Archive for the ‘Home & Ranch’ Category

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The Plight of the Bumblebee

Monday, March 18th, 2013
Bumblebee with loaded pollen baskets

Bumblebee with loaded pollen baskets

by Catherine Haug, March 18, 2013

(photo, right, from Wikipedia)

The same chemical factors that are harming honeybees (colony collapse disorder) may also be having a negative impact on ground-dwelling bumblebees.

But that’s not the only thing endangering our native bumblebees. And as we lose honeybees, our native pollinators like bumblebees and mason bees will become increasingly important. We need to do all we can to ensure their survival and increase, or we will have serious problems in our food supply.

According to a short article in April/May issue of National Wildlife Magazine: Bumblebees seek biodiverse blooms, there are two things each of us can do to help bumblebees. Two things that have nothing to do with pesticides and other chemicals: (more…)

Posted in Ecology, Gardening, Home & Ranch, Landscaping | Comments Closed

Kinder Goats: Small breed for city lots or farms

Monday, March 18th, 2013
Zuri and Eysha in first pregnancy

Zuri and Eysha (does)

by Catherine Haug, March 18. 2013

(photo, right, from Brenda Lee)

See also about Sheree’s Nigerian Dwarf Goats – Perfect for town lots.

This is the first in what I hope to be a series of articles on different breeds of goats raised in the Flathead.

Back in 2008, Gayle Prunhuber did a presentation on Keeping a Family Goat, at her home in Ferndale. Gayle keeps Toggenburgs, which are a “normal” size breed (30″ – 38″).  Some of us were dismayed to learn how much land it takes to keep a couple goats: about 3/4 acre, penned. But that considers allowing them to browse, which is their natural feeding pattern.

Smaller breeds such as Nigerian Dwarf or Kinder Goats require less land, and/or if you feed them hay and alfalfa rather than browse,- it is actually doable on a city lot!

One caveat about city lots: Be sure to check your covenants and/or zoning regulations, to be sure goats are allowed.

See Kinder Goats, by Brenda Lee for a printable pdf version of the following article, and more photos. (more…)

Posted in Home & Ranch, Livestock | Comments Closed

Guerrilla Gardening

Friday, March 15th, 2013

GuerrillaGardening.orgby Catherine Haug, March 14, 2013

(photo from GuerrillaGardening.org)

Wikipedia defines Guerrilla Gardening as: “gardening on land that … is an abandoned site or area not cared for by anyone.”

Want to be a Guerrilla Gardener? Check out the TED video: Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA

Where to plant?

Choose land, preferably public, that is being abused or neglected. Land that could benefit our environment by nurturing deep-rooted carbon sequestering crops, or benefit our hungry by providing fresh food for your local food bank.

Look for unloved public space with neglected flower beds, planters that collect litter and weeds, or bare plots of mud.

What to plant?

(more…)

Posted in Compost, Ecology | Comments Closed

Kitchen Hint: Uses for Kitchen Scraps: Productive Produce

Thursday, March 14th, 2013
Peeled Banana

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.

  • Use the inside of a banana peel to shine shoes, then buff.
  • Add a banana peel to a roasting pan to help tenderize meat.
  • Put cucumber peels in spots to repel household insects, or put them in baths to soften skin.
  • Rub a cut potato over mud-stained clothing before laundering.
  • Use lemon peels to polish chrome, or add peels to the kindling in your fireplace for a pleasing scent.

Posted in Home & Ranch, Kitchen Hints | Comments Closed

Spring Cleaning: Laundering Down, Feather Pillows

Monday, March 4th, 2013

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.

(more…)

Posted in Home & Ranch, Kitchen Hints | 2 Comments »

Gathering Summary: Homemade laundry soap and GMO discussion, with Sheree Tompkins, 022713

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013
Laundry Soap Ingredients and Equipment

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…)

Posted in Gathering Summaries, GMO, Home & Ranch, Kitchen Hints | 2 Comments »

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