Back to the Basics

Finding joy in gardening

2011-10-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

So as many of you know, Jeremy and I have been gardening for about 3 years now. Here are a couple of pictures to show you how we started... and what we have grown to...

YEAR ONE

So this is what we started out with... just a small 8 x 8 raised flower box. We live on a MOUND of Yazoo City clay, so nothing really grows in the dirt. We had to build up. It is so funny to look back and see what we started with!

Still from the first year, but we added flowers to help get rid of bugs.

Some of the crops later on in the season

YEAR TWO

So I can't find a picture of the actual garden, but we expanded it to a 16 x 16 raised bed and added several different types of vegetables as you can see from the pics above.

YEAR THREE: SPRING

One half of the garden. We ended up expanding it to a 32 x 36 raised flower bed. We grew tomatoes, green beans, zipper cream peas, okra, cucumbers, and butter beans. We had a VERY successful year and had more crop than we could fit in our freezer!!!

Second half of garden

Just some of the many harvests we had this year!

We have also planted a fall garden so there will be more tips and pics to come! :)

WHY GARDEN?

For Jeremy and I it was simple! We both grew up in families that valued gardening and the morals, values, and other things it can teach someone. We wanted to not only live off of the land like our families had for literally hundreds of years, but we wanted to instill in our kids the same values that our grandparents instilled in us. We both learned very early on that working for your food makes you appreciate it a WHOLE lot more! :)

We also wanted to incorporate gardening into another opportunity to spend time with our children and each other. We both have wonderful memories of sitting on the front porch with our grandparents and cousins shelling peas and butter beans and listening to the "good ole days" stories, etc. Those are some of my favorite memories from childhood and I would love for our children to have some of the same.

We also felt that this is something God intends for his children to do. God made this earth and the things in this earth to GLORIFY him. Take corn for example. You plant one kernel of corn, it grows into a huge stalk, and eventually produces an ear of corn with silk on the end. EVERY silk that hangs off of the end was once attached to a single kernel of corn. That single ear of corn produces enough seed to provide your family with the seed needed for corn the next year. Even the way a corn stalk is shaped to funnel water to its roots is AMAZING! Jeremy and I are amazed every year at how the earth cries out in praise and glory for God.

There will be more tips to come in the next couple of weeks, like... how to start seed in a paper towel, how to root your own tree from another tree, and how to can and jar your veggies you harvest! Just wanted to give y'all a little taste and show you that if we can do it in our own back yard in the middle of the city, so can you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned!!!! :)

¹³ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸ Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰ Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Mark 4:13-20

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2011-09-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I decided to start making our own laundry detergent a couple of years ago because we wash A LOT of clothes for 2 people... and we were spending a lot on laundry detergent. We also both have awful skin allergies so we wanted to start making our own to save money and help our skin. It really is a great "recipe" and you can use it for baby clothes as well!

Ingredients:

5 gallon bucket
2 1/2 cups of Arm & Hammer(or any brand) washing powder
2 gallons of warm water
3 of your favorite scent bars of soap

Directions:

Grate your soap, using a cheese grater, into a bowl. I use the smallest blades on the grater because it helps the soap melt quicker. Please note... when picking your soap, I suggest picking a soap that is more solid. What I mean is... do not use a soap that has a lot of moisturizer in it. It makes it VERY hard to melt and can change the consistency of your detergent!
Once soap is grated, add it to a medium boiler and SLOWLY cover it with water. If you cover it too fast the soap will start to bubble.
On low heat, melt the soap and water. DO NOT BOIL!!!! I repeat... DO NOT BOIL! If you let it boil, you will have a bubbly soapy MESS!
While the soap is melting, pour 2 gallons of water into the 5 gallon bucket.
Once the soap is melted (melting could take 25 to 45 mins), add it to the 2 gallons of water, SLOWLY.
Add the 2 1/2 cups of washing powder.
Stir SLOWLY until well mixed.
Let sit over night and you have your detergent!

We use about a cup to cup 1/2 with each wash. I still add bleach to my whites and towels and I also use fabric softener sheets occasionally.

You can add borax to the mixture, but it is not needed. Research has shown that most of the "cleaning" of the clothes actually occurs as a result of the mixing, rinsing, and spin cycle... so Borax is not needed unless you just want to add it to the mixture!

Hope you enjoy!!! :)

Let's start off with something simple...

2011-09-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Ok...so before I go into a lengthy blog about natural child birth or fluoride in the water... I thought I would start out with something simple... That is... homemade deodorant!!!!! Yes... it WORKS!!!!! I will confess to you, I do not use this (I have no good reason except for the fact that I like the way the deodorant I use smells), but I should!!! Jeremy uses it every day (and has for the past year or so) and as someone who sweats a lot, he will be the first to say it MOST CERTAINLY works!!!! So you want to know how???

1. Take a cotton ball

2. Dab it with rubbing alcohol, then wet your underarms with the alcohol

3. Take your pointer finger and dip it in the baking soda then spread it over the underarm area

And you are DONE! I promise it works...just try it on a day you'll be lounging around the house and you'll see it works!

You might be asking why you should do this. Well for a couple of reasons...

1. There are many harmful chemicals in deodorant... check these websites out!

http://www.dyingtolookgood.com/deodorant_danger.html

http://ezinearticles.com/?Deodorant---Top-7-Ingredients-To-Avoid&id=146987

2. The homemade deodorant is CHHHEEEAAAAPPP (whoop whoop) and lasts a pretty long time (3-6 months or longer).

cotton balls (100-300 count) = ~ $1.00
rubbing alcohol (16 ounces) = ~ $.75 - $1.00
baking soda (1 lb box) = ~ $.48 - $.70

Store bought deodorant can range from $3.00 to $7.00 + and lasts me about a month to month 1/2

3. With the homemade kind, you don't get that weird, smelly sock odor that comes when the deodorant is just starting to wear off (yeah...YOU KNOW what I am talking about!)

4. It is simple!!!!!

So...We have entered the matrix

2011-09-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

YEEELLLLOOOWWWWW!!!!

I have FOREVER talked bad about bloggers and people who were obsessed with reading blogs because I thought it was "trendy" and just another way for people to get attention, but... I have fallen victim to the blog bug!
After many long talks with Jeremy (my husband), I finally decided that it was time to get "back to the basics" and to tell others about living a more natural, simple, and ultimately Godly life. Jeremy and I constantly get asked about the hows and whys we live the way we live, so we decided it was time to start sharing it! No...we are not these crazy, hippy, natural FREAKS (as people commonly might stereotype us as), we simply believe that getting back to our roots is a simple, cost efficient, and peaceful way of living that we want to share with others!
Warning... this blog will be full of OUR opinions, research we have found, scriptures we love, and our thoughts on life. We are in NO way trying to offend or sway others! We just want to express an alternative to living that others might enjoy.

So...enjoy!!!!!!!

~Kristen

"And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

Philippians 1:9-11