Punkins' world....SUNSHINE, seeds and no more drought!

[punkin]

I do have some raised beds in mind for the railroad ties. Now the hard part will be inspiring DH to move them for me.

I got 4 loads of laundry done today. Picked the okra, put about a gallon in the freezer and canned 4 pints pickled okra. I also got a few more scrawny tomatoes and put the too ripe ones in the freezer.

I picked the purple sage and now it is in the big greenhouse drying.

I had 4 bananas left so I made 3 loaves of banana bread. We will eat one, one will go to work with DH and the 3rd goes in the freezer. I had also read that tomatoes like bananas because of all the potassium they contain. So I took the peeling up to the big greenhouse to dry out. I'll crush them and use them for tomato food next spring.

I noticed that my pears are ripe. They are pretty much canning pears, too hard for much of anything else. Last year I made some wonderful pear butter with them. This year, I think I'll also try canning some spiced pears. I'll need to get out there early to beat the yellow jackets and wasps to them. :/

 

[lorihadams]

If you like pancakes you should try saving some of the syrup from the canning and make your own pear pancake syrup out of it. We just let the extra syrup that we had boil down a bit and thicken and then canned the syrup by itself. YUM!

 

[punkin]

LoriA, I did have some left over so I sliced up the 4 apples that were still in the fruit bowl. That made exactly one pint. DH & I will probably fight over who gets to put that on pancakes.

I bet that syrup would be good over ice cream, with walnuts . . . and whip cream.

 

[lorihadams]

ooooooooo I never thought about ice cream!!!

 

[punkin]

I didn't do a whole lot today, just kind of puttering around. I did make 3 bars of hand milled soap and 3 bars of glycerin soap. I used fresh rain frangrance and some dried peppermint. I used Ivory soap in the hand milled and it still mostly smells like Ivory. I'm going to use a different unscented base soap next time. I did learn that it takes a lot more frangrance oil as opposed to essential oil. I colored them both a pretty blue and DS said he would try the glycerin soap. DH uses Ivory anyway so he can have that. Plus, I added coconut oil and that will help moisturize his skin.

Someday I would like to try making my own base soap. I would like to actually see it done first, but I don't know anyone around here who makes it.

Right now I have a blackberry cobbler and a chicken pot pie in the oven. It's our Eatin' Meetin' at church, so that's what I'm taking.

Tomorrow, my sister, Aunt and I are going to Hobby Lobby, WalMart and lunch at Ryan's Steakhouse. I printed 40% off coupons for them to use at HL. Hopefully, we'll get back in time to go to Goodwill. I don't know if my Aunt has ever been. My sister always says she can't find anything there. Yeah, right. She just doesn't want to take the time to look hard enough, especially if it's somewhere I want to go. We are leaving at 8:30. We have another "get together" for another Aunt at 2:00. We should make it back in time.

 

[Dace]

Ohhhh your dinner sounds so yummy!

 

[soapmaker]

You dinner did sound wonderful. Making your own base really is not hard. Making your own soap is not hard, alot like baking. It can be time consuming and needs patience. Skill comes with with it over time like baking a pie or decorating a cake.
Here are a couple soap makers by your state through the national handcrafters soap guild. Maybe one is close and would not mind demonstrating their craft.
http://www.soapguild.org/public/soapmaker-list.php?Search=State&&Criteria=TN
Another good sites are
www. mullerslanefarm.com
www.teachsoap.com
www.soapmakingforum.com

 

[Farmfresh]

Someday I would like to try making my own base soap. I would like to actually see it done first, but I don't know anyone around here who makes it.

I tried the milled soaps at first too. I was never quite satisfied until I made my own from scratch. It is something I just did a LOT of research on ... bought a good book or two ... then jumped on it! The Complete Soapmaker by Norma Coney is a really good one to begin with.

You are also lucky -- there are a number of people right here that can talk you through the first time or two. Just ask Hennypenny9! She is a soap newbie as well... or I should say WAS she is getting pretty good at it now!

 

[keljonma]

I miss Hobby Lobby sometimes.

Blackberry cobbler! Yummy! I love church potlucks! We always have a great time, wonderful food, and terrific fellowship.

 

[punkin]

Ooooh! All of the encouragement is going to do nothing but get me in trouble. Can't you just say, "No, punkin. You don't need to try soaps now. You have so many other projects waiting on you." I guess what I really need is alot of bad weather this winter that will force me to stay inside and get some of the projects finished.

FF: I'll do some looking around for that book.

Soapmaker: thanks for the websits. I'll look at them more in detail when I have more time. Just the words "trace", "lye" and "caustic" scare me right now.

Kel: Hobby Lobby is a dangerous place for me to go.

Dace: we had tons of food last night. I always eat waaaay too much. (Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, after all) And, it's just sooooo good.

I think for now (a couple of weeks, at least ) I'll just stick to the melt & pour and hand milling. I was able to get some M&P Glycerine Soap at HL today with a 40% off coupon.

I had a great time with my Aunt and sister, today. A little shopping and a little lunch. We ran by Walmart and the griddle that I want (old one gave out) was on sale for $24 marked down from $39. :bun

I stopped by Goodwill on the way home and made a curious find: an antique button hole attachment for a Singer sewing machine. The box is in bad shape, but it has all the accessories and manual. The print date is 1939, 1940 & 1941, so I figure this has to be from the early 40s. And (drumroll . . . ) I got it for a whopping $2. I have a treadle sewing machine, but mine's not a Singer. It's a New Model. I'm going to do some research on it. At the very least, I can put it on top of my machine for display purposes.