Canning Jam

I made 8 pints of strawberry rhubarb jam this week. I am trying to clear out some freezer space and can up some things. My goal is to have more stuff canned than in the freezer. I don't want to have to worry about losing food (and money) if we were to lose our electric. We don't have a generator for back up. I also cleaned out our extra frig that we keep in the garage. So it's unplugged and not costing us anything. We will keep it for fall harvest time and for when we have large family get-togethers here and we need the extra frig space. I'm excited to see if it puts much of a dent in our electric bill. Hopefully it makes a difference!

Have a good weekend!

Winter at my farm this morning

Don't let these beautiful, serene pictures fool you. It is cold here. Not near as cold as the upper Midwest, but none the less, it is cold. Last night is was -6. We had a high of 2 degrees today. Right now, at 10:53pm, it is -9 degrees with a windchill of -29. We are to have a low of -15 tonight with windchills in the -30's !! BRRR!! I am sooo glad that we burn wood to heat our home. There is nothing like it on a cold night!

Here is a picture of my favorite tree here. It is always so beautiful with snow on it! We got about 5" of snow yesterday on top of about 3" we already had. Not much, but it makes for some stunning pictures!

Thank goodness I keep my windows clean - I took all these pics from indoors. It was far too cold

to go out just for pictures!

Disposing of Disposables...Diapers and wipes

Using cloth isn’t what it used to be! No pins, rubber pants or toilet-dunking here! You can even purchase diapers gently used if that doesn’t bother you. Or make them! There are so many resources online to help you with all aspects of cloth diapering! We have been using cloth with our 16 month old since she was about 3 weeks old. I love the independence that using cloth gives to me. No quick trips to the store because we are running low. And every child we have in the future can reuse the same diapers until they fall apart! Now that saves money and sanity, not to mention less in our landfills!
Here is how we do it.
I really like prefolds and Thirsties diaper covers.

I fold the pf(prefold) diaper into thirds longways and just lay it in the cover.

It’s that easy! No learning different folds and no pins. You can easily add extra layers for heavy wetters. I just lay a terry cloth Kissaluv doubler under the pf. However you can use any type of doubler that suits you. I have even done 2 pf’s in the cover for naptimes. The Thirsties diaper covers have a laminated interior that makes it easy to wipe clean. They also have leg gussets so nothing leaks or oozes out. You know what I’m talking about!

My baby is on the thin side, and so far no explosions or messes outside the diapers. Try that with disposables! Now there is one drawback of laying a folded pf in a cover like this as compared to actually folding and pinning the diaper around the child. It is the runny poopy messes. Like I said, they don’t leak OUT the diaper, but they can and do mess the entire inside of the cover. So, with this method, it pays to have extra covers so you can wash the messed ones. As far as the wet diapers, I just lay the cover out to air dry and reuse it later in the day.
I also use some fitted diapers and wool covers. They work just as wonderful as pf’s and Thirsties. I just don’t have as many of them.
We also use cloth wipes instead of disposables. I absolutely, hands down, think they are superior to ANY throwaway one I have used. I made them out of old flannel receiving blankets. I cut them into 8” squares and put 2 squares wrong side to each other. I then sewed the edges with an overlapping stitch. I didn’t even turn the edges to hem. I just sewed them straight across. They are holding up fine.. If you have a serger, that would work great too. I just don’t have access to one. I made 4 dozen of them, and that amount has always served me well. To use, just get them wet and go at it!

Here is my diaper stash:
Infant Prefolds – 24
Toddler Prefolds – 12
Fitted Diapers – 6
Thirsties covers – 5
Wool covers – 5
Wipes – 48
Wet bags – 2 (for holding the dirty ones until wash day)

Websites I recommend:
http://www.diaperswappers.com/ a great place to buy, sell, swap diapering products
http://www.diaperpin.com/ for ratings on all diapering products and companies
http://www.thediaperhyena.com/ how-tos, caring for your diapers, make your own resources

My diaper routine.
How do you wash them, you ask? After I change the diaper, if it is only wet, it gets thrown into the wet bag until wash day. If it is a messy diaper, I dump the solids into the toilet then I rinse the diaper out in our utility sink. It has a pull-out spray faucet to rinse the diapers.

The waste goes down the drain into our septic. That diaper gets thrown into the wet bag also. Treat your wipes the same as the diapers. If the cover gets dirty, it gets rinsed also. Do not put the laminate covers in the wet bag! They attract the ammonia and do not clean out as well. I keep an old plastic dishpan in the laundry for the covers. Now it’s wash day. Around here that comes about every other day or two. I set my washer on rinse only and dump the entire contents of the bag into the wash. The wipes, covers and the bag get thrown in as well. Run through the rinse first to get the urine and any missed solids rinsed out. After that, run a normal wash cycle with your detergent of choice. I have used Allen’s Naturally and Charlie’s Soap, both successfully. Make sure you use a detergent that has NO ADDITIVES of any kind. They coat the diapers making them less absorbent and they will stink. As far as water temperature, a scalding is not always necessary. In the summer time, I hang my diapers outside so I can get away with washing the diapers in cold water. In the winter, I hang them indoors and it seems if I don’t wash the diapers in warm or hot water, they tend to stink. See what works for you. After the normal wash cycle, I run the diapers in an extra rinse just to make sure there is no detergent residue left. We have hard well water, and that makes it harder to cut through the soap residue. My experience is that if I don’t do the extra rinse, my daughter will get a rash and the diapers will stink. I line dry all the diapers. When they are dry, I typically throw them in the dryer with a clean, wet wipe for 10 minutes to soften them up a bit. I especially do this when I indoor dry. It seems to turn them into cardboard.
Some things I have learned along the way is to make sure you don’t throw the laminate covers and bags into the dryer to often. It shrinks and wears them out. The wool needs different care. Refer to the instructions that came with your wool, or see some of the links above. Experiment with different thicknesses of diaper and the covers to find what works for your situation. My daughter was such a heavy wetter very early on, I tried so many variations of folding, doublers, covers and wool to find a solution. With persistence and a will to do it, you too can cloth diaper your children!

What I did today...

Helped dh haul in some wood for our furnace. This is a pic from last years last pile. We have the furnace in our basement.



Hung laundry to dry in basement (because that wood furnace does a wonderful job drying laundry!)

And now I'm gonna go to bed!

Make your own...

SEASONED SALT

2tbsp salt
2tsp sugar
1/2tsp paprika
1/4tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp turmeric

Combine in a small bowl and mix well. Pour into an empty spice bottle. Make about 1/4 cup.

Make your own...

SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

1/2c hot water
3/4c sugar
3/4c powdered milk

Blend together in a blender (or mix well by hand). Store in frig or freezer. Makes 1 can.

Make your own...

EVAPORATED MILK

1-1/2c warm water
1c powdered milk
1tbsp butter

Mix milk and water together in a small saucepan. Add butter. Heat and stir at medium until the butter is melted. Use right away, or cool and then refrigerate. Equals one store-bought can.