Hi everybody. I saw this video today and HAD to share. Basically he sums up my thoughts on the essential oil fad in a hilarious way. Some of my favorite gems:

"AND they're 100% natural. In fact, there's nothing more natural than taking three hundred thousand pounds of flower petals to make one ounce of oil. Nature does it all the time."

"Instead of using inexpensive chamomile tea to help me relax, I use a few drops of expensive chamomile oil to relax."

"I LOVE using essential oils for alternative remedies to common ailments like colds and the flu, instead of using remedies that actually work."

​"It burns a little. That's the sensation that it's working." 

"How does it work? Because they named it Angelic White Light."

"I like to add essential oils to my already effective health practices like drinking smoothies, taking epsom salt baths and stretching. It gives me the added benefit of believing that my expensive essential oils are benefiting me."

"Would you like to hear about a wealth-building opportunity? .... You'll just need to purchase a $745 starter kit."

"You'll only need to invest about 55 hours each week.... after a few years, you'll start to see the commission checks ROLLING in."

"Plus, our company funded independently funded research that proved our oils are the purest on the planet."

So many funny things! In case you're wondering, I do use essential oils and can't agree with the video 100%, but he makes so many valid points in a hilarious way. You can read my thoughts about essential oils and multi-level marketing if you're interested.

​I can't wait until he does a video on Plexus!

-Bethany

1. Sold three dozen eggs.

2. Sold one book on Amazon.

3. Revived a ginger bug starter.

4. Got some free clothes from my sister.

5. Saved $0.75 on groceries this week with Ibotta and Checkout 31. I used one $0.25 rebate for milk (only a slight discount), but paired two $0.25 carrot rebates to save $0.50 on an $0.84 bag of carrots. I thought this was a pretty good deal.

Of course ideally I would have grown my own carrots and had them for free. However, I haven't reached that point in my gardening yet. My long-term gardening plan is to grow the most expensive veggies first, and then work my way down from there. This year's garden will hopefully include onions, carrots and potatoes, though probably not a whole year's supply. Eventually I would love to grow 100% of my veggies year round, but I'm not opposed to eating cheap or on-sale store bought vegetables until that time comes.

6. Bought a 20 lb. bag of white rice at Walmart. The cost for this rice was $0.45/lb., or $0.30/lb. cheaper than what I was buying it at the bulk food store for. Our main sources of carbohydrates are potatoes and rice (we don't do a lot of bread), it's nice to think that this $9.00 bag will last us probably a year.

You health-conscious people are probably wondering why we don't eat brown rice. I have bought brown rice in the past, also thinking it would be better for us. However, after reading Ramiel Nagel's excellent book, Cure Tooth Decay, I know now that white rice is actually better for your teeth because it doesn't contain (or at least doesn't have as many) mineral-sucking phytates. Currently dental health is more of a priority for us than weight (I understand brown rice is better for weight loss), so for now we'll keep eating white rice.

7. Hubs used a hot water bottle to ease the pain from an ear infection.

8. We went for a couple walks last week and collected several grocery bags of recyclable cans and bottles.

9. A good chunk of time last week was spent working on promotional material for my new book. I took a couple videos to put up on Youtube and did some brainstorming on articles I could write.

10. Made cinnamon rolls for Easter brunch. Though time-consuming, cinnamon rolls are a big bang for your buck because they use minimal eggs and butter, and don't include fancy spices or ingredients (no chocolate chips or peanut butter, for example). But they are oh-so-yummy. :)

Guess what!? I've got an exciting announcement to make.

I've almost finished another book!

Set to release on Amazon on April 15th, 2016, One Season of Farmers Market is the book that I only wish I could have read last April. It is part how-to survival guide for newbie vendors, and part memoir (in the form of weekly blog posts) of my journey as a new farmers market vendor.

The ebook should be available for pre-order on Amazon soon. For those of you wondering, I do plan on doing a print version as well, but that could take longer to finish.

The Dip

In every project you decide to take on, there will be what author Seth Godin calls, "the dip". It's the point where you just want to quit- to give up and go home. The dip will be the hardest part of your venture. The important thing isn't knowing how to get through or avoid the dip. The important thing is knowing if you are willing to follow through with the project regardless of the dip. If you are not willing to follow through, then don't start your project in the first place.
 
I had spent most of the winter of 2014/2015 thinking about the farmers market. I thought about what I would sell, how fun it would be, how much money I would make. Then the weather began to warm up, and I had second thoughts. Do I really want to sit at the market every Saturday when I could be on a bike ride or working in my garden? Do I want to be tied down every week, stuck making candy and bread at least all day on Friday? I knew there would be a lot of garden work to do, and I still had a blog to keep up, a house to clean and meals to make. I told my sister-in-law that maybe I wouldn't do it after all. It was too much work. Then she mentioned that she would be willing to help with most of the baking. That would take a load off of my shoulders, but would it still be worth it?
 
I knew that if I decided to go through with doing the market, I would have to invest several hundred dollars in ingredients, a spot at the market, a canopy tent, table, and every other little thing that a booth requires. And I knew that after I invested so much, there was no turning back. In order to build a customer base, I would have to be there every week, consistently. I would not make a fool of myself by talking about it all winter, investing hundreds of dollars, and then quitting.
 
Tara, the Marshmallow Lady
 
My first week as a vendor, I walked through the entire market to see what was there and scope out any competition. Sure enough, there was a lady selling baked goods and marshmallows. She was there with an older woman (maybe her mom?) and a van full of sweets. Tara* had a nice big banner with her business logo and contact info. She had ordered matching business cards as well, and had bought a canopy tent like the rest of us. She had cinnamon rolls and biscuits, individually packaged in plastic boxes, and was also selling no bake cookies and plain marshmallows. Each product was $1, and the cookies were $0.50 each. These were stacked up on a short card table with a pink plastic tablecloth. The decor was nicely matched and put together. I talked to Tara and got one of her business cards.  I didn't think she would be competition to our business just because she had so few products.

That day when I got home, I sorted through my business cards and visited the other vendors' websites. Tara had a Facebook page for her business, where she had posted pictures of some of the things she had made and sold to people. Her page had plenty of likes, and some good reviews. She had only opened the page a couple months earlier. Her most recent post was asking her readers what she should make next week, and a comment about how she underestimated the work load involved in doing farmers market.
 
The next week was rainy and I was busy at my booth so I didn't get to see Tara. The third week, however, the market manager had placed her just down the street from me. It was cold, a little drizzly, and sales were extremely slow. Thankfully, later in the morning things picked up a little. Every once in a while someone would come by with a pack of Tara's marshmallows and show them to me (as had happened the two weeks prior). I would smile and make a comment like, "I see. It's good that she has plain ones, because we only have flavored marshmallows." That day was my least profitable; I only made $4 after costs.
 
On the fourth week, Tara was not at the market. I checked her Facebook page, and she had posted that she would not be at the market due to allergies getting her down. Uh oh, I thought. This is the beginning of the end! She had probably not made a red cent last week, and was wondering if farmer's market was really a smart thing to do in the first place. I was surprised that she had not shown up or sent her mom, because it was a gorgeous Memorial Day weekend and her sales would have been higher than ever.
 
Sure enough, before the next Saturday Tara posted on her Facebook page that she was pregnant and would no longer be at the Farmer's Market, though she would still be taking orders. I was happy about this because now I would get ALL of the marshmallow business, but sad for Tara because she had invested so much money and time in those first three weeks. She had decided to "cut her losses", but it would have been smarter for her to cut the project BEFORE there were any losses.

Have you ever been Tara? I know I have. If you are thinking about selling baked goods at a farmers market this year but aren't 100% sure about it, reading One Season of Farmers Market will help you decide. And if you do decide to take the plunge, I guarantee that you will save you loads of time and money.

Til next time,
-Bethany

*Name changed to protect privacy.

Last week, one of my pygora goats died. It was totally unexpected and we're still unsure of exactly why she passed away. One day she was just fine- eating, walking around, seemingly nothing wrong with her- and then the next day she was gone. Fiona was one of my friendliest goats and we will miss her.

Apart from actually losing and missing the animal, I think one of the hardest things to deal with after it dies is your own ability to be a caretaker. These were some of the thoughts that went through my head after we learned that Fiona had died, as well as when I lost two goat kids last year at birth.

Who am I to be keeping goats?
I don't know enough to do a good job taking care of them.
I didn't grow up with goats.
Maybe she/he wouldn't have died if I had done _____.
I don't know what I'm doing. 
Maybe I should let someone else take care of goats.
How could I possibly know how to do everything right? 
It's too overwhelming.

Our best guess of why Fiona died is that it was something pregnancy-related. I spent several hours looking things up on the internet to guess what it might have been, the major problem being that there were no symptoms beforehand. In the end, we couldn't pinpoint a certain cause. I was doing my best to take care of her, and I can't think of anything I would have done differently that might have prevented her death. The sad news is that sometimes animals die. We have to learn from it, if possible, and then move on.

Calling the Vet
Because we had no clue why she died, I considered having the vet out to do an autopsy. I thought maybe that would be a good way to prevent the others from getting sick/dying if I knew what it was.

I grew up on a farm, but have never arranged a vet visit myself. I thought this would be a good time to see what it costs and what some of the procedures are during a vet visit.

When we called the vet service, the lady said that they were off hours but she could have one of the actual Dr's. call us back. While we waited for that call, Hubs contacted a goat-owning friend of ours to get her advice from an owner's point of view. She told us that the vet may or may not find out what it is, and will probably ask if we wanted to send some samples to the lab. This would mean that we wouldn't know right away what it was. If there truly was some kind of invisible, deadly animal disease going around (my worst fear), the lab work wouldn't come back in time to save the rest of my goats.

A little while later, the vet called us back. Their regular charge for a call is $45 (what I expected), but since Fiona died on a weekend it would considered an "emergency call" and billed out at $90. The vet said it would probably take about 45 minutes to cut her open and talk about better farming practices. After adding the cost of his time onto the initial fee, our total would come to about $200. This would not include the lab fees for sending in samples, if we chose to do that.

I might have paid the $200+ if there were a possibility of saving the animal, but unfortunately Fiona was already gone. The time required to send samples and get results would defeat my purpose of "saving the other animals" from the invisible deadly goat disease. Because of this we chose not to do an autopsy. And as much as I respect a veterinarian's opinion, I wasn't in a good mental state to hear about better farming practices on that particular day.

*****

Thankfully all of the other goats are doing well, and I know this is just one step in my journey of being a goat owner.
-Bethany 

6. Made murkey with gifted parsnips and a loaf of banana bread out of the freezer. It was excellent!

7. Started making a new apron.

Goals for Next Week:
1. Transplant chili pepper seeds.
2. Transplant broccoli and/or delphinium seeds.
3. Transplant pumpkin-on-a-stick seeds.
4. Start jalapeno pepper seeds.
5. Work on apron.
6. Darn socks.

Til next time,
​-Bethany

When it comes to work, I'm a hard worker. But only when I have to be.
​
In my Pizza Night meal planning book, there are 14 lunch/dinner meals that take 30 minutes or less to prepare. This is a decent time frame, but it doesn't account for cleanup time. Instead of taking 30 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cleanup (I don't have a dishwasher), using the following method I can cut preparation down to 30-45 minutes and cleanup down to 30 minutes for both meals. Instead of two hours of meal-related work per day, I can cut it down to an hour or so. That is like eliminating HALF of the work!

The Problem With Make-ahead Freezer Meals
Before I talk about 2-for-1 meals, let me tell you why I don't do crock pot freezer meals, or "dump dinners". I adore this idea. Healthy, yummy food and hardly any work! However, there are a few things with our lifestyle that make freezer meals not practical.

1. Not enough freezer space. Our freezer is already full of meat and homegrown vegetables during the winter, and during the summer I use it for farmers market ingredients.

2. A waste of plastic bags. I don't like the thought of going through so many plastic bags to save time, nor do I like the idea of washing those plastic bags. After a couple uses, the bags get holes punched in them anyway.

3. Not efficient for canned or frozen food. At this point, almost all of our produce and meat comes from the freezer or pantry. It wouldn't make sense for me to open three bags of frozen veg and four cans of meat/sauce, mix it all together, freeze it, and then have to thaw it again.

In fact, I tried making my own frozen stir-fry mix, but with the different seasonality of vegetables it wasn't worth my time to freeze the snap peas and take them out several months later to mix with other vegetables when they were ripe. Now I just keep large bags or each vegetable (sliced peppers, cauliflower chunks, peas, broccoli, etc.) and throw in a handful of each for a stir fry. It's less wasteful AND allows me to make a different stir fry mix every time. 

The Solution: 2-for-1 Meals
One solution I've come up with is a 2-for-1 meal. In short, I do a whole day's cooking at one time. Typically this is around 11:00 am. I'll do a lunch that is either on the stove top or baked in the oven, and at the same time I'll put something in the crock pot for dinner, or if it is an oven-baked dish I'll prepare it and put it in the fridge until an hour or so before dinner. 

For example, if I'm having ham/potato soup for lunch and roast/vegetables for dinner, I can peel and cut all of the potatoes and onions at one time. This means I'm only washing the cutting board and knife once, only wiping the counter once, and only dealing with vegetable scraps once. It also means I have a bigger chunk of time in the afternoon to do things I enjoy.

With some extra planning, you can do a 3-for-1 meal by cooking enough meat/veg in the crock pot for the next day's lunch. For example, using leftover chicken meat for sandwiches.

I don't do this every day, but it's definitely a useful tool, especially for gardeners/homesteaders. We do enough work with freezing and canning already!

Adapting Meal Plans
In order to implement the 2-for-1 idea, I've started to rearrange and adapt some of the Pizza Night meals. I'm also looking at a few seasonal meals/dishes to try, for when the garden produce starts coming in. After two years we're getting tired of some of the old standbys, and we now have different ingredients (like lamb roast!) to incorporate into the menu. Plus, with all of this new-found freedom from cooking, what better to do with my free time than cook new meals?!

Have you done batch cooking before? What are some of your tips or maybe things that didn't work for you?

Hi everyone! I'm a little late posting this week's accomplishments because we've been away for the past two days. Hubs and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary this week, and he took me to Detroit for a Monday-Tuesday "weekend" trip. It was a lot of fun... might do a post about it later.

4. Started pepper and tomato seeds in the Walmart mini-greenhouse I bought. The Amish Paste tomatoes sprouted SUPER fast, in only a few days. The peppers are still being coaxed out of their shells.

5. Started some grapefruit seeds I had picked out of a grapefruit. We'll see if they germinate or not. :)

6. Finished my green apron! I'm hoping to get some clearer, brighter outdoor picks of both aprons soon, but this is what they both look like finished:

7. Hubs made me one of these blanket ladders for the living room. This winter I've tried to put a priority on home decorating, which is definitely not my strong point. In addition to providing storage/display area for blankets, I'm hoping the verticalness (I just made that word up) of the ladder will help balance out the shorter couch and piano along that wall.

8. Bought some houseplants that were 50% off. In addition to providing bursts of color to our apartment, I'm hoping these plants will provide foliage to use in flower arrangements. I bought a majesty palm for $6.00 and a dracaena corn plant for $2.50.

9. Made a batch of soap with coffee grounds. The scent wasn't strong enough for sale-quality, so the five bars I made will be for our personal use only.

10. Lastly, I got a free smart phone!!! Before last week it was actually Hubs' phone. However, it was having some issues and in short, Hubs was unable to make or receive any calls. He tried working with Republic Wireless to have them fix it, but ultimately they told him it was unfixable and he'd just have to buy a new phone. After comparing prices of other phone services, we figured out that even with the price of a new phone, Republic Wireless was still the best deal. So he got a new phone, and I got his old phone to take pictures and use wifi with. 

For the last two years, I haven't had any cell phone at all. It's been a little challenging, but totally worth it. Before we got married, carrying around a phone was such a burden. I was happy to NOT have one for the past couple years. In fact, I almost wrote an article about all the benefits of not having a cell phone, but Hubs said I shouldn't be telling people to get rid of their phones, because phone-less people (me included) make life difficult for everyone else* because we are so hard to get a hold of. Plus what if there is an emergency? My theory is that widespread use of cell phones (especially smart phones) has led to an utter lack of planning, terrible social skills, laziness but ironically added stress and more work, moral evils previously unknown to mankind, and a lack of accountability for both spouses AND children (because even kids have phones these days), leading to broken homes.    

I still hold to my anti-cell-phone position, but now we've come to a happy compromise. I've downloaded an app on the phone that allows him (and others) to get a hold of me when he needs to... as long as I have wifi, which is all of the time if I'm at home, and some of the time if I'm away. 

I spent last weekend downloading all kinds of apps, and I LOVE them. Things like Youversion, Map My Ride, My Fitness Pal, Duolingo, Pinterest, and my personal favorite... INSTAGRAM!

You can all follow me and my latest adventures on Instagram at renaissancehousewife.

1. Start new apron.
​2. Start broccoli seeds.
3. Put forced tulip bulbs in dirt.

Til next time,
​-Bethany

*I imagine that living without a cell phone is akin to living without the internet or not having a car and bicycling everywhere. Not convenient really, but some people enjoy the quality of life and lack of stress that accompanies their lifestyle.

You may be wondering why it is that I just got a library card yesterday. Well, I did have one before... back in the days before I'd discovered the internet. Before I had enough money to buy things on Amazon, before Kindles. In this day and age of bite-sized reading, Facebook, Youtube and the myriad of tutorial websites, the appeal of libraries has diminished for me.

There were other reasons I quit going to the library before we were married, as well. One of the librarians started complaining about how many books I would check out, and I didn't like being told that "[she] was spending all of [her] time on one patron". I knew that there were other people that checked out a lot of books, and maybe I just always saw her on a bad hair day, but I dreaded going in there. About that same time, the library sent out a notice that they would be charging an annual fee for families outside of their township and putting a limit on the number of books that could be checked out. My family started using the small library closer to us. I had less time to read, and more money to buy books that I wanted, so after that I rarely used the library. 

It's Still Worth Going To, Though
​
Even if most of your learning needs are met through other means- and mine are met through blogs, Pinterest, Youtube, and different podcasts- the library still has something to offer. First of all, it's free. So you have nothing to lose by walking in and getting a library card. All it takes is your driver's license.

1. Interloan system: Allows you to borrow from any library in the state. As you can imagine, this gives you access to almost any book out there, in addition to audio books. This feature alone will save me probably $30 per year on buying books that I'm only going to read once or twice anyway. Even though I'm trying to only read books that I have already, inevitably there are a few books every year that I must. read. now. and end up paying for.

2. Fewer books at home: If I use the library, there is no reason to keep classic literature, cookbooks or other widely available one-time reads stored on my shelves at home. This will help get rid of clutter and make life easier for me.

3. Local history resources: Another thing I noticed at the library was a lot of independently published local history books and pamphlets. Although there is some local history on the internet, there's not a whole lot out there. In addition to the books you can check out, the library also has a "historical room" with old yearbooks and other interesting local history tidbits. You can only get in by appointment, but it's still free to look through.

4. Within biking distance: The library is only a 20 minute bike ride from our house. It's right across from the post office as well, so this summer I'll be able to 1) exercise, 2) mail packages, and 3) get books, all for free and all at the same time, possibly within an hour. 

1. Made yogurt.

2. Sold four dozen eggs.

3. Made a mini-greenhouse with an old cookie container to spout thyme seeds in.

4. Started oregano seeds. Both my thyme and oregano seeds were SUPER fast to germinate... like, three or four days when it was supposed to take 1-2 weeks.

5. Started sweet potato slips with some sweet potatoes that were given to us. My mother-in-law does this every year and it seems to work great for her. I cut one potato in half and left the other two whole to see which sprouts better.

6. Started chili pepper seeds.

7. Transplanted some basil seedlings.

8. Reorganized sewing room. My sewing room is kind of a multi-purpose craft/storage room and there wasn't really enough space to walk around in there, let alone accomplish anything. Until recently I had been bringing my sewing machine and ironing board out to the kitchen every time I wanted to sew. Then a few weeks ago I had Hubs build me some shelving for storage (sleeping bags, Christmas decorations, extra canned food, air mattress... things we only use a couple times per year). Last week I moved some things around so that my ironing board had a permanent spot with some more shelving for miscellaneous items (hem gauge, pattern pieces, fabric scraps, shears, pin cushin, etc.). 

The last thing I did was nail some clothespins to the wall. This allows me to clip up the pattern instruction sheet and not have to continually get it out, put it back, fold, unfold.

My apologies for the dark pictures. I was just so excited about it I couldn't wait to take pictures!

This new arrangement has already helped immensely in my sewing. Everything is so much faster and streamlined, and I am going to save a ton of time not running back and forth from the hobby room to the kitchen when I sew, knocking things off the ironing board accidentally. 

9. Worked on a new apron. I was almost able to complete this one, thanks to my new sewing set up and pre-cut pieces. This pattern is from the 1940s as well, though it is printed, unlike the last one. I'm trying to follow the authentic instructions and not deviate from the pattern as much as possible. This can be challenging when you are working with a random piece of fabric from a garage sale. I alternated white with the printed fabric, but still didn't have enough green to use for the waistband. Instead of an entirely white waistband then, I decided to make a kind of rosette in the center with the green fabric. I think it worked out well. I'm looking forward to doing a separate post on this apron in the future.

10. Made lip balm. I didn't get around to making any soap this week, but I was able to make 17 tubes of Peppermint Patty lip balm to sell with my soap. I still need to get some labels on these, and then they'll go into my Etsy shop.

11. Made homemade oven cleaner. In 2016, my hope is to gradually phase out most of my generic household cleaners and replace them with non-toxic homemade cleaners. It's something I've always wanted to do, but was just low on the priority list. One of the most expensive of these is oven cleaner. Not only was it expensive, but I found myself coughing and wheezing and gasping for breath whenever I got a whiff of it. That can't be good for a person! 

My new homemade oven cleaner was just equal parts baking soda and vinegar, with a few drops of dishwashing soap (I really like Ajax). The cleaner worked pretty well. The only thing I noticed was that some of the spots still had slight stains after I had scrubbed the baking soda/vinegar off.

I will admit that we've done a bit of purchasing "stuff" lately, in the name of saving time.

Mop Bucket
We bought this "real" mop bucket for about $10.00 at Walmart. I LOVE it. Previously I'd been using a huge mixing bowl for mop water. Not only did I have to wash the thing with soap every time I used it, but it hardly fit in the sink and I had a hard time rinsing it without splashing water all over. The new bucket fits in the sink easily, AND I can just rinse it out because it never gets used for food.

The main reason why I hardly mopped is because I had no way to wring out the mop, which left the floor sopping wet and took forever to dry. Then I'd have to walk on it and the dirt from my feet/shoes/slippers would smear into the wet floor and get it all dirty again. Talk about frustrating! Now that I have the wringer bucket, the floor dries quickly. This purchase was SO worth the $10.

Mini Greenhouse
Another thing we bought at Walmart this week was one of these mini-greenhouses for starting seeds. Our greenhouse box had 72 cells for $5.00. I am going to try to use this for my tomato and pepper seeds. While my current seed starting method works fine, using the $5.00 greenhouse would eliminate the need to transplant seedlings. Last year during the transplanting process I got my varieties mixed up and some of the plants died. Hopefully using the greenhouse will fix these problems, and if I'm careful I can use the greenhouse again next year.

And FORGOT to Use My Coupon!
We stopped at TSC this week to get some salt/mineral blocks for the goats, and also some lice-killing powder. I like using tea tree oil, but the Pygoras have so much wool it is hard to use. The wethers also refuse to stand still for a daily treatment, so I've done nothing to get rid of their lice. Anyhow. I had a 10% entire order coupon to use on all of this stuff, and when we were almost home I realized that the coupon was still in my pocket. Bummer! 

Goals This Week
1. Make a batch of soap.
2. Make labels for lip balm.
3. Finish green apron.
4. Start pepper seeds.
​5. Start tomato seeds.

Corn meal mush is exactly like cream of wheat, except it's corn instead of wheat. Which is great for all of you gluten-free people! I make this as a hot cereal because it is so much cheaper ($0.15 for a bowl). The recipe below makes two 1-cup servings.

Corn Meal Mush

Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal
1 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
Milk
Honey, maple syrup or sugar to taste

Instructions:
Put all ingredients in a small sauce pan and stir, bringing to a boil. After the cereal cooks for 30 seconds to a minute, it will be done. When it is hard to stir and there are blobs of cereal flying up in your face, it is probably done. Serve with a little milk and sweetener of your choice.

Sometimes corn meal mush is also called "polenta".

You can also let the corn meal mush solidify in the refrigerator, slice it up, and fry it in bacon grease or other animal fat to be used as a side dish.