Mountain Mama… Country Living
Homemade Mosquito Repellent
Materials:
15 drops lavender oil
3 Tbsp of vanilla extract
10 drops of citronella oil or lemon-eucalyptus oil
1/4 Cup lemon juice
Spray bottle
Directions:
Combine above ingredients in spray bottle. Fill remainder of bottle with water, water/vodka or water/witch hazel mixture.
Spray yourself and any objects or areas you wish to keep mosquito free!
Vicki and I made this homemade deodorant. I LOVE it. I’m not sure where the recipe came from though.
Powder deodorant: 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup cornstarch, about 10-15 drops essential oil (we used lavender)
Add 1/2 cup softened coconut oil to make solid deodorant. I prefer the powdered one.
This is my new canner. I stopped at a yard sale a few weeks ago and the lady had this canner for sale. One of the handles was missing so she sold it to me for $5.00. Yesterday, I stopped at Farmers Supply here in Floyd to see if they could order new handles. I had no idea if they could or not as the canner appears to be old. Well, they could and they only cost me $8.00. I then went to the extension office and had them calibrate the guage. It was off 1 and 1/2 pounds so I thought I probably should get a new guage too. This cost $l8.00. Amazing. These parts will be in by Friday. So for roughly $30.00 I got a new canner. This one is much taller than my other ones. It will hold 1/2 gallon jars which I plan to use for our juice that we can.
Then we went on over to Vicki’s and had a great visit. We ate lunch together and then Vicki and I made homemade deodorant.
We used tea tree oil in the solid deodorant and lavender in the powder. I really like it. It smells so fresh and clean. I am impressed. I definitely will be making it again.
Today the girls and I are making spaghetti sauce. This will be our last batch of spaghetti sauce. I think the rest of the tomatoes will just be used to make tomato juice. Our tomatoes are doing very well this year. I think this isthe best ours have done in a long time.
I better go stir the spaghetti sauce as I do not have Mrs. Sally’s good kettle any longer. I took it back to her Sunday. Enjoy your day and God bless.
The other day when we went to work with Hubby, Grace got these pictures.
I think she did a really good job. Today was spring cleaning day at church. Every spring we set aside one Saturday to come and clean the church. Heavy duty cleaning. We had a great time and the church looks and smells really nice. We were hanging up the freshly washed curtains when I noticed how nice they smelled. I commented on it and was told they had been washed in the homemade lavender laundry soap that I made. How about that!
Here are a few random pictures taken today.
This picture is looking directly across the road from our church. See how green the trees are getting.
Grace cleaning the windows.
Steve cleaning the ramp.
Not sure what Ross is doing.
And they think we women talk a lot. Enjoy your day and God bless.
I got this recipe from my friend Mrs. Faye at http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com
Homemade Laundry Soap
2 1/4 cups shredded Ivory
* you can use the other soaps used on the web (just google) ..
2 cups Borax
2 Cups Arm and Hammer Soda
1 Cup Water Softener (Calgon) (I use Purex water softening crystals-lavender)
*Essential Oil of Choice and as much as you like.
I combine these ingredients in my food processor.
I package this for sale.
Okay, ladies, I need your opinion on this. You all may remember that I have been selling homemade laundry soap at the Bread Basket here in Floyd. The laundry soap is lavender scented. Well, I have been thinking about putting homemade lavender fabric softener with it for sale. What do you all think about this as a container for the fabric softener? I have been trying to think of a container that I could easily recycle. The less expense I have in the container the more my profit. This would be concentrated. The customer would need to add 3 cups water to it and it will yield 10 loads of laundry, the same amount as the laundry soap I sell. I have put these instructions on the card.
This is a picture of the laundry soap. I got this idea from Mrs. Faye at http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/ So how do you all think they will look together?
Please let me know your honest opinion. Do you think this looks good or does it just look stupid? I so appreciate your help on this. Thanks again and God bless.
I have just discovered this product. Some of you ladies may already know about it but I had never heard of it. You all know that I have made my own laundry soap for years. I have always had trouble with it leaving my clothes looking dingy. I would make a batch and by the time I used it up my clothes would be looking like I hadn’t even washed them. YUCK! Then I would buy a box of store bought detergent and use it up so my clothes would look clean again. Then repeat the process. So I was reading on line and one of the recipes was saying you could add bluing to your detergent. What? I immediately jump up to the google bar and type in, “What is bluing?” It is something you add to your wash to make your white clothes remain white. You can buy it online. Our local supermarket carried it. Can you believe that? I had never even noticed it before. Well, as of right now, I am thinking it is the best thing since sliced bread. I have been using it for about 2 weeks. My whites are still white. I think I have found my solution. Also when using homemade laundry soap, my towels usually become water resistent. They would not absorp water. This has not happened since I started using the bluing. YEAH! I hope this post doesn’t sound like a commercial for bluing. I just wanted you ladies to know, in case any of you have been having the same problem. I also bit the bullet and purchased some lavender essential oil to add to it. I avoided buying it for years because, well, everything you add to it makes the cost go up more and I wanted to keep it cost effecient. But I really like for my clothes to smell nice after they have been washed. I admit it. I like smelly things (good smelly things).
I also tried something new today. I made my own fabric softener. The recipe I used is:
I got this recipe from food.com. I want to remind you all that baking soda and vinegar fizzes at lot when mixed together. Now, I knew this but for some reason I put my baking soda in and then just started pouring in the vinegar. HUGE MESS! My thanks to my darling girls who came to Mom’s rescue with lots of towels. Anyway just a reminder. I used lavender essential oil in mine, so now I have lavender laundry detergent and lavender fabric softener. My clothes should smell great.
Well, that’s my day. I hope you have a great evening and God bless.
Merry Heart Crafts 