December’s Pinks

A very late-blooming pink Achillea next to my greenhouse proves that December’s garden grows.

The pale pink Snapdragons in a shady spot near the front porch have been blooming for months. They’ve been happily growing in that area for years and grow along with Columbines, Hostas, Heuchera, and early spring bulbs.

More Snapdragons grow in a back garden. They, too, are blooming.

Growing pink flowers in December is not easy in our area, but the occasional weather-fluke can produce a few pink blossoms. I couldn’t help but smile at the pink Petunia blooming the other day. Despite the ragged appearance of its petals, it is December. A Petunia with a bloom in December can look bedraggled.

With colder weather, some plants offer pink-tinged foliage. The Euonymus fortunei is a gorgeous winter plant in my front garden where it receives the perfect conditions to obtain those pink shades.

Euphorbia is at its finest when cold weather strikes those leaves.

Even Greek Oregano shows beautiful coloration!

Then it snowed….

And a new December Pink was found!

Making Crisp

One of my favorite desserts is a fruit crisp. With a few crocks full of remainder apples that are stored on the back porch, I thought this was a perfect morning to use some, making an apple crisp. As I grabbed a half-dozen apples, I noticed something has been nibbling, no, eating one of the apples!

I brought the apples into the kitchen and in no time, I was making a flavorful, crunchy crisp for dessert with our evening meal.

Here’s my own recipe using organic ingredients:

Apple Crisp
4-5 cups sliced and pared apples
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon dark molasses
1/3 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Lightly grease small baking dish (mine is about 10-inch oval, 1 1/2 quart size). Place apple slices in pan, evenly distributing them.

Mix all remaining dry ingredients thoroughly, then add softened butter and molasses. Stir, then cut into dry ingredients.  When well-blended, sprinkle crisp on top of apples in baking dish.

Bake in oven 30 minutes or until apples are tender and crisp topping is a golden brown.

Mmm….golden brown…finished! And now the house smells so good….

Under Hoops

In between the rains, we finally managed to get our fall greens under plastic covers and hoops to carry our gardening into Winter. We used 10-foot lengths of plastic piping for support because the hoop in the foreground protects a double double-row. Under those hoops we’re protecting a double-row of kale and a double-row of various leaf and salad greens.

A 30-foot double row of Kale and salad greens are more than enough for us. We have more kale than we can eat and freeze, so we’re keeping the kale fresh in the garden under hoops.

The 8-foot block of Chard is also under hoops. I cut Chard as needed.  Behind the Chard are a few remaining Pac Choi that haven’t yet been harvested.

Using plastic over hoops, the greenhouse-effect creates quite a bit of rapid heating under the hoops if the sun is out. Under plastic, the ends of each tunnel must be vented open for circulation during the day. Daytime rains or bright sun require that the sides to be opened, too.

We had a nighttime freeze a week ago and all vegetables under hoops were unscathed, of course. As we approach the Winter season, we will begin to see freezing and below-freezing temperatures. And snow. For now, though, we have experienced a very mild Autumn with above-average rainfall.  Garlics are up several inches and I keep adding more and more grass clippings and chopped leaves to protect them during Winter.

Yes, grass clippings…. fresh, green grass clippings! Our Autumn has been so mild that we mowed grass a week ago. In between rains.

Come rain or shine, I pick some fresh greens every day. Even the girls get a fresh treat. Oh, do they enjoy their daily salad!

Kitchen Clothworks: Pot Holders & Hot Pads

In my kitchen, one-of-a-kind patchwork pot holders and hot pads are put into service. I make all of my pot holders and hot pads from leftover fabrics or recycled cottons.  As a quilter, you aren’t surprising that a few pieces of patchwork would find a spot in my kitchen, are you?

To make an insulated, padded pot holder or hot mat, a thick cotton padding is necessary. Mine are made by layering cotton batting or using a remnant of an old, thick terrycloth towel. Sometimes the inner padding is made up of small squares of cotton batting (zigzag stitches holding pieces of batting butted up together). Waste not, want not. Remember: the inner portion of these kitchen pads need to be thick enough to absorb the heat from a hot pan, pot, or baking dish. At least 2 layers of cotton batting are necessary.

Each pot holder or hot pad is machine-quilted. The quilting stitches the fabric backing, front, and the inner padded portion together, keeping all layers in place. The quilting compresses the layers and makes the hot pad an effective heat absorber.

The outer, decorative side of these hot pads are either made from leftover pieces of cotton fabrics or patchwork made from bits of fabric scraps. My favorites are those that use the most fabrics. Figures, doesn’t it?

Hot pads that are well insulated can take the place of a ceramic tile or iron trivet on a counter top. The average size of a pot holder is 9-inches square, so I have also made some that are oversized for casserole dishes or roasting pans.

During the vintage era, decorative pot holders were the rage. Many vintage-era crocheted pot holders can be found in flea markets and specialty shops. The designs range from fruits to animals to circular motifs. Probably more for decoration than utility, they are collectible kitchen items by some.

Pot holders that merely served as an insulated sleeve for a handle-cover were also made then. An old Laura Wheeler pot holder pattern was printed up for my quilting blog and if you are interested in the vintage era, be sure to check the easy instructions.

If you’d like to try making some easy pot holders, refer to the tutorial I put together: making quilted pot holders. Those crazy cat pot holders were some that I made as small gifts, using themed fabric. Whether they are made with patchwork or one piece of fabric, they are easy and fun to make. If you can sew basic stitches on your sewing machine, why not try a few yourself?

Kitchen Clothworks: Cloth Bags

Are you trying to move away from plastics in your kitchen? Do you hate buying those plastic food storage bags, knowing you’ll only have one or two uses out of that bag before it is tossed in the garbage?

Prior to the mid 1950s when waxed paper and plastics were first manufactured, foods were stored with cloth coverings, cloth bags, or covered dishes. Back then, there were no such things as plastic baggies, plastic containers,  or plastic covered foods.

Cloth bags are not new in the kitchen.  In fact, the kitchen and tavern pantries and tables from the Colonial days used basic cloth bags, napkins, and folded-over fabric during food preparation and meals. Many cooked foods, baked goods, and harvested garden produce were stored in cloth bags or tucked into folded-up fabric. Some foods were gently covered with a woven cloth like a napkin or light-weight linen.

Covering cloth and cloth bags also found their way into picnic baskets and lunch boxes. During the late 1800s, metal buckets and food tins began serving as lunch boxes and these items often contained a food cloth, too. Since these tins contained a person’s lunch, the meal was often wrapped to keep it fresh, clean, and a bit less prone to roll around inside the metal lunch buckets.  A cloth might wrap a slice of cheese or some nuts, perhaps a biscuit, as well.

During that era, feed sacks were also coming into production. Initially, feed sacks were first put to use in the early 1800s and they were made with inexpensive linen. Once the sewing machine was invented and machinery could produce double-lock stitched seams, the cotton feed sacks began replacing the linen sacks which were prone to seam-splits. Cotton feed sacks were definitely more durable and their popularity increased with use and time. These feed sacks were made to store and ship grains, flour, salt, sugar, and feeds. Once the cotton feed sacks were emptied of the sack’s contents, those cloth sacks were recycled and made into something else of use, sometimes cloth bags for kitchen storage.

As with many other tried-and-true elements of a simpler lifestyle, basic food cloth bags are making a comeback as more and more people realize how expensive and potentially hazardous plastics really are. Cloth bags can be used over and over and over again. And washed cotton or linen bags do not contain harmful chemicals.

Do you use cloth bags to store foods? If you bake your own bread and yeast rolls, you might consider making a bread bag.

Do you grow your own salad greens and keep some of them rinsed ready for use in a sandwich or a quick salad?

Are you storing some of your store-bought or home-grown produce in the crisper sections of your refrigerator and they wilt before using?

Try making a few cloth bags for your foods and switch out the expensive and not-so-safe plastic bags. The bags are simple to construct, using an open-end drawstring closure.

Bread Bags. I have made several drawstring bread bags from linen embroidered tea towels, using new linen as the backing. The embroidered linen towels were from the vintage-era and were damaged, so I put them to use with a redesign. The drawstrings are made from leftover bias seam tape or cotton fabric that has been folded over and stitched. Simple!

Produce Bags. Cloth bags for salad greens, herbs, and sprouts are so easy to stitch up, too. Use cotton fabric to make your produce bag — the cotton fabric will serve as a wick for any excess moisture. Make a variety of sizes so that you will have them available for temporary refrigeration before using in a meal. I have large bags to hold freshly-picked kale or chard, tall bags for stalk veggies, and small bags for just-clipped clives or sprigs of herbs.

After you have rinsed your fresh-picked greens, wet the produce bag and squeeze out the excess water before placing your rinsed greens inside the bag. Then close the bag with the drawstring and place in the refrigerator to store until ready to use.

This bag is small, a perfect size for sprouts!

When I open my refrigerator, it is much more appealing to see colorful fabric, not Saran Wrap and Ziplock Baggies.

Kitchen Clothworks: Vintage Linen Toweling

Having an appreciation for old fabrics and loving to sew, I have made some  of my own dish towels out of vintage-era linen. Vintage linen toweling fabric measures between 15″-17″ across, as does most of the currently available toweling fabric.

To shop for vintage linen toweling, be careful — little has changed with the weave or designs and new linen might be erroneously labeled as old fabric when it is not.

The retro-look has come back into fashion and many vintage linens command high prices. Many linen fabrics from the 1930s-1950s have woven stripes along the sides. Plaids were also popular in the vintage era, as were novelty prints and characters. A number of reproduction fabrics are now available, leading some to believe the linens are vintage when they are merely copies of old linen designs. When in doubt, many stripes and prints can be matched to the manufacturer with some research, giving a bit of history to the linen toweling.

Although linen toweling  from the vintage era can still be purchased through retail stores, the best finds are through auctions. About 10 years ago, I went to a local auction and I bought 6 yards of unused towel linen for $1.00!

Vintage linen made for dish towels was woven as a narrow cloth and measures between 15″ to 17″ across, selvage to selvage. Dish towel linen was woven with one purpose — to use for toweling.

During the middle of the 20th century, dish towel linen included more elaborate design work, and often the linen fabric was painted or stamped with scenic or cooking images, or other design motifs. Many linen towels sported recipes, calendars, even maps and quite a few have survived years of use and storage. I think they’re tacky, but to many, they’re very collectible and these towels are not uncommon in vintage shops.

I used the linen I purchased, and I made a set of dish towels. The fabric was 17″ across. With 6 yards of this striped linen, my dish towels were cut into 28″ pieces leaving me with enough linen to make several smaller ones for polishing glassware. Seven linen dish towels were made with a simple straight stitch along the raw edges of each cut towel (the raw edges were folded over twice).

These plain linen dish towels have been put to use in my kitchen. With normal laundering and use, these dish towels will become wonderfully soft and functional for many years. Typically, linen dish towels last for 20 years or more.

Kitchen Clothworks: Dish Towels

Kitchen dish towels are a must-have item and no wonder: dish towels can be put to use in a variety of ways. Kitchen dish towels are used to dry dishes and glasses. Kitchen dish towels are also used to dry and somewhat polish silver eating utensils, pots, and pans. And kitchen dish towels also serve as hand towels to dry-off washed, wet hands.

The most important feature of a kitchen dish towel is its ability to absorb moisture. Kitchen dish towels are made from cotton or linen. Hemp cloth is now coming into production and time will tell if hemp towels perform well.

There are several different types of cottons used to make dish towels, as well as a number of weaves. Most people use manufactured cotton dish towels or terrycloth cotton dish towels, but in our household we prefer linen dish towels.

Linen dish towels are far superior to cotton dish towels, providing good absorption without any lint on dishes, glassware, or eating utensils. And linen dish towels generally last 20 years or more, with average use.

Many of our dish towels are vintage linen towels that came to me from my grandmother. They served her kitchen for years, then came into service into my own kitchen. These dish towels have had decades of use and are still working well!

Linen is an organic fabric that is woven from flax, a fiber extracted from the plant Linum usitatisimum. Linen is a very strong fabric, stronger than cotton fabric, and the superior qualities of linen have withstood the tests of time. While new linen feels somewhat ‘crisp’ and wrinkles easily, linen is lustrous and lint-free, and linen becomes softer and more supple with wear and washings. Once the linen has been laundered several times, it becomes the best kitchen cloth available.

Linen towels are often decorated with embroidered stitches. I have always reserved my vintage-era linen embroidered towels for special moments such as an afternoon break with a cup of tea.

Since we don’t use paper towels in our kitchen, we keep a linen dish towel next to our sink. Each morning, a new linen dish towel is brought out from a drawer for the day’s use. This way we are able to dry our hands with a fresh linen towel daily and our need for paper towels is non-existent.

Cotton dish towels are also popular and during the vintage era, many cotton dish towels were made from flour and feed sacks. When the dry goods were sold in bulk, the cotton sacks were saved.  Thrifty housewives would recycle the cotton fabric into a variety of household uses, among them quilts and cotton dish towels.

Cotton feed and flour sack fabric is a rough, somewhat loose weave, but the cloth is very durable and has held up over the years.

During the vintage-era, other cotton dish towels were decorated with embroidery or cross-stitched designs. These cotton towels were made of a finer weave and higher quality of cotton.

Huck toweling, made from woven cotton, is a type of kitchen dish towel that was very popular beginning in the 19th century. The popularity of huck towels carried through to the 1950s.  The honeycomb weave that makes this type of toweling absorbent has been a foundation cloth for women to decorate. Swedish embroiderers may have been the first to weave cotton threads in and out of the huck toweling. The weaving process is performed by counting threads and the entire design technique is very easy. I learned to decorate kitchen dish towels from huck cloth when I was a pre-teen. This began my interest in kitchen clothworks. For more information and how-to basics on huck towels, refer to Huck Weaving, an excellent article with many illustrations and designs.

We use our kitchen dish towels all of the time. Another place that we use them is under our dish drying rack to absorb dripping water. Rather than using an unsightly plastic drain board that gets dirty and stained, a kitchen dish towel is used. As a drip-cloth, a kitchen dish towel can be used several times and is easily laundered. Replacing a used kitchen dish towel with a fresh one always keeps the dish washing/drying area clean.

Besides, who doesn’t love the excuse to bring bright and festive colors into a kitchen?

Kitchen Clothworks

What is a kitchen without some functional pieces of cloth? Whether the cloth has been worked into dish towels, pot holders, hot mats, scrubbers, napkins, rags, or bread bags, every working kitchen has some clothworks in service or folded in a drawer waiting to be used.

During the next week, this blog will be focusing on a variety of kitchen clothworks. I hope you will enjoy the short series I will be sharing!

Stocking Up With Food

Producing home-grown food is becoming increasingly popular. During the past couple of years, homegrown food is one way that a family can stretch the food budget and also eat well.

Gardeners know the excess that a bountiful garden brings to the kitchen, and many gardeners turn to canning as a thrifty way to preserve some of their harvest. Whether we eat our homegrown preserved foods for healthy reasons, economic reasons, or both, preserved foods are a benefit during this Recession.

During these economically critical times, many people are budgeting and cutting back on purchases, making do, and learning to live with less.  Some people are gaining a better perspective on a quality lifestyle and are returning, or re-returning, to the land — to a homesteading, self-sufficient way of life. Ironically, this Recession is forcing us to re-examine ourselves and our values, and there are life lessons being learned as we practice thrift and frugality.

In some regions, stores are closing or changing how they do business. In some grocery stores, the inventory is being reduced or changed out. There are varieties of produce that are no longer carried in grocery stores, and some produce for sale is of lesser quality. Some  foods are all but disappearing from the grocery stores because the inventory costs are not worth carrying the product. Straight off the shelves, some national brands are reducing portions and box sizes as a way to increase their profit, thinking the consumers won’t notice the reduced food product.

Labor and energy costs continue to rise, and because of this, food prices are rapidly increasing. With the impending threat of hyper-inflation looming in the near future, buying additional foods to store is a good hedge against the rising food costs. So we are doing just that.

A recent article entitled “USDA’S 2009 Food Price Increase Forecast at 4-5 Percent” provides the following price increases:

• Eggs +14%
• Cereals and Bakery +9.5%
• Fats & Oils +12%

These are percentage increases for this year alone! Wow.

The Food Consumer Price Index for 2009 has been projected at an increase of 2-3% for the year. With the weaker national and world economies, inflation dropped slightly which affected this CPI slightly.  But enough of the boring economics — we can see for ourselves just how expensive food is when we shop for groceries. How will we feed ourselves and our families with these increases? What can we do to ensure that we will have enough money for the quality foods we want for our families?

Here is our own plan:

First, we will continue to grow our own vegetables! And we are increasing the size of our garden for the coming years. An increased garden means more vegetables– even more variety! This is one of the best future plans for our family.

Second, we can preserve more foods to carry us through the entire year, upping our self-sufficiency from about 70% to 80% or better.

Third, for the foods we purchase, we can watch for and shop sales, using the flyers that we receive in the mail. We can look for and use a few more coupons if they defray some of the retail cost.

Fourth, we can buy food in bulk, stocking up with food that might carry us through for a longer interval.

Buying food in bulk purchases is an excellent way to save money if you store the food correctly. Bulk purchasing eliminates unnecessary wrappings, reduces handling, and saves food companies in manufacturing costs so some of those savings are passed to the consumer.

Buying food in bulk purchases when there is evidence that we are facing inflation in the near future will provide future savings by buying those foods now. Buying food we will need in the future using today’s money is actually a type of an investment strategy. When we realize that tomorrow’s foods will undoubtedly be more expensive, we can buy and invest now, stock up on products that store well, and use those products in the future. Clearly, this is a bet to win on.

Bulk storage and bulk food purchasing is not uncommon with homesteaders or those who keep a large, well-functioning pantry. Intentionally buying bulk foods now to save money tomorrow is another way to practice thrift while ensuring the family will be well fed in the future when food becomes prohibitively expensive. Buy now, eat later.

In our bulk food purchases, we acquired the basic foods we use and do not grow: 50 pounds of white rice, wheat flour, and wheat berries, and 25 pound bags of several different dried beans.  We pre-ordered these foods through our organic health food store and they were more than happy to fill the order. Since these items are on a delivery basis, we paid no postage and we received bulk purchase prices on all of these organically grown foods. Now that we have established this system, we will continue to buy bulk.

I believe that a large food supply is important for families who are financially struggling, as well as for families who practice frugality. A long-term food storage system is also a practice that many survivalists believe in, as well as many homesteaders who simply don’t run into town on a regular basis.

Stored foods are a means to ensure the family’s well-being, and should the family ever face an emergency or difficult time, the stored foods would be available.

People who tend to keep extra food available, or people who are prepared with a large storehouse of foods certainly understand how important the well-stocked pantry, root cellar, and storehouse is.  Foods bought on sale or foods that are homegrown are stored and/or preserved, maybe even placed in the home freezer. All of these efforts contribute to the family food supply. If you ask me, it’s better than money in the bank.

Against The Odds

America is in serious trouble….more serious than I ever imagined. The intentional efforts to bring our Nation down to ruin continues at a rapid pace. The mounting evidence is clear: the politics behind this is purposeful and divisive.

Many people see these orchestrated events as part of the plan that will seriously impact each and every American. We The People need to face the enormity of facts and prepare better-than-ever-before because our Nation, our U.S. Constitution, and our free market system are under assault.

My husband and I have spent time discussing the continuing downward spiral of America’s industries and the increasing power behind big-government. We try to strategize and plan accordingly. But we are just 2 people and, statistically, we are going against the odds.

We have been seriously examining our principles, our value system, and our convictions. Despite the difficulties and against the odds, we will not go down gently. In fact, we will burn a bright fire and continue to object to the calculated demise of America as long as we are able.

If we were not better prepared for the possible economic collapse of our Nation, we would be very scared. Living debt-free with some savings accrued gives us some protection from personal economic ruin. Until the hyper-inflation strikes. Or until the USDollar is converted to a different currency.

How long could we last if the one-income is lost, the tax burden increases, energy costs increase, and we are mandated to buy some form of National health insurance? And if the one-income is not lost, how will we “save” for our retirement when my husband has already been notified that the probability of retirement contributions will end in FY2010? Of course, that’s IF he still has a job.

Do we honestly believe that Social Security will help us by giving back those manditory contributions, with interest and investment gains, when we are of age to get back what was taken from us?

Are we willing to place our trust in the Federal Government when it comes to healthcare? Do we really believe a national ‘public option’ will not negatively impact privately-held medical insurance? Do we believe it is Constitutional for the Federal government to mandate purchased health insurance?

Never before have I thought that my personal liberties would be challenged on such a level as they are now. Never before would I have believed that much of our press would be controlled by the Executive Branch of our government. And as strong as our Nation has been, I never, ever believed that our U.S. Constitution might be challenged by some type of global enterprise and Marxist think-tank.

Is it the Scots-Irish and German blood that has made me such a fighter against the odds? Or could it be that my ancestors were American Patriots and fought in the American Revolution? Or could this outrage be in direct conflict with those common sense values that made me who-I-am?

Simply put, I am not unlike many other Americans. I have basic conservative values that have helped to guide me along my path in life. And now those values are being challenged and a big-government is involved in a gigantic power-grab.

I see that our Nation is in critical trouble and I cannot ignore the reality. Against the odds, I will not give up or give in. I will not surrender my rights, my freedom, and my liberty. And I surely will not accept some radical ideology that does not align with the U.S. Constitution.

The Preamble to the United States Constitution

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Sometimes it is important to review The U.S. Constitution. Especially when even The Preamble is now challenged.