Another night of David's bedtime prayers: Thank you God for my feet.
Elizabeth: Arm hurts, arm hurts!
Mom: Your arm hurts? Did you fall down?
Elizabeth: No. David.
Mom: What did David do to your arm?
Elizabeth: Hit.
Mom: David, did you hit Elizabeth?
David: No!
Mom: She said you did.
David: Oh. Sorry, Elizabeth!
Today we have more sprouting inside:
I'll try to take some pictures of the kids this evening so you're not over run with garden posts! : )
Anyway, new sprouts appeared today!!!!! I haven't photographed them yet.
I am just amazed. This is the Basil by the end of today that just sprouted yesterday!
And if that's not enough... the Marigolds will be big enough for a cat to eat before I know it!
Nothing else yet... but I swear, on the one pepper seed that's peeking out of the dirt, that I can see the beginning fuzzies of roots forming....
And here's my first loaf of artisan bread. It was very tasty, as if I'd bought it at Central Market!
Used the "Master Recipe" from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It was very easy and tasted fabulous! I'm only on page 31 of 242 of the book, so now I'm really anxious to see what other masterpieces can come from this book. Seriously, it was really good... Not an everyday sandwich bread for preschoolers, though, so I'll keep working on that one.
I got on the waiting list at the big library to get this book. So far, I'm inclined to think it would be worth it's purchase price, though!
I'm taking the Seed to Seed Challenge this year, and I'd like to tell my girls about it! (I'd like to apologize if you came here looking for laundry detergent... I can't fix it! Here's my laundry detergent story if you still want to read it.)
That simply means that I've chosen to grow something from seed that I've never grown from seed before, and at the end of the season, I will attempt to save the seeds so that I can grow the plant from my own seeds next year. Cool, huh?!?!
This must be done with open pollinated seeds, also known as heirloom seeds, and not new hybrid varieties. Well, I had already ordered heirloom seeds when I stumbled across the challenge, and I have NEVER grown ANY vegetables from seed before, so I'm perfect for the challenge! (I've always just bought transplants from the garden center.) So let me tell you about my week....
Monday, Feb 2 - I got out a blank calendar and all my seed packets. I went through everything and counted backwards or forwards to figure out the recommended planting dates based on our last average frost. I compared the information from the seed packets to the information in some Texas gardening books I'd gotten at the library and came up with a planting calendar. That was the day I planted the Spinach and Swiss Chard outside. I decided (long ago) that I was going to try to start some seeds indoors to see how that worked.
This flat has some flowers & herbs in it.
See it??? It's tiny! And there are 2 of them!!! (only one in the photo, click to enlarge) These are Sweet Basil!!!
Several of the Marigolds were also starting to sprout!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!OK, I can't wait any longer. We have finally agreed on a name AND a spelling! Drum roll, please...
Rebekah Leigh
Several people have inquired about my homemade detergent, so I thought the easiest way to respond would be to blog it. First of all, I must say this is not my invention, but a recipe I've seen all over the blogosphere since I've been reading homemaking & sustainable living blogs. I think my interest in detergent came with our switch over to cloth diapers when Elizabeth was a few months old. You have to use additive-free detergent with diapers (and no fabric softener) or they develop a residue build-up... which leads to really stinky diapers.
I started out with some homemade detergent that I'd found on Etsy. I used it only for the diapers & everything seemed to be working with it. But then I ran out. I read that baking soda was good on diapers, so then I used that alone on the diapers for a while. Then I started seeing the recipe for detergent all over these blogs I was reading, so I decided that when I ran out of Cheer, I'd make a total switch over to homemade. That happened in December 2008.
1 c grated laundry soap bar (which is about 2/3 of a bar)
1/2 c washing soda
1/2 c borax
Grate the soap with a cheese grater or food processor. Add all ingredients into a bowl that has an airtight lid. Stir or shake to mix well. Store the air tight container. Use 2 Tablespoons per load.
Now the nitty-gritty - does it work? I haven't noticed any difference since I switched between how this works & how our store-bought detergent worked! The Fels Naptha is a stain remover, washing soda cuts grease and odors and borax cleans, deodorizes and softens the water.
So now we use this for all the laundry. If I've got stains, I'll still use some OxyClean or a pre-treater. For our family, the biggest benefit to homemade detergent is that it's cheaper and it's also safe for diapers & sensitive baby skin, so I don't have to have 2 detergents. Some of the other bloggers have done the math and figure this recipe comes out to about a penny per load. The initial cost was about the same price as the big box of detergent from WM, but these ingredients are going to last me a long time!
I did have a problem at first finding all 3 ingredients. I found Borax at every store I looked, but no washing soda. I finally found it at HEB Central Market. The box was all dusty like they didn't sell much of it. I found a laundry soap bar at WM called Pink Zote, but it was really soft & I couldn't grate it, plus it had added color & scent, so I didn't end up using it. I finally found all 3, including Fels Naptha at Kroger. They can be ordered online if you can't find them locally. I know Amazon.com has them and there's probably other sites that carry all 3 also.
If you're interested in other homemade cleaners, check out the homemade cleaners at Down to Earth, an Australian blog which I just love reading. That entry includes recipes for: laundry liquid, laundry powder (which is what I use), heavy duty laundry powder, laundry stain removers, fabric softener (use this also), diaper pre-soak, all purpose cleaner, skin cleaner, oven cleaner, silver cleaner, soft scrub, window cleaner, wood polish, assorted flooring cleaners, crayon mark remover, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, and deodorant!
Homemade cleaners... It Works for Me! (click to see more Works for Me Wednesday participants)
David was sitting at the table working on his Legos when I heard him say, "I saw Obama on the news."
Strange thing is, I don't think we've seen the news since inauguration day! "You saw Obama," I asked with amazement.
"Yeah, Rock Obama."
I saw the potential for a good TTT post here, so I asked what Rock had said on the news. His reply:
So if you're only here to see the kids, you don't have to read this one. I've tried keeping more than one blog in the past & it's not my thing, so I'm going to mix my garden log in with my regular blog. This is mainly for my own keeping, but read it if you want...
January 2009 - the area we call "the garden" is located between the house & the old barn. It gets a lot of sun and used to be a cattle corral, so I think it ought to have pretty fertile soil after all those years of hay feeding & cows pooping there.
January 21, 2009 - We rented a tiller & tilled the whole area. It was too packed to shovel otherwise. OK, I rented a tiller and Dad did all the work... except for cutting the old hay twine off the tiller every few minutes, which was my job. I'm sure I could operated the tiller if I wasn't pregnant. (no comments, please!) It really didn't take long, but both Dad and the tiller put up a good fight. Did I mention we rented the cheaper, much harder to operate tiller?
After returning the tiller, I used some of the wood left over from construction to build a raised bed. Yep, so far that's it, one raised bed in all that space. That piece of wood with the blocks on it used to be the ramp we walked on to get into the house before the steps were built.
January 31 - I shoveled loose dirt from the garden area into Box 1. Grandpa came down & planted a row of 1015 onions on the opposite side of the garden area.
Some of the cattle trough planters in the back yard will also be used for vegetable gardening this year.
Today, February 2 - I planted 2 cool season crops in the back yard. Rainbow Swiss Chard was planted because Dad likes chard & I think the rainbow variety is prettiest. I think it will look nice in the beds. America Spinach was the other. I planted just a row of each in one trough. It still seems early to me, but I was going by what the seed packets said. I plan on planting more later, too.
Now the waiting... oh, the agony!
