Noble Peasants: July 2019

Monday, July 29, 2019

Mrs. Peasant's Diary Monday, July 29, 2019

THE TEA DRAWER CHALLENGE

I'm not a make up or shoe collecting type of girl. But I do have an INSANE amount of herbal tea. I've seen people do pantry challenges which is a way to use up what they have. I am going on a tea buying freeze, and I am finally using up the amazing teas I have in this drawer. There is even more tea in the closet. Yep, I told you it's bad. What am I saving these teas for? Lunch with the queen? In an attempt to use what I have, I've been icing teas that I wouldn't have thought could be iced. I'm putting Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Roobios, Chai and Chrysanthemum on ice. Crazy right? But you wanna know something? They are delicious! Go ahead and live on the wild side.

Think about something you have way too much of and try to mindfully use it up. It can be small. Maybe you have a collection of half used body lotions, multipurpose cleaners, or nail polish. Maybe try a challenge where you to use it up before buying anything new. What are we waiting for? Use it.

PLAIN SAVES MONEY

I was shocked when I saw the figures for how much people spent on categories that barely even exist for us. The poll states the following averages and I've added in parenthesis what we typically spend.

Average annual expenses per household:

Monday, July 22, 2019

Mr. Peasant on Toys and Tools

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:11 DOUAY-RHEIMS

Children love to play. They will play games or just make noise or do whatever will grate on their parents' nerves. Children also love toys. These toys can be bought from a store, or they will make toys from sticks and trash. When I was a kid, many sticks in the woods would magically transform into six guns or pirate swords. Playing with these things and in this way helps to spur development and growth.

Many of the toys of children resemble the tools and equipment of adults. It could be a fire engine or a train set. It might be a plastic hammer and a screwdriver. Children aren't mature enough to play with the real things, but their toys point to a future adulthood filled with tools. This is a good thing.

When boys become men, they put away their toys, and they pick up their tools. The police officer has his gun and baton. The soldier has his pack and his rifle. The farmer has his tractor and his rake. The mechanic has his wrenches. The carpenter has his saws and hammers.

When the toys turn into tools, this may make the fun come to an end. But there is satisfaction in using tools. Tools are how men get work done and make the world a better place. Tools are how a man provides for his family and feeds his children. A tool is an extension of a man and his being. Tools are serious things.

Some men prefer not to grow up. They want to return to their childhoods playing with toys. So, they rob from their families and buy sports cars that are impractical, so they can pretend to be James Dean. They buy Harley-Davidson motorcycles in order to pretend they are rebel outlaws. They buy private planes to pretend to be pilots when it would be cheaper to drive or fly on a commercial airliner. They buy boats to pretend to be sailors or sport fishermen. Or, they buy a set of golf clubs to pretend to be Tiger Woods. They buy guitars to pretend to be Jimi Hendrix. Or, they buy rifles and bows to pretend to be hunters.

These toys for men are ridiculous. They cost a great deal of money and are usually bought on credit. They take away time and money from the family. Then, they end up collecting dust in the garage after the fun has worn off. Meanwhile, the family car remains parked in the driveway because it won't fit in the cluttered garage.

Men shouldn't buy toys. They should buy tools. They should be practical focusing on doing work instead of playing. Men will tinker on the motorcycles or their boats in the garage, but they take the car in for oil changes. They will justify hunting and fishing by claiming to eat what they kill or catch, but they won't spend a minute planting or weeding a garden. They will spend entire weekends with their recreational vehicles, but they pay a service to come mow the lawn.

There is a time and a place for playing. This would be shooting hoops with the kids in the driveway or tossing the football on the front lawn. This would be spending the day hiking with the family at the local state park or playing board games at the kitchen table. These things are fun, inexpensive, and foster greater family bonds than spending thousands of dollars at the country club pretending to be a golfer instead of a drinker with a set of golf clubs.

Many men aspire to buy a Corvette or an RV. Precious few decide they should get a tractor or some woodworking tools or even a decent shovel. What a man chooses to spend his money on says a great deal about his character. A man who spends his Saturdays in a bass boat is very different from the man who spends his Saturdays in the seat of a tractor. The difference is that one of these fellows is still a child. The other one is a man. Be a man not a child.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Mrs. Peasant's Diary- Thursday, July 18th 2019

Here's a sweet story of the very last time I was inside a mall. It was the day Mr. Peasant, and I bought our wedding rings. I remember looking at four different shops, and the Kay Jewelers sales girl went through her typical greeting of "So how long have you been together?" I told her we had been together for 3 months, and she was visibly shocked. She even called out to another sales girl "Hey you're never gonna believe this! They've only known each other three months!" I thought if the wedding ring sales lady was that shocked that really meant we were rare! She had met hundreds of couples, and she hadn't heard of that before. True love, folks.

We finally picked our two yellow gold plain bands at JCPenny. I think the total for both rings was $400.00. We put them on right then in the middle of the mall tossing our boxes in the 80's concrete trash can. I was a little overwhelmed with how shiny my new yellow band was and just felt it was too flashy. So, when we got home, Mr. Peasant took his knife sharpener stone and ran the band over it a few times to dull it with scratches. It worked perfectly.

That was seven years ago. I haven't been inside a mall in since then. I just don't think the mall near us is safe and obviously nobody else does either. It is a dying mall. Think about that for a minute. The mall isn't safe.

I remember as a child the mall would be packed. Your parents had an emergency meet up location just in case you got lost in the packed mall. The mall was so filled with people it had a traffic flow you had to keep up with. My first Job was at a mall in the food court. The old ladies would walk the mall because it was so safe. What the hell happened?

SAFETY IN NUMBERS. LESS PEOPLE = LESS SAFETY.

I realize some malls are doing great and are very safe. My thoughts are about why some malls are dying. When malls were packed with shoppers, I think we benefited from a form of protection from the crowd. You could even go shopping alone because it was guaranteed you would be surrounded by fish. These were stranger fish but fish none the less. This automatic shoal helped with shopping independence since you didn't have to arrange meeting up with friends to shop. The mall had a built in safety feature from being packed. In today's retail apocalypse, a huge empty retail space feels creepy. Maybe the lack of people shopping creates a less safe environment? Are we too cool for school? These fish know what schooling is all about.

By Uxbona - Own work, CC BY 3.0,pic info

Wikipedia excerpt on Shoaling here:

In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. About one quarter of fish species shoal all their lives, and about one half shoal for part of their lives. Fish use many traits to choose shoalmates. Generally they prefer larger shoals, shoalmates of their own species, shoalmates similar in size and appearance to themselves, healthy fish, and kin (when recognized).

Fish derive many benefits from shoaling behaviour including defence against predators (through better predator detection and by diluting the chance of individual capture), enhanced foraging success, and higher success in finding a mate.

BEFORE:

By Gordon Firestein - Seacology USA, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22766988

AFTER:

Excerpts from Wikipedia on the Shopping Mall:

One controversial aspect of malls has been their effective displacement of traditional main streets or high streets. Some consumers prefer malls, with their parking garages, controlled environments, and private security guards, over central business districts or downtowns, which frequently have limited parking, poor maintenance, outdoor weather, and limited police coverage.

SHOPPING ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO

The concept of shopping as a leisure activity rather than a chore is dying. I hate shopping, and it's for good reason. Companies and the general public have made shopping awful. I don't think today's lower incomes help either.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Hanging out with the public can be exhausting. Just to get the basics in our small town, we have to go to Walmart. Walmart is one place that is always packed with people. We refuse to go to our Walmart at night due to crime, and we skip shopping there during the first of the month because it is Christmastime packed. You have dangerous drivers in the parking lot. There are emotional support dogs crapping in the bushes. Then, you try to navigate the grocery aisle traffic jams of carts and scooters. Finally, you must choose to be your own cashier checking yourself out, or you can wait in line for 45 minutes to be checked out by a poor overworked lady at the register. It always takes longer to check out than to do our entire shopping. And may Heaven help you if you have to use the public restroom!

With the rise of crime, some towns now want 24 hour Walmarts to close over night to relieve their local police from having to be security guards for the largest retailer in the world. This amounts to a subsidy paid for by the taxpayers. Walmart wants you to be a free cashier and your county police force to be a free security team. I just read about a woman in a Texas Walmart that was caught licking an ice cream container and putting it back into the freezer case! And now, another older gentleman copy cat licked an ice cream container. In the old general stores, the products would be behind the counters. This makes sense after reading those disgusting stories of licking containers. It may be time for a reassessment of our public trust. I haven't updated my public trust since the 90s.

❤WORTH A LISTEN❤

Thinking about our ring story gets me a little sentimental. Here's a beautiful love jam. This guy is old school and amazing. Enjoy.

Lee Fields It Rains Love

So tell me have you changed the way you shop? Have you experienced being in a empty store or felt uncomfortable while shopping? When was the last time you went to a mall? Thank you for reading, grab a shopping buddy and God be with you!

Though one may be overpowered,

two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

ECCLESIASTES 4:12

Monday, July 15, 2019

Let's make dish soap!

Create a clean heart in me, O God

PSALM 50:12

FRUGAL DISH SOAP (for hand washing dishes)

MAKES FOUR CUPS OF CONCENTRATE

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups boiling water

2 cups cool tap water

2 Tablespoons of Zote shavings (I bought a box of it already shaved for 2 dollars at Walmart.)

2 TPs white vinegar

2 TPs baking soda

1 heaping TP washing soda

1 tsp lemon juice (I use bottled juice.)

2 big Squirts of Dawn soap

*optional *

* 1 tsp lime juice for scent

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil (I use my tea kettle.)

2. Place Zote shavings into an old jar and add 1/2 cup of the hot water into a jar. Stir with a FORK until soap flakes are completely dissolved. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of hot water. Stir well.

3. Add the washing soda and baking soda gradually. If you dump it in all at once, it will clump up. Sprinkle a little and then stir. Sprinkle a little more and then stir. Repeat until the sodas are completely dissolved. You may have a few chunks at bottom. It's okay.

4. Now add the rest of the ingredients: vinegar, lemon juice, and lime juice (optional.) Stir to blend. It will bubble up when you add the vinegar.

5. Let the mixture cool off until it is no longer hot just warm. Pour the mixture into one large squeeze bottle. Now add two cups of cool water to the same bottle. You can use any size bottle. Just make sure the measurements are equal. One part mixture to one part cool water.

6. Add Dawn (two big squirts.)

7. Give the dish soap bottle a couple shakes to blend and then let it rest.

8. It will thicken up after 24 hours. I have had some batches not thicken up, and it still worked fine. I have had some batches have white chunks that float to the top. Again, it'll work just fine. Use it.

WHY I LOVE IT:

1. It's cheap. The initial ingredients cost me 8 bucks, and we still haven't gone through them two years later!

2. It works well and doesn't dry out my hands. Since we never eat out, we wash a LOT of dishes.

3. It's a less toxic option that I can make from things in my pantry making me less grocery store dependent.

We've been using this dish soap mix for two years now, and we love it. It leaves NO water spots, cuts through grease, and makes our pans sparkle. It won't be as thick or bubble up like a fancy store bought gel. The Dawn is what gives this dish soap the bubbles. And since we associate bubbles with working, it's a nice addition.

I put my soap into an old hand soap dispenser with the pump and that helps dispense the soap. It isn't pretty or perfect, but it works! I put 4 squirts of soap into a drinking glass and fill the glass up with water. Then I dip my sponge into the soapy water to wash a sink full of dishes. I always double the recipe and make two batches. I store the dish soap below the sink for months.

*****The pictures below are of a double batch.

I have two designated jars for dish soap making. I marked where the water line should be for 2 cups
of water with Sharpie marker. This saves me the hassle of pulling out the measuring cup every time.

Add a little boiling water and stir.

Add a little more boiling water and stir.

Adding the vinegar makes it bubble.

Adding lemon juice.

Adding lime juice.

We are always looking for little ways to stretch our dollars and cut back on expenses. Every little bit counts. I hope you give this dish soap recipe a try! Thank you for reading, and God bless you!

Friday, July 5, 2019

Mrs. Peasant's Diary for Friday, July 5, 2019

I'm trying more personal unpolished posts called Mrs. Peasant's Diary. These posts will be pictures, songs, ramblings, and little random thoughts to share. I hope this will be an enjoyable addition and easier on my newly scattered brain.

GARDEN UPDATE:

BEFORE: January

Here in South Carolina, it is hot with random days of scattered thunderstorms. It is either 90 plus degrees outside or awful thunderstorms with scary wind gusts. I'm talking taking down trees and tornado strength wind gusts. I'm from Florida, home of the hurricane, and these winds shocked me! So, our container garden suffers from being either extremely dry or extremely overwatered. Honestly, I have pretty low expectations for food production on our apartment balcony. It's more of a learning tool as we continue to dream of a yard. I get fresh cut flowers, green onions, raspberry leaves, and herbs. Anything else is a bonus.

AFTER: July

This is the second year for my echinacea from seed which finally bloomed!

LEMONGRASS AND GINGER FROM THE GROCERY STORE were a success!

Both the ginger and the lemongrass were sprouted from organic pieces I bought at the grocery store. I'm very excited that they are happy being in one gallon buckets from the Dollar Tree. Two happy plants and cheap.

Clockwise bottom left: two Brussel sprouts, ginger, sage, raspberry,
blue bucket zucchini, another zucchini and lemongrass.

ZUCCHINI IN POTS- STILL NOTHING.

This is when apartment gardening is still so inferior to actually having ground. I thought for sure zucchini would be an easy heavy producing plant. I mean people are always giving away the excess bounty of zucchini! Alas, not here at our "apartment homestead." (I say that sarcastically since I find it impossible to do.) I have been waiting for a female flower to come. Finally, after 20 male flowers, there was ONE slowly opening female bloom. I laid in wait for her bloom to finally open keeping a Q-tip on the window sill by the door. It felt as creepy as it sounds, but finally, I pollinated her. Well, I thought I did. Days later the tiny zucchini bodied bloom withered up and died. So we are still waiting for the bounty. Two huge plants in 5 gallon buckets, tons of blooms and not a female in sight. I'll keep you posted.

AS WE REPEAT OURSELVES OR WEIRD HISTORY THAT MATTERS NOW

As I read my county paper's crime report page in my small town, I am confronted by the sharp rise in lawlessness. Obviously law and order and civility and Christianity is declining and in it's place disorder brews. This isn't new. Excerpts from wikipedia on the American Frontier:

Banditry was a major issue in California after 1849, as thousands of young men detached from family or community moved into a land with few law enforcement mechanisms. To combat this, the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was established to give drumhead trials and death sentences to well-known offenders.

When outlaw gangs were near, towns would occasionally raise a posse to drive them out or capture them.

Similar vigilance committees also existed in Texas, and their main objective was to stamp out lawlessness and rid communities of desperadoes and rustlers. These committees would sometimes form mob rule for private vigilante groups, but usually were made up of responsible citizens who wanted only to maintain order. Criminals caught by these vigilance committees were treated cruelly; often hung or shot without any form of trial.

Feuds involving families and bloodlines also occurred much in the frontier. Since private agencies and vigilance committees were the substitute for proper courts, many families initially depended on themselves and their communities for their security and justice.

JULY 4TH

We celebrated Independence Day with our traditional junk food meal of Vegan Hot dogs, BBQ potato chips, and baked beans. This is Mr. Peasant's favorite. We only eat this meal twice a year--Memorial day and the 4th of July. Happy Birthday, America! We watched the INCREDIBLE fireworks show in DC online. I thought to myself during the show that the soundtrack to 4th of July fireworks might be the only classical music people will listen to the entire year. Sad.

WORTH A LISTEN

Lock The Gates by Martin Hall

Battle Hymn of the Republic by the Army Chorus

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.

As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,

While God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Our God is marching on.

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

I hope you all are staying safe and enjoying the holiday weekend. To all the heroes who have fought for our freedom, we love you. Thank you for reading and God bless you!

Noble Peasants

Pages