by Texas Homesteader ~
Baking soda is great for cleaning, reducing odors & it’s a mild abrasive as well. But there are even some cosmetic uses too!
Here are some of my favorite ways to use baking soda.
by Texas Homesteader ~
RancherMan’s not much of a salad guy. But he knows I’ll be pushing the fresh veggies on him every chance I get. LOL!
Recently I came by a larger quantity of carrots. So in an effort to make sure they didn’t go to waste I blanched & froze quite a few. I also steamed others for supper sides.
Oh, and I also sliced up some raw ones as well. In a sneaky sneak-in-more-veggies move I have a glass container that I keep in the fridge with these sliced carrots. While I’m preparing supper I’ll bring it out for him to snack on.
But he’s not one to snack on carrots without dipping them into a sauce of some kind. And his sauce of choice is Thousand Island dressing.
But then the unthinkable happened – we ran out of the dressing.
(In my best southern belle voice) “Oh gracious, what evah shall I do??”
by Texas Homesteader
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This past fall I was so thrilled when I suspected that our remote-pasture property contained Soapberry Trees. I excitedly harvested a few berries and took pictures of the berries, the tree, the bark. I submitted those pictures to my local Extension Agent for identification.
Her response was that these trees were indeed the Western Soapberry Tree. Meaning that these berries actually contain soponin – a soapy substance used by early settlers for cleaning, laundry, etc. I dried the berries and have been using them in my laundry, comparing it to the more common soap nuts which I’ve purchased and used before from * Amazon
. I’m very pleased with the results.
by Texas Homesteader ~
I wanted fingerless gloves, but I wanted to make them myself. In 5 minutes I was able to upcycle long socks into oh-so-cute fingerless gloves with NO SEWING! See this easy tutorial.
by Texas Homesteader
Several years ago RancherMan & I constructed three raised beds to hold my beloved veggie garden. The beds worked well and produced heavily for several years but after a while the wood began to rot and I had some problems with the design. It was hard to irrigate the three beds without ‘jumpers’ from one bed to the other creating a difficulty maintaining the walkways. And the walkways were a bit too wide anyway.
I wanted to connect all the beds to help make a continuous run for irrigation to correct that problem. Then Rancherman decided to enlarge the width of the beds just a bit, also shrinking the walkways. YEA!
by Texas Homesteader~
RancherMan & I have a Valentine’s Day tradition: we get together in the kitchen & make a special dinner for each other.
It’s a way for us to focus fully on each other & give a gift straight from the heart. For this special meal, money is no object. And the sky is the limit for our meal choices when we’re planning it.
Usually we decide together what the meal will be & we get in the kitchen together & make the planned culinary delight side-by-side.
But when we were planning what would be our Valentine’s meal this year I told RancherMan that he could choose the entrée – anything in the world he wanted.
All I cared for was the dessert. I wanted chocolate, and I wanted that chocolate to be TRUFFLES.
by Texas Homesteader
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I recently became extremely disenchanted with my crappy low-end dishwasher. I mean, why must we wash our dishes THREE times? Once BEFORE putting the in the dishwasher, once during the dishwasher’s many cycles and then once again when you pull the still-dirty dishes from the dishwasher! It would be easier to hand-wash the dishes but it was the principle of the thing. We have a dishwasher, we fill it with name-brand detergent and it just doesn’t clean the dishes.
Then right before buckling and replacing the dishwasher we were told to try dishwasher tabs instead of powder. I had always shunned them because they are so exorbitantly expensive. But upon trying them I was convinced. Our dishes came out clean, but oh at what expense?
Not only were they pricey but these dish-washing tab products had individually wrapped tabs that are tucked into a plastic molded tray, then placed inside a foil-covered cardboard box and then the whole thing plastic wrapped again. There has to be a better way both financially & environmentally! Hummm… Wonder if I can make my own dishwasher tabs? Um, YES!
by Texas Homesteader
I like to use the most non-toxic products when I clean, so I often make my own. Luckily it’s super easy (and super inexpensive) to make your own cleaners. One of the most common standbys for me is plain distilled vinegar. So inexpensive and such a great cleaner. And I’ve read that its acidity makes it effective at killing many kinds of bacteria and molds. Plus it’s also a great deodorizer.
But RancherMan’s not fond of the smell of vinegar so I typically scent it with something natural. I’ve used rosemary to scent it for my Rosemary-Scented Hair Rinse. But today I’m making it citrus scented for cleaning.
