[skainsgirl]

no, THIS is creepy. taken from a bonfire several years ago. Looks like the grim reaper with a demon helper.

[skainsgirl]

Safe in Union Parish in North Louisiana. F3 tornado 15 miles NW of us Tuesday night.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  skainsgirl.

[skainsgirl]

Still canning 70 lbs of chicken into different ready to eat meals. 20 pints done, 20 currently in the canner, 20 more to go. 7 quarts of Chicken veggie soup,10 quarts of chicken bone broth so far with about 10 to go. Still need to separate the fat (for dog food) from the bones (for bone meal). Even cooked a roast with the trimmings for the family before my brother goes back to Florida in the morning. I am one whooped chick right now. 😆

[skainsgirl]

They all have their place. I do like the battery powered tools just because they are more mobile. But so is my old faithful Ryobi foldable table saw that has wheels. I have a big air compressor down in the shop but keep a portable one here at the house. I prefer gas powered yard tools, but I will use whatever I have that works as long as I don’t have to drag 200 ft of cord around the yard.

[skainsgirl]

Hi Nicole. I hail from northern Louisiana. When my Dad passed last year, I moved in with my 93-year-old Mom so she could spend the remainder of her days in her own home. It is my childhood home that my Dad built himself. Kinda like an Amish barn build (except not that fast), different family members would come help with different things. The house sits on top of a red dirt hill on 1 acre. Down the hill past my aunt’s old house is beautiful Lake D’Arbonne. Going to have to use multiple styles of gardening to extract the most efficient use of all the land. Pretty busy at the moment working on the old house, providing elder care, gardening via grow pots while I build raised beds and do terracing for permaculture farming, amending the soil in my Dad’s old traditional garden, and organizing Dad’s workshop a little at a time.

Still working on which side hustle I can manage while doing all this. Hopefully this winter I will have a little more time to focus on that aspect. I love to recycle old things into new things so it will probably be along those lines.

I have 2 little coffee plants growing in my kitchen 🙂

[skainsgirl]

Save time by meal prepping. Plan out your menus ahead of time. Recycle to save time (Monday’s meatloaf becomes Wednesday’s Shepherd Pie). I was a single Mom (most of the time), worked long hours (RN), and didn’t have time to spend hours in the kitchen. I took a Saturday every week or every other week and prepped meals for myself and the kids. Have the kids help! Even if it is just writing on containers. Once a week I grilled chicken & pork chops for quick meals at work or for the kids after school. I cooked up large batches of different items such as veggies, casseroles, etc. and divided them into smaller or individual portions and put them in the freezer. This also helps not to waste food if you have that “picky” child. Also allows you to grab as many as you need for any given meal. I made freezer meals in those aluminum pans with lids (they come in all sizes). Wrote the cooking instructions on top in case the kids needed to start dinner or fend for themselves. I froze crockpot meals in a gallon Ziploc bag and threw those in the pot before heading off to work. Was I able to maintain this all the time? of course not! Life happens. Emergencies, Work, etc. But when I did, it decreased my stress level tremendously.

Now, my kids are grown, and I am providing elder care for my mother. Her one joy left is cooking. She can no longer see well enough to cook herself but would love to keep me in the kitchen all day. I am single prep-steading trying to whip this property into a homestead and prepare this old house for winter. So here I am back to implementing some of my old methods to save time. It has taken me over 6 months just to finally get her freezer organized! We had Surprise Saturday for months because we couldn’t figure out what was in different containers. Some were delicious, some went to the dog and some to the trash.

I have added pressure canning to my skill set this year (sure wish I had learned this earlier). I can in smaller jars for us, larger for company. When I am busy, I can just open a prepared meal or several others to make something else quickly. I am trying to get her on board with some meal planning. But some days it feels like I am in the kitchen all day! I have to often remind myself that it is a work in progress 😁

[skainsgirl]

that is my picture. Our neighbor noticed it when I shared the bonfire photos with him the next day.

[skainsgirl]

that’s close by! I live just outside of Farmerville 😃

[skainsgirl]

🤩😍👏

[skainsgirl]

LoneWolf, check out sublimation. Sublimation is a design process where inks are transferred onto the product using heat. I haven’t used it personally, but to my understanding you can print the design using a printer and then iron it on fabric. I used to use a transfer medium to transfer photos or printed images onto an object or fabric.

[skainsgirl]

Like you, I just didn’t know where to start. I have always leaned toward a more natural approach vs pharmaceutical (although they definitely have their place). But it is so overwhelming trying to discern which info is correct. The herbal world can be so subjective. Sadly, very little time and money is invested in scientifically proving their worth because of the lack of monetary gain to be had.

I am self-teaching at the moment. You can find local classes. They do offer college level courses. That will be my next step.

But there are plenty of reliable sources via books and videos. I admit that I am a little nerdy. I love reading studies and other things most people find pretty boring. I started watching Dr Michael Greger years ago. Each year, he literally reads every study put out (in English) and discusses it. He promotes a whole food plant-based diet. I recently started following Kaylee and her mom over at The Honeystead and Amy Fewell-The Fewell Homestead. They offer some insight on where to get started, best authors, courses to take, etc. There is also a plethora of homesteaders with a wealth of info. Many right here on Free Steading!

We should start a group here for nature’s apothecary 🙂

[skainsgirl]

great point about using a pressure canner for sterilization! thanks for explaining why you need each item.

Chewing tobacco is great for wasp/bee stings. But is also a vasoconstrictor increasing heart rate and B/P.

I am also working on my herbal apothecary of natural medicines. I would also recommend learning what local plants in your area can assist in an emergency situation.

[skainsgirl]

That’s a beauty! We have always done puzzles. Been awhile though.

[skainsgirl]

nice! I’m on such a steep hill, I wouldn’t even have to build it that high!

[skainsgirl]

Thanks, I will ask Miss Lippy.