The Homestead Way of Life

CONTEST!! SEND ME YOUR BEST HOMESTEAD IDEAS!

Well, I've decided that things have been WAY too serious around this blog, so I've decided to spice things up and have a little fun!

Those of you who are familiar with my newsletter know that I always include a section entitled "Homestead Things (you could be doing)".  In this column both myself and readers share ideas for projects to work on in the house and around the homestead.  Easy, practical craft ideas (you know, things we can actually use, not knick-knacks) cleaning tips, fun stuff, projects for kids - just about anything that will keep our hands from idleness.  (Please, no food recipes, that's another section of the newsletter!).

So, leave me a comment with your best "homestead things" ideas.  I will run the contest for seven days.  On January 25th I will pick a name at random from all those who have left comments and that person will win a complementary copy of my January/February 2006 New Harvest newsletter, PLUS a pretty wheat sheaf grown right here on the New Harvest Homestead!

If you are already a subscriber to New Harvest, I will send you the wheat sheaf, PLUS a beautiful handmade (by me!) Disciple's Cross in the color of your choice.

In addition to all of this, I will publish (with your permission) all of your "homestead things" ideas in the March/April 2006 issue of New Harvest.

So, think of a great idea to share and leave your comments!  I can't wait to read them all!  Be sure to write me and ask for a free sample copy of New Harvest if you haven't seen it yet!

Many Blessings!

Lisa

Here is a picture of the wheat sheaf and some of my cross necklaces!  These are only a few colors the necklaces come in.  I probably have whatever color you might want.

Untitled Comment

03:53, 2006-Jan-18 .. Posted by dhcfarm

Here's a link to my idea...I've got it posted on my blog :)

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/dhcfarm/1925/How+to+Make+Newspaper+Plant+Starter+Pots.html

Idea for craft and decoration

04:12, 2006-Jan-18 .. Posted by spinninggrandma

If you have left over material, you can cut it into strips of about 1" wide. Then roll it into balls. You take a LARGE crochet hook and you can crochet a rug or a chair cushion. It is rather hard on the hands, but can be done if you want. A lot of people enjoy this.

Fold your material in quarters, with the fuzzy edges inside. Then take your hook and use a loose pattern, like a triple chain, and there you go. You can use one color, several colors. You can be random or you can be color coordinated.

Also, if crochet is not for you, braid them! Braiding is a more "normal" thing to do. Take three of your strips (folded in quarters as before). Braid them - add on to the short piece by fitting it into the braid. You can braid, then sew.

After the braid is done, take a large needle and nylon hose cut into strips. Use the nylon as your 'thread' and sew in between the rows as you make a circle, an ovel or a square. If you go between, your rug can be reversible.

Good luck.

Nice idea for quilters

04:25, 2006-Jan-18 .. Posted by APioneerSpirit

When you have spare time, thread a packet of needles with the thread you're using for your current project. I place this, along with a small pair of scissors, my thimble and several of my current block pieces in a handy sewing bag or better yet one of our own quilted sewing totes that my daughter, Olivia makes and sells at "Home and Hearth Simplicities".

It's then ready to go to the lake with me for long weekends, to a day in the park, or in the car if you have some "waiting" time to fill and we all have those. Now, you're all ready to stitch, and don't need to waste time trying to thread the needles. You can move much faster if you prepare ahead.

yours in simplicity,
Peggy
P.S. Thank you Lisa for the heads up! <grin>

Charming Draft Stoppers

10:42, 2006-Jan-18 .. Posted by Anonymous

This is something we've been making in our home lately. We have a drafty house and these can really make a difference (and they're cute!).

Simply measure the length of your door, and add an extra inch. Then cut a pretty fabric (gingham, checks and calicos are particularly charming) 6" by the number of inches + 1 of your door. With right sides together, stitch up three sides, leaving one of the short sides open. Turn right sides out.

Using a funnel (paper rolled into a cone works well in a pinch) fill the draft stopper about 4/5 full with rice. Slip stitch the opening closed, place at the base of the door and voila! No more nasty draft!

Happy Winter,
Courtney
http://www.homeschoolblooger.com/HeartForHome

Salvage...

04:29, 2006-Jan-19 .. Posted by quiverfullacres

When we need wood for projects around here, we salvage the places around that are building homesites and buildings. We always go up to the foreman (sometimes you have to ask for him) and ask for his permission to take the wood/materials from the scrap pile. All sites have a scrap pile that just goes to waste and it is good for all involved if that doesn't get thrown away. We have added onto our last house like this and redid our downstairs to include two bedrooms and a bathroom with the wood we found.
It does take time to look around and ask but it is well worth it in the cost savings.

Winter Homestead Ideas...

01:10, 2006-Jan-19 .. Posted by Dalyn

This may sound too easy, but it really is what I do. If yo are like me, you are as busy as a beaver the whole rest of the year, so in winter, I rest and read! I don't have the luxury of time to read much the rest of the year. As a matter of fact, when I buy an interesting looking book, I just put it in my reading basket, knowing I won't get to it until winter! I read spritual books, history, and some How-to books. I also get into an in-depth Bible study and revel in it!

Birdie treats

05:00, 2006-Jan-19 .. Posted by DaisyChain

My kids love to make up these bird treats then watch all the birds that come to eat.

Gather some pine cones - ones that are kinda opened up work best. Tie a sturdy string to the top so you can hang it up. Then you use either straight peanut butter or peanut butter mixed with lard, suet, or cooking fat and stuff the cracks and crevices with it - use it liberally. When you are done you can roll the peanut butter stuffed pinecone in birdseed or whole grain bread crumbs, then stick some raisins, nuts, or any dried fruit pieces in the crevices of the pinecone. Using the fruits really help to bring in birds you don't usually see at regular bird feeders.
Hang the pinecones, preferrably from a tree, somewhere you can observe all the little birds who come for dinner.
JennMarie = )

Untitled Comment

06:14, 2006-Jan-19 .. Posted by kayinpa

HI Lisa,

Thanks for stopping by my blog and for the advice on strawberries. I saw this contest yesterday, but am not sure as yet what I could enter. If I think of a good idea, I will definitely let you know!

Nice thinking so far ladies !!!

06:35, 2006-Jan-19 .. Posted by KellyKJV

I really like Susan's {dhcfarm} and the idea of the door stopper!! I'm about to try Susan's and I think I'll try the door stopper one as soon as I FULLY understand how to do it !!! {LOL}

I'm not to good in the making things up, department, but if I think of anything I'll post it !!! {I am trying to conserve our landfills though, I TRUELY recycle, everything that is recycleable and I have quit using disposable diapers. Well for 2 reasons....One because money is getting tight and about to get tighter and Two because they will NEVER decompose so I am back to using cloth; as I did with my first child 21years ago. When I went to get the plastic panties at Walmart, all they had were blue ones with cars or trains or something, so I decided to make my own . It's taken 3 trys to get it down pretty good but I "think" I did an okay job on them and I will post them on my blog next week, along with my homemade matching dresses that I have made for me and the girls!!!!

Good luck to all of you ladies out there !!!

Kelly

Homestead Craft

09:01, 2006-Jan-20 .. Posted by wannabeone

I have always wanted to make soap, but frankly was a little afraid of dealing with lye and all the muss and fuss. This Christmas, my daughters and I found a great way to make soap that's not too messy and not so dangerous...we made all of our own Christmas presents by filling bags and baskets full of various things that we made: dish/bath cloths, various soaps, bath salts, candles and baked goods.

Here's our soap recipe: Place pure glycerin soap chunks in a microwavable bowl or double boiler. Heat in microwave at 20 second intervals until melted. Add a small amount of color and fragrance (if desired - some soaps are pretty w/o coloring and some soaps smell great w/o fragrance). Wait until steaming stops and pour into molds. Let cool for about a minute, pop out of mold and let cure on a rack for about 2 weeks. Wrap in pretty paper or plastic wrap or enjoy!

We have found that adding rosemary or sage to the soap is great for teens with acne!

Bath Salts: In a bowl, pour 1 c. of Epsom salt, 1 c. of chunked Sea Salt, food coloring, and about 20 drops of fragrance (Peppermint or Jasmine are great!). Cover in an air-tight jar or container and shake until color and fragrance are mixed well (add more salt if it is too damp). Shake every day for one week. Then pour into pretty glass jars - use about 1/4 c per bath.

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/wannabeone http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Buckeyeblog
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/OHIO

Homemade Heating Pad

09:01, 2006-Jan-21 .. Posted by GrandmaRosie

Our whole family uses these. I use them to ease a injured nerve in the back of my neck. My dad takes them in the car with him for a nice warm lumbar support for his bad back. All three of my daughter use them for different things. They are simple.

Take a piece of flannel a little more than twice the size you wany your heating pad. . Fold it in half, wrong sides togather. Sew down the longer sides making a bag or pocket shape. Turn right side out . Sew a small seam down each long side to make it nice and even. Fill a portion of the bag with plain rice. Sew a tight seam close to the rice, it makes a roll. Pour in more rice and make another roll of the same size. Do this all the way up to the top of your bag. Sew top edges down tightly. When you need it, just heat up. I use the microwave, but an oven on very low also works. The rice holds the heat for quite a while. You can use over and over again. I will post this with a photo on my blog. ^..^

Rice heating pads

05:12, 2006-Jan-22 .. Posted by karatemom

Dog-gone-it...GrandmaRosie beat me to it but I will add this. When I made my first one I made two mistakes. 1) put more rice in than was needed and 2) the fragrance of the rice when heated was not that appealing, to us anyway. So here's what I did. I added less rice to my next ones, used a heavier flannel since my first one broke down over time, and added essential oil fragrances to the rice before I added it to the pad. This way, the fragrance is emitted when heated. You can use relaxing fragrances or energizing fragrances. Whatever you prefer. We have some of both. I'm working on a pattern for heated socks since my feet are always cold. When I have it perfected I'll post it. It's based on the same concept as the heating pads but I've sewn channels, if you will, to keep the rice in place along the size of the foot. It certainly takes the chill off my feet.
Blessing everyone with your creativity. Thanks Lisa for the excellent idea. What fun.
Living simply and for Him,
Sherri
homesteadblogger.com/simpletreasure

Knitting Practice...

08:02, 2006-Jan-22 .. Posted by DonnaJoy

Well, you know I am only a Homestead Hopeful - so I don't have a lot of ideas...yet!!!
I am teaching myself to knit - I wanted to knit something useful - but right now I just an not that good at it - I had to just knit squares and not use for the them - so I do the dish cloths and when I make a mistake it is not big deal - they are used for cleaning!!! I am amazed at how very, very durable they are and so useful. Even some of my friends have seen and want one - I tell them they are practice "sheets" - they don't care - they love them - so while I am learning to knit - I am also creating something that is useful!!!
Donna

Animal Family Tree

06:25, 2006-Jan-23 .. Posted by Amber

Last fall we did a project to help my DH prepare for mating season. We took pics of all our sheep and printed them out on regular paper. I had them cut them out, write their names and make a sheep family tree so we knew which sheep to put together and which sheep to leave seperate. This idea may not work with every homesteader, but it helped us and the children loved it. It's just one of my many CRAZY ideas.

0:) Amber

Book Organizer, Food List and Bag keeper

06:46, 2006-Jan-23 .. Posted by Wren

I have two tips and an easy craft.

Book Organizer:
I purchased two rolling carts. These were in the bath section of our superstore. They are white and each have four wire baskets per cart.The children place their school books in their section of the basket. I use one myself for our record keeper and read alouds. Our kitchen table is now clear of books, rolled out of the way at meal times, and easily found for our next lessons.

Food List
I placed a small pad of paper on the side of my refrigerator. There is just enough room above the clip to place a pencil. During the week as I run out of foods or think of items I need to get while shopping I add it to the list. On errand day I have my list all ready to go, remembering items I might have forgot had I not written them down when I first thought of it.

Bag Keeper
Sew a small elastic strip in the shape of a hook to the middle of the closed end of a pillow case. Turn a pillow case inside out and hem over the edges just enough to fit a piece of elastic through. Thread the elastic through the hem, sew the circle you just made closed making sure you pull tight enough on the elastic to create an opening large enough to get your hand in when pulling the pillow case open. Insert plastic bags from grocery shopping into the hole and pull out the bags when needed. This pillow case bag keeper is large enough to keep more plastic bag than the store bought bag keepers.

That's it for my tips and household crafts.
Great idea, this contest, I enjoyed the entries, I'm going to explore your blog.
Wren

Kids knitting knapsacks (easy & cheap craft!)

08:25, 2006-Jan-24 .. Posted by Anonymous

I haven't actually joined/signed up for a blog yet, as this is really intimidating to me! So, I'm submitting what we're doing as my first entry...
As we live in south Louisiana there is little need for wool caps or scarves, but the kids wanted to learn to knit and I wanted their hands to be busy while I read aloud. (We homeschool.) Last week I stumbled on a pack of various sized circle looms (brand name is Knifty Knitter by Provocraft) for $12 at Wal-Mart. For an additonal $3 or so per child, they are creating circular backpacks out of yarn. (We found the pattern on http://www.provocraft.com/projects/projects.php?prdindex=kniftyknitter&dsp=project&idnum=17 )
First they basket weave a base, then "knit" the sides by looping and pulling over threads around the loom until the finished size is reached. Finally, they'll add leather straps and a drawstring. So far, it has taken them about 5 hours to make the bags, and will likely take another hour or so to finish them off later this week. I'll try to load a picture when I start my blog later in the week.
We've already completed three caps for infants born this month (took less than 2 hours each) and made winter hats for ice-skating sessions. The older kids (ds 10, dd 8) require little to no assistance, while the 3 yod can "knit" if I pre-loop the loom for her. The 1 yos likes to try on all the baby hats and dance around for us. I still plan to teach real knitting, but this is a great filler activity for now.
Melanie at la_melanie_k12star@yahoo.com

Can I just say..

06:15, 2006-Jan-24 .. Posted by JoyceFamily

I love the wheat sheaf and the disciples cross necklace! And your newsletter is the best. I've made your bread recipe from the January issue twice already...and your article mentioning Abraham looking for a city really spoke to my heart.

Anyway, here's my craft idea. It might sound a little weird. Plastic grocery bags braided together make an excellent, strong rope. Cut the bags into strips a couple of inches wide crosswise, (making several "loops" out of each bag. that way you can loop them through each other to make a long strand to braid without having the knot them...Know what I mean? Then just braid 3 strands to whatever length of rope you want. Braid pretty tightly...it really does make great rope. Those who buy in bulk may not have a lot of plastic bags, but I'm sure relatives and friends would be happy to donate theirs!