In Praise of Young Wives and Mothers

As I settle in to my “crone” years… you know, those years after motherhood, when your children have grown and have their own lives, their own schedules, their own children and families… I find myself sometimes studying young wives and mothers… newlyweds… mothers-to-be… new mothers… young mothers with infants and toddlers… mothers with school children… mothers with teens.

I find myself swelling with pride and in awe of many of these young women. It would do us all good to pay attention to these remarkable women. They can teach us so much.

So many, at least in my circle of friends and family, have chosen to truly “parent”… to return to traditional “wife and mom” roles, for the benefit of their families. They are loving their husbands and children, enjoying them.

They are growing gardens instead of buying processed foods… cooking fresh, healthy, from scratch meals; they’ve done their research and have realized fresh is better than convenient; home-cooked is better than fast food. They’re utilizing herbal remedies, essential oils, natural cures, alternative methods, rather than running to the doctor for every sniffle and scrape. They’ve done their homework and understand the overuse of antibiotics and popping a pill for every little thing. They are taking their family’s health and well being into their own hands whenever and wherever possible.

They are learning almost forgotten skills… sewing, knitting, crocheting, canning and preserving, soap making, spinning, weaving, herbalism, raising livestock, farming, gardening, etc… and embracing their newfound knowledge along with the independence and satisfaction that comes with new skills.

They are choosing breastfeeding over bottles, cloth diapering over disposable… they are allowing their children to play, to experience fresh air, sunshine, trees, mud, and bare feet, rather than hovering like helicopters, sanitizer in hand. They are giving their children the freedom to be creative, to pretend, to imagine, to dream, rather than scheduling every minute of their day.

They are reading and researching and studying… and making informed decisions on whether or not to vaccinate, medicate, fluoridate… instead of simply following the dictates of society, government entities, the status quo.

They are altering their own schedules to fit the needs of their families… sacrificing that extra income to give their children what they need more than anything… time! They are choosing to stay at home, or working part time, or rearranging their work to allow them time to better care for their home and family, or establishing creative, wonderful, home-based businesses that give them more flexibility. They are realizing that being a parent can be more fulfilling, and exciting, and rewarding than any other career.

They are choosing not to institutionalize their little ones with babysitters, daycare, preschool… but are choosing instead to keep them at home where they can be taught, nurtured, loved, and cared for by their own mother.

They are doing more research into educating their children… and when they decide that public, cookie-cutter education is not for them, they are investigating alternatives… home schooling, charter schools, private schools, even “un-schooling.” They are taking their children’s education seriously, and they are taking the decision for that education back where it belongs… with parents!

They are giving up bigger homes, fancier cars, designer clothing, exotic vacations, bigger and better and more things… but what their sacrifices are giving them in return cannot be bought… they are raising human beings who will be strong, free, creative, thoughtful, innovative, amazing, thinking men and women… and you can’t put a price on that.

So, my younger sisters, carry on! I know some days you are exhausted, some days it seems like all you do is wipe dirty noses and butts, and all you want to do is go to the bathroom by yourself. Some days you wonder how the power bill is going to be paid, if your car will make it to the store, and how you’re going to stretch one pound of ground beef to feed everyone. But you are strong, confident, beautiful, and AMAZING!!!!! You are my heroes! This old crone is proud to know you!

Why I Love Thanksgiving Best of All Holidays

My love for Thanksgiving began the year I got married and moved away from home. We lived at Fort Bragg, N.C. and my husband was in the military and had maneuvers that week and couldn't go more than a half hour away from the base.

I was 18 years old and away from home for my first holiday! After talking to my Mama on the phone to tell her the bad news, she discussed it with my Daddy and they brought the family the four hour drive to me for Thanksgiving... my brothers and my baby sister came along. I cooked my first turkey by myself that year... and I must say it turned out beautifully!

This began a tradition in my family. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner and Mama brought dessert... for Christmas, she cooked and I brought dessert.

I usually cook the same menu every year and it's my favorite meal to cook... turkey, sometimes ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, dressing, sweet potato casserole, rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce... Mama always made the pumpkin pies and now that she's no longer with us, my brother Kevin has taken over the task. I also always make a red velvet cake, just like Mama's, for my brother Jeff whose birthday is November 25 and generally falls on or near Thanksgiving Day.

Don't get me wrong... I love all the holidays and realize that most people love Christmas the best... but for me, Christmas has become so rushed and commercialized that it barely resembles what it is meant to represent, and has lost some of its magic for me. My children are all grown up so Santa doesn't come to my house any more.

But Thanksgiving... it's the best!

Thanksgiving, to me, is truly family time... we eat a great meal, we watch some football, we take a nap, we visit with each other without any rush to be anywhere else but together, we play board games or if the weather is nice, maybe a walk in the woods to walk off some of that big meal. We eat leftovers.

Before we have grace and eat our meal, like many other families, we go around the table and each person names the things they're thankful for.  Most years we say the same things... and that means a lot to me... continuity, family, time together.

The one and only year since I was 18 that I didn't cook Thanksgiving dinner was in 2000 when my daughter Hannah danced in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City! We ate that year at my sister's in New Jersey on Wednesday before the big parade day... and the whole family drove to NYC the next morning to watch the parade... it was the coldest I remember ever being, but so much fun!

My Mama used to say Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday, and as a child I couldn't see how she could prefer it over the magic and excitement of Christmas... now I see exactly what she meant.

Thanksgiving hasn't been so commercialized... as a matter of fact, the TV commercials and stores seem to jump straight from Halloween to Christmas with barely a mention of Thanksgiving... maybe that's why I love it so much!

Once again, my family is coming to my house for Thanksgiving dinner... I will make a red velvet cake and roast a turkey. Kevin will bring pumpkin pie. My daughter Hannah and her new husband Nick will come Wednesday night so she can get up and help me cook on Thursday morning (a new tradition that was born a few years ago)... My son Caleb and his wife Kaila will miss eating with us for the first time... they are serving as missionaries in Kansas City and will be unable to make it home.

We will stuff ourselves on turkey and dressing... we'll watch football and take a nap... we'll talk and laugh and be thankful for each other and for all our blessings...

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Making Fascinator Hats

My daughter, Hannah, and me wearing
our 50s Fascinator Hats.

I came up with the idea of giving my daughter a 50s Housewife Shower before her wedding. You know, pearls and white gloves and jello molds and deviled eggs...

I wanted a 50s style hat to wear... one of those little "Lucy" hats... Google to the rescue! I found tons of info on fascinator hats... it seems there's a renewed fashion craze since Prince William's Kate is fond of these millinery creations. I made myself one with just a few bits of felt, tulle, ribbon, and charms. I enjoyed making my hat so much, I ended up making 24 hats... enough for all the guests at the shower.

Here's how I made them...

I started out with a round of stiffened felt (I found stiffened felt at JoAnn Fabrics) and used a cottage cheese lid for a pattern... I just marked around the lid and cut out the felt.

Since our heads are not flat, in order to give the hat base a little curve to fit better, I cut a slit from one edge of the felt to the center.

And overlapped the edges of the slit to create sort of a dart.

I sewed the "dart" into place using my sewing machine...

Next I ran a quick gathering seam of thread through a piece of folded tulle and gathered it up into a circle, and sewed it to the top of the felt circle (I used my sewing machine, but this step could easily use hand sewing or even hot glue).

On the back side of the felt circle, I hand sewed a simple plastic hair comb to attach the finished hat to my head.

Then comes the fun part! I heated up my hot glue gun and started gluing on feathers...

I added a bow made from some scrap ribbon I had on hand... and finished it off with a little charm (found packages of charms/buttons also at JoAnn Fabrics)

And that, my friends, is how you make a fascinator hat when you are living on a budget! 

A few more fascinators I made...

Soap Making... It's Good Clean Fun!

This article was written by me for the newspaper I work for a few years ago... thought I'd share it with you guys.

The purchase of two bars of homemade soap from a couple running a booth at Stone Mountain, Georgia one weekend, began a quest to learn this craft for myself.

Always fascinated by simpler times, the olden days, and self- sufficiency, I began asking questions. I learned from the couple at Stone Mountain that they lived on a farm, rendered fat from their cows and pigs, mixed the fat with lye, added natural scents and colorants, stirred, and soap was formed.
I didn't have cows and pigs, and even if I had, I would be most hesitant to slaughter them for their tallow and fat. I turned to my favorite way of researching this ancient craft, the Internet.

There was an abundance of information on the World Wide Web to feed my new obsession. I learned about vegetable oils such as olive, coconut, palm, as well as exotic oils like almond, avocado, hemp, and mango. Each of the oils provides its own unique benefits to soap and to skin. I learned the terms sodium hydroxide (lye) and potassium hydroxide (potash) and the chemical reaction they form when mixed with the oils and fats (saponification).

Essential oils were my next discovery. These are concentrated oils distilled from various plants, offering a natural way to scent soap, as well as giving it additional beneficial qualities for the skin. Orange oil, for example, is a deep cleaning oil; ginger stimulates circulation; peppermint soothes tired muscles; lavender calms and heals; and tea tree is a natural antibacterial and anti- fungal oil.

Begin by gathering your equipment together

There were many artificial fragrance oils available, providing smells from baby powder to Irish Spring. Artificial colorants were also offered. These additives would make it possible to manufacture pretty soaps with pretty smells. All well and good, but I was determined to craft a product that was all natural, as close to the old timey method as my modern day equipment would allow.

After discovering, through my research, that most of the soaps and shampoos we purchase today, are not really soap at all, but detergents, harsh to body, skin, and hair, my determination increased. I wanted to make real soap, with natural ingredients, natural scents, natural coloring, soap that would be gentle and moisturizing to the skin, soap that would cleanse without stripping the skin of its own natural oils and moisture.

I measure my ingredients using a digital scale (exact
measuring is important).

I bought a stainless steel pot (lye reacts badly to aluminum! Don't ask me how I know), a ceramic bowl, and a hand- held stick blender. I used a candy thermometer to gauge temperatures. I then gathered my ingredients, olive, palm, and coconut oils, lye, and water. I experimented with several ways of molding my soaps, using wooden molds, baking pans, etc., finally settling on empty Pringle's potato chip cans, which with their cylindrical shape and cardboard construction, worked perfectly. I could peel off the cardboard and slice my soaps into perfect rounds. Pam's Soap Kitchen was born.


Adventures in my mad scientist laboratory have resulted in quite a number of successes and a few disasters. I destroyed a couple of aluminum pans I tried to use as soap molds; I burned my lips, more than once, hovering too closely over a newly mixed batch of lye and water (lye gives off caustic fumes before mixed with oils and it gets really hot).

The "Trinity" of oils... Palm, Coconut, and Olive!

Successes outnumber disasters greatly. Some of my favorites include: for my dad who works outside a lot and gets attacked by mosquitoes… I made a soap with citronella oil and lemongrass to ward off those pesky insects; my sister has extremely sensitive skin… I developed a facial soap with geranium oil in it that she uses and loves; I developed a shampoo bar using rosemary and peppermint with avocado oil that leaves hair lustrous and healthy- looking with no need for conditioner; and my lavender/oatmeal soap is a big hit with many of my friends… it smells great and is super moisturizing with the exfoliating quality of oatmeal.

The lye must be CAREFULLY mixed (and don't hold your
face over the bowl, you'll get a burn from the vapors!)
It heats super fast to about 200 degrees, you need to let it
cool to about 100 degrees before mixing it into your oils.

The mixture of oils, I melt and heat in my big stainless
steel pot. The oils need to come up to a temperature
of about 100 degrees before mixing with the lye.

The oils and lye are mixed together until they come to
"trace" which is a soapmaking term that means when you lift
up the mixer/blender you can see a trail or "trace" of soap
on top of the mixture... it's about the consistency of
pudding. This is an old picture, by the way, I've since
started using a stick (immersion) blender which works more
efficiently and more quickly. This step can take 5-10 minutes,
up to 30-40 minutes, depending on oils used, humidity in the air,
and many other factors.

After the soap "traces" I then add my essential oil(s)
for scent as well as skin benefits.

I pour the soap mixture into the mold, wrap in towels to
insulate and set aside to cure for at least 24 hours before
unmolding.

After unmolding the cured soap, I slice it into "bars"... then
put the bars on a drying rack to finish curing for 4-6 weeks
before using.

Conjuring soap concoctions in my laboratory/ kitchen, has led to experimenting with lotions, lip balms, creams, bath salts and more… They all include many of the same ingredients.
It's all good clean fun.
My basic soap "recipe" for a one pound "log" of soap is as follows:

10 ounces palm oil
4 ounces coconut oil
2 ounces olive oil
(heat together, bringing to a temp of 100 degrees)

2.25 ounces lye flakes (this will make the soap 8% superfat, which means it will be a nice, moisturizing soap)
Dissolved in:
6 ounces water
(stir the lye into the water, it will heat up in about 3 seconds to a temperature of 150-200 degrees, allow to cool to 100 degrees before mixing with the heated oils)

After blending to "trace" I add about 3/4 ounce of the essential oil of choice and mix for a few seconds to incorporate the EO, then pour into molds and allow to cure.

A good lye calculator is essential in soapmaking... I use the one at Majestic Mountain Sage (click here)

What I do When I'm not Canning

My daughter, Hannah, and me getting ready for her wedding, October 19, 2013

Most of you know me as Canning Granny... the canner of all things cannable...

But I do so much more than that... I am a wife, mother, wannabe homesteader, craftswoman, seamstress, owner of 2 chickens and one dog, assistant editor at a local community newspaper, homemaker, soap maker... and more...

I decided many many years ago that before I died I wanted to learn how to do EVERYTHING!

Haven't got there yet, but I'm learning lots of stuff!

I decided I should write about the adventures in my life... things I learn to make and how I make them, places I go, gardening, and all other aspects of my home life (the ones I'm willing to share anyhow, LOL!) And the Canning Granny blog was just not the place for all these other projects and adventures in my life.

I plan, with this blog, to post tutorials about all sorts of things... as I learn them myself... crafts, cooking, gardening, sewing, and more.

What I want to know from you folks, the readers and supporters of my Canning Granny blog... what do YOU think about this idea?

Hopefully, within a week or so, I plan to begin my tutorials with a post on how I made fairly realistic looking edible fall leaves to top all those dozens of cupcakes I baked for my daughter's wedding... out of gum paste.

So yet another journey begins...