The neatest gadget for your clothesline

I needed to re do the clothes line this year so I went to Lowe's to get some new line and while I was there I found this....

What is it you ask? Well its a clothesline tightener by a company called Blue Hawk, but I think its exclusive, and heres how it works. You pull the button out as you thread your clothes line into the tightener. There are ball bearings inside that tighten around the line when you let go of the button.

This is a picture of the back of the package but as I soon found out, the picture is wrong. If you install it with the button out like it shows, your line will pull out when you add tension to the line. 

The line goes through the button and I am holding the end in my right hand. I am holding the line that you hang the clothes on in my left hand. The metal loop is to hang it on the post like this next picture....

The best part of this system is when the line is not in use, you can pull the button out to release the tension and keep the line from stretching out, or when you need to hang something heavy like towels or jeans, just pull the end of the line and it tightens the line up. 

I really like this and so far it seems very strong and I got them for under $3.00 each. 

Factory Farming

Its raining here so I was searching the web for all things farming and came across this commercial for Chipotle that I guess was one of their Super Bowl adds. I don't remember seeing it so I thought others might have missed it as well. Its kind of sad to think that this really is the way we get a lot of our food these days.

My three year old daughter watched this commercial with me just now and when she saw the pig go into the barn and farmer put up the last wall she said "Oh no mama, the piggy's trapped" Then a little later on when the pigs are vended into the factory she says "The poor piggies. Their sad" All is right again when the farmer lets the animals out of the barn and she is happy once more.
Its kind of funny to think that in her short time on this earth, she already understands that animals are not happy living like that. If a three year old can see the point this commercial is trying to make, it makes you wonder what happened to the rest of us. When did we learn to suppress the feelings of wrongness that allowed this type of farming to become the norm?

I remember when as a kid, my family and I would travel all over the US and Canada, and us kids would always want to eat at a fast food restaurant (we never got to eat it much, so for us it was a treat) and our parents would say, "we have one of those at home, why don't we try something else" It wasn't until many years later that I realized what they were saying with out really knowing it, was that a fast food burger in Michigan tastes the same as one in Florida, as one in Texas, Maine, Ohio, California, and Canada. Why is that?
This is not the fault of the farmers, they are really only doing what we ask them to. They are going to grow or raise what sells and right now we consumers want the burger in Alaska or Japan to taste the way it does back home. At that point its not about growing food anymore, its about producing a product that is consistent. This will continue to be the norm until we, as consumers, can come to terms with not having fresh tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the middle of January.
In this world of pink slime infused meat and beetle enhanced red colored foods, we need to revisit the norm and ask if we are okay with this current food system.

You don't have to have a farm or grow all of your own food to change things. You have more power than anyone as a shopper. They are only going to produce what we tell them we want and we do that by buying some things over others or not buying something at all.
 Shop your farmers markets or buy a share in a CSA, learn to can/dry and store food for when its out of season. Learn to shop local and cook in season and you will help change the current food system.

Buy Local. Eat in Season.

The Smithy

My husband has decided that the small shed just might be too small for his smithy, and really, it probably is. Then there is the problem of where to put all the stuff thats in the shed, like the garden tools and lawn mower. I didn't want them in the barn, its already too small as well without adding all that other stuff.
So we came up with a plan to add onto the shed with another building that will be the smithy. So far things are going well. I think the hardest part has been trying to figure out what kind of roof it should have. Because we are building about 90% of the new shed from recycled lumber and pallets, the roof has the potential to be the most expensive part of the project. I think thats the real reason why its been the hardest decision. We don't want to spend a lot of money on it, I have figured $200 for the whole thing; but at the same time when it is all said and done, we don't want it to look like we made it from pallets, it has to have a finished look to it.
We are planning on using slab wood for the siding. Slab wood is the pieces they cut off the logs first at sawmills to make the log square enough to get the dimensional lumber from. The mills have a ton of this stuff laying around and because they consider it waste or a byproduct of the milling process, it's pretty cheap too. I like the slab wood because it has a log cabin look to it if you take the time to pick through the pieces, it's very rustic. The outside of our house has a log cabin look to it so it should match the style well.
I have been taking a few pictures as we have been building, and I will get them posted soon. We have the outside walls up and we hope to start on the roof tomorrow, if it doesn't snow too hard.

Dawning of the Age of Asparagus

 

"Our Children... should enter adulthood with a basic knowledge of how to store food over winter without the cooperation of a nuclear power plant a hundred miles away. Every animal in the forest is taught this skill; we owe our children no less" - Jerry Minnich 

"Energy free food storage", Countryside

With the threat of frost in the next day or two, I decided to take advantage of the somewhat mild weather to get the asparagus planted. The garden beds were very much overgrown, not getting much use last summer when I was pregnant with the twins. So there was quite a bit of work to clear a spot for the plants that could very well be there for the next 20 years, and I had to bring in reinforcements. i.e My 3 year old daughter. She loves to plant things with Mama. She's on this kick right now were she has decided we will grow plums. I'm not sure where she got it from, but its all she talks about. And wouldn't you know it, the type of plum tree that would be best suited for our area, the French Prune, is sold out in MI. I might have to try and turn her onto something else. 

So there we are in the garden, I am pulling out weeds and she's pointing out every bug she sees and playing with my dandelion puller. I have never planted asparagus before, so I keep referring to my book "The Backyard Homestead" to re-read the planting instructions. Everything looked okay when I was finished so I feel confidant that I got it right. I was able to get 2 year crowns of Jersey Giant, and with this crazy weather we have had so far, maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get a few spears to try this year. We'll see how they do, they may just go right to the fern stage and I'll have to wait a whole year to harvest. You technically should wait a year from planting to harvest and only take about 1/3 of the spears the second year. But everything thing that said that was talking about 1 year crowns, and I was able to find 2 year crowns, so we will just have to see.  I won't be too disappointed if I have to wait until next year. 

Here is my step by step planting guide for how I planted the Jersey Giant Asparagus

Dig a hole or trench about 12-18" deep and mound up a good amount of dirt at the bottom for the crown to rest on with the roots extending down the side of the mound.      

Add a small amount of fertilizer to the hole. A 10-10-10 or straight bone meal will do. I think I am using a 2-5-7 by Jobes that has a bone and feather meal in it

Make sure to find the top of the crown where the shoots will be coming form and place it in the hole. Drape the roots down the sides of the mound and lightly cover with soil

Crowns should be at least 4" below the soil surface and you should still have some dirt on the sides of the holes. As the spears grow, you will fill in the trench/hole with the left over soil until level with the rest of the bed. 

Cover with straw for filtered light and to keep the soil and little shoots warm 

The farm is abuzz.....

The bees made it through the winter. Now I am faced with many new options, like splitting the hive to get two, letting them make a new queen or buy a new queen. I know for sure that at some point I will have a propolis trap and maybe the pollen trap on the hive and of corse Honey! It will be nice to get something back from the hive this year, after many years of trying. Now I can finally say I'm a Bee Keeper, and because of that I made my first trip to the SEMBA conference. SEMBA= South Eastern Michigan Beekeepers Association.
The conference was on Saturday, St. Patty's Day, and boy did I learn so much. I came back with new ideas and got to see a few friends. The most interesting part for me were a few "classes" on Apitherapy. Apitherapy is using bee's, their venom, and the products they make, like honey, pollen, royal jelly and such for medical uses. This is one of the main reasons I started keeping bees, so to get to attend a workshop on it was awesome. Now the plan is to save up some money so I can go to their main conference in Oregon, where they teach the corse, in October. I feel like this is something I should be doing. After all my name is Melissa, how serendipitous.  Cross your fingers for me that I can do it. I'm sure with it being in Oregon, it's gonna be a small fortune to get there.

I also took the twins with me, and they had a blast. I was late for every one of the classes because everyone had to stop and talk to the babies. They ate up all the attention they were getting and smiled and cooed and flirted back with everyone. They were dressed in their green for St. Patty's and looking cute, if I do say so myself. All in all it was a very motivating day.

I  just finished up the calender for when to start my plants. With all this warm weather messing with my head, it was good to see all was not lost for the growing season. I think I might even have an "in" with a few of the local Farmer's Markets. Who would have thought that they wouldn't want any more veggie growers. So I am very hopeful for this season's garden, some of the veggies are on the Ark Of Taste Slow Food list. I have one more workshop to attend on the Cottage Food Law here in Michigan. I am looking forward to it and will keep you posted, in the mean time here is a link to the American Apitherapy Society and SEMBA for further reading. Enjoy!

Laundry day today

Its just odd to think about it being over 60 degrees in March in Michigan. But its even more odd to think about the fact that I was bit by mosquitos while washing clothes today. Mosquitos in March. Crazy.
Anyway, I pulled the good ol' Speed Queen out of the "laundry room" and out onto the patio and take advantage of the fair weather to get a few loads of laundry done. While I am getting set up, I happen to notice that the cord on the washer is getting a little dry-rotted and needs to be replaced. I had to call three repair shops before I found one that said they could do it. I think everyone was thinking that I was playing a joke on them when I told them it was a wringer washer. But one of the Maytag repair shops said I could bring it in and they would replace it for me, which is good because I know that cord isn't going to last much longer. They may even be able to put a longer cord on it too so I don't have to plug it into an extension cord anymore. Yippee!
I have to admit there is something fun about actually "doing laundry". So I have decided to write a little how-to guide for using a wringer washer for anyone feeling brave enough to try it. I personally think its greener. The SQ uses less energy, (because it plugs into a 110 outlet and has less of a draw) less water (because it doesn't drain if you don't want it to, so you can reuse water that isn't too dirty) and doesn't have to drain into the sewer or septic if you use a bio degradable soap (so you can water plants with the water when your done).

1.  Fill the tub with hot or cold water, depending on if your washing whites or colors, and add soap.
     I use a bio degradable soap so I can use the 'gray water' in the garden when I empty the washer

2.  Its a good idea if you have young kids, to start with their clothes first. The idea being their clothes might not be as dirty as your own, allowing you to reuse the water to wash your clothes, thus saving water. Set the timer and wait.

3.  Now comes the fun part. Wringing out the clothes. Most wringers can feed in both directions. So if you set up your rinse tub on the wringer side of the washer, you can have the water feed back into either the washer or the tub. My wringer is on the right, so I set the tub on the right, and set the rollers to feed form left to right. A little metal flap closes off the right side under the rollers and all the water wrung from the clothes is diverted back into the washer.

4.   Rinse out the article of clothing in the rinse tub. You can do this a few ways. Push the clothes in and out of the water with your hands or you can get a wash plunger, they look like a metal cone with holes in it on a stick. If you use the wash plunger it acts as an agitator, helping to rinse the clothes easier without getting your hands wet, so to speak.

5. Wring out the clothes again. Set the rollers to feed from right to left and when you feed the clothes through, the water will dump back into the rinse tub. If you are lucky enough to have found a double rinse tub, then you would repeat the rinse and wring step one more time. If you find that that your clothes are a little stiff after they dry, then a second rinse might be a good idea.

6.  Now you are ready to hang your clothes on the line to dry. Open the valve on the washer hose to drain out the water. Take the agitator out of the washer to expose the lint trap and clean that out. Then you can rinse out the washer with clean water and replace agitator and your ready for the next time you use it.

Heres a few quick tips about the wringers. Anything that has snaps on it, like baby t-shirts or pj's, put through the wringer un-snapped. If they go through while done up, the wringer will smush the snaps and they will never stay snapped again. Although clothes with buttons should be done up and put through with part of the clothing folded over the buttons so the wringer won't break or pop the buttons off. Last but not least. Should anything ever get stuck in the wringer, hitting the front of the wringer will engage the emergency release and stop the rollers. My MIL says she remembers her grandmother saying "don't get you tit caught in the wringer". LOL. Well I guess they didn't call  them manglers for nothing.

You can still buy everything I talked about today brand new from Lehman's including the Speed Queen, or just keep you eyes open at garage sales. I picked up mine for $20.00 but I've seen them go for as much as $200. Still not too bad when you consider a new one would set you back an easy $900+.

Its Maple Syrup time....

DH got a few of the taps in before dark and the sap was flowing. I don't know how this year is going to go with the weather the way it's been so far. The rest of this week looks pretty good and hopefully tomorrow we will be cooking down the sap and bottling some syrup. He wants to add more taps tomorrow if the sap is flowing well on the ones he did today.
This is only our second year making maple syrup, but it was enough to get the bug. The whole summer DH has been super protective of the few jars of syrup we made last year. I could see him do the math on how much was left every time I offered a jar to someone or opened one to bake with. This year I hope to get enough made to sell at the farmers markets and to bake with with out giving DH a heart attack. I know some people tapped early and some, like us, are just starting. The weather has been all over the place this winter and more then a few times we wondered if we should start the season early. There is an old saying that you shouldn't tap until after March 1st, so we decided to go with that and we will see very soon if it will pay off. Wish us luck. I will post a few how-to photos with in the next day or two, so check back for those. Meanwhile my friend has e-mailed me a post to add to the blog about why she wanted to be a farmer. Enjoy!

I blame it all on Carla Emery, and the Encyclopedia of Country Living. 

To say that I was fascinated would be an understatement.  I would spend hours reading those green pages, thoroughly engrossed with each and every word and her unique writing style.  She opened a window into my life, a country girl growing up surrounded by women trying to do the exact things Carla was writing about. 

To me a “MOM” grew the food, preserved it, and turned it into a wonderful healthy meal for her family.  She turned yarn into warm blankets, cozy sweaters, and winter proof hats and mittens.  If she was lucky she even had a spinning wheel allowing her to take the fiber from the sheep, goats, or rabbits she raised and spin it into warm yarn to envelop her family.  “MOM” could milk the goats in the morning, and could present soap, lotion, or cheese to her family that evening. Okay, so maybe it does not always happen that quickly…… but you get my point.  She was a superwoman, and that’s exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Well here I am thirty years later; a wife, mother, and farmer.  I am still just as obsessed with the lessons I read about in my childhood.  I am striving to be that Proverb 31 woman, by providing a healthy lifestyle for my family.  We raise or purchase most of our food locally.  We recycle and reuse instead of waste.  We are stewards of our land.  There is a ton of room for improvement and expansion, but we are going forward one step at a time. 

Please join us in our adventure, and learn from both our mistakes and successes.  And if you are lucky enough to find a copy of The Encyclopedia of Country Living, consider yourself warned.  It really could change your life.