hanging storage

July 25, 2014 Megan Rodriguez

We live in a 100 year old house with little storage and many, many windows. I love the windows, but they leave me with very few walls to put things on. So, I've found that I need to be creative about where and how I store things.

My sewing area is off of our dining room. It has three walls. Two windows fill one wall, three windows fill another, and a piano fills the third. The natural light is lovely, but all that glass makes it rather difficult to store all of the crafty supplies that belong in a sewing room! To add a little extra storage, I started working on a simple little project last fall. Like most projects, it got tossed to the side when another project with a deadline came along. However, last night, this little storage project surfaced again and finally got its finishing touches!

I created these three simple bags to hang on a little nook-like wall between my bookshelf and window. In order to be better organized in my sewing area, I wanted these bags to hold random craft supplies that have previously resided in messy baskets or bins. Each bag was made with left over fabric and buttons from my stash. I do so love projects like that! The workmanship is nothing spectacular, just functional.

I hung the bags on sticks with two nails in the wall for each one. Once the bookshelf is pushed back into place, the bags are rather hidden, but that's one of the things that I love about the design. They are cute and functional, yet they are mostly hidden from view. With the open floor plan that our house has, it's great to have things tucked back into corners like this. It makes the rooms seem less cluttered and full, while still fully utilizing the space. It feels so good to have this little corner cleaned up and better organized! It's amazing what a difference a little project like this can make.

summer break

May 22, 2014 Megan Rodriguez

It's summer break!!! My teaching job at the University of MN is finished for the semester and I am off for the summer! This will be my second summer on break, and I'm thoroughly excited about it. While I have the opportunity to teach in the summers, my husband and I have decided that it's better for us if I don't teach. The reason for this is that not teaching in the summer frees me up to do so many other things. It gives me the opportunity to travel with my husband to music festivals and his other gigs. It gives me time to relax and enjoy the quite home-life for a few months. And it also gives me time to grow and preserve a ton of food! For us, these benefits far outweigh the lack of income. We've realized that sitting down to a table full of homegrown produce (throughout the year) is worth a bit of penny pinching through the summer. It's amazing how much our quality of life can improve when we take a few moments to prioritize and choose to live with less, in order to really live with more.

So, summer break is here! Now, some of you may be imagining me spending my days lounging with a book, a blanket, and the sun, and while that will most certainly happen, that's not what the majority of my days will look like. Food is my focus for the summer. Twelve tomato plants are going in the ground in the next day or two, along with peppers, cucumbers, beets, potatoes, beans, summer squash, zucchini, carrots, radishes, lettuce, kale, shallots, and herbs. My plan is to can and freeze as much of that homegrown goodness as I can. I will also be filling my freezer with strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries from local farm fields. Whatever I can't grow enough of or can't pick from someone else's field, I will buy at the farmer's market and preserve that. This past summer, I was able to can enough tomatoes, corn, green beans, pickles, soups, applesauce, and jam to sustain us through the winter. I am just finishing up the last of my berries from last summer, and the pesto that I froze will be eaten up until another batch is ready for the blender! It's been AMAZING to have such good, fresh, local food on hand all winter. And I've realized that not having to buy all of those things, has allowed me to spend my grocery money on organic produce and eggs, grass-fed meets and milk, and even some organic pantry items. I've often wondered how people can afford to buy really good food, and now I know one of the ways that it's possible!

So, while I may not be teaching this summer, I will most definitely be working. You'll find me busily working to provide my family with good, wholesome, nourishing food that will last us through the winter that will most certainly come!

laundry soap

May 8, 2014 Megan Rodriguez

Not the most exciting title, I know, but, hey, it's a very important part of life! Making your own laundry soap isn't exactly a new idea. I know a lot of people who do it and there are lots of different recipes and concoctions to try. However, I also know a lot of people who have maybe never thought about it, or would otherwise never consider it. So, I thought I'd share with you the recipe I use and my reasons for why I choose to make my own.

Reason #1: It's cheap! I've never done the calculations, but I do know that I'm not spending $9 every couple months on a jug of heavily scented Tide!

Reason #2: It's easy. Every few months, I take about 15 minutes to make up a batch. The hardest part is grating a couple bars of soap with a cheese grater.

Reason #3: Less waste! I'm no longer recycling big laundry detergent jugs! I now have simple cardboard boxes a few times a year that we can either burn or recycle. It's great!

Reason #4: I know exactly what's in it! This is the biggest reason for me. I've been working for the past year to get the chemicals and harsh cleaners out of my home. Knowing exactly what is in my laundry soap has become very important to me. It's easy to read food labels and pretty much know what you're eating, but cleaner labels are not held to the same standards. I'm not really a fan of bringing things into my home and washing the clothes that touch my skin all day with things that have ingredients such as "cleaning agents" in them. These may be perfectly harmless, but they also may be perfectly toxic! I love that making my own laundry soap enables me to know exactly those "cleaning agents" are.

So, there you have it! Those are my simple reasons why I choose to take a bit of time every few months to make my own soap. Since it's just my husband and I for now, I typically make the following recipe in single batches. However, if I were running the washer more often, I would definitely double or triple the recipe for efficiency purposes.

Laundry Soap

2 cups grated soap (I make my own, but I used to use a mixture of Fels-Naptha and Ivory. Fels-Naptha is a hard laundry bar and Ivory is cheap and soft, which makes it easy to grate. Fels-Naptha can be found in the laundry isle at a lot of the big stores like Target, Walmart, Cub, etc.)

1 cup washing soda (This is an all-natural product--Sodium Carbonate, but is different from baking soda--Sodium Bicarbonate. You should be able to find it in the laundry isle. Arm & Hammer is the most common brand.)

1 cup borax (This is an all-natural detergent that can also be found in the laundry isle. Some have objections as to whether it's safe or not. This blog post pulls together a lot of what the experts have to say about that. 20 Mule Team is a good brand.)

I grate my soap using a cheese grater. Since it's soap, and I make my own, I use my cheese grater from the kitchen. I figure it just makes it cleaner. Mix all of the ingredients together until the grated soap breaks down a bit and you have a powder-like consistency. Store in an airtight container.

Use 2 tbs for a full load. I use white vinegar as a fabric softener. I pour about a 1/4 cup into my Downy Ball and throw it into the load. (The fabric softener spot on your washer will also work, but your washer may consistently smell like vinegar).

I find that the detergent works great! Whenever I wash whites or really dirty things, I pour a little extra borax in the load and let them soak a bit. They brighten right up!

So, whether you decide to make your own or not, I do encourage you to think about what kinds of things are in the cleaning products you're bringing into your home. It's amazing how many nasty things are allowed to be in the products we buy!

keeping up with it all

May 5, 2014 Megan Rodriguez

You know though weeks where you feel like you're treading water, feeling as if you're barely keeping your head above water? This past week has been one of those for me. I realized this weekend that the end of both the spring and fall semester are not only busy, but they also both fall at busy times in my personal life -- fall semester right before Christmas, and spring semester at planting time. With a long to-do list at both work and home, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and overworked.

This past weekend was no exception to that. I left work on Friday with a to-do list for the upcoming week that was a bit scary and came home to a list that was much more exciting, but a bit daunting as well.

It's on weekends like these, that I try to remind myself that while that list of things is important, and mostly necessary, it's not what really matters in the end. What matters are the moments that I spend making memories with those I love.

So while some work did happen this weekend, like edging a flower bed, dusting/sweeping the house, and grading grammar tests. There were also many things that didn't happen - infusing/bottling kombucha, cleaning the kitchen, laundry, laundry, and more laundry...the list goes on.

However, there were some great moments with my loved ones that did happen. A Twins game, two bonfires, an impromptu chat with my dear Auntie, and burgers with my love, to name a few.

The lists still remain, but that's ok. I feel rested and full. And that's what matters.

I hope this past weekend was one for you to remember, even if those memories are as simple as a backyard bonfire on a quiet spring evening. My hope is that those beautiful moments will carry us through our busy weeks.

Cheers to you and yours on this Monday morn.

putting down roots and watching them grow

April 22, 2014 Megan Rodriguez

Easter weekend, for me, included some much desired time in the yard and garden. I was able to clear away leaves and debris from the long winter, enjoy the gorgeous weather, and day dream. My day dreaming brought me back to this time last spring when I was carefully awaiting the arrival of leaves and plants, excited to see what plants popped up in my yard. While this year the sentiments are the same, seeing what pops up from the ground is a very different experience.

You see, we bought our house in the summer of 2012 and then got married that fall. With all of the wedding planning/prepping/making (there was lot of making!), there was little time to care about the haphazard landscaping that the contractor had thrown into the ground before we closed on the house. So when spring came, I really had no idea what was under all of that snow and dirt!

This year is different, though, because not only do I know, but I am excitingly anticipating each and every plant's arrival. I know where the tulips should be emerging and what the tiny little leaves of the Sweet Woodruff look like. I know where the oregano is and the thyme. I know which ones are Stella Lilies and which are Siberian Iris. I know, because I planted each one of them.

However, as I pulled away the leaves on Saturday, I found that there were some things that I didn't know, or at least didn't realize. I didn't realize that my Sweet Woodruff would come back two to three times the size! I knew it was a ground cover, but I didn't expect that much growth this year. I was more than thrilled to see that!

I didn't know that my Tiger Lilies would shoot up multiple stocks where just one used to just be! How fun!!

I didn't know that my peonies would have such a unique sea creature-like look as they emerged from the ground!

And as I noticed all of these things, I realized that this is one of the things that I love most about gardening. I love the hard work, the planning, the waiting, but I also really love the unknown. Not knowing what things will look like in the spring. Not knowing if everything will make it through the harsh winter. Not knowing when the flowers will bloom or stop blooming. It's the not knowing that makes it exciting. It's the unknown that reminds me that I can plant and water and tend, but at the end of the day, it's really out of my control. And I kind of like that.

It reminds me that life can't be controlled. That's the beauty of it.