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I don't have any updates today... Sorry! I didn't get any cleaners made yesterday. However I did try my hand at spaghetti sauce, and it didn't come out like I wanted it to... It was yummy with chips and crackers though! I also put a roast in the crockpot that I started for today. That was yummy for lunch as well!

I did want to post and let all ya'll here know that I'm on facebook! I created a facebook page for the blog! It's nothing fancy just yet (I'm learning all this blogging stuff as I go), but I do update it between blogposts...

https://www.facebook.com/AJourneyToHomesteading

So, come find me! Thanks!

Laundry Soap

So, I have decided to start making my own cleaners, I talked about that in my last post. I started last night on my laundry soap, but had to go get a 5 gallon bucket, so I didn't get very far.

Here are my laundry soap ingredients. All you need is 1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, Super Washing Soda, Borax, & boiling hot water. I am going to experiment with essential oils in it as well.

I did start by grating the Fels Naptha Soap. I used a Salad Shooter with the grating attachment in it. It's going to be melted, so it doesn't really matter what kind of grating you use, it just helps to melt faster.

That's as far as I got last night. Tonight I will go ahead with the rest of it, and I'll try to post either tomorrow or Monday.

We went out to buy the rest of the ingredients that we need for the other cleaners as well. I will be trying lots of different recipes, to try to find ones that we like and that work well. We went to 3 different stores, 2 of them health food stores, and one being Walmart. I think I have enough ingredients now, so I'll post pictures and recipes after I make some and try them!

Different bulk powders, dried flowers, and teas.

This was my shopping list, along with notes that I took as we were shopping as to how much they were going to cost.
FF refers to Fox Farm Foods, a local health food store, and S refers to Suzanne's another local health food store. The glycerin was only at Fox Farms.

The laundry soap I'm making is the one from the Duggar's family website. It can be found at: http://www.duggarfamily.com/content/duggar_recipes/30455/homemade_liquid_laundry_soap_front_or_top_load_machine_best_value. The rest of my cleaners that I'm trying for now are coming from the Reader's Digest Homemade book. http://www.amazon.com/Homemade-How--Hundreds-Everyday-Naturally/dp/0762109041/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1340479033&sr=8-4&keywords=Homemade

Homemade cleaners!

We had decided a while ago to start making our own cleaners, so that we know exactly what is in them, and what is in our home, on our counters, in the air, and around our family.

I already had alot of the things needed at the house. I had done some research, reading books, blogs, websites, and from other people. It's fairly simple to make them, it just takes a little extra work every once in a while.

I am in the process of making them, I will post pictures as I make them and recipes as I try them. I am maybe going to make laundry soap tonight.

A Year in the Life...

Well, It's been almost a year since I posted. I'm going to try to get back into posting a bit more often on all my blogs. We have had a whirlwind year.

My parents moved to Indiana in the fall of last year. So this is our first full year with having holidays on our own. Grant has had to work most of them, so it's been kinda hit or miss.

In January we found out we were going to have to move. This was a mixed blessing. We were sad to be loosing our big garden plot, but it was nice to be getting a nicer house. God blessed us with a new house to rent in 3 days after we had got our 30 day notice. We moved at the beginning of February. Our new house is 2 bedrooms, with a big kitchen (not much counter space though), a huge living room that we have split into a living room/craft room, a basement, laundry room, and storage areas! It is a really pretty house. We don't have room for an actual garden, but we have a container garden. It's been so dry and hot, our cucumbers, lettuce, and turnips have already died, and the herbs and peppers look like they may die soon too. We have gotten several tomatoes so far though!

May 11, our kitty, Max died. It was a very sad time, we ended up having to put him down after finding him not able to move. They said he had neurological problems.

That same day, we found out we were pregnant! We were so excited! May 26th I went to a carnival with some friends and I fell tripping over a tent peg. We were a little worried, so I went to the hospital to get checked out. We were diagnosed with a Blighted Ovum (when the baby stops forming very early on and is absorbed back into the uterus, but there is still an yolk sac). We were devastated. We spent that week praying and learning all we could. We went in for another ultrasound a week and a day later, and the doctor was able to find the baby! We even got to hear the heartbeat! That was the 1st of June. On June 7th, I had alot of cramping and bleeding. I went to the ER to get checked out, and by the time I got back and had an ultrasound, I had lost the baby. This has been a very sad time, but we find joy and peace in the time we had that week, having pictures and the memory of hearing our sweet baby's heartbeat. What a blessing, to have been able to see her (we thought it was a girl all along), and heard her heartbeat. We named her Tzeitel Dawn. Tzeitel being Yiddish for Sarah, meaning Beloved Princess, and Dawn meaning a new day (and being named after her mama).