Household Tips from Common Sense Homesteading

Non-toxic Home Pest Control – Avoid the Risks of Neurotoxic Pesticides

July 3, 2012 by Laurie Neverman 25 Comments

Unwanted six legged visitors driving you “buggy”? Use these simple, non-toxic home pest control methods to eliminate and reduce common household bugs and avoid standard, neurotoxic organophosphate pesticides.

Keep flies and biting flies away

A time honored trick for keeping common flies away from animals and outdoor activities is to hang gallon plastic bags half filled with water with a penny in the bottom near the area you want fly free.

Apparently, the reflection of light off the water keeps the flies away. (It might be sensory overload of their compound eyes?) Make sure to hang the bag in the sun to get the best effect. I have not tried this, because we usually don't have much trouble with flies, but have seen it recommended on several sites. Let me know if you've tried it and how it worked for you. [Read more…]

The Spice Jar Secret for Perfectly Measured Spices

July 5, 2011 by Laurie Neverman 19 Comments

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been frustrated with standard spice jar toppers. Most of the time when you unscrew the lid of the jar, you're faced with something like this:

Does anyone really lift that little section of the top to pour spices into a measuring spoon? Most of the time, I just pried off the top, stuck the spoon in, and leveled it off as best as I could. It worked reasonably well, but for spices I use a lot that I like to measure with some precision, it was a bit of a hassle. So I had an idea…

What if I cut a neat opening for my measuring spoon to fit into? I know it's a small thing, but it's just so much handier to use. I pried the top off the jar, and used a combination of scissors and a sharp knife to make an opening wide enough to fit my tablespoon measuring spoon. I popped the top back on, and now I have a shaker/scoop combo top.

See? It even looks like it's smiling at you. 😉 Because I buy most of my herbs in bulk and refill my old jars, a few minutes of modification lasts a long, long time, and saves a lot of minutes when you're baking. You can still use the shaker section to sprinkle the herbs, just don't forget that there's a hole on one side and put a LOT of cinnamon in your oatmeal. (It was still pretty tasty, just REALLY “cinnamony”!)

My preferred measuring spoons are the long, narrow ones.

I got the set on the left first (because they were cheaper), but I broke the tablespoon scooping something fairly solid. I got the set on the right later, but I kept the old set. I like to keep at least two sets in the kitchen, so when I'm doing a lot of cooking/baking I can use one set for dry measures and one set for wet. I haven't tried those adjustable measuring spoons, although they look interesting. Ever since I pinched my finger in a Pampered Chef adjustable measuring cup, I've been hesitant to try more adjustable products. I like that these are stainless steel and very durable. I guess I'm a little old-fashioned.

Do you have any hot tips for using spices? Besides adding great flavor, most have health benefits and many have preservative properties as well. I try to keep them fresh and ready to use for all my cooking and baking.

The Magic Fermenting Sock

February 14, 2011 by Laurie Neverman 11 Comments

No – this is not a post about an old, nasty, sweaty sock that's been found balled up in a corner raising a fine crop of stinky microbes. This post is about my “secret” for keeping my culturing dairy warm in my not-so-warm house in the winter.

I culture milk kefir and viili yogurt from Cultures for Health at least weekly. I typically use either a pint jar or a glass jars from peaches that has the same foot print but is several inches taller. Both of these ferments culture at room temperature, which makes them very easy to do, but sometimes in the middle of winter my kitchen gets a little cold when the stove isn't on (60's, instead of 70's). So, to give my starters a little extra help, I employ the “magic fermenting sock”. [Read more…]