A Homemade Countertop Compost Container

 

I did a project yesterday that is super cute and super easy to do with just a few supplies. I made a countertop container to collect my kitchen scraps and I love it!


SUPPLIES:

Empty large coffee container

Carbon filter sheet

Hot glue gun

Screw driver

Duck tape

Chalkboard tape

Chalkboard pen

 

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

1. Plug your hot glue gun in so it's ready to use.

2. Take your empty coffee container and punch 8-10 holes in the top with a screwdriver.

3. Lay your coffee container lid upside down and trace around the smaller part on your carbon filter sheet with a white colored pencil.

4. Cut out the part that you just traced and glue to underside of coffee container lid with hot glue gun. This is going to eliminate any smell from your container

5. Choose a duck tape pattern that you like and line the outside of coffee can vertically while overlapping strips to fit the coffee container.

6. Write "Compost" on your chalkboard tape with your chalkboard pen and attach to container.

 

 

 

This is a fun project that even a child can do and it would make a great Christmas gift for those who want to start collecting their compostable food scraps and don't want to buy an expensive countertop container. You can collect several used coffee containers from friends and family and the rest of the supplies listed above will make you several of these homemade countertop compost containers.

 

Let me know if you make one and put a picture of it on the Facebook page!

 



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DIY Body Lotion/Cream

 

 

 

Have you ever wished for a cheaper less toxic body lotion that does a good job and still smells nice? Well, you're in luck today because this is a post showing you how I make my homemade body lotion/cream. I have been making this for a few years now and I even give it away as gifts to my friends.

I love to give homemade gifts...it's my love language. Rarely will you leave my house without some homemade bread, canned jam, or the latest beauty/body product I have been working on. I have been told I'm a terrible sales person because I give so much away...

Ingredients for Homemade Body Lotion/Cream:

Coconut Oil
Shea Butter
Now Almond Oil
Essential Oil (your choice, but I use doterra)

A quick video to show you how I mix all the ingredients together (my son recorded this for me, and I do not live in the Amazon....those are our new pet birds you hear in the background.)

 

 

 

This stuff is all natural and non-toxic. You can use it on your body, your face, your kids, and even your babies. It's a quick and easy way to make up some homemade lotion for yourself, family, and friends!

 

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Little House's Freezer and Canning Inventory

 

Do you keep an inventory of your freezer and pantry? I decided today to do just that today. I am going to try and keep a list of all that we have available to make it easier to meal plan. I am not sure how many of you will find this interesting, but here ya go!

FREEZER INVENTORY:

Venison Burger - 69 one pound packages

Venison Steak - 4 one pound packages

Venison Roast - 4 roast


Venison Back Loins - 2

Corn from our garden - 33 quart bags

Green Peppers - 9 half quart bags

Strawberries from our garden - 1.5 gallon bags full

Multicolored peppers - 2 half quart bags


HOME CANNING INVENTORY:

Canned venison - 17 quarts

Canned Tomatoes - 43 quarts

Applesauce - 7 quarts, 6 pints

Apple Jelly - 4 jelly jars

Blackberry Jam - 3 pints, 3 jelly jars

Dill Pickles - 5 quarts, 3 pints

Pears - 9 quarts, 3 pints

Squash relish - 5 pints

Apple pie filling - 4 quarts

Green beans - 14 pints

Kidney beans - 10 pints

Pinto beans - 6 pints

Navy beans - 1 pint

Chicken broth - 4 quarts, 1 pint

Potatoes - 4 quarts

Spaghetti sauce - 16 quarts, 1 pint

Salsa - 6 quarts, 5 pints

Pizza Sauce - 7 pints

Bread and butter pickles - 3 quarts

Peach sauce - 3 quarts

Strawberry jam - 1 jelly jar

Peach jam - 1 pint

Ketchup - 9 quarts, 1 pint

This is not all the food we have in our freezer. We also have stuff like butter, leftovers, and frozen fruit we bought from the grocery store. I also have a pantry with pasta, flour, and etc. in it that I still need to inventory. What's on this list was put away from our farm or from a local farmer here in our town, except the pint of peach jam, which came from a friend, and the kidney, pinto, and navy beans that were dried beans bought from the store and canned here.

Living my dream right here on this farm!

~Jenn

 

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A Cheap DIY Compost

I have been wanting to do a compost for what seems like FOREVER. I just haven't gotten around to it until now.

The very first thing I did, before I even had the outside compost up and running, was to start one inside on my kitchen counter. I used an empty coffee container and started putting food scraps in it. I like it because it has a lid and doesn't stink up the kitchen or attract fruit flies.

 

 

I knew this would be a good project for my son so I put him in charge of making the compost bin for me. First, we pulled out a Rubbermaid tote we had sitting in our garage and he drilled holes in the bottom of it.

 

After the holes were drilled in the bottom, we turned it over and filled the bottom with torn newspaper. The reason for the newspaper, is to help add carbon to your compost. 

Then, he went and filled it to about a third of the way full with dirt. If your dirt is dry, you should sprinkle some water on it to moisten it. Ours was not dry because it had rained the previous day. 

 

 

Once the dirt was added, we emptied our coffee container scraps into it and mixed them in with the dirt. We will continue to do this as our container in the house becomes full.

 

We put the lid on it, drilled holes in the top, and stuck it in between the house and garden in a shady spot. That's it! It's so easy. Someday, we will have a better system, but until then I am happy to have taken the first steps in composting. The cost of this project for us was $0 because we already had the tote, dirt, and newspaper.

 

 

Jenn

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Whew, What a Crazy Couple of Weeks

It's Monday morning and I am officially trying to get my routine back in progress. I have started a load of laundry, threw some makeup on, and I am working on this blog post. We have had a great fall break, but today it's back to reality. Glen had to go back to work this morning after having two weeks off so the four a.m. wake up call is back!

 

Our family arrived the Thursday before last and left this past Friday morning. It was a great time filled with opening day of rifle season here in Kentucky with a couple bucks taken, a trip to the zoo, and more food than any person should eat in their lifetime.

 

We started by celebrating Evan's birthday with the family. He loves having his family around and they spoil him rotten.

 

Saturday morning, November 8th, was opening day of rifle season and crossbow season. Glen, Evan, my nephew Tyler, and I all headed out that morning. Evan and Glen with Evan's crossbow, me with my compound bow, and Ty with his rifle.

Nothing warms this mama's heart more than seeing our boy fall in love with Glen and I's hobby. 

I was sitting in my stand not seeing anything, and Glen had just texted me that they were not seeing anything either, when I swore I heard a crossbow go off. I waited with my phone in my hand, and sure enough Glen texted and said that Evan had shot a buck. I was so excited I got right out of my stand and headed to where they were hunting. I'm not trying to brag about son (okay, I am) but he smoked that deer. I don't think it even ran 40 yards. Glen said he was as cool as a cucumber when he made the shot.  

 

While we were getting pictures of Evan's deer we hear Tyler shoot. I won't say how many times we heard Tyler shoot...but we finally got a text from him that said he had shot a nice buck and it was down in front of him.

 

 We got Evan's buck up to the house and then Glen went and fetched up Ty and his buck. This is why my husband works all year long on food plots, scouting, and hanging stands. This moment, the one below, makes our whole deer season. We wouldn't even care if we didn't get a deer ourselves.

 

 Well, of course, you know the Dana's by now, and we went right into processing mode. We cut up Evan and Tyler's deer and we were done by Sunday afternoon. The saying "Many hands make light work" is so true.

 

 I knew Evan wanted to do something fun for his birthday with Ty and his Aunt Tanya while they were here so I was checking the weather and saw it was going to be 68 degrees that Monday. I asked Evan if he wanted to go to the zoo and he said he did and was very excited about it. The Nashville Zoo is a great zoo. I would say it is the cleanest zoo that I have ever been to, although, I have not been to many other zoos. This meerkat was a hoot. He stood like this for about 15 minutes like he was posing for us.

Zoo selfie

Lazy kangaroo

Ty and Evan petting the goat. The goats were quite a treat. Especially when one decided to steal a guy's handmade sketch out of his hand and run all over the place with it while the worker was trying to get it away from him. Just a little extra entertainment for us. 

Evan had some visitors land on him. His facial expressions are priceless. 

Then one bit his ear and he wasn't so cool with that. 

 

The boys went and cut wood while the family was down.

We shut our TV off back around June and we have no antenna to watch the local channels (we haven't missed it either). Pa was bored and discovered bowling on the wii. He actually beat everyone at it once he got the hang of it. 

 

 I went out a couple of times bow hunting while the family was here. I have yet to fill my buck tag. It looks like it may be a long season for me this year. I could take my rifle out and get one, but I have not shot a buck with my bow since moving from MI. I am determined to kill one with my bow this year.

 

 

So, that's the last couple weeks for you. It's snowing here this morning and I think we are putting up the Christmas tree today. I need to get some cleaning done around here and school done today. I am sure Evan will be super excited about getting back to school....

 

Jenn

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Striving For A Debt Free Life

My husband and I have been on a journey with our finances for awhile now. After we went through the big job loss scare at the beginning of 2013, we realized that things really needed to change. I am happy to say that we have paid off quite a bit of debt since then.

We even went down to one vehicle for about ten months. We recently have purchased a second vehicle that we had to borrow money for. I know the ideal situation is to pay cash for a vehicle and someday we will! Right now we are working toward paying it off as quickly as possible.

I have been researching ways to save money this week and I love that we do a lot of these already. Since I am the manager of our home when it comes to groceries, laundry, cleaning, etc., I started making a list of all the ways we save money and ways to continue to save money. There are a few of these I need to work on.... like menu planning! <------ my nemesis!

This is the list that I have so far on how to cut expenses in our home:


1. Menu plan -

I know it works. I know it saves money. I just have to do it. I would like to do it monthly, but even if I can start out weekly it would help.

2. Coupons -

I don't love couponing and I don't use a lot of coupons, but I know that there are coupons almost weekly for stuff like batteries, paper towels, toiler paper, etc. Even if it's only a twenty-five cent savings, you would have bought it anyway so why not use a coupon for it?

3. Price matching -

I have already been using a savings catcher app from Wal-Mart on my phone and have saved a little using that. I know I could save even more by taking the time to price match with local competitors.

4. Make your own laundry detergent and laundry products-

I have done this in the past but I have just not been happy with the detergent. I will be honest...I love the smell of laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets. It just smells so clean. They are very expensive though and there are alternative things you can use. I watched a laundry detergent tutorial the other day where the woman made the liquid homemade detergent but then added a big bottle of store bought detergent to it. I am going to try this next to see how it works.

I am also going to try to start substituting vinegar for fabric softener and make a wool dryer ball for the dryer so I can skip the dryer sheets. I would love to have clothesline eventually. That may be a project for this spring.

5. Shop second hand -

I know some people have issues with this but I am not one of them. We live in a consumer driven, I have to have it all, and I have to have it right now society. I am completely happy taking advantage of someone's used clothes and other things they have no use for anymore.

I also love to garage sale and have found many treasures at them. Just this summer, I bought a dehydrator, immersion blender (which I used a ton during canning season), and deep dish cast iron pan all for under $10.

6. Make your own cleaning products -

I love castile soap and I use it a lot. I use it as our soap to wash our hands with by filling an empty soap foam container with 1/4 castile soap and the rest water. I squirt a bit in my mopping bucket along with some lavender and orange essential oils to mop my floors. It's much cheaper to do this than to buy hand soap and mopping solution.

For my bathroom cleaning I just use straight baking soda and vinegar. I have scrubbed my toilet with baking soda for years and it hasn't let me down yet. I put the baking soda in an old parmesan cheese container and sprinkle the toilet with that.

7. Cook from scratch and don't eat out -

I have been making our own bread for awhile now. We were still buying bread from the store but we are in the process of transitioning to all homemade bread. I have some other homemade bread products I would like to try and make - like hotdog buns, hamburger buns, and bagels. I also would like to try and make our own cream of mushroom soup mix since we tend to use a lot of that. I have come a long way with cooking from scratch and I aim to improve it even more.

Eating out is expensive! I don't think it's wrong to treat yourself occasionally but if you are in the habit of eating at fast food restaurants often, I would reconsider that. Not only is packing a lunch more healthy but it can save you a lot of money by doing it.

8. Beauty products -

I have been slowly using up some of my old beauty products and lotions and I am trying to transition into more natural stuff. Not only because of the chemicals but because of how much money you save. A nice bottle of lotion can cost you anywhere from six to eight dollars. I have been making my own body and face lotion for awhile now. I mix coconut oil, shea butter, and essential oils. I have even made it for a few friends as a gift. A large container of coconut oil purchased at Sam's Club will last a very long time. Plus it takes up less space in your bathroom if you limit the amount of products you own (I have clutter phobia as some of you know...).

I have been trying to grow my natural color out for years but I always end up coloring it. Last night I was looking up ombre hair on Pinterest (in my deer stand! LOL!). I can't make any promises that I will not color again but I sure would like to stop that habit. My hair dresser is very reasonable with her prices but a savings is a savings.

9. Can and preserve your own food -

This one was a huge one for us this summer and fall. We managed to can a lot of produce this year. We have canned tomatoes, applesauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, pickles, peaches, pears, jams, and all kinds of beans. We also have a freezer full of corn, squash, and venison. Sometimes it really stinks harvesting and canning when it feels like a hundred degrees out but as I sit in my little house with my shelves stocked, it feels so good!

My next preserving project is going to be homemade chicken broth. I have been saving chicken bones for awhile and I am anxious to do this. Broth is expensive!

10. Cut your out going expenses -

We cancelled our satellite TV this summer because the content on TV is not worth watching anymore and we just didn't want that extra payment. We do not own a home phone and only use our cell phones. We also canceled the exterminator this year since we couldn't really see where it was making a difference. Besides.... I'm just not sure about spraying all those chemicals around my house. We supplement our heating in the winter with a woodstove and the wood is free from our property. I also just applied for job to review homeschooling curriculum for free and blog about it. I am hoping to save some money and have fun trying new stuff with Evan.

These are some of the ways we are trying to save money in our home. How about you? Do you have any tips for us? We are in an aggressive mode to get debt free right now so any suggestions are helpful!

Jenn

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Building a Porch

 

There's something about spring that makes things go crazy around here. It could be that it's the time of year we get our tax returns and actually have extra money to do projects.

In the last month and a half, we have finished off our garage, redid our son's bedroom, painted our basement stairwell and built a porch in our garage.

I'm exhausted just talking about it.

Trying to keep up with all my other responsibilities has left me a bit stressed out. I'm a bit of a perfectionist with my home and it definitely has NOT been looking perfect lately. When you add homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, laundry, church activities and life in general, it makes for one busy mama.

Yesterday afternoon, we built a porch in our garage. Today I have to clean out the deep freeze that was on the other side of the garage and move it to the porch. I'm excited about this project because I want to have the extra freezer room for food storage. 

My husband is working up the garden area as I type this. I'm thinking about getting some seeds started indoors so Evan and I can have a project to do...because we need more projects, right?!

I'm really excited about spring, warmer weather, and gardening.

Here are some pictures of our recent projects:

Don't try this at home folks.

 

The porch.

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Making Lemon Bars and Other Random Stuff

We managed to finish up the garage project last week. Now we want to build a porch, run a line for an outside hose, and put up some outside lights on the deck. We also need to finish the basement which Glen started painting yesterday. Things are moving right along and soon we will be completely done with our little house.

The weather is starting to warm up and I feel spring in the air which makes me think about gardening. Glen will start working up a patch of ground for us as soon as it dries up a bit. This will be our first year gardening in Kentucky.

Making Lemon Cream Cheese Bars from the KitchenAid cookbook.



 



 

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A Kid's Dream Bedroom

My husband and I can be rather impulsive at times. It seems like we will be talking about something one minute and diving in headfirst the next minute. That's exactly what happened with our latest project. We went from talking about it to being done with it in a week's time.

Evan's bedroom has been a source of tension between me and him for awhile. I had three dressers in his room trying to hold all of his crafty stuff , collections, and hoarding possessions.

It just wasn't working.

My husband and I brainstormed and came up with the perfect solution. We just received our tax return money for the year so we had some extra money to spend on this project.

Here it is in pictures:

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