Sliced, diced and dried

It's been many months since I dropped this, things happened and life got hairy. In the last two months we've had many positive additions to our lives here, one of my favorites was my dehydrator - the Excalibur 3926T!

I have never canned anything, and I'm still a bit skittish about the whole thing - but dehydrating is easy and straightforward and hard to kill yourself with. I'd been using a cheap-o Ronco dehydrator for a while and while we really loved the dehydrated  bananas, it was a PITA to fill the small five tray stack and have to keep rotating to make sure nothing got overcooked. Since I've purchased the Excalibur, we've filled a shelf with quart jars of dehydrated fruits and veggies. It is a learning process, but it has been fun.

I've learned that slicing papaya TOO thin doesn't help it, instead of being a great gooey tasty treat it is a paper thin flavor strip. I try to dry bananas just to the sticky point, not so dry that they are no fun. They taste like the richest candy when they are dried just right.

Drying onions and peppers are an outside activity. For tomatoes, spray or treat the surface lightly with olive oil to make it easier to remove the finished project.

Hard veggies, like winter squash or carrots, are much better cooked or at least lightly cooked before dehydrating. We learned this from a huge batch of Cushaw squash that I brined in a vinegar/dill solution without cooking. I meant to make it for a snack mix - but it took ages to chew one tiny piece. It is still good in stew, but if you want to use it for veggie snacks you wanna cook it first!

We've been watching the bargain bins and grabbing up fruits and veggies "on sale" on their last days, this is an awesome way to build up your dried food stash during the heavy harvest season. I have fruits that I can pick from for snack mixes every day, and I already have enough veggies to make decent stews/soups from for a while. I'll keep drying until I have no more room or the produce costs go up, then I'll dip into my stash! It's hard to get the family to stay out of the already dried fruit though - I recommend getting your hands on as much sweet stuff as possible in season and drying it. You can use it later for cookies, breads, oatmeal, or just to eat straight. It's been great to just fill up a container with a random mix before leaving the house every day, and it reduces my urge to get junk.

A timer on the dehydrator is a wonderful thing if you plan to dry a lot and don't want to have to monitor the proceedings. I really liked the Excalibur because it does distribute heat evenly.

Prepping food for the dehydrator can be a fun family activity if you have a lot to slice, dice n'peel. No reason to go it alone if you have willing slaves...er.. helpers.

Dry It!

From time to time our grocery store bags up produce on its last leg and sells it super cheap in bulk. There are usually bananas to be had at least once a week, but they've added the other fruits to the mix along with vegetables. I always check the bags, no telling what might get put out - and even if I don't need it NOW I know I can dry it for later. I just finished the mushrooms I dried last summer. I also have dried some of my summer garden produce. I didn't have much to work with, so my stash is small - but it feels good to have stuff put away to use.

Almost anything can be dried. You can use your dried veggies in soups, you can rehydrate them to put in with rice or noodle dishes, you can eat the dry, you can crunch them up with some couscous to carry for a quick camping meal. Fruits can be eaten as they are, added to breads or cereals or granola - the list goes on and on. There are books and resources online to tell you various methods of using your dried goods - and how to dry them.

I know people using a solar dryer, they seem to love it. I haven't had the time or ability to make one yet and can't afford the store bought ones - but if you have the money I'd look into it. I have dried food on hanging rack covered with mosquito netting - those are great if you live where there is little humidity. You can finish them off in the oven to make sure all of the moisture is out. I am currently using a cheap electric dryer because it was given to me, and it takes up little space. Today I have a huge batch of organic celery I picked up, more than my dryer can hold - I'm going to try the oven on low for this round. The celery will come in handy for my soup and chicken dishes. I've been waiting to find a score like this for a while, I always hate buying a batch of celery for cooking - I never get it used up in time, and I can't see buying a bunch at full price to dry. I have three one pound bags of organic celery hearts I got for a buck, can't  beat it. I also need to bag up some turnip greens I bought cheap last week - those were air dried, hanging from a clip in the kitchen. Leaves dry so quickly that I wasn't worried about these getting moldy even though I was gone for fie days.

Before you embark on a drying project, read up on the different methods of pretreatment. Some like to dip their fruits in lemon juice to keep them from browning. I never cared about the browning, so I haven't done that yet. If appearance is an issue, you'll want to read up on each type of fruit before starting. Flavor is another issue - some things DO need to be treated for optimal flavor. I dried a batch of cantaloupe last year and they tasted... well, bizarre. I won't do that again without some kind of pretreatment.

If you live in a small town, or are friends with a produce person, you might be able to score produce in its final days before they chuck it in the compost bin. Ask around. I had a produce stand that supplied me with their old stuff for a while, it was great for drying as you want it to be fully ripe.

Day Four in the No Shampoo World

Day four of the baking soda treatment (I did it on day 1, 2 and then today because of heavy and oily feeling). It's been six days since I've used shampoo - my hair is still clean, feels full and has more body than it did before. I've used an apple cider vinegar rinse today, I'm in another town with harder water so I really need some form of conditioner. My hair is soft, but still not as shiny as I like - kind of dull, actually. Will look into some brightening techniques. Overall, still happy with how this is working out. It will take a bit of work to adjust amounts and techniques, but it looks like it will be a worthwhile investment of time.

Right now I am putting a small amount of baking soda in a container and adding a bit of water to it before I use it. This makes it a little easier to apply. The most difficult part of application is that you use such a small amount, it is hard to be sure that you are working that little bit into the large area of scalp you are trying to treat.

Sorry for this being a bit scattered and poorly composed, toddler wreaking havoc.

Day one of no shampoo experiment

I was combing the www for recipes for good homemade shampoo because I was tired of spending a lot on it, and cheap crap is just that - crap. I had just assumed I needed some kind of shampoo, it never occurred to me that it wasn't necessary. What kept popping up for me were blogs of people who were either going completely without any cleansing agents (water only), and many more doing some form of baking soda/apple cider vinegar washes (with and without enhancements). When baking soda/acv was mentioned in my facebook request for recipes, I laughed it off - but the more I read the less ridiculous it seemed.

I have all of the ingredients on hand to "make" herbal shampoo if this doesn't work out, I am a stay at home mom living in a remote town so I don't see many people during the week - what the hell, I figured I'd give the baking soda a shot.

So today was my first day - I've read it takes a week or two for your hair to adjust, but if it gets better from here then this is going to be gravy. Seriously, first wash with only baking soda (didn't do the acv rinse, water here is softish) and my hair is full, fluffy, no static like it gets when I don't condition after shampoo, and clean. I am feel both elated and cheated. Could it really be this simple? It couldn't, could it? All of the money I've wasted, all of the stupid plastic bottles I've had to toss when empty...

I'm going to keep going, I'll try to give it at least a month and see if I do end up needing to rinse with vinegar or add honey or any of the other countless adjustments I've read... If this works, I'll move on to the next hygiene product I am running out of to see how to replace it as well. Excited by the prospects of the experiment - to have luscious hair without paying luscious prices, and almost no waste - positively dreamy!

Economy sized box o'baking soda, here I come... I already use it to help my cloth diapers and cloth diaper pail, I need to start using it as an abrasive cleaner instead of the chemicals, I could use it as a toothpaste, now a shampoo, plus cooking with it... hell, maybe I'll put it in a fancy container and charge $30 a jar for "organic hair cleansing". If you steal my idea, I want royalties.

Why lessen your life?

This movement of simplicity, or returning to basics, has many motivations but the beautiful thing is I see it popping up everywhere - it is no longer relegated to Christian homeschooling moms, hippies and the eternally poor. There are a lot of reasons to consider doing with less, you don't have to buy into a whole movement or belief to embrace this.

I am not religious (or an atheist), I am not a Luddite, I am only a minor conspiracy theorist (it's not Big Brother I'm worried about, it's Big Business who is really out to get you. More on that later). I don't believe we should all chuck everything and go back to living in caves, though some days that sounds attractive. I am 39 and have managed to live my entire life WITHOUT a credit card and without going into debt, and I've had a hell of a good time even without those things most Americans seem to think are necessary.

I do believe we've been sold a lie, the lie that purchased things are of higher quality and distinguish us as more cultured or better off. After reading "Radical Homemaking" (link in prior entry), I just got MAD. She details some incredible reports from marketing companies at the dawn of the consumer revolution (or, consuming revolution). They intentionally targeted the housewife as a person not philosophically satisfied, and placed images of appliances and other Things as desirable attainments that would bring fulfillment. Of course, that dopamine rush only lasted a short time so she had to run out and do it again to maintain her feeling of fulfillment. This is not conjecture, this was their actual intent, lined out just like that in full sentences - not even trying to be coy or clever when discussing the intentional social manipulation. I don't know about you, but I'm not down with being a Pavlovian slave to the trend of the day in order to meet my existential needs.

More reasons to opt out when possible? How about fillers, additives, unnecessary gunk added to foods and hygiene products to make them last longer, stretch out their profits for the producer, reduce their quality just enough that you have to use a bit more than you need to in order to get the full effect.

Green reasons to opt out when possible? Packaging, waste that is often unrecyclable, the precious petroleum used to manufacture those toss away bottles and then used to truck them to your store when you could just use something as simple as vinegar and baking soda to wash your hair, counter and sink.

Hey, I'm not suggesting you go the whole nine yard and get 100% self-sufficient overnight. It's a recipe for failure. One item at a time, examine your cupboards and say "can I do better with something else?" If yes, then use it up and don't buy it again. I have three cans of refried beans left purchased before I realized how easy (and cheap) they were to make, and how much better they taste. On the other hand, my huband loves ketchup - and I know I can make this but it doesn't keep as long, he is the only one who eats it, we go through one small bottle every two months. We'll keep buying that, for now.

You don't need every new gadget created, you don't need everything in shrink wrap and plastic packaging. Get rid of most of it and then hell, treat yourself to something fun every once in a while - I guarantee you after you start shedding your chains of consumerism that the Stuff Monster is a lot less appealing.

Besides, the Stuff Monster can be played with in different, cheaper and infinitely more exciting ways. Anyone can buy something new in a store - it takes skill to track down that cool thing in a thrift store or garage sale. Dumpster diving is an incredible sport that is finally starting to gain some respectability thanks to Freegans. I've pulled everything from books, pots and pans, shower curtains, pens (often in the original packaging), to shrink wrapped cookies still "in date" (three cases of Otis Spunkmeyer, hey now). And that was with light weight diving, you could make that a full time gig if you live in a city and have the time.

I know this post violates several rules of writing, it's scattered and all over the board, and longer than the recommended length to get you to read, but that's they way I blather. I just wanted to say that you don't have to be an ecohippie, an annoying yuppie, a religious extremist, or a hyperpolitically correct hipster to "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

Bones and Vinegar

I got so overwhelmed when I tried to read through the books ("Radical Homemaking" is my favorite, link at the bottom) and all of the how-to blogs that I gave up. I now only look up materials I have on hand to see how to use them instead of trying to be armed and ready at any given moment... Bite sized pieces. It's working wonders.

For instance, I was making pork chops. I had these "on sale, great deal" chops with bones. I hate tossing stuff, I searched the 'net real quick and found out I can save these puppies to make stock. Woot! A quick, easy task - toss them in the freezer and wait until I collect enough and boil 'em up (with or without the herbs and veggies that the different sites recommend) and I have a soup stock. Maybe this is common sense to you, but for someone raised in a household that had little to no cooking this was a major revelation. Can't wait until the bag is full to try it.

Another revelation that has made my life tastier: that groovy trick of pouring red wine (or other interesting liquid) into my caste iron pan after cooking meats and "reducing" the wine with the brown bits and herbs getting scraped up from the pan to make a delicious sauce. So many beautiful little cooking tricks, so simple yet they enhance my plate so much.

And tonights final happy save: I made cucumber tomato salad with red wine vinegar, olive oil, pepper, italian herbs and a bit of parmesan cheese. I let it sit for hours to get good and tasty. After all of the solids were eaten, I poured the leftover dressing into a nice decanter with a little more oil and vinegar and stored it in the fridge. Sure, it won't keep for too long - but I'll have an excellent dip for the next batch of fresh bread or topping for the next cold salad, or maybe even a marinade. Plus I get overtime use from the herbs I tossed in there. I don't have a lot of money, my husband is a teacher - refreshing my spice cabinet is getting expensive, recycling sauces when it is safe is a brilliant way to further their use.



Introduction

I have blogs all over the place, I needed something new for this. It isn't a "new topic", but it seems to be the most popular topic on the 'net these days. Some call it frugal living, some call it simple living, I call it lessening. I'm lessening the amount of Stuff needed to get through the day, I am using up more of the Stuff I have, and I am lessening the amount of Stuff I have to purchase for my day to be clean, nutritious, and fun.

I have been testing out different recipes and ideas to see what is worth the time and effort, and what really isn't worth the effort for the return. The return/effort tolerance is going to be different for everyone. Maybe you have ten kids, then certain mundane tasks can be spread out more evenly and that laundry soap you made is going to make a huge difference.

I have one small child, and one husband. I live in the desert, I live in a remote area. Because of these factors, not everything works for me that might work for those in larger population areas or more fertile zones. I cannot just run up to the store and buy a bulk bag of many items, and vegetable growing presents it's own challenges.

As I weed out what works for our family, and what doesn't, maybe you can give me some input, tips, suggestions, feedback, let me know how I might improve what I've tried or how you managed to make it work. If you live in a similar situation to my family, maybe we can learn from each other how to reduce our footprint, spend less money, and still live grandly.

I was raised in a time of boxed dinners, two working parents, convenience foods and lots of television. My grandmother didn't exactly impart the "traditional homemaking skills" to my mom and so all of this is brand new to me. I am part of a generation of people trying to relearn what most of our not so distant ancestors already knew, but I am proud that we are all starting to see the wisdom of removing ourselves a bit from the world of prepackaged and back into the world of knowing what is in our stuff.

In that journey, I know that some things may end up being more economical to purchase, that not everything in my life needs to be handmade - this is part of my learning experience. Economy is not just about money, it is also about time, quality of product, and quality of life overall.