The Great Scouring Scrub – Part 2

I put The Great Scouring Scrub to the hardest test known to the Wild Poppy Farm ….. da da da dahhh cleaning the bird’s (a.k.a. Burdy) water bowl.

 

We have a morning dove in the house. Her water bowl usually gets cleaned out with CLR because that is the only thing we have found that will completely remove the ring left by the water. Twice a week we take it out and let it soak. It always bothers me that her bowl is cleaned with CLR. Just to be on the safe side, it gets triple washed and rinsed after the cleaning. I knew this would be the perfect test for The Great Scouring Scrub!

This is her bowl after 2 days of sitting in her cage. 

Nasty, right? Eeek. The water has eaten away at the porcelain and the sides are rough so every little pore is dirty. 

Gag me with a spoon!

 I sprinkled the Scouring Scrub on the sides. I knew it needed some water to activate the process so I misted it lightly with Linen Water (the homemade version which I will share on another post) and let it sit for a bit. 

 Actually I was going to let it sit for just a few minutes while I went outside to feed the dogs, buttt ... then I passed the tomato and pepper plants and HAD to stop to water them. Since Dutchess (our youngest but biggest dog) thinks the water hose is the best toy in the world, we played with the water for a while. Suddenly, I remembered what I went outside to do in the first place and promptly feed the dogs. On my way back up to the house, I found little gifts the dogs drug up; limbs, rocks, etc. Dogs are sweet like that! ha I had to pick those up and disposed of them. So, all in all, I guess the scrub sat on the bowl for about an hour.

I grabbed my handy-dandy-kitchen-sink-toothbrush scrubber and gave the bowl a light scrub. Rinsed it out and demanded (yeah, right) my husband to come look. That was tough because something good (in his opinion) was on the Military channel! Argh.

He agreed with me, some of the stain was still there, but we were both amazed on how much better it looked. Not having to worry about the chemicals hurting Burdy was the best part.

The finished product!

Here is my opinion: I am totally completely and utterly amazed at this stuff. It’s a keeper and my Bonami (but I will keep my Aunt Nee's as a backup)  will be replaced with The Great Scouring Scrub!!

Scouring without the Scour

There are several reasons why I use Aunt Nee’s Citrus Cleaning Powder, the main one is because I can use it on my Calphalon cookware. I will spare you the three page “how to care for your Calphalon” instruction manual, (it's a page turner, let me tell you, yawwwwwnnnn) the short of it is, keep it out of the dishwasher and away from anything abrasive.

The second reason is that Aunt Nee’s is all natural, non-toxic and best of all leaves no film like some of the Comet, Ajax cleaners (sorry guys).

I thought I was in heaven with Aunt Nee’s then yesterday I found, drum roll please….. Crunchy Betty and The Great Grapefruit Scouring Scrub! I made it, I tested it, I got a second and third opinion on it and we agree, IT IS The Great Scouring Scrub. I left the Grapefruit out, because, well, I used Orange peels.

So here is what you do…

Gather the following:

3 Tablespoons Borax

5 Tablespoons Baking Soda

3 Tablespoons dried citrus peel (please make sure you grind it before you use it, makes a big difference)

You will also need a container to put it in. I re-purposed a plastic spice jar. It worked great for this because the top has a shaker screen. 

Mix it all together and pour it into your chosen container.

 

Next we tested it…
To use, sprinkle over the spot you want to clean, just like other dry cleaners, then wipe with a wet cloth. Easy, peasy.
 

There is a spot on the wall at work. It seems the cleaning crew can’t clean it. We have all tried and tired of trying.

These are the spots…

Do you see the spots? Why won’t they come off?

Oh look they did, so much so that I can’t get my auto-focus camera to focus on anything.

Then there’s the stubborn stain on the table. Everyone has just kind of accepted and embraced them as part of our happy team…. NOT.  My crew of three people, my “disinterested parties” who kept me from being blinded with delight, wondered if this scrub would work on the table.

It’s off now…. My disinterested parties and I could not believe it, so now we are all making Crunchy Betty’s The Great Grapefruit Orange Scouring Scrub.

Tonight is the BIG test drive in the family kitchen. I'll let you know how it goes. 

If you do decide to try it, come back and leave a comment on what you think. I would love to hear what you have to say. Or, if you have another recipe for this, please oh please send it to me!!!

Jennifer ♥ 

Buffalo Eggs

As you may know from my previous post, I just got home with 17 dozen eggs from the egg farm. That may sound like a lot, and well it is. We eat eggs on hamburgers, sandwiches, quiche (yes the farm boys will eat bacon and cheese quiche- thank you Mr. Food!), the list goes on and on. When I walk in the door with the eggs, I usually hear, “YES! Buffalo Eggs!” Its only eggs and bread, fried. So simple and such a crowd-pleaser.

So today we are celebrating the egg with a recipe.

You will need:

A frying pan, a.k.a a skillet

A loaf of French bread

A stick of butter (salted, unsalted, or margarine)

Eggs

 

Use a bread knife to cut the bread in slices about 1 inch thick. Pull the dough out of the middle on the bread, making a hole.

At this point, because I use a cast iron skillet, I turn the heat on under the skillet to medium.

Butter one side of the bread. Lay a few slices of the bread in the skillet, buttered side down, and quickly butter the top.

Crack an egg and place it in the hole in the bread slice, one egg for each slice of bread. 

(My picture shows double yoked eggs)

Fry until bread is browned and egg is almost cooked. Flip the bread slices over. The egg will finish cooking and the bread will brown. If you don’t like your yolks runny, you can poke the egg to let the yolk come through and flip and fry a little more.

Once they are done, remove them from skillet onto a plate. When ready to serve, you can top with Salsa, pimentos, or a chutney or chow-chow. They are your eggs, flavor how you want!

I hope you and your family enjoy the meal.

Jennifer ♥

The Incredible Not Just Edible Egg

I love eggs, but we don’t raise chickens, so once a month I take the trek out to the egg farm. The drive’s not bad because I know when I get up the next morning I will have a refrigerator full of eggs, just waiting for me. (well, ok, those that didn’t get cooked when I got home, anyway) Oh and I get some alone time! Double bonus, whoo hoo.

Thanks to those who raise chickens and here’s a shout out to Featherland Egg Farms to say thanks for not including steroids and growth hormones in their feed.  

In celebration of the eggs, I thought that today I would share my Mama's Egg Facials.

Having been raised in the country, I grew up not being able to run into town when I didn't have what I wanted. My mother taught us how to make due. Turns out, these things are wonderful and are actually preferred to the “store bought” items.



This is not me!!
Picture credit goes to makeupjournal.net

 Today I am once again thankful for Mama’s egg facials. Egg whites reduce the size of pores and puffiness and egg yolks are a great moisturizer. There are a lot of variations on this, some adding the ground egg shells to make a scrub. Others add honey or avocado depending on your skin's condition. But for now, we'll just do the basic.

So here’s what you do. You crack open a couple of eggs (don’t throw those shells away, they can be used for several things)

Separate the eggs from the yolks. Putting each in a separate bowl. I always have a small seal-able container, which we call Tupperware even if it isn’t, for the yokes.

Store the yolks in the Tupperware for use tomorrow. Cover them with water, do not stir, and refrigerate. They are good for about two days.  If you choose to store the egg whites, they are good for about five days when sealed in an airtight container.

When you are ready to wash your face fully whisk in a little water and either wash your face or use as a mask, letting it sit for about 15 to 20 minutes. That’s it. Alternate the cleansers. The next day whisk water with the yolk and repeat. 

Give it a try, I don’t think you will be disappointed. You might even love your skin when you are done.

Jennifer ♥

 

Jumping in!

Jumping In.

Deep breath, no, breathe normally, don't forget to breathe. This is scary, in a way. Do I jump or do I take a step back. Eek!

My first blog.  There are so many wonderful blogs out there. I love the people who teach me how to do something.  I thought to myself, I want to share. I want to tell someone the cool way to do this and how to save money on that. So here it goes...

Welcome to Wild Poppy Farms. A regular down-home country Texas place. I was born and raised on a farm, moved to the big city and discovered that the farm girl I didn't want to be was who I missed. I missed everything that I had hated as a teenager. I love to cook, sew, do crafty things, find ways to re-purpose what's lying around the place and yep, even take care of the animals. I am a thrift-store-shoppin'-flea-market junkie, a wife and working mother.

Drop by every once in a while and check out the recipes an antics around the farm.