Self-sufficient households; help!

[funkychicken]

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[Chick_a_dee]

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LOL funny you shoudl say owning a mule... we drove by Subway yesterday and 'parked,' outside tied to the handrail were two horses saddled up waiting for their owners...who were inside enjoying their Subway for dinner! ... we are considering buying a hackney horse/pony and a carriage as our farm has an 1870's hackney stable and small paddock with a drive-shed next door at the edge of the property by the house... just needs a bit of renovating!

We had visitors today, the hubby showed up on his quad, the wife on the horse - it was hillarious, and while we all chatted and had a beer, the kids rode the horse around.
Horse pooped, chickens cleaned up - or spread it out.

They brought their dog along too - he ran along with the horse, I was VERY nervous having a dog in the back yard with the chickens, he lay down most of the time, snuck a drink from the chickens bowl and generally ignored them!
Fun was had by all!
(we're going to try put in a gate at the back of our property - that way they don't have to ride/drive on MAIN street to get here)

You know... LOL I was driving by this house by our old house, and I know the people breed rottweilers because once we drove by and they were busy humping away in the yard... ANYWAY, we drove by this week and out were the rotties, lying on the grass in the shade, and clucking around them were at least 50 chickens just having a grand old time with the rotties.

 

[Nugget]

Hi all, I saw 2 measurements for the powdered laundry soap. One said 2 teaspoons per load, the other said 2 tablespoons per load. Does anyone know which it is? I just made a small amount to try it out. I used Sunlight soap (no fells naptha) and it has a nice lemon scent to it.

 

[miss_thenorth]

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You would have to try it and see what works best for you.

 

[okiemommy]

Nugget, personally two to four tablespoons works best for me, but I think that has a lot to do with having four kids that get their clothes very dirty in the backyard. For the really tough stains I leave the clothes in the washer to soak. Just have to tweak it to your needs, and the type of load you are washing. Highly soiled vs lightly soiled etc.

Also before using this soap I never really waited until all the water was in the tub( I still have a top load washer) and I would just put it in and leave. I know that's not how you're supposed to do it, but that's what I did. Weeeeeelll in a high squeaky voice, I can't do that with this soap lol I found it out the hard way. It gave some of the clothes in my first load considerably lighter spots where the powder had set on the clothes before. Lesson learned

 

[miss_jayne]

i've had awesome success with the soap at 2 tsps. for grungy kid or man clothes, i soak them for an hour first and super clean.

have chucked the idea of using softener and use the solar power dryer at all times now.

laundry time is way better now!

 

[Nugget]

Thanks guys. I put in a few dog blankets (one is a white sheet, with nice dog-brown stains). I did a half-wash and put in 15ml (3 teaspoons). They smell good, but the stain is still present. Next time more detergent, and maybe a soak

 

[okiemommy]

Thanks guys. I put in a few dog blankets (one is a white sheet, with nice dog-brown stains). I did a half-wash and put in 15ml (3 teaspoons). They smell good, but the stain is still present. Next time more detergent, and maybe a soak

YAY! Good luck! Oh! and I also pre-treat my really tough stains, I think I forgot to mention that earlier? I rub some of the detergent in with a little bit of water and let is set for a little while

 

[Cabe]

Okay, I just read the entire just to make sure this wasn't already on here.

washing soda is : sodium carbonate

you can find this in any store that has a pool supply department, it is a ph increaser
make sure that it is 100% sodium carbonate

it's likely to be more expensive in the pool department but I see that some of you are buying it online and paying shipping.

Just look for PH increaser

Hope this helps.

 

[Cassandra]

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Good to know! I had to order mine online. (How lame is that?!)

Cassandra