The Mobile Home Woman | Our journey from urban homesteading to rural homesteading at Windhaven farm…

New plan for 2014

Posted on December 13, 2013 by MobymomDecember 13, 2013

Trying an experiment this year… coming up year.. 2014. We’re going to try and limit our errand running and near daily buying of this and that here at the homestead. The goal is to save gas (HUGE when you are rural) and save time… (important when you work at home… need to stay focused and on task to make the magic happen) and buy in bulk to save money! (Everyone likes that, right?)

Well, to do this, part of our game plan is the lovely gift from the girl’s grandparents of an Amazon Prime membership! Now, the free movies and TV shows for a year is just about the best deal around… ($6.58 a month, which is a savings over all the others… Netflix, etc) But, you also get free shipping on any size order. (And some special deals and such like free Kindle book rentals and downloads!) But it’s the free shipping thing that is really cool as well.

No longer do you have to put together a $35 order to get the free shipping. If we need just one thing, and it’s $6, we just order it and its $6. We are not in the car, driving to the store, wasting the time, buying other stuff on impulse and probably getting a cheaper, imported good that we have no clue about and have very limited selection. That is huge!

For example, we needed to get the color ink cartridges for our printer. Office Max has them for $29. And we have to drive there, 60 mile round trip. (At least $7 in gas) (Blue gets 25 miles to the gallon and around here our gas is about $3.50 a gallon…) And it will take us at least an hour and knowing us, we’ll be inclined to stop for lunch or other things! So those cartridges are a bit pricey!

But on Amazon… we had the luxury of looking through several vendors offering the same cartridges for way less! We ended up buying the set for only $9, free shipping. Took about 15 minutes to find and select the set for us. We saved the seller so if we like the product we can order again easily. Our UPS man drives by twice a day, so he’s not being overly burdened or wasting gas and resources to come to us. (In fact, it helps to make his run out here more efficient for everyone… I hear the “Wells Fargo Wagon is a-coming down the track….” in my head when I think about it.) And it only took two days. Fantastic.

But one of the best things is that we were able to read the reviews on the products and the companies fulfilling the order (if it was not Amazon) ((Amazon has many many third party companies that supply products so it really is amazing all they have to offer!)) We were able to read about the product, and select one that had excellent reviews and good customer service. Wow, that’s awesome. And we can try and select products that are American made and even close to our home to limit the amount of transportation required to get it to us. I think that is pretty cool.

Of course, being able to see 150 different vegetable peelers is pretty cool, especially as compared to our lack luster selections locally. I love supporting our local businesses when it comes to fresh goods, lumber, services, feeds and firewood, but I feel a little less than excited when there is one choice of said veggie peeler, take it or leave it. And usually, the stuff at the dollar store is imported junk and doesn’t last. (Which is why we are needing a veggie peeler in the first place!)

And another neat thing is that through Amazon, they have special purchases of large bulk amounts. For consumables like paper towels or even groceries, I was amazed to find that the majority of the items were at cost or varied within a dollar, high and low. I hate shopping in the big stores, but I also hate paying top dollar for small amounts of things and having to run out over and over and thus require this arm’s length list of stuff every time we go to town!

So for the last month, I’ve been writing down everything that we seem to go through at a fairly routine amount. Toilet tissue, paper towels, dog and cat food, dish washing liquid, shampoo and toothpaste, butter, milk, and pop. Of course, the butter, milk and pop are kinda hard to shop online for. For fun I tried to see what pop would be through Amazon and I’ll be darned, they had it. But it had a special surcharge for shipping and a 12 pack would end up being $12! Hahaha…. no thanks. The girls are trying to kick their habit, but are still needing it, so I think we’ll just watch for a good sale and stock up. Butter and milk, well, hopefully in the spring we’ll have our own dairy here but in the meanwhile, those sorts of things as well as meat and fresh produce, that will be gotten around here.

However, I was very very surprised to find our dog and cat food brands available online, shipped for nearly the same or LESS than even dollars stores and Walmart! Delivered! No more wrangling those big bags and filling up my cart and such! The dashing UPS man will pop it on my porch and we’re done! How wonderful!

Now, of course, we don’t always want brand new products and we’ll always be Craigslist shoppers and such. After all, we love us a goooood local swap and barter! But I’m really hoping that this membership will be a wonderful helper to keeping our gas and errand running down to a comfortable level! It’s fun to get off the homestead now and then, and we will enjoy those times instead of feeling like we are packing the wagon for a 3 month journey to Oregon! And we do live quite simply, and don’t go for a lot of new gadgets and such. But it will be nice to be able to replace things that break or wear out with good quality replacements that might last a good long time! That will be awesome. And if we can keep our days a little more focus and complete, I am sure that will help our businesses and our livelihood! And it gives us more time to stay in touch with our animals and our garden and homestead, which results in happier and more content Windhaven girls and critters! I think it’s an awesome idea… we’ll see how it goes!

So far, so good! I want to start a little savings total in my journal, of the shipping savings and cost savings alone. So far we’ve placed two orders. One was the ink cartridges. Which was a savings of almost $25 for one order. (One third of the membership cost in the first order!) And our second order we bought a veggie peeler, a can opener, 5 pounds of pancake mix and a salad bowl chopping knife… and we saved about $15 on that order (everything was a few dollars cheaper than local and we saved the $5 shipping charge) Not too bad!

(The salad chopping knife was kind of a fun thing… I love those chopped salads at Subway and it just looks so easy when the ladies do them… throw this and that in the bowl and use that curved mezzaluna blade to chop it all up! I found an excellently reviewed USA blade for only $15…. anything to help me eat good healthy salads is a gooooood thing!)

In the meanwhile… if you are old Amazon Prime pros, are there any really sweet deals or tips and ideas to share with us on how to make it work well? I already have found a few really cool websites and blogs that share great deals and finds with their readers and are really fun to read! I want to know what works for you! We are loving the media downloads… that alone is a great perk of the Prime membership! (We just FINALLY got unlimited big girl internet!!! YAHOOOOOO!!!!) But now, we’re getting poised to really work this membership and make it well well worth it’s cost!

Should be an interesting year!!!!

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50 years old…

Posted on December 8, 2013 by MobymomDecember 8, 2013

It came quietly, just before Thanksgiving. Yes, my 50th birthday! No big fanfare, no big party, just well wishes from friends and family, and a sudden sort of weird realization that my first half of a century was gone. Done. Wow.

I’m not a real worrier of birthdays, never have been. That’s not to say that I don’t recognize them or contemplate them, but I figure it’s just another step in my life’s journey.

However, my best birthdays are when I get to spend the day with my girls and take a little day trip! And even better, was that I had a little birthday money to spend and we had found an antique, yet functional spinning wheel about 60 miles away for a very very reasonable sum of merely $75!

We left early in the morning, and stopped to have a little breakfast on the way. I was very excited about the wheel. I had been looking and watching for one, but they were always quite expensive and pretty much out of my range at the moment. Easily $400 or more! So when this one came up, and after talking with the nice lady through email and learning it had been refurbished… I knew it was one to take a look at and possibly bring home!

Once we arrived, it was so nice to meet the lady whom the wheel belonged to. She told us that it was her father’s girlfriend’s wheel from around the turn of the century! Before he married her mother! And that it had been in the family ever since. I wondered why the girlfriends gave them wheel to her father, but well, that wasn’t part of the tale!

She had it professionally refurbished several years ago, stripped of the black paint and repaired in places. The craftsman added missing parts such as the flyer assembly and the flax dip cup on the maidens. It treadles nicely and well, I was sold. It was coming home.

There are some worn spots for certain, and I believe that a little bit of wood filler and a bit of sanding will flesh it all out. I intend to leave it natural, not painted.

The girls made me a lovely birthday dinner with broasted chicken and stuffing as well as a yummy cheesecake sampler! What a nice day and evening!

After a little research I began to learn about the wheel. Apparently it is called a Saxony style wheel. Apparently after the civil war, coffin builders began to augment their sales by making spinning wheels. They were often called Coffin Wheels. You can see the replacement parts on the wheel as the wood is nicer, lighter and without cracks or marks. Once I get a little time I intend to put a good coat of lemon oil on the whole wheel.

I ordered a drive band for the wheel and went through setting it up… but unfortunately, it doesn’t want to work smoothly. It seems that the alignment was off, as the wheel and the flyer is not quite in sync. I may have to take it to a professional and get it a little more inline and running properly. I would love to be able to use it as a regular spinning wheel. However, if it does end up that the wheel is not really a regular working wheel and more of a antique only piece, that will be okay. It’s such a beautiful piece and I will enjoy having it in my fiber processing collection.

I’ve decided that this, the second part of my life, I would really like to embrace more of my hands-on creative life. I want to learn to really use my small sheep flock’s fibers with spinning, dying and then knitting and weaving with it. I just adore weaving on my old rug loom and really want to do a lot more of that. I’ve spent the better part of the last 25 years involved in graphic arts… which I enjoy and apparently have a bit of a talent for, but the last 15 years or so it’s been primarily all done on computer. And so much of what I do it very limited in use. Aside from say, a logo or perhaps a website, which does have some longivity, most of the things I do are dated. Flyers and post cards and other promotional material for the most part is created, designed, used and forgotten. I like the idea of doing more creative and artsy things. Things like the rugs and weavings or even more drawing, painting, and pottery things that are longer lasting. That really appeals to me!

So I have made just one wish for the next 50 years of my life, if I am so blessed and that is to be more hands on creative and crafty! To enjoy working with my hands to create art and also useful items. I hope to do a little more sewing and quilting, as well as the rug making and weaving.

And when this special table top loom came up on a fiber list that I haunt, I couldn’t believe it. It’s a lovely 4 harness table top loom by Schacht. I mentioned that I would love the loom but didn’t think it would be in the budget. Well, unbelievably, the lady said she would be happy to take payments on it! Oh my! Well, we talked and agreed on a price and a payment plan. How excellent! I’ve made my first payment and hope to be able to pay it off within 6 weeks or sooner! The wonderful about of the loom is that with 4 harnesses, is that I can weave quite unique patterns such as plaids and such with this loom! It’s 25 inches wide, so I can actually do kitchen linens and other neat things like scarfs and such. So excited!

So there you go. My fibery birthday! What a lovely day and so many nice little things! Thank you to my daughters and their fun and involvement in it all! Onward and upward!!!!

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Boiled Apple Cider…

Posted on December 3, 2013 by MobymomDecember 3, 2013

We stumbled upon something that we find just so delightful! It’s called boiled apple cider! It’s rather like apple syrup of sorts.
It’s an old thing, apparently from the time of the Colonial settlers and probably longer back! It’s a concentrated form of apple cider that keeps a lot longer than actual cider.

All you do, is slowly simmer a gallon of good, fresh, natural apple cider. It takes a lot less time then maple syrup but the idea is pretty much the same. Low to medium heat to burn off the water from the cider.

You should stir often, just to keep it from getting a little weird. We felt it needed less time to watch then maple syrup as well.

Our first batch took about 2 hours. It was pretty simple, just bring it to a good boil, and then turn it down to about medium heat and keep it cooking. You will find that if it’s boiling hard, that is probably a little too much. But if it’s just sort of sitting there, you might want to turn it up a wee bit.

You will know when it’s done when there is very little left in the pot. And when you lift up the spoon, it’s thick and dark brown, almost like syrup. The idea is to burn off all the water as steam. I noticed that as it gets closer, there is less steam and it wants to boil a bit quicker. You might want to turn it down some as it reaches this point.

Remove the pot from the stove and let cool a few minutes. Be very careful! Like syrup, this stuff is very hot and has a high concentrate of sugar so it will burn you badly! Let it cool about 5 to 10 minutes off the heat. You want it still warm, just not super hot. Ladle into a jar… we got about a pint out of a gallon of cider. If you want to, you can process it like a jam or jelly… in a hot glass jar with a new ring and water bath at about 15 minutes. We didn’t do ours that way, it keeps for a good while in the frig and you can also freeze it!

Now, here is the good thing. You can use this stuff just like syrup, though depending on the cider you use, it might be sweet or tart or somewhere in between. Ours had a nice tart taste but it was solid apple taste! You can add it to muffins or cakes, you can use it in hot tea or coffee. I hear that you can pour a bit of this in a glass with ice and a shot of good whiskey! I thought it was great on pancakes with a drizzle of boiled cider and a drizzle of maple syrup! And in fact, you can use it in candy making and it makes amazing caramels!

It’s just a fun little homesteading craft that honestly, I’ve never heard about until I read about it in a King Arthur Flour catalog and thought, I gotta give that a try!

And let me tell you, it’s amazing!!!

This fall, we discovered a wonderful family orchard about 8 miles from our home. Just a nice little place, with a good selection of trees. We stopped in one day and bought a little bag of fresh apples as well as a gallon of cider and also a caramel apple to share.

Well, we snitched a bit of the cider when we sat in the warm sunshine and split this giant caramel apple! Both were SO good! We had to come back for sure!

And we did. And the second time, we brought some buckets because we learned that you could go and pick up fallen apples from the orchards for $4 a bushel. Yes, $4. Needless to say, over the next few weeks we picked 10 bushels! Yes… ten… Mostly for our livestock, but we kept out the best for our freezer! We peeled and cut apples and created about 10 gallon bags full of ready to go apple pie filling and the goodies for apple crisps and muffins. I think we probably bought about 6 or 7 gallons of their cider, it was awesome. But mostly, our animals got so spoiled on great apples… they would wait at the fence when we pulled up and they suspected we had apples!!!

Also, on a few of our visits, a local pizza and sub shop was on location and selling their wares. What was kind of funny, we had tried this place when we first moved in and well, didn’t really like their pizza. It was okay, but not what we were used to. So we hadn’t been back. However, we watched folks get these ham and cheese grinders and they just looked so good, we had to give them a try.

My goodness! They were fantastic! Just ham and two kinds of cheese, with a mayo spread and grilled French bread. I will admit, we’ve had several of these grinders now and it’s one of our favorite local places for lunch! I guess it means you should try a few things at your local lunch spots to make sure you find the right specialty! (They also have great french fries… we found that out, too!)

We really enjoyed our visits to the orchard and their fantastic cider. And apples. And donuts. And caramel apples. And the grinders… Wow… It’s great when you start to really know your hometown businesses, even if it’s your new hometown! We’ll be back for sure in the fall!

Everyone waiting at the fences for us to throw apples to them to fetch! We were careful not to conk too many critters on the head! We throw like girls and half the time, we couldn’t even get them over the first fence to the second fence! The ponies sure loved the apple treats but so did the goats and sheep! Everyone loved the applefest. We tried to save as many as we could, and we made it till the middle of November for the livestock stash. All the hogs LOVED the apples… Ebony taught her babies to really enjoy apple time.

Next year, we plan to save up a bit more and stash them in the cold barn to have treats longer into the winter for everyone!!! We’d love to have our own trees producing better, but right now, we just have one apple up front and one old pear way out back. Each is old and not heavy producers. We will be trimming them back a bit this fall to try and encourage some new spring growth and more fruit! And we’re planting more young trees so that eventually, we will have our own little orchard. But until then? We’ve found a good local substitute!!!

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