Self Sufficiency Test

sufficiency economy

Self Sufficiency Test

We live in a yurt, have chickens and were homesteading but were still a far cry away from being fully self sufficient. We don’t live off grid (although solar is in our dreams),we still buy raw milk from a pastured herd share and we not only haven’t gardened yet, but we haven’t really jumped into full scale preservation methods for stockpiling, like fermenting cabbage, canning and drying.

What I’m trying to say is this homesteading thing is such a series of baby steps. Were so much farther along than we were two and half years ago, and thats something to be celebrated. Even more so since we were tested on our resourcefulness this past week by being snowbound for five days.

lemons

5 Great Uses For Lemons

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Life gives you lemons, so what can you do with them?

When life gives you lemons, you can definitely make more than just a lemonade for the children.

This wonderful fruit and its citric juices has lots of other great uses, whether it is giving your refrigerator a refreshing feel and smell or used to remove those tough coffee stains, lemons are great and below are five great uses for the:

  1. Neutralize odours

It’s nice to know that you don’t necessarily need to spray aerosols and perfumes to try to neutralize foul-smelling dog-litter box odours or in an attempt to freshen up your bathroom. Simply slice up some lemons into halves.

Place them into a dish in the room of your choice, with the cut side facing up. Then, the magic happens. Your room’s air will soon smell lemony fresh!

  1. Freshen up the Fridge

Lemons are also great for easily removing odours in your fridge. Simply dab some of the lemon’s juice onto some cotton wool or a sponge, leaving it there for several hours to do it’s work.

Obviously, do a full check of your refrigerator to find the root cause of the smell and throw out anything that may be past its use-by date or anything that looks or smells bad.

  1. Keeping your guacamole green

By sprinkling a generous amount of lemon juice from a fresh lemon over your guacamole, you will actually keep the dip green and fresh for longer.

How does this work? Well, the juice of the lemon has a complementary flavour that works well when added to guacamole(avocados). You can also use this trick by making some fruit salads well in advance of eating them.

By squeezing fresh juice onto your slices of apple for example, you will help them stay lovely and white, ready for your guests!

  1. Remove those sweat patches!

You can avoid those expensive laundry bills. Lemon juice is great for removing those sweat patch stains left underneath the arms of shirts, blouses and t-shirts.

With an equal mix of lemon juice (or indeed white vinegar) and water, simply scrubbing them will have your garments back to a stainless fresh feel in no time.

  1. Prevent rice from sticking

Believe it of not, you can prevent your rice from lumping together into a white solid, by simply adding lemon juice to the rice.

Add in a half table spoon full of lemon juice water when it boils. Then, when your rice is cooked, just let it cool off as you usually would. Finally, just fluff the rice about with a fork, ready to be served.

Some other uses for lemons

Some people throw some cut up lemons into their waste disposal just to keep it fresh and clean. Also, if you are feeling a little unwell or suffer from a bad breath, then gargling lemon juice is one way to help get rid of your cold and keep your breath smelling nice and fresh!