Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Wool Blanket Giveaway
Go to Mystic Mud and enter. If you are cold like I am, you will really want this. Tell her I sent you!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Sizes Shrink as Prices Rise--A Rant
Have you noticed smaller sizes of cans and boxes of food in the stores? If you did, have you noticed the price per item is the same or higher? Even the few prices that were lower were still higher per unit. The bottom line for manufacturers and stores is more profit from our purchases. How does that set with you? So, maybe your grocery store receipt will be the same as last month. But, the food and supplies will not last as long.
Soft Soap was the first thing that caught my eye. The new bottle is tiny, really tiny, compared to the old bottle. I don't buy Soft Soap; it just caught my eye. In the vegetable aisle the cans were the normal size but there were also three inch tall cans of green beans and all the other vegetables. My half gallon of orange juice is now 59 ounces! When did that happen?
Domino's Sugar has been in four-lb bags for several years. A gallon of Clorox has been 3.5 quarts for more years.
People will have to reduce their consumption of goods in order to every stay even. However, at some point there will be the realization that the prices have doubled. Tripled? Quadrupled? What will be the tipping point?
Your turn
What items have you noticed that have shrunk in price? Did the cost per unit rise or shrink? What are you doing to make it? Spending what it takes? Growing or raising your own food?
Soft Soap was the first thing that caught my eye. The new bottle is tiny, really tiny, compared to the old bottle. I don't buy Soft Soap; it just caught my eye. In the vegetable aisle the cans were the normal size but there were also three inch tall cans of green beans and all the other vegetables. My half gallon of orange juice is now 59 ounces! When did that happen?
Domino's Sugar has been in four-lb bags for several years. A gallon of Clorox has been 3.5 quarts for more years.
People will have to reduce their consumption of goods in order to every stay even. However, at some point there will be the realization that the prices have doubled. Tripled? Quadrupled? What will be the tipping point?
Your turn
What items have you noticed that have shrunk in price? Did the cost per unit rise or shrink? What are you doing to make it? Spending what it takes? Growing or raising your own food?
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Popular Mechanics 110 Best DIY Tips Ever
To pump up transistor sound, this tip suggests you put the radio over the mouth of a fruit jar with the speaker down. I just saw on a blog somewhere the same idea, renewed--place your ipod in a glass bowl to get better sound. We think we have thought up ideas already thought. That's just the way of the world, I suppose. The transistor makes me nostalgic. I wonder if I could place my cell phone in a glass bowl with the speaker on and make it louder. It might make the sound funny. This is an experiment to do with Charlie. I will report later.
So, here goes.
This post only needs one link because it is so long. Some these tips are from the early years of the 20th Century. Even if they are no longer relevant, their mechanism still have applications today. I found this list posted on The Homestead Revival. Okay, now I have to finish reading. This has a print button so this can be easily saved in hard copy.
Is this the handiest group of ideas ever? I can already think of applications. So far, I have not found anything that says to go buy anything.
One idea from 1916: To protect a child's fingers from a swing chain, slip a garden hole over the chain. Now, you can buy chain with a plastic tube over the chain.
Your turn
Is there a specific tip that inspires you? Which tip can you use to solve a problem you have or anticipate?
Saturday, October 6, 2012
The Great Depression School "Bus"
Do you or did you ever have a chance to ask a person who lived through The Great Depression about Depression conditions? When I talked with my mother, it was about her childhood. I knew The Great Depression as the depression, something where people did not have much. My first conversations that I remember was when I was about six. My questions were along the lines of: What was it like when you were a little girl? Usually, these questions were about specific activities or possessions, like dolls.
(My son was three when he asked me about when I was a little girl and there were cowboys and Indians. Then, shortly after that he asked me about when I was a little girl and there were dinosaurs all over.)
When I was about twelve-years-old, somehow we started talking about the school bus. I just hated riding the bus. I asked her if she rode a school bus when she went to school. I was hoping to find some company for my hate of the bus ride. She then told me the strangest story ever. ( I did know about The Great Depression by then.)
The school children had a wagon drive a route just like our yellow school buses and pick them up, a wagon pulled by horses. So, it was a school wagon. She said some days they would get off and just walk behind the wagon.They rode or not according to their own whims. She did say that if was raining or muddy, they all rode. Now, that was another strange thing. My school bus driver would never have allowed anyone off unless at school or at their home. Besides, there was no way I wanted to walk that far. She did add if it were muddy, they would would ride in the wagon.
My mother added another school wagon story to this one.
One day, she (about 6) and her older brother (about 11) and sister (about 9) were waiting on the school wagon. Mama said she kept kicking at her brother as he dodged her. Finally, he was exasperated and tired of his annoying little sister. When she kicked, he grabbed her foot and she fell right in the mud. They did not tell their mother because both would get into trouble--her for kicking and him for making her fall in the mud, even though my mother said he did not mean for her to fall.
I wonder what little darlings today would do if they had to ride a wagon to school. Of course, riding in a wagon was normal for them. My mother considered the wagon as normal. What will we look back on and consider normal and our children or grandchildren will think rather unusual?
There was no need for wagon or horse insurance. No tires or brakes to maintain at an exorbitant cost. I doubt the children or school were insured against any accident a child might have. Maybe we should pick up kid in a wagon today.
Your turn
Have you memories of incidents of The Great Depression that you have heard from relative or friends?
If you know someone who lived through The Great Depression, just talk to them about how things have changed. You won't be sorry.
(My son was three when he asked me about when I was a little girl and there were cowboys and Indians. Then, shortly after that he asked me about when I was a little girl and there were dinosaurs all over.)
When I was about twelve-years-old, somehow we started talking about the school bus. I just hated riding the bus. I asked her if she rode a school bus when she went to school. I was hoping to find some company for my hate of the bus ride. She then told me the strangest story ever. ( I did know about The Great Depression by then.)
The school children had a wagon drive a route just like our yellow school buses and pick them up, a wagon pulled by horses. So, it was a school wagon. She said some days they would get off and just walk behind the wagon.They rode or not according to their own whims. She did say that if was raining or muddy, they all rode. Now, that was another strange thing. My school bus driver would never have allowed anyone off unless at school or at their home. Besides, there was no way I wanted to walk that far. She did add if it were muddy, they would would ride in the wagon.
My mother added another school wagon story to this one.
One day, she (about 6) and her older brother (about 11) and sister (about 9) were waiting on the school wagon. Mama said she kept kicking at her brother as he dodged her. Finally, he was exasperated and tired of his annoying little sister. When she kicked, he grabbed her foot and she fell right in the mud. They did not tell their mother because both would get into trouble--her for kicking and him for making her fall in the mud, even though my mother said he did not mean for her to fall.
I wonder what little darlings today would do if they had to ride a wagon to school. Of course, riding in a wagon was normal for them. My mother considered the wagon as normal. What will we look back on and consider normal and our children or grandchildren will think rather unusual?
There was no need for wagon or horse insurance. No tires or brakes to maintain at an exorbitant cost. I doubt the children or school were insured against any accident a child might have. Maybe we should pick up kid in a wagon today.
Your turn
Have you memories of incidents of The Great Depression that you have heard from relative or friends?
If you know someone who lived through The Great Depression, just talk to them about how things have changed. You won't be sorry.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
I Love My Chickens, But....
Often, they come to the door, begging me to come out and feed them. Come on, there is a whole yard of beautiful grass and bugs. Find your own dinner!
I feed them first thing every morning. Then, they are full and have no motivation to hunt and peck. This holds true mostly in the summer heat. They have a favorite bush under which to sit. Now that it is cooler, I notice the hunt and peck more vigorously. Good girls!
The problem is--almost every time they come to me, I feed them. So, my training is helping them...lol. I just cannot resist. Fancy was the designated beggar along with being quite a conversationalist even when she sat on my lap or just stood by me on the swing. It seems that Thelma and Louise are more vocal now, especially Thelma. But, she has such a sweet little voice, unlike the shrill voice of Fancy.
So, I give in. Yesterday, exbf who had come by to do chores I cannot was the object of beggars. He said they rushed up the steps when he opened the door, saw him and just went back down.
I do feed my hens, but do expect them to get some of their protein and all their greens by themselves. This winter, I will provide almost all of their greens. Remember, I use no commercial foods, just people food.
As I took oats out to feed them, I spilled some. So, yesterday, I opened the door when they were on the porch begging and allowed them to peck all the oats from the linoleum floor just inside the door. Then, they left without a "Thank You." Now, I have a clean floor. No, they did not poop in the house. But, I know how to and am willing to clean it from the floor.
I do expect to feed them morning, noon, and night. However, I do have to lock them in their pen so the black chicken from behind won't be chowing down, too. Nothing discourages this chicken except its fear of me. I don't chase it away now, and I don't throw pine cones to make it go away, but it has a long memory.
Your turn
Does anyone have chickens that are allowed to free range that seem to beg for food lots of the time? Do your chickens ever come inside, with or without your permission? Mine seem to feel an open door is an invitation. Tell me a story about your spoiled chickens.
I feed them first thing every morning. Then, they are full and have no motivation to hunt and peck. This holds true mostly in the summer heat. They have a favorite bush under which to sit. Now that it is cooler, I notice the hunt and peck more vigorously. Good girls!
The problem is--almost every time they come to me, I feed them. So, my training is helping them...lol. I just cannot resist. Fancy was the designated beggar along with being quite a conversationalist even when she sat on my lap or just stood by me on the swing. It seems that Thelma and Louise are more vocal now, especially Thelma. But, she has such a sweet little voice, unlike the shrill voice of Fancy.
So, I give in. Yesterday, exbf who had come by to do chores I cannot was the object of beggars. He said they rushed up the steps when he opened the door, saw him and just went back down.
I do feed my hens, but do expect them to get some of their protein and all their greens by themselves. This winter, I will provide almost all of their greens. Remember, I use no commercial foods, just people food.
As I took oats out to feed them, I spilled some. So, yesterday, I opened the door when they were on the porch begging and allowed them to peck all the oats from the linoleum floor just inside the door. Then, they left without a "Thank You." Now, I have a clean floor. No, they did not poop in the house. But, I know how to and am willing to clean it from the floor.
I do expect to feed them morning, noon, and night. However, I do have to lock them in their pen so the black chicken from behind won't be chowing down, too. Nothing discourages this chicken except its fear of me. I don't chase it away now, and I don't throw pine cones to make it go away, but it has a long memory.
Your turn
Does anyone have chickens that are allowed to free range that seem to beg for food lots of the time? Do your chickens ever come inside, with or without your permission? Mine seem to feel an open door is an invitation. Tell me a story about your spoiled chickens.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Great Depression Solution: Weevils in the Flour
When I was a preteen and teen in the kitchen with my mother, she told me about her youth in the kitchen in north Mississippi during the Great Depression. I assure you that weevils in the flour had nothing to do with poverty, The Great Depression, country living, or standards. By the way, they had a cure for weevils in the flour.
The picture to the right gives you an idea of a Hoosier Cabinet design. Some are less wide or wider. Some have a million "modern" fancy features and many more drawers and doors. Some are smaller and plainer than this. Some are homemade. However, one feature not always on a Hoosier style cabinet is the one which I am interested in showing you.
See the underside of the upper part on the left just above the counter? That is a flour sifter with its handle. By opening the door above the sifter, a person could put 20 lbs of flour in a container that tilted out. The person using flour could sift the flour and measure it at the same time.
I grew up with a Hoosier Cabinet that was plain, no fancy features, no flour bin. That is how my mother came to tell me about their Hoosier Cabinet and weevils in the flour.
 |
| Hoosier Cabinet |
There was no need to go open a bug-proof container, measure flour, and sift. The container was by no means bug proof!
I grew up with a Hoosier Cabinet that was plain, no fancy features, no flour bin. That is how my mother came to tell me about their Hoosier Cabinet and weevils in the flour.
Weevils can get into this flour bin/container. Plus, so much flour was bought and stored at one time, summers were hot, and the eggs that came in the flour could hatch. Don't panic. ALL your flour has bug eggs in it when you purchase it. The government standards allow it since eggs cannot be removed. If weevils hatched in the flour in the Hoosier Cabinet, then bugs invaded the area and other food. Bug infested flour happened in the cleanest of kitchens--eggs hatched in the flour or weevils or other insects invaded the flour.
My mother knew the solution that did not include thorough cleaning, a futile effort then and now if the flour is not kept airtight and used immediately. Sifting with a sifter that rubs the flour will crush bugs, so use a fine sieve to exclude bugs from "sifted" flour. Just put the flour in the sieve and gently hit the rim of the sieve on your hand to make the flour fall through the sieve, leaving the bugs or moths behind.
Once again without fear or squeamishness:
Once again without fear or squeamishness:
The solution: Sift the flour through a sieve and use the flour. Eggs or bugs will be left in the sifter. Okay, so a few eggs go through. Webs or threads will be in the flour and sifter, indicating you have a weevil problem. The same web/thread thing happened a few months ago with Indian Meal Moths in Raisin Bran at my house that immediately became chicken food. By the way, chickens love Kelloggs Raisin Bran!
It sounded gross to me then and now. But, what if flour was as dear now as it was then? What if you had so little money and so little access to food that you would starve without eating bug-infested flour? What if in the future you had no transportation to go to the store 20 miles away? What if there were no Tupperware, Mylar bags to exclude bugs, or a freezer or oxygen absorbers to kill eggs?
I have reached the point mentally where I know I can sift the buggy flour and eat it without another thought IF I need to. However, in the far past, I have dumped all flour, cornmeal, cake mixes and spices. I do not regret that move. Just because I have reached the point that I know I will eat flour after it has been sifted to get the bugs out does not mean that I will do it right now when my ability to acquire more food is still good. I have not been tested since I developed this mindset. As long as the grocery stores are open, I will dump the flour to the hens. Maybe I will mix it OUTDOORS with some chicken broth to save the hens' lungs from flour in the air.
Since I am in the process of eradicating Indian Meal Moths that will get into flour, cookies, cereal and other foodstuffs in boxes and bags, I have a method. No poison is involed, just time. I freeze all flour, pasta, cornmeal, and oatmeal for 48 hours. Then, I let it sit on the counter or in the closed microwave for 24 hours. After that, I store it in half-gallon or quart canning jars with old lids and rings. When I run out of canning jars, I will use a spaghetti jar, peanut butter jar, or any glass jar that has the rubber seal inside. Without the rubber seal, the eggs can be laid under the rim of the jar where the critter can migrate to the inside of the jar. Don't depend on Ball plastic storage caps.
I am very confident there will be no pests in any of my food stored in canning jars. It is not prepping food, just food on sale!. How could I pass up this pasta deal? I love my deals. It is all stored in Ball jars with canning lids and rings. First, it spent 48 hours in the freezer and all the rest of the routine.
But, if anything befalls my little stash (20 lbs or less) of bug-free, egg-free flour, access to flour, or ability to buy flour, I will be sifting any kind of flour through a fine mesh strainer and baking with it. Can you? The bugs will be gone. And, the eggs should provide a bit of protein. No? Oh well.
I know the folk who have oxygen absorbers and five gallon storage buckets and Mylar bags may not find this of interest. But, we never knows what will befall our flour or ability to store it in the most secure way. For those of us who use none of the long-term storage methods, can you sift bugs out of your flour and still bake with it? Or would you rather freeze it and store it in a glass jar?
Youe turn
What are you thoughts on sifting flour with bugs and eating the flour anyway? Are you grossed out by the thought? Had you ever heard of the webs/threads indicating there were pests in the flour? Have you ever seen them and maybe wondered why there were webs in the flour?
But, if anything befalls my little stash (20 lbs or less) of bug-free, egg-free flour, access to flour, or ability to buy flour, I will be sifting any kind of flour through a fine mesh strainer and baking with it. Can you? The bugs will be gone. And, the eggs should provide a bit of protein. No? Oh well.
I know the folk who have oxygen absorbers and five gallon storage buckets and Mylar bags may not find this of interest. But, we never knows what will befall our flour or ability to store it in the most secure way. For those of us who use none of the long-term storage methods, can you sift bugs out of your flour and still bake with it? Or would you rather freeze it and store it in a glass jar?
Youe turn
What are you thoughts on sifting flour with bugs and eating the flour anyway? Are you grossed out by the thought? Had you ever heard of the webs/threads indicating there were pests in the flour? Have you ever seen them and maybe wondered why there were webs in the flour?
Scary Rise in Grocery Prices: Solutions
This week, I had a case of sticker shock. In 2010, I found a sale on Starkist Tuna--$0.50 for the 5 oz can. I could only afford 20 cans at the time and kept buying a few at a time as the sale lasted several weeks. Because I like tuna and eat about one can each week, this sale was a boon.
Since then, I have bought several cans at a time at the regular price, some weeks buying none. Oh, how I wish I had bought more when the price held steady at $0,82/can for several years. For the last few months tuna has been $0.88/can. I have a few cans here all the time, but it is certainly not a stash, just several cans ahead.
I was dumbstruck when I found the price had risen to $0.94/can! Folks, that is a 7% increase overnight. Are you seeing this in any food you buy.
This is the only dramatic price increase I have noticed. My solution: I will still eat one can each week, still. But, it will make two meals, not one.
When I married in 1966, I could get four sandwiches from a can of tuna. I added three chopped, boiled eggs; Miracle Whip; chopped pickles; chopped onions; lots of chopped celery. Then, my husband and I each had a sandwich on two consecutive days for lunch. I can do that again with only one egg, and eat it in two portions. The sandwich can be fatter!
Often, I dump a can of tuna onto a bed of greens with tomatoes. Now, it will be half a can on my salad! Since I eat meat most days, this is not too much of a sacrifice. It just means the inconvenience of storing the rest. Yes, it hurts my back to stand for the extra thirty seconds to transfer it to a bowl, cover it, and bend to put it in the refrigerator.
A friend is going to find the price at the PX or Commissary, whichever it is that sells food, and see if he can beat that price for me. Plus, I found a coupon for Starkist. Every little bit helps.
Your turn
What foods prices have you found with a dramatic increase? What is your solution?
Since then, I have bought several cans at a time at the regular price, some weeks buying none. Oh, how I wish I had bought more when the price held steady at $0,82/can for several years. For the last few months tuna has been $0.88/can. I have a few cans here all the time, but it is certainly not a stash, just several cans ahead.
I was dumbstruck when I found the price had risen to $0.94/can! Folks, that is a 7% increase overnight. Are you seeing this in any food you buy.
This is the only dramatic price increase I have noticed. My solution: I will still eat one can each week, still. But, it will make two meals, not one.
When I married in 1966, I could get four sandwiches from a can of tuna. I added three chopped, boiled eggs; Miracle Whip; chopped pickles; chopped onions; lots of chopped celery. Then, my husband and I each had a sandwich on two consecutive days for lunch. I can do that again with only one egg, and eat it in two portions. The sandwich can be fatter!
Often, I dump a can of tuna onto a bed of greens with tomatoes. Now, it will be half a can on my salad! Since I eat meat most days, this is not too much of a sacrifice. It just means the inconvenience of storing the rest. Yes, it hurts my back to stand for the extra thirty seconds to transfer it to a bowl, cover it, and bend to put it in the refrigerator.
A friend is going to find the price at the PX or Commissary, whichever it is that sells food, and see if he can beat that price for me. Plus, I found a coupon for Starkist. Every little bit helps.
Your turn
What foods prices have you found with a dramatic increase? What is your solution?
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