~Gleanings From March~

My favorites and yours from off the Pinboards and around the web…

Best Winter Egg Layers

(The secret to eggs in the winter is to get a few production hens to carry you through because the heritage breeds simply aren’t going to.)

How to Make a Dandelion Crown

The Child Housekeeper- A free ebook-“Written by two women who clearly understood and loved children, each chapter covers a different aspect of housekeeping sweeping and dusting; cleaning; laundry work; mending. Each lesson includes general directions on how and why the task is done, and is accompanied by songs, stories, bits of science and history, and play to reinforce the lesson.”

How to Make a Twig Whistle

Guide to using apples 

Handy.

Identifying a cows health by their swirls and coat

Treadle Sewing Machine advice
I’m on the lookout for a new sewing machine since mine is on it’s last leg. I’m seriously contemplating one of these and never having to buy another sewing machine again. 

Balsamic Vinegar and Honey Pulled Pork Sliders
Now that I have some pork roasts in the basement, this will be on the menu!!

Baling Hay by Hand– Great idea for small scaling hay-making like in the orchard!

Lasagna Raised Bed Garden- love the wattled sides for a potager! 

My poor willow tree will have no branches left by the time I’m done with it!

Wood Cooking Stove. Envy.
No electrical components on that to get fried up while you’re in the middle of making spaghetti & meatballs.

Jean Skirt Refashion– I have quite a few leg-less jeans stored up, so this would be a great way to use repurpose them.

15 Foods You Can Regrow From Scraps

Over 50 Canning Recipes

Make an Elderberry Spile for tapping trees– This is how we tapped maple trees this year for free! It would need to be done every year, but it seems to be working great!

Growing New Grapvines From Pruned Clippings– Next dry day, I’ll be heading to the orchard to do the annual pruning and since 3 of our grapevines have been mown over or weed-whacked down, I’m going to attempt to propagate new vines before investing in some from elsewhere.

Espalier Pruning – I’d love to try this someday. 

Homemade Laundry Deteregent- Not having found a homemade detergent I like yet, might as well give  this one a try. I will say this much- it is the first liquid detergent that gelled up for me. I’ve only been using it for a few days, so we’ll see how it goes. 

-For those looking to learn to cook from scratch…

“The Granny Plan” isn’t about specific recipes, or must-make-dishes and exactly how to do them. Sure we’ll cover a few basics here, but for the most part I’ll be directing you to try some of the recipes you have stashed away that your family will like, or to make something you already make more often. We’ll be working on the routines that keep you ready to cook mostly. And routines that make the family happier with that cooking.

-Loved this story…
The Boy Farmer

He told us he ran this barn we were standing in mostly by himself, with the help of a friend who came after school. He wasn’t boasting. It was just a matter of a fact thing and he was glad about it. I looked again at the long rows of heifers and cows and young bulls. He told us how he was sending the bulls back down to Virginia to put out to pasture, raising the heifers to milk and was milking nine cows by hand twice a day since the milking equipment in the old barn had never been put right. How they planted two hundred acres of corn and beans and for every acre they planted way up here in NY, they got twice as much product as the red clay Virginian soil would offer up. He gestured with small man hands, leathery and dark with grime from doing a man’s work. When Sean asked his age, he said he was fourteen and that he was schooled at home.

-I always knew that breastfeeding was beneficial, but many of these benefits surprised me…
The Risks of Not Breastfeeding for Mothers and Infants

Health outcomes in developed countries differ substantially for mothers and infants who formula feed compared with those who breastfeed. For infants, not being breastfed is associated with an increased incidence of infectious morbidity, as well as elevated risks of childhood obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, leukemia, and sudden infant death syndrome. For mothers, failure to breastfeed is associated with an increased incidence of premenopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer, retained gestational weight gain, type 2 diabetes, myocardial infarction, and the metabolic syndrome. Obstetricians are uniquely positioned to counsel mothers about the health impact of breastfeeding and to ensure that mothers and infants receive appropriate, evidence-based care, starting at birth.