Dishwashing soap, Good turkey breed, and housing ducks
Do you have a recipe for homemade hand dishwashing soap? I use my soap scrapes to make laundry soap, but haven’t had any luck for dishes. In your opinion what would be a good heritage turkey breed for the homestead?
Also, maybe an “ask the reader topic,” it would be really interesting to see how people house their ducks and deal with water for them, my golly are they messy!
The tomato seeds we ordered from you are coming up great in the greenhouse!
Tami Hoenig
Port Orchard, Washington
Sorry, but I haven’t yet tried a recipe for homemade dishwashing soap that I like. I’m still looking so any readers who have a favorite recipe, how about sharing it with Tami and me. I like several heritage turkeys, including Slate, Narragansett, and Bourbon Reds. If you want a smaller turkey (15 pounds or so), the black and white Royal Palm is nice.
As for the ducks, yep, they ARE messy, which is why it’s best not to house them with chickens and/or turkeys. We’ve had luck using an automatic, dish-type watering bowl. The ducks can’t really get into it or even really wet their heads, trying to take a bath in the water. But they still do waste quite a bit, causing a muddy spot under the waterer.
Glad to hear your tomato seeds are coming up well. I’m always so excited when ours start to pop up! — Jackie
Sewing machine cabinet
I purchased my wife a Janome 712T sewing machine and she got an old cabinet. But we discovered that the top section that holds the machine is falling apart. I once came across a company that was making new tops for old cabinets, but I can’t find them now. Any ideas who they might be?
Alan Wuertenberg
Salisbury, Maryland
Golly, Alan, I don’t know. How about it readers? Can someone help Alan find the company he needs? Any other ideas? — Jackie
Seminar
I just bought land here in the Tuolumne county area. My mind is going in circles, but I think by looking at some answers you have given other people, I can figure out what I should do first. My question though is whether you are going to have a demonstration time on your property this year? And if so, when?
Bette Axiak
Jamestown, California
We aren’t planning a seminar this year. Two suggestions: If you’d like to come out and visit our place, we’d sure be happy to show you around and give you some tips and let you see how we do things here. And/or you could pick up my book Homesteading Simplified; How to live the good life without losing your mind from BHM. It’s full of just the kind of advice/ideas you need. And this is one reason I wrote the book. Even with seasoned homesteaders, sometimes folks become overwhelmed and spin in circles. I’ve tried to lift that burden. — Jackie
Carrot seeds
We are trying to find the Napoli carrot seeds that can be planted late summer or early fall and then pulled out to eat in the winter. We had called a place in Maine and they sent us some nonhybrid seeds, but they are not what we want. We prefer non hybrid seeds. Do you know where we can get these seeds or something similar that would overwinter?
Katrina Penka
Hoisington, Kansas
Napoli carrots are a F1 hybrid. You’ll find seeds for them in High Mowing and Fedco catalogs or online websites. Many carrots can be overwintered in milder climates and even more severe ones, if well mulched. We’ve had several folks overwinter Kuroda carrots by planting in the late summer. They’re a sweet, larger carrot that is very hardy. — Jackie
I overwinter Scarlet Nantes carrots with great success. We live in Coastal BC where it is fairly mild, but they’ve done well even under a covering of snow and in frozen ground for a short period. I have to give them a long lead time to mature before the cold weather sets in. I just pulled all of my spring planted carrots but still have my summer ones in the ground for later.
Jackie this is a comment for the sewing machine cabinet question. The tops are fairly easy to make yourself if that is all that is ruined or if you know a regular cabinet maker he can make it easily. Lehmans sells beautiful sewing cabinets made by the amish but they are pricey but im not sure if they would sell just the top.
Concerning the sewing machine cabinet top, I found a top on eBay that was fairly cheap. You can check it out and see what is available now and the different prices as they change daily.
Comments are closed.