Homemade Laundry Soap

A recipe for SAVINGS! Make your own liquid laundry soap. All items can be purchased at Wal-Mart in the same aisle. See complete recipe on the right-hand side of blog under Household Tips.

Yields: 2.25 gallons. Usage is 1/4 to 1/3 cup per load. 144 loads per recipe. Supplies cost us $3.00 (based on recipe amounts) which makes the Cost Per Load: $0.02. WOW...what a savings!

Jake & Elwood

Awww...aren't they precious! Jake and Elwood (full grown now) spent the first six months or so living in the hen house. What?? Yes, we wanted to introduce the kittens to the hens as soon as possible so what better way than to combine living quarters. Plus it was a safe and warm place. We trained the boys to go inside the hen house with the girls each night at dusk (food and playtime was involved). At first the girls were a little unsettled but they stayed on their roost and the boys climbed up into the nesting boxes to sleep. We built them a shelf for an eating platform so the hens would stay out of their food. It worked out great. Everyone got along just fine and still do so today. As the boys got older they wanted to stay outside at night and roam (I hated it; afraid something would get them), but it's all worked out.

Morning Fog

This picture was taken early one spring/summer morning from our deck looking to the east.  Seeing it makes us anxious for this spring to arrive.  We've already been reviewing garden catalogs (Gurney's and Seeds of Change) for this year's selections.  It's hard to tell from this photo but we have two raised planting beds on each side of the greenhouse (which Steve (hubby) built all three).  He's so handy! 

I just love this view from our deck; it's what I see when I wake each morning (minus the fog).