Natural Project Progress

A little update on how everything is going:

March - No Artificial Sweeteners
Aside from an occasional Diet Coke craving, I think I've kicked the habit.  It's been two and a half months and I don't really miss it at all.  I wish I would have started earlier.

April - No 'Poo and No Clothes Dryer
No 'poo is going fantastically.  I really love it.  I can easily go 48-72 hours without washing with baking soda, but I'd really like to get to the point where I can easily go 72-96 hours.  Extending the days between washes requires being okay with grease for an extra day.  As my hair gets longer and I can put it up in different styles, I think I'll be able to make that push.

There has only been one time in a month and a half that I missed our clothes dryer.  Other than that, I am happy to no longer use the electricity.  My mom gave us an umbrella-style clothes line, and I used that once under an awning when it was threatening to rain.  I can't wait to get it actually installed in the backyard.  Like many of our changes, it just requires advanced planning to make sure we aren't caught without clean, dry diapers.

May - No Paper Towels and No Microwave
I wasn't sure where to put paper towels because they really started in mid-April.  I've only used paper towels for one project - removing the rust from and oiling my cast iron pans.  I tried using a hand towel, but little bits of towel were scuffing off onto the pan.  I didn't want them baked into the seasoning forever.  So a moderate success.  If they disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn't miss them at all.

It's only been two weeks without a microwave, so I'm still a little surprised when I go to heat something up.  I've changed my habits a little to accommodate the lack of a microwave.  Instead of letting my coffee sit all day and reheating it a few times, I drink it while it's hot the first time.  I heat our morning oatmeal up in a water bath, and while it takes longer, it seems to be doing fine.  I've been leaving a pot of water on the stove just for water baths.  I throw the jar in the water as soon as we come downstairs.  By the time Miss F has been nursed, played a little, and stripped down to feed herself, it's warm enough for her.

In Search of an Apron

I currently own two aprons.  One is from Ikea.  It's very sturdy, but not very feminine (other than possibly in color).  I like that the neckline adjusts without having to tie and untie the neck.  But there are no pockets, just strange loops.  I can't quite figure out what they're for.

The other is very cheesy-girly.  It's also very thin and not absorbent.  It isn't useful for wiping one's hands off.

I'm looking for an apron, that's understated with a feminine cut, somewhat sturdy, with adequate chest coverage (many aprons are too small for me in that regard).  Every time I see an apron in a store, I put it on, but it's not what I'm going for.  I've patrolled around Google image search for a long time now, but I have yet to find one that is instant love.

What do you look for in an apron?  Do you love your apron?  

What a Find!

*B* and I decided to start cooking with cast iron since our encounter at the market fair.  My mom had three cast iron pans when I was a kid.  They were all part of the Wagner 1891 set.  I recently found out that this was made around 1991 as a celebration of the company's 100th anniversary.  It's not the same quality as the great "Wagner Ware" that I hear so much about.  But we decided to use them anyway until we could find some of the good stuff.

That day came!

We went to a flower and jazz festival Saturday, one of our annual traditions.  We decided that we'd actually go into the shops on Main Street for once.  We went into a little church-run thrift store, and made a bee line for the housewares section.  A quick once over revealed nothing, but as we were walking out, I spotted two cast iron pans on a bottom shelf.  *B* flipped them over, and there it was - Wagner Ware!  They were a bit neglected looking and very crusty on the bottom, but the price was right.

 

We have a #6 pan and a #8 pan.  Apparently there was a newlywed set of these pans including a #6 and a #8, so they're fairly common.  I would like to find a #3 pan to round out the set.  According to my (quick glance around the internet) research, they were cast between 1935 and 1959.  I was a little disappointed that they weren't older, but I realized that at best, they were almost as old as my grandmother and at worst, older than my mom.  That's not bad at all!  And the cooking surface is soooo smooth.  It's wonderful.

I was so excited that I wanted to get them reseasoned right away.  While the inner seasoning was alright but slightly scuffed, the outer surface was very rough, and I'm very nervous already to use cast iron on my glass-top stove.  I successfully reseasoned my Wagner 1891 griddle a couple of weeks ago, so I felt confident that I could do it.  I threw them (and the smallest of the Wagner 1891 pans) into the oven.  I put the self-clean cycle on for two hours, and look what happened!

The old seasoning blew right off in a puff of red and grey dust.  When I did the griddle, I used olive oil.  This is the finish it gave me, plus some layers of bacon grease due to weekend breakfasts.

For my "new" pans, I used flax seed oil as recommended in this blog post.  It smelled terrible in the oven, but this is what I got after 4 coats of oil.  Isn't it beautiful!?

Homemaking in a Digital World

My grandmother has had a small metal clipboard in her cabinet below the oven for as long as I can remember.  It has scrap paper and a small pen attached.  I can distinctly remember her writing her lists on this pad:  grocery list, to do list, packing list, things she wanted to remember. 

For a while, I tried to do the same, but I always misplaced my pad.  I'd write things to remember on our chalkboard, but that never seemed to work out since I wouldn't transcribe it to bring to the store.

Then I started to use Google Drive, both on my laptop and on my phone. 

Groceries
I created a grocery list and shared it with *B* so we both can edit it.  On Friday mornings, when I go to the store, I text him and ask him to make sure he updates the list.  This is how he updated last week.  I love this guy!

His additions were an homage to the trip we took last week to Gettysburg, PA and the books on 19th century living that we've been reading lately. I literally laughed out loud in the grocery store.

On the second page of that document, I added another helpful section:

This way, we can see what we have either pre-made or in terms of available ingredients.  If I pick up, say red cabbage and some kielbasa at the store, I'll add that meal to the list.  That way I know we have everything we need to make it.  It makes the "what will we eat tonight" question a little less difficult.

Food Storage
I also keep the freezer and pantry inventories on Google Drive.  Out of all of the digital housekeeping I'm doing, this one doesn't work as well as I would like, but it's better than writing inventories that I lose. 

We've determined that I need to print out the inventory and tape it to the freezer and pantry doors so that we can mark off what we use as we use it.  As it is, I inventory once a month or two, which is nice, but not a very accurate representation of what we have at the moment.

Chores
I thought I was really clever when I came up with this, but *B* surprised me by adding another helpful hint to my digital housekeeping.  I was grumbling that I never remember the infrequent (i.e. not-daily) chores: cleaning the tub, changing the sheets, cleaning the oven, etc.  *B* suggested that I just put a reminder on Google Calendar. 

I did just that, and now I get reminders on the day that I designate for each chore.  I decided not to make the reminders as frequently as I want to do the chores.  The reminders are on a minimalist housekeeping schedule.  I have a feeling that if I were to make my reminders as often as I wished, I'd blow them off.



It's funny that in my heart-of-hearts, I desperately want to rid myself of technology.  But on a daily basis, I rely heavily on that technology to do the things I most enjoy.  It seems to be the modern conundrum: difficult to live with technology and difficult to live without it.

Our New Project - Life without a Microwave

In March, we gave up artificial sweeteners and most sugar.  In April, I went no 'poo.  In May, we got rid of our microwave.

We haven't really gotten the full weight of this latest change because we were away from home this past weekend.  But the few days we were home, meals took on a whole new meaning.  In general, I made up large batches of food and store them in mason jars.  I even make coffee for me in the morning and leave some for *B* in the fridge for him to warm up when he gets home in the afternoon.

So when I went to warm up some frozen baby food and cold oatmeal for Miss F, I stopped in front of the table that used to house the microwave.  What was I going to do?  That morning, I threw the oatmeal and frozen fruit into a pan with some water and warmed it up.  While not as fast as the 2 minute nuke we usually do, it got the job done.  I wasn't thrilled with having to clean a new pan now.

This morning, I tried a water bath with the cold oatmeal.  I threw a chunk of frozen fruit in the top, submerged the mason jar halfway into water, and set it to boiling.  I was impatient this time, and Miss F got lukewarm oatmeal, which she didn't mind.

Of all the projects we've done so far, I think this is going to be the absolute hardest. It'll require a lot of planning and thinking ahead to prevent a screaming, hungry baby and some cranky, hungry adults.

Anachronistic Living

On Saturday, *B*, Miss F, and I went to a market fair.  This particular market fair was a pre-revolution, colonial-era market fair that seemed to be half reenactment and half actual market.  I was so excited to go that I literally skipped for joy down the road into the market.  I had never been before, but *B* and I love historical reenactments.  It was everything I ever dreamed of and more. 

Baby fashion doesn't change much, so we put Miss F in her renaissance chemise.  We originally had her in a onesie and tights underneath, but it turns out it was a little warm.  We didn't dress up because we figured it'd be strange to be two hundred years off in the other direction, but now we know that a lot of our clothes (mostly *B*'s clothes) would still work.

The items at the market fair were much less expensive than at the renaissance festival that we attend.  I actually bought a full dress from a shop whose owner was retiring.  They were more than accommodating.  It was the third "sutler" that we visited.  I found an outfit that I loved, but I had no idea what was at the other shops.  So they held it for me, with no expectations or attitude, provided that I would come back by the end of the day to tell them if I wanted it or not.  After we bought my dress, *B* bought me a straw hat to go with it since Evie destroyed my old one when it fell off a hook.  It looks a little matronly, but I'm happy with it.

After we bought my dress, we went through the camp.  A lot of people camp for the four days that the fair runs.  There were no Coleman tents here, they were all white canvas or linen.  In front of some of the tents, there were blankets with items on them.  We quickly realized this was their version of a yard sale!  I'm so thankful that we did realize that, because we got some amazing items.  For Miss F, a little girl's dress that was $2.  Two dollars!

This basket backpack originally ran about $65 at the sutler's tent.  We got it for $12 in fine condition.  I can't wait to use it out and about, especially at the renaissance festival this fall.

The last thing we got was something I had always heard of but never seen - a burning lens.  It's just a small concave lens that focuses sunlight to a point.  Aside from it being fun (and possibly useful) for us, we figured it would be good for Miss F when she's older.

 

Now that we've experienced the market fair, we can't wait until next year.  Fortunately or unfortunately, many of the living history events in our area are Civil War related.  While we love dressing up, war reenactment doesn't suit our needs.  So we're on the lookout for other experiences like this in our area.

Mason Jar Regret

I have only really canned once in my life.  I made a ton of applesauce and peaches and canned them in a water bath, even though I know they don't have enough acid and should have been done in a pressure cooker.  But I wanted to be the person who canned a ton of food every year and put it up for the winter months.  People who knew me thought I was the girl who canned.  So they gave me their mason jars.
I got my mom's old jars that hadn't been touched in twenty years.  I got my grandparents' old jars that hadn't been touched in forty years.  I got random jars (not mason jars) from random people who thought I might like them.  And, of course, I bought a bunch of my own.

What ended up happening?  Our cabinets were full to the brim with jars in some state or another.  Many were cracked, caked in dust, with dessicated insects in the bottom of them.  Every time you opened a cabinet, an avalanche of jars would descend upon you.  One day, *B* said they had to go.
So we sorted through them and kept twelve half gallon jars, twelve quart jars, twenty-four pint jars, and whatever jars already had things in them.  The rest were donated or recycled as appropriate.  That seemed like enough jars that I could put up some food if I wanted to.  That's probably the amount of food that we'd be capable of putting up in any given season.

But then...

We decided we wanted to start getting rid of plastic containers.  *B* uses tupperware-type containers to take his food to work.  We microwave in those containers.  What kinds of things were leaching into our food?  We had some Pyrex containers, but not nearly enough for what we needed to store.  I tend to cook in bulk and put the rest of the food in the freezer.  We talked about buying more Pyrex as we could afford it if they were on sale.  And then it hit me:  we should be using mason jars.

I had black bean soup, taco filling, "garbage" soup, and ham and bean soup that needed to be frozen right now and in single or double serving portions.  I pulled out the jars that were in our pantry and got them washed up.  Almost immediately, all of our pint jars were full.  I looked at *B* and he looked at me, and we both realized something terrible.  We need more mason jars.

It seems so wasteful that we had them and got rid of them.  But it's not like we threw them in the trash.  Those that were still in good condition likely went to someone who needed them.  Those that were in bad condition went to be made into new bottles.  And even if we end up buying more mason jars, they'll be cheaper than the Pyrex were were planning to buy.

The first time I put mason jars in the freezer, I did so with broth in half gallon jars.  The jars shattered because I must have filled them too much.  This time I did test jars in the freezer to make sure I wouldn't destroy them, but we had no issues, so I froze all of them.

These are our mason jars in the freezer.  They're labeled in tape and sharpie because real labels are expensive and hard to remove.  For some, I got the plastic caps designed for storage.  Others have the standard canning lids on them.  And a few have tin foil lids because I didn't have enough.  Those will be eaten first.