Cloth vs. Paper

Was just folding some laundry which included about a dozen of our napkins and a heap of ragged towels.

We started using cloth napkins several years ago.  We were over at a friend’s house one day and I noticed that they used them & the itty-bitty-light bulb in my head went off.  Why weren’t we using cloth napkins?  I was constantly complaining about the paper napkins disintegrating, so I don’t know why it never really occurred to me to use cloth instead of paper.  Well, it could be because no one else uses them, or because growing up we didn’t use them, or because there aren’t commercials advertising cloth napkins.  Probably all of the above.

It’s cheaper in the long run to use cloth, and definitely more earth-happy.  Not to mention it makes the dinner table look fancier.  The ones I have are either from a thrift store (i.e. cheap) or hand-me-downs.  You can also easily make them from fabric scraps, although I haven’t done that yet since my napkin stash is pretty big.   I find that the cotton ones are more absorbent, although I do have two sets made of some sort of synthetic fiber.  We use them, but they are definitely not my first choice, especially if we’re having a “sloppy” meal.

I keep one stash of napkins right by the dinner table.

I do have a small package of paper napkins that were left over from our Wedding BBQ five year ago.  I’m not absolutely against paper products; paper towels, napkins & plates do have a purpose.  I’m not going to wash thirty cloth napkins, dinner plates & glasses if we’re having a party at the house.  They also come in very handy during power outages.  Ask me how I know this. 

We do, however, go through paper towels.  I use them to wash & dry the goats’ udders every milking.  I was thinking about using cloth towels but figured it was more sanitary to use a good paper towel instead.  Milk sanitation trumps reducing my paper usage in this case.  But for general household cleaning & wiping up spills I use a cloth towel or rag. Old t-shirts, stained or old bath towels, even socks get cut up for use as rags and get put into one of the rag bags.  One bag for good rags (to be used in the house) and one bag for icky rags (to be used in the garage or outside, and usually only used once).

So, is there a reason that you are still using paper napkins & towels?  Start looking for them at thrift stores, garage sales, on clearance at the dollar stores or make them yourself.  I promise you that once you use cloth, you’ll be wondering why you used paper for so long.

Oh, and by the way, if you decide to cut up your husband’s old softball t-shirt (that he wore in a championship game like seven million years ago and had holes in it the size of golf balls) don’t put it in his pile of rags.

Fresh Greens

No, I didn’t cheat and run into town for lettuce.  And no, we don’t have a heated greenhouse (oh how I wish we did).  We have sprouts! 

Paul started Mung bean and alfalfa sprouts several days ago.  I’d like to look into getting some other type of seeds for sprouting, but now that I think about it, wheat can be sprouted & we’ve got plenty of that.  Guess I’ll do that today.

I wish I could remember to make sprouts more often; I really need to just keep a running note on my calendar saying “Make Sprouts”.  Not only are they a good source of fresh greens, they are easy!  Just stick ‘em in a jar, cover them with water for a day.  The second day you drain the water, rinse & drain & put them on the countertop.  Keep rinsing / draining at least once a day until they look yummy, usually about 5 – 6 days.  Nice & technical, hugh? 

Sprouted Mung Beans

Here’s a list of some of the seeds / beans you can sprout:

Alfalfa, Amaranth, Barley, Broccoli, Caulifower, Celery, Corn, Dill, Fenugreek, Lentils, Lettuce, Millet, Mung beans, Oats, Onion, Parsley, Peanut, Pumpkin, Radish, Rice, Rye, Sesame, Squash, Wheat.

You won’t be able to sprout your typical white rice from the store as it’s been processed & really isn’t a “seed” anymore.  Same thing goes for peas & lentils that are usually split.  Other seeds made for planting may also have pesticides or herbicides sprayed on them.  You’re better off buying seeds specifically grown for sprouting and eating.

There are some seeds that you should not sprout as they can be poisonous or just downright bad for your inner workings.  Anything from the Nightshade family is a no-no.  This includes tomatoes, potatoes and peppers.  Slips, sprouts, leaves & vines are toxic. Please do some research of your own as I’m definitely not a horticulturist or culinary wizard.

Once my sprouts are ready, I rinse them to get some of the seed/bean hulls off, drain them & store them in the fridge.  They will keep anywhere from a few days to up to a week.  I use the sprouts in my scrambled eggs, breads, salads, stir-fry, and on sandwiches in lieu of lettuce leaves.  Or Rhainnon just eats them "as is".

Mmmmm.....Crunchy!

BOB's - Vehicle

Well, it’s the new year and that means it’s time to go through the bug-out-bags.  Ideally I try to go through them twice a year, once in the winter & once in summer so there are weather-appropriate items in there, but I never got around to switching to the summer stuff so my winter clothes were still in there. 

Not only had it been over a year since I went through it, but the pack that I normally keep in my vehicle had been in the garage.  A lot of good it was doing in there.  It probably got tossed out of the trunk before picking up a load of goat food or something like that.  So took everything out to see what I needed.  It was lacking several items; some which I never got around to putting in there and some that I’ve pilfered throughout the years but neglected to replace. 

Here is what I have in my backpack now:

Hiking shoes & 2 pair socks
Sweater, Cuddle Duds (long johns), Undies, T-Shirt
Hat & gloves
Leather work gloves
Fixed blade knife, box cutter w/extra blades, multi-purpose tool, small sharpening stone
Emergency “space” blanket
Rain Poncho x 2
Roll of TP, Wet wipes
Small flashlight & batteries
Compass
Small camp cooking kit (two pots, cup, utencils, can of sterno)
Candy bars (definately need replaced!)
Fire making kit (Jute, fire-starter logs, waterproof matches, lighter, magnesium fire starter)
Dozen tea lights (which melted, so I’ll replace them)
Duct tape
Small 1^st Aid Kit (band aids, alcohol prep pads, iodine, moleskin, tweezers, gauze, tape)
Hygiene (feminine pads, shampoo, toothbrush/paste, floss, deodorant, hair ties, comb)
Misc. Hygiene (hand sanitizer, insect repellent, sunblock, q-tips, disposable razor)
Water purification tablets
Diapers & Wipes

And what items I still need to put in there:

Water pouches, soap, washcloth, small tea candles (or other type of container candle),
deck of cards, garbage bags, hard candy or some other non-melting goodie, new hi-calorie food bars, instant soup packets, whistle, small mirror, local maps, personal phone / address book, some paper & coin money.

Now this list may seem somewhat long & daunting when written down, but it actually all fits nicely in a medium sized backpack.  This pack stays in your vehicle and you should have one for each vehicle you use.  For those of you who think I’m nuts for having one of these, let me tell you that I’ve used several items out of it through the years during road trips: twine, duct tape, water bottles, bandages, aspirin, flashlight, extra batteries, rain poncho, knife, work gloves, wet wipes & TP (when you gott’a go, you gott’a go!), coins, garbage bags. 

More than likely you’re not going to have to heft this thing on your back & really use it to “Bug Out” in the sense that a nuclear warhead just went off & your car went dead but I feel a lot better knowing that I could sling it over my shoulder & have some emergency items should a need arise. 

If you have children, they should have packs of their own (or keep items for small children in your pack).  Kid packs should have some snacks, water and/or juice boxes a change of clothes and some fun things like a few pocket games, crayons & paper.  These kid packs can be used during normal outings, like at the park or on a picnic.  This way the items in their backpacks will be rotated / updated; snacks won’t go bad, water will be replaced and clothes will be weather appropriate.

And remember to put your pack back in the vehicle after getting goat chow.

The Daily Goat Grind

Since the ground was still pretty damp from the thunderstorm on Friday, the goat’s hooves were soft.  It’s a lot easier to trim hooves when they’ve been running around on soggy ground for a few days.  Got everybody taken care of but trimmed Stormy’s hooves a bit close and she was bleeding for a while.  Stuck her in the kid pen for a few hours so she wouldn’t be stepping in poopy mud until the bleeding stopped.  I’ve noticed that Stormy, Pan & Chop Suey’s hooves don’t grow nearly as fast as do the rest of the goats.  Not sure if it’s a Nigerian trait or if it’s because they have black hooves.

Stormy says "Hi!"

Also mucked out the area around the goat manger.  Again.  Seems like I did it a week ago.  The goats waste so much hay it’s driving me batty.  I swear that half of it gets trampled into the ground.  The buggers pick through it looking for god-knows-what, but they will chow down on the same stuff from the same bale if it’s stacked inside the feed storage section in goat barn (where they shouldn’t be in the first place).  This stuff isn’t all Bermuda so I suppose it’s my fault for getting just a mixed grass hay.  They only have four more square bales to go & then we’ll get a big round bale of Bermuda for them.  If they waste that stuff as much as the mixed grass I’m going to just flip out. 

Our goat manger.

The goats eat out of an old dog house that Paul recycled into our current manger.  It holds two fat flakes and I thought that the slats were close enough together to at least slow down the hay wasting, but the goats obviously didn’t hear me when I mentioned that feature.  I was at the Homesteading Today forum last night (http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/) & got some information on whole-bale-no-waste feeders from a few people (thanks MOgal!) and may try making one of them this winter. 

I mean Paul will be making one of them this winter.  He just doesn’t know it yet.

Unhappy Bread

Not sure if it was because the stove was too hot, or now that I think about it, it’s probably because I only let it rise once.  I suspect punching the bread down & letting it rise a second time would have eliminated the big air gap at the top.  Or not. 

Regardless, this is what we're eating with our pea soup for supper tonight.  The smell of ham & pea soup is wafting around the living room & it's driving me crazy.  Can't wait to eat!

Hmm, now that I really look at the soup, I can kind of understand why some people won't even try it.  Oh well, more for ME!

Second official day of the Pantry Challenge

I made several stuffed pork chops for our New Year’s Dinner so technically yesterday’s Pantry Challenge wasn’t very challenging as we had leftovers for lunch & dinner.  And as I warmed everything up on the wood stove, I suppose I’ll make this week the “Cook Everything on the Wood Stove” week.  It’s also going to be cold this week so the stove will be cranked anyhow.

Also going to try to make some bread in the wood stove.  I let the logs burn down to coals, shoved them over to the side & stuck an inverted bread pan on the non-coal side & put my bread in there.  Not sure how that’s going to work out…..I’ll let you know in a little bit.

Paul started some mung bean & alfalfa sprouts in jars so we’ll have some fresh greens in a few days.  The cupcake in the middle is one of a few we have left over from New Year’s Eve goodies.  I like this recipe because it only makes 10 cupcakes.  More than enough for just the three of us and some to freeze for a last minute dessert.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2/3 C. Flour                             1 ½ Tbsp. Butter, softened
1/8 tsp. Baking Soda               ¾ C. Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder              1 Egg
1/8 tsp. Salt                             ½ C. Milk
1/3 C. Cocoa                           ½ tsp. Vanilla

Cream butter & sugar, add egg, milk, vanilla & mix.  Sift dry ingredients together & then mix everything together.  Line muffin cups with paper liners & bake at 350 degrees for about 17 minutes. 

Buttercream Frosting: 1 stick softened butter, 1 3/4 C. powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp. milk, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 c. cocoa.

4 + 1 = HOW many ? ? ?

I had been worried that Cloud wouldn’t go into heat again this winter, but she did!   I had also been wondering if Pan were still up to it as I’ve read that even bucks have a season, although I find that hard to believe as he seems to want to breed anything that sits still long enough for him to mount it.

Luckily both parties were very interested.  Cloud even seemed a bit bummed when I put a lead back on Pan & took him out of the pen.  Now all four does have been bred. 

Pan, our Nigerian Dwarf buck (aka Mr. Stink-O)

So our 2011 kidding schedule now looks like this:

Nettie – March 13^th
Annette – April 4^th
Ishtar – May 2^nd
Cloud – May 30^th

Only problem is that I still have to get Cloud to warm up to me.  She & Stormy have been pretty skittish, although that’s no fault but my own as I haven’t been out with the goats as much as I should.  If I sit down & stay still for a while, Stormy will sit by me & eat treats out of my hand, but Cloud won’t even take a raisin from me.  Paul is just going to have to do some serious Daddy / Daughter time so I can get in some quality Carolyn / Goat time with Cloud.

I just looked up at the kidding schedule and did some quick math.  We now have six goats in the main pen and two in the back pen, although one is going in the freezer very, very soon.  So that’s seven goats.  Four of those goats are pregnant and will contribute at least four more goats.  And that’s assuming that everyone has only one kid.  So if my math is correct, by mid-Spring next year, there will be ELEVEN goats – more than likely more as Nettie & Ishtar have been kidding with twins.  What the heak am I going to do with a dozen goats? 

I sure hope Paul hasn’t done the math.