I started keeping my baking powder in a baggie a year to prevent clumping. Works like a charm.
MEASURING
When you have things in a recipe that can be hard to measure accurately, like yogurt, sour cream, or peanut butter, but have another liquid ingredient like milk, start with the one that's the most liquid. In my case, I had to measure 1/4 cup sour cream and 1 cup milk. Start with the milk:
Then add the second ingredient until you've hit the proper measurement amount.
Voila. Easy measuring, fewer dirty dishes. I even cracked the egg into this for one less dirty dish.
EGG SHELLS
Speaking of eggs, what do you do with your egg shells? Garbage disposal? Compost? Trash bin? Window sill?
I keep all of my egg shells in an open container on the window sill so that they can dry. Periodically I crush them with a meat mallet when the container gets unwieldy. Don't put a lid on the container or the moisture from the shells will mildew and mold. Believe me, I know.
There are lots of uses for the crushed shells:
- If you have egg-laying birds of any type, mix them into the feed for added calcium. Hens' bodies use about 25% of their ingested calcium to create eggs so they need a lot.
- Work them into the soil of plants that need extra calcium, such as squash and roses. Squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants that suffer from blossom-end rot need a calcium boost.
- Instead of crushing them, use the shells as miniature planters for starting seedlings.
- Some people swear by them as slug deterrents. I'm not convinced but if you want to give it a go, try it.
NYLONS
I'm saving up knee-high stockings with runs in them for use later this summer. My grandfather always used them in this way. Can you guess what for?
we them to tie up plants to their support.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Engeseth
Ah, Melissa - you guessed it!
ReplyDeleteYep - I was gonna guess the same thing. We use knee highs on our washing machine drain pipe (into the utility sink). For a while we used up my old ones and now we just buy them at the Dollar Store because, God forbid, I ever have a job where I have to wear nylons ever again!
ReplyDeleteI use nylons and put a half a bar of Irish Spring soap inside them as deer repellent. Hang them in the garden close to plants that deer like to munch on. The deer don't like things with a strong smell and they stay away from it. (Only works for about a 2 foot radius though.)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, if you put crushed egg shells around your lettuce plants in the garden, it keeps the slugs from crawling on them!