The Self-Sufficient Skills thread (new name, old thread!)

[noobiechickenlady]

1. Raising Chickens for eggs & meat, Chicken First Aid, And assorted other chicken stuff
2. Made homemade paneer
3. Made homemade Au Gratin potatoes from my dried potatoes
4. Dried Jerky from deer hindquarter
5. MADE LAUNDRY SOAP!!! Another convert!

Next up, pressure canning meats & veggies or homemade lye soap, can't decide

 

[justusnak]

As I sit here typing....I am trying to extract Lanolin from wool. I know "boiling" it makes felt...so, in the process...I am also felting. I read up on felting, and it said to card the wool, and layer it in a pot criss crossing the fibers. Hmmm, I can do that...and get my lanolin!?? We shall see. In a few hours of course. LOL

 

[big brown horse]

Good luck there justusnak! What are you going to do with the felt?

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

1) Use of hammer

2) Learned how to put pills down a calf's throat

3) Learned to use cross cut saw

4) Learned how to use manual post hole digger, and dug posts for new poultry pen.

5) Learned how to clean a horse's (or in my case pony's) hooves with a hoof pick.

6) Learned how to trim that same pony's hooves.

7) Learned to use a weedeater

8) Learned how to make jam! with a water bath canner.

9) Learned how to take an alternator off my Jeep, and put the new alternator on!!!!!!

 

[justusnak]

Let me tell you all on hint......if you plan to try this little experiment....DO IT OUTSIDE!! Have you EVER boiled sheep poo/lanolin/wool??? My house STINKS!! This is DEFINATELY an outside project....
IF I can get the felting to work out...I will try a few craft projects...

 

[big brown horse]

Let me tell you all on hint......if you plan to try this little experiment....DO IT OUTSIDE!! Have you EVER boiled sheep poo/lanolin/wool??? My house STINKS!! This is DEFINATELY an outside project....
IF I can get the felting to work out...I will try a few craft projects...

Thanks for the head's up!!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

WOW QA! You go girl! Alternators can be a royal pain to put on. I watched my uncle put one on his jeep. Thats where I learned the majority of my curse words from my younger days. It was *scraped nuckles* "$&#*! Oh shoot! Sorry! You didn't hear that!" pause & repeat.

Note To Self: If I ever have sheep & decide to make lanolin, justanak says its stinky. Got it! Ewwww

 

[justusnak]

OK, so...I tried the lanolin thingy...and the felt thingy...and well..Its a bust. I think you would have to use a LOT of wool, to get a very little. I used about a pound...and got just enough to coat a teaspoon. :/ All that stink...for NUTTIN! The "felt" well, its a large flat glob of sheeps wool... Im sure I did something wrong. Oh well....I tried!
Tomorrow, I get my carding lesson..and spinning! SWEET!

 

[FarmerDenise]

I made felt with my daughter when she was much younger. We had a kit, which included a washboard (plastic). I am trying to remember how it worked. I think you rubbed the wool over the wash board, using water (I can't remember if it was hot or even warm water) and kept stretching and shaping it at the same time, so you would get a flat piece. You had to start out with a fairly evenly layered bit of wool or it would come out lumpy.
We did do this outside.

 

[Farmfresh]

OK, so...I tried the lanolin thingy...and the felt thingy...and well..Its a bust. I think you would have to use a LOT of wool, to get a very little. I used about a pound...and got just enough to coat a teaspoon. :/ All that stink...for NUTTIN! The "felt" well, its a large flat glob of sheeps wool... Im sure I did something wrong. Oh well....I tried!
Tomorrow, I get my carding lesson..and spinning! SWEET!

I think your lanolin quest was VERY interesting ... even if you did end up with only a teaspoonful!

If you are interested in felting I saw a show recently all about felting. It was on
River Cottage Forever: Episode 4 http://www.factualtv.com/documentary/River-Cottage-Forever-Episode-4

Your felt may not be a lost cause yet!