What I clean with

These are the items I use the most when cleaning. I am trying to get away from using paper towels but one step at a time. Baking soda is good for things that need some scour power and I use the vinegar solution for pretty much everything else.

First I soak lemon peels in vinegar for 2 weeks. I consider the lemon peels to cost nothing because I would buy lemons anyway and this is a good use for them and I dont have to waste them by just throwing them away.

After 2 weeks open the jar and if it smells like lemon instead of vinegar then you know that the cleaner is ready. Strain the liquid off of the lemons into another container.

Then pour into a spray bottle. I like to use a heavy duty one because the sides do not cave in. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant so I use this on many, many things. Recently I have started spraying my cutting boards when I use them and just sitting them on the table to dry overnight to disinfect them after use. I hope you enjoyed this post. Have a wonderful and blessed day! It is rainy today so I am finding things to do in the house. Tomorrow's post will be on my dandelion jelly. Looking forward to that one!

Miracle

This is Miracle! She/he is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, I breed them for meat and for eggs. Miracle hatched 4 days ago and the day she hatched I knew something was wrong. She was never able to get up. She just laid on her back in a distorted position all the time. Could not even stand up. I put her in the brooder box with the other 2 chicks that hatched ( I had a low hatch rate this time) but after 3 days she still wasnt getting up and I noticed the other 2 chicks were starting to peck at her. So, I put her in a small bowl in the brooder box so that the other chicks couldnt get to her and she could die in peace. She was not able to eat or drink so I didnt have much hope of her making it. When I went to bed last night she was still laying in the bowl and at times I thought she had passed on but when I would touch her she would yell. This morning when I woke up and went in to check on the babies imagine my surprise when Miracle was standing in the bowl yelling to be let out. She still has trouble walking but she is able to walk and when she does fall over she can work to get up now, so she is getting stonger. I have some food on the floor of the box for her so she can eat cause she has trouble reaching into the feeder but hopefully she gets stronger everyday and will grow to be a thriving hen or rooster.

Side note: I realized when rereading this post that I kept calling Miracle a she, I do not know if Miracle is a he or she yet.  I guess I am hoping for a hen.  :)

Rabbits

Awhile back I decided I wanted to raise rabbits for meat. We are trying to be as self sufficient as possible and one of the things I really want to do is raise all our own food. One of the easiest and most productive things to raise for meat is rabbits. I started out with 5 does and a buck and kept them all together all of the time and at first that worked out alright because the does were young and having small litters and alot of them lost their first litters but as they got older the does were having larger litters and they were surviving so about a month ago I took the buck out of the pen. I was getting overrun with baby rabbits! Even though we raise them for food I still make sure they have a great life, they get lots of petting and love. I forage the yard and the woods for greens for them to eat, they love dandelion greens! Along with the large 10'x10' pen that I keep them in I also have 3 smaller pens. One houses the buck when I have him seperated from the does and the other 2 house the babies once they are old enough to be away from their mothers. I am adding 2 extra pens soon because I think the smaller pens are getting to crowded. I hope to someday have another 10'x10' pen to put the young rabbits in but that will come in time.

                                              
                                                     Here are some pics of my rabbits.

Young doe I decided to keep

my new buck

                                                                                                                                                                              

2 does

peek a boo

the little ones like to hang out in the food bowl

3 cuties just hanging out



I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about me and getting to see some of my rabbits. Have a blessed and wonderful day!
I am so happy it is Friday!

~April

           

Vodka, vanilla, baking soda and oil

I want to start off by saying that I give credit to www.diynatural.com for the idea of the vanilla and www.imperfecthomemaking.com for the idea of the air freshener.

I will start off with the jar on the left, that is the vanilla. I started this one off by calling my sister and asking her "where the heck do I buy vodka?" and she asked "Why? What are you making?". At least I know I do not have a reputation of being a drunk, lol. I even ended up not being able to find the liquor store so my nice brother in law picked up a bottle for me and dropped it off when he picked up his daughter. I babysit her while they are at work. She is such a sweetie! Oops got off topic. After I aquired the vodka and the baby was safely with her dad on their way home I started making the vanilla. First I cut 4 vanilla beans lengthwise down the middle until there was about an inch left, I did not cut all the way because you want to leave the bottom of the bean intact. I put the beans in a pint sized mason jar and then filled it with vodka. After screwing the lid on tight and putting a piece of tape on the top with the date 2 months from now so I would know when it is ready I gave it a good shake. I now have it sitting on my counter because you need to shake it a couple times everyday for couple months so now everytime I walk past I pick it up and give it a good shake. I have never made this before so you will have to wait until June to see how it turned out.  :)

A couple days later I came acrossed the idea for the air freshener, it looked so easy and fun to make that I decided to try it that day. First thing I had to do was tell my husband I needed a large nail and that it would be returned to him. He proceeded to ask "Why? What are you making now?", I sure get the question alot.  ;-)   After I acquired the nail I then filled a small canning jar, I think it was a half pint, I usually just call this size a jelly jar, anyway I filled it about a quarter way full of baking soda and then added about 10 drops of essential oil (use whatever scent you want to smell) after adding the oils and screwing the lid on tight I gave it a good shake (sound familiar). This is where the nail comes in, I then took a large nail and hammer and made holes in the top of it to let the scent of the oil escape, I made mine in a heart pattern but you can put the holes however you like, all that is important is that there are holes in it. Whenever you want a stronger scent just give the jar a shake. :-)

Today I am hoping I can get the rabbit pen cleaned up so that I can take some pics of the rabbits and that will be tomorrows post. Have a blessed day!

~April