DIY

Industrious Minds

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It never ceases to amaze me what games and activities my girls come up with when left completely alone, without any direct instruction from adults. From imaginary play, to art, to “work,” their minds are constantly striving to create new worlds, new projects, new concepts.

Yesterday I made it my goal to not get bogged down with the items on my to-do list, and instead to silently observe my little ones throughout the day. It was astonishing what those girls accomplished when their minds were able to run free!

A Little of This a Little of That

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This week we have spent a great deal of our time in the kitchen, hence my cooking-themed posts this week.  This led me to think about how much I adore this space, my kitchen.  It is a place where we as a family gather to make, share and consume the bounty that God has blessed us with. A place where we talk about our day, our struggles and our dreams.   A place of learning letters, numbers, words and shapes.  A place of play.  I love this space, my kitchen.

This is the activity my girls most love to do while I am preparing our evening meal.  Playing with play dough allows them to be in the kitchen with Mama while also giving them the freedom they so desperately need.

This particular play dough recipe is one of my favorites because it smells oh so yummy.  You can find the recipe below.  Hopefully your little ones will enjoy it as much as mine.

Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon orange colorant (this could be left out if you so desire)

Combine flour, salt, cream of tartar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large saucepan.  Mix together the water, oil and colorant in a small bowl.  Gradually stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until a ball forms.  Remove from heat and knead until smooth. Cool.  Store in an air tight container.

Simple Solution

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In keeping with the theme I seem to have started this week, I wanted to pass along an extremely easy recipe that my family uses at least once a week.  I try to make my family’s bread from scratch, but as we all know, making yeast breads can sometimes be very time consuming. On those nights when time is scarce, I always reach for this recipe.

Mix together 2 cups self-rising flour and 1 cup local stone ground wheat flour.  (I also add in 1 scoop of Garden of Life’s Super Seed.  This, of course, could be left out.)

Then add 12 ounces of your favorite beer.  (Maybe you were so inspired by Monday’s post on home brewing that you have some homemade brew on hand to add!) Mix in the beer and then pour the batter into a loaf pan.

I like to sprinkle a bit of brown sugar on the top at this point.  But you could definitely leave that part out.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Enjoy!

Breakfast From Scratch

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Apparently I am on a DIY food kick this week!  After writing about our home brewing yesterday, I started to think about the other foods we make from scratch and soon thoughts of our delicious, and incredibly easy to make, granola popped into my mind.

I have been in a constant battle recently for something easy to serve my girls in the mornings when we are a bit rushed.  Of course I would love to make my little ones bacon and eggs or pancakes each morning before school, but we all know that some mornings do not play out the way we wish they could. We all know those mornings…When we wake up late, it seems to take years to get the kids even dressed, let alone to get them to use the bathroom and brush their teeth, and then we have exactly five minutes to eat breakfast before we have to leave for school.  Enter…Homemade granola.

I make my granola in giant batches and store it in an airtight container and it lasts up to several weeks. It is much, much cheaper than buying organic granola in the store, and the best part is that I know every single ingredient in my granola!  There are no long, four-syllable words that only someone with a PhD can decipher.  Just 5 yummy ingredients:

2 lbs organic rolled oats

1 lb raw slivered almonds

12 oz unsulphured, unsweetened coconut

1 lb local honey

cinnamon to taste

And here is the incredibly easy part:  You dump all of the ingredients, except the honey, in a giant bowl.  Mix it.

Put the honey in a small saucepan over low heat and warm just enough to make the honey a bit runny.

Then pour the honey into the dry ingredients.  Mix again.

Bake in batches in a shallow baking dish at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  (I stir the granola in the baking dish about every 10 minutes to assure it bakes evenly.)

And that’s it!  I store my granola in the bin pictured above and it lasts a long time.  Let me tell you, I can get A LOT of quick breakfasts out of one of these batches.  It is truly a breakfast time saver!

Brew Master

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As a family, we try to make as many of our meals from scratch as possible.  We bake our own bread, make our own pizza crust and love to can our own sauces and veggies.  So it seemed like a natural progression to begin to make our own beverages as well.

My husband has recently discovered home brewing and I’m pretty sure he has found a new love!  And I must admit, as skeptical as I was in the beginning, there is something just awesome about knowing that the brews our family enjoys on holidays and celebrations is crafted by our hand.

I am not much of a beer drinker myself.  I would much prefer a good glass of red wine, so we are thinking we may begin an adventure in wine making in the very near future.  Hopefully I will have an update on that soon!

2012 Seed Starting Day

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Ever since we started our garden three summers ago, the third weekend in February marked our “Seed Starting Day” for the year’s garden.  This past Saturday marked this occasion and a wonderful day was had by all.  As I said last week, I was feeling the need to get in the soil and grow something, so I was very happy to see that day pop up on our calendar!

We normally start the morning off with some sort of yummy breakfast, made with products from last year’s harvest.  This year I made pumpkin scones, and they were delicious!  (This recipe to follow in a post later this week.)

Then the girls drew pictures of what they thought would happen to the seeds once they were planted.

Here is my five year old daughter’s drawing.  She said, “This is a picture of a pot, with the plant marker and a few sprouts coming up.  The sun and rain are coming down on the sprouts.”  Such the gardening expert!

This is the drawing my two year old completed.  She said, “This is a plant with a rainbow.” She is on her way to garden expert status very, very soon I’m sure.

This year for our seed starting mix, we took a five gallon bucket and filled it up half way with compost from last summer.  We then mixed in one small package of coir (coconut husk fiber), which helps to retain moisture much like a peat mixture does.

We mixed away until we had a nice ground mixture, perfect for seed starting.

Then my husband and girls got busy planting tomato seeds (Amish Paste, Martino’s Roma, Speckled Roman, and Italian Heirloom…all my favorite tomatoes to make tomato sauce with in August), basil seeds and Butterfly Weed seeds.  The girls were really able to contribute to the effort this year and it was awe inspiring to see those little hands working the earth, and instinctively knowing how to plant these small seeds so that they will later grow to provide us with a bounty of vegetables.

We keep our seeds in our craft room in our basement.  My husband hooks up fluorescent shop lights that can be moved up as the plants grow.  He also hooks the lights up to a timer so that the plants can get 14-16 hours of light per day.  We also put an oscillating floor fan in there with the seeds to help prevent mold or fungus from growing on the surface of the soil.

A Bit of Spring

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This morning I feel a bit remiss because as I peer out my kitchen window I find a fairly hefty amount of snow fell overnight.  The garden that was showings signs of early spring just yesterday is now covered with a thick layer of snow and the earth is hardened once again by the cold temperatures.  Even though we have had a very mild winter, the need to delve into the soil and plant something is seeping into my veins.

I often find myself feeling this way on these cold February mornings and I think today I have come up with a temporary solution for my need to plant something, anything.

The girls and I grab a few Mason jars and go to work.  We will sprout some seeds this morning!  You can purchase sprouting seeds at just about any garden center and all it takes are those seeds, cheese cloth, a Mason jar and water.

Simply follow the directions on the back of the seed package and in about 4 days you will have lovely little sprouts to add to salads, stir fries or smoothies.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend filled with fun and family!  Enjoy!

Birthday Bliss

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When a member of our family celebrates a birthday, that festivity does not only last one day, but several. We share multiple meals, eat a plethora of desserts and of course exchange a multitude of presents.

As I’m sure many of you know, the little ones in our lives are always making gifts for others.  Whether it be a drawing, a hand-strung necklace, a small piece of fabric that is a “mini blanket,” my girls are always at the ready to shower any birthday celebrant with many a gift.   Because of this, I am always trying to find new and creative ideas for gifts that the recipient can actually use, yet my kids can make as well.

Well in one short day a special lady in our life is celebrating her birthday and the girls and I found the perfect gift idea…bath salts.  It is very cost effective, very useful (especially when the birthday girl is quite the athlete), and is very easy and fun to make with the kids!

The basic recipe is as follows:

1 cup Epsom salt

1 cup course sea salt

20 drops of essential oil of your choosing

Any glass jar with a lid (We reused an old honey jar.)

Place the salts in a bowl and mix well.  Take out about ¾ cup of the salt mixture and place in a smaller bowl. Add the essential oil and mix well.

Then add the salts with the essential oils back into the large bowl with the remaining salts.  Mix well.  Pour into a glass jar and tightly fit on the lid.  That’s it!

I hope you all enjoy this fun, easy project with your little ones!

Laundry Day

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Laundry.  The word itself sent shivers down my spine.  I hated it.  From as far back as I can remember I loathed laundry day.  The sorting, the washing, the drying, the folding, the putting away.  Everything.  I had been known to wait until laundry was pouring out of the hamper, and even sometimes pouring out of the laundry room, before I would tackle the task.  I think the reason I always hated it so much was because I always felt so rushed.

In high school I was studying, working, playing sports or busy with band and pushed the job of laundry off on others, mainly my mom.  In college I would be so bogged down with reading and writing papers that I never felt I had time for it.  As a married woman and then a mother, my time was spent with my young family and the mountains of student papers that needed to be graded and lessons that needed to be planned, so the laundry just got pushed to the back burner.

Two years ago I decided that enough was enough and something had to give. I felt like my entire life I had spread myself too thin and because of that I was giving a partial attempt at everything.  It was at this time when I started to slow down, become mindful of my life, and take a step back.

Many things in my life changed after this realization.  But one aspect that I never, ever thought could change was my feeling toward that dreaded word…laundry.  But my how I have come around.  I think I may, in this post, even admit that I like laundry.

I like looking back upon the clothes that my family has worn, so thankful that we are able to have these garments to cloth us.  I enjoy the sound of the laundry tumbling in the background as my girls’ voices rise and fall in their imaginary play.  And I love hanging the clothes on the line to dry in the crisp, clean air.  Right now that line is in my basement, but oh how I look forward to a bit of warmer weather so I can get those items out in the fresh air again.  Yes, I think I have definitely come around when it comes to this very basic household task.  And boy am I thankful for that.

***

Two years ago my brother-in-law gave me a container filled with homemade laundry detergent for Mother’s Day.  I have used the recipe ever since, and have been able to save quite a bit of money in the process.  Enjoy!

3 cups white vinegar

2 cups Borax

2 cups baking soda

2 cups washing soda

½ cup castile soap (any scent you would like)

Mix all ingredients with an electric mixer (be sure to mix after each ingredient is added) and store in a sealed tub.  Add the vinegar first, then Borax, the baking soda, the washing soda, and finally the castile soap.  The mixture will be a little mushy at first, but will solidify more once it sits for a bit.

I have a high efficiency washer and this soap works just great.  I use about ¼ cup of the detergent per load.

An important note: Although all of these ingredients are naturally derived, they can still be very harmful if consumed.  I am always sure to just have my little ones observe the making of the detergent and I leave the actual preparing to the adults.

“Sew” Much Fun

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It seems that every year when January and February roll around I get this need to do a project.  Last year it was the girls’ new, shared bedroom.  Out with the crib and whole nursery scene and in with the “big girl stuff,” as my girls like to say.

This year when January rolled around I again got this yearning for some sort of crafty undertaking.  I happened to be on a blog that I love and follow regularly, SouleMama.com, and she had some pictures of the most adorable little flannel night gowns and I knew that I had found my project.

In her post she mentioned that she used a Butterick B4910 pattern for the gowns and I began to get a little nervous.  Now you see, I had never actually used a pattern in my entire life.  My sewing skills up until this point consisted of items like one-seam sun dresses, pillow case dresses, quilts, and fabric napkins.  So you can image my surprise when I carefully opened the Butterick package to find those lovely brown pieces of tissue paper with print all over them.  Oh my.  Talk about a flood of anxiety!

But after some work, I realized that I truly LOVED this whole sewing thing.  And then I became obsessed.  I made 6 nightgowns (some for my girls, some for a birthday present, some just to make for when I come across anyone who may want one).  Here are two of the gowns I made for my girls for their Valentine’s Day present.

Then I thought to myself, “My goodness, if I can make this gown, why not try the shirt and pants that are in the pattern as well?”  So on I went with my sewing, a little bit each day, and my how I have realized this is an amazing way to relax and unwind at the end of a crazy day.  Here are some of the PJs I made out of some vintage cotton curtains I thrifted.  I felt like Maria straight out of Sound of Music…ha!

Once I was on the repurposing kick, I found an old sling I used with my youngest and decided to make a school bag for her because she will be starting preschool in the fall.

I definitely believe I have found a new love, and it is my Brother sewing machine.