Mountain Wisdom...

May 29, 2014

My ancestors came to America from Ireland ages ago and settled in the hollows on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  They lived in the area that is now known as the Shenandoah National Park.  There, they built their homes and raised their children and livestock until they were told by the government that they had to leave.  The “fair” price paid by the government for their farms was, of course, determined by the government.  Those who didn’t willingly sell their land to the government were physically removed.  The removal of the “mountain people” from that area caused untold grief and misery for many men, women and children.  The creation of the Shenandoah National Park and the resulting removal of the mountain people almost completely obliterated a culture that had existed in that part of the Blue Ridge for generations…note that I say “almost” obliterated a culture.

There are still some descendents of these mountain people who try to keep the traditions and culture alive.  I am one of those descendents.  Having always had a keen interest in history, I was endlessly intrigued by the stories my parents and grandparents would tell.  It was through these stories that Daddy first mentioned that we were of Irish descent.  It was also through these stories that Momma told me of an old Christmas tradition in the “hollows” that was called “Kriskringling”.  As the story goes, Kriskringling took place during the Christmas holidays and the hollow folk would dress up in any costume they could find…old clothes, hats, handmade face masks, etc.  Then they would visit their neighbors and see if the neighbors could guess their identities.  Apparently there was a large participation by the people and, according to Momma, everyone enjoyed the game.  It was through a cousin that I learned of a connection that I have with my great-grandmother on my father’s side.  She had a spinning wheel that was auctioned off after her death.  The spinning wheel was purchased at the auction by a distant cousin who took it with her to Oregon (or was it Washington?).  After many years, the spinning wheel was given to my cousin and returned to Virginia.  I took up spinning several years ago.  Whenever I spin, I think of the hours that my great-grandmother must have spent at her wheel and the things she might have made with the resulting yarn.  I hope, some day, to see her wheel in person.

Mountain people were also known for their self-sufficiency.  They grew their own food, made most of their own clothes and household furnishings.  They rarely made trips into the local towns except to buy the things that they couldn’t make themselves or to sell livestock or other items from their farms.  They “made over” clothes and handed them down from the oldest to the youngest child.  Often the girls wore dresses that were made from brightly printed cotton sacks that originally contained animal feed or food staples.  (I absolutely love these “feed sacks” and was lucky enough to score about five of these at a yard sale about ten years ago…they have an ordinary beauty that is extraordinary to me.)  Mountain people were creative and crafty out of necessity. 

I see personality traits in myself that strongly mirror those of my ancestors.  Perhaps you can tell, from my previous posts, that I get a huge amount of satisfaction from growing things, making things and recycling things.  I see potential in almost anything that other people would consider junk.  Hence, the purpose of this post…my family would not be surprised in the least by my adding some fabric to a vellum rice bag (which most people would throw in the trash) to make a knitting tote.  A picture of the completed tote is shown below.  Now…if I can just think of a use for that bottomless wash tub that I have had sitting in my basement for the past eight years…       

My favorite rice immortalized as a lovely knitting bag.

I have it shown stuffed to the gills with
eight skeins of sock yarn, a laminated sock
pattern, six double-pointed knitting needles
(although I normally use one pair of circular
needles for socks, the six double-points looked more
impressive) and three fancy stitch markers.

This bag is perfect for small knitting projects such as socks,
it's sturdy so it will stand up to a fair amount of wear and
tear, it's one more thing that won't end up in our local landfill,
and it should prove to be a nice conversation starter as well.
Wow, this recycling project is a win-win-win-win situation!

You Want Sauce With That Veggetti?

May 26, 2014

I had thought that today’s post would be the follow-up to Thursday’s post when I was working on recycling a Lundberg Rice bag into a bag to carry small knitting projects.  Alas, my friend the sewing machine had other ideas.  It had a nervous breakdown of sorts and fell apart…literally.  The thingy that houses the needle and thread guide just fell off in the middle of my sewing.  Perhaps it had something to do with the material that the bag is made of.  Perhaps it is because the machine is over ten years old and has done a lot of work for me.  Perhaps it was because it was Memorial Day Weekend and it wanted some time off.  Bottom line is that, once again, Charming came through and saved the day.  Apparently, there is an invisible screw on the side of the housing that has to be tightened with an “Allen” wrench.  (Good husbands are hard to find, so if you’ve got one you really need to find time to show your appreciation…they’re priceless in so many ways.)  I’m hoping to be able to complete the bag and have pictures for you on Thursday.

Today’s post is a product review.  I get so tired of commercials for those “As Seen On TV” products, but if you watch any TV at all it's hard to escape them.  However, over the past few weeks I saw the commercial hawking “The Veggetti”.  Hands are shown using an hourglass shaped utensil to grate zucchini into long strips that are supposed to be a substitute for spaghetti.  Yea, right.  BUT, I kept seeing the commercial and I could hear the darned thing calling my name.  So, on our most recent trip to Walmart, I saw the thing and made the purchase.  I had bought some zucchini at the grocery store a couple of days before so I felt that it was meant to be. 

Last night, I gathered the zucchini, the Veggetti, a jar of my home-canned spaghetti sauce (with meat in it), and a tablespoon of butter.  I shredded the zucchini with the Veggetti and sautéed it in the butter.  Then I put it on our plates and added the sauce.  That’s it!  During supper, I anxiously watched Charming for his reaction.  I wasn’t willing to accept his usual comment of, “Awesome” since this was going to be a product review for my blog and I wanted his honest opinion.  So when I told him I needed his official comment for my blog he said:  “The zucchini was an appropriate substitution for spaghetti.”  For his technical mind, that was high praise.  I thought the "spaghetti" was good as well.  Charming said he would have liked to have had seconds, but I only cooked enough for one serving each just in case it was a flop.  (But I did make him an apple pie so he wouldn’t feel like he got the shaft on seconds.)

The Veggetti comes with a small booklet that includes recipes for squash, potatoes, carrots and cucumbers.  I suppose you could get creative and use other vegetables such as parsnips, radishes, beets or other hard vegetables that lend themselves to being shredded (as long as they are rounded in shape and fit into the Veggetti's opening).  I will put on my thinking cap and come up with some additional recipes to post under my Gluten-Free Recipes Tab.

I give this item my resounding approval.  It does what it says it will do and the zucchini “spaghetti” was good.  The Veggetti costs a little less than $15 at Walmart.  Clean up would probably be a snap if you have a dishwasher.  If, like me, you don’t have a dishwasher, simply keep a toothbrush in your dish drainer for quick clean up of the Veggetti.  Be careful of the blades as they are very sharp.  Also, I would only use the “thick” end of the utensil to shave the vegetable.  I tried both ends and the “thin” vegetable shavings seemed to want to clump together as I stirred them in the sauté pan.

Oh…I almost forgot the most important part!  I have recipe software where I keep all of my favorite recipes.  This software also provides nutritional information on whatever recipe I’m using.  So, on a lark, I quickly typed up two recipes with the same ingredients, except one used zucchini and the other used regular spaghetti (same amounts).  TaDa!  Each serving of the spaghetti recipe contained 1,045 calories.  The Veggetti spaghetti recipe contained 437 calories!  Makes you want to run outside and plant zucchini all over your yard, doesn’t it?

The Veggetti gives you a choice of thick or
thin "noodles" and comes with a small recipe
booklet.

Not a great picture due to evening shadows, but you can see
how easily the "noodles" are made simply by twisting the
vegetable into the Veggetti.

A quick (few minutes) in the saute pan...

Cover with your favorite pasta sauce (in this case, it's my
home made canned spaghetti sauce with meat) and you've got
a quick, healthy meal in minutes!

The Mechanics Of It All…

May 22, 2014

Within the last two days I have effectively disabled two pieces of equipment that are necessary to the continuation of my happy marriage.  The first to go was the vacuum cleaner.  I was in mid-vacuum on Tuesday, swinging that cumbersome thing around the living room like I was the star ballerina in Swan Lake when it started making a loud thumping noise.  Hmmmm… so I kept right on dancing…ummmm…vacuuming.  Then I started to get a whiff of something getting hot.  Lest I catch the carpet (and, by extension, the house) on fire, I decided it might be in my best interest to take an break from my dance routine and try to figure out what was making the noise.  I emptied the canister that holds the dirt, emptied the other compartment above the canister that holds the dirt, cleaned the filter on the side of the vacuum, then using my UFC (Ultimate Fighting Competition) skills I flipped that baby over and pulled out about a pound of hair that had accumulated around the rollers over the past five months.  About an hour later, I turned the thing back on, fully expecting it to work perfectly.  Uhhhhh…nope. 

The second piece of machinery to be disabled was my sewing machine.  I was in the middle of working on a sweet little project to share with you for this post.  You’ve probably seen the shopping bags that are made out of the plastic rip-stop type bags that dog/cat/horse/chicken food comes in.  They are really very cute.  I don’t have any of those bags, but I’ve kept that idea filed away in my head in case I ever came upon any other type of bag that I could substitute for those. 

At any rate, the other day I was looking for recipes on the Lundberg rice website.  They sell a “Wild Blend” rice that I just love.  In looking at their website, I was checking out their gluten-free products and noticed a statement that said some of their bags were not recyclable.  These bags are really attractive, so I felt compelled to find a way to turn them into something pretty and functional.  Since the Wild Blend that I buy comes from Costco, it comes in a four pound bag.  Not really big enough for a shopping bag, but it would be suitable to carry small knitting projects. 

I loosely based my design on the pet food shopping bags that I had already seen on the internet.  I had a yard of “test” fabric that I had purchased from a local fabric store, intended to make bedroom curtains and throw pillow covers.  At the time I bought it, I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but it did grow on me so I went back and bought twelve yards for my bedroom redecoration project.  The extra yard was up for grabs and it had similar colors as the Lundberg rice bag so I decided to use it for this purpose.  Below are pictures of the project so far.  I will post pictures of the finished project when I get my sewing machine repaired.

Not having these two machines available is inconvenient, to say the least.  I miss the sewing machine greatly…the vacuum, not so much (except the ballerina dance part).

Cut top and sides off bag, saving the
Velcro-type closure from the top of
the bag. 

Bag, after cutting apart, and fabric to be used for handles
and sides.

Sew cut edges of fabric together and press, with
seam in the middle.  (4 pieces)

Stitch down the "ridges" at bottom of the bag so they lay flat.

One side of fabric has been partially sewn to
bag.  Straps will be sewn to top sides of bag
and black binding will be sewn to top,
unfinished edge of bag.

Yea, But Do They Really Work?

May 19, 2014

As I told you in last Thursday’s post, I made underarm deodorant using baking soda, corn starch, solid coconut oil, and lavender essential oil.  After packing it into clean deodorant containers, I stored it in the refrigerator because it looked a little soft.  The cold temperature hardened the deodorant, which made the consistency very similar to deodorant that you would buy from the store.

I have used this deodorant exclusively since I made it.  I am pleased to say that this really does work as well as the store-bought deodorants.  (If you’re grossed out easily, don’t read this rest of this paragraph.)  Since I don’t find it easy to bury my nose in my own armpit, I had no choice but to ask Charming to give me the “smell test”.  Over the past few days, he’s become accustomed to me sidling up next to him and asking in my sweetest and most romantic voice, “Honey, would you smell my arm pit?”  I must say the first time I asked him to do that, he had a question in his eyes that I interpreted as, “Is it time we take a little trip to the dementia unit at Loving Arms?”  However, once the initial shock wore off, (like any man who is all boy at heart) he readily took a big whiff and reported that there was “no discernable odor present” and went back to what he was doing.  He did this for three days in a row without getting annoyed with me.  Bless his little heart.  While it is somewhat strange going to the refrigerator each morning to get my deodorant, using a home made deodorant with so few harmless ingredients beats using the store-bought, chemical-laden deodorant that I used to purchase.  I am definitely happy with the results.

Another recipe that I said I would report back to you on is the dandelion wine.  I made it three weeks ago.  When I was cooking the wine on the stove as the recipe indicated, Charming said the smell was absolutely awful and could hardly stay in the house.  (This coming from a man who had no problem with smelling my armpits for three days in a row…go figure.)  I didn’t think it smelled that bad and it actually tasted really good prior to my putting the yeast in to ferment. 

So this past Saturday was the fermentation deadline.  When I lifted the cloth off of the crock, I could tell that the yeast had done its work.  The bubbling of the yeast had stopped and it definitely had that fermented smell.  I strained the liquid from the dandelion/lemon/orange solids and put it into a clean bottle and put the cork in it.  The color of the wine is like that of pale orange juice, which makes sense as the dandelions, lemons, and oranges that I used to make it were all yellow.  Neither Charming nor I are particularly fond of alcoholic beverages, but the taste of this wine isn’t bad.  Charming thought it had a taste that was somewhat between a beer and a wine.  We both agreed that, in a few months, it should taste even better.  The recipe made a big bottle of wine, so there’s plenty for a crowd.  I have it sitting on the bottom shelf in the linen closet.  I plan to bring it out during a family gathering at Christmas-time when my brothers and sisters will be around to try it.  I’m sure it will bring back memories and plenty of conversations of when my father used to make it when we were children.  Here’s to good memories!

Freshly bottled dandelion wine.

Nice color and clarity.  (How's that for "wine talk"?)

Dry As A Bone?

May 15, 2014

Remember my post regarding my trip to the Green Valley Book Fair?  While I was at the book fair I purchased a book entitled, “Little House in the Suburbs” by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskin.  The book contained recipes for all sorts of cleaning products, soaps, and personal skin care products.  It also had information on raising chickens, bees, and dwarf goats in your back yard.  It’s a great book for anyone who’s thinking about taking steps to become more self-sufficient.  Although I think I’d most likely be run out of my town on a rail if I kept goats and bees in my back yard.

Anyhow, there was a recipe for underarm deodorant in the book so you know I had to try it.  I gathered all the necessary ingredients (which I just so happened to have on hand already) and read over the recipe several times.  The ingredients called for are:  baking soda, corn starch, essential oil, and coconut oil.  The coconut oil is the kind that is hardened (the way Crisco is hardened) at room temperature.  I won’t give the actual amounts of each ingredient that you’re supposed to use because I don’t want to get in hot water over copyright infringement, but if you do buy the book and try this recipe you’ll probably end up using different amounts from what was listed in the book…like I did.  The cost of the book is really a small price to pay for all of the good information you get from it.  Your local library may even have a copy of it.

So, I mixed up the dry ingredients and added lavender oil.  (I went a little heavy on the lavender because I love it so much.  It’s kind of like cinnamon in an apple pie…you can never have too much.)  Finally I add some coconut oil.  Hmmmmm…not enough.  Add another glop.  Hmmmmm…still not enough.  Add yet another glop.  Too…gloppy.  Add a little more corn starch.  Add a little more baking soda to balance out the corn starch.  TaDa!

Now it was time to pack it into the empty deodorant container that I had been saving.  After all, who doesn’t save empty deodorant containers?  (These are the kind that solid deodorant comes in…where you turn the dial at the bottom to move the deodorant up before you put it on.)  So I used a small tea spoon to pack the gloppy white stuff into the container.  I might add here that you should probably have the empty container dialed up so that the plastic platform that the deodorant sits on will be about an inch from the top.  You will want to pack the deodorant in and then dial it down a little more so that you can pack more in.  This should eliminate any air bubbles or “empty” spaces in your deodorant and give you a completely full container.  With a little practice, you can use the tea spoon and “mound” up the top so that it closely resembles the store-bought item when it’s finished.

Since I added more ingredients than the recipe actually called for, I had two completely filled deodorant containers plus about a tablespoon left over. 

I’m not sure if this will actually work.  I did rub a little of the left over deodorant on one underarm after I made it and it seemed a little wet in the beginning.  After about a half hour, I no longer noticed the wetness.  I also thought it prudent to store it in the refrigerator until it hardens up a bit.  (Upon opening the refrigerator door to get a glass of tea, this didn’t gross me out nearly as much as I anticipated.) 

I will try using this deodorant for a few days and let you know how well (or not) it works. 

Ingredients for home-made deodorant.

Stir ingredients together to form a...well...gloppy mess.

Pack into clean deodorant container.

Round the top for store-bought appearance, refrigerate,
and you're done!

I Brake for Yard Sales…

May 12, 2014

Several months ago, during a discussion with a friend, we got on the topic of rotisserie chicken.  I mentioned how much I’d like to have a rotisserie and, coincidentally, she had been given one that she didn’t use often so she offered it to loan it to me.  I was ecstatic! 

It wasn’t long before Charming and I were eating rotisserie chicken on a regular basis.  I would fix a large chicken and we could eat it for supper that night then have chicken pot pie the following night.  With what little remained of the chicken, I would make chicken noodle soup for lunch the next day.  Three meals from one chicken…how economically savvy of me.  Rotisserie chicken is a great deal as you can turn the leftovers into something that doesn’t seem like leftovers.  Even Costco turns their leftover rotisserie chickens into rotisserie chicken salad.  Now that’s good business! 

A couple of Fridays ago, I was coming home from the grocery store and passed a neighbor’s house where they were having a yard sale.  As I drove by, I spied a rotisserie oven that looked very similar to the one that my friend had loaned me.  Screeeeeeech!  I hit the brakes and glanced over my shoulder to verify that I saw what I thought I saw.  I could hear it calling my name.  Luckily, no one else was calling me names as I had stopped smack dab in the middle of the road to crane my neck at the yard sale.

Since I had frozen food in with the groceries I had just purchased, logic dictated that I go home and put the food away before returning to inquire about the rotisserie oven.  As luck would have it, Charming had just pulled into our driveway ahead of me, as he had been out helping my brother that morning with some construction work.  As he was leisurely getting out of his car, I jumped out of my car at break-neck speed, threw open the trunk of the car and grabbed all ten bags of groceries at the same time and bolted to the front door.  (I think he assumed that I had an urgent need to go to the bathroom.)  He saunters into the kitchen a few minutes later, asking if I’m o.k.  As I’m throwing food into the refrigerator and freezer, I breathlessly tell him that I saw a rotisserie oven at the yard sale down the street and I was in a hurry to go back to see if it was still there.  He offered to ride along with me.

We got to the yard sale and the rotisserie ended up being even bigger than the one that my friend had loaned me.  We spoke with the owner and he was asking $25 for the oven.  It came with a lot of accessories.  He said they had only used it once or twice and that it had cost him over $200 when he purchased it new.  It was evident that the oven had hardly been used, so we bought it.

After we got home, I did some research on the internet and found out that the item really did cost over $200…on eBay the asking price for our model was over $300!  I also read reviews from several people who said that some parts were missing when they purchased new ovens.  So, as I was cleaning the oven, I was mentally checking for all of the working parts.  Wouldn’t you know it was missing a “heat shield” that goes in the back of the oven.  I’m assuming that this keep the outside of the back of the oven from getting super duper hot.  After closer inspection, I noticed where the previous owner had used the oven and there was a spot where the metal was discolored and looked a little burned…not bad, but the spot was there.  So I went back on the internet to make sure that this particular oven required a heat shield like the smaller one that I had been using.  Sure enough, we needed one.  Bummer.

I explained to Charming that we had just wasted $25 because the heat shield was a safety feature and I didn’t want to take a chance on burning the house down.  Charming, being the “Mr. Fix-It, Engineer-Type Without An Engineering Degree, Super Man” that he is, looked at the oven for a few minutes and then looked at the pictures I had found on the internet and said, “I think I can make a heat shield for you if you can find me a cookie sheet.”  Really?!?!?

The following Monday, I made a trip to our local thrift shop and was able to score two jelly roll pans that were the perfect size to make the heat shield.  Yesterday, Charming cut the sides off the jelly roll pan, rolled the edges with a strange looking tool and a rubber mallet, and bent the whole thing into a curved shape.  He put a pop rivet thingy about two inches down from the top on each side of the heat shield.  These rivets “caught” on a metal bar that holds them in place.  The end result is that the heat shield works perfectly.  We had roasted tenderloin for supper last night.  So with a little creativity, skill, scrap metal and $25 we now have a rotisserie oven that is worth its weight in roasted chickens and tenderloins and turkey breast and…well, you get the idea.

Showtime Rotisserie Pro 6000 Model bought at yard sale
for $25, but missing heat shield.

Rotisserie accessories included:  Gloves, ties, scissors,
knives, carving stand, injection syringes for marinade/
flavorings, wire basket for vegetables/small pieces
of meat, cook book, and warming tray.

The new heat shield, created by Charming, fashioned
from a jelly roll pan fits and works perfectly.

A small pork tenderloin that we used to "test" the
rotisserie.

Yum!!!

Modern Woodsman…

May 8, 2014

As I’ve mentioned before, we heat our home in the winter time with wood.  Since I grew up with wood heat, I believe this is the best way to keep warm in the winter.  I feel that I am extremely fortunate to have landed a husband who is dedicated to the use of wood heat and actively seeks out sources for wood at every opportunity.  I may have already told you that Charming and I can be driving around the neighborhood or the state or the country and see someone’s sizeable stack of firewood and he will either stop to stare enviously at it or crane his neck to get a good view of it as we drive past it.  His affinity for firewood is so strong that I jokingly call it “wood envy”.

Wood heat definitely keeps me warmer than electric heat or a heat pump.  I have lived in houses that were heated with electricity and worked in offices that were heated with heat pumps.  Neither of these options ever really kept me warm…kept me from freezing, yes, but never really comfortably warm.  There is also the associated cost of heating with electricity or oil.  This past winter, our area was very cold and the oil and propane trucks were making regular monthly stops at all of our neighbors’ houses.  We, on the other hand, only had one fill up during the entire year and that was just to top off our 250-gallon tank.  The heating bill for our entire house for the year was $125!  When you consider that the price of oil in our area was over $4/gallon, that’s quite a bit of savings.  The only time the furnace came on was on nights when the outside temperature fell into the single digits.

According to Charming, it helps tremendously to have a “catalytic” stove.  According to him, as long as the wood is “clean”, you can burn any type of wood.  A lot of people won’t burn pine wood, but we burn any kind.  With a catalytic stove, there is also minimal soot build-up in the chimney.  I’ve seen Charming clean the chimney and the build-up is a very thin film that flakes right off with little effort. 

There is some dust and dirt that comes with using a wood stove.  However, in order to minimize that problem, we bought a small hand-held vacuum that we keep near the stove for quick clean-ups whenever it’s needed.  I also made Charming a big canvas bag with handles made of nylon webbing to carry the wood in from the wood pile. This helps to keep the wood chips contained. The cost of making the bag was around $10.  Similar bags sell for $50 - $100, depending on the size.  Charming often comments that his “wood bag” is one of the best gifts he’s ever received.  (Of course, he says his second favorite gift was a set of plastic shower curtain rings that cost $1 at the dollar store…He didn’t like the fancy flower-shaped metal hangers that I had paid $10 for at the department store.  Bless his little heart; he’s like the baby who prefers playing with the box instead of the toy.)

Spring is the time of year when Charming goes on the hunt for wood…much like some people in our area search for mushrooms in the spring.  He is currently helping my brother out on a construction job.  As it happens, the owner of the property has a lot of downed wood on his property.  He offered to let Charming cut wood because it helps him clear his property.  Free heat for us, cleared property for the property owner.  It’s a win-win situation!

I would be the first to say that heating with wood is not for everyone, but for us it’s the most economical and warmest way to heat our home.  I will also say that there is absolutely nothing as wonderful as settling down for a 2-hour nap during a snow storm in front of the wood stove, covered with a warm quilt, with my Charming husband lying beside me and Max the Wonder Dog curled up at our feet.  Pure, warm bliss!

Our catalytic wood stove with handheld vacuum for
tidying up small wood chips and debris.  (The stove has
a ledge where I keep my soap stone foot warmer and
bread warmer...both have quilted cloth bags to put
them in before use.)

Charming's first load of wood for the season.  We will need
about three more loads of this size to last through the
heating season.  (This wood will "season" for a year before
we use it.)

Charming's prized wood pile...he stacks it in a particular way.
(I am allowed to hand him the wood from the wheel barrow,
but not allowed to stack the wood... past avalanche of
wood..."Oooops...Did I do that?")

Continuation of the prized wood pile...this one on the short side
of the shed.  This year, we used all of the wood on the 3rd side.