Saving money at the pump....by biking!

Did you know that May is National Bike Month? That may not be on your calendar, but it is nevertheless.

  This year I have been watching the gas prices rising and rising and decided that once the weather was warm enough I wanted to see how long we could go without filling the tank on the van (which is our family vehicle and I drive it the most while Ken drives the car to work). I thought it would be fun to challenge myself and had contemplated challenging you all too and seeing if you wanted to join me for a race of sorts (How long can your tank of gas last?) on my blog. I didn't get around to blogging about it but I still thought it would be fun to try ourselves.

  I knew I had a lengthy drive early this month to get the bees and our wheat so I decided to start my challenge after that was over. That happened the first week in May so we officially started on our challenge on May 8th (Mother's Day).

  That first day of biking for the season ended up a little eventful! Ken had blown the tires up before we left but it ended up that a couple of them were blown up to much and they popped! Thankfully we had made it to church okay but we discovered them popped when we were headed home. We had some interesting times of trying to change tires, it starting to rain, wishing I hadn't forgotten my cell phone at home and then Ken having to rescue us with the van. I don't think we saved much in gas but it was a day to remember anyway.

That week we just stayed home all week except for church (I think that the 3 church services were are only outing anyway) and we had fun. I loved how relaxing it was to stay home! Ken had ordered more inter tubes for the bikes (because we ended up popping the spare for the trailer too) but they didn't come until the end of the week.

 The following Sunday we rode to church again and then we rode home for lunch and then rode our bikes to a special biking event. We were able to get some new helmets (very economically!) there for some of us, get our bikes tuned up and the kids got to make a smoothie with a bike that had a blender hooked up to the back of it. It was a free community event and we had fun at it.

On Tuesday we started to ride to our homeschool event but discovered that there was a nail in the trailer tire. I think maybe we should buy stock in the inter tube company! We ended up driving instead.

So far we have rode our bikes to church on an average of 2 out of every 3 times. We have also rode our bikes to our baseball games and out a couple of other times. Mostly we just aren't going a lot. We did make some rather long drives in our van that I hadn't anticipated when I started this challenge. We were invited to a birthday party, a graduation party and I was asked to play at a funeral all of which where quite a ways from our place and to far to bike in an afternoon.

  Our biggest biking adventure so far this month was a day of errands and shopping in town. (I had basically put everything off and tried to avoid stores but we were needing to get some things done so I planned a day of it.) We had lots of fun and I took pictures so I thought I would share our day with you. I am hoping it will also make others realize just how much can be done on bikes.

We left home at about 10 am after the boys had done most of their schoolwork (Mara is already done for the year).  We rode the 3 miles into town.

Our first stop was the post office where I mailed a letter and a package.

Second stop was the library. We had hauled our 30-40 books in that needed to be returned. We checked out around that many again. I had decided it might not be the best (both because of weight and because I didn't want them to get stolen) to haul them around town so instead we just hauled them over to where Ken parks his car while he is at work and put them in there for Ken to bring home that evening. We stopped in at Ken's office to drop something off as well and say hello.

Next stop was the eyeglass place as Mara's glasses needed to be adjusted. That was a quick stop. The cool bike stand above was just outside the eye doctors.

  We also went across the street to a used book store. I had brought 4 books to trade in. We found 5 books we wanted and with the value of our trade in we had to only pay 50 cents. I think I like that used book store!

  Next we rode to Ben Franklin where I hoped to find ribbon for an upcoming wedding. Unfortunately no success.

 Then we went across the street to Good Will. We were very excited to find tennis shoes for Jonathan that looked brand new and they were just his size. He really needed new ones and his old ones had holes in them. Megan also found some new looking "Hello Kitty" dress shoes and so we got them too.

 We rode on to another 2nd hand store where I found a salad master steamer for $1. I was looking for camping cooking pots and that won't work for that but I think it might come in handy. It looked brand new.

Then we rode across town to the bread store. We got bread and then also splurged on crackers and some sweet treats to add to our picnic lunch. We were able to put what we bought there in Mara's pannier bags, I hauled pretty much everything else in the trailer.

 Next stop was the park for a picnic lunch of PB and J sandwiches, oranges and the aforementioned treats.

 The crackers that we got were scrabble cheese crackers so Megan was trying to spell her name with them.

Here Jonathan was having fun with the cable bridge.

 Aaron and Mara climbed up high on a "rock". This park had all new equipment and so the kids had never played on it before. We had a fun time there.

After that we headed to the grocery store where I got a few things including a heavy watermelon and muskmelon and some pansy plants that weren't the easiest things to haul on a bike. We managed however!

 Next stop was Target where we did find some new running shoes for Aaron (but no church shoes for Mara- we can't seem to see any anywhere that we like) and I picked up some dressing and Mayo that were on sale and I had coupons for. Those weren't exactly light things to add to our load but oh well. We also had fun looking over the bikes. Both Jonathan and I are dreaming of getting new ones but we want to be careful this time. When Ken and Mara got new ones a couple of years ago we got cheap ones and we have not been impressed with how they work. I want to read up on whatever type of bike we buy next.

We ended up getting home around 3:30. It was a pretty full day of errands but we had fun and it worked to go on our bikes so it was fun to have that success. We were all pretty hot and tired by the time we made it home but we were ready to ride to baseball at 6 pm and the kids had fun playing that evening.

 Mara commented that she really liked doing our errands on bikes and getting to picnic as well. I love getting the exercise plus getting to really see things as we go by. We had such fun looking at all the flowers we passed. A day like that certainly isn't the most time efficient but it was fun and there were several benefits:

• We saved money on gas.
• I had a memorable time with my children.
• We got some good fresh air and exercise.

This weekend we hope to get some more bike riding in though it won't save us gas as we are planning on driving to try out a new section of trail where we haven't ridden before. It should be fun.

 Do you like to ride bikes? Are you doing anything to make it so you spend less on gas? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Taking care of those runny noses!

 We seem to be having some Spring allergy problems or maybe some colds bothering us a bit around here. It isn't bad but we have had some need to wipe our noses. I have been trying to use less and less of things that just get thrown away (like tissues) and have been trying to convert over to handkerchiefs more and more. The kids have started using them fairly well but we were having a hard time having enough ready and clean all the time so then we would resort to throwaway tissues.

 I decided to try to remedy that problem. Today I found a pair of old flannel pajama pants that we had around here. I had already cut a little off them to use for another project last winter but I decided to turn the rest of the pair into handkerchiefs. I was able to cut 10 handkerchiefs from the pair, mostly around 8 inch square. We do not like huge handkerchiefs as they are to big for our pockets and who really needs that much blowing space (or if you have used part of it do you really want to continue to use it until it is all used up?!).

I quickly and easily hemmed them on my machine and now they are ready for use.

The boys kindly "Modeled" them for me. Sorry the picture is bad but I found it humorous so I decided to include it anyway.

Now hopefully we won't run out of handkerchiefs so fast- and if we still do I'll just sew up some more. We have other absorbent fabrics that would work and they are very fast to make. We keep them in one of our handmade baskets in a easy to find spot next to the phone.

  I know some (maybe many) people find handkerchiefs gross but I guess I don't see it that way and I would prefer not to spend a lot of money on something that just goes to the dump. (Though I did recently read that you can compost Kleenex- so if you do use it please at least compost them!)

 That is something I have been fixing up this week. What have you been working on?

An apron from old overalls

  A while back I had seen an apron at a craft store that had been made from cutting out the pocket/zipper area from a pair of jeans (so it was basically in a half circle shape) and then attaching a wide ruffle and a tie to it. I thought it would be fun to try and so pulled out my box of old jeans for that purpose one day last week.

 The first thing I pulled out was a pair of girls (size 7 or 8) overalls that had holes in the knees. That wasn't what I was looking for but then I thought "Why not?" I could make an apron with a bib which is what I prefer anyway. Here is how I did it:

The picture above is what I started with.
1. I unbuttoned the sides of the overalls and then seam ripped the seams down to the level of the crotch seam.
2. I cut straight across from side to side just above the crotch.

3. I found some ribbon I wanted to use to complete the neck loop and for waist ties.
4. I cut the shoulder straps off at the place that they matched the width of my ribbon.
5. I figured out how long I needed the neck to be (it is adjustable because of the way you can adjust overall straps) and cut the ribbon the right length to finish the neck strap.
6. I sewed the ribbon in place.

7. I found some white fabric to make the apron longer. I cut it around twice as wide as the denim and as long as I desired.

8. I gathered the white fabric and then sewed it to the denim.

9. I turned under the edges of the white fabric (I cut the corners so they were rounded) and then sewed lace around the edge of the whole bottom section of the apron.

10. I measured a ribbon long enough to use for the waist ties, I threaded it through the belt loops and then sewed it to secure it on each side.

11. I double stitched over many of the flattened seams to make a more finished look.

This was a very quick project and a really fun way to give new life to an old pair of overalls. It sold on a silent auction at a fundraiser last week.

I am linking this to:

Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

and

The bees are here!!

 This past week was very exciting for our homesteading venture. We picked up the bees and now we having thousands of livestock living here with us!

Mara went with me to pick up our bees. We had to drive to a place about 45 minutes from here. Because we were going in the direction of the grain mill where we get our wheat and corn we went there as well. We got our grain first and then headed over to get our bees. When we got there was saw a bunch of people mostly all dressed up in bee suits and then nuc boxes all over the place. There were also a bunch of bees in the air.

  Mara and I suited up, paid for our nucs (We had to pay $75 dollars per hive- I am curious if that is similar to the prices others are paying.) and got in line to pick ours up. The bees had been brought up from Texas. We took our hives (which I had prepared but nailing the bottom board on using little pieces of boards and then filling the doorway with screening so they couldn't use it right now) out of the back of the van and a man came over with a nuc box and put the 4 frames, which where completely full of bees and eggs, into our deeps/hives. I had already removed frames at home so there would be space. I also put the feeder inside put I hadn't filled it yet.

 When the Bee guy was putting the bees in we were standing within a huge swarm of bees. I was so happy that it didn't bother Mara or I at all- we weren't afraid, just terribly excited! We didn't get any stings either- none of us have yet in our beekeeping experience of 5 days. :-)

  We had been told we would probably have a few bees lose in the van with us when we went home. I think the few was more like quite a few! We did leave our bee outfits on and had fun looking at the bees that came and sat on us. We started naming them. :-)

 The next day we suited up. Aaron got to wear Mara's outfit and Jonathan desperately wanted to help so we made some other stuff work (I need to make some more good outfits soon!).  We successfully used the smoker but then it didn't really seem like the bees actually needed it. They didn't seem at all bothered by us looking in on them.

 I filled their feeder with sugar water and the medicine that prevents Nosema (Fumagillan). I also put 1/2 of a pollen patty on the top of the frames, sprinkled medicine to prevent American Foulbrood around the edges and put in a beetle trap. I did lift a frame out to show the boys all the bees but found out later from my mentor that I shouldn't really have taken them out of the deep quite yet.

  The bees have been very "well behaved" and we are loving watching them! They are finding tons of pollen and we love seeing them come back to the hive with the bright yellow pollen on their legs.

 We have done some other homesteading projects as well.

 My Dad had a bunch of extra Garlic plants and so we planted a bunch here. My friend Irindee came over to help us several times this past busy week. She was helping to plant garlic in the picture above. (If you notice the barrettes in her hair- that is not her normal style but she had a special stylist that day- Megan.)

We also put up a fence for our bee yard.

 The kids are digging a trench for the electricity for the fence. It is needed to make sure that bears and skunks stay away.

 It was a fun week and I am looking forward to another fun one this week!



A busy week

 This past week was a busy one and this current one is shaping up to be even busier. Such is life. We will strive to enjoy all the activities!

Here are some of our fun "Homesteading" activities of the past week:

 Making noodles. I haven't done this for quite some time and my children were quite excited to see me making them. They love to help make them and they are a huge favorite of theirs for eating. My mom makes them more often than I so they consider them a "Grandma specialty" but were happy to have me make them too. Generally we use them to make chicken noodle soup but they are actually quite versatile.

 They are simple to make just needing flour, egg, salt and water (or a little whey or milk). I don't really measure, just mix them together to make a very stiff dough and then roll it out and cut it into strips. You can use them right away or dry them and then freeze them for later.

 Another activity that we did (well mostly watched my dad do) was doing some grafting and pruning on our apple trees. I had made the mistake of forgetting to put screening around my trees this past winter. Mice or something like that found three of them (I only have 4) and chewed on the bark around them. The were still alive but two of them were not doing well at all and the other one was at risk. Dad worked at fixing them up and the kids and I helped when we could.

 I am very blessed to have a Dad who knows how to do all sorts of things including grafting and taking care of and growing fruit trees.

This past weekend my parents went on a little trip and wondered if we could watch their bottle fed baby goat. They have a lot of baby goats (over a dozen) but this one was not claimed by it's mother and so they have had to feed it. By younger brother was going to still be home and do the rest of the chores but they thought it would be easier if he didn't have to bottle feed a baby too. Also they figured my kids would enjoy the extra time with Daisy Flower.

 We had decided that Daisy flower could stay in our garden since we have high deer proof fence around it and they brought an orange snow fence (I think about 4 feet high) along to block of the part of the garden that had growing stuff already in it.

The kids did have a wonderful time with Daisy Flower. They played tag and had tons of fun.

 We soon learned however that a baby goat does not care to be alone. We also learned that 4 foot or 5 foot fences were no match for a kid that is lonely.

 The brain in that head above is much smarter than you might think!

We soon began to think we were living out a nursery rhyme, except ours went like this:

"Mara had a little goat, little goat, little goat.
Mara had a little goat whose fur was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mara went, Mara went, Mara went,
Everywhere that Mara went the Goat was sure to go."

 We would put Daisy Flower in the fence and then come up to the house but right behind us would be a little goat that wanted to come in. We had turned one of my compost bins into a little shed and Daisy jumped up on top of it and then over the fence (since it was right next to the side). That process only took her a couple of seconds.

 So next we moved the orange snow fence so that daisy couldn't get to the compost bins and made her a new shelter smack dab in the middle of the garden. She still got up on it but she couldn't just over the fence from that location.

This did stump her for a couple of minutes and we figured we had things fixed up. Well we were wrong. She figured out how to go under the snow fence and then up on the compost bin and over the other fence. So Ken went out and made it so she couldn't go under. She worked on that a few minutes more and then she just jumped over the 4 foot snow fence and up onto the compost bin and over the garden fence and trotted right back up to the door again.

Here she figured if we didn't answer her first knock maybe she had better work to get some more attention!

She actually came straight in several times because our door doesn't latch securely and so she could just push it open. She was awfully cute but knowing her dirtier habits I just didn't care to have her in the house. Saturday it rained most of the day but the kids rotated and gave her company most of the day anyway. Since the garden was working they played tag all over the yard and had a wonderful time.

They had fun feeding her 4 times a day.

My younger brother took her home Saturday evening so she didn't have to spend another night (and during church on Sunday) all alone stuck in a little dog kennel which was the only way (other than the rabbit pen) we were able to keep her in a pen. We were sorry we weren't able to keep her the whole time but we were tired out and I am sure she was happier to be back with the other goats.

Lessons learned:

-If you get a goat don't get just one. They are very sociable and need company.

- We are happy to have an easy pet like a rabbit.

- Baby goats can act a lot like a dog.

Which was fun for a day but a good reminder to me of why we aren't ready for a dog.

-Don't underestimate the ingenuity and determination of a baby goat.

We are planning on getting some livestock soon however.

Around 1,800 of them to be exact.

I am extremely excited and nervous!

We are trying to get ready. 

Here I am suited up for the great adventure!

 We found out that the bees are coming on Wednesday! I got veils and gloves fixed up for Mara and I. We are using hats we already had and I made tulle veils. I used some plastic ribbing to make sure that they don't blow into our faces but rather stay firmly where they belong.

For gloves I did buy some for myself at Menards, just short leather gloves but then I sewed gauntlets onto them. For Mara I found some old ( I think actually antique) leather dress gloves that I had stored away and I attached gauntlets onto them. Mara is going to go and help me pick up the bees so I decided she had better have a suit too. Now all the kids want them and I plan on working on that after this extremely busy week is over.

What have you been working on at your place?

I am linking this post up to Homestead Revival.

Fixing up a raincoat for Megan

We have a friend from church who is very generous with giving up hand-me-down clothes and things she finds when going to garage sales and thrift stores. Something that she had given us this year was some short sleeved jackets (pictured above). When I looked them over more carefully I realized that they were of the material for raincoats- you know, nice light-weight, fabric raincoats. I have no idea what prompted the designer to make them short-sleeved but they did. Anyway, we didn't have any use for short sleeved raincoats and though these were women's sized I already had a raincoat but Megan did need one. So....

 I decided to fix it up! My original plan was to combine both raincoats to make one but as I was getting started on the blue coat which I had decided would be the main color, Aaron came down and said "Can't you fix up the green one for me?" so I decided I would find some other fabric to add to the blue so I could use the green one for him. I will have to do a bit more adjusting on his so that it doesn't look feminine.

The steps that I took to fix it up were:

1. Cut off the hood, cut it smaller, put elastic in the casing instead of ties, re-attach it to the jacket.
2. Cut the side seams (especially under the arms) smaller.
3. Cut the ruffle off the sleeves (basically cutting the sleeves in half horizontally) so that I can re-attach it below as a cuff.
4. Cut fabric to go in between the two sleeve sections and sew it in place. I had some nylon fabric that my grandma had bought and made some tablecloths out of. I don't think it is really waterproof but it is probably at least resistant. I was also just realizing that I have some waterproofing spray so perhaps I will try that on them.
5. Sew the side and sleeve seam.

That's all there was to it. It was fast and simple. It isn't perfect but Megan likes it and it seemed to work well for a walk in the rain. It is still a bit big but that means it will last her a while and so I don't really mind that.

She seems to kind of like it over her eyes.

She was happy the sleeves were long enough to go over her hands to keep them dry.

As you know I love these projects where I can use up what I have and make something useful.

Have you been making anything lately?

Happenings on our Homestead

 I love Spring! The excitement of things growing again and it being almost time to garden again is so fun! I love the wildly variable weather, the sunshine and the rain and even the occasional snow. I am so glad God gave us seasons.

I have been having fun lately doing springy activities. Last week I finally planted my seeds -the ones that need to be planted ahead of time inside.
 I planted tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, stevia, some flowers, broccoli, kohlrabi, cabbage and probably some things that I can't remember now. I also repotted my aloe vera. I had four little plants in a little pot. My sister Anna and I have been learning how good they are for you and so I want to encourage mine to get bigger so that I can really use them. I also repotted my banana tree that was desperately needing some new dirt and a new pot. I am hoping they all grow and flourish!

 I decided to set them up on top of my fridge to sprout (I did have to do some stacking to make them all fit but as soon as they get very big I will move them to a southern window). I discovered that a few of them have already sprouted. I love it when they are quick like that!

 Another of those Spring jobs that needed done was turning my compost pile. Here is the "beautiful" collection from the winter. I have two bins (that I made from pallets) side by side so I just flipped it over into the other one, while adding some rabbit droppings (Clover is gracious to supply those) and other natural matter from our garden cleanup.        

Aaron helped me work on the compost bin. His motivation was the fact that we get to babysit a baby goat next weekend and we thought we might be able to turn the empty bin into a temporary shelter.

 I love the concept of composting  because God turns our yucky scraps and the weeds we pull up into good rich dirt. We like to use that dirt on our garden and to put around our fruit trees.

Speaking of fruit trees, The plum trees which my Dad ordered for me along with his order came on Thursday. We planted them in our yard. Now we have 3 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 2 plum trees, a grape vine,a couple of wimpy blueberry bushes, a few raspberry bushes and strawberry plants which feed the chipmunks. We aren't getting any fruit yet -except a few raspberries last year and there were two apples on one tree last year but some animal ate them before we could- but there is a lot of potential and I am excited about the possibilities!

 Another "homesteading" (?) project was our venture in making candy from our maple syrup. A neighbor came over and we had fun messing with a couple different recipes. It all tastes yummy but not everything sat up properly. Oh well, live and learn. This recipe did work well.

And as far as this picture.... We are so enjoying the pussy willows we picked some to have inside. I love the way they look and the natural rustic feel they add to our home.

 

I am linking up to:

Homestead Revival

New Life on a Homestead
The Prairie Homestead