Richard Garner

I have found this amazing blog that I just had to share with all of you (if anyone reads this) richardtgarner.blogspot.com is kind and sweet and has good veiws on the Jon and Kate plus 8, for instance. Go there and read. Revel in the prayers and the positive feelings eminating from the posts. Do it. Do it now.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"

Hanging Laundry to Dry

Hang drying clothes is an easy and inexpensive way to save money on your electric bill and help out the enviroment. All it takes is a clothes line and pins or a clothes horse. I don't know much about using a clothes horse, but I do know that hanging cloths outside can be a fun thing to do and is definately more "involvd" than using a dryer. It can allow you the time you need for yourself, or give you something to do outside while your children are playing.

After you are done washing your clothes, either by hand or in the washing machine, you carry them outside and begin the process of hangng them out.
Some pointers:

1. Hang your shirts by the hem, not the sleeves, this will keep the shoulders from having that "pointy" look.

2. Pants hang best by the legs.

3. Rags, cloth diapers, and socks can all be folded in half. This reduces the need for pins and can save them for the bigger items.

4. Blankets and towels are probably the hardest to dry, but if you have some place you can kinda open them up for the hanging process it really helps.

Have fun and continue learning about ways that you can become more self-sufficient! Enjoy!
(Disclaimer: now I love to hang laundry, but as a kid, it was my least favorite chore, after dishes)


2 Corinthians 4:8-10

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"

Hand Washing Clothes

I have been handwashing my own clothes for about a week now, and have had pretty good results. For some people, handwashin is merely a way to experiment, or to feel better about the way they are living. For me, it is mostly about money. You see, my apartment doesn't have a washer and dryer, and I would need to take my clothes to the laundrymat. To do that, I would need quarters. I don't even have pennies right now. So I began to fill up my bathtub each morning with the equivalant of two loads of laundry, wash, rinse, rinse, and hang out to dry. Yes, that's two rinses, not a typo. I can't stand the thought of having soap or dirt left in my clothes.

I use cold to lukewarm water, to keep the electricity down, and my regular liquid laundry soap. I like liquid because I don't have to desolve it, but I'm sure a well desolved powder would work just as well.

I fill up the bathtub enough so that I can freely smush laundry around, and will swish and knead with my hands and stomp and dance with my feet. I wash, drain the bathtub, fill it up, rinse, drain (squeezing all the water out) and rinse again. I then take it outside and (squeezing as much water out as I can) hang them to dry in the sun and wind.

It takes about a day to dry it, if the weathers nice.
Ayways, I thought I'd throw out that information just in case anyone else would like to have a go. Just remember, you will be amazed at how hard the work is, but it gets easier really fast. Just push through the pain, girlfriend!

2 Corinthians 4:8-10

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"

Dressing Girls as Sluts

We as parents need to be very careful anymore to watch what our children are around and how they dress.


2 Corinthians 4:8-10

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"

Caelin and Daddy Having a Good Time

Caelin and Scott were hving the time of their lives here. Caelin is over-tired, so torward the end he gets really cranky. This is right after Caelin's first birthday. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 "We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"

Urban Homsteading

I have been practicing something that I only thought of as doing what I could, what I had to. It had no name in my head. I thought of the things that I was doing as stewardship, as lowering my own bills, and of trying to get back to my own roots. I have struggled with the thought that I cannot move out of the city, I cannot move and live where I would like.
I have found a name for what I have tryed to practice. It's called Urbam Homesteading. Most people have some land, I do not. Yet I have been able to clain a small amount of footage for a victory garden. I have strung up a clothes line on my balcony, allowing me, if I am careful, to hang more than two loads. I wash my clothes in my bathtub. I save electricity this way, and use my own muscle to clean my families clothing. My husband and I bike everywhere. It saves money. No car payments, no insureance payments, no gas. It lowers pollution and allows our world to remain that much healthier.

I would like to raise rabbits for food and fertilization for my garden. I would like to have some chickens, for eggs, and the occasoinal dinner hen. I would like to have goats for milk, and weed control on the land I would like to have. I'd like a donkey. I can't do any of this. I don't have thhe money to get my own home, and my husband recently lost his job. I don't have anything I would need in order to fufil any of these things. However, I DO have my brain, and my body. I have the internet and I can think that I can do my best. I like to think that we can still call back our original calling, that is, mto be stewards of the earth. People in the city have the same God given responsibility as anyone in the country, that is, to take care of and love the earth as God's own creation.


2 Corinthians 4:8-10

"We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed"