Sustainable Communities

For the past several years, Steve and I have discussed how we long to live in a close, rural community;  Neighbors helping eachother, bartering services and goods.  I found a fantastic post about this at Down To Earth.   Some of our friends and family have expressed similiar interest in the idea, making even the possibility of having something like this be a reality, a bit exciting. 

Our Play Space

I've set up our playroom to be as organized and open as possible. The kids love to run amok and need plenty of space to do so. Since our downstairs is only around 750 sq feet I decided to devote one of the rooms for their use. We are planning on homeschooling our kids but won't officially start for a couple of years. We may still be in this house at that point in which case this would become their work room as well. For now though, it serves its purpose well.

This is the main entry into our playroom, being at the front of the house. The floor is covered with square foam mats that link together like puzzle pieces. Our entire downstairs is hardwood so they're great for extra cushioning (especially when kids are learning to walk.)


This is our current storage wall. So far, it's just the one bookcase and desk which serves as a changing table and place for child care supplies. I think in the next few months we may get a second bookcase to expand our storage and staging areas. The low exposed shelves display several activities and toys for the kids to use when they want. The top of the bookcase has doors which allows me to store the rest of their toys/activities conveniently out of sight. When I notice them not playing with something for a few days I switch it out with something new. This way there isn't an overwhelming number of toys for them to be distracted by.


Once you open up the doors you can see what I mean. Organizing like this also helps me stay on top of what they're playing with; things that are broken or they are too old for get thrown out/put away quickly instead of adding to a growing pile of "stuff" in a huge bin.

More on baking bread

At the request of a friend, I recorded the process of forming the dough into a ball and then into a loaf.
At this point in the process, my dough had already risen and been separated into 2 portions. The way that I'm forming the dough ball here is the same technique you will use to form the dough for the first rise, and also if you desire to make dinner rolls or hamburger buns. (Though you will want to pinch the bottom of the dough ball together tightly and roll it around to smooth out wrinkles on the bottom.)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Baking Bread

I am by no means an expert baker, but have been working at this recipe for several months now and have had consistently tasty results. Here is a tutorial for making plain white sandwich bread. This recipe makes enough dough for 2 loaves, but you could also make dinner rolls or hamburger buns. This time, I made one loaf and 10 dinner rolls.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine 1 Tbsp active dry yeast and 2 Tbsp sugar. To this, add 1 3/4 cup rice milk (you can use regular, I'm just a non dairy gal) that has been heated to between 100 and 110 degrees. (Too cool and the yeast wont activate. Too hot and you'll kill it.)

Whisk until yeast is dissolved, then add just over 3 Tbsp of vegetable oil, whisk again. Let this sit for 5 minutes so the yeast has time to activate. It should look bubbly and frothy.

While the yeast is activating, weigh out 1 lb 8 oz of bread flour and measure 2 1/4 tsp of sea salt. After the yeast has activated, add around 1 cup of flour and the salt and turn mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) to the lowest speed to incorporate. Then slowly add remaining flour, or as much as it takes to clean the side of the bowl. (I usually will have to add more, depending on humidity, up to 1/3 cup.) Pay attention to how much dough is sticking to the sides and underneath the paddle.
Remove the paddle and switch to the dough hook. Start mixer back on lowest speed and add another sprinkling of flour if needed. (It might not seem like much, but you can see the difference between how clean the bowl is with the paddle and how clean it is with the dough hook. You want a nice shiny bowl with nothing sticking to the sides.) Turn mixer up to medium speed and knead for 5 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. The easiest way to do this is to pull the sides together toward the back. Rotate, and repeat, so you're stretching the dough around to one point (the bottom of the ball.) The skin should be smooth and elastic with no tears. Pinch the dough together on the bottom to seal and gently shape. Transfer to a large, generously oiled bowl and cover tightly with saran wrap then a tea towel. Place in the oven (which is off) along with a shallow dish of steaming hot water. Allow to rise for one hour.
After the dough has doubled in size, punch down and remove from bowl. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Gently work in your hands to remove excess air bubbles and form into a rough ball shape. Weigh the dough, then cut into 2 equal portions. Take one portion and repeat process of forming a ball to get the nice, tight smooth skin on top. Put this side of the ball down on your work surface. Using your fingers, gently press into a rectangle, about the length and width of a 9x5 bread pan. Working lengthwise, tightly roll the dough and pinch the seam to close. Turn ends under and pinch to close. Place in bread pan sprayed with cooking oil. Cover with a damp tea towel and place in your microwave with a cup of steaming water. Let rise 45 minutes.
Take second portion and divide into 2 oz portions (I ended up with 10.) Gently form each portion into the same ball as before, being sure to tightly pinch the bottom to close. Place ball on unfloured surface, cup your hands over top and roll until skin is tight. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, enclose in a plastic bag and let rise for 15 minutes.
Bake rolls at 375 degrees for around 15 minutes or until golden brown. Be sure you still have steaming water in your oven, they will continue to rise while baking.

After removing your rolls increase oven temp to 400 degrees. Put bread in oven (check that steaming water again!) and bake for 20-30 minutes or until browned. (Mine is usually done in just over 20.) Remove bread from pan asap and let cool on cooling rack. (To check doneness, tap on the bottom of the loaf, it should sound hollow.) Allow to rest at least 5 minutes before cutting.
And that's it! Hot, fresh and delicious. (I know there are are several steps, but each step in itself is very easy. I usually am able to make this while the kids are up and running around without a problem.) Let the bread cool completely then wrap in saran wrap, or better yet, stick in an old grocery store bread bag.

Small Changes, Part 2

Ditch the Disposables Challenge: Paper towels and household cleaners

So far things have been going well with the re-useable cloths instead of paper towels. I get out 2 each morning, one for cleaning the babies and one for spills and general cleaning. I use new ones each day for 4-5 days then wash all of them with a larger load, no need for a special load, which saves energy.

In addition, I have stopped buying many household cleaners. I have found that the cleaners made at home with simple ingredients that are cheap and readily available work just as well as, if not better than, store brands. My all-purpose cleaner of choice is a 50/50 split of white vinegar and water. For clogged drains I pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain followed by 1/2 cup of vinegar, allow that to sit for a few minutes then flush down with a gallon of boiling water. I use Borax and washing soda when I wash the kids cloth diapers and I'm planning on making laundry detergent with them as well. Check out Earth Easy for tons of great non-toxic home care tips.

Ditching the Disposables, Part 1

Over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess there's a challenge a-foot; "choosing disposable product(s) to leave behind for two months in favor of an environmentally-friendly reusable product." My ultimate goal is to make my husbands paycheck stretch as far as it can, and help provide a healthy, happy home for my family, so this idea fits right in.

One of the first changes I made was to mopping the floors. I had been using a popular brand of pre-packaged wet cloths to scrub the floors, and they worked well. There was a scrubby strip for hard to remove "things" and the sheets were pre-soaked; no need for a bucket of yucky water. However, to get the floor as clean as I like I had to put in some serious elbow grease, and it would take 2 sheets to thoroughly clean my downstairs. That works out to be 112 sheets, per year, full of chemicals I'd rather not use around my kids and will ultimately end up in the landfill.

This is where the H2O Steam Mop comes in. This mop converts plain water to steam to clean without the use of chemicals and comes with with a washable mopping pad. I have seen a few negative reviews of this product for things like its cord being too short and leaving the floors too wet afterwards. They are minor annoyances but to me the pros far outweigh the cons. (It's easy enough to replug for each room and after mopping I do some cleaning or other work upstairs for a few minutes while it's drying.) I do love that I don't have to do any more scrubbing or scratching, just hold the mop over a stain for a few seconds and it comes right up. It comes with accessories too, one of them a attachment to steam your carpets and another smaller hand held steamer. Best of all there are no chemicals, a big plus for me with two babies running, rolling, and playing on the floors all day.

Part 2 coming soon... the paper towel challenge.

Adventures in soap making

My sister, Jen, and I have recently been discussing ways to simplify, scale back, and budget more wisely. She mentioned an interest in making her own soap as a way to save money but also to have fun being creative. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the everyday and feel overwhelmed by deadlines, never-ending chores, and the monatany that can come with throwing yourself into your work, whatever that may be. Having some kind of creative outlet is a wonderful way to stay balanced and refocus. I frequently find that after spending some time in my garden, or completing a fun project I'm more motivated to tackle the less glamorous tasks around my house.

So we gathered our ingredients and set about this process as detailed over at Rhonda Jean's blog.
We chose to use Olive, Grapeseed, and Coconut oils and were rewarded greatly when the smells started permeating the kitchen. We cooked the oils together on the stove, just to melt the coconut oil (it was in solid form) and bring all the mixed oils to 140 degrees. We also mixed our water and lye outside and left it to cool to the same temperature; when they're both at 140 degrees, you combine them and start mixing.
We had a little bit of difficulty timing this though and had to use ice packs to cool the oils because the lye mixture had been hovering at 140 for a while. heh.



Fortunately we had an immersion blender so mixing only took about 5 minutes or so. We poured the mixture into our molds (8x8 tupperware containers greased with cooking spray) and left them to dry till the next morning. I had some difficulty removing the soap from the tupperware. I really think silicone is the way to go next time, there's much less chance of damaging it. The soap was firm but still slightly maleable so I cut the blocks into bars and tried out some stamps.








I was able to exert more focused pressure on and get a clearer impression with the smaller stamps, the large ones were faint and generally unimpressive. But the bars look lovely and have a subtle clean scent to them. Jen and I each got 11 bars of soap that we'll be able to use once it's cured, about 6 weeks.

Welcome home

I had been worried that after our week long trip we would come home to tomato plants that were dead, dried up, toppled over, or something equally depressing.
Imagine my delight when we were able to not only salvage many of the perfectly ripe tomatoes, but had enough to make almost a gallon of Steve's fresh salsa. These are a mix of Jet Star and Big Boy hybrids; large, firm, and much meatier than those you would find in the grocery store. I had wanted to grow some heirloom variety, but in a pinch Lowe's seed racks came through just fine.

The salsa is wonderful, made with vidalia onions, jalapenos, and plenty of garlic. Our collection of canned foods is growing, you can see the jars of bread and butter pickles I made a few weeks ago. The recipe is from Rhonda Jean at Down To Earth and is terrificly spicy and crunchy. I eat these right out of the jar or as a complement to a meal; it seems almost a shame to put them in sandwiches. ;) They're not as sweet as the ones found in the supermarket but I like them especially for that reason. Unfortunately our cucumber plants did not survive the trip so this was the last batch I was able to make with homegrown cucumbers. Oh well, 8 pints should last a while anyway, and there's always next year....