By Christine Miller

In the last newsletter, we discussed the top ten soil dos to prepare your garden for spring planting: everything from soil health and composting to raised garden beds and weed barriers. This month we'll discuss the top ten mistakes gardeners make to impair the health of their garden soil, and ultimately, the food going into our families!

TOP TEN SOIL DON'TS

DON'T use chemical fertilizers to improve your soil.
We've all seen those commercials on TV or in magazines for the familiar blue fertilizer and how much bigger the flowers and vegetables grow when that blue fertilizer is used. But bigger - in the short term - isn't better. Chemical fertilizers in fact do not improve the soil; just the opposite, they tend to unbalance and kill off the soil life so necessary to plant health. Chemical fertilizers are salts (notice the similarity in crystal structure of the blue fertilizer to table salt), and salt buildup in a soil has devastating long-term effects on soil health and groundwater quality.
Quick study:          About Organic Gardening and Why it Should Matter to You
Frequently Asked Questions About Chemical Fertilizers
Lifetime learning: Rodale's Successful Organic Gardening: Improving the Soil by Erin Hynes; Pay Dirt by J. I. Rodale

DON'T use chemical insecticides on your garden.
There are multiple problems that chemical insecticides introduce into a garden. The biggest selling point - that they poison the insect pest in some way - is also the biggest problem with chemical insecticides. Often an insect poison kills not just the pest but also beneficial insects such as honeybees, ladybugs, and garden spiders. But it usually doesn't stop there: necessary soil-dwelling animals such as earthworms and microfauna are often weakened or killed by these poisons. But even more fundamentally, we cannot grow life-giving food by slathering it with poisons. Those same poisons end up in our children!
Quick study:           Conventional Insecticides - The Killer Chemicals
Control Insects Without Pesticides
Lifetime learning: The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control by Barbara W. Ellis

DON'T use chemical fungicides or other treatments on your garden.
The same problem with chemical insecticides occur with chemical fungicides or other disease-control agents: (1) the problem organism develops resistance to the chemical; (2) the chemical adversely affects beneficial organisms not targeted; (3) the chemical can be toxic or non-biodegradable, building up in the soil and in the food chain.
Lifetime learning: Insect, Disease, and Weed I.D. Guide by Linda A. Gilkeson Ellis

DON'T work in wet soil.
When soil is handled while it is too wet, compaction occurs. Compacted soil allows significantly less air and water to penetrate, reducing the quality and quantity of the living soil's flora and fauna. Compacted soil is also significantly harder for plant roots to penetrate. Soil is ready to work when it is dry enough to crumble through your fingers when squeezed.
Quick study: Soil Compaction: The Silent Thief

DON'T walk on your garden beds.
Walking on your garden soil causes the same problem as working wet soil: compaction. Using raised beds for your garden is the best way to keep your feet out of your garden beds.
Quick study: Raised Bed Gardening
Build Your Own Raised Garden Beds
Lifetime learning: The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith

DON'T use fresh manure in your garden soil.
Manure is an important component in the compost pile, but it must be composted, or aged, before it can be used in the garden. Fresh manure gives off ammonia in toxic amounts, which causes a condition in your garden plants known as "manure burn." The plants wilt, and the leaf tissue between the veins dies. The leaf margins also become papery white. The range of microbes in the compost pile "digest" the ammonia, making composted manure safe to use in the garden.
Quick study: Composting Livestock Manure
Lifetime learning: The Rodale Book of Composting by Grace Gershuny

DON'T add meat, fat, or bone scraps to your compost.
Meat, meat fat, bone scraps, dairy, and other high-fat products will eventually compost, so why not use them? (1) They compost much more slowly than the traditional green and brown materials (keep reading!); (2) They attract pests: flies, rats, and other undesirables; (3) The microbes which compost these things give off a horribly stinky odor. They just don't add enough nutrients to outweigh the cons!

DON'T add pet or human waste to your compost.
A good rule of thumb is to only use an herbivore's waste in the compost, not a carnivore's waste. Chickens, which are omnivores, are the exception - you may safely allow their waste in your compost. Why? Parasites or disease present in carnivores may not be destroyed by the composting process. When that compost is then used in the garden, parasites or disease organisms can eventually wind up back in our food, introducing or compounding health problems.

DON'T add weeds or diseased plants to your compost.
Not all compost piles run hot enough to kill weed seeds or disease organisms, and when the finished compost is used, weeds and disease can be re-introduced to your garden. Some experienced gardeners know their compost pile well enough to know that weeds and disease are being killed, but I do not take the risk. There are plenty of other materials that you can compost and that are available to the homesteader!

DON'T unbalance the green-to-brown ratio in your compost pile.
Green materials are high in nitrogen and include such things as fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, coffee grounds, grass clippings, and fresh manure. Brown materials are high in carbon and include things like dried plant material (stalks or straw), fall leaves, paper products, or wood shavings. The ideal green-to-brown ratio in the compost pile is 2 parts green to 1 part brown. This allows for the fastest and hottest composting action. But composting is not an exact science, and you don't have to measure your materials! Use the 2:1 ratio as a general guideline when adding new materials to your pile. If your compost pile becomes slimy, smelly, or non-working, that often means the greens and browns are out of balance; but the imbalance can easily be fixed by adding more of the appropriate material.
Quick study: Composting troubleshooting and Composting Dos and Don'ts
Lifetime learning: The Rodale Book of Composting by Grace Gershuny

Christine Miller lives in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies outside Fort Collins with her husband and assorted animals. They have three grown children, whom they homeschooled, and one grandson. You can find Christine at her homeschooling website, Classical Christian Homeschooling, at her home business, Nothing New Press, or at her blogs, a little perspective, this side of heaven, or Christine's Kitchen.

By Lisa Barthuly

I enjoy making things myself rather than having to buy what's "out there." I love using homemade cleaners, soaps, and essential oils to clean my home and to add a nice fragrance to my home. Not only are they better for you, your family and your environment, but they just make you feel better! I take great satisfaction in knowing I can do without the latest, greatest cleaning product, because I can make my own and they WORK!

One of my favorites is my homemade laundry soap! This is a very simple recipe, with great results!

Take an old big pot and wooden spoon and mark on the side of the pot and spoon in permanent marker the word "CLEANERS" and keep it stored away from your cooking pots. You will not want to use this pot or utensil for cooking food again. 

Add to the pot:
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1 cut up or grated bar of Fels Naptha or Ivory soap
2 quarts water

Place on stove, heat and stir until it's dissolved. This will need to cool down, so I pour it in a big bowl I use for making soaps. Let cool about an hour, and pour half into an old gallon jug, do the same with the other half, and top off with hot water - leaving a couple of inches of headspace.

Leave the cap off and let it sit overnight to thicken. The next day, put the lid on tightly, shake it up, and it's ready to go! You can then add a little rose water or a favorite essential oil for fragrance. Use about ½ cup per laundry load.

Here are a few more great cleaning products you can make at home:

For stains and pre-treating:
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup homemade laundry soap (above)
1 cup ammonia
Mix this together in a labeled container or spray bottle. Shake well before use.

Dishwasher Soap
2 cups baking soda
1½ cups borax

Put this in a labeled container and mix well. Fill the soap container in your dishwasher with this and your rinse container with white vinegar! How easy is that?

Here are some helpful hints using common household staples:

Lint Remover - To remove lint from dark clothing, try adding ½ cup of vinegar to your rinse cycle.

Grass Stains - To remove grass stains, blot clothing with a mixture of 1/3 cup of vinegar & 2/3 cup water, repeat as needed.

Grease Stains - To remove stubborn grease, make a paste with water and baking soda to pre-treat clothing and toss in the wash.

Mildew in clothing - Dab some vinegar on the area with the mildew, set clothing in the sun for a few hours, and wash separately.

Tub Cleaner - Want a sparkling tub? Use full-strength vinegar on a sponge to clean the tub - clean and shiny! To remove water spots from the shower, do the same - and rinse with plain water.

Unclog Drain - To keep your drains unclogged pour a ¼ to ½ cup of baking soda down the drain and follow up with a thorough rinse of hot water.

Dog Odors - Remove that "wet dog" smell from your best friend by sprinkling some baking soda on your dog and brushing it out.

Microwave Odors - Keep the microwave smelling like new by microwaving ¼ cup of vinegar in 3 cups water to boiling.

Coffee Pot - Keep your coffee pot clean by running a full strength pot of vinegar through it, followed by a few full pots of water to rinse it well.

Frig Fresh - To keep your freezers and refrigerators smell free, always keep a small box of fresh baking soda in them.

Air Freshener - I like to keep an old pot on the stove on low heat with water and a few drops of essential oil. It will fill the house with a lovely aroma!

There are tons of places to find homemade cleaning recipes that you can make. I would suggest going to HomesteadBlogger.com first. It's nice to know if something has worked for someone else and lots of folks are sharing what works for them and what doesn't. You can also find books and websites with very little effort to give you more ideas.

Give it a try! You won't believe how simple and inexpensive it is to create your own "homemade clean"!

Lisa Barthuly resides in Washington with her husband, Marc, daughters Mercy & Cassandra, Cooter the dog, and Whitefoot the kitten. They recently moved to a new homestead, pray to be blessed with more children and critters, and have a cottage business selling all-natural soy and beeswax candles and other creations, Our Little Homestead Originals. You can visit Lisa on her blog at Our Little Homestead.

Congratulations to our March contest winners!

The winner for the best article this month goes to Christine Miller for her article, Preparing the Spring Garden: Top Ten Soil Don'ts, the second installment in her gardening series. Christine shared information that not only helps equip us for the upcoming sowing season but also gave us some great resources to research and continue our lifelong learning experience. Thanks, Christine!

The 1,000th subscriber to the Homestead e-Newsletter contest winner is Dona Walker from California. Congratulations, Dona!

The winners each won a prize package of All Natural Soy Wax Candles from Our Little Homestead Originals! Lisa hand pours our her natural soy wax and all cotton wicked candles with love. Enjoy the beauty of candles, with no toxic chemicals or paraffins to fill the air in your home. Her candles leave no black soot and have lead free wicks! Thank you Lisa for such a great prize package for our winners!

By Catherine Love

Spring cleaning is just around the corner. Are you ready? Since we've just moved into our new home, it should be super simple this year. When those first warm spring-like days come, I'll still feel the need to clean, whether I really need to or not!

I make my own cleaning products from everyday household things like vinegar, water, baking soda, and some essential oils. I prefer to avoid the chemicals that commercial cleaners contain, and making your own is more economical too. Here are directions for making some of my favorite cleaners and other things to help with your Spring Cleaning.

Window Cleaner
1 part vinegar
1 part water
Several drops of lemon essential oil

Mix in a spray bottle to shine windows and glass doors. This also works well on countertops and sinks. To clean the bathtub, I first sprinkle it with baking soda, then spray with this mixture for some "scrubbing bubble" type action.

All-Purpose Disinfectant Cleaner
1 gallon water
1 Tablespoon bleach
Several drops of lemon essential oil

I keep a spray bottle of this for those quick clean-ups all around the house. This is especially good in the kitchen.

Air Freshener Spray
Fill spray bottle with distilled water, add in some essential oils such as lemon, bergamot, geranium, or whatever scents you enjoy. For a disinfecting spray, use essential oil of thyme, tea tree, or rosemary.

Carpet Freshener
Baking soda
Several drops of lavender or lemon essential oil

Mix in an airtight container. Sprinkle on carpet, wait a bit and vacuum. Your rooms will smell lovely!

Laundry Freshener
A muslin tea bag filled with dried lavender tossed in the dryer will make your laundry smell delicious. You can also put a drop or two of lavender essential oil on a piece of cloth.

Oven Cleaner
Baking soda and/or salt work wonders for cleaning the oven. Just sprinkle on the baking soda or use salt if you have some nasty, baked-on stains. Then spray with water to moisten the baking soda or salt. Let it sit for half an hour, then just wipe away the grease and grime with a sponge and warm water.

Catherine Love lives and gardens in Texas with her husband, Carl, and three daughters: Sarah, Hannah, and Cana. You read all about Catherine's urban homestead at Ramblings from the Urban Homestead Mama or on her blog at HomeschoolBlogger titled Tidbits from Texas.

By Sandra Bennett

My sister answered her cell phone and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm shopping," I told her. "What size shirt does JW [her son] wear?"

"Oh, no," she moaned. "You're CHRISTMAS shopping?"

Yes, it's the end of February and I'm already behind. By now, I'm usually deep into my Christmas shopping. I am one of those shoppers who annoy the stuffing out of those "It's 8:00 pm on December 24 and I'm at Wal-Mart Christmas shopping" people.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with big box stores. When one of them moved into our neck of the woods back in 2005, the entire county held a party! No longer would we have to travel miles and miles just to buy a pair of plain cotton undies or to have the opportunity to buy something exotic like tangerine juice. Now it's a short 15-mile drive, just over two mountains.

I make a lot of gifts, but I also buy gifts as well as household items. Through the years, I've learned to shop wisely and control the flow of money going out the door. I shop sales, discount and outlet stores, bargain stores, scratch-and-dent stores, and thrift stores. I like saving money and realize money is simply a tool that can be used wisely or unwisely. But in and of itself, money is neither good nor evil; it's just a tool.

Over the years, merchandisers have found they have better sales when they control the flow of merchandise; and the best way for them to control that flow is with seasonal sales.

Using the seasonal sales strategy, stores put certain items on sale at different times of the year. Every month, across the USA, stores mark down certain items in hopes of moving that merchandise - and moving it quickly. Whenever possible, it's best to shop sales. One of the quickest ways to become enslaved to poverty is to waste. This includes money, food, time, and energy. When one learns to shop seasonally, one can better control financial expenditures, plan for future purchases, and increase savings.

It almost goes without saying that refrigerators hardly ever break down in June (when they go on sale) and people find it difficult to think about buying fuel oil in July (when it's usually at its lowest price). But, for those who are a bit more flexible in their thinking, there's money to be saved simply because you've planned ahead.

Even though each month has certain items that, traditionally, go on sale, there are other types of sales as well. The end-of-season clearance sale takes place about every three months, and the inventory clearance sales are at year's end on almost everything storewide. Be aware, though, that sometimes sales aren't what they seem. It still pays to be a careful shopper. Keeping a notebook will help. I use a large notebook for everything important in the household and on the farm. My memory has hit the "mentalpause" age; so if it's important enough to remember, it's important enough to write down.

All family members and friends have their own page with their clothing and shoe sizes, favorite colors, hobbies, and special notes. For example, my sister has a rooster/chicken theme in her kitchen. Over the years, I've added considerably to her collection, and one of her prized pieces is a hen napkin, salt, and pepper holder I picked up at a thrift store for about seventy-five cents. She and I remember a similar one from our childhood, and it brings back fond memories every time she uses a napkin.

Keep in mind that negotiation can be a very good thing when done politely and with respect for the seller's position. If I'm shopping and find a garment that has a button missing, I will often ask for a discount - even if that garment is already on sale. The worst they can say is "no," and quite often an additional discount will be given. Usually, though, bigger and better discounts can be negotiated on larger, more expensive items.

The following list, while not inclusive, gives good ideas about what to buy when.

JANUARY - winter sales = good month to buy wedding gifts

• After Christmas and holiday merchandise
• Winter clothes, including winter shoes, boots, fur, handbags
• White sales, including linens, towels, bedding - sheets, pillowcases, blankets, quilts

FEBRUARY - traditionally a slow month for retailers

• Furniture, rugs and carpets
• Mattresses
• Dinnerware
• Electronics, such as CD players, radios, and stereo equipment
• Electric blankets and mattress pads

MARCH - spring sales

• Garden supplies
• Luggage and backpacks
• Ski equipment
• Spring clothing
• Storm windows
• Winter sports and recreation equipment - skis, skates, etc.

APRIL - spring sales increase

• Ham for Easter
• Easter clothing sales for men, women, and children
• Women's hats and handbags

Keep in mind that there are usually better clearance sales *after* Easter.

Be sure to read the second installment in this series, Shopping the Seasonal Sales, in next month's Homestead newsletter issue!

Sandra Bennett lives at Thistle Cove Farm with her husband, mother-in-law, and a variety of pets masquerading as livestock. As an in-demand, energetic speaker, she travels worldwide teaching others how to "Increase Farm Income." When on the farm, she raises and breeds rare, hypoallergenic American Curly horses and rare Shetland, Romney, Merino, and crossbred sheep. Sandra is a fiber artist, using the Curly fiber blended with the sheep wool to handcraft heirloom garments. She is a contributing editor at Blue Ridge Gazette and writes on her blogs Thistle Cove Farm on HomesteadBlogger.com, and on her Blogger Thistle Cove Farm.

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I just received and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this month's Homestead E-Newsletter! It was chock full of how-to's and ideas for two things that I'm very interested in learning about: quilting and gardening. I can't wait to try some of the ideas - container gardening, making a jean quilt, using the toilet paper roll and/or the newspaper ideas for getting seedlings started. For someone totally new to the homesteading world, this issue was wonderful! Thanks! - Sheryl

The Homestead Newsletter is something I look forward to each month. I am printing them out and putting them in a three ring binder for future reference. Thanks for all the great information! - Janice in WA

Thanks for spending time with us here at the Homestead e-Newsletter! We will be packing into each issue as much information, resources, advice, and firsthand accounts as we can by homesteaders just like you! As the Editor, I want to make sure that the Homestead e-Newsletter is one you look forward to receiving each month. I would love to hear your recommendations on how we can make it even better! Please feel free to send any suggestions for articles, topics, themes, or things you would like to see added or changed. Just email me at Carla@HomesteadBlogger.com. Don't forget to sign up over on HomesteadBlogger.com, and until next month, happy homesteading from Carla Lynne Klimuk and all the TOS staff!