Great Uses for Dryer Sheet

Great Uses for Dryer Sheets

1. Use in your bathroom. Cut your cleaning time in half. Makes bathroom mirrors and fixtures sparkle. Cuts right through bathtub scum.

2. Use to get sticky dust right off furniture, blinds and baseboards.

3. Cleans up stove tops and greasy cabinets quickly.

4. Soak paint brushes with warm water and a dryer sheet. Watch the paint come right off.

5. Clean dead bugs off your car.

6. Wipes pet hair off furniture and clothing.

7. Run a dryer sheet over thread before sewing to keep tangles away

8. Keeps mosquitoes away.

Local Event - Gun Show Bentonville, Arkansas

May 18-19 

Bentonville Benton County Fairgrounds 7640 SW Regional Airport Rd., 200

Show Hours Sat 9-5, Sun 9-4 Jeff Bowles

Twin Patriot Productions 479-225-0896

Difference in Eggs

The color of the yolk is an indication of the presence of nutrients. The pastured egg on the left is a dark orange color. The organic store egg in the center is slightly less orange. The supermarket egg on the right is paler and might even be white were orange foods and dyes not given to the chickens. By the way, chickens producing organic eggs are mostly raised in barns, not on pasture. Conditions are certainly better than those for the typical battery egg. However, the USDA has determined that the chicken is a vegetarian, and they can be given no animal foods. Chickens are in fact, omnivores, and their eggs will be much healthier if they are getting animal foods. The pastured egg and the organic egg both have two parts to the white, a viscous part around the yolk and then a thinner part around the edges. This is a sign of freshness.

DIY - SUGAR HAND SCRUB - Mother's Day Gift Idea

 SUGAR HAND SCRUB 

 GREAT GIFT IDEA! - Make, Put in mason jar, Tie with bow, Add a tag!

1. Fill mason jar 3/4 of the way full with sugar.

2. Add dawn dish soap until it reaches just below the mouth of the jar.~ The pink one that has the Olay in it is the best! It smells good and moisturizes!

3. Stir the sugar and soap together until it is paste like. If it seems to be too runny, add a little sugar at a time until it is the desired consistency.

4.You can tie with a jute twine or ribbon and give as a gift, or do like me and hog it all for yourself!! So cheap and easy!!

What's for Dinner - Crockpot Orange Chicken & Orange Cream Freezer Dessert

Crockpot Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced about 1/2-inch thick
2 large red or green bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
8 ounces orange juice concentrate
2 cups Mandarin orange segments or fresh orange segments
2 Green onions, chopped
hot cooked rice

Directions:

Put carrots, peppers, garlic, then the chicken, ginger, salt, pepper & frozen orange juice in Crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours. Serve chicken on hot cooked rice on platter. Top with orange segments and green onions. Serve chicken liquid in gravy boat, if desired.

Orange Cream Freezer Dessert 

Ingredients

4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, melted
3-1/2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened
2 cans (12 ounces each) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Directions

In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Set aside 2 cups for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. pans. Cover and freeze for at least 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine ice cream and orange juice concentrate until smooth. Spoon over crusts (pans will be full). Freeze for 10 minutes or until partially firm.
Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture; gently press down. Cover and freeze for up to 2 hours. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. Yield: 2 desserts (24 servings each).

How to: Save Heirloom Tomato Seeds

Saving your own tomato seeds is rather fun and has all sorts of benefits. Preserving heirloom seeds, ensuring a supply of your own favorites for next year, helping protect seed diversity, making a giant mess of stinky fermenting goo, it’s all there! It’s also pretty easy.

 As part of our seed selling business we save fairly large quantities of tomato seed but the process is the same whether you are saving from a pile of heirloom tomatoes or from a paticularily tasty one you just sliced up for lunch.

First things first, you need to get your tomato seeds out of the tomato.  You can slice them in half, in quarters, scoop some out of the one you’re eating or just use my preferred method: Squishing. A serrated grapefruit spoon makes a great seed saving tool, especially when dealing with smaller cherry tomatoes. Just cut them in half and scoop out the inside of the tomatoes leaving the skin and outer flesh behind.

Next the seed pulp is ready to be combined with water in a container.  Glass jars are simple and food safe, but yogurt containers and tupperware are perfectly suitable. The only really important factor is that the container needs a lid. It’s going to get stinky so the lid is not optional.

Make sure to label each variety as you go as tomato seeds all look very similar and the colored pulp is going to break down.
Place them out of direct sunlight and walk away for a few days. You’ll start to see the good seeds settle from the pulp down to the bottom of the container.

Now things will start to ferment. This fermentation process is breaking down the protective coating on each seed. After a few days and once you have a good layer of fuzzy stuff, dump it off, leaving the seeds in the bottom of the jar.  Any seeds at the top are duds, the good stuff is all at the bottom.  Top up the jar with some clean water and let it all happen again.  Once the seeds are starting to settle cleanly at the bottom they are done. Be careful not to leave things unsupervised for too many days as the seeds could start germinating.

Once the seeds are ready, pour off any remaining pulp and mold.

Using a strainer, give your seeds a final rinse. They should be looking rather naked by now.

Now you just need to let them dry.  A stack of clean rags or old tea towels work best, as paper towels sometimes stick.

Once again, label your seeds. Package them up a few days later when they’re perfectly dry and you’re set.  Next spring you’ll have more tomato seeds then you can plant.  Trading them with fellow seed savers and planting a few extra for gardening neighbors is highly recommended.

DIY Water Hose Storage / Cleaning Station

This is just the neatest idea & is so handy for the garden! Your diy wash station that is so simple & get's the water hose of the ground. Make it your own.  This example shows a galvanized  pail screwed to a 2 x 4 that is in the ground with a bird house on the top. Roll the hose around the pail & inside a place to store brushes, small garden tools, and a great place to hang a towel! I just love it & is gonna be a summer project for me!

What's for dinner: Venison Roast

Venison is an excellent lean meat.

Venison Roast

half venison roast

2 carrots chopped

1 cup  mushrooms

half medium sized onion chopped

½ cup chicken broth

¼  cup red wine

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

½ tbsp garlic powder

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

½ tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp minced garlic

1) Chop up carrots, mushrooms, and onion. Place venison roast and vegetables in crock pot.

2) Pour in chicken broth, red wine, and Worcestershire sauce.

3) Season with garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, chili powder, and minced garlic. 

4) Cook on high for about 6 hours. If possible pull apart venison an hour or so before serving.

5) Pull apart roast, season as necessary for added flavor, and enjoy!

Note: If there is too much liquid in the crock pot close to serving time, whisk in a little flour to thicken it up. I continuously added in some extra pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder as it cooked for some extra flavor, so experiment as you go along. Don’t take my measurements of seasonings too seriously—just taste test and make it to your liking. That’s the fun in cooking, right? For health purposes try to lay of the salt a little. Your heart will thank you later.

2013 Missouri Spring Turkey Hunting - Regular Season: April 15-May 5

Missouri Spring Turkey Hunting 

2013 Seasons

Youth Season: April 6-7

Regular Season: April 15-May 5

There are several changes to conservation area regulations and managed turkey hunts. Check pages 8 through 17 of the 2013 Spring Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet listed below for details.


Youth Spring Turkey Hunting Season
Who May Participate:
The youth hunter must be age 6–15 on opening day.

Season Dates:
April 6-7, 2013

Shooting Hours:
One-half hour before sunrise to sunset Central Daylight Time

Valid Permits:
Youth hunters must possess one of the three following permits:

Resident Spring Turkey Hunting Permit
Resident Landowner Spring Turkey Hunting Permit
Nonresident Spring Turkey Hunting Permit
Note: Landowner permits are valid only on the land for which they are issued.

Youth Season Limit:
One male turkey or turkey with visible beard

NOTE: Youths who take a turkey during the youth season may not harvest a second bird until April 22. This is because the bird taken during the youth season counts as the first bird for the first week of the regular season.


Regular Spring Turkey Hunting Season
Season Dates:
April 15 –May 5, 2013

Shooting Hours:
One-half hour before sunrise to 1 p.m. Central Daylight-Saving Time

Valid Permits:
Resident Spring Turkey Hunting Permit
Resident Landowner Spring Turkey Hunting Permit
Nonresident Spring Turkey Hunting Permit
Season Limit:
Two male turkeys or turkeys with visible beard may be taken during the season, with the following restrictions:

You may only take one turkey during the first week from April 15 –21.
If you do not take one during the first week, then you may take two during
the second or third week from April 22–May 5, but you may not take them both on the same day.
NOTE: If you hunt during a managed hunt, season limits still apply.

*Above Information from Missouri Department of Conservation

Homestead Crossing Inc. has great hunting land for lease available. Don't want to lease? Buy your own land with owner finance options!  Contact Ed Johnson at 417-252-1067 Today!

From Everyone here at Homestead Crossing Inc have a safe & fun Turkey Hunting Season! 

Homemade Mosquito Repellent

Combine in a 16 oz bottle:

15 drops lavender oil 
3-4 Tbsp of vanilla extract
10 drops of citronella oil 
1/4 Cup lemon juice.
Fill bottle with water.
Shake & it's ready to use.
Spray on yourself.

Rose Cuttings using a potato

Propagating roses by cuttings is easy. Some say the secret of success is the humble potato! Before planting rose cuttings, push the bottom end into a small potato, which keeps the cuttings moist as they develop roots. It sounds crazy, but apparently it works really well.

Have any of you tried this?

DIY rose cuttings - http://bit.ly/131RXH7

The Organic Rose Garden: http://amzn.to/15mYjg1

Eat Your Roses: http://amzn.to/ZHA62n

Getting the Garden ready for Spring planting without using Gas, Electricity or Oil powered machines. Off-Grid Goodness!

  While browsing online, I found a good source of tips and information that will help those off-grid or living the "simple life" to save some money and get the garden ready for Spring planting that's just a few months away.

"Once you have the grass mowed and the weeds chopped down, the next step is to break up the soil for planting. Heavy duty tools like a Broadfork can make this job easier. The 20 inch wide fork is specially sharpened to take big bites from the ground. Extra-long 60 inch handles give you lots of leverage to break the soil loose. There’s much less bending over than a hoe requires, and no need to chop or hack at the soil. Best of all, the dirt is left loose and pliable, not packed down by heavy power equipment.

Once the soil is broken up, the next step is to cultivate. Instead of using a bulky gas-powered tiller to over work your soil, you can create a smooth planting bed with an easy-to-use rotary cultivator. To use this tool, you simply push it in front of you as you walk down the rows of your garden. The wheel breaks up the soil and works in your peat moss or compost while you get some exercise.

Once your garden is cultivated, it’s time to plant. To keep your rows nice and straight, just drive a one-foot stake at the end of each row and tie a string between them. Then use the string as a guideline.

Dreading the thought of crawling around on your hands and knees to plant all those seeds? No need if you get yourself an old fashioned corn planter. All you have to do is pour the seeds into the cup on the side, push the steel blade into the ground and squeeze the handles. The seeds will drop right where you want them. It’s a very efficient system and allows you to finish a chore that could take hours in just minutes.

If you want butterflies decorating your garden, once you have the seeds in the ground, plant oregano, borage, catnip and hollyhocks between the rows. The colors and scent attract the beautiful creatures. Butterflies also like bee balm, red carnations and begonias.

After planting your garden the natural way, don’t stop there. Make a pledge to water your vegetable plants by hand every day with a good old-fashioned watering can. And instead of relying on pesticides -- which over time can work their way into the ground-water and damage the environment -- to keep the weeds down, get out there every day with a hoe and pull them up.

To keep bugs away, sprinkle a mixture of garlic power and flour on your plants. It works especially well for cabbage flies, but use it sparingly. The mix will get pasty on the leaves if applied too thickly.

 
( picture gained from here )

OLD TIME GARDEN TIPS

Here’s a trick to keep the woodchucks from stealing carrots from your garden. Fill glass gallon jugs with water and place them around your garden. The woodchucks see their reflections and, apparently thinking it’s another animal, run away. Sounds silly but it works.

If you’d like to force hornets, bees and wasps to move out, try hanging moth cakes on your deck, under the eaves, or anywhere else they like to build their nests. They don’t like the smell so they fly far away and call somewhere else home. "

Article taken from this site.

Save Money by Saving Seeds: Here's How to Do It!

We're edging into the Winter months, but Spring is on the mind for those who are looking ahead at gardening and planting time, so here's some tips to keep in mind when growing your crops this coming up 2013 year for saving seeds for the future. You can save $ money $ and can make a little, too!

7 Reasons to Save Seeds:

1. Money Savings. When you buy seeds, invest in high-quality seeds for the first planting, then you will have high quality seeds in a much higher volume to save, thus saving you more money in the long run.
2. Seed Security. Instead of industry corporations who have discontinued some varieties of seeds to sell lucrative hybrid seeds, saving your own seeds gives you seed security in the fact that you control the supply of the seed variety you chose to plant, especially now hard to find seeds that aren't always available in the catalog (perhaps offer extra seeds to sell to other interested gardeners thus making you more money).
3. Regional Adaption. When you save seeds grown on your land and in your climatic environment, you are developing over time, better adapted varieties best suited to your soil and climate conditions and growing practices.
4. Consistent Quality: Corporations use open pollination in their seed crops, which means that their seed packets may contain several off-type seeds because they rarely rogue their fields for bad or poorly growing plants, which then pollinate and add to the seed crop. In saving your seeds and doing the picking, cleaning and hoeing yourself, you pull out the suckers, the weaker plants, etc and thus provide a more consistent pollination to your own seed crop that has better quality seeds each time you plant.
5. The Joy of Learning.  The more seeds you save the more you learn about botany and the plant kingdom, this is a great thing for kids to get into especially for science projects!
6. Explore Heirloom Varieties. Some people like to grow heirloom varieties because doing so gives them a connection to our garden heritage, others choose non-hybrid seeds because they don't want to support the industrial Agriculture system that is increasingly controlling our food supply and some older, open-pollinated varieties produce more nutritious crops than do modern hybrids bred mostly for high yields and long shelf life.
7. Influence Crop Traits. Gene pools are incredibly elastic. By carefully observing your plants, you can save seed from those plants that best meet your needs for germination, ripening time, yield, specific fruit shape, flavor, storage, qualities, less seediness, better disease resistance, bloom color, or other unique trait within the variety of plant. Over time, most of the plants you grow from your saved seeds will end up having the desired traits you like.

Seed-Saving Tips
 

• Always choose OP (Open-Pollinated) varieties for seed saving, these are non-hybrid plants with seed that's true generation after generation. (Self & Cross-Pollinating plants are OP)
• The easiest crops to save seeds from are: peas, beans, tomatoes, and peppers (Self-Pollinators).
• Cross-Pollinating crops need to be isolated from other varieties of the same species. The simplest solution is to grow only one variety of a given species and you can just save seeds from one or two plants, but to maintain long-term health and vigor, you should buy new seed every few years or trade seeds with other growers. Cross-Pollinating crops to save seeds from are: brassicas, corn, carrots, beets, squash, cucumbers, and melons.
• Soak "wet" seeds, like Tomatoes and Squash which have a gel sac around the seeds that prevents germination, in order to remove the sacs and dry on a screen.
• Seed crops are often harvested at different times than food crops, in order to keep your garden organized and track of which crop you want for seed, mark off the row with a ribbon or tie or other marker that you will know means a seed crop.
• Flower heads are usually harvested as they dry.
• Using screens as filters or rubbing seed pods between your hands is a couple ways to remove chaff from the seed.
• Store seeds in glass jars, plastic bags or paper envelopes. Though glass is always best as it prevents moisture from getting to the seeds. (I have used baby food jars for small amounts of seed saving, but they are thoroughly washed, sterilized and dried before putting in the seeds).
• Store seeds in a cool, dry place, ideally at less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit and at a relative humidity level of less than 50 %. In general, for every 10 degrees colder the storage conditions, seed longevity doubles, so it's best to keep seed in a covered container in a refrigerator. As long as the seed is very dry, it will last longest if you keep it in a freezer. All seed should be dried to a brittle state, ideally less than 14 % moisture (so ice crystals don't form on the seeds while in a freezer). When you're ready to use freezer stored seeds, allow the storage jar to come to room temperature before opening it to avoid condensation on the seed.

Cite:
**(Information acquired from Mother Earth News Magazine, December 2012/January 2013 edition, Article " Saving Seed 7 Reasons Why and Dozens of Tips for How" by Roberta Bailey pgs 38-44 )**

Spring into Summer!

So far this year it's been hot and rainy. Though with all this rain the delicious blackberries, raspberries and wild blueberries and strawberries that grow here in southeast Missouri will  be plump and juicy sweet come picking time!  The gardens and farms will be happy for the rain as well, seeing how in August we'll all want it to rain sooner or later, as August is the dog days of Summer, we're all down at the rivers jumping from ropes tied to trees or if it's deep enough, bluffs.

Campgrounds get scarce this time of year, everyone is looking for the perfect camping spot when all the "free" campsites are taken and overcrowded down in the campgrounds. We have some great campsites available, near the rivers and they're private, so if you don't want to miss out on some perfect campsites check out what we have on our website and get in touch with Ed about securing your spot for the Summer or even the whole year, they're available for lease! (We have some Cabins as well!)