The reason for my silence - My Garden

/

I have been very busy lately.  While I have been knitting, and sewing, the vast majority of my time has been taken by my garden. It started in early February with my kids helping me start seeds in in egg cartons.  I found that the clear plastic kind did a much better job sprouting seeds than the Styrofoam kind.  The clear plastic kind acted like a mini green house with the top down, keeping the seeds warm and moist.

The kids now have a sense of ownership for the "baby" plants they helped raise from seeds, and a vigilant weed pullers (they don't want the mean weeds to hurt their baby plants), and never fail to water a dry plant.  I hope this translates to eating the fruits of their labors later as well.

We planted primarily those vegetables which we eat most often, like tomatoes, and the herbs I favor cooking with, but can be expensive to buy fresh.  In this way I hope to lower our total food bill, and in subsequent years I plan to plant enough of each veggie, and enough variety to last us through a season or two (with preservation).

I will soon have to update these pictures however, because these were taken when I had originally planned to tell you all about my garden, a few weeks ago.

Redefining Need

/

If you had told me in December that I would be spending the rest of the winter without central heat, I would have told you that you were crazy.  The weather had been extremely cold for Florida (near 32 degrees F, 0 degrees C), and it was expected to stay just as cold for the forseeable future.  We needed central heat, or we would freeze! At least that is what I thought until our heat went out in early January, and we didn't realize it.  We spent almost a week without heat before we noticed that the heater wasn't working at all.  Since then we have been wearing sweaters and thick socks inside, we've padded the beds with extra blankets, and put a space heater in the bathroom.  We have also noticed that living without central heat, even when it is freezing outside, really isn't that bad.  We didn't NEED heat after all.

Have you found that you didn't need something you thought you did?  Have you redefined your needs?  Please share!

Reduce - Stop Shopping

/

One great way to spend less money is to stop spending it.  I am not going to go quite so drastic as to say you should stop paying for everything and buy nothing (y0u probably have bills to pay and a desire to eat), but I think we should all stop looking for stuff to buy.  Unfortunately this is not as easy as it sounds. We are bombarded by advertising every way we turn.  Ads are on TV, radio, the internet, billboards, inside stores, and even in schools.  These ads are designed to tell us why we can't live without something we previously didn't know existed, and they work.

Here is what I suggest;

  1. As hard as it may seem (and it is hard) avoid ads.
  2. Do not browse in stores or online.
  3. Visit stores as little as possible - the fewer opportunities you have to buy the less you will buy.
  4. Keep a detailed list of what you need throughout the week.  Go to the store armed with your list.  Buy what is on your list, then get out of the store.

What can you do during those long hours when you are not shopping?I will have a long list of ideas for you next time.

~Gerwerken

Save Money - Reduce, Reuse, and DIY

/

I have been asked on more than one occasion how my family manages to make end's meet.  After all, I am a stay at home mom, and Firebeard works for the state (not an industry that tends to throw money at its employees).  What do I answer to this enquiry?  Grace, luck, we don't always make ends meet, I don't know.... The truth is that I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve.  With unemployment going up and economic stability still on shaky ground, I decided to share a few of these tricks.

I am calling my method Reduce, Reuse, and DIY.  Reduce involves spending less, changing expectations.  Reuse involves repurposing the goods you already have, or can get 2nd hand cheap/free, so that they suit your new and ongoing needs.  DIY involves the many ways in which doing things your self can save you money.

Since this is such a broad topic I plan to break it down into several posts, so can an eye on this space if you need some money saving tips.

Firewood

/

Where I live trees fall down when it rains a lot.  I have no idea why this happens, but for the past several years my family has found its occurence very fortuitous.  When a neighbor's tree falls RedBeard (DH) and my FiL offer to cut the tree down and haul the wood away.  The neighbor gets rid of the downed tree, and we get firewood for the next winter. We usually have to wait for hurricane season to get enough rain for a tree to fall, but after several days of rain last week a tree fell in the development being built (by our next door neighbor) in front of our house.

The tree(s) that fell were huge, growing from one giant trunk to a two trunk monstrosity.  For some perspective, here is a pic of red beard atop the tree.  He is 6'3".

The weekend was spent cutting and hauling away the tree.  It was a family affair.  The menfolk did the cutting, while I knit, and the kids played a safe distance away.  When the guys paused to sharpen their saws the kids and I jumped into action loading the trailer.

The second day we were out was much colder,with rain coming in on the wind.  The kids wanted to "help" despite the conditions, and the fact that the only logs left to load were 100+ pounds.

By the way, this is about as close as we get to snow here in Florida, and yes, my kids did try to build a snowman.....or would that be saw dust man.

Olive and Archie

/

Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls designed these wonderful dolls I made for my kids this Christmas.  These are the Olive and Archie dolls.  The pattern for both dolls is only $15, and it comes with a number of patterns for accessories for the dolls.

I chose to make these dolls for a few reasons.  First, and most importantly, one of the dolls was a boy.  I looked for quite a while before finding a pattern for a normal looking boy pattern.  Most of the boys were elves, fairies, or the like, and this doll was just a normal boy.   The second reason was the doll accessories.  The accessory patterns are not typical of most doll patterns.  Instead, these dolls come with patterns for backpacks, sleeping bags, snow suits, and even a cat.

In the above picture the dolls are wearing winter outfits I made for them while the kids were sick after Christmas.  The kids were worried their dolls would be too cold to play outside after the kids got better.  Archie's sweater and hat were made with a felted wool sweater from the thrift store, and Olive's hoodie, skirt, and boots were made from a pair of pj's my daughter had outgrown.  

Remembering with Food

/

My grandmother grew up in the West Indies and immigrated to the US when she was a young adult.  Now she, and several of her sisters and brothers live here in Florida.  When they get together so do the tastes of their island home.  Now, whenever I cook a Caribbean dish I am reminded of sitting on the floor of her kitchen as a child watching her cook.

This past week I decided to bring a little bit of island flavor into my home in the form of guava pastries.  My daughter helped me make them, initially declining to try the guava, but she couldn't resist when they were done.

Need a great recipe?  Try this one.

wait...this isn't the salad bar

/

Greetings readership of Gerwerken's blog, I am a guest writer, her husband.  You may have noticed me in such famous editions such as "the garden box" and occasionally popping up as the recipient of some of her crafty resourcefulness.  When Gerwerken first asked me to guest-blog for her, I thought "I really don't know what I'd say.  I have a Wordpress™ account, but never post anything - where would I even start?"  Sadly, I'm still sort of stuck there. One possible angle I see is the almost contrary nature that our respective craft endeavors  have when compared side-by-side.  Gerwerken leans toward knitting, sewing, soap-making and organization among others - many things reflective of an altruistic and ecologically sound approach to life.

While not an anarchistic hellion (usually), most of my creative pursuits involve scrap metal, noisy exhausts, combustable substances, fire, and hitting things with hammers.  When I'm at my most creative, there's usually safety-goggles required, specific instructions to watch for falling objects, and usually something burning somewhere.

Yin and Yang, probably a very good illustrative metaphor.

Let me back up.  If you're reading this, you're probably already quite familiar with what Gerwerken is all about, and equally dumbfounded as I am about how those two kids turned out so adorable.

I'm an aspiring blacksmith, that's my goal.  Having attended an hammer-in (informal blacksmith gathering), made a bailing tine knife with my own two hands, I'm hooked.  Only, I didn't have anything besides a desire to learn when I got started.  That was about a year ago.

To date, things are progressing pretty well.  Having a background as a bicycle-mechanic, and the accompanying pragmatic mindset that comes along with it, I started working on the basics; identify the equipment needed to start smithing, find a place to work, set up shop.  The more I studied, the more I realized that much of the equipment I needed (tables, forges, kilns, implements) could be build out of scrap metal easily obtained from a junk yard.  That was all I needed - We're off to the races.

That, in a nutshell, is the craftiest activity I have.  I'm still learning, I haven't started smithing, but I'm on my way.

I work on cars, I weld, I fabricate, I build bikes, I ride bikes, I read, and now - I blog.

Hi.

What's your sign?

/

During 2009 a very good friend got married to the love of her life.  For her present this Christmas, I wanted to make her a symbol of their new love.  Since she loves the stars almost as much as her new husband, I decided to embroider her a constellation depicting a beautiful love story.  However, there is a reason for the phrase, "star crossed lovers."  All of the constellations I could find depicting love stories were horrible tragedies.  So, I change direction a bit, and  embroidered their birth signs.  After all, they are meant to be together, it's in the stars.

Doctor, you've got some MRSA on your tie.

/

One of my best friends is a new doctor, who still wants to change the system and make hospitals a healthy place for patients.  During his annual Christmas visit last year he was incensed that doctors in many hospitals were required to wear ties.  After all, a doctor's tie is an exceptionally good at spreading disease.  Ties are at just the right height to get coughed on, they fall on patients during exams, they are not changed between patients, and compared to other clothes they get cleaned infrequently.  A doctors tie is probably covered with disease! Over the past year, with the mental image of a tie crawling with disease, I decided that this Christmas the good doctor would receive a tie with a visible representation of what was already on it.  The disease tie was born....

On a black silk tie I embroidered 4 visually distinct, and rather scary diseases.  Here are some closeups;

Next time you visit the visit the hospital, avoid the ties.

Holiday Roundup

/

Christmas decorations came down today officially ending Christmas.  Before I completely forget about Christmas, I thought I would give you a quick holiday round up since I was too busy to post during most of the Christmas season.

The Christmas Tree Farm

Decorating the Gingerbread House

The Captain Comes to Town

Christmas Eve Light Viewing

Christmas Day!

Coming Soon: The Christmas Crafting Roundup

2010

/

I hope you all had a great holiday season.  We had a wonderful time, but I am thrilled it is over now.  I feel like I have enough time to take a deep breath again!

I am so excited to begin a new year, and a new decade, it feels like a new beginning.  I have decided to set a few goals to work toward during this new year - some people might think of these as resolutions.  I would like to share my goals with you.

1.

Goal Create a Home Management Notebook
Define Goal Create a tool that helps me keep a well organized, efficient, and peaceful home, by keeping important information, checklists, and tools for my job at home all in one place.
How to Accomplish Gather the information I use or need as a home manager and keep it in the same notebook.  Create a routine for myself, and keep a written copy of it in the notebook.  I will also create templates to organize future information, and use the notebooks of others as inspiration.

2.

Goal Be a Healthier Person
Define Goal Gain and maintain a healthy weight as defined by the BMI, and be able to ride the St. Marks trail (50 miles) in under 3 hours, and run a 5k.
How to Accomplish Exercise at least 5 days a week.  Ideally that would alternate emphasis on aerobic activity, and strength training.  On days in which I do not feel able to exercise, I should at least engage in relaxation activities.  I will schedule times during my day for the sole purpose of exercising.  At the time of this writing that will be after my morning responsibilities, and again after the kids go to bed.  I will also make more meals for myself and my family with whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthy amounts of dairy.

3.

Goal Finish all of my current UFOs
Define Goal Complete or rip back all craft projects currently left unfinished.
How to Accomplish Find all of my current unfinished objects.  List them in order of finishing priority.  Those with due dates need to be finished first, and then those that are closest to being finished come second.  Objects that I no longer want to finish can be ripped back into their raw materials.  Once these projects are completed, I plan to have no more than 3 projects unfinished at one time.

4.

Goal An Awesome Blog
Define Goal A frequently updated, informative, easy to search, and beautiful blog.
How to Accomplish First, begin posting at least 2 times per week, working toward posting everyday.  Second, make blog more searchable by better defineing post categories, and subcategories.  Third, focus on posting information that would be interesting and informative for my readers, and fourth, work on creating a unifying visual theme.

Are you setting any goals or resolutions for the new year?  I would love to hear about them.  If you are not setting any goals or resolutions for the new year, why have you decided against it?

Happy Holidays

/

I hope this holiday season is going well for all of you.  So far I am feeling a little behind on my holiday to do list, but instead of letting the stress get to me, I am letting a few things slide (unfortunately the blog is one of them, sorry).  After feeling completely overwhelmed last year, to the point that I did not enjoy the holidays until after they were over, I am making a conserted effort to enjoy myself this year.

In addition to realizing that I don't have to make everything perfect, I have also realized that I don't have to stress about buying my kids expensive Christmas presents.  Christmas isn't about expensive presents, and my kid's shouldn't expect them.   Instead, I will get them something they will really want that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  The rest, I will make.  We will have a small but heartfelt Christmas.

I will leave the spoiling to the rest of my family.

My family started our simple holiday fun, by picking out our Christmas tree at a tree farm in North Carolina while we were up there for Thanksgiving.  In addition to the fun of going out in the field and picking a still growing, uncut tree, this tree farm had carriage rides driven by Santa, and an elf village with crafts for the kids.  This was all for the cost of the tree, and our (rather small) tree was only $20.  The kids loved it!

In keeping with my simple holiday fun here are a few things you can do this holiday season, if you live in or near Florida's Big Bend region;

  • Thomasville, GA's Victorian Christmas Festival in downtown Thomasville.  The festivities are December 10 and 11, 2009 from 6:00 - 10:00 p.m.  Admission is free.
  • Christmas on the Farm at the Tallahassee Museum.  The farm is having it's Christmas on the 19th of December, 2009, from 11:00 - 3:30 and you can participate for the cost of Museum Admission.

Candy and Candles

/

My family, including myself, has been out of order as of late.  The kids got either a very bad cold, or a mild version of the flu.  They have only recently begun feeling better, and letting me walk around without holding one of them.  One good thing did come out of it however, I am now almost completely immune to my little boy saying, "I can't do it.  I siiiiiiiick."  The recent fake coughing at the end of that exclamation was like a vaccination encouraging quick immunity.  Who would have thought a two year old could be so manipulative.

My daughter had her 4th birthday just before the illness kicked in.  To my immense pleasure, she picked a Halloween themed party, which we decided to hold on Halloween night.  Since I LOVE Halloween, it was no trouble to go all out for this party, and I did.  Here are some pics from the festivities. The birthday girl and her grandmother as fairies.

Graveyard cake, as requested.

Lady Fingers.

Marshmallow Bones.

Batman!

How does DIY Laundry Detergent Work?

/

After writing my previous article, DIY Laundry Detergent, I realized that there is no reason that any of you would trust a word I say on such a subject.  If I were you I wouldn't trust me, and I don't trust other bloggers on blind faith either.  When I find a topic I an interested in, I research.  Here is some of my findings on DIY Laundry Detergent, and a few links to help you begin your research if you are inclined. ~Gerwerken

How does DIY Laundry Detergent Work?

For thousands of years humans have been washing fabric in water.  At times we have also hit that fabric against rocks, with sticks, or against the beaters in our washing machines.  We have boiled the water, or added things to it, but the use of water hasn’t changed.  Why?  Water cleans really well.  That’s why it is often referred to as, “the universal solvent.”  We could wash our clothes in plain water alone, get pretty clean clothes, and save a lot of money.

So if water does such a good job, why do we bother with soaps and detergents?  The main reason when it comes to laundry is that oil and water don’t mix, soap acts like a match maker.  Soap, or saponified fats, act as emulsifying agents so that oil, and the dirt attracted to it, can be washed away by water.  Washing Soda, or Sodium Carbonate is added to the mix because we rarely wash our clothes in pure soft water.  Instead, we use tap water, hard, soft, or in-between (for a cute story about the difference between hard and soft water click here).  The washing soda bonds with some of the minerals in hard water, particularly magnesium and calcium, so the soap does not have to.  Without the washing soda, we would need a LOT more soap.

Finally Borax, or sodium borate, a naturally occurring alkaline mineral, helps whiten whites and brighten brighten.  Borax converts some of the water molecules to hydrogen peroxide, which you will know if you have ever seen a peroxide blond, acts similarly to bleach.  As an added bonus, it also kills roaches, I bet your old detergent didn’t do that.

DIY Laundry Detergent

/

So you can knit, sew, cook your food from scratch, and change your own oil.  Can you make your own laundry detergent?  Do you even know what is in your laundry detergent? I started making my own laundry detergent almost a year ago now, and I have been experementing to find the best formula.  At the moment,  I have a keeper.  This formulation has been successful at getting out toddler strength stains.

This is how you make it...

Ingredients:

Castille Soap (grated)

Borax

Washing Soad

Baking Soad (optional)

Essential Oil (optional)

The Formula:  I made a ratio of ingredients rather than an exact recipe so that you can make a small batch or a large batch, and there wouldn't be any problem going from English to metric measures, etc.  Note:  Ratios are by VOLUME.

Mix 2 parts grated soap, 1 part borax, 1 part washing soda, and if desired, 0.5 to 1 part baking soda (use more for heavily soiled clothing), and essential oil as preferred (I like lavender).

Example: 2 cups grated soap (about 1 bar), 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, 0.5 cup baking soda, and 20 drops essential oil.

This is how it should look.

Once you mix it all up, stick it in a container with a tight lid, and use about 1/8 cup per regular load of wash.

Homemade Pasta

/

I finally made pasta from scratch, and I can't believe it took me so long.  It was so EASY, and the pasta tasted great!  Additionally, while I didn't do a cost analysis, I think it is also cheaper than boxed pasta.

My husband thought they looked like cartoon noodles, which I think made my kid's more willing to try them (the kids liked them by the way).

This is the recipe I used.  It is super simple, and seems endlessly adaptable.  If you haven't tried to make your own pasta yet, you should.