Monday Message

"Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

I wish things would improve but I am afraid we are in it for a while.

Keep working on your storage as you can.

I picked the second picking of rhubarb today while it was sprinkling. Finally we have rain.

I planted the suckers from tomatoes and picked more suckers. These are bigger and now they are in water. About the time you read this, in two weeks from now, they will be planted too.

Long ago, I called our homemaking hotline to ask for a recipe for strawberry rhubarb jam and they gave me this one from general foods and we have used it ever since.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

1 lb. Rhubarb slices (thin) to make two cups

4 c. Crushed strawberries, crush them one layer at a time

5 1/2c. Sugar

1 box Sure-Jell

6-8 quart pan 

Measure sugar and set aside.

Mix Sure-Jell and fruit in pan over medium-high heat, stir till a full boil. Then add the sugar all at once, stir, bring to a full rolling boil then boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off the foam, saving it to have on toast - yum! Then ladle into jars, fill to 1/4 inch from the top then wipe the rim of the jar and add lids (I still like to bring water to a boil and turn off and put the lids in till you are ready) put on rings and water bath or steamer can for ten minutes, then I set on a towel and leave for 24 hours before I move the jars. I do that with anything I can.

So today is jam making day here...

I had enough rhubarb left over to make rhubarb cake yum!

Trying to stretch everything I tell ya.

https://www.almanac.com/how-make-jam-refrigerator-jam-or-water-bath-canning

https://thedomesticwildflower.com/easy-jam-recipes/

Making jam is very easy and is a good way to start your canning journey.

This week I have been studying up on the Toyota knitting machine - some reviewing and some learning. Tippy is showing her way on how one should study.

This time I picked something I want to make then I reviewed my notes I took on this and read through the pattern. Next I tackle ONLY one thing at a time, do that, and move to the next. I feel I am making better headway rather than learning everything at once. I am wanting to make dishcloths again only this time with a better understanding.

The Toyota knitting machine is the toughest skill for me yet to tackle.

I took a few classes but I was just starting with fibro. It was hard to understand the teacher plus she was having stuff going on with her husband that they would shout bad at each other and I was having a very hard time concentrating. Plus, picture the mean piano teacher that hit kids with a ruler. She never hit me but boy was I afraid of her and the more stress she caused me, the more I would freeze. If she had been nice and sat with me doing it alongside, I would have learned better.  

I took notes - very detailed notes with pictures. She would scream at me that I didn't need to take notes on everything (yes, I did). With the classes I was given a kind of booklet of machine knitting basics. Inside it said take as many notes as you like...wow. But I can tell my past self thank you for the notes and pictures as they are helping me now. And with no one stressing me, I can go at my own pace. I can think more clearly and retain and understand when not under stress like I was.

So this is the skill I am trying to learn without a teacher. If you have a skill you are trying to learn, take it in bite sizes. Start with something small, learn it and move on.

That is my advice.

Missy says just pick a skill you want to do and take it at your own rate - she knows you can do it!

Tippy Longstockings says times are hard and we have to work harder, so take time for yourself and be kind to others.

Monday Message

"Start now to create a plan if you don’t already have one, or update your present plan. Watch for best buys that will fit into your year’s supply. We are not in a situation that requires panic buying, but we do need to be careful in purchasing and rotating the storage that we’re putting away. The instability in the world today makes it imperative that we take heed of the counsel and prepare for the future." (L. Tom Perry)

We finally got a little rain here so I have been enjoying NOT watering the garden.

Asparagus is slowing down and the rhubarb is growing its second harvest. My plan is to make strawberry rhubarb jam - yum! Raspberries are growing and tiny baby peaches are growing on the patch tree.

The young apple and plum trees are doing well and even younger apple trees that I started last year from seed, are putting in lots of growth and are already over a foot tall.

My watermelon seeds grew well, same with muskmelons, and even some honey dew. All were seed that was saved from last year. I had to thin the watermelon and muskmelon plants but I hate tossing out plants, so I have planted them all around the yard and all are doing well.

I found a rabbit eyeing my garden so it was time to put out my hair. I save the hair when I clean out my hairbrush from spring to spring. I start saving for next year's garden now. I put it all around the fencing. It looks like an old lady fell in my garden and got her hair caught in the fencing as she rolled about. But it does the trick.

I picked off the suckers on the tomato plants and I filled a jelly jar with water, covered it with plastic wrap, poked holes in and set the suckers so the stems are in the water. When they root in the ground they go for even more tomatoes - I saw this on a video.

So a fair amount of gardening is happening at my house. How are you coming on building some skills??

https://www.creeksidesimplicity.com/25-homemaking-skills-you-should-know/

https://www.littlehouseliving.com/153-grocery-staples-that-you-can-make-at-home.html - I love this gal.

This week I have been building a skill. I wanted to do this pattern for a year. I researched without much luck but for the last three days - grueling days I might add - after a year and three days, I realized my goal finally....

This is an inkle loom, while I could do weaving just fine on it... this is krokbragd is done on the inkle loom.

Warping this took longer than it does for me to warp the floor loom - it was tough.

Then I had to make extra heddles, those are the cluster of pink string.

Try, fail... try, fail... I did start a lot, did different versions for the heddles, but finally got them made.

Then it was try and fail quite a bit more. With every fail came the search for why. Most was a twisted thread and tracking those down are a nightmare.

But in the end I finally got my little sheep.

A while ago I was trying to warp up to do what you see here...

But before I got this warped, I had tried another fiber, but my sister thought it wouldn't work so I had to cut it off - but you know me, I needed to save it.

This picture gives you a size comparison of the floor loom and the smaller table top loom.

It was much more work than it should have been. I warped up the table top loom we call baby Bertha.

I am making a scarf of practice stitches. So I saved the fiber to reuse it here.  

All week has been rough, but wow did I learn a lot!

Using what we have and not wasting is kind of the theme this week - from saving the thinnings and replanting, to saving the tomato suckers to make more tomatoes, to learning a new skill and I used what I had on hand also, saving the warp and reusing it.

All while learning lots!

What have you been learning? Write in the comments, I love to hear it!

Missy says remember to care for others and to be kind. The world really needs us to be kind to others.

Tippy Longstockings says keep learning new skills or adding to ones you have. She says she is developing her skill of being oh so cute!

Monday Message

"Today, I emphasize a most basic principle: home production and storage. Have you ever paused to realize what would happen to your community or nation if transportation were paralyzed or if we had a war or depression? How would you and your neighbors obtain food? How long would the corner grocery store—or supermarket—sustain the needs of the community?" (President Ezra Taft Benson)

I think we really don't have to think too hard to see we have problems heading our way.

Food prices haven't come down. Gas prices haven't gone down. Meds have gone up.

People all around the world are having issues because it is like dropping a pebble in a pond, you get ripple effect and so it is with the world economy.

As things worsen, and they will, we need to be prepared so we can take care of ourselves and our loved ones and others who will need help.

It is wearing on all of us. Have you noticed more anger, less smiling, more rudeness? People are stressing.

This isn't just a United States problem, everyone is effected or will be.

We need to step up our efforts to be more frugal. Already they are saying more people are going to thrift stores and buying used. They are not doing that because things are going well.

We had a ham and from the leftovers I diced some for omelets, sliced some to have with pancakes, left a solid piece for another meal, made ham salad for sandwiches, and that left the bit around the bone which I then made into bean soup, which is cooling now. When cool, I will bag for the freezer for other meals in the future. This is the kind of thinking we must be doing. We need to be looking for ways to stretch our meals and stretch our budget. Also, at the same time, we need to put in some storage.

Research recipes that are most frugal but still taste great. Find ways to save... 

https://www.littlehouseliving.com/50-simple-ways-to-save-money.html

We have to work hard because we are trying to save while at the same time everything around us is going up.

I was next to the Salvation Army store this week and thought I would pop in. I did not get anything but wanted to price some things. One was the price of patterns for making clothing which now are $1.99 a pattern. I am thankful that I hung onto all of mine. Also, I always like to price canning jars - one quart canning jar was five dollars. I would never purchase them this way. I try to get them free by putting a sign at the post office or by asking on freecycle, you can also ask relatives who are done canning or downsizing. I always like to check the pulse of things in thrift shops.

I have checked Walmart so I could put a price on a dozen canning jars $15 - $17. So even if you bought them new, it would be cheaper than how much I saw them that day at Salvation Army by a huge amount. Now some of that may be because they don't know how much they are.

Also, be looking for a pressure canner, a dehydrator, and a vacuum sealer.

https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2019/10/monday-message.html - in here you can see just how these items can help your family. When I can tomatoes, I save the skins to dehydrate, then turn them into powder - no waste there for sure.

Over a lot of years I have gotten jars at yard sales as well.

Since they can be used over and over it is very wise to have. I purchased lids for the jars to be ready for canning season. I personally can all year round but everyone flocks to the store at harvest time and prices are higher and they are hard to find then - something you might think about.

https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2023/08/monday-message.html

Look at being frugal from all over, not just in one area. The prices rising is just not in one area, it is all over.

https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2016/12/monday-message_26.html

If you don't already have a sewing machine, try to find a good working used one. If you do not know how to know if the sewing machine is a good one, ask a friend who sews to go with you and have her bring thread, a bobbin, scissors, and scrap of fabric with so she can test it for you.

The machines pictured here were both used when I got them and the Kenmore was gotten forty years ago used and she is my workhorse still today. The serger I got at a yard sale for ten dollars and it too is a workhorse.

So do not shy away from used.

Build those skills. I needed a thank you gift this week and made this scrubby...

I try to keep a few things on hand to be able to make gifts. It does take time but saves on spending money on a tight budget.

Ideally I would have things ahead made but being sick with Covid for so long, I have used all I had made and have been having to play catch up but it is on my to do list to get some gifts made ahead.

So learn to crochet, learn to knit and sew and make bread and can food build those skills.

In a couple weeks, I will be making jam - so easy to do and yet how wonderful on homemade bread toasted!

Missy says to get ready for harder times ahead.

Tippy Longstockings says she knows things are hard so she is offering you a hug and says we can do it!