SAVE Money...

I am constantly looking at ways to save money and use less storage space, This has become more important in my new house which is half the size of our previous ho me. Plus I am sensitive to a LOT of smells. Sometimes just a conversation can change the way you do things.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend bemoaning the fact I was have a difficult time finding unscented laundry soap online.
She then told me that she uses is Charlie's Laundry Soap.  
I have always liked concentrated soaps without fillers and garbage. You use only 1-2 of these really little scoops per load.

It is recommended that the first two loads should be rags, as Charlie's will actually clean up the residue that is in your washing machine. 

So I ordered some and started using the products. I must say I was VERY pleased. The biggest things I like about these products is 1) they don't smell. 2) they are very compact for storage. 3) they are green and non-toxic 4) Oh and they WORK!

This bucket below does 1250 loads of wash for $159.99. Think about it. That friend has a family of four with two teenage boys and the box lasts her two years!

What I do here is simply share our journey of becoming debt free, teach vintage skills and living a new life on a farmstead. We would love it if your joined our Perky Gramma Teaches community on Facebook.

  

Perky Gramma Teaches is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

We Started Composting

Once we got settled in some on the farm, we got started making our own compost. 
There is no way I could begin to tell you everything you need to know about composting. But, I will show you what we do and use. We started with a Spin Bin. I needed something that was fairly light weight and easy to move about.
Then Mr. Perky insisted on getting a counter top compost bin. I was perfectly happy using an old PET jar.
One thing I can tell you is if you go this route, get your bin from Amazon. We got the exact one listed below for $10 MORE at Tractor Supply store.
Now that I have my small bin, I must admit I like it. 
Composting is really easy to do. Basically I gather up my fruits, veggies, leftovers (no meat) put them in my bin.
When it's full, I throw it in the Spin Bin with some dead leaves. The basic ratio is 2 Brown/1 Green. This is when I was still using PET containers. My pups LOVE to roll around in the muck that drains out.

Once I dump the mess, I wash the container and line it with brown paper so I can dump it right into the the composter. That just adds a little more brown. :D 

That's the basics. For a lot more information on composting you can follow this link: Great composting tips at Composting at Home. Also below is a free book (at the time of posting) on composting. Got to love free!

What I do here is simply share our journey of becoming debt free, teach vintage skills and living a new life on a farmstead. We would love it if your joined our Perky Gramma Teaches community on Facebook.

 

Perky Gramma Teaches is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Egg Day on the Farm

Currently once a week is egg day on the farm. Depending how many eggs I have, how many I need to get ready to sell and how many I will need to store determines what my day is like.

For example as I am writing this I am returning from a two week vacation. Mr. Perky has been gathering the eggs while I am gone. When eggs are fresh from the chicken they have what is called a bloom on them. It is a protective layer that surrounds the egg & covers the 10's of thousands of pores in the eggshell. It's natures way of keeping the eggs a lot fresher longer. If you are raising our own and only have a couple hens, leave the bloom on, washing them just before you use them. Just leave them on the counter. That's right, leave them on the counter. It might surprise you to know in a lot of countries you would never find eggs in a refrigerated section of a store.
Often you are able to get eggs from a farm that are not washed. This really is a bonus.

On egg day, I start by cleaning the sinks extremely well.

Then I gently wash and rinse the bloom and other stuff off of the eggs with warm water. This is usually about 20 degrees warmer that room temperature. From what I understand, cold water can draw "stuff" into the pores of the eggshell, when what you want to do is make sure everything is washed off.

 

I set them out on a towel to let them dry. Then I weigh each egg to determine the size of the egg. The "large" ones (which look really small to me) & the ginormous ones are set aside.
Mostly my gals lay extra large and jumbo eggs, with an average range of 67-75 grams each.

 

In our case, since we are still working on developing our customer base I will often put a very thin layer of organic coconut oil on the eggs (link on "How to") at this point. Coconut oil is a natural method of covering those pores on the egg shells back up again. This is a great method of storing eggs, this protective layer will enable you to keep fresh eggs in for fridge for many months. It is so easy to do, I just taught someone "how to" a few weeks ago in a matter of seconds.

Last step: I put the extra large & jumbo eggs in cartons and pop them in the fridge. I mix up the sizes in the carton. 

I started with some eggs cartons that only hold up to extra large eggs & discovered I probably should have started with cartons for jumbo eggs. So now I have both sizes. I got my egg cartons from Amazon. Trust me I did check out prices. As a newbie chicken farmer, I really like the fact I can order smaller lots of cartons at a reasonable price.

 

What I do here is simply share our journey of becoming debt free, teach vintage skills and living a new life on a farmstead. We would love it if your joined our Perky Gramma Teaches community on Facebook.

 

Perky Gramma Teaches is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Relax & Color...

As strange as this seems, one of the things you may want to seriously consider for your joy are 
coloring books, markers & colored pencils.  If you haven't noticed there is a huge trend of adult coloring. I have seen it, but recently actually went to a "coloring club" because it was being taught by someone I know.
While I wouldn't normally put this high on my list of items to do, it did get me really thinking. We talk about having activities to do, board games to play, cards - but coloring is being touted as a great stress reliever. I must admit while I was coloring, I was able to take time and just focus on the task at hand. I think this could actually be a valuable tool to have on hand. The ability to just take 

some time and relax is something we
should consider.

I haven't colored in years & don't consider myself an artist at all, but after the club, I learned some new techniques which has sort of given me a new look on coloring. I have to say I REALLY enjoy the glitter marks here.
There are a lot of different types of books, these are just the two I started with.

What I do here is simply share our journey of becoming debt free, teach vintage skills and living a new life on a farmstead. We would love it if your joined our Perky Gramma Teaches community on Facebook.

Perky Gramma Teaches is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Meet Your Perky Gramma Farmer...

Hi there and welcome! I am Perky Gramma and welcome to my country farm world.
Mr. Perky & I purchased a small farm (7.7. acres) in Central Virginia and got out of debt in 2015. Our goal is to develop a self-sustaining lifestyle as much as possible; taking it one step at a time. 
 What I do here is simply share our journey, teach vintage skills and living a new life on a farmstead. We would love it if your joined our Perky Gramma Teaches community on Facebook.
Our first adventure has been raising chickens and selling farm eggs. Our girls and Dudley the rooster are free ranged Red Sex-Link chickens who are fed a non-gmo, soy free feed. Soy-free eggs are tough to come by.

These eggs are huge & brown. Extra-large or jumbo eggs from very happy & friendly chickens. When you visit the farm, you may want to stock up on the eggs, since you are able to store your eggs with coconut oil which will help store your eggs last for months! Actually right now, I go ahead and prepare the eggs with organic unrefined coconut oil on egg day at the farm. Currently we are offering a carton of eggs of mixed sizes for $4 a dozen (price for 2016). 

Also currently available are some of the best blueberries I have ever tasted. These blueberries are from Gold Hill Blueberry Farm, a wonderful PYO in Unionville, VA. 
During the off season we offer 2 pints (for $7) & 8 pints (for $25) containers of frozen blueberries, while supplies last. You need to taste the  berries to discover how sweet and juicy they are. Grown free of any chemicals & herbicides.

 

If you are local to Orange County, VA & already have chickens and would like to start using a non-gmo, soy-free feed; we will be making trips to Sunrise Farms in Stuarts Draft, VA and are willing at this time to buy extra feed for your chickens. You will need to pay ahead and pick up from our farm.

Non-Gmo, Soy-Free Layer Feed 50# bag $18.00 (this includes a $1.50 surcharge for our tax & transportation costs).

There is a lot of information, how to's and tips here on the blog itself. Simply things on living the simpler life. Take time and read through various posts on the right. I also share the items, tools & foods that I use and like with you.  For example here is a post on my 5 Fabulous Favorite Kitchen Tools. 

Also, just to be honest with you, a blogger doesn't really earn any income from blogging. I do earn a little money from sharing affiliate links, I get a small percentage from any of your purchases through my links like Perky Gramma Teaches on Amazon at no extra cost to you. Your support means a lot to me & helps me continue to share the doings on the farm. 
Again, welcome to the farm and I look forward to getting to know you further.


  
  

Perky Gramma Teaches is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.