Bees Wax

I have a very strong hatred of wasps they swarm our house and make it hard to get inside or go out. My dislike for things that fly and sting you doesn't extend to bees. I have a respect of honey bees. They make my garden happy and produce liquid sunshine and Bees wax.

Good, Raw, Local, Honey is like summer on a spoon, even in the deep dark winter a spoon full of sticky sweetens adds light to my day. Not only do bees give us honey they give us wax.

block of wax

I just bought a block of bees wax at the ren fair this weekend and the weight of it the texture it just feels good and pure. Its a solid thing a good, no frills simple thing that is beautiful, the wax smells like honey it warms up into a mailable tool that lends it self to so many uses and it adds a purity and a goodness to everything it touches. The 1st thing I tried to make with my new block of wax was a replacement for plastic wrap. I dislike plastic wrap, I fail at getting it to make a tight seal, I hate the way it microwaves, I hate the waste and that its plastic, its frustrating and I have never been a fan of the stuff. I just haven't had a good replacement for it until now.

I have wanted to make a few bowl covers with pretty fabric and a little elastic to cover bowls in the fridge, or my new found pyrex glass from the thrift store ( last week I got three bowls with out lids for .99 cents each) I haven't actually gotten around to sewing any though I wanted them to be water proof and PUL well fine for diapers is not food safe so I have been debating how to make a replacement for plastic without using plastic.

waxed cloth

Enter Bees wax.
 You can grate the block of bees wax onto a cloth, stick it in the oven on low let it melt and infuse the fabric and you get a water proof manipulable reusable cloth. It holds any shape you bend it into and you can just flatten it back out, wash it in the sink and use it again and again. I'm definitely going to be making a whole bunch of theses amazing cloths and bowl covers in the future. I will post a tutorial soon too with pictures

Homestead daydreams

I am a little obsessed lately with the whole Homestead in your own backyard, mini farm movement that seems to be sweeping the country.

 I love the idea of The Little House in the City, vegetables growing in raised beds while small livestock like goats,sheep and bunnies graze peacefully in the backyard, the free range chickens cluck and wander laying pretty brown eggs that I whip up into delicious from scratch meals in my plastic free kitchen while wearing an apron that I sewed and embroidered myself, the panty is overflowing in homemade canned goods. At dinner we sit by the light of candles we made during afternoon craft time with the children and my darling husband sips his home brewed beer. I love the idea of this simple life with everything homemade and real not processed and packaged in plastic and just the buy more more more low quality fast life that seems to be so mainstream. I want my children to play in the dirt, I want them to know where food comes from, I want a simple life. A good life.

  In many ways the whole movement was how I was brought up, we grew a lot of our food, caned, lived simply and I want that same sort of life now. With the number of food issues we have in our house and the number of food issues that seem to keep popping up in the news suggesting that processed foods and gmo foods are really bad for us, it makes sense to get back to basics and grow our own.  I'm cheap too, I want to eat well but I can't afford to feed my family organic foods all the time, I can afford the time it takes to grow them however and so this month we have been converting our front yard in to a pretty amazing vegetable garden.  I can afford much nicer things if I buy them second hand from thrift stores and yard sales. I like the thrill of not knowing what exactly I'm going to find. I like that I could, if I wanted to, make just
about anything my family needed, I can do all sorts of crafty homemaker things that have become a novelty I can sew, can, bake, I'm good and figuring out how to make things work or go with out. I like the chalenges of being responsable for my home and family.

That's not to say that my house is always clean, it rarely is, or that we don't have nights were dinner is what ever you can find that's edible in the house. I would like to be a "better" mother and wife, to be more organized and together. I want to have the time to do all the crafty things I see on pinterest and to take the time to give my child pretty bento meals all decorated in a theme vs the same old standbys. I am human and there are only so many hours in the day.

That said I do want my house to be more.

This week the small one has been over joyed to spend the day sitting in the front yard with a spade and a pile of dirt to dig in while mommy and daddy work hard at converting a boring lawn into a bunch of raised beds. I have great plans for a large vegetable garden and its been  hard blistering work. I think once we get done its going to look amazing. We have already gotten complements from the neighbors probably because they have realized that this summer our yard wont be an over grown weed monstrosity it was last year.

Not only is a large vegetable garden on our to do list, building a chicken coop, new clothes line, jump starting the compost bin and a lot of do it from scratch recipes are on the list for this summer. Cheese making, and brewing beer are on the list too. There are lots of sewing projects like new cushions for benches and reusable bags that are on my ever grown list as well.

I'm excited I know that lots of things that go onto my list wont happen this summer, or even next but just having a list, having goals to work toward and things that I feel will make our family closer and life easier in the long run is comforting.

 I'm hoping that keeping this blog and posting my long list of Homestead wishes and Crafting to dos out in the open will be insensitive to do them, instead of spending hours looking and neat ideas on pinterest or talking about how we should have a craft night or canning party on facebook, I'm hoping that I will be able to use that time to just do it.