecting and (after carefully and correctly identifying), eating wild foods. One of my hobbies of late has been reading up and researching various wild and edible plants.
Some of my favorites are chickweed, dandelions, mulberries, and as the title of the post indicates, Lamb’s Quarters or “goose foot”. Earlier in the spring, I had tons of chickweed growing around the edges of my fence row. I was out randomly looking for some more when I ran across a very small specimen of Lamb’s Quarters. Thrilled to death, I immediately transplanted the poor thing over by my green bean patch to see if I could get it to thrive. Alas, the first few days, I was worried. It got all withered up and was drooping to the ground. However, today (see picture below), it has come back to life and has brand new leaf sprouts on it. Can you say salad? I’ve seen lamb’s quarters all over Tulsa. In fact, there was one growing out of a crack in the parking lot where I work. There are also two mulberry trees very close to where I work. And on the way home I noticed an elderberry bush growing next to a creek.
Anyway.. here’s my poor little goose foot:
I suspect it will really take off in a couple of days. It’ll probably get to around 2 to 3 foot tall and will provide great leaves for a delicious salad. (Tastes like spinach).
One of my favorite resources online for wild foods is a fellow who calls himself Green Dean. He also has a youtube page with a large collection of videos showing you many of the wild foods nature has to offer. He offers identification tips, cooking methods, etc. Here’s his video footage on goose foot.
I used to roll my own on the cheap. My smoking costs went from about $15 every two weeks to about $60 every two weeks. Yes, it is an item in my financial budget right next to AEP.
A buddy of mine gave me some tobacco seeds he got from an “old indian feller o’er yonder”. Said it smoked like Marlboro.
So, I took some and started them in little styrofoam cups.
In about a week, these sprouts will be large enough to transplant outside in my large planters. Then I will transfer them to a larger, tilled area. I hear they get very large and have beautiful flowers.
I’ll keep you guys updated all the way until I roll my first one in celebration of not paying taxes on tobacco.
In the mean time… bite me federal government. Raise my taxes on a consumer good? Guess what, I’ll just make it myself and you will get nothing now. It is my choice to smoke. I like to smoke. Smoking is bad for me, yes. It is my choice. Not yours.
Yes, this is another home-canning post.
I got a really awesome deal at Walmart a few weeks ago on chicken leg quarters. I’ve home-canned chicken before, but I usually buy chicken thighs for home-canning as you can cram about 4 thighs into a quart jar real easily, and it doesn’t require a lot of effort. So this was a new experience for me as I’ve never actually messed with leg quarters.
Remember: home-canning meat or low-acid vegetables requires a pressure cooker and specific techniques to be sure you don’t home-can your own version of botulism. If you’re interested in learning how to home-can almost anything, get the Ball Blue Book of Preserving and learn how! Read more…
I like to do home preserving. As I don’t have a lot of time, I tend to “piece-meal” or spread the steps out over a few days, sometimes even a week or two.
Seeing as yesterday was the perfect day to stay inside and do something worthwhile, I decided to finish preserving, in this case home-canning 6 lbs of carrots I recently bought for a good price at Warehouse Market.
A lot of people shy away from home-canning as it involves a lot of time and work. Indeed, it does, but the savings in preserving your own food can be significant, especially when your dad gives you half the bounty of his green bean crop every year. 
Read more…
UPDATE: Toward the end of this post I mentioned you can use a coffee can to store small amounts of your soap in. PLEASE USE A PLASTIC COFFEE CAN or other plastic container. Metal coffee cans corrode badly with this detergent.
I’ve probably written a post about homemade laundry soap three times already. Since I sorta started with a clean slate on this blog again, I figured I’d rewrite another, but this time with pictures.
Laundry soap is expensive. I mean, seriously. Have you looked at the prices lately? Even the cheap stuff (which doesn’t work worth a flip) is expensive. And the stuff has so much gunk in it, it is no wonder it makes you itch so much. Plus, when you make your own, you know it’s not harmful to the environment, and it is so hypoallergenic you can use it on most anything, even baby clothes. This is a giant plus to me, because my oldest has pretty bad eczema and keeping the clothes itch-free is a very high priority for me. Read more…
Homeland stupidity threat:
