Blackbird
Goat Whisperer
No..? Can't say that I've seen it.
What did they do before ... ?
- Thread starter ORChick
- Start date
bibliophile birds
Lovin' The Homestead
oh Merle... go out and get it right now. it's wonderful... you just can't imagine the eye candy and the glorious hoop skirts! 
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
When we moved back on the homestead, it was in the late 70s...when girls were just starting to have feathered bangs~think Farrah Fawcett. We had no way of styling those but they used to use regular Scotch tape in the 50s, so we did this too.
You wetted your hair to dampness but not soaking, arranged it into the way you wanted it to lay and then just taped it. Two or three lines of tape spaced out about 1/2 inch to 1 inch apart. It would actually stay that way and one could reuse that tape for a couple of days without it losing it's sticky.
The next morning you removed the tape and stuck it to the mirror for next night's styling. Comb through and hope you didn't lay on it wrong so you wouldn't have this weird cowlicky thing.
The girls without bangs that had long hair would pull it all up to the top of their head, secure with rubber band, section it off into three pieces and roll it carefully up on three very large pink, plastic rollers and secure with bobby pins. If you didn't have these or, if someone was using them already, you could use tomato soup cans.
In the morning your hair would be relatively straight with just a little flip at the end....but you would have a ridge around the crown of your head from the rubber band marking.
Later on we felt very lucky to have found butane curling brushes that you filled with lighter fluid and clicked a dial until the flint sparked the flame. These were wonderful but could get very hot....you had to watch for burns and burnt hair.
Now? I have the electric one and it's certainly great but I would still love to find a butane one just to have. You never know......
You wetted your hair to dampness but not soaking, arranged it into the way you wanted it to lay and then just taped it. Two or three lines of tape spaced out about 1/2 inch to 1 inch apart. It would actually stay that way and one could reuse that tape for a couple of days without it losing it's sticky.
The next morning you removed the tape and stuck it to the mirror for next night's styling. Comb through and hope you didn't lay on it wrong so you wouldn't have this weird cowlicky thing.
The girls without bangs that had long hair would pull it all up to the top of their head, secure with rubber band, section it off into three pieces and roll it carefully up on three very large pink, plastic rollers and secure with bobby pins. If you didn't have these or, if someone was using them already, you could use tomato soup cans.
In the morning your hair would be relatively straight with just a little flip at the end....but you would have a ridge around the crown of your head from the rubber band marking.
Later on we felt very lucky to have found butane curling brushes that you filled with lighter fluid and clicked a dial until the flint sparked the flame. These were wonderful but could get very hot....you had to watch for burns and burnt hair.
Now? I have the electric one and it's certainly great but I would still love to find a butane one just to have. You never know......
lwheelr
Lovin' The Homestead
I have moments when the thought of shucking it all and going to live in the woods and doing everything by hand appeals to the side of me that likes a challenge. But then I think about all the work involved in making all my kids' clothes, growing all the food, preserving it all, building a house, forging tools, etc, and sanity returns and I'm content to aim for halfway.
But I want a ceramic butter churn, WITHOUT a crank handle. And I want a hand crank Cream Separator, not an electric one. We got a hand crank wheat mill - not to use for flour, but to use for making cracked wheat for the baby chicks. I'm all for getting a little extra exercise when the volume is reasonable, but I do want my electric wheat mill for milling wheat for the family - if you go through 5-10 lbs of flour a day, it really is too much to crank by hand! And even though I'm good at hand sewing, I'd not want to have to make all the clothes for all my kids that way (I guess part of the reason I didn't want to have to do that is because I had 7 kids in 10 years, and that many growing kids were just too many to make clothes for!).
Before now, my husband really wasn't on board either. But I think if we get a couple of large scythes this spring, that I can teach him to use one to cut forage for the animals, and that he'll actually get a kick out of it now. My teenage son might too, but he has coordination issues, so I'm not sure I want to have to deal with that much blood...
In the spring, we may have to spade up a garden also, because I don't think we'll be able to afford a tiller. Now, I've spaded a garden before - in fact, I've never owned a tiller. But it has always been a small garden, never more than 1000 square feet total. We are gonna need more like an acre this year, and there are four of us who can work in the garden, two adults and two teens who are capable of much harder work than they let on. We'll have to see how THAT goes. Or maybe I'll break down and just HAVE to buy a tiller... Or a horse and a plow...
I do use a mixer to mix bread dough. Again, it is a matter of volume. I made bread by hand for many years, in a large yellow Tupperware bowl, using 10 cups of flour per batch. Now we do that in a KitchenAid mixer, and I don't feel a bit guilty because of how much we have to make, and I know I can do it by hand if needed.
But I want a ceramic butter churn, WITHOUT a crank handle. And I want a hand crank Cream Separator, not an electric one. We got a hand crank wheat mill - not to use for flour, but to use for making cracked wheat for the baby chicks. I'm all for getting a little extra exercise when the volume is reasonable, but I do want my electric wheat mill for milling wheat for the family - if you go through 5-10 lbs of flour a day, it really is too much to crank by hand! And even though I'm good at hand sewing, I'd not want to have to make all the clothes for all my kids that way (I guess part of the reason I didn't want to have to do that is because I had 7 kids in 10 years, and that many growing kids were just too many to make clothes for!).
Before now, my husband really wasn't on board either. But I think if we get a couple of large scythes this spring, that I can teach him to use one to cut forage for the animals, and that he'll actually get a kick out of it now. My teenage son might too, but he has coordination issues, so I'm not sure I want to have to deal with that much blood...
In the spring, we may have to spade up a garden also, because I don't think we'll be able to afford a tiller. Now, I've spaded a garden before - in fact, I've never owned a tiller. But it has always been a small garden, never more than 1000 square feet total. We are gonna need more like an acre this year, and there are four of us who can work in the garden, two adults and two teens who are capable of much harder work than they let on. We'll have to see how THAT goes. Or maybe I'll break down and just HAVE to buy a tiller... Or a horse and a plow...
I do use a mixer to mix bread dough. Again, it is a matter of volume. I made bread by hand for many years, in a large yellow Tupperware bowl, using 10 cups of flour per batch. Now we do that in a KitchenAid mixer, and I don't feel a bit guilty because of how much we have to make, and I know I can do it by hand if needed.
bibliophile birds
Lovin' The Homestead
i have those aha moments a lot when baking. like what exactly did people do before baking soda? apparently ash water!
- Thread starter
- #46
And that reminds me of Hartshorn salt, also called Bakers' Ammonia. Never heard of it until I moved to Germany, but they still use it there sometimes - apparently makes really crisp cookies. I just looked it up, and it was originally made from antlers, horns, and hooves of animals like deer, cows, goats. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/bakers-ammonia-ammonium-carbonate-27-ozbibliophile birds said:
lwheelr
Lovin' The Homestead
Before "baking soda" or "baking powder" they used saleratus (I think - can't remember the spelling exactly). Basically alkali.
I've heard that the pioneers used alkali from the western alkali pans that are in the bottoms of the valleys out here. I've never tried it though.
Vinegar and milk works too.
I've heard that the pioneers used alkali from the western alkali pans that are in the bottoms of the valleys out here. I've never tried it though.
Vinegar and milk works too.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Here's a pic of our shower and outside wash station back in the 80s.
I LOVE my "now" shower and never take it for granted....same with the ease and convenience of having indoor plumbing/toilets.
I LOVE my "now" shower and never take it for granted....same with the ease and convenience of having indoor plumbing/toilets.
dragonlaurel
Improvising a more SS life
We lived off grid in the woods before and it was kinda close to being back in time.
We got a real bathtub and put it under the spout of the spring pipe. We popped the plug in to fill in the morning, then let the sun warm the water through the day. It was thick woods around the spot, and the spring was in the bottom of a ravine, so the trees didn't let in enough light to the water much.
Took our bath in the late afternoon, and the water would not be too bad. We didn't have to worry about anybody seeing us, since that spot was so private.
We got a real bathtub and put it under the spout of the spring pipe. We popped the plug in to fill in the morning, then let the sun warm the water through the day. It was thick woods around the spot, and the spring was in the bottom of a ravine, so the trees didn't let in enough light to the water much.
Took our bath in the late afternoon, and the water would not be too bad. We didn't have to worry about anybody seeing us, since that spot was so private.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Sounds lovely!!! Wouldn't it be nice to have a spot like that now....go out on a hot summer night and luxurate in a spring fed bath?
One day I would love to have a place where I could have a stone-flagged path to a secluded and quiet little rock-lined hot tub in a natural setting. Little waterfall trickling down as I sink into the warmth and bliss of the water.....mmmmmmmmmmm...Heaven!
How did you get the spring pipe stopped after you had your bathtub full? Diverted the flow?
One day I would love to have a place where I could have a stone-flagged path to a secluded and quiet little rock-lined hot tub in a natural setting. Little waterfall trickling down as I sink into the warmth and bliss of the water.....mmmmmmmmmmm...Heaven!
How did you get the spring pipe stopped after you had your bathtub full? Diverted the flow?
