Natural Homemade Laundry Detergent

Apparently I didn't publish my post about homemade laundry detergent last night, so I just did that. And so this post is the follow up.

So I just checked the detergent and it is very gelatinous! It was cold in that part of the cabin where it spent last night so I had to run my hands through it to break it up. It reminded me of oatmeal that had been in the fridge, clumpy and squishy. BUT, it looks perfect as laundry detergent now that I have broken it up with my hands, and it will become easier to work with as it gets warmer.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

A few years ago I tried making my own laundry detergent and for some reason I didn’t keep doing it. It’s SO EASY to do, something that anyone who is wanting to get away from chemicals and head towards more natural products should do. The recipe I use is one of the main ones that is floating around on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfEJHb5lfds

I had written down different amounts of washing soda and borax, so mine will be thicker than in the video. I don’t know where I got these measurements, I probably watched someone elses’ video for those. So I used 1-1/2 cup each of washing soda and borax. So if you try following the video and don’t like the outcome of your soap try using more. Also, I’ve heard some people add essential oil during the last rinse cycle so it smells nice or disinfects, whatever the property is of the essential oil. I’m never coordinated enough to do this and we are washing machine challenged here at LMSH at the moment so I’m not going to bother with that. I will just have to smell natural : )

Antsy Pants

At my computer, so I thought I’d record some thoughts… I feel antsy today. There is so much I want to do. I start one project, then feel pulled toward another quickly, just so much to do. It’s sunny today, so a walk is in order, but I’ve been inside so far except to take out the compost. Made potato kale soup, knitted, more laundry, cleaning, talked to Lori about life… that’s the nice part about having roommates, especially Lori : ) We have one that is still asleep at it’s 3:48 pm. He’s a night owl. Oh! And I did some design on our logo that desperately needs to be finalized. Still feel antsy. Want to get pics on this blog. Will work on that too.

Hike, Laundry, Bread, Firewood

It’s hard for me to know where to start when it’s been a week. I am out of the habit of posting every day, which would be ideal. So let me start with the weather. It has been wintery here the past few days. I welcome it, as it is more standard for what we normally have for winter weather. Today brought sleet and snow, but not heavy. Interestingly, I choose today to explore a trail near the house a few miles down the road. It’s a connector trail for Cloudland Canyon called Long Branch. We were toasty even though it was sleeting, and we even met a couple mountain bikers on the trail so we weren’t the only adventurous ones today. Beautiful place, definitely going back, and it’s so close to the house.

It’s hard for me to report on everything that is getting done because Lori is doing a lot and we’ve been forgetting to report at the end of the day so I don’t have a complete picture of what she is doing. The weather has not been ideal to build the boxes for the garden so that has been on hold. Honestly since it has been cold a lot of our activities have revolved around wood since we heat with wood. Our friend Mark made a surprise visit with a load of firewood and solicited us to help with another load so we have a good amount at the moment, but we’re burning through it like mad women : ) We like to keep warm, and it’s a challenge to not use space heaters. I like challenges. Today I dried my laundry in the room in the basement where the big barrel wood stove is. Since it has been wet we have to get the wood inside so it can dry out before we burn it…ideally. If it’s already a rip roaring fire we toss wet wood on and it doesn’t do anything to the fire.

I have not been working on jewelry as much this week, but instead have been focusing on posting them on etsy. The challenge now will be to sell it since Christmas is over. I need to reaccess my nursing career and do training so I can renew my license in June. Even if I don’t work as a nurse right now I can keep my license for a time. I don’t want to do anything I will regret. I have been noticing that some physical issues, mainly chronically tight muscles, are slowly disappearing and I attribute that to not having such a stressful job! Ha! Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe it’s the good mountain living. Who knows.

So today we woke up and Lori made a good breakfast while we did wood related duties. I made bread in the bread machine, and it turned out well. While in the basement I ran across my box of knitting things, and was excited to pull that out today. So I started a scarf since it’s been awhile since I have knitted, and I don’t want to be too ambitious, however it does have cables in it. Not sure why I haven’t been knitting, as I love hand made things, just haven’t taken the time to I guess. In my knitting box I found a project I almost had finished for my niece…who is now 2 and a half. Probably need to resolve that project somehow since it’s a bit too late for a baby blanket.

Ok, ‘twas a wonderful day, just need more like it. Am looking forward to the day when I can share this lifestyle with someone, as it is so rewarding. The other residents at LMSH will have to do for now.

Windy rainy down time

Yesterday was cold, windy, and rainy. We were able to have a status meeting about our Junior Master Gardeners Program. We decided there needs to be committees for each county, Dade, Walker, and Hamilton. Also, Lori is interested in developing a farm school, as we don’t have one in this area that we are aware of.

Kevin left yesterday, earlier than expected. He has definitely helped us know more what we do and don’t want with regard to interns/apprentices.

I was able to post a couple items to my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/shenandoahdesigns. Still learning how to take good pictures and post items.

We are excited for the arrival of the new age!

Catching up

Hi Friends. We’ve been busy, but not blogging so I need to catch up.

Thursday the 6th we attended the Year Christmas party for Master Gardeners, spoke to Bud Hines about teaching a composting class. Also, Mike Payne agreed to head an effort to get master gardeners here in January to build planter boxes.

We have been having a challenging time with family members who already live here at LMSH transitioning to a cooperative living model. We are constantly trying new ways of communication and negotiation. Such is the cooperative life…

Saturday 8th we attended Sequatchie Valley Institute’s Craft sale. We went more towards the end of the day and were able to spend some time talking with the residents there.

Tuesday 11th was our Christmas Open House and Holiday Handmade Gift Party. About 15 people braved the darkenss. I sold handmade earrings, Emily sold crocheted scarves and sewn bags. Lori sold homemade jam, mistletoe. The cabin looked beautiful!

Camilla decided she needed some time away from the homestead so she left on the 11th so spend some time with her grandmother. It was a nice break for all of us, and she returned almost a week later on the 17th.

Wednesday 12th we attended Lisa Holt’s open house in Hixson. We met a few very interesting like minded individuals, one who a farm school up north for a year.

Thursday 13th Shalamee Campbell visited and toured LMSH.

On the 15th I sold handmade jewelry at the Brainerd Farmer’s Market.

Sunday 16th was Pickin – handed out Spanish class fliers and LMSH memberships sheets. A friend I met in when I lived in Winston-Salem was passing through Chattanooga so I invited him to Pickin. Somehow we talked him into coming up the mountain with us and he has been hanging out with us since.

Monday 17th, tackled wood pile, removed nails, Certified Wildlife Habitat through national Wildlife Federation.

Tuesday 18th - We became an official station of Community Collaborate Rain, Hail & Snow Network. Our duty is to report precipitation daily.

We also learned to slaughter chickens at Wildwood Harvest with Keith and Katie Bien. It was an eye opening experience. I appreciate the spirituality they have for the process and the appreciation they have for the lives of their chickens. Lori eats meat and feels she should participate in slaughtering but was not able to do the act. She doesn’t want to be hypocritical but is not ready to take the life. She had no problem defeathering and gutting them though. I don’t feel I need to participate since I don’t eat meat and never have beyond a few tastes. Kevin was able to slaughter 2 chickens and enjoyed learning the process.

We have concluded that if you eat only meat that you have slaughtered, you’d eat a lot less meat due to the time and effort involved. It’s likely that because of industrialized meat production it has become easier to eat the amount of meat we do these days.

Wednesday 19th – Today we were FINALLY able to put a planter box together. We got a LOT done in the garden area. I made bread and it turned out much better than it has in the past. We ate well, I did laundry and made a trip to town, bought groceries. Kevin and I got two screens ready for screen printing tomorrow. It has been a good day. Oh! And Kevin cleaned our fireplace.

We have been super psyched about having him here. He has been a big help around the house and garden. He is good with wood and he has tackled our lumber pile aggressively and today (the 19th) finished one planter box! It’s nice to have new energy here. It is giving us a taste of having a regular intern here. Unfortunately he’s only staying until Friday, then he will move on to his next adventure.

Kevin is traveling from Michigan to Louisiana on bicycle…with his sweet dog Maggie Mae. I think we’ve decided that a canine like her here at LMSH would be a wonderful addition. Hopefully at the next chance we get we’ll be able to get one.

I will do my best to blog more often. I would post pics, but a bunch of my pics disappeared off my camera. I hope I can find them.

Accomplishments yesterday, Dec 3rd:

Monday was somewhat productive. We cleaned house, then we had a visit from Emily Franklin who is the other artisan who will be selling her things here at LMSH on Dec 11th. We were able to get a "Square" so we should be able to take credit cards for our Holiday Handmade Gift Party. That's so exciting! We'll also be able to take donations by credit cards now.

We use propane to heat water, cook, and dry our clothes when we can't use the clothesline and yesterday we had it refilled. It should last us a few months.

I was able to spend time on my personal business making bags for things once they are purchased. They don't take too long, but I'm not sure it's necessary to give people a bag for their jewelry. Lori says no, so I guess I'm wasting time. They're fun though.

Camilla and Noah were helpful and raked leaves. The yard looks so much better!

Lori saved more Marigold seeds. We'll have seeds to share!

I spent time brainstorming the new LMSH logo. This is a process for me. I can't just design something good overnight. Maybe I'm too close to this project and it will make designing the identity difficult. We'll see. I enjoy doing it.

Main x24

Wow, it has been a few days since we posted last.

Friday was filled with preparing for Main x24. I also baked bread and raked leaves. I do that for exercise and, well, it just makes me feel productive. Lori worked more on the website. In fact, she works on this pretty much every day. It’s live now, at www.lookouthomestead.com. Please visit it and return often.

Saturday was Main x24 from 8 am to 10 pm. I had a booth selling my handmade jewelry, Lori and Camilla sold food. It was a good day, beautiful, way too warm for December but I was thankful for the nice weather.

Will report more soon.

I wrote this last night but failed to post it. So here’s the entry for yesterday:

It’s so late and I really needed to talk to others before posting but they’re asleep, so here’s the day according to Jen:

I visited with Davis Mounger at CSAS about his solar panel project, which is currently being done through the energy systems class. He was very willing to talk to me about it and seemed happy that I was interested. It was a good visit, but nothing concrete came of it. He did say that he had a big rototiller though : ) Must keep that in mind. Oh! Also, he said he can do soil sampling for us. Very cool.

I was able to rake some of the leaves in the yard and move them to a pile near the compost, but still have a lot to do.

We had a house meeting but one of the residents did not attend. There was a lot of drama today, nothing I care to go into since it’s being taken care of, but just the ins and outs of living with others closely. It takes practice!

Lori worked on the website more. I’m so happy Lori is a good writer. She also talked to a lady in Texas about our Junior Master Gardner program and got the approval to move forward.

I want to work on screen printing tomorrow so I coated 2 screens tonight in hopes that my emulsion has not expired and will still work. If so, am hoping I can make a quick shirt for Main x24 and LMSH.

SO TODAY:

We’re vending at Main x24 and shopped for food for that event. Look for us.

I met with Kathleen today and we discussed screenprinting t-shits for the Brainerd Farmer’s Market in the Spring. I also want to sell my jewelry at the market between now and Christmas. I informed her of our efforts here at Lookout Mountain Sustainable Homestead as well.

Raked more yard leaves. I’m making sure we have them as a resource when we need them for gardening purposes.

I also was able to make a screen for LMSH and we hope to wear screenprinted tees to Main x24. This has been my first project since earlier this year, and it feels good to be getting back into screenprinting but I need to work more with my work space to get it working efficiently. This will come with time.

Not the most productive day today when it comes to homesteading work, but tomorrow’s another day.

Jennifer in the garden

Website almost live, garlic planted, homeschooling materials, etc.

Accomplishments today: A friend of mine built a spacious herb and spice storage shelf for me 3 years ago. I fits perfectly here in the cabin, so we transferred most of the herbs and spices from the kitchen to storage since we need more room in the kitchen. It’s now just across the pantry. We discussed the tornado that occurred here on April 27, 2011. It didn’t actually hit our property, but came dangerously close. Lula Lake Land Trust on Facebook has a magnificent picture of the tornado as it approached the mountain. Noah’s friend Jim delivered a load of firewood. Thank you so much Jim! It will be put to good use. Lori was able to order Camilla’s homeschooling materials from University of Nebraska. I grocery shopped at the Village Market since I was in Collegedale. They have humongous bok choy for $1.99. I planted 24 cloves of organic garlic today. I was able to acquire more jewelry making supplies today, and spent a couple hours this evening on jewelry. I still have much to do before Main x24 this weekend! Lori researched building cob structures and companion planting. She mentioned that garlic does well with rose plants, but not well with asparagus or green beans. Good thing she looked that up, as we almost made the asparagus very unhappy. Lori bagged dried sage for culinary use in our kitchen. Dinner tonight was rice with stir-fried squash, carrots, bok choy, onions, mushrooms, green peppers. Chicken for some, organic tofu for this veg : ) The chicken lived out a happy life on Sand Mountain before making it to our kitchen. Lori spent EXTENSIVE time on website work today. She wrote the vision, and we all wrote bios. ETA for website become live is Friday at the latest. Thanks for following us.

We need an intern!

Monday has been somewhat productive, but the day went by too fast. Today we developed a flier to communicate what we are looking for in an intern. We’re really excited about having another person here with us at LMSH, someone who is passionate about how they live and work and who can bring more spirit.

Noah, one of the residents, was able to finish putting up shelving for our extra herbs and spices. We also have a huge need for firewood right now and Noah was able to help the house acquire more. Thank you Noah!

I got a package from one of my jewelry suppliers and was excited to use the new materials so I made 5 pairs of earrings! I have so much more to do before Main x24 this weekend.

Lori really put in a lot of work on the website today. We should have that up and visible in the next day or two. We’ll be handing out info about LMSH at Main x24 so we have to get out thoughts straight and in a presentable manner. While waiting to become an official non profit we need fiscal sponsorship (umbrella) by a like minded non profit. Please contact us if you have a lead for this, and we will continue to research possibilities.

Lori, Noah, Camilla, and myself discussed responsibilities and how to make sure we are doing our share. This is tough but essential to living cooperatively with others.

The rest of the day was filled with an evening walk, making dinner, and writing.

What a beautiful day it was here on Lookout Mountain today. I'm so glad I got to take a walk. We have a large patch of spearmint so today we began potting small plants to sell with info about The Learning Garden at Main x24. I also began on a brochure to hand out with the mint.

Also today I emailed Davis Mounger at East Ridge HS. I knew at some point recently he was involved in a solar panel making project. So I emailed him today to find out what the status is. We want solar panels so I'm going to pay him a visit this week to see how we can work together to acquire a solar panel and get them involved in The Learning Garden. I'm looking forward to meeting with him, tentatively on Wed.

Today we briefly discussed fundraising. We REALLY need a truck. We need firewood. We need to be able to haul soil, and produce, and equipment. So, I am going to suggest that our first fundraiser (beyond the "fundraising" we do to pay our own personal bills)be for a truck. Oh! I FORGOT! This will not be the first fundraiser. Lori organized a fundraiser the first weekend of November. Songs of Water and Aimee Wilson played. We didn't sell as much food as we'd hoped but we broke even, thanks to a $100 donor.

Lori pulled out a bread maker the other day and tonight I gave it a shot. Turned out pretty well for my first time. Well, my first time in years that is. We want to start making our own bread regularly.

Last night I forgot to mention the work that Lori's son Noah did on the heating system here at the house. We heat with wood and he fine tuned the basement wood stove and duct system. So thankful for his help.

There has probably been more today, but I'll wind down for now.

A week of accomplishments

We would like to make a blog post every day listing the things we accomplished as we work towards our goals. I moved here to the homestead on the 16th of November, which was a Friday.

On Monday November 19 we started working. We cleaned the basement out and began to make space for exercise equipment that was being delivered. Our friend Emily Franklin donated a load of Hickory firewood. Thank you Emily! I started to set up my screenprinting area in the basement. We began dehydrating bananas to save them from rotting. Actually this took a couple of days and we never got them completely dry, but they should be dehydrated enough to store. Lori and I also had a meeting with Emily while she was here to plan our "Holiday Handmade Gift Party." What's that? I make jewelry, Emily knits and sews. We're throwing a party on December 11th here at the Homestead and will be selling our products. It will be a great way to support local small businesses and craftspeople.

On Tuesday November 20 I feel we didn't get as much done. I have to get used to this fluctuation in accomplishments and not let it get me down. I'm used to working regular jobs where you show up and get paid no matter what. Well, when you're homesteading you just do the best you can and get done what you can. I opened bank accounts and worked on my personal things. Lori worked on her finances. Later in the afternoon/evening, I pulled out jewelry making things and Lori and I had fun making jewelry. We also made plans for the web site and blog on Tuesday.

On Wednesday November 21 we walked through the property and discussed plans for the land. Jen did laundry. Yay! Lori researched info in the wee hours of the morning… We moved the firewood stand to the porch and filled it with firewood because it's supposed to be getting colder. We also did something I thought was very fun. We harvested zenia and marigold seeds from the dried flowers. We also worked in the front perennial garden. I really enjoy working outside.

Thursday November 22 was Thanksgiving day. We are very thankful to have this place, and that for the most part we get along very well. I'm thankful to be living in such a beautiful place and to have such great friends.

Friday November 23 was a recover from Thanksgiving day. I don't remember what all we accomplished. It was colder that day. We have discussed making the first half of the day from about 9 to noon the gardening/farming portion of our day just to give us structure. However we might have to move that to the warmer part so the day as winter develops.

And TODAY is Saturday November 24. Well it WAS. I see it is now almost 1 am on the 25th. Today Lori got a LOT done with the website. She bought the domain name and created the facebook page. I converted my old blog that I never used into what you are seeing now. We talked about the mission and vision. Lori reminded me a couple of times that we need a logo. Yeah, yeah Lori, I'll get to it : ) We had a visit from Laurel and her boyfriend. I managed to take a 40 minute walk in the neighborhood this afternoon. It was so invigorating. Such a beautiful community it is. I made granola after Camilla and I escaped to Chattanooga for a couple hours. While I was gone I bought 3 bulbs of organic garlic to plant.

Wow does time ever fly. I've already been back in the Chattanooga area for a week. So glad to be back.

We hope you continue to check back with us as we report daily.

Homestead beginning - Welcome

Welcome to our official blog! Lookout Mountain Sustainable Homestead is located in Lookout Mountain, GA on 1.3 acres of land. Currently 3 people live here full time and 2 people come and go. We're just about to launch our new website and when it's ready we'll post the link here. Our website will have our vision along with the current initiatives. We have a LOT of work to do, and our goal is to post what we get done daily so we can see our progress and share our journey in hopes of inspiring others.