If you have a dog….you can make training the dog part of this. And train dog for ” Find the kid”. Doggie hide and seek. You also make the scent age as you go along. My older kids loved to try to ” lose the dog” on 2500 acres. Plus since scent had to age, they were out of the house for a few hours<smile>. Since dog was trained to air scent instead of tracking, it never took more than 15 mins to find them.  liebrecht

Eggs in the store can be 60 days old. So  not as ” fresh” as many people think. And while technique may differ, waterglassing eggs for storage is an OLD OLD method.  liebrecht

There are herons over near the dam that we enjoy on the way to/from golf. Funny how he/she is on a small island in the winter AM when it is COLD then later in the day, off fishing. We have a nesting pair of bald eagles that live here but they take the babies ” upriver” in the summer to hunt. Then back they come early fall, minus the babies. The eggs usually hatch a week before Christmas. There are certain trees they hang out in at certain times of the day. And watch the kids. And jump, flap, scream and holler if an unknown vehicle pulls up. One heron would perch in a pine tree overlooking the pond. Herons look reeeaaaaalyyy stupid up in a pine tree<shaking head>. But yes, so fun to watch! liebrecht

Spinning wheels spin what the owner needed them to spin. A distaff may have a cage but may also be a “spindle” that you tie the flax onto with ribbons. Flax is a PITA to spin tho<smile>. And on the topic….there are many many more spinning tools/toys.  Cards, wool or cotton, various types of combs, hackles and niddy noddies, reels and hand spindles, high whorl and low….TOYS! I have a Russian comb used to make yarns for Orenburg shawls and that is an unusual type comb.  Flickers and taklis…then you get to types of sheep and exotic fibers….next dyeing and weaving and weaving toys. The list can go on and on<smile>. liebrecht

LOL. Okay…my fast wheel ( alpaca on that one right now) and an Ashford live in the ballroom as I am inclined to spin when the boys practice piano ( also in the ballroom). The other wheels are usually displayed down the hall next to the stairs. Then I can pull out the correct one for certain projects. The big floor loom lives in the solarium as the light is good in there. The smaller floor loom lives in the library as it fits exactly right under the window. The inkle lives on the mantle in there. The table looms and sample loom, which are used less, live in the solarium also. The rigid heddle lives there. The hand made from exotic woods tape loom lives in the guest room on display. I admit I have a whole storage building that has <ehem> a LOT of fibers and yarns. Tho I do currently have 22 fleeces that need to be prepped and inventoried right now. Sewing/knitting/crochet/etc ( small projects) live in their own rooms, one for working and one is just storage for fabrics, etc. liebrecht

First, antique wheels can be warped, missing parts/ parts worn and new wheels have extra parts available. And usually spin better. Next, friend just bought me 2 new graters as we go thru a LOT of grated cheese. Both the new ones…..stunk. So I pulled out my normal grater…that was my Grandma’s so 100 years old, give or take. It gets pulled out to grate about 3-5 pounds of cheese every other month or so. So far so good<smile>. My life includes 7 spinning wheels, 7 looms, floor and table and specialty. Lots and lots of fibers. Hand shears for shearing sheep/goats to hand sewing items. A lot of my non electric things are used now on a regular basis. Butter churns, while nice, can easily be a jar with a lid that you assign kiddos to shake. I did use a pasta machine to teach the kids to make pasta but I learned from my Grandma with….a rolling pin. Pizza from scratch here can easily be dough, sauce and cheese, all made from “ingredients”. We make soap 1 or 2 times a year. Yes, I like my cordless drill. Yes, I like my TV and computer. I love pushing a switch and lights come on or a handle and water comes out of a faucet. But my cast iron dutch oven can go on an electric stove or make bread in a fire outside. Hand milking a goat/cow is easy once you get the muscles used in shape. But having a freezer for the ice cream bowl when you have fresh cream, works for me. liebrecht

Thank you. I shop when the kids have golf after careful study of the sale ads that come out Tues afternoon. The people I got the chickens for are unable to shop except on weekends and even then, may not have the time to search for the best prices. One sale chicken makes a couple of meals for their families per week. Spring, summer and fall, I put up our foods for winter and thus can share our blessings during the year. I didn’t “need” 8 turkeys 29c/# on sale but a single mom with a kid……a firefighter that had a triple bypass and can’t work…..a working mom that has a family and no extra $$…..they had a nice big turkey and they cost me about $6 each. Plus I have 3 teen boys myself so……an amazing amount of food is just required for them! liebrecht

A hoarder is somebody that is buying more of something than * you* think they need? Some people buy on sale only so take advantage of a good price. Some other people do not  live by just buying what they need THIS week. They put by for later. Today, whole chickens are on sale. So my cart will be full. You will not see or know that these chickens are for several families that are being hard hit by prices. On sale, I can gift these to families that need the extra meat. Like I gifted turkeys on sale to a number of people for the holidays. You have no idea where the hamburger in that cart was going. Maybe that was a big family and all they could afford was burger. I use a LOT of flour so I bought flour when it was on the shelves so I have it put by for winter. The cashiers at “my” stores know when my cart has a certain item, it is a GOOD price. When there are shortages, I do not need to restock and make it worse for other people.  liebrecht

LOL. We all start somewhere! On the Corriedale. It may be hard to accomplish this as a beginner but if you spin fine and use a lace knit pattern, you can make a bigger scarf!  Weaving just sucks thru yarn. I know the time involved as I competed in ( and won) Sheep to Shawls and also judged them. XDH wanted a cap so I washed, dried, nat’l dyed, prepped the wool from fleece, spun and knitted the thing in 24 hours. I do have a really fast wheel. Actually 7 wheels but each has it’s own best use. My personal ” best” was prepping, washing. spinning, weaving, cutting out and sewing a wool and alpaca jacket in 9 days. It was a dare from one of my students while I was getting ready to teach a 3 day class. With cow to milk, other beasties to care for, a home to run, meals to cook and supplies to get ready for the class. She ended up bringing me coffee every day of the class! I did learn to sew at 6 and without patterns until I was 13. Then patterns and machine.  And on the topic of a woman defending herself. Go look at wool combs<smile>. Once you can use them to prep a fleece, you are strong enough to use them as defense<smirk>.  liebrecht

LOL. Everything in my teacher heart wants to say ” Come on over and we can have a soap making day!”. I had some of the kids’ pals over last year and did a soap making afternoon with them. Or maybe I just like having folks to play with<smile>. BTW…..if you are at all skilled with woodworking, you can make a wooden soap mold. Doesn’t have to be a big deal BUT add hinges on one corner and some way to hold the square/rectangle closed and then when the soap is firm, you can unhook the one side and remove from the soap slab. Also, if you cut the soap when FIRM but not weeks into curing, it is easier to cut. I think I read that you used a shoebox for a mold. Make sure that the soap traces before pouring or that is when it glops out. In my experience, YMMV, but soap is sometimes an art as trace will NOT happen on your time table. Same ingredients, same recipe but once in awhile it will be ornery and take a long time. My fave thing for soap making, castille soap, is to plan the afternoon on the couch with a great movie on and the soap pot next to the couch. Stir while you watch<smile>. Have fun! liebrecht

No Youtube as I am not fond of tech<smile>.  Do you plan on spinning on a hand spindle or a wheel? The difference in hand spindles can make you swear or enjoy it. Wheels are easier to deal with in different styles. Historically accurate ones are double drive but scotch tension is much less annoying.  Next up. You can learn to spin with flax but you will NOT be happy. And wet spinning flax is a major PITA. Wool is more forgiving and you will have a usable product faster on the learning curve. Flax would be more of an intermediate type fiber. Do not make the mistake of getting poor quality wool because ” I am only learning”. A good spinner can make bad wool better but a beginner does not have the experience to treadle, draft and pluck out ugly spots all at the same time. Garbage in, garbage out for spinning also.  I have always taught wool prep from dirty fleece to yarn BUT beginners spin nicely prepped wool until they get the hang of it. If you are learning on a wheel, I suggest you get some regular hobby store type yarn and tie that to the bobbin and practice feeding that on. This will “teach” your hands while you get the hang of treadling. After you can make the wheel go around well, THEN add the hand gestures to draft and feed real fiber, The whole thing is sort of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. Once you GET IT, it is easy.  Corriedale or a med Romney make good beginner wools. The down wools take a bit more practice tho they are lovely. The long wools will also be more challenging at first. If you intend to weave, the med wools are forgiving and work out quite nicely. And just for an idea of volume needed…..it took 7 spinners to provide yarn for 1 weaver. So knitting things is a good idea for starting. liebrecht

Soap 101. Clean tallow and lard will not smell like beef or pork. More tallow makes a harder, less lathering soap. More lard makes a softer, more lathering soap. EOs, on the whole, do not “last” in soaps but the guys were quite fond of cinnamon scented and that did hold it’s scent longer. Cinn EO not ground out of the spice cabinet tho. All fats have different properties depending on what YOU want. More lather, longer lasting, etc. My go to is castille soap as rendering tallow DOES reek. For that matter, you can use Crisco. Now listen carefully…..this is important….go to Majestic Mountain Sage lye calculator and plug in the amount of each fat YOU want to use. Different fats have different saponification values so you need to use the correct amount of lye for each. Use a balance to measure your lye. Too much makes soap with unused lye and it will burn you. Too little will make a gloppy horrid soap. Soap does need to age about 6 weeks to allow the complete process. Some folks ignore this but ” follow the science”<smile>. You can read about the properties of various fats to make your own creation. Orrrr….use the MMS calculator to use up dribs of fat/oils on hand and make a useful product from them. I admit I do not like ” pieces” of stuff in my soap like rosemary but that is just me. You can add ground oatmeal, chocolate ( tho I always end up with the chocolate in the soapmaker not the soap). Goats’ milk is overrated but if you have it, use it. I have only used handmade soaps since the 90s and taught classes on bath products. So YMMV but go for it. Oh..do NOT be tempted to use a disposable foil pan as a mold. Do not use aluminum at all. You can use a new kitty litter pan. The silicon baking things like for muffins are great. They are awful for baking but they do work wonderfully for soaps. I have one shaped like train cars that the kids loved for soaps.  liebrecht

A dear friend sent me a still<smile>. For EOs. I also have a lovely crop of mullien this year. I am fond of orange peels steeped  in vinegar to use as a beauty product. As I said, these things are just normal life here<smile>. And yes, paca is nice but I prefer angora. I taught spinning so have lots of fibers and each has it’s own best use. I also had sheep/goats/rabbits and pacas so familiar with the care of the actual animals too. An aside….at a Rev reenactment, the kids were listening to a surgeon. He was mentioning frankinsense and myrrh and asked kid if he knew where else they and gold were? Kid answered…In Mom’s guest room with all the other potions. Gotta laugh!  liebrecht

I started Revie War reenactments around ’87 so soap etc  is just “normal life” skills at this point<smile>. I admit my obsession is spinning tho. And weaving and all things fiber. I also have my fave ” go to” soap recipe but over the years have fallen prey to ” I wonder what would happen if…..???” so have fiddled with it. One prep that I have not seen discussed here is EOs.  Not just having them on hand but the ability to distill them.  liebrecht

Just an idea. I don’t know what fats you  have been using for soaps but I recently have made a chart of saponification factors for different fats. NOT ones I currently use. Those I have already. But in a worst case situation….if I were to get fat from a harvested deer…..I have no idea what the saponification rate on that would be, I hope to never need the info and do have my fave recipes but…..you never know! I hope to be able to get some fats from a local processing “plant” and give deer soap a try this year.  liebrecht

Yep…..pacas  are cute. I got myself pacas for my birthday one year. They have since passed of old age tho.  I also have judged paca and llama fleeces so am quite familiar with them. It is a bunch easier for Fed Ex to deliver fleeces tho<smile>. Esp in Feb in the rain and cold!  liebrecht

Most natural fibers are inclined to self extinguish. Can you clarify what you mean by ” right type” as there are approx 1500 types of sheep. I have around 100 types of wool.   Alpaca is finer than most wools. But it will compress and lose insulative value. Plus it lacks the crimp of many wools thus has less air space to insulate. Cashmere is lovely but $$. Orenburg shawls are made from cashmere and either silk or cotton. VERY fine yarns and very warm. For my jackets, I prefer down and since I have animals, synthetic that goes in the washer ( a LOT) works for my barn coats. liebrecht

Yes, wool will hold about 30% of it’s weight without “feeling” wet. Heat + moisture +agitation will cause it to felt thus compacting the fibers.  FOREVER. Silk batts were used in China as insulation in clothing. Angora is 7-8 times warmer than wool. Baffles and outer layer will not stop moths.  Seems like you have already decided so good luck. liebrecht

Two words come to mind……wool moths. Being a spinner and having LOTS of fleeces and wool in other preps……moths are a PITA. Unless this is treated which would blow the idea of no chemicals. Don’t get me wrong, I love wool for things. Just the idea of walls full of moths..ICK. liebrecht

Part of the differences between you and your friend may just be personalities. One kid of mine…….social butterfly that wants to make friends with the world. He would invite Jack the Ripper in for a snack. Other kid..quite happy with doing his thing and really does not want/need other folks in his airspace. It may also be differences in family structure/values. Some people value quantity of people around, some value quality.  While I am not an unschooling fan myself, different kids excel at different things Twin 1….perfect handwriting and spelling. Twin 2….same teaching at the same time….oh my. Good luck with reading his writing. But his fave bedtime reading was the thesaurus so I am okay with that. Oldest kid refuses to play any instrument other than piano, pipe organ and harpsichord….twin 2 plays 9 instruments. We call it “kitchen math” as the kids learned to read recipes, follow directions, temps on oven, pH meter for canning, a 1X1 inch square brownie is MUCH smaller than a 2×2 inch brownie<smile>, baking is chemistry and lots more things to learn in the kitchen. So we do go off script for things like home repairs so the boys also have skills in addition to 3 Rs.  liebrecht