Category Archives: Recipes

Mopping

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all you need to mop a floorAs I have professed before, I do not like to spend my time and money on cleaning and the supplies that go along with it.  The easiest task for me to avoid is mopping. I always seem to have an excuse, “it may rain or snow in a day or two, or it’s muddy out. I don’t have time to let it dry – why bother.” However, springtime brings guests to our home and prompts me to clean areas that I have ignored over the winter, such as the floors and cobweb removal.

The funny thing is that once I start, like most things in life, it takes very little time and energy to accomplish and I love the way the floors look once they’ve been mopped.

I have a very simple recipe for non-wood floors:

2 cups white vinegar

2 gallons hot water

2 tbsp. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Pure Castile liquid soap

Mix and mop – simple.

Dr. Bronner’s offers a variety essential oils infused liquid soaps to choose from, I prefer peppermint liquid soap.  For wood floors, I have yet to find a better product than Murphy’s oil soap. Now that the floors are done, I guess I need to tackle the cobwebs. Boy, those spiders have been very busy this winter.

 

The woodstove isn’t just for heating

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cooking oatmealI am all about conserving energy. It is very thrilling; yes, I am actually using the word thrilling, when I get multiple uses from one energy source. What I am referring to is our woodstove. Yes, it does heat, well actually, it just cuts the chill in the house but I love utilizing the heat for others things.

Every year, I get more creative. We started out drying boots, gloves, socks…. Of course, we put a big pot of water on the stove to add some moisture to the air. Then one day I decided to dry our cast iron pots on the wood stove no sense turning on the electric stove. After that, I started to boil water for tea, and pasta. One day while making waffles, I decided to use the stove to melt butter for the recipe. Now I use it when I make medicinal honey and salves. Recently, I tried making oatmeal on the woodstove.

Since it was my first time, I learned a lot. It was delicious but took three hours because I had a challenging time keeping the stove at a steady temperature. I also decided to keep the lid on to keep the heat in but I think it just made it take longer. Next time, I’m going to try to make the oatmeal with the lid off and be more conscious of the temperature of the wood. Normally, when the wood burns down, I fill the stove up with wood. Unfortunately, this lowers the temperature and it takes a while for the stove to get hot again, not conducive for cooking.

Here’s my recipe, just in case you would like to try.

I would love to hear any suggestions too.

Wood Stove Oatmeal

½ cup steel cut oats

1 ½ cup water

Honey

Cover and put on wood stove, bring to boil and then reduce the temperature so it simmers. It took 30 minutes to come to a boil. Then I moved it to the curved part of my stove to let airflow under the pot, which lowered the temperature. It worked and started to thicken but then I needed to add wood, which lowered the temperature too much. I think using a cast iron trivet to sit the pot on would work better. After the oatmeal is cooked, I add honey.

oatmealI have no idea why it is so thrilling for me but I just love using the woodstove for more than just heating, it just does. What do you use your woodstove for? Other than heating of course.