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 Tomatoes are Growing!

 

I was starting to wonder if I would get tomatoes at all this year.  One of the varieties I planted is called Early Girl, and another is a 4th of July breed, which indicated it should be "ready" around the 4th of July.  No such luck for me.  Here the 4th of July has passed, and I still don't have any ripe tomatoes to enjoy.  In fact they are still quite small.

 I choose to plant tomatoes in large pots rather than in the garden bed.  This way I can use the tomato cages to support them easier and move them around the yard if I need to.  I try to keep different varieties separated so they do not cross pollinate.  It is also a lot easier to harvest them, in my opinion.  The vines can be propped up, and the fruit kept off of the ground, where bugs tend to get at them easier.

Thankfully with the storm this week, I only lost one tomato.  It fell off of the plant into the pot.  In the past, storms have almost destroyed my tomato crop and the cages that I use to contain them. 

Preparing for a Heat Wave

 When it gets hot I don't like to use my oven.  I try to make things rather than buy them.  Not only is it better for you, it saves money.  One of the things my family loves is chocolate chip cookies.  But then, whose doesn't!  For my family it can't be just any chocolate chip cookies either.  They have to be Nestle Toll House cookies.  The forecast for the upcoming week is going to be extremely hot.  Down right miserable in my book.

I decided to take advantage of time before hand to make a supply of cookies that will hopefully get them through the extreme heat heading our way.  I usually make a batch at a time and only bake half of the batch.  I put the dough in the refrigerator and bake the rest later so they have fresh cookies again. 

This time I made a batch in a half and baked almost all of them.  Having only one rack in my oven this was a project over a few hours.  In the meantime I took care of laundry and dishes so the appliances would not have to run during the hottest part of the day.  Next project...muffins!

The "Not So Little" Ones

It's hard to believe, but it has been four weeks now since we brought the little chickens home.  They are growing up so fast.  My husband made the comment yesterday they are no longer the little frightened babies they were.  They are more like teenagers.  They don't scatter as much when they are left outside to play, but rather look at you.  It's as if they are thinking... yeah, what do you want?  They are getting very quick and less easy to catch.

Where one goes they all tend to follow.

 The two buff orphington's still stick together.  Where one is, the other is usually close by.

White Rock with the two Buff Orphington's (Amber and Ginger)

The white rock is twice the size of all the others.  She is starting to look more like a turkey vulture with her curved beak than a chicken.  I can only hope she is going through her "ugly duckling" phase.  It is still a mystery why she is so much larger than the others.  She is a larger breed bird, but so are some of the older girls.  There wasn't this much disparity in size with them. I am thinking we should name her "Big Bird".

Black Sex Link

Little Leghorn

Notice the shredded tail feathers on the Leghorn (right). She is still the favorite and I have a feeling the others sense it.  She is the only one with some of her tail feathers shredded.

Iced Coffee....My new addiction!

A friend of mine posted this recipe for Perfect Iced Coffee she found on the Pioneer Woman's Blog.  She insisted I try the recipe, because it was simply amazing.  There are many scrumptious looking recipes on her blog!  I have just never ventured into actually trying any of them.  As far as iced coffee goes,  I have tried iced coffee in the past and hadn't made up my mind if I really liked it.  I think the hefty price of those Starbucks coffee's persuaded me that I didn't really care for it that much.  And to add ice cubes to a cup of coffee was just yucky to me.  I will drink coffee after is has cooled, however, when adding ice to it is seems to get diluted too much.

I am sorry to report after being persuaded to try the recipe I am hooked, as is my son.  I wasn't sure I was going to like it, so I didn't want to spend much money on coffee to use.  I decided to get a container of Folgers Country Roast simply because it was on sale the day I was at the store.  I have more expensive coffee, but didn't want to possibly "waste it" if I didn't like it.

I used 4 ounces of coffee to 2 liters of water.  I didn't want to make a huge batch if I wasn't going to like it.  I let it sit overnight and strained it the following morning.  I found most of the grounds had soaked up enough water and were heavier, therefore, sitting on the bottom of the pitcher.  I poured the coffee through a cheese cloth which I placed inside a strainer.  Very little grounds ended up coming out of the pitcher which made clean up easier.

I had this squeeze bottle saved from Agave Nectar and used it for the sweetened condensed milk.  It works well.

After straining the coffee, chill it for a few hours so it's good and cold, and it's ready.  I used sweetened condensed milk and a splash of half and half.  It was amazing!  I am now craving iced coffee later in the day, but know if I have any I would end up being up all night unable to sleep.  I could try making some with decaf coffee for late night cravings in the future.

Put it all in a jar with a lid and shake!

So Good!

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?

Surviving the Storm

Yesterday was an eventful one.  We were awoke a little after 3:00 am. to the sound of a storm approaching.  I quickly came down stairs to turn on the television to listen for storm alerts.  As soon as I got the TV turned on,  the power went out.  I quickly grabbed a flashlight, and at that time my husband was telling my son to get out of bed and head down stairs.  He was in such a deep sleep he couldn't get up.  I started yelling at them to get down here.  I was at the basement stairway with flashlights waiting for them.

By the time they finally got to the main floor, things had settled down outside.  We spent the next half hour trying to see the damage through the lightening.  The electricity remained out for several hours so we had to wait until it became light outside before we could venture out.  From the lightening we could see several limbs down around the house.  We only have one pine tree, so all of the limbs were from neighboring trees.

After going back to sleep for a few hours we awoke to start cleaning up.  Our neighbors privacy fence was blown down in two spots.  Their dog kennel was turned on it's side.  I let the chickens out and they seemed to be shaken as well.  I'm sure it was a surprise to see branches laying all over the yard.  I thought we would immediately start hauling the branches out of the yard, but my husband insisted it could wait until he got home later in the day.  He was already late in leaving for work because of the storm.  We cleaned up some shingles, pots and plants, and located our trash bins, and left the rest for later.

I intended on getting pictures of the damage, however, before I knew it, all of the branches in our yard were gone.  Our neighbor had fixed his fence, turned his dog kennel back over, taken all of the branches from his yard, as well as ours, and hauled them away.  If it weren't for the scattered potted plants and leaves in the yard you would hardly know the storm had been here.

That's how you know you are living in Iowa.  No one sits around in the aftermath of a storm.  They all get to work to pick up the pieces and get back to life.

It's a Girl!... I mean GOAT!

Gypsy Rose

  Actually it's both.  Meet Gypsy Rose.  This is my girlfriend's goat.  She was born in February.

Becky and her goat, Gypsy Rose

 Becky's husband came up the the name Gypsy, and her daughter chose the name Rose.  When you look up the term gypsy the definition of one inclined to a nomadic, unconventional way of life comes up.  This describes Becky herself.  She would like to live unconventionally when compared to most people now days.  Does getting back to a simpler life mean living unconventionally? 

Gypsy Rose and her mama

When Becky first told me her husband was getting her a goat for their anniversary we discussed her bringing it to town for visits.  She wondered how it would do on a car ride.  I told her Barney seemed to love it.  Just put a sheet on one of your seats and you should be good to go. 

What about a diaper?  Would it need one?  I could sew one with my new serger!  Wouldn't that be cute!  And a seat belt.  Should you strap it into the seat so it's safe?  And to think, growing up we didn't have mandatory seat belt laws.  We were allowed to roll around in the back seat without being restrained.  Mom's arm was our seat belt.  If she was making a sudden stop, up would come the arm.  It became habit to "catch" us.  Even if we weren't in the front seat with her, the arm would still come up.  Like that was going to save us, yeah right.  Now, if you go around a corner your seat belt almost chokes you because it's in the lock position thinking it needs to brace for something.

Since my friends also live in town, the goat can't be kept at their home.  Our city ordinance will not allow goats unless you have an acre of land.  I don't understand that concept. I think it's a little backwards in thinking. 

A goat makes less noise than a dog.  It won't keep you up all night barking at it's own shadow.  It won't pee on your tires or trees.  It might eat some of your trees, however, if you aren't careful.  Goats are also smaller than some dogs.  What would be the harm of having a small breed in your back yard?  Larger cities allow them.  A pigmy or a nigerian dwarf goat are both small breeds of goats.  Just look how little and cute they can be. 

Many years ago having a goat and chickens in your yard was the norm.  Not only were they pets, they provided you with food.  Now people act as if it's uncivilized to have those types of animals as pets.  However, having a pet snake or rat is acceptable??

In the meantime, Gypsy Rose will stay at her place of birth with her mama and get frequent visits from Becky and her family.  She will get to play with other goats and have lots of room to run around and have fun being a goat.  Becky now has a goat to call her own, after wanting one for so many years.  She will be going to see Gypsy Rose every chance she gets.  She will take her for walks, feed her treats, and spoil her as she would any other pet.

 Did you see the leash they got her to take her for walks?  I thought about getting a leash for my chickens and my husband just laughed at me like I was am crazy.  Don't laugh, they actually make a leash for poultry!  This is just one of them:  http://indoorducks.com/leashes.html

Salvaging an Old Pillow Case to Make a Drying Bag for Herbs

This pillow case is several years old.  And by several, I mean over 20 years old.  It was given to my family after our house fire in 1982.  My mom had passed it on to me when I got married and moved out of the house.  I always thought the embroidery design was nice and having it be my favorite color made it even more appealing to me.  An embroidered pillow case is not something you see very often anymore.  Instead of throwing it away or using it as a rag, I decided to cut of the area that had worn thin and come up with a new use for the item.  

I plant a lot of onions and could use another bag to dry onions or herbs in.  After serging the edges and adding a hem along the top to run a cord through I now have a new drying bag!

Serging the edges inside the pillow case

Since this didn't need to be a "pretty" project I wasn't too concerned that the hem was uneven.

I hemmed the edge with my sewing machine. 

I purchased rope to make a drawstring for .37 a yard. And a set of draw string stoppers for $1.48.  You need to be sure the rope you choose will fit through the opening holes in the draw string stopper.  I used almost 2 yards of the rope for the project.

Place tape around the rope before cutting or else the edges can fray.  

 

 Thread the rope through a pin to guide it through the hem in the pillow case.  Be sure to leave a small opening when you are hemming to allow room to thread the rope.  I used a diaper pin.

Threading the rope through the hem

Once you have threaded the rope through the entire hem place each end through the draw string stoppers.

Tie knots in the end of the rope to keep them from pulling back through the stopper opening.

Completed projcect

Total cost $2.22

This will make a nice drying bag.  It will be easy to wash and dry after each use. Not to mention I was able to recycle something instead of throwing it away.

Greens From the Garden

Peas, Broccoli, and Green Beans

 I picked the green beans for the first time.  I planted them really heavy so I would be able to get enough to eat.  There was enough for a huge pot, probably three meals.  I cooked them all at the same time with some home made bacon thrown in to add some flavor.  We now have some for left overs!