A Bit More

March 28, 2013March 25, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

We had so much fun dyeing Easter eggs over the weekend, I decided to hop on the natural dye agent train and go for a real ride. I had one skein of wool left after I finished making the woolens in this post, and a few left over beets from dyeing eggs. I decided I would try to dye the wool yarn. Here’s what I did…

Put the following ingredients in a large stainless steel pot:

4 large beets, peeled and chopped

16 cups water

4 cups white vinegar

Bring the ingredients to a boil. Let it slow boil for about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the yarn. (I tied off the skein a bit more too. I didn’t want it to get tangled while it “cooked.”)

Then remove the pot from the heat, cover and let it rest overnight. (Yes, just leave those beets in there…It’s fine.) Rinse the yarn 2-3 times in luke warm water.

Allow to dry completely on a drying rack.

Just Go With It

March 27, 2013March 25, 2013 / makingofahome / 3 Comments

Yes, it is March 27th. Yes, it is Spring. Yes, we are completely snow-covered and freezing. I’ve decided I need to move to the positive of this situation instead of dwelling on the negative. So, woolens it is. Why not sit under a quilt, with a mug of steaming hot coffee and crochet with a bit of lovely wool. And that’s just what I did.

The yarn is from this farm in Wisconsin. They can be found at the weekly farmers’ market in Madison, and they normally have their yarn for sale at their booth. (If you have never visited the Dane County Farmers’ Market, you must go! It is absolutely amazing…no matter the season…it’s year round and awesome!)

This is me embracing the frigid March temps. I’m just going with it.

Al Naturale

March 26, 2013September 2, 2015 / makingofahome / 4 Comments

Another of my favorite days is right around the corner. Sure, it is snowing outside as I write this, and the temperature last night dipped well below freezing, but no matter. Easter is just a few short days away.

Our house is always abustle with baking and crafts at this time of year, but our most favorite of all activities we find ourselves immersed in is dyeing those lovely little Easter eggs. For the second year now, we have opted to use natural dyeing agents to dye our eggs, and let me tell you…If you have never dyed eggs this way, you must try it! The entire process leads to a day full of fun, and this year we were even glad to find ourselves in our toasty kitchen from all that steam the pots were kicking off. I mean it was twenty-five degrees outside. Oh my.

There are many resources out there with a bunch of great ideas for natural dyeing agents. The book we used this year was Keeping Chickens: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy, Healthy Flock by Ashley English.

One recommendation I would give is to try to find organic white eggs to use with these natural dyeing agents. These are sometimes difficult to find, as it took me driving to three different stores before I could find some, but it is well worth it. Last year we dyed organic brown eggs and the colors did not pop as much as they did this year.

Just to give you a frame of reference, starting with the yellow egg and moving clockwise…yellow (turmeric), violet (cranberries), brown (coffee grounds), pink (beets), bluish violet (blueberries and blackberries).

At This Moment

March 25, 2013 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

At this moment I am…

~admiring our naturally-dyed Easter eggs we made yesterday. More on this in tomorrow’s post 🙂

~cleaning up the disaster that is my kitchen. A weekend full of projects and crafts has left it looking a bit unfortunate.

~enjoying a quiet morning chat with my oldest, who decided to get up before 6 o’clock this morning. I cherish these early-morning times with her so.

~perusing The Pioneer Woman website for some recipe ideas for tonight’s dinner.

~flipping through this book for some natural project ideas for the girls.

~waiting for the ground to thaw so I can get out into the garden. As of now, the garden is still completely snow covered. Oh my.

~filled with anticipation because I have a lot of fun posts to share with all of you this week!

~wishing you a wonderful week!

Kairos

March 22, 2013March 20, 2013 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

Kairos—“a right, opportune, or supreme moment in which something special and unique happens”

“Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”

~Pope Francis I

Please Pass the Butter

March 21, 2013March 20, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Butter. Who doesn’t love its creamy sweetness, with the hint of salt, as it melts over a hot roll or freshly baked muffin?

During my substitute teaching stitch, my oldest daughter and I had to leave the house quite early, and our normal routine of homemade granola or pancakes for breakfast was not really a feasible option. We needed something fast, easy and delish.

So on Sunday afternoon, I whipped up a batch of muffins (I used this recipe). Then I froze the muffins so that I could pull out two the night before, allow them to defrost overnight, and then we had yummy muffins to eat in the car on our way to school. But what is a good muffin without butter?

This is quite possibly the easiest way to make homemade butter. Think elementary school when we all took turns shaking a baby food jar filled with cream until the butter formed. Same idea.

Simply pour some whipping cream in a glass bowl, and then mix it on high with an elective mixer.

You need to beat it past the point of whipped cream phase. You will start to notice a separation in the mixture.

Once there is a clear separation between the butter solids and watery substance, place the butter in a fine mesh strainer or in butter muslin until all of the moisture has been drained.

I like to then mix in a bit of salt. And you are set to go!

Be sure to keep your homemade butter in a sealed glass container in your fridge. It will stay good for about 5 days.

Spring?

March 20, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

As I poured my cup of coffee this morning and opened my shades to look out on the garden, these were the Spring greetings set before my eyes…

While these may not be the most “Springy” of sights, as I looked a bit closer to the goings on here in the Fagan abode, I noticed a bit of Spring showing her face. There is more sunlight spilling in our windows…

…and sunflowers reaching toward the sun’s rays.

Spring is here, we may just need to look a little closer and dig a little deeper to find it’s beauty this year. Happy Spring all!

So Fresh and So Clean

March 19, 2013September 2, 2015 / makingofahome / 4 Comments

Amid the hustle and hustle of the past few weeks, I ran to the linen closet to grab a bar of soap and some lotion and found the shelves that normally house these items to be completely bare. So, we spent much of our St. Patrick’s Day afternoon making some new soap, lotion and deodorant.

I used my favorite lotion recipe from this amazing book, but instead using olive oil as I normally do, I used a cold-pressed organic grape seed oil. It ended up making a much lighter lotion, which I really like.

A friend of mine steered me towards this great homemade deodorant recipe, and after wearing it in a multitude of situations, I have found it to work wonderfully! In fact, I would even venture to say it works better than my organic store-bought deodorant.

And last but not least on our to-do list: soap. I created this recipe after researching those essential oils known for their anti-bacterial properties. I hope you enjoy this soap as much as we do!

Making of a Home’s Anti-Bacterial Soap

2 pounds Melt and Pour Soap Base (I use this Goat’s Milk Soap Base.)

1/2 cup palm oil

4 eye droppers of Vitamin E oil

20 drops clove essential oil

20 drops lemon essential oil

10 drops rosemary essential oil

8 drops eucalyptus essential oil

5 drops cinnamon essential oil

5 drops tea tree essential oil

a shallow pot or saucepan

a glass bowl

wooden spoon

soap molds (You can purchase these at your local craft store or here.)

Fill the pot or saucepan half full with water. Bring to a simmer. Place the glass bowl in the pot of water to create a double boiler of sorts. Place the melt and pour soap base, palm oil and the vitamin E oil in the glass bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until it melts. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the essential oils and stir. Allow the mixture to cool slightly (enough to thicken the mixture just a bit). Pour into your molds. Allow to rest until completely cool. Remove the soap from the molds. Allow the soaps to cure for about two weeks before you use them.

This Time Last Year

March 18, 2013 / makingofahome / 4 Comments

Well, my stint as a junior high math and science teacher ended mid-week last week, and our household has slowly moved back to its normal rhythm. I had a fun post in mind for today featuring a new soap recipe, and homemade deodorant and lotion. But then I woke up…to snow.

It doesn’t show up wonderfully in this photo, but there is quite a bit of snow falling in the picture. This winter landscape outside my front door led me to think about the strangely warm spring we had last year, and the stark contrast to this morning’s weather.

March 18, 2013 (Today)

March 18, 2012 :: This picture is from my blog post on this day last year.

Huh. Now that is what I call a doozy of a weather shift.

I hope all of you are enjoying this Monday morning, no matter the weather. And you can bet that new soap recipe will be the feature of tomorrow’s post 🙂

Kairos

March 8, 2013March 5, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Kairos—“a right, opportune, or supreme moment in which something special and unique happens”

If you are so inclined, share a link to your “Kairos Moment” in the comment section. I hope you all have a blessed weekend!