Easy DIY Burlap Canvas

There isn't a better project you can prep, make, and clean up all well inside half an hour!  Whether you are a busy mom with only nap time to get everything under the sun done, or work full time and are just pooped when you get home this project is so great because it really takes no time, and makes no mess.  These burlap canvas's are so easy to pull together and can have anything written on them. I choose Family for ours. The hardest part was hanging them and making them look straight. (Don't expect a blog post on how to hang things straight/even or with less hammering cause this girl can't do it herself!) (And don't tell my husband, there are several extra holes in the wall behind the burlap)  But for a half hour of work I'm really happy with how these turned out! Now it's time to add some family pictures to the wall! 

What you will need: 

• 6X8 burlap canvas (came 2 in a package from Walmart)
• permanent black marker (or which ever color you choose) 
• stencil
• tape to help hold the stencil 

First I placed my stencil on the canvas and then taped it down. I made sure it was centered before taping it down. I did this for all 6 letters. 

 I then traced around the letters with the black marker, removed my stencil and finished coloring it in. That's it!  Super easy, super quick and super cute!

Carpet Cleaning Solutions from a Farmer's Wife!

So last weekend I talked about how I find everything on my carpet from my husband’s occupation.  What I left out is I have an almost four year old and 2 BIG labs and a cat that also travel our floors! And Wisconsin’s winter is starting to melt so everyone will be tracking in mud!!!! My carpets are downright gross much of the time, don’t get me wrong we vacuum 2x/week but when I do shampoo the carpets the water is pretty murky. I have really struggled with finding the time to keep those carpets clean and have gone to shampoo every three months. I am also very cheap and hate spending money on one of fancy-smanchy $20 bottle of carpet cleaning solution and renting carpet shampooers.  Not to mention you only get the shampooer for 24 hours so it’s put everything aside for the day and sweat it out over the carpet machine.

While I can’t help you with the work or the shampoo machine I can help you save money on the carpet cleaning solution! Woo hoo! I found an awesome recipe on Pinterest and have tweaked it a bit but it works pretty fantastically.  We still shampoo our carpets about every three months but that’s because of what comes across our floors!!!!!

Homemade Carpet Cleaning Solution — My secret recipe!

Here is what you will need:
2 Tablespoons Liquid tide laundry detergent
1/4 cup Awesome Cleaner
1 scoop Oxyclean
1 teaspoon Downey fabric softner.
Hot Water, one gallon

2 capfuls of Thieves cleaner

10 drops lemon essential oil

Method:

Mix together in a large bowl tide, awesome cleaner, oxyclean and the downy. Then add in hot water gently so you don’t make too many bubbles. I also add about 2 capfuls of the Thieves Cleaner and the drops of essential oils.  

Homemade Laundry Soap

If you aren't one of those people that just LOVES to make everything themselves, then you might not be thinking this post is relevant for you. Let me just tempt you with this - I am going to tell you how to spend only $22 for 6 months of laundry detergent! Are you interested now? Keep reading!

If you have ever looked into Homemade Laundry Detergent, you know there are literally HUNDREDS of “recipes” for making your own! I first started experimenting with my own laundry detergent about a year ago after wanting to save money for my oil addiction. I asked my friend Kim what she used and this is her recipe that I have tweaked it a bit by adding essential oils too! Not only does it working amazing, but this Homemade Laundry Detergent recipe will save you hundreds of dollars each year!  I’m a tide girl and I think this stuff may be better and the price is amazing!

Most basic laundry detergents have 3 core ingredients: Borax, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and laundry bar soap (like Fels-Naptha or Zote). I have incorporated a few more ingredients because we need something that is great at getting stains out AND leaves clothes smelling clean and fresh.

Homemade Laundry Detergent Ingredients

Here are the products you’ll need to make this: 

·         (3) Fels-Naptha Bars – $0.97 each

·         20 Mule Team Borax, 4 lbs 12 oz – $3.97

·         Oxi-Clean Versatile Stain Remover, 3 lb – $6.98

·         Essential oils very in price and I use YL so they are purest and I usually put in lemon because it smells fresh and 15ml is around $11. And 40 drops is roughly around $2.40

·         Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda, 4 lb – $2.24

·         Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, 55 oz – $3.97

There are simpler recipes out there, but this homemade laundry detergent will get the dirtiest of barn clothes clean and leave them smelling oh so fresh! After a year of testing and trying and really dirty clothes that come clean I wouldn't steer you wrong!

If the ingredients are making you nervous…. don’t worry, you can find it all on the Laundry Detergent aisle at your local store or on Amazon.

This Homemade Laundry Detergent is HE Safe!

The first thing many of you may be asking is, “But is it safe for my HE washer?” With absolute certainty I can say yes! Why is it safe? Well, HE washing machines are High Efficiency because they use less water (and energy) to wash your clothes. Since they use less water to wash (and then rinse) the clothes, it needs a detergent that doesn't suds up like a typical laundry detergent. This homemade laundry detergent is VERY low suds! Don’t let that fool you though, this cleans very well; just don’t expect the bubbly soap suds that a typical detergent gives you. So for those of you with HE washers, you will save even more money by making your own laundry detergent.

The Process

You will need a great big container to mix everything in. If your husband has a clean 5 gallon bucket, that would work perfectly. There are only 3 things you need to do to make everything – grate the soap, dump everything in the bucket and mix.

Grate the soap? You heard right. The Fels-Naptha laundry soap is a bar and in order for you to get a little bit in every load, you need to grate it. Simple enough, right? Well, let me give you a few words

of advice.

1.       Don’t use your food processor. It creates a mass of mush and clumps and is really not worth all of the clean up. Trust me!

2.      Speaking of clean up – do NOT put your grater (or food processor blades) into the dish washer to clean up! Warm soap and water and a little time will work just fine. In the dishwasher the film from the grated soap spreads to every single dish in your dishwasher and will take several loads to make them clean again. Again trust me!!!!

3.      That’s it! Once you are done mixing it up, put it into your pretty container and you are good to go.

4.      When you are looking for a container, be sure to select one that is air tight. If too much moisture in the air gets into your detergent, you will have to chisel it a bit because it will harden. Again, just trust me on this one.  I bought my pretty glass jar (it’s about 2 gallon size) at Target for around $10! 

Is it Worth It?

Another question you’re probably asking is, “Is it really worth my time to make my own detergent?” Again, I say yes, it took me about a half hour to grate the soap and mix all the powders together, This will last me about 6 months too! It only takes 1-2 tablespoons per loads to get your clothes nice and clean. 

My thoughts on farmersonly.com

Many of you may have seen the commercials for dating sites: match.com, eharmony.com, okcupid.com, the list goes on and on.  The one that always make me and my husband laugh is farmersonly.com.  He always teases me that if I leave him that is where he is going to look for love! But the truth is we could all use a bit more educated about what it takes to be a farmers wife and why farmersonly.com exists. Because sometimes it takes the right person to put up with a farmer and the crazy life they are so passionate about! 

First off, I want you to know that I am a farmer’s wife and a farmer's daughter! I grew up milking cows, shoveling manure, bringing baby calves in the world and everything in between. I also said I would NEVER marry a farmer! God is still probably laughing at me! The truth is being married to a farmer is one of the hardest, but most rewarding jobs there is. I get to be a part of a dying community, but a thriving world that brings food to everyone else’s tables. I probably don’t care enough how the markets are doing, or if there is a momma cow having trouble calving her first baby in the barn and how they are doing afterwards.  

One of the main reason's why I didn't want to marry a farmer is you have to get use to a very different work schedule, that usually starts around 5 a.m and doesn't end until around 8 at night. It's also 7 days a week and vacations are far and few between. You might not be used to getting invited to weddings, parties, family gatherings and not being able to attend because it’s haying season. You might not be used to sleeping beside someone who has to get up every two hours to check if a cow calved in the middle of the night when it is 25 below or to go check the corn dryer during the middle of harvest to make sure things are still working properly.

You may have been worried before in life, but you've never experienced worry until you get a text saying “I got kicked by a cow” "My hand got stuck in auger" or “I’m putting in an all-niter”, and let me tell you, an all-niter doesn't mean he is out drinking with his friends. It means rain is coming and the hay has to get off the field now! You may get use to the long, strange hours, and the hard work, but you will never out grow the worry.

You may think dirty laundry is wearing an outfit more than once, but you have never seen dirty laundry until you have married a farmer. Be prepared to find bolts, pliers, corn, soy beans, manure, afterbirth, and chew in the washer or dryer. Don’t expect to find any money because that was spent on parts.

Whether you work in town or are based at home, be expected to run and I mean literally run, to town on a parts run because when a belt is needed it was needed yesterday and the tractor has to be fixed before it starts to rain. Be expected to know how to stretch your money wisely and cut those coupons from the Sunday paper. Be prepared for early mornings and long nights.

Be prepared for basically anything, dirt, mud, poop, bugs, blood and guts, live animals, ANYTHING that comes through your front door (and onto your living room carpet).

Designer is no longer Gucci, Michael Kors, or Prada, but rather John Deere or Case IH and you can't be both, it's one or the other! Flowers aren't usually roses anymore. Most often they are freshly picked from the field he was fixing fence at today, and they could be dandelions. But trust me, you’ll cherish them because he took the time to pick them just for you during his busy day.

Be prepared to eat dinner no earlier than 7 o’clock pretty much every night. Be prepared to keep your weekends free because Sunday, is basically the only day you get to see him for more than 10 minutes while he is sleeping. And be prepared even on Sunday, for the cows to get out, because cows don’t care that it is Sunday.

Be prepared to spend $50+ every week on sandwich meat, Lil Debbies (if you don’t know what these are, you’ll find out), soda, bottled water, chips, and buns for cooler food during the week. P.S. Cooler season is about from April to November. And during cooler season, sitting down at the table for a hot meal, is considered a date night.

Be prepared to deal with a super cranky man when anything breaks down and there is rain coming, nothing is going or working right that day or when a cow dies from slipping on ice.

Also be prepared for the farm life to completely change your life in such a positive way.

Farmers may have rough hands, but they have a gentle spirit and a loving heart. He already loves you more than words can say. Why do you think he works so hard anyway, to support you and the little family the two of you have made together. And don’t ever second guess yourself, on those lonely, late summer nights, because he does love you. More than the cows, more than the new John Deere tractor, and more than life itself.

Somewhere in between the long and hectic summer days and the freezing cold winter nights, you’ll fall in love with this crazy but beautiful life too. You might not think so now, but you will. Oh, how you will. The truth is I wouldn't change my husbands occupation and that I think is what farmersonly is trying to get a cross because city folks really don't get it!  It takes someone equally as crazy to love this life!