by Catherine Haug, March 28, 2013
Soon we will be planting our gardens and before you know it, we’ll be harvesting our bounty, or receiving our live CSA dividends. But then what do you do with all that produce? How do you store it for use in the near future, or to last through the winter?
Experts say the average American wastes $2000 worth of food during the year, simply by not storing it properly or not using it before it needs to be added to compost. (more…)
Peeled Banana
by Catherine Haug, March 14, 2013
Banana image, right, from public domain.
The following hints are from Sid Kirchheimer in the March 2013 AARP Bulletin. If you try any of these, let me know if it works. I’m going to try the lemon peel on my chrome stove top after I cook tonight’s dinner.
by Catherine Haug, March 2, 2013
Every year around this time – before Easter – I clean my down and feather pillows. I learned how to do this when my parents had a laundromat with front-loading washers and big, huge dryers in Bigfork village (the building where Showthyme is now). Just in case I’d forgotten anything (after 20 years of letting a professional clean my pillows), I consulted Down Bedding Delights: Cleaning down pillows as a guide for this post.
When any of our pillows were too worn out for lofty pillows, Mom put them aside after cleaning until she had collected several. Then she used the down and feathers as filling for my handmade twin bed quilts. They were lovely; not patchwork but rather appliqué of roses and leaves, then hand-quilted in fan and snail patterns.
What a perfect opportunity to try out your Homemade Laundry Soap – use the liquid type, as it is more gentle.
NOTE: This method is not recommended for foam or other synthetic pillows.
Laundry Soap Ingredients and Equipment
by Catherine Haug, March 2, 2013
Photo, right, of ingredients and equipment, by S. Tompkins
This was our first event at a new venue: the Crestview Senior Housing Clubhouse. We all sat around a big table while Sheree demonstrated how to make laundry soap at another table.
This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable pdf file: Gathering Summary: Homemade Laundry Soap and GMO Discussion, with Sheree Tompkins, and in her handout: Homemade Laundry Powder or Liquid, by Sheree Tompkins
We took turns grating the bars of soap into a bowl, and passed around the finished product so all could see that it looks like. Sheree also brought a jug of liquid soap that she made from her powdered mix, and a bucket of liquid soap that she made by a more direct method (not mixing up the powder first) to show us what the gel mixture looks and feels like when scooped up in a ladle.
Cora Reynolds, a 97-year old resident of the housing complex shared with us how she used to make laundry soap bars when she lived in North Carolina, in the old days before her community had electricity.
Then Sheree joined us at the big table to share GMO handouts and to talk about the Non-GMO Tipping Point Network of which she is the coordinator for NW Montana.
Read on for more detail about the presentation and discussion. (more…)
Oranges
by Catherine Haug, February 9, 2013 (image of hybrid Indian oranges from Wikipedia)
To see all kitchen hints on this site, see: Kitchen Hints. If you’d like to submit a kitchen hint, send it to me and I’ll publish it. Note that if you don’t want your name used, just let me know.
The following hint comes from Kassandra, a new member of our community. She may do an upcoming presentation on homemade skin care and/or homemade cleaning products, so stay tuned. (more…)
by Catherine Haug, January 6, 2013
To see all kitchen hints on this site, see: Kitchen Hints. If you’d like to submit a kitchen hint, send it to me and I’ll publish it. Note that if you don’t want your name used, just let me know.
The following hint comes from a new member of our community, Sheree Tompkins. (more…)
