Playing with Fabric

I went to a couple of different Fabric Shops yesterday, and picked up some really cute fabric. Some of it was bought for the Mystery Quilt along, that I'm going to on Halloween, the other, the fabric with the Chickens is for me for fun...I pulled out all of my fat quarter squares, and laid them all out to see what stood out to me as the cutest. I have thinned my selections down, and am planning a throw for the back of my couch with them...obviously I fell in love with that chicken fabric...who wouldn't????

Once I get moving with my quilting again, I'll share lots of pictures!!!!!

apple peel jelly made with green apples

http://reallittlefarm.blogspot.com/2014/09/canned-applesauce-and-apple-peel-jelly.html

Hey, so the other day I had made some Apple Peel Jelly out of red apple peels, and they turned out to be a really pretty pink color, (Link to that post above) So Frank and I made some other apple stuff out of green apples, and of course I had to make some more apple peel jelly, especially out of this, because I just couldn't wait to see what color it turned out to be!!!! So, as you can see, its a really pretty golden color!!!!

Home Made Laundry Soap

So, as we all know, I love to try stuff I find on Facebook. This laundry soap is supposed to make 120 loads a batch, and double that if you have an HE washing machine.  Each batch only costs $2.00-$300 to make. That's a lot of laundry for a fraction of the price!!!

This was surprisingly easy to make. And of course as I always do, I followed my own directions. I'm going to give the directions to you as I followed them, with my own added in. I'm not going to take credit for this recipe, but I will tell you that there are 100 or more blog posts and websites with this exact same recipe.  So, that being said, I'm going to continue on to the directions. I'm going to put the price I paid for each ingredient. And just so you know, I found everything I needed in the laundry isle in Walmart, and let me say I was very surprised to walk down that isle and find everything there together. My guess is somebody in marketing knew that this recipe was getting popular.

ING:

1 Bar Fels Naptha Soap- Grated (.97 cents a bar)
1 Cup Arm and Hammer washing Soda ($3.97 a box, each box makes 6-8 batches)
1 Cup 20 Mule Team Borax ($3.97 a box, makes 6-8 batches)
3 cups water
2 clean quart canning jars w/lids (I decided to use the ball reusable plastic lids, so that I wasn't wasting my canning lids)

1) Place all ingredients together in a sauce pan, and simmer until dissolved. Be careful not to let it boil over.

2) Evenly divide soap between the two quart jars.

3)  top off with water and stir to combine (make sure jars are filled to just under the lid)

4) Let set up for 24 hours, it will separate into two layers; a thick white substance and yellow liquid. (I did not let mine sit for 24 hours, I let it sit until the jar and liquid in it was cool to the touch, so mine sat for about 5-6 hours)(I'm just that impatient)

5) Use a butter knife to cut through the white layer, and pour into a blender or food processor.

6) Blend one Jar at a time until smooth like mayo

7) Rinse out canning jars, before pouring soap back into them. there may be some borax crystals in the bottom. Then scrape the detergent back into the canning jar.

8) store in laundry room. Use 1 tbsp for regular load and 1/2 tbsp for HE.

Yes, there does appear to be a lot of instructions, but if you notice, its really not that hard, and it pretty much so breaks it down step by step. Now, I will admit, I bought a lot more supplies than I needed, but I won't have to buy supplies for more than a year, which is awesome!!!

If you all make this, or have made this let me know down below in the comments. I would love to see how you like or liked this soap. I'm thinking looking at the ingredients, my whites my just end up a bit more white.

Nature Walk

On Sunday, we went to Frank's parents house. While we were there, I went with the kids on a Nature walk of sorts. The kids had a great time (my Niece and Nephew). They were all about Acorns, and other random nut shells, and such that they were finding.  Life here in the Shenandoah Valley can be very beautiful in the fall. The leaves are still working on turning as you can see by all of the green we still have around.

As you can tell by some of the big scenic views, we live in the Shenandoah Valley, which is Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. (Home of the Shenandoah River)

Hopefully I'll get more pictures taken as Fall progresses here in the Valley.

Picture Time!!!

Yup, my camera and I have been rather busy today...almost as busy as poor Frank has been!!!
I wanted to share the pictures of the apple tree's that Frank planted today. The first picture is of the Red Delicious, and the second one is the Granny Smith. Both of them are Semi Dwarf trees.

Getting pictures of the rabbits is proving to be quite the challenge. But I did manage to get some pictures. The first is of Doris and her brood of kits. As you can see they are growing swiftly. The second is of Ethel and her Lilac Kit, who has been named Judy. Yup, the Lilac is a girl!!!! it didn't take me long to give her a name did it???? And yes, she's a keeper, or she wouldn't have been named.
Then last but not least of the bunny pics I took, is Betty. I just love her face. My Chocolate Silver Fox has the best facial expressions.

As you can see, I managed to snap a great pic of Bella. Pics of her standing still are hard to get, but I snap them as I can.

Now the last pic is of the peach tree we planted 2 years ago. We bought this from Lowes, and as you can see, its doing fantastic!!! This is a replacement tree for the ones in the back yard. We plan on planting  one more this spring, so that we can go ahead and cut down the two in the back yard. The gentleman who originally planted the trees in the back yard obviously was not thinking when he planted them. he planted them so close together that one is shading the other, and they have grown in a bent manner. We tried to save them, but from the looks of them, the roots must be growing together now, and they appear to be dying. So this spring the plan is to go ahead and cut them down. I'd like to cut down just one and see if the other can be saved, but we will have to wait and see. We do plan on pruning this one in the spring, because as you can see, it needs it. I believe this is a Dwarf peach.

And now, you have been caught up on the randomness of  our little farm!!!! Hope you enjoyed the pics...and if all goes well, I'll have more pics to share with you guys tomorrow!!!!

Franks Pizza Sauce and Pizza Crust Recipes

There is nothing that makes a weekend better than pizza, and nothing tastes better than home made pizza!!!! Now in our house, Frank is the expert at making the pizza, and he makes the crust and the sauce from scratch..sort of. Frank was kind enough to let me write down the recipe to share with you guys. Now I have to tell you, that our one pan, fills up the entire oven, so I would say that this recipe makes roughly 3 pizza crusts. For us it makes one giant pan, and one round pan. (as you can see from my pictures here) So, I'm going to start with the pizza crust recipe. (Since those are the pictures I decided to upload first) And that is Frank's arm that I managed to get a pic of.

1 and 1/2 Stick butter. (If you melt it, it makes it easier to mix)
3 cups flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. pepper
enough water to make a dough that does not stick to the sides of bowl
1/2 to 1 tsp. of garlic

Preheat oven to 350

Once you are done mixing the dough, roll it out to desired thickness (We do paper thin) and then bake until dough is crisp (do this before you top it) Then after you have baked the crust, add toppings and bake until toppings are done. You will have to keep an eye on things, because Frank doesn't time it, he just watches it.

NOTE FROM FRANK: " This crust is basically a home made cracker recipe. You can have a lot of fun with it. You can make it different every time by putting different spices in it, or you can add cheese, or even tomato sauce. I like it because I don't like repetitiveness in my foods"

And now onto the Tomato Sauce, please don't pay too much attention to my wonderful coffee can utensil holder, it just seemed like a better idea than going out and paying a bunch of money for one that I would probably end up breaking.

Put all ingredients into a canning jar as you go.
1- 12 oz. can of tomato paste
then fill same can with water and dump into jar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tbs dried minced onions

Once you have everything in the jar, (after putting the lid and ring on of course) shake jar well. Let set about an hour to let all of the flavors fuse together. Randomly shake the jar when you walk by while its sitting. It helps to make sure that everything is mixed well.

Friday Stuff

Happy Friday everybody!!! This is looking like its going to be a good weekend here on our little farm. We are planning on trying to get baby bunny pictures, as well as some other around the farm pictures.

This evening, we are picking up some apple trees!!! Yup, finally going to get those and get them planted. We're getting dwarf apple tree's. I'm not sure if they will get planted today, or tomorrow, but I'm excited about them.

Then tomorrow is the monthly get together at the quilt shop in town. That's something I always look forward to.

The weather has gotten so wonderful here. I love weather in the fall. Of course, October is my favorite month out of all 12 of them. My niece turns 5 this month as well. I think she's one of the most adorable little girls ever...but then again, I'm partial because she's my niece.

Well, that's all that's the farm news for now. Hope you all have a most wonderful weekend!!! Of course you know, I would love to hear what your weekend plans are. Leave it in the comments below.