Foraging - The Pinecone Expedition

Last week, right before Thanksgiving, it was beautiful outside, especially for a late November day in Iowa.  It had been quite a long stretch without a motorcycle ride so we decided to get out.  Journey was home from school for the holiday so she rode with us.  It amazes me how much an 11 year old girl can love to get on the back of her dad's bike and take a ride.

Mike likes to ride long highways for long distances without a destination in mind.  I like trips that have an outcome to them.  We compromised this day and agreed to ride a long ride looking for pine cones.  I am always tempted by big beautiful pine trees in my neighbor's yards but find the thought of stopping to pilfer their pine cones a bit distasteful.  I draw the line with apple-foraging at the neighbors and with permission only.

So on this particular day we drove through some local area parks.  I loved that ride.. it had a purpose and was not fast enough to lower the wind chill factor.  Even on a 65 degree day, if you ride 65 miles per hour, the wind chill lowers somewhere to feel like the 40's or 50's... a little cold for me.  So driving through parks was the perfect trip for us!

We drove a few looking for the biggest pine trees we could find that dropped good size pine cones.  We have been using some of the homemade pine cone firestarters in our fireplace already this season and they work wonderfully!  If one is nestled in the middle of the logs to be started and lit, a raging fire is effortlessly obtained.  They are so pretty on the side of the hearth in a metal basket too!  So Journey and I are going to dip a few hundred more to last the winter and to give for Christmas gifts.

While out on our trip we spotted this on a hill:

Beautiful!  Two enormous pine trees!  I had thought to bring 3 big grocery sacks for gathering, so off the bikes we went and up the hill.  We easily filled three bags with medium to large pinecones from those trees just laying on the ground ready to be covered by Iowa winter's snowfall.  It felt good to rescue them for a purpose other than becoming dirt in later years.

Riding motorcycles poses a challenge for a gatherer.  Sort of like riding a horse with no buggy I suppose.  There is only so much room to bring back your spoils.  Although you would be surprised what Mike can fit in his luggage areas.  We put the three heaping full bags of pine cones in the packs of our bikes and took off again for home. 

But we will be back to this park.. not just next year for more pine cones.. but soon.  We found a huge bunch of walnuts just lying on the ground under a nearby tree.  Ready for me to harvest, clean, and pick the nutmeats from.  SCORE!!  I hope I get this lucky hunting Morels next spring! 

Foraging - An Excuse For Not Blogging?

My day slipped away from me yesterday in the most fantastic way.  I actually spent the day doing some of the things I love.  My little 11 year old, Journey, that HATES shopping, was home from school for the day.  Since becoming a New Suburban Pioneer (aka:  stay at home mom), it seems I have a bit more time for "schooling" Journey.  She helps me cook and yesterday she helped me get through quite a few thrift stores.

We made a route so that we didn't waste gas and then hit every thrift shop along that route.  I will tell you that Salvation Army has much better prices than Goodwill so I really liked those stores and there were so many treasures out there in those stores.  Journey and I had such a great time looking at everything and discussing what it was and what it's use was.  She saw several old ice cream makers and wanted to buy all of those but we resisted them.  She did end up with a new little crocheted shawl just her size and I was more than happy to pay 1.96 for it, since it was a super easy pattern... just attaching 2 rectangular pieces together to make a neck opening.  I think when she is not wearing it, I can work on making more of them from her pattern!  Nice winter activity during my occasional TV time.  I love to keep myself busy!

Among the treasures we found yesterday was a little knitting loom for her to use and also a campfire cooking tool that will look great hanging by the fireplace until I have a whim to use it to actually cook something this winter.  I will fill you in on the results when I do it!  I would love to see how it feels to cook on an open fire.  During our trip through the second or third store, Journey actually said "Wow, I did not know thrift shopping was this fun".  I have converted her!!  Haha

We were on a mission yesterday keeping our eyes open for 3 things.   One was a real rug weaving loom... long shot at a thrift store but it doesn't hurt to look.  The other item was a grain mill of some sort.  I need a more efficient way to grind my wheat and other grains for homemade bread and finding a nice one without spending an arm and a leg is a daunting task.  I scan ebay and Craigslist and also keep my eyes peeled all over town for one but I am still on the hunt.  The third thing I am looking for is a certain kind of casual shoe... another long shot but if I find the kind of comfortable slip on casual shoe that I can wear in the winter when it is too cold for my flip flops, I will be ecstatic.  I am, however, a bit picky about my shoes so it just can't be any old worn out ugly thing (which is what I found yesterday but did not buy).

On the way to our first destination I said a little prayer to the Guy upstairs.  I wanted to ask him for these items specifically but I know better than to say a prayer like that.  What I did ask for was PATIENCE in my search (I really struggle with this so hoped he would grant that one).  When I want something I want it "right now".  I also asked for the wisdom to make the right purchases..  and also asked Him to provide to me what I NEEDED... not necessarily what I wanted.  It was a tough call and I ended the day knowing that my prayers had been answered, even if I did not come home with the items I was searching for.  It becomes more apparent to me every day that we don't actually know what we need but Someone else is watching out for us.

Journey and I finished our day at the pet store where all the exotic animals are sold, Aqualand.  She had a ball there petting every single animal and trying to hold them all.  It was a great day for us, and probably the best reason in the world for not writing in the blog, which I commit to keeping up and have many more ideas to share with you in the weeks to come!  Having the ability to spend quality time with the little people in our lives is worth so much more than money can buy!

We spent the evening together as a family actually grinding enough flour to make some healthy oatmeal monster cookies.  I will be sharing that in a later blog today, complete with the recipe we used and some pictures of the crazy tools I am currently using to grind wheat.  It takes a village at my house to make flour!  All in all, a wonderful day of foraging and family!

Foraging in my own Basement - How Embarrassing...

I am almost embarrassed to admit to this story but it is the truth.  For the last 2 years, I have been developing an idea that we should have a water purification system for our drinking water.  Not knowing much about this, I did not know what it was, just that it existed out there in the world.  For the last month or so I have seriously pursued research about filtration systems and looked at lots of different information.  Finally the decision was made by Mike and I that we needed a system to ensure our family had the safest drinking and bathing water.

Why?  Because Journey is still young and worth it!  And we are worth it too!  There are so many contaminants in our water like pesticides, heavy metals, chlorine, chloramine, flouride and whatever else runs through the city water system.  Even bottled water is not any safer than the water deemed safe by our city government standards.  Our government has determined "safe levels" for all of these contaminants and I am sure they are doing their best but I think a safe number is even less than their safe number.

In my research, I decided that a reverse osmosis system was the best household purchase for drinking water and that is what I wanted. I vaguely remembered that when we bought our house 10 years ago, it came with a water softener system in the basement.  We used that for a while but quit when we thought perhaps dumping that salt into our water was just another chemical additive and did not understand any benefits or risks associated with that.  See how new I am to thinking about our health?  Even being a nurse for 25+ years did not equip me to do much but push prescription meds and wait for the next disease to strike someone I loved.  It did not occur to me to think about what we were putting into our bodies until my miraculous recovery occurred just from major dietary changes, thanks to Isagenix!  That started my brain rolling and it just won't stop.

So anyway, about the water...   Even after lots of research I wanted an expert opinion so I called the Culligan man.  Bill came to our house and tested our water (no surprises there but still levels of contaminants that displeased me).  He then went down to the basement to see what kind of space we had for his new Culligan system that would remove Chlorine, Soften the water, and pipe Reverse Osmosis filtered water up into my kitchen to the tune of about $5,000.

We were still stunned by the "sticker shock" and saddened that we did not have that money right now when we followed Bill to the basement.  Here is what we all found there:

Bill happily pointed out the Rainsoft water softener system and the Reverse Osmosis water filtration system that we had in the basement the whole time!!  Who knew????  I never even paid attention to the myriad of canisters and pipes on that dark wall..  and guess what else?  The manual was right down there next to the system.  Just chalk this one up to a really blond moment I guess.... or "city girl new to healthy ideas".... or inattentive homeowner..  who knows....

He was excited to replace it all with a shiny new system but needless to say we thanked Bill without giving him a sale and when he left we called Rainsoft.  A service rep is coming out tomorrow, bringing replacement filters and doing a check of the system to ensure it will work properly...  but I am fairly certain we will get it all accomplished and get this system up and running for less than $500.  That is less than we were prepared to spend on healthy water so win-win!  (Except for Bill - he did not make a sale last week)

I have since discovered some dilemmas about water systems.  Water softeners do introduce sodium to your water, which is not good for gardens so the softened water must be diverted away from the garden hose.  Softened water also strips your water of potentially helpful minerals like calcium but with dietary supplementation that is not a concern of ours.  Our softener does not remove chlorine or chloramines from our water so we will have to purchase 2 vitamin C shower filters that will make our shower water safer.  But the reverse osmosis drinking water system will be wonderful.. filtering out almost all contaminants in the kitchen from flouride to chlorine and lots in between. 

It seems there is so much to learn.  I suppose there were not this many choices in the times of the real pioneers but there was also not a convenient way to do this much research on the choices that did exist so I am grateful to be a "new suburban pioneer" woman with so many options and resources available to me.  So the moral of the story is that there are treasures everywhere, even if it is walnuts in your own backyard or a water filtration system in your own basement.  Keep your eyes open to new possibilities and have faith that your needs will be met! 

Foraging in my own backyard - What Tree is this in my Neighbor's Yard?

Do you see it in the picture?  The tree just behind the fence line...  it belongs to my neighbor but clearly hangs many of its branches over my fence line.  Do you know what kind of tree it is?

 You probably can't recognize it from this view but it is a Walnut tree that has been growing behind my back yard for many years and at the end of every summer it delights the squirrels by dropping big mower-damaging green walnuts all over our yard.  I asked the neighbor if she would allow me to cut it down but she declined the offer.  I really wanted it away from my gardens as walnut trees will cause growth issues to other plants that happen to root in the same ground as the walnut tree roots.  That may have been one of the problems with my tomato plants this year, as this is the first year I put them in the back corner garden and the definitely did not do well.

We also had to be very careful where we put the fruit trees... especially the apples.  Walnut trees will cause damage to the nutritional root system of apple trees as well as tomatoes so our apple trees are as far away from this walnut as possible. 

So what do you do when life gives you lemons??  You harvest walnuts.  English, or Black Walnuts are very expensive in the store and delicious, not to mention nutritious but they are a bugger to open and obtain the nut meats.  (no wonder they are so expensive).  Since there were dozens of them in our yard we picked them up and started to research how to get the nuts out of the layers of shells.

The green hulls on the outside have to be removed.  Make sure and wear some rubber or latex gloves, or you will wear a black stain on your hands forever.. LOL.  Mike removed the hulls of our gathered nuts.  Then they have to rinsed and left to dry and cure.  Here are ours in a laundry bag hanging in the garage.  They are almost ready to crack.

It occurred to me that I was, again, fighting squirrels for their winter food when I hung them high in the garage to keep the critters from stealing my winter nut stash.  I am surprised I don't have any nightmares about giant squirrels coming after me and my food supply!

They have been drying for over 2 weeks now so as soon as it warms above 65 degrees outside next week we will take a sunny afternoon and a hammer outside on the cement and try to open those shells.  I envy the squirrels who seem to be able to do that so effortlessly because I have heard it is quite a challenge for humans!  Once the nut meats are picked out of the shells, I will soak them, sprout them, and dehydrate them just like the store bought nuts.  But no matter how much work it is, it is so satisfying to know I harvested a nutritious organic staple from my own backyard!! 

Foraging - Do You Recognize These?

Do you recognize these?  Yes, they are the milkweed pod.  Filled with little brown seeds and those seeds are attached to a soft fuzz.  Milkweeds are famous for being the most important breeding ground for monarch butterflies.  They are the only food that the monarch caterpillar can eat.  I have always loved butterflies and as a kid I used to catch a caterpillar once in a while and watch it cocoon into a beautiful butterfly.  I would love to give Journey that experience as well so I saved these milkweed pods and will plant a large area of milkweed plant in back corner of our backyard.

But I also have an ulterior motive.  I plan to compete a wee bit with those caterpillars for their food!  I know that sounds weird but from what I research, there are 3 edible uses for milkweed plants and one additional practical use.

First the practical use:  The white fuzz inside the pod that is intended to carry the seeds to their new location was used years ago for the lining of jackets, pillows, blankets, etc.  The "silk" of a milkweed pod is much warmer than down, softer, lighter weight, and can be stored for long periods of time.  I plan to store some of the silk for later use.

Edible you ask?  Yes, all except for the white sticky sap that is characteristic of a milkweed plant.  This sap is what makes you sure you have a milkweed and not a look-alike plant, but it is considered toxic to humans unless boiled away.  It is easily removed by 3 - 4 short boilings of the milkweed, as it is highly water soluble.

Early in the spring, the milkweed plant begins it's life as a little shoot that resembles an asparagus.  If you pinch these off when they are less than 8 inches tall, they cook up like asparagus and are tasty to eat.  I am going to eat some of those next spring.  I will fill you in on that later.  :)

When the plant starts to bud, it does so in little white "flower" clusters that resemble little white heads of broccoli.  It supposedly tastes a bit like broccoli too!  I intend to eat those too.

Lastly, when the pods begin to form and they are smaller than 1 inch long, they are tender and good to cook and eat.  I will try those too.

Now you may be beginning to wonder about my sanity.  Please don't worry.  I will follow all precautions for identifying and cooking the plants to ensure they are safe.  And I will leave some to share with the butterflies.

There are many reasons to open your eyes to other possibilities of food sources.  With my growing research on Genetically Modified Foods, I am very concerned about the potential consequences down the road of GMO... so I am seriously intending to remove wheat from our diet.  We have already removed soy and corn and will need to do some further research in removing all corn by-products, such as corn starch, baking powder, corn syrup, etc.  I even thought Canola oil was a healthy oil until I learned that it was developed completely by genetic engineering.  Even Papayas grown in Hawaii have been tampered with genetically and so I won't be including them in my family's diet either.

With the growing concern about pesticides and contaminants in our produce, and the growing price of organic fruits and vegetables, I am interested in any food source that may be inexpensive, nutritious, and free of toxins... so why not experiment?  Someday I may even try dandelion greens and flowers (best if picked in the early spring before they get bitter). 

At least I know that Milkweeds are not commercially grown with pesticides, or genetically modified to feed more butterflies.  Wish me luck!!

Foraging - The Acorn Experiment Part 2

When we last "talked" I told you that I had some pretty icky acorn nuts that I still have not eaten.  They are probably destined for the trash BUT I think I am on to something else now.

Just a note about drying whole acorns outside for days between two screens to keep out the bugs and varmints.  Yesterday morning I found a hole chewed or clawed through the top screen.  Something had tried pretty hard to get to those little nuts.  The hole was about the size of an acorn but I could not tell if one was missing or not.  But the determination of that little critter made me even more suspicious that there was something magical in that shell that I just had not found yet.  SO....

I rescued the dried acorns from between the screens and took them inside to crack them.  There were much more "good" ones and I did not find any wormy ones with this batch because when I soaked them in the shell in a bucket, all the bad ones floated to the top and I got to through them away before cracking them to find the worms..   again YUCK!  So most of the nuts I had to work to crack were good nuts.  Well, so to speak.

Remember that I bought a little coffee grinder at a garage sale a few days ago?  It came in handy and so I ground those little nutmeats in the grinder as fine as I could get them and dumped that "flour" into a bowl.  The trick now became how to soak the flour in water until all the tannins were flushed out without losing all the flour down the drain!  I found a piece of loose weave fabric from my fabric stash and used it to line a colander.  Then I rinse and soaked that flour many many times.  The cloth kept the flour in the colander but eventually the water ran pretty clear!

I next spread the very wet flour into a Pampered Chef stoneware pan and placed it in the oven at 150 for several hours.. most of a whole day it took me to make the flour dry again.  It needed some stirring every couple of hours.  Here it is in the pan all wet.  It looked more like hamburger than flour and had a strange aroma when baking.

When it was all dry I used an old vintage flour sifter to separate the finer acorn flour from the chunkier acorn flour.  This worked quite well and so I have 2 tupperware containers full of acorn meal.  One is finely sifted and would be suitable for flour substitute.  One is coarser and would hide well in some cookies or something that you may expect an odd crunch or two per bite. 

Now experiment 2 is finished.  I am proud to say I have a pretty good supply of a fine acorn flour, full of nutrients found in nuts...and ready to bake with.  There have been several times through this journey that I have questioned my own sanity and I am pretty sure my family has questioned it a few times.  In fact my mother heard from my sister that I picked up the acorns from her yard with the intention of eating them and my mother's comment was "you are either really hungry or really crazy!"  But without some experimentation, I will not know what works and what does not.  Acorn nuts.. not sure if I will try this again in the near future.

But I do have 2 containers in the freezer of flour substitute.  It is not poisonous.  It does not have gluten and supposedly works well in recipes if you substitute no more than 1/4 of the flour with the acorn flour.   I have read that if you use too much acorn flour in the recipe your baked good will be crumbly. 

I still owe you a report back on the ending of the acorn experiment so be watching for Part 3..  when I actually use it in a large quantity in a baked item.  I will let you know about the taste and texture and whether my family had a fit or not when I fed it to them.  Don't tell but I put a handful of the acorn flour into my home made flour tortillas tonight and fed them to my daughter and the neighbor girl.  (hehehe).  Neither of them seemed to notice and they gobbled up their burritos..  I win thus far!  Stay tuned!

Foraging in Suburbia - Garage Sales/Flea Markets

Funny thing about "stuff".  I used to think I needed all the new and best gadgets.  Maybe it was just that I had a good job, a steady paycheck and I thought I should spend it every 2 weeks.  That quickly changed when I lost my great job and now live very carefully.  It is not that we are cheap.  We are THOUGHTFUL about spending.  Knowing how fragile one's financial situation can be first hand has made us re-think our priorities.

I don't want you to think I don't want "stuff".  On my wishlist is a weaving loom, a morter and pestle, a popcorn maker for the family room, new flooring in my family room, and lots of other stuff that I someday I want to have.  My priorities have changed though since I am home more than away and with all the cooking I do, there have been many new recent items on my wishlist that I have had to wait for or shop for wisely.  It is no longer about new clothes or shoes or Victoria Secret lotion and perfumes.  Now it seems to be different items I am looking for to help me live a better life. 

Here are the most recent things I have found in the last month through Craigslist, garage sales, goodwill, etc.

I wanted a way to shred and chop and process foods without grating my knuckles (another story for another day).  I looked at Bed Bath and Beyond, Younkers, Kohls, Target, basically all over and only found a food processor (at a price ticket of $200 or so).  In waiting and watching I found a Griscer Deluxe Food slicer with 7 different blades on ebay and got the bid for $20 (this is a vintage stainless steel manual crank tool that currently sells for about $200 new). I love it!  Right after that I found an older model large bowl food processor (for other kinds of jobs like making homemade fruit/yogurt ice cream) at a garage sale for $5.00.  I was so excited!  Now I can process any food in the kitchen with the right tool and my total cost was $35 (shipping included). 

I also found myself doing a lot of canning as a new suburban pioneer.  I was using a water bath method for canning with an old stock pot that was cumbersome.  I was pricing pressure canners at the stores and again, they were over $100 for a nice one.  Then I stumbled upon a great pressure canner at a garage sale for $25 (it was only used one season, had instructions and the original box).  Along with the pressure canner the lady threw in 60 Quart size ball jars!  Those Ball jars alone would have cost me $40 so I thought that was a great deal! 

Today I went foraging, thinking about a way to grind my new little acorns into acorn flour.  I was focusing on looking for a coffee grinder of sorts and the second garage sale I hit, I found a wonderful deluxe Mr. Coffee coffee grinder for $5.00.  BINGO ~ SCORE!!! 

It seems that when I have a positive attitude, some patience, an open eye and mind, and a little faith, what I need or want falls into my lap.  I am mentored by a lovely woman who taught me "You get what you think about".  So in ending, make sure your thoughts remain on good things, positive outcomes, your own worthiness, and don't forget FAITH.  When we believe something will happen it has a much higher likelihood that it will happen just that way.  And hold on to your money...  there is not really any reason to have things.. ... they won't make you happy.  Surround yourself with the right people and the right mindset and happiness comes without things attached. 

HAPPY FORAGING!!!!!!!!

Foraging - Acorns, the Experiment - Part One

So I have to tell you this story.  I was visiting my sister last week and discovered "nuts" all over her ground.  I asked her what they were (no, I never paid attention to an acorn before, believe it or not).  The answer was acorns, to which I promptly asked "can you eat them".  She said "NO - they are poison".  I did a quick google search on my smart phone and discovered that people do, indeed, eat acorns so I picked up 1/2 a bucket of the best looking ones and took them home to figure the next steps out.   I have to insert now that a true pioneer woman probably did not have Google on their phone and I don't know how they were so smart to know what to forage without it.  But that is why I am so lucky to be a Suburban Pioneer.

After a considerable amount of research into eating acorns this is what I discovered.  People all over eat them after removing the bitter tannins from them through a soaking method.  They eat them as nuts and they grind them into an acorn flour to cook with.  Acorns are very nutritious, organic, and FREE, and since I bake a lot with nuts, I began to process these acorns.

First I put all my raw little acorns in a bucket of water.  The "good" ones sink and the "bad" ones float. 

I had about 1/2 sinkers so I soaked them for a little while and then laid them out between 2 abandoned screens outside to dry thoroughly.

I have to tell you right now about bugs.  Little icky worms LOVE acorns and apparently they grow in them from the inside out.  You need a strong stomach to crack very many of the little nuts unless you LOVE worms.  Every 20 or so acorns had a little grub worm inside.   Extra protein?  I THINK NOT!  I am hoping that the ones with the worms floated and I threw them out!

Now to soak the tannins from acorn nuts, you must crack them first (not too tough except for the gross worms) and remove the nutmeat.  It is a kind of white and looks kind of tasty... but don't eat it yet.. it is bitter and makes you spit it in the sink.  There were several methods suggested for soaking the tannins from your nuts.   They included burying them in mud for a season, putting them in a bag in a running stream for a long time, putting a bag of them in your toilet tank to get "rinsed with every flush", soaking them in cold water for several days or boiling them several times in succession until the water ran clear.  Tannins appear to leave the nuts in the water and turn your water kind of brown when you soak them. 

So without a running creek outside my back door, and not trusting the mud bury idea, I considered the toilet tank but finally decided on the cold water soak for several days on the sink.  The boiling water idea sounded quicker but apparently if you do it wrong you can "lock" the tannins in forever, making them bitter.  Here are my nuts soaking.

Now this is Part One of the Acorns posts because I have not had success with this experiment yet.  We did soak a few for about 18 hours and then dehydrate them to dry them and the result so far has been less than palatable.  The dehydrated acorns are brown, unappetizing to look at, tough to chew, and pretty bitter yet.  I would guess I did not soak enough of the tannins from them so I am not too eager to eat them.

So Part Two of the Acorns Experiment will come in a few days when I determine the ultimate success or failure of this project.  In the meantime, I don't recommend picking up acorns yet.. but if you do, store the acorns in something that doesn't allow the worms to escape into your house.  I don't think they are harmful but they are not welcome on my kitchen counter!

Frugal - Saving money on laundry while staying healthy

Your skin is the largest organ in your body! Everything put against or on your skin is absorbed. We are surrounded by toxic chemical substances in our lotions, soaps, perfumes, cleansers, and household chemicals. Laundry products are among the worst offenders for chemicals that remain in our clothes, which remain against our skin all day. A year or so ago, I discovered that I could replace fabric softener sheets (one of the worst toxic offenders) with rubber or wool dryer balls that help prevent static and soften clothes in the dryer without residue. I use the dryer balls sold by Norwex and have loved them. And since they are reusable, I save money there on my laundry!
Then I bought a front loading washer, as my old one wore out. Not being one to read directions, I began using my new washer. It took a few months but an odor started accumulating in my washer. There seemed no way to remove it and then it started permeating my clothes. A bit of research later (I actually then read the washer manual), I discovered that laundry soaps accumulate in my washer and leave a residue that grows molds and bacteria and it STINKS! Now how did soap have residue if it is meant to clean? And how does it grow icky things if it is soap? That got me wondering so I did a lot of cleaning of my washer and a lot more research!
What I found out was that laundry soaps are not good for us, our washers, or our clothes! It was just a few weeks ago that I solved this problem when I ran across a new way to wash clothes. I found the SmartKlean Laundry Ball. ordered one and began to use it. In just a few uses of my washer ball, the smell left my washer! My clothes were clean, they did not have any smell, and the were even softer after washing and drying than they were when I used detergent.

This SmartKlean laundry ball impressed me with the following features that were good for my family and my budget: I don't need to use any detergent! (The ball is filled with ceramic beads and a magnet that changes the pH and molecular structure of the water to allow the water alone to clean the fibers of my clothes) It is safer for my family's skin because the detergent residue is not left in the clothes and against our skin. It is safe for the environment because no soap residue is washed back into our sewer system. It is gentler on my washer, extending the life of the washer by preventing the clogged pipes and growing icky things in it. YUCK! And it saves me money! One washer ball lasts for 365 loads of laundry, which for my family of three is about a year's worth! Plus the ball works in cold water (hot is not recommended) so I save energy costs! The last feature would be great too if I could figure out how to work my front loading machine. LOL (maybe I should read the manual again).. you don't need a rinse cycle with the laundry ball because there is no soap to rinse out.
The retail cost of my laundry ball is only $45 for those 365 loads of clothes, which averages just less that 12.4 cents per load! If you want to find out how to get one of these to try for yourself, send me an email or comment on this blog and I will reply to all comments!

Foraging - The Neighbor's Apple Trees

When I think back on our ancestors I think about how they lived in little log cabins and had an expanse of land and someone at some point explained to them which plants were safe to eat, which plants were to be used as medicine, and how to properly prepare food to eat. Wow... that never was in my upbringing. I was taught to drive to the grocery store, fill my cart with cheetos, pasta, and microwave dinners, and head home to my handy microwave to eat. Even as a nurse, I did not connect my health to the food I was trained to eat. I understand it now, 50 years later and ultimately 100 pounds lighter! The food we are currently eating in suburbia is killing us slowly but surely... but it can be made so "cheaply". Guess why? Because it is really not food at all! Think about our ancestors eating from the land. Meat from grass fed animals, milk from the same animals, wheat from the fields, fruit and vegetables from the land. Now that was a balanced diet. While they did die prematurely from infections and disease, they did not suffer from an obesity epidemic, rampant diabetes, heart disease, cancers, crippling auto-immune diseases, etc, at the rate we are seeing now. I believe it is largely related to the contamination of our "food" supply, water supply, air, and even many of the common practice we have developed in order to become civilized and live the good life. Soo... back to nature... In my recent quest to live as close to nature as the city will allow me to do, I have begun more gardening of food, shopping differently in the grocery stores, canning, dehydrating, eating more organically, and removing all the pre-packaged food from my family's diet. But I will tell you that this can get a bit expensive. Are we worth it? Absolutely! Although it has forced me to become more creative and less wasteful in my life. Back to foraging. I live in a cul-de-sac in a suburb in Des Moines. I walk the neighborhoods on occasion to get a little exercise and many times take my 11 year old daughter on walks with me. A few months ago, we were about 4 blocks away, when I almost tripped on the sidewalk... over an apple. Now being a city girl by nature, I could not figure out how the apple got on the sidewalk until my daughter pointed up and said "look, an apple tree". OMG.. I rarely have even seen an apple tree in the "wild".. but indeed it has shiny red apples hanging all over it. Upon further inspection, there were lots of apples in various stages of decay all over the yard. I walked on by in wonder.... The next day I made her return to the house with me so she could nonchalantly pick up one of the apples so we could bring it home and taste it. Yes, I made her do it. I did not want to get caught stealing someone's apples and I figured she would be more easily forgiven. We were not caught. We rushed home with our prize to taste and lo and behold, it was a GREAT apple. I was skeptical about the success of the next plan but had to try it. I made her return with me a third night with the intention of knocking on the door of the house with the apples. Of course I took the cowardly road when the garage door was open and his phone number was right there on a magnetic sign on the back of his pickup truck advertising his business. We took note and rushed home. You guessed it! The next day I called the number and told the man that I was a neighbor and his apple trees were very nice. I then asked him if he picked them because they were all over his yard. He responded that he had no use for the apples so they were a nuisance to him. MANNA FROM HEAVEN! I offered to come pick them and clean up his yard and he agreed. It was a family affair. Mike and I don't know how to properly pick apples but we drove over there with a couple of buckets and a ladder and got to picking. Even with 2 buckets FULL there were many more we could not reach. We shook the trees, chased apples down the driveway, got hit in the head with apples, and generally got a great workout for 2 days cleaning up all his apples. I would say we reached about 200 pounds of free apples by the time we were done. Can I mention here that I am sick of apples? LOL I spent weeks processing all those apples and battling gnats in my kitchen. We have an endless supply of applesauce, apple butter, dried apples, and canned apples for pies. I made a dozen apple dumplings and we have eaten tons of fresh apples. THEN I discovered that they make a device called an apple picker. It looks like this:

This is definitely on my wish list for next year's apple picking season!! See, I told you I was new at this pioneering thing! There is so much to learn.