Buttermilk Basics: Culturing Your Own

Buttermilk Basics Culturing Your Own

Buttermilk.  Delicious and Irreplaceable. I used to substitute regular milk for it in recipes until I realized that the tanginess of buttermilk does, truly, add another dimension to the finished product.  It is easy to buy at the store but also fairly simple to culture on your own at home.  The benefit … Read more

Water Bath Canning: Tips for the True Beginner

Water Bath Canning Tips for the True Beginner

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know that canning has been one “homestead-y” thing that has intimidated me.  Well…. intimidate me no further!  My mom was kind enough to pass on her knowledge to me and now I’m hooked!  Bring on the produce! I know that … Read more

Small-Batch, Homemade Applesauce

Small Batch, Homemade Applesauce

We had an amazing Labor Day weekend.  One of the best weekends in recent memory. We headed three hours south to the little town and did some serious apple picking. It was so much fun and only a *tiny* bit hot and humid.  (Ok…. maybe it was a lot bit hot and … Read more

Coconut-Lavender Relaxation Salve

coconut lavender relaxation salve

Relaxation. Does that word even exist anymore? Like many people these days, I seem to fall into bed each night without much regard for “relaxing,” per-say, which is one reason I came up with this nifty little salve. You see, I’m a routine person.  I set up a routine and I generally … Read more

Natural Homemaking: Homemade Laundry Soap

Natural Homemaking Homemade Laundry Soap

We are doing a short, weekly series on natural homemaking.  You can check out the other posts here, here and here. So.  You knew this one was coming, right? We are not exactly the first bloggers to talk about making your own laundry soap.  However, we also felt like no series on … Read more

Cooking with Dried Beans: Why and How

Different types of dried beans and lentils

Beans are one of the delicious and healthy food items that you can add to different types of dishes. However, some people use dried beans instead of regular beans. One may ask – Why use dried beans? Are they any better? Or do they provide more health benefits? To answer these questions … Read more

Natural Homemaking: Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Tablets

Natural Homemaking Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Tablets

Are you familiar with those little dishwasher tablets that are sold in all the stores?  (Here’s one example Cascade ActionPacs Dishwasher Detergent and here’s another Finish Powerball Tablets.)  They seem awfully handy and I’ve often wanted to buy them.  However, they also are really expensive and just squirting or shaking a little … Read more

Fresh Homemade Ketchup Recipe

Fresh Homemade Ketchup Recipe

Have I mentioned that I froze a bunch of tomatoes last spring? Yeah, I know, I’ve mentioned it only a million times.  Well, you should know, they’re gone now.  I’ve used them all!  My freezer has never felt so empty! Originally I made pasta sauce, then I made pizza sauce and now … Read more

How to Store Your Winter Squash

How to Store Your Winter Squash

If you recall from posts I made late last spring, we had a bumper crop of buttercup and butternut squash.  We even got a few acorn squashes.  It was a beautiful thing. Fast forward to now. Last week I went into my pantry to use a few of the buttercup squashes only … Read more

Natural Homemaking: Homemade Soft Scrub with Peppermint

Homemade Soft Scrub with Peppermint

This month I am doing a short, weekly series on Natural Homemaking.  You can check out the first post here. I hope you are enjoying this series as much as I am.  I’ve always wanted to take a more natural approach to my homemaking and these posts are forcing me to learn … Read more