Busy Day Today at the Homestead

Well, I didn't get to check the water tank for leaks (at least not yet). And I didn't get to find solar noon. My daughter had to be at work about the time I would have had to be home to check on solar noon and shadows. So much for that. Guess I'll have to try again tomorrow.

Instead, I pulled my sheets off the bed. I don't know how it happened, but when I went to bed at 3am, I put my hand on the bed to crawl in and there was grit all over my side of the bed. More than there has ever been. We have four dogs, and two of them like to crawl up on the bed with me in the mornings after my husband leaves for work. One of them sometimes crawls under the comforter, (but not under the top sheet, I won't let her, that minimizes any dirt getting between the sheets).

Anyway, sometimes they also play on the bed after they've been outside and track all kinds of dirt all over it. I usually either brush the bed off, vaccuum it off, or wash the sheets if its really bad. This time it was REALLY REALLY ba. It felt like someone dumped a whole cup full of sand on my side of the bed. But it was 3am and hubby was already in bed asleep, so I couldn't really do anything about it.

I decided to just slip the bottom sheet off of the corners on my side and roll it up towards the center of the bed. Then I grabbed a clean top sheet and laid it on my sid so I'd have something to lay on. I must say, I slept quite comfortably. And first thing, I took the sheets off the bed to wash them.

Well, I decided to use the wonderclean washer I have. I haven't washed sheets in it yet and wanted to see if it was an improvement over the bucket method. My conclusion is that its not a whole lot better.

The problem with the Wonder clean is that it does not have a drain on the bottom of the barrel. Thus, you have to turn the barrel upside down and drain the water out that way, into a bucket. And half the water misses the bucket, making a complete mess. Then you have to pull the sheets out of the barrel, and when you are doing king size sheets, thats all but impossible without slopping more water all over the place. UGH.

So, I've come to yet another conclusion. Either I need to exchange the Wonder Clean for the Wonder Washer (which *does* have a drain on the bottom), or I need to invest in a front loading washing machine.....or both. And honestly? With as much water as was slopped everywhere, there is no way I can use it in the kitchen in the winter, at least not for sheets, plus, in order to wash the next load, I had to use MORE water due to the amount that missed the bucket. The front loading machines probably use less water washing a full load than I did today washing a whole TWO sheets.

For now, I'm planning on returning the Wonder Clean and getting the Wonder Washer. I'd like to have one of them anyway, in case the washer breaks down or the power goes out, etc or even just for camping. Except for sheets its really easy to use so maybe I'll keep using it, but just for clothing. And in the summer I use rainwater because all I have to do is carry a bucket of rainwater over the picnic table where I do my laudnry.

My husband has no interest in using the Wonder Washer though, so we'll probably need a front loading machine anyway. We won't be investing in that until the top loader quits though. And given that the top loader a Kenmore and its 20 years old, there's no telling how long it will be till it finally kicks the bucket.

Moving on.....

I have a ton of cucumbers. I made the mistake of buying about 5 big ones for bread and butter pickles. I also bought the little pickling kind. And then we discovered we had cucumbers in the garden too. Since I had to work this past weekend, I didn't have time to get to them right away, so I hope we haven't lost too much quality for canning. This is the first time I've ever canned pickles.

I had trouble figuring out what to do by reading the Blue Book, so posted at homestead.org for some advice. I have my first batch of bread and butter pickles sitting with salt and ice on the counter. When thats done, then I have to make the canning solution and then I'll get those canned tonight outside on the outdoor gas burner we have. Its water bath canning, so it won't matter that its outside, unlike pressure canning where the PSI might be altered in the canner depending on outdoor conditions (it might not heat evenly, or so they tell me at the canner manufacturer).

I checked the garden. We have about 5 almost ripe tomatoes, a handful of small peppers, and two handfuls of green beans. I was really hoping for more green beans. Looks like I'll have to buy some after all. And if the tomatoes get ripe in too staggered a time frame, its going to be hard to can those. If I wait for some to ripen up, the others might rot. (sigh)

This is an interesting learning experience!

Now to get the sheets off the line and get them back on the bed. Goodness, I was so sleepy at about 4pm that I almost fell asleep right here at the computer. I guess I'll just work on as many pickles tonight as I can, and then worry about the hot water tank tomorrow. I've got all week, but I'm feeling overwhelmed knowing that in the next couple of weeks I've got to can green beans, tomatoes, peaches, possibly nectarines, and pears. And then in the fall I've got to get busy on more pears, and a ton of apple products.

I also want to plant a winter garden, albeit just a small one. Lettuce, squash, pumpkin, spinach (just a small amount), and I forget what else. There's so much stuff I could make and can but so little time!!!

And there is no more freezer space, so if I want to preserve anything, it has to be canned or dried. Which reminds me, I've got to get some panty hose so I can put the onions in them, tying a knot above each one. This is supposed to dry them but prevent any rot from getting to any of the other onions. We shall see. Most of my onions are small. But thats ok. We don't need big ones. I don't use a whole lot.

And last but not least, I made stuffed peppers for dinner. We had sausage earlier in the week, so I used that to flavor the spaghetti sauce and rice mixture. It smells YUMMY!! in the crockpot. And before the eggplant goes bad, I sliced that up to fry tonight. I put it in a vac sealed bag to keep the air from turning it all brown before I could finally cook it. So its stuffed peppers and eggplant sandwhiches for dinner tonight!! Then finish canning pickles.

I didn't even get to half of the phone calls I needed to make today so maybe I'll have to do that tomorrow. At least my son's "selective service" form got mailed today. He got a letter saying that he hadn't registered, so he finally registered, not that he wanted to, and I don't blame him. I think our govenrment has gotten completely out of control invading our lives in every way possible. I really don't think this is the government that the Founding Fathers envisioned. But perhaps it was inevitable.