Category Archives: handmade/homemade

Alternatives to wrapping paper

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gifts

In our house we celebrate both Christmas and Chanukah. That is a whole lot of gift giving, which can mean a whole lot of gift wrapping. It bums me out each year to see the clear garbage bags filled with holiday wrapping paper. This year I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of paper we use to wrap gifts. For Chanukah, we give one or two gifts a night. I’ve been putting them unwrapped inside a pretty gift bag. Lindsay doesn’t seem to notice or care that they aren’t wrapped. She’s just interested in what’s inside the bag. In fact she saw the bag today and asked why there was nothing in the Chanukah bag (her comforter wouldn’t fit in it).

Neil asked what I planned to do with the presents for Christmas. The gift bag obviously won’t work, so I’ve been looking at ideas online for gift wrap alternatives. Here’s what I found so far. Please feel free to add suggestions.

  1. Use fabric to wrap the gifts. I’ve gotten some fabric bags over the years when I’ve purchased something at a fancy shop. I always hang onto them because it just seems a waste to throw them out. (I’m convinced that I have a form of mental illness when it comes to throwing things out, but that’s a whole other post). I think putting some of the gifts in these bags would be pretty. If I had more time, I would even consider sewing a few bags from all the bits of fabric I have.
  2. Use the funny papers to wrap kids presents. If your paper has a comic section, this can be a nice option.
  3. Old calendars can be cut up and used to wrap smaller gifts.
  4. Wallpaper
  5. Old maps. NYC subway maps are free
  6. Kid’s artwork. If you don’t want to use their drawings, have them decorate paper grocery bags with stickers, drawings, glitter, etc.
  7. Pillow cases from mis-matched sets of sheets

Here are some factoids that might give you some more incentive. I pulled them off the California government website.

  • An estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year in the United States, enough to fill a football field 10 stories high.
  • More household waste is produced between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than any other time of the year–about six million tons of added waste nationwide.
  • Half of the paper consumed in the U.S. every year is used to wrap and decorate consumer products.
  • About 40 percent of all battery sales occur during the holiday season. Consider purchasing rechargeable batteries instead of single-use household batteries. In 2006 alone, more than 40 billion single-use batteries were sold worldwide.

    • Happy Halloween

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    pumpkin-small

    I hope everybody has a wonderful and creepy Halloween!

    I had snack duty today for Lindsay’s class. I couldn’t help myself….those are glow-in-the-dark pirate rings.

    cupcakes-small

    The cupcake recipe is from Magnolia Cupcakes. You can get the recipe at that link. It’s my go-to cupcake recipe these days. It calls for 2 sticks of butter for 24 cupcakes, but I think that can be reduced a bit. I’m going to try 1 3/4 sticks next time and then go down 1/4 stick each subsequent time I make them.

    I got a 2-layer cupcake pod that carries 24 cupcakes. It looks a bit ridiculous, but it’s going to be indispensable for the next 10 years of birthday and school parties.

    cupcakes2small

    A Raccoon in Our Yard!

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    raccoon

    Last night we were having dinner with friends in our garden. It was about 7pm and our chickens had gone inside their coop for the night. All of a sudden there was a commotion and the hens clamored out of their coop and into the run. I have a larger run attached to their secure run that isn’t 100% predator proof. I lock the door between that run and the secure run every night. I hadn’t done it yet and I have to admit that I have forgotten entirely some nights. I had heard that there have been raccoon sightings in our Brooklyn, NY neighborhood, but never saw one myself. Until now.

    I walked over to the chickens to see what was going on and standing about 5 feet away from me behind the wire run was a raccoon. It saw me and promptly flipped me the bird. It wasn’t scared of me in the slightest. The chickens ran into the larger run and were totally freaked out. Since I wasn’t scary enough to make the raccoon leave, we pulled out our garden hose and sprayed the raccoon with jets of water. It didn’t like that and climbed over the fence. About 30 seconds passed and it climbed back into the yard. We sprayed it again and it eventually went away. But it climbed on top of the secure run and tried to reach through the wire of the larger run. I’ve heard of raccoons grabbing and killing chickens by reaching into a run. Gah!

    Neil threw rocks in it’s direction. He doesn’t think he hit it, but it again casually went away. Actually it scaled the 2-story building that adjoins our yard by climbing up the ivy. It kept peeking over the roof at us. Not only were the chickens freaked out, but our daughter was really upset as well. I was upset because I know that this critter is going to come back. It wasn’t afraid of us *at all*. We also live right along a very popular restaurant row, so there’s really no end to the tasty trash cans filled with food nearby.

    I’ve spent the morning reading various chicken sites and doing google searches on raccoon control. I’ve come up with the following possible solutions:

    1. Get a hav-a-hart trap and bait it with cat food. There are several unsavory outcomes to this solution involving relocating, drowning and shooting. Relocating wild animals is not a very successful endeavor. You are dropping your problems on someone else and the animal doesn’t know the natural resources, so can just starve to death.

    2. Pee around the perimeter of your yard. I’m guessing that the raccoon, who wasn’t at all scared of me, will not be scared of our pee. And besides, I’m already the crazy chicken lady, I don’t need to add another layer to that!

    3. Put down coyote urine. Yes, you can buy predator urine to discourage animals. My in-laws ordered synthesized fox urine online for a groundhog that was digging in their foundation. There’s a website called predatorpee.com. Love the internet! I’m not sure any of these raccoons have seen or smelled a coyote for the past several generations, so I’m not sure if the smell of coyote urine would register fear with them.

    4. Hot sauce bombs. The mad-scientist/cook in me loves this one. You take jumbo marshmallows, poke a hole in one end and fill them with the hottest hot sauce you can find. (Wear gloves) Then scatter them around the yard. The raccoons eat them and then won’t come back. This option appeals to me for a few reasons. I like DIY aspect. I like that I’m not actually physically harming/killing the animal. And I kind of love the immature 15 year-old revenge fantasy part of it.

    In any event, I’ve set an alarm to remind me that dusk is approaching and I need to lock up my hens. Raccoons generally only like to eat the chicken’s crop (filled with yummy grains), so it’s a gruesome death. Plus you get the added bonus of finding a decapitated chicken left behind.

    Wish me luck! Maybe I’ll make Rice Krispy treats with the leftover marshmallows.

    Make a bird bath

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    birdbath

    The temperature outside is unbearable, and I can’t remember the last time we had a decent rain. Besides watering your plants (sparingly!) put some water out for the thirsty birds. You can put together a simple birdbath for not a lot of money. Don’t worry about having mosquitoes breed in your birdbath. Mosquitoes need water that hangs around for at least 10 days. You will dump out the old water and add fresh water more often, so you won’t have that problem.

    I had been looking around for a nice birdbath for my small Brooklyn garden without much luck. They were too expensive, too ornate or too big. Mostly it was the cost that deterred me. I was in a garden shop this Spring with Neil when we put together the idea for our birdbath. We have a large terra cotta flower pot that we turned upside down. On top of that we put a glazed dish. The dish is actually what you put under a flower pot to catch the water that flows out of the bottom. Nice garden supply centers can carry these in pretty large sizes for a decent price. I think this one was $20 or less. The terra cotta pot is fairly big, so the dish is stable on top of it. I like that it isn’t too high or large and fits into the garden in a very low-key, organic way. We have robins and catbirds coming into the yard to drink and bathe, which is a nice change from the sparrows that usually hang out with us.

    How to make yogurt

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    I’ve been reading my daughter the Little House on the Prairie books lately. What amazes me when I’m reading them is how many different skills people had back then. They raised animals, they built houses out of trees, they gathered honey from hollow trees, they made cheese, soap, maple syrup, beds, clothes, you name it. It seemed as though there was almost nothing they couldn’t do to meet their needs. It seems now that there is almost nothing we can do to meet our needs. Okay, computers, heat, cars and all of that are fantastic inventions, but we’ve become so specialized that things that a child could do during Laura Ingalls’ time seem exotic to us now.

    Take cheese making for instance. How many people know how to make their own cheese? Maybe there isn’t enough incentive now that wonderful, artesian cheeses are available in every decent-sized town. We have a great cheese shop in our neighborhood called Stinky. But I digress.

    Almost a year ago I started to read up on making cheese. I found the New England Cheese Making Supply Company online and promptly ordered a cheese making kit. They teach you how to make fresh mozzarella in 30 minutes. I tried it and it was delicious. I decided to try yogurt and discovered this site. He errs on the side of caution with heating the milk up, but I decided I would try his method and then I could always scale things back when I was more comfortable with the process.

    So let’s make yogurt!
    You will need:
    1 gallon of milk
    1 8oz. container of yogurt that’s unopened
    powdered milk (optional)
    a big stock pot
    enough jars (mason, spaghetti sauce) to hold the gallon + of milk
    cooler

    • First you want to steam the jars you will be using for about 10 minutes to sterilize them.
    • Add a gallon of milk (not ultra pasteurized!) to a big stock pot (with a heavy bottom). You can make your yogurt full fat or lowfat by choosing what kind of milk you use. You can add 4 T of powdered milk to make a thicker yogurt.
    • Heat the milk slowly until it reaches about 185-195ºF.
    • Place the covered pot in a pan of cold water to cool it down. Again, some people skip these first steps, but this kills any pathogenic (euw!) bacteria that may be hanging around.
    • When the milk cools to 122-130ºF, remove it from the cold water bath. Pour 1 cup of the milk into a 2-cup measure.
    • Add 1 cup of fresh yogurt until mixture is well-blended.
    • Slowly add your yogurt/milk mixture into the rest of the milk and mix well.
    • Pour milk mixture into the sterilized jars and cover immediately. One of your jars can be an 8oz. jar that will serve as the fresh yogurt for your next batch.
    • Add water that is about 122-130ºF to the cooler. Set the jars in the cooler. The water should be below the level of the lids. Let the jars sit undisturbed for at least 3 hours. If you don’t have a cooler, you can wrap the jars in towels and keep in a warm spot.

    Your unopened jars will keep for up to 2 months in the fridge, so you have plenty of time to enjoy this delicious yogurt.

    Satisfaction of homemade

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    Baby Bell Bottoms

    shirt

     

    I get a lot of satisfaction out of making things. I enjoy cooking, baking, knitting, spinning and beginner sewing among other things. It always seems to shock people who don’t know me well when I say that I’ve made an article of clothing or a cake. It gives me great satisfaction to complete something special for myself or a friend to wear. When I found out that friends of ours are having a baby it gave the the opportunity to make these insanely cute bell bottoms. If there are any knitters, the pattern can be found here.

    The shirt took me some time to finish. I took a sewing class almost two years ago. Somehow in the spring, my creative urges shift from knitting to sewing. I’m not a very advanced seamstress, so I took a class at Brooklyn General, which is a lovely knitting and sewing store here in Brooklyn. There was only one other student in my class and the teacher was great, so I was able to make a skirt, a dress and most of a shirt. For whatever reason I set the shirt down and it lay forgotten until about a week ago. Then there were two women in my daughter’s preschool who started sewing great kids clothes. Their creations inspired me to dust off my sewing machine and finish up a few projects. Thanks Tara and Melissa!

    The shirt fits me well and I’m very happy with it. It looks more wrinkly in the photo than in real life. Nothing beats the satisfaction of making something useful and pretty.