Making Calendula Extract

I have several marigold "calendula" plants growing around my house.  Generally I gather the seeds when they dry out and save them for next year, share them, or sew them to expand the bed.  This year I took the front bed over for vegetables, therefore, the plants I have growing are in areas around the steps, and foundation.  They were getting a little out of control and needed pulling.  As I was doing this, I thought there had to be a use for the flowers.  I already buy calendula salve for cuts and burns, so why not see what I can make out of the flowers. 

The first uses that I found were to make tea out of the flowers.  That idea doesn't appeal to me, right now anyway. I may experiment with it in the future.   I also came this link for making a salve and an another for making calendula extract.  The salve can be made at a later time with the extract so I chose the extract method. Luckily I have vodka on hand.  I don't normally, however, I had purchased it to make vanilla extract and hadn't gotten around to starting it yet.  With all the canning I have been doing lately, other projects are being put on hold. 

Place flowers in a glass jar.  Making sure there are no bugs on them.

Smash flowers to compact them.

Pour enough vodka to cover the flowers. 

I had to add more vodka as the flowers expanded a little when it was added.  Place in front of a window where it can receive light for one month.  Turn and shake the jar every once in awhile.  The directions indicate after a month you can strain off the liquid and the extract is ready to use.  It indicates the extract will keep for a long time.  I will keep you updated on the process.  Now to find a sunny location!

I have been a busy beaver lately

It's raining today.  It has been over a month since we have received any considerable amount of rain.  Unfortunately, it's a little too late for my garden.  I am hoping to get another cutting on my rhubarb and the rain should make that possible.  It will also help yard.  We have had to resort to watering our yard, so we didn't loose it completely.  The yard had become dry and very brittle.  You could hear it crunch when you walked on it.  The normal paths taken to water the beds, and take care of the chickens were starting to become more dirt than grass at this point.  The rain is a nice and slow steady shower.  Just the right amount to allow the water to soak into the ground at a good pace.

I have been a busy beaver lately.  I am starting to feel as if I am nesting, and I know that's not possible!  Maybe it's gearing up for winter.  Friday our family went to a cattle sale.  I had went to the sale barn as a child with my grandfather and have fond memories of those times.  Crazy me, I made a comment to my husband that I thought that was something we should do with our son.  He happened to have the day off and there was a sale going on.  Just my luck.

We got up early and headed to the sale, which was a 45 minute drive away.  The aroma when we arrived smelled just like my grandparent's place.  It brought back a lot of memories.  Needles to say, my son wasn't as impressed.  We watched as they auctioned off all ages of cattle as well as breeds.  We were able to get an idea how much beef was selling for if we ever get an acreage and decide to raise a few for meat.

It was a little disheartening to watch a mother cow and calf sell together, only to have the  calf brought back in to sell on its own.  The poor thing wanted its mother and was freaking out because they had taken her away.  A little while later a newly born calf was brought in by itself.  I kept nudging my husband to bid on it.  He told me to stop or they are going to think we are serious. I told him I was serious, which he knew.  He asked where I was going to put a calf.  I am sure I could come up with somewhere.....  We didn't get it, despite my desire to take it home.

I went to a tag sale with some friends on Saturday. Nicole had found so many neat things at a recent one to outfit her new house, she convinced me to go with her.  This was out of the ordinary for me.  It was merely a glorified garage sale.  You show up early and wait in line to get a shopping number.  This meant getting up early.  Something else I don't care to do.  My husband and son went with me.  I had looked through the pictures online and saw a pressure canner as well as a White sewing machine I was interested in.  I enlarged the picture of the pressure canner and thought I could see a $2_. I was hoping it was marked $20.  If so that was a good deal.  New pressure canners sell for around $200.  We arrived before Nicole and I waited in line to get my number.  I was 7.  After we got our number we then had to wait until 8:00 to be allowed in. 

During our 45 minute wait Nicole dared me to go ask where the things I was wanting were in the house.  She said one of the guys running the sale wouldn't tell you.  I took this as a challenge.  I went up to one of the other guys and asked about the pressure canner and things went forward from there.  The people outside not only told me where the things I was interested in were, such as the basement, they told me exactly how to get to the basement stairs from the front entrance, and where I needed to go once I got down the bottom of the stairs.  From then on, I was on a mission.  If you have ever went shopping with me, you have found I generally have in mind what I am looking for, and once I find it, I'm done.

At 8:00 we lined up and were let into the house in order of our numbers.  Nicole was let in a few people behind me and had other things she was looking at.  I quickly passed the older gals and headed straight for the basement.  I may have even been the first one down there.  My son went with me to carry anything that needed carrying.  The canner....  We found it, it was marked $20.  I opened the lid as my son held it to make sure it was as nice looking inside as it was on the outside, and off to the sewing machine we headed.  I found it, ripped the bottom half of the tag off of it and headed upstairs to find Nicole.  I was done, except for a small pyrex dish I spotted while walking through the kitchen.  It was $3.  Now to settle up, and have my husband pack up the sewing machine.  It was actually for my mom.  It came with a neat sewing table as well all for $65.  I will have to post pics of both the canner and sewing machine when I can get them taken.  All in all it was a good day for bargains!

Not Just For Canning

I am sure many of you have one of these funnels sitting around.  Maybe you use it once a year when you can fruits or vegetables.  I know I used to, until I placed it with my other funnels.  I use this funnel almost as much as I do my others.  I use it when I am filling a jar with rice or grain to keep it from spilling over the edges.  I use it when I measure my home made cleaners.  I also use it when I am saving broth and pouring it into a container.  It saves messes, and saving me from making a mess to clean up, saves me time!

My Latest Bargain~ Princess House Orchard Medley Dishes

This is my latest bargain.  The items were listed as a set for $30 on the local facebook for sale page.  The set includes items not pictured such as dinner plates, salad bowls, and cereal bowls, salt and pepper shakers, a cheese shaker and a spoon rest.  The plates and bowls weren't in the best of shape, which didn't really matter to me.  I wanted the set for the tea pot and pitcher.  The other items were a bonus.  The large bowl is called a pasta bowl, however, the pitcher fits inside nicely just like an old fashioned pitcher and bowl set would.
   

When I did some research I noticed the tea pot alone was selling for anywhere between $20 and $60.  The same with the pitcher, bowl and platter.  I paid $25 for the entire set and am pretty happy with my find.  The ensemble goes well in my dining room. 

Platter along with the sugar and creamer set

 Although there are pieces that aren't in the best shape, I have already found uses for them.  The larger salad bowls are being used to hold fruit in the kitchen.  The cereal bowls and dinner plates are being used for chicken food.  In the future I can glue one of the bowls to a plate and make a bird feeder.  Recycling items for another purpose is one of the things I enjoy.  It brings out my creative side.

Recycling Packaging

One of the things I try to do is find new uses for essentially useless items that would normally be thrown away or recycled.  

They come in different sizes.  They easily stack inside each other for storage.

These containers are from our local grocery store.  They are used to package meat for "bulk" sales.  I normally try not to buy things that come with packaging like this simply because of the waste.  If I can buy directly from the meat counter, I do.  

Once in awhile meat will be on sale and the only way to get the sale price is by buying in larger quantities with the extra packaging.  I have found many uses for these plastic trays around the house and yard.  One of my favorite uses right now is gathering produce from the garden.  

 They are very sturdy and hold up well.  I can pick vegetables, cut herbs, lettuce and so on.  Carry the tray around with me as I harvest.  Once I have brought the produce inside and cleaned it, the trays are placed in the dishwasher for cleaning to be used again. 

A No Cost Hamburger Press

Before you throw away your recycling you might want to see if you can find another use for it.  I have a tupperware hamburger press, but don't like using it.  Each time I use it, I feel like the plastic press is going to break.  The patties it makes are also a bit larger than I like.

I decided to recycle a sour cream container and press out the hamburger meat inside the container to make a patty.  To my surprise using two worked even better.  I put the meat into one container and took another container and stuck it on top, just like you would if you were going to put them away in a cupboard.  Pressed the bottom of the top container to flatten the meat into a patty and walla.... a hamburger patty was born.

The first few came out easily, however,  as I made more they became harder to remove.  I had to resort to smacking the container on the counter to loosen the patty for removal.  I bought ground beef in a bulk package and formed it into patties to freeze.  I placed paper between each patty before freezing to make it easy to separate them for grilling.

I love finding new uses for useless items!

My Garage Sale Find

Well sort of.  I don't do garage sales, but I did find this "pre-sale" listed on facebook for sale in our community.  I found this for $15 which I couldn't pass up.  I know many people love to shop garage sales.  I have been garage sale shopping before, however,  felt it was a lot of running around, rummaging through stuff to maybe find something you think you can't live without.

I prefer to live without those types of things.  I have gotten things from both my grandmothers when they passed away.  I feel I have more things than I have room for, and know what to do with at times.

The chair matches my dining room set.  It doesn't match the existing chairs perfectly, but close enough.  I had been regretting not getting more chairs when I purchased the set many years ago.  I had wanted to get two more captain chairs,  but didn't want to spend the extra money.  The captain chairs were more expensive than the ones without the arms. 

This addition will give me five chairs.  One more, and I would be set.  Now when we have family over for dinners, we no longer have to drag as many chairs from the kitchen to use. This chair is really comfortable to sit in too!  I wonder, will there be fighting over who gets the chair with the arms?

From Rags to Riches

Well, not exactly.  But these were being used as rags, and now that I have given them a work over we can once again use them for washrags.

Ready to be put back into use

 I was getting a larger pile of rags than I needed, so I decided to use my Serger to remove the frayed edges.

Serging the edges. 

Look how nice the edges look

     

This machine is very easy to thread.  It really cuts down on sewing time.  It allows you to use standard thread spools, unlike other machines that require you to purchase expensive thread, like shown in the picture below.  Since I have a large supply of embroidery thread, that is what I use.  My embroidery thread is a heavier weight and more durable to use when serging.  Normal lightweight thread is not suggested as it may have a tendency to break when serging because faster speeds are used.  There are so many things you can use a serger for.  I haven't begun to experiment with all of its uses.

Brother 1034 D Serger