Gritty Gardening: Not a Pinterst garden
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This is the garden that makes food.
It is not pinterest worthy.
There are tons of up cycled materials. Its not unusual to have milk jugs, hunks of cardboard. It is a hodgepodge of different materials. Its an ongoing experiment. There are weeks, lots of volunteer plants, those ones are usually the strongest and hardiest. Those plants and the ones that I find in the pig pen tend to be great producers.
This is going to be a series of a few blog posts where I tell about how I manage my garden. This is going to be practical advice, not fluffy vague suggestions, nitty gritty stuff.
-Julia
Yes you can CAN!
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This isn’t a compresshive canning guide but it has tips, tools and trusted books to help you learn to can!
Fermenting
These are the lids i like to use to ferment my pickles and hot sauces. The ball canning ferment lid as excellent directions .
This is my preferred pectin for jams and jellies. It has a hot line for help and great directions on SAFE Canning practices.
Jars
Jars, Bottles or Cans are what you can with to preserve your food. Their are diffrent sizes.
If its pourable like sauces or soups i use a narrow mouth jar, if it is something you grab like pickles and fruits.
I use bigger quart jars for salsa or soups. I use small pints or half pints for jelly or jam. I think of how much of the food i use at a time and how quickly it would expire in the fridge.
Pressure Canner
Meat, beans and other low acid food MUST be pressure canned.
Water bath Canners
This is only for high acid foods tomatoes, fruit, jams and jellies.
Canning Tools
This package has pretty much everything you need except the pot to can, canning jars and t
Best Canning books
The blue ball canning book is the end all be all of canning guides it a very trusted source if your going to buy only one caning book this is the one.
This book is great for newer foodie recipes. I love it! Some of my favorite recipes come from this book.
Lids
There are manny options for lids. I prefer to buy made in the USA lids. There are several options including reusable lids by Tattler.
Canning Resources
This is a recording of conversation about canning basic with some of friends and fellow home preservers.
National Center for Home Food Preservation
Also can reach out to your local county extension, for help with canning.
Drop your canning questions and tips in the comments.
Homeschool Mom Sanity Saver
Okay I can NOT take credit for this, its totally Kate at Venison for Dinner’s brilliant Idea.
HOMESCHOOL BOOK FAIR.
Here’s the kicker, kids have to do chores to earn their book fair cash. Not like normal day to day like dishes or putting up laundry. Bigger extra chores like clean toilet, or put up all the laundry on the laundry couch, match socks, vacuum the whole house, or wipe the ALL base boards.
This also have a time limit example give it on a monday and it finishes on friday. Also it has to be up to parents snuff. Obviously the 6 year old isn’t going to clean the toilet like i would but if he makes a good effort and I can see a significant difference it’ll pass. Also i tend to put highest prioity/worst jobs in the big money range.
The “money” they earn can only be used for books, on thrift books or book outlet and they can buy books or sometimes other items. You can also go to your local used book store as well. I like thrift books because they have a good point system. I also prefer buying used books rather than new because I like to save money
We also use a similar system for video game time except its a time amount for a task. It’s either Picky Sticky where the kids have to pick up x number of sticks or fill a container of sticks in order to get 10-15 minutes of video game time or for cash if your a screen free family. We also do it to pick up trash you must fill one trash bag for 15-20 minutes of screen time, laundry is another chore that can earn screen time.
I created a printable PDF with a list of ideas for book fair chores, it has a place to fill in your own chore, a spot for kids to claim their chores and a space for you to write the dollar amount of book fair money each chore is worth. This is a great way to A. Get chores done, B. get kids reading.
Memory Box
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What to do with all the paper and stuff your kids make or bring home from school?
I have one memory box for each of my kids. I put art work, through out the year in there every year I go through the box. Once a year and take out any items or papers that aren’t super special or aren’t in good shape. Also i take into account drawings or things my child is particularly proud of.
I figure when my kids are old they don’t need 2832837 rubber-maids full of elementary school papers and noodle necklaces. I keep the the things i think are the sweetest, funniest or most important to my child. You could also add sports ribbons or troughs or belt buckles they win in the memory box or have a separate one.
Insert pictures here
Here are two options that i think would work great for memory boxes. I use a clear plastic box. Each one is labeled with the child’s name.
How do you save memories? Tell me in the comments below.
Art supplies for Kids (adults too I guess)
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This is a hill I will die on.
Buy the good stuff, quality over quantity. Invest in high quality materials they'll last, a few high quality blending colored pencils, will be much better for your child to work with than 300 waxy unblendable colored pencils that will be limiting and a source of frustration So make the investment of a few high quality supplies for your child to work with.
Encourage your student to Pick a challenging new medium and to work through the frustrations. Children are brilliant magical creature that deserve to be treated as professional artists because frankly they are!
Here's my list of some of may favorite materials along with descriptions of the material. There are some affilate thinks, feel free to use them or visit your local art supply store to get what you need. This is just a suggestion of materials, you buy no need need all of the supplies or any at all you can work with what you have at home. I love prismacolors for colored pencils, markers and pastels. They are great quality and a worthy investment.
Prisma Colored pencils
Pastels
Prismacolor Colorless blender marker- this is great for both markers and colored pencils
Prismacolor Colorless blender pencil, it great for colored pencils for blending and creating texture.
Oil Pastels
Sketching Traditional Materials
Conte crayons
Pencils
Graphite lead woodless pencils
Paint
Gouache
Watercolor
Watercolor pencils and crayons
Acrylic Paint
Gel Mediums
Brushes Get the right brush for the right paint. Soft brushes are great for watercolors.
Water Color Brushes
Acrylic Brushes
Palate Knives
Substrates aka Paper
Cutting down good quality paper when learning and experimenting with the medium is helpful. Move on to large pieces of paper to create finished artwork and projects
WaterColor Paper
Canvas
Other supplies
Exacto Knife and Blades and cutting mat
Free stuff
Old magazines, cardboard, paint chips, old photos, Newspaper, sticks, pressed flowers.
I know this was a long one but the idea is to have this blog to come back to and reference for what fits your families needs.
-Julia