Nancy on the Home Front

My Garden: Abundant Garlic!

Last fall I planted a bed of garlic.

garlic, cloves, gardening — Garlic broken into cloves.

It had been years since I’d planted garlic but we use garlic all the time and I was hoping for a good harvest. I kept the bed weeded and watered. I read up on garlic, how to grow it, when to harvest and how to dry it. As the leaves began to turn brown I decided to harvest. After all the “experts” said to harvest your garlic when the leaves were 2/3rds died back.

Was I ever surprised at my harvest! The stems didn’t seem that thick and I wondered if the bulbs would be small and not formed well. There are a few smaller sized bulbs but for the most part the bulbs are well formed and quite large. I do believe we’ll have enough garlic to get through the winter.

harvest, garden, prudent living — Abundant Garlic Harvest

I set up two sawhorses in our garage with an old screen door on top. It was a perfect place to dry the garlic. You don’t want to dry it in direct sun. Now our garage smells like garlic but I don’t mind.

Wonder if I can figure out how to braid the garlic?

garlic bulbs, garlic sets, garden — Garlic bulbs braided together.

Won’t be long before I’ll be planting garlic again.

garlic cloves, garden — Each clove is pushed into the soil.

Linked to: HomesteadSimple, ASouthernDaydreamer, SidewalkShoes, MsGreenthumbJean, anOregonCottage, BlissfulRhythm, TootsieTime, LittleHouseintheSuburbs, ThePrairieHomestead

Frugal Tips: Personal Care Made From Scratch

The past two weeks I have talked about making foods from scratch to save money and making household cleaners to save money. You can also make many personal care products at home to save money. The list of things I want to try is far longer than the items you see below.

One of the favorite things I’ve made is Homemade Lip Balm. What a success! It was easy to make and I was able to use our own honey and beeswax. I poured it into little tins, which worked out to be a great way to store it. It’s going to be a perfect gift item to make for Christmas.

lip balm, prudent living — Peppermint Lip Balm

After my success with lip balm I decided to make some Hand Lotion. I was just as pleased with the results. Absolutely loved the scent from the lavender essential oil I used.

lavendar hand lotion, homemade, frugal tip — Hand lotion thickened overnight.

My Master Tonic recipe would fall under personal care. This is a tonic that you can mix up each spring and fall. It stores well and when ever someone is feeling like they are battling something out comes the Master Tonic. This picture shows the tonic before it was strained.

natural antibiotic, master tonic — Master Tonic

In the spring I mixed up a batch of Mama’s Bug-Be-Gone Bug Spray.

homemade bug spray, chemical free — Bug spray ingredients.

If you read Prudent Living’s free online magazine this bug spray recipe may be familiar to you. It works really well and is so much better for you than a commercial bug spray. For other recipes check out the online magazine!

Prudent lIving, online magazine — Prudent Living Magazine

Another favorite homemade salve is the Sore Muscle Salve that I recently made. I couldn’t have made it at a better time as my muscles have been so sore from all the weeding I am doing! You will love using this salve at the end of a busy day.

As you look through these various recipes to make these products I hope you are inspired to try them. I have quite a list of things I want to try in the next year. What sort of personal care items do you make from scratch?

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Linked to: OffTheGrid-30, LearningTheFrugalLife, Earning-My-Cape, WeAreThatFamily, TheThriftyHome, FrugallySustainable, FemineAdventures, Thrifty101, ThePrudentPantry, LearningTheFrugalLife

Monday Facebook Update!

welcome, Facebook, Prudent Living — Welcome to On The Home Front

It’s been an exciting weekend. For weeks I’ve been encouraging friends to “like” the On the Home Front Facebook page. Little by little the “likes” have been increasing in number. However in the last week the numbers have increased by over 50, this weekend I think there were 30 “likes” until I am just 5 away from reaching 200. Not bad for a new Facebook page!

So thank you to all my faithful readers who have taken the time to “like” the On The Home Front Facebook page. I couldn’t have done it without you! If you haven’t had a chance to like it, head over to the On The Home Front Facebook page and click the “like” button under my cover photo!

Facebook, prudent living — On The Home Front Facebook page

Have a wonderful week and be sure to check my blog out tomorrow when I talk about making personal care items made from scratch.

Recipe Box: Kale Salad

I’ve seen numerous recipes online for various kale salads. I attended a dinner meeting recently where we all had to bring something for the meal. One of the other ladies brought this very simple kale salad. I thought it was delicious and so easy to make. We have an abundance of kale this year so we’ve been making this salad on a regular basis!

Kale Salad

Dressing:
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 tsp chili sauce
celery seeds to taste

Chop up a bunch of kale. If you want to blanch it quickly you can do that or just eat it raw. We’ve been eating it raw.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

Stir the dressing into the kale, dress the salad according to your tastes. The dressing will keep so if you don’t use it all up you an save it for another salad.

Chill in the refrigerator for a little while for the flavors to combine. The great thing about kale is it won’t wilt when dressed!

Enjoy!

salad, prudent living, recipe box — Kale Salad

Linked to: RattlebridgeFarm, NotYourOrdinaryRecipes, SimplySweetHome, HomeMaidSimple, SimpleLivingDianeBalch, AnnKroeker, MomTrends, JulieJewels1, AtThePicketFence, Stuff-and-Nonsense, 21stCenturyHousewife, PremeditatedLeftovers, LocalSugarHawaii, TheCountryCook, ComfyInTheKitchen, CheeriosAndLattes, CountryMommaCooks, KBandWhitesnakesHome, SixSistersStuff, NaturalMothersNetwork, MakeAheadMealsForBusyMoms, MyFavoriteFinds, DelightfullyDowling, MrsHappyHomemaker, SweetSav, OurDelightfulHome, BlessedWithGrace, RealFoodForager, Nap-TimeCreations, MandysRecipeBox, InsideBruCrew, 33ShadesofGreen, ItsABlogParty, TheNYMelsroseFamily, KellyTheKitchenKop, TheKingsCourtIV, GingersnapCrafts, TheEaseOfFreeze, ALittleNosh, EverydayTastes, MizHelensCountryCottage, DelightfulOrder, BrambleberryCottage, LifeAsMom, Seven-Alive, KatherinesCorner

Prudent Pantry: Preserving Kale

My garden is full of kale right now and despite the fact that we’ve been enjoying kale salad and dried kale we are not able to eat it all. So I decided to freeze some. This is a very simple process.

Select your kale that you want to freeze. Pick early in the day so the greens are crisp and fresh. About 14 pounds of greens makes 7-quart bags.

greens, freezing, prudent living — Small bunch of kale.

Wash the greens and cut off any of the woody stems or damaged pieces.

Get a large pot of boiling water ready; it should be about 2/3rds full. You will also need a large bowl full of ice and cold water.

Because the kale contains enzymes and bacteria that over time will break down and destroy nutrients and change the color, flavor and texture during storage, kale requires a brief heat treatment called blanching. Basically it means placing your kale in the boiling water for two minutes.

Then place in the ice water for two minutes.

Drain.

Use your foodsaver or a Ziploc bag. You want to get as much air out of the bag as possible.

kale, greens, freezing — Kale ready for the freezer.

That’s it! You’re done. Place your kale in the freezer and it will be ready to use this winter.

Linked to: LauraWillaimsMusings, ThePrudentPantry, HomesteadRevival, ThePrairieHomestead, TheMorrisTribe, MamalDiane, PremeditatedLeftovers

My Garden: Protecting Our Blueberries

We have ten blueberry bushes planted at one end of our vegetable garden. Some of the bushes are early-bearing; some mid-season and some are late-bearing. As a result once the berries start turning blue we have ripe berries for quite a long time!

I think blueberries are my favorite fruit and I just love having them on my cereal in the morning.

Blueberries are also a favorite with the birds. Much as we like our feathered friends we do not want to share our berries. With a few cut saplings, a drill and some sheetrock screws my husband made a great blueberry cage to protect the berries from the birds!

berries, protecting, prudent living — Blueberry Cage

The saplings we cut out of our woods and everything else we had on hand. Once the cage was made we covered it with netting, which we stapled in place.

berries, protecting — Corners of Blueberry Cage

At one end we have a simple opening, the netting is stapled to a post, which we can lift and open to get under the netting. With the exception of one very smart robin that has figured out how to come and go, the rest of the birds stay out. As a result the blueberries are protected!

I like the rustic look and I really love the abundance of blueberries!

Linked to: MsGreenthumbJean , SidewalkShoes, SouthernDayDreamer, HomesteadSimple, anOregonCottage, Kadie-SevenAlive, Thrifty101, BlissfulRhythm, HomemakersChallenge, TootsieTime, LittleHouseInTheSuburbs, DeborahJeansDandelionHouse, LilSuburbanHomestead, ThePrudentPantry

Frugal Tip: Made From Scratch Saves Cash (Part Two)

Last week I talked about how making certain foods at home can save you money. Did you know you can also make all sorts of household cleaners and detergents that will also save you money!

Making my own window cleaner is something I have been doing for ages. In the last year I also started making my own household cleaner similar to “409”. It works so well and is so cheap to make.

household cleaners, homemade, prudent pantry — Ingredients for a simple window cleaner.

Making my own laundry detergent was also something I’d wanted to do for the longest time. When I started writing this blog I figured what better time to try this. Not only did I find it was very easy to make but I’ve been so pleased with the results.

homemade cleaners, prudent living — Homemade laundry detergent ingredients.

Once I had made laundry detergent I figured why not make my own liquid hand soap. For just the cost of a bar of soap you will have a gallon of liquid hand soap.

soap, handmade — Liquid hand soap ingredients.

I used a bar of peppermint soap and the resulting liquid hand soap has such a wonderful smell.

homemade cleaners — Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

The last thing I tried was making a toilet bowl cleaner.

No I’m not sharing a picture of a dirty toilet. But you can imagine the final result.

toilet cleaner, prudent living — Clean toilet, inside and out!

With very little time and expense you can make so many of your own cleaning products that will do the job well and be much healthier for you to use!

LearningTheFrugalLife, RaisingHomemakers, FrugallySustainable, TheThriftyHome, WeAreThatFamily, FeminimeAdventures

Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe for honey-lime chicken enchiladas was adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com. Since then I’ve also found it elsewhere such as on the Insidebrucrewlife.com blog. Some of the variations also have you add heavy cream to the salsa. I left the cream out.

Remember the Beer Can Chicken I made last week? Well there was some leftover chicken and it was just enough to make these delicious enchiladas! I imagine they would freeze well; they certainly heat up well for lunch the next day!

Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp honey
4-5 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp chili powder
½ tsp garlic powder
1 pound cooked chicken, shredded (you can also use shredded pork)

8-10 flour tortillas
1 pound Pepperjack Cheese shredded
16oz Homemade Tomatillo Mexican Salsa

Directions:

Mix first four ingredients together and toss with the shredded chicken.

Let it marinate for at least a half an hour. Pour some of the salsa on the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and some shredded cheese; reserve a cup of the cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in the dish.

Pour the rest of the salsa over the enchiladas then sprinkle with about 1 cup of cheese. Bake 350 for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Enchiladas, recipe box — Honey-Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Prudent Pantry: Homemade Sore Muscle Salve

Several months ago I was reading the ModernAlternativeMama blog, and came across this recipe for making your own sore muscle salve. As gardening season was coming up I bookmarked it just in case I might want to make it at some point.

After too many days of working in the garden fighting the weeds I decided it was time to try this sore muscle salve. I placed an order with Mountain Rose Herbs and decided to use my own lavender, which I’ve been harvesting.

The ingredients are few:

salve, prudent living — Almond Oil, Yarrow, Arnica Flowers and Lavender

½ cup of any edible, safe oil, I used almond oil
1 Tbsp lavender flowers, dried
1 Tbsp yarrow dried
1 Tbsp arnica flowers, dried
2 Tbsp of bee’s wax

First pour your oil into a medium saucepan. Add the herbs.

Stir to combine them, turn the pan on low heat and allow this to simmer (not boil, keep it very low and warm) and infuse for 2-3 hours. I found that I actually had to turn the stove off at times, we have a gas stove and even the low heat was too high.

After 2-3 hours strain the herbs out of the mixture, reserving the oil and discarding the herbs.

herbs, oil, salve — Strain the herbs and discard.

Return the oil to the pan and add the beeswax.

Keeping it on low heat, stir occasionally until the wax has melted. Pour into a 4oz glass jar and put a lid on it. As it cools, it will solidify into a creamy salve.

To use it just put a little onto your fingers and rub into your sore muscles. The smell is wonderful and I know my muscles are going to enjoy this special treatment.

Linked to: HomeMakersChallenge, AGlimpseInside, KatherinesCorner, HomesteadSimple.com, LittleHouseInTheSuburbs, InsideBruCrew, OffTheGridAt-30

My Garden: Sylvia’s Seed Saving Class #3

Attending the seed saving class is one of the highlights of the month for me. Sylvia’s gardens are always picture perfect and it’s amazing to see the difference one month makes in her gardens. Of course my gardens change as well, but since I’m in them everyday I don’t see it so clearly.

gardens, seed saving — Sylvia’s Garden’s

The agenda for our July class was to check on the progress of the grains and other plants that were going to seed.

wheat, seed saving, Prudent Living — Heirloom wheat

Also discussed were protecting crops from birds and animals. When you are saving your seeds the plants need to be protected from insects, birds and animals and to do this you want to use natural methods. Sylvia covers her grains and ties a string around them to keep the chipmunks out. She’s tried traps but once the grain is ripe the animals much prefer the grain to anything she can put in the trap.

wheat, seeds, seed saving — Ripe wheat heads.

She also used a shiny bird flash tape, which the birds think is fire! I guess it works, as we didn’t see any birds in her garden.

protecting crops, grains — Covered grain and bird flash tape.

We also talked about the various isolation techniques used when you want to save your seeds as well as maintaining variety purity and vigor. Plants can be isolated by covering them with row covers.

plant isolation, seed saving — Using row covers to isolate plants.

They can also be isolated by only planting one variety.

lettuce, seeds, seed saving — Flowering lettuce.

I find the two hours well spent and I come away with pages of notes and a renewed interest in growing and saving my own seeds.

seed saving, gardening, prudent living — Our outdoor classroom.

Linked to: MsGreenthumbJean , ASouthernDayDreamer, SidewalkShoes, AnOregonCottage, BlissfulRhythm, TootsieTime, DeborahJeanDandelionHouse