Bits and Pieces

    All of the farmer's market stuff is put away.  After vending on Saturdays, it really is a job putting everything away until the next week.   Love talking to the people and telling them about the vegies we have.  Very surprised that in our area, which is an old farming area, that there are so many unfamiliar with what we consider everyday vegetables.  Love talking to them and hopefully get them to try a new food. 
     Too rainy today to go into the garden.  Need a break anyway.  Have a lot of things I have to get started to get inventory of rugs, knitting, etc. ready for the holidays.  At least, I need the time to think of what I want/must do. 
     And today, I feel like writing about how thrifty we can be and the value of making stock (cooks by itself if you are away and use a crock pot, cooks by itself with minimal oversight if you are at home and using the range).  Nothing is cheaper and adds more flavor than stock.  Chicken is the least expensive and since we all seem to eat a lot more chicken than beef these days (good for us.....it takes only 4 lbs. of feed to create 1 lb of chicken, while it takes 22 lbs of feed to create 1 lb of beef--not a good use of resources AND you can feed a lot of people with 22 lbs of grain---and by the way cattle are not evolutionarily equipped to deal with grain--that is our myth).  Anyway, throw in a roasted chicken carcass (please buy your chickens whole) or a whole chicken and old carrots, celery, a halved onion (leave the skin on, lots of color comes from the onion skin), some pepper corns, minimal salt.  Fill with cold water to cover the chicken/carcass and bring to a boil with lid on.  Turn down until the surface is just bubbling and let it cook probably 4 - 5 hours.  Strain all taking out the chicken and boning it.  Put stock freezer containers (leave out a quart or so for immediate use.  Will last 3  days in fridge) and chicken meat in freezer bags (good for any casserole, soup, pot pie, salad, etc) and thaw as needed.  Nothing simpler.  Not only do you now you have a base for soups, gravies, the list is endless, you also have chopped chicken meat to use).  Keep a container in your freezer just for onion bits and peelings, garlic bits, old carrots, celery, etc, and you are always ready to make stock.  I try to make stock at least once a month, more often if I can.   Old cheese can be shredded and put in the freezer to be taken out and added to cheese sauces. 
     The name of the game is 'no waste'.  Use those leftovers, recreate dishes, cook, cook, cook.  We are in the midst of a slow food revolution since we all know what the fast food revolution did to us.  If you have the capabilities, cook at home.  If you don't have the capabilities, get them if possible.  Cook for yourself, for your family, for everyone.  And if you don't have the money for enough food, go get food stamps.  That is what we pay taxes for and it is nothing to be embarrassed about. 
     What we should be embarrassed about are legislators in Washington who actually say that food stamps should be cut when, if anything, they need to be increased so all can afford decent food, not just starch!  Somehow, our elected officials reasoning is because there are always a small percentage who 'play the system', that all hungry people should be punished.  The fact that we have hungry people in this country should be our national shame and embarrassment.  Hopefully the rest of the world is aghast at the way we treat hunger and why we have it.  The fact that we have those going without medical care because they cannot afford it is tragic when we realize that we are the only industrialized country in the world which does not have universal health care.  In other words, the only industrialized country in the world which doesn't give a damn.  Hunger and poor or nonexistent medical care does not just effect poor people, it effects all of us.  Hopefully, we are on the edge of health care reform for all, but there are many of our own elected officials who just don't get it so we need to get them out. 

As the first farmer's market of the season approached, I realized that the last time I blogged was in June of last year.  We were in the middle of a draught--well we thought we were in the middle but we were at the beginning.  It went on and on.  Also, my father became ill in July and died in August so we were all preoccupied with saying goodbye to the patriarch of our family who died with such dignity that he taught us in death as well as in life.  Anyway, blogging just paled in comparison to our other activities.

So, I have taken on a new craft which repurposes, re-uses scraps of fabric otherwise thrown away and it is really a lot of fun (also very useful).  I have been making rag rugs on a rug frames (various sizes including mug rugs).  My husband makes the frames based on instructions from our first purchase of them.  What a way to preserve an old-fashioned craft and to reuse and repurpose.  I will be bringing a few examples to the farmer's market and, of course, they will be for sale.  If anyone is interested in doing this themselves, we can also sell them the frames to do it with.

A year of great handmade laundry detergent!!!

Garden in full swing.  We have rain this year which  is already better than last year.  We also have agribusinessmen who feel they must irrigate (more about that in the next blog-- so we aren't really sure how long our wells will hold out).  Note that I didn't refer to them as farmers.  Hopefully the small farmer still cares enough to think this through. 
         I have discovered in the past year a great money saver that I want to pass on to you.  I now make my own wash detergent and it is so cheap and easy that there is no reason not to.  Works great even in tough farm dirt.  I make the liquid kind because we have hard water and it is hard to dissolve powder.  Not only does this work in the new high-efficiency washers, but also in the older ones.  It also is great to mix it half & half with dish liquid (the good stuff--no antibacterial varieties) and does a great load of dishes.  Makes at least 3 gal of detergent and I use (remember, I have the old washer) 1/2 c to 1 c per load.  My daughters have the HE models and they use much less.  I think it costs me about 75 cents to make all of that (but then, I have my own bar soap so it may cost you a bit more).  By the way, one of my daughters actually switched from using Tide to this detergent!!

LAUNDRY SOAP (especially good for high efficiency washers)

¾ c. Borax
¾ c. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda  (NOT Baking soda)
1 bar soap (I use my handmade soap, but you can also use Ivory or Fels Naptha--don't use the bars of detergent they sell as bar soap now--more on that later)
Water

Heat 6 c water. Grate soap and add to hot water. Stir and continue heating until soap is melted. Add Borax and washing soda to hot water/soap & stir until dissolved.  ( I just save slivers of soap until I have enough and put them in hot water overnight.  The next morning they are either completely dissolved or only require a little heating to finish)

Place 4 c. hot water in bottom of a bucket and add soap/borax/washing soda to water to bucket. Stir. Add 1 ½ gallon cold water (that is 6 quarts) & let sit 24 hours. Wisk together and use (will be goopy gel)

Use ½ c. large loads and ¼ c for small loads  (see my measurements in bold above)

This can also be used in your mop water, as an all purpose cleaner although I use vinegar in a spray bottle for that. 

Back to the comment about bar soap on the market.  The reason I make my own bar soap, among other things, is because commercial bar and liquid soaps take all the natural glycerine out and resell that to you as lotion to moisturize your skin because of the drying effect that your soap has on your skin--vicious circle.  My soap is real soap (yes, it is made with lye, but after the saponification process the lye is gone AND I age my soap 2 months in the open air before it is ever sold/used).  I use my soap on face and hands, in the bath.  I also use a lot less moisturizers than almost everyone because of the cocoanut oil content.   Anyway, that is one reason.  The other is this complete nonsense about 'antibacterial' properties.  First of all folks, soap is antibacterial because that is what soap is.  You don't need the extra chemicals to get you squeaky clean.  Soap does that all by itself.  That and the more we use the added antibacterial chemicals, the more resistant we are to antibiotics when we really need them (not nearly as often as they would like us to believe).  Anyway, if you want to try my bar soap, it is available for sale at the Attica, Indiana farmers market or by ordering from me for $3.00 per bar.  Send me an e-mail at fentersj@gmail.com

My granddaughter's softball tournament final game is tonight!!