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	<title>Kitchen Counter Economics</title>
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		<title>Landscape Plants On the Cheap &#8211; Rooting Roses</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/18/landscape-plants-on-the-cheap-rooting-roses/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/18/landscape-plants-on-the-cheap-rooting-roses/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:48:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DIY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gardening]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1269</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Rooting your own is a fine way of obtaining and increasing the plants you have for your garden.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/rose-cuttings.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/rose-cuttings.jpg" alt="" title="rose cuttings" width="284" height="266" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1270" /></a> Aunt Toby is, I am ashamed to say, a rose rustler. I am an absolute pushover for rose bushes in abandoned lots. In our fair city (and yes, if someone were to ask about it, I’d have to say, “Yep, it’s fair..”), I walk past a lot that on the down slope side, had been long ago turned into a parking lot in all of its asphalt paved glory. On the uphill side, facing a totally different street (and one which you can tell used to have some very nice houses on it in the 19th century), there is the remains of a paved walk and entrance, a rather imposing chain-link fence, and several scraggly rose bushes. These are not pampered roses – they are of the rather old fashioned, flat double type, about 2-3” across. Nothing to get excited about for sure. <span id="more-1269"></span></p>
<p>But the fragrance. On a hot summer’s day, it will lift you right off your feet.</p>
<p>Now, passersby might appreciate them, or not. But I am a rose rustler – I am not about to allow these poor ignored bushes – the remains of what was once a glorious mansion on this street – to disappear, so the other day, I walked by to examine them and see what was happening rose-wise. Now, most instructions on growing roses from stem cuttings tell you that you should cut when you see so many leaves on the stem and so on. Here&#8217;s a site with every method known, from the humble Mason Jar to more high tech methods.<a href="http://scvrs.homestead.com/Cuttings1.html">How to Root Roses</a></p>
<p>And I have used the cut a stem with so-many leaves&#8217; method with great success in the past, but sometimes it doesn’t work and I feel that the reason is that I’m getting the cuttings too late in the season. The plant has, in its own way, ‘shut down’ and will not make roots. The earlier you can get to the plant when its starting to open leaves, the better your chances are of getting a stem cutting to root, IMHO.</p>
<p>So, when I walked by this week (and I think anyone will admit that mid-March is very early), looked closely and saw the stems budding out (see the photo above), I frankly whipped out my handy nail scissors, took some cuttings from both bushes, wrapped them in a plastic bag I keep in my purse for just such occasions, and put them in water when I got back to work. When I got home, I split the bottom a little bit, dipped them in water and rooting hormone and put them into growing mix in a four-pack. I then put them into a plastic bag and put the whole shebang on top of the warming pad under the lights in my basement and we will see how successful this is. when they root, I&#8217;ll set them in a side bed for this year to let them get their feet under them and then I&#8217;ll transplant them into final spots next spring. It&#8217;s a great way to obtain plants for the garden and you can use the same technique to increase bushes of various types that you might want more specimens of.</p>
<p>Rooting hormone is one of the wonders of the gardening world. There are more sophisticated formulations out now, including gel that comes in packs like pudding, and liquid and powders you can mix up yourself. The humble jar of rooting hormone, however, doesn’t go bad, I can always find it and I’ve used it to root roses and other plants that are not too woody, split and root stems on big woody houseplants, and rescue some iris corms that needed to undergo some of my more vicious surgery after I found them infected with  bacterial rot (I carved off all the sloppy stuff, dipped them into hot water with a little bleach in it, rinsed them off, powdered their behinds with a bit of rooting hormone and put them in fresh, un-infected soil, where they obligingly rooted).</p>
<p>As Damon Wayans said as Major Payne, “Works ever’ time.”</p>
<p>What IS rooting hormone? Well, the original formulation, discovered by the Dutch in the 1930s, was a form of giberillic acid, but the common formula these days is indole-3-butyric acid.  You can find this powder in many home and garden centers; if you are looking for something more sophisticated such as the liquids or gels, retailers who handle hydroponic gardening supplies usually have these. Or, try this site (one of many, believe me): <a href="http://homeharvest.com/cutstrtrootagents.htm">Home Harvest</a><br />
One thing to remember, though; these ARE chemicals. Wash your hands after using them, do not just dump left overs down the drain or toilet, and so on. </p>
<p>The amount of time it takes for roses to root is up to two months, so I’ll keep you posted. </p>
<p>In the meantime, I’ll keep my eye out for rose bushes in abandoned lots and old yards.  Ask around, and ask permission – you never know what you’ll find. Figure it this way – if a rose has survived without any trimming, pruning, spraying or fertilizing for years – it’s a great candidate for your garden also. It might be one of the more rambling types, but they are tough and with training, you could end up with a fine specimen.</p>
<p>Until the next time.</p>
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		<title>Early Spring Gardening</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/14/early-spring-gardening/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/14/early-spring-gardening/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raising It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gardening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vegetables]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1266</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the things I find really attractive about gardening is that there is always something happening &#8211; even at a place like Chez Siberia (where parts of the property are Zone 2 in terms of what will survive). This week was no exception. You&#8217;d think that nothing is happening in the garden here but [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/garlic2010.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/garlic2010.jpg" alt="" title="garlic2010" width="264" height="291" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1267" /></a>One of the things I find really attractive about gardening is that there is always something happening &#8211; even at a place like Chez Siberia (where parts of the property are Zone 2 in terms of what will survive). This week was no exception. You&#8217;d think that nothing is happening in the garden here but the sun proved that wrong. We had a week of 50-degree temperatures with lots of sun. I shoveled off one of the beds to start the process of warming things up and by the end of the week, the rest of the beds had been exposed on their own. And then I saw them &#8211; the garlic that we&#8217;d planted last fall. <a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2009/09/26/second-chances-not-dead-yet-in-the-garden/">second chances</a><span id="more-1266"></span></p>
<p>I took the soil temperature in that bed with the garlic &#8211; it was 32.8 degrees F. Barely above frozen. And yet &#8211; that garlic was not just up &#8211; it was darned up. Look at that leaf development. The ends &#8211; with the brown on them, are what came up last fall before the freeze. The green parts are all new &#8211; and grew up through the frozen soil and into the snow. Now, THAT&#8217;s determination. But it also shows that even in the depths of winter, under the snow, things are going on and growing in your garden. </p>
<p>Of course, seeing that, I looked around and saw that other hardy bulbs in the yard have started to come up as well &#8211; tulips, crocuses, daffodils. They will start to really take off once things warm up. But the garlic is a signal to me that I&#8217;d better get that tunnel built over one of those beds so that I can get the greens, chard, cabbages, broccoli, etc. planted once I can get the soil to hit 50 degrees. Warm enough for them. Not for Tomatoes, peppers, etc. &#8211; but definitely for the hardy early spring veggies.</p>
<p>MMMMMMMM, new greens. Looking forward to that.</p>
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		<title>Double Clutch</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/13/double-clutch/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/13/double-clutch/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:29:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Clothing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DIY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sewing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sewing with leather is fun.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/leatherpurse1.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/leatherpurse1-300x238.jpg" alt="" title="leatherpurse1" width="300" height="238" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1263" /></a>Never let it be said that Aunt Toby is easily discouraged. I think it can be said that I made just about every error in the <a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/28/clutch-trial-run/">clutch trial run</a> and ended up with something that was not what I&#8217;d hoped. Not that I won&#8217;t use it &#8211; I&#8217;ve never had a purse yet that I couldn&#8217;t find a use for. But the whole basis of this was to check off an item on my &#8216;Want to do in 2010&#8242; list, which is to sew with leather. For all the sewing I&#8217;ve done over the years (and I&#8217;ve made everything from snow suits with double zippers, softsided luggage, hunting and photographer&#8217;s vests with a zillion pockets et al., I&#8217;ve always been pretty afraid of sewing with leather. Somehow I had this vision that I&#8217;d burn out the motor of my sewing machine. It&#8217;s just a Kenmore, after all. <span id="more-1262"></span></p>
<p>But after analyzing the problem with the trial run, I realized that the leather I had was no thicker than the wool felt I had used. As a matter of fact, it was thinner and more pliable. I got the leather as a grab bag &#8216;bundle&#8217; from <a href="http://www.fabricmart.com">Fabric Mart Fabrics</a>. They also sell whole skins but I wanted to make a few smaller things first. I also changed the interfacing I had used to shirt collar fusible, which gave me a little bit more body but definitely left the clutch &#8217;slouchy&#8217; which is as it is described. The next time I make this, I will probably go ahead and buy a smaller skin so that I will have enough leather to make the whole purse out of the same material.</p>
<p>I made this one basically the same way I did the other one, with one change: I&#8217;d left the top open and bound it with a two-inch strip of leather, leaving enough at the meet points on the flap to tie a bit of a bow, which I think dresses it up a bit. Then, I sewed through all the layers just underneath the leather binding to close up the top. In addition, as you can see from the picture, this is a brown and black purse, a little bit less formal than a plain black purse but was necessitated because there was not enough of any one type of leather in the buncle to make an entirely brown or black clutch. So I have sort of a &#8217;spectator clutch&#8221;.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/leatherpurse2.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/leatherpurse2-300x215.jpg" alt="" title="leatherpurse2" width="300" height="215" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1264" /></a>The only new technique I used with this was gluing the leather  where I put the zipper in the opening in the front. I centered the zipper, marked the ends and sewed the ends. Then, I folded over the seam allowances where the zipper was going to be, glued those down with Fabri-Tac Permanent Adhesive &#8482; and left that to dry for a couple of hours before I sewed in the zipper. I also used a leather needle in my sewing machine and regular thread. </p>
<p>Again, this is the<a href="http://www.hotpatterns.com/products/hp-1027-handbag-heaven-plain-simple-envelope-clutch"> Hot Patterns Plain and Simple Clutch</a>. I do recommend a run through, even with muslin, so that you get the whole technique in terms of working with the lining. </p>
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		<title>Bringing Spring</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/09/bringing-spring/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/09/bringing-spring/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:42:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raising It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DIY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gardening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vegetables]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1257</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sometimes, Aunt Toby is wont (yes, wont) to taking things into her knobby but capable hands and not taking &#8216;no&#8217; for an answer. This year&#8217;s winter has been, for practically the entire Continental United States, one long sitting through of &#8220;Ground Hog Day&#8221;. 
Awful. Miserable. Interminable. 
And I looked at the calendar this weekend and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/shoveled-off.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/shoveled-off-279x300.jpg" alt="" title="shoveled off" width="279" height="300" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1258" /></a>Sometimes, Aunt Toby is wont (yes, wont) to taking things into her knobby but capable hands and not taking &#8216;no&#8217; for an answer. This year&#8217;s winter has been, for practically the entire Continental United States, one long sitting through of &#8220;Ground Hog Day&#8221;. </p>
<p>Awful. Miserable. Interminable. <span id="more-1257"></span></p>
<p>And I looked at the calendar this weekend and realized that we have a yard full of snow (which at this point is not very picturesque at all) and the entire section of the yard that has the vegetable garden beds in it has had a huge amount of snow shoveled on top of it from the driveway. Which means that even with this week&#8217;s glorious weather (sunny, in the 50s every day), while we&#8217;ve had some major melting, I&#8217;m not going to have a garden bed warm enough to tuck cool weather early season crops into. </p>
<p>Snow is reflective like that.</p>
<p>So, this morning, when I spoke to The Boy, I asked him to do me a bit of a favor and try to unearth one of the beds from the snow. Somehow, the snow, in the melting and then refreezing, etc. had become very icy and heavy, so he only got about half of it done and I had to finish up when I got home. But as you can see from the photo,  where he&#8217;d cleaned off the snow, the dirt was nice and soft and un-frozen and I dug and scraped off the rest on the bed (though as you can see, there is a bit of snow still frozen there on top of the soil). Depending on what happens to the weather in the next couple of weeks (I might have to put some clear plastic over the bed to help things along), by early April, it might be warm enough to plant things such as:<br />
Lettuces<br />
Kale<br />
Chard<br />
Broccoli<br />
Cauliflower<br />
spring onions<br />
Beets<br />
Chinese and other cabbages</p>
<p>Having something green pop up will be absolutely wonderful.</p>
<p><strong>Wednesday Update: </strong> I stuck my handy-dandy extra meat thermometer in the soil this afternoon and it measured 32.9 degrees F. So, we&#8217;ve got a whole lot of warming up to do to get that bed to 50 degrees. I&#8217;m casting about for whatever we have laying about to use as a frame to raise up and put over the bed that I can cover with a big sheet of plastic to act as a green house. More to come!</p>
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		<title>More FANAFI: Find a Need and Fill It</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/04/more-fanafi-find-a-need-and-fill-it/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/03/04/more-fanafi-find-a-need-and-fill-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:37:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Work Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreneurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the economy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1252</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How one man's passion for colorful golf pants turned into an international phenomenon.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img alt=""src="http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/object2/109/21/n311163439555_7227.jpg" alt="Norwegian Curling Pants" class="alignleft" height="200" width="250" />Everyone has their favorite event or story from the recent Winter Olympics. Mine is the tale of the Norwegian Curling Team&#8217;s very colorful pants. Now, how they came to find the pants is not the topic here. The pants, however, attracted a huge amount of attention worldwide, not only for the Norwegian team (which finally lost in the end to the Canadians), but also for the sport itself. A fan from Rochester started a Facebook page, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Vancouver-BC/The-Norwegian-Olympic-Curling-Teams-Pants/311163439555?ref=ts">The Norwegian Curling Team Pants</a> which has 600,000 fans (including 200,000 from Norway itself).<br />
 CNBC was running curling coverage after the close of business on Wall Street, so there the traders were, ogling the Norwegians&#8217; red, white and blue diamond pants, while the teams were playing what has been heretofore considered a sport about as exciting as watching corn grow. <span id="more-1252"></span></p>
<p>But I digress. As many of Aunt Toby&#8217;s readers recall, I have a keen interest in small business, in entrepreneurship, in plain old &#8216;following your passion&#8217;. Although long after the 2010 Winter Olympics has faded from the collective memory, in the chronicles of international curling, I am sure that the growth of interest in the sport is going to be tagged to the pants worn by the Norwegian team this year. But my interest in this story actually is in the company which designed and makes these pants, which are technically golf clothing, Loudmouth Golf.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/content/view/2477/">Brown Alumni magazine</a></p>
<p>Scott Woodworth, &#8220;a graphic designer who lives in Sonoma, California, with his wife, Cathy, and sons, Robert, 13, and Bailey, 14, turned his passion for audacious attire and brightly colored geometric designs into a men’s clothing business targeting a particular subspecies of golfer. “Loud mouth guys may be a little obnoxious,” he says, “but deep down they are good guys. You put those pants on, you are going out to tell jokes and have fun.” </p>
<p>&#8220;..After he moved to California, he noticed that golfers there dressed in muted tones. That would have to change. So in 2000 he went to the fabric store, bought a bolt of powder-blue stuff that depicted Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck riding in golf carts, and had a local seamstress make him a pair of pants to wear at a charity golf tourney. “They were horrible looking pants,” he says, “and I loved them. Guys kept asking me all day where I got them.”</p>
<p>He found a clothing manufacturer and ordered seventy-two pairs for his newly formed company, Loudmouth Golf. Six weeks after placing a classified ad in Golf Digest, he’d sold half his inventory. He doubled the next order, and before long he’d drafted his children into helping him pack merchandise from his garage. It was good-bye graphic design and hello clothing business.&#8221;</p>
<p>The international interest in the pants crashed Woodward&#8217;s server and he is scrambling to restock this particular model, with delivery scheduled for April.</p>
<p>For people who dream of having their own business and who feel that all the &#8216;needs&#8217; that need to be filled are gone, I&#8217;d like to mention that crazy pants for golfers are not necessarily something that screams &#8216;a need needing to be filled&#8217;. What Woodward did, by wearing crazy pants to the tournament and getting comments was actually an unconscious form of focus group testing &#8211; on the fly, certainly, but testing nonetheless. Woodward&#8217;s advantage was that he also realized that there was a market there (the need) that no one else was doing anything about and that he could fulfill (filling it). </p>
<p>A lot of people would like to start a business, but many times they allow their fears of risk or lack of knowledge to stop them. Woodward was a graphic designer &#8211; it is not as if he grew up in the garment business (as Isaac Mizrahi did &#8211; Mizrahi&#8217;s father owned a dress design and manufacturing business). The difference is that Woodward got on the phone, called around, asked questions, found more people who could answer more questions, found more people who could help him, direct him, show him resources for fabric, sewing, manufacturing and so on. And that&#8217;s how he started and has grown his business.</p>
<p>Now, you can be sure that there are people already out there, already in the sports clothing business, who are riffing changes on the Norwegian Curling Team&#8217;s pants. Maybe they called up some curlers and asked them if they liked the pants or perhaps what they wanted in pants to curl in? Maybe they are producing them in water repellant fabrics for skiers or snow boarders. Maybe they are producing them with bibs. Or matching jackets. Or matching shirts. or with zippers down the legs. Or glow in the dark? Maybe someone has decided that the whole curling pants thing is a fluke &#8211; in Canada, the big deal in curling clothing from what I have heard is colorful sweaters. Maybe someone is going to try to reproduce the diamond motif in a heavyweight sweater. A heavyweight sweater with a zip in the front. </p>
<p>Gad. The opportunities are endless.</p>
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		<title>Clutch Trial Run</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/28/clutch-trial-run/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/28/clutch-trial-run/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:17:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Clothing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Making It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DIY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sewing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1246</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of my goals this year is to work with fabrics and materials that I don’t have any experience with. There are certain materials that give me the willies and over the years I have dipped my experiential toe into working with them. This year is to basically work with leather enough that it doesn’t [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/baglining3.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/baglining3-300x191.jpg" alt="" title="baglining3" width="300" height="191" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1248" /></a>One of my goals this year is to work with fabrics and materials that I don’t have any experience with. There are certain materials that give me the willies and over the years I have dipped my experiential toe into working with them. This year is to basically work with leather enough that it doesn’t scare me anymore. It’s not that Aunt Toby lusts after a leather skirt or something like that (I am, ahem, post-leather skirt, if you must know). But it’s an intriguing material.<span id="more-1246"></span></p>
<p>For one thing, it’s non-directional. It has no warp or weft. It is not knitted. It just IS. And because of that, there are things you can do with it that are more difficult to do with woven or knitted goods, and most of the time, those things are fun and interesting: accessories, trim, that sort of thing. </p>
<p>And now Aunt Toby has to tell you a secret: I am accessories mad. I have always loved them. It’s genetic: My mom had purses out of every skin except I think for fish(and that only because it had not been developed at the time, I think), including several out of species that are frankly out of reach or endangered (same diff) at this point. In many cases, she had shoes that matched the purses. Although if you went through my drawers (well, what holds my clothing etc., not..ahem..the other sort), you’d find more scarves than anything else (I am passionately fond of scarves), I do love a nice purse, an interesting handbag. And my big beef in life is that either I can’t find them or if I can, they are usually out of reach in terms of price.  Very annoying indeed.</p>
<p>And the one class of purse that I can NEVER find, either in the size, material, color or price is a clutch. Not one of these:<a href="http://judith-leiber-handbags.com/Womens-Accessories-Handbags/Handbags-Bags">minaudiere</a></p>
<p>These are not clutches. They are interesting and sort of, IMHO, “carry-able jewelry”, but I am the sort of person who imagines social occasions ending with my being in a mess, needing to call and pay for a cab, a small injury…that sort of thing. You can’t carry a wallet, lipstick, credit cards, a cell phone, Bandaids™, car and house keys, etc. in one of these. At most, you carry A credit card, A lipstick, one of those weeny and flat cell phones, and a car key that actually will get given to the valet to park the car, so you won’t have to put it into the bag at all. Actually, I have seen hard cases for sunglasses that were bigger than some of these socalled evening bags. </p>
<p>Aunt Toby requires something capacious. Not that I want to be able to carry a tire iron, a set of vicegrips™, and a roll of duct tape in my evening bag (although goodness knows, I have had an evening where the experience ended with the DH requiring all of these, but they were in the trunk of the car and were used to haul up and secure the exhaust system so that we could get home in one piece). But invariably, when I go out, I will meet someone who either will want to give me their phone number and email address (or vice versa), or wants my recipe for making biscuits or home-made noodles, or the URL for fabric or interesting covered buttons or canning supplies (all of which Aunt Toby has had tattooed on her brain and can be called up on a moment’s notice). And that requires a pen and at least a small pad. And perhaps a calendar (you see where this is going, I am sure). </p>
<p>Enter: Hot Patterns Plain and Simple Envelope Clutch. <a href="http://www.hotpatterns.com/products/hp-1027-handbag-heaven-plain-simple-envelope-clutch">Hot Patterns Clutch</a><br />
 “Oversized, lined, slouchy Clutch has a carrying strap on the back and closes with a zipper under the front flap; flap also features concealed magnetic closures. Clutch is completely flat, and the interior has 1 large zippered pocket and a smaller open/cell phone pocket.”</p>
<p>I had already bought some leather, but being the ‘belt and suspenders’ person that I am, I decided to give it a trial run. Not exactly a ‘muslin’ because I wanted it to be something that I could use as intended if it worked out. I also wanted to give a trial to some interfacing that I thought would work well, Pellon™ Peltex. It’s described as ‘firm’ – it’s also described as being a substitute for foamcore™ and cardboard. That should have been a clue that it might have been too firm for the project but I soldiered on. </p>
<p>Aunt Toby is very very bad when it comes to reading directions. My brain doesn’t seem to work the way that the technical writers’ do, and many times what gets me through are my 40+ years of sewing and the drawings and diagrams. In this case, what got me through was Ann Steeves’ experience with the pattern <a href="http://gorgeousthings.blogspot.com/2008/12/pattern-review-hotpatterns-envelope.html">Ann Steeves&#8217; Review</a><br />
 and my giving it a good think in terms of what I thought it looked like on the inside at the after end. (Please note: I did contact the lovely people at Hot Patterns and Trudy offered to ‘fly me in’ using emails, but I am a very stubborn sort of person and seem to feel the need to figure things out myself, even if I end up doing it wrong).<br />
 The difficult part for me was visualizing what was happening on the inside on the lining pieces, which have, on one piece, a zippered pocket, and on the other piece (because it comes in two separate pieces), a patch which is separated into a regular pocket and a pleated pocket for a cell phone. The individual techniques involved in making the purse are not difficult at all; here is the list of techniques:</p>
<p>1.	Cutting out the pattern pieces. If you are making this from leather, using some sort of marker on the back side of the material is key – you don’t want to use pins to mark this.<br />
2.	Cutting out, trimming for seam allowances and then Ironing on interfacing. The interfacing I used produced something that would substitute for a portfolio – very stiff. I need to find an iron-on interfacing for leather that will give it some substance but still allow for the slouchiness.<br />
3.	Putting in magnetic fasteners. Marking these on the back of the material is key. Also making sure that you put the opposite part in the proper place on the other side of the front so that when you close the clutch, it will actually lock in place. it helps to give this a trial run before you put the fasteners through the material.<br />
4.	Putting in centered zippers. You will need to have 1, 10” zipper for the pocket in the lining and 1, 16” zipper for the opening into the clutch (which is NOT in the top of the bag. You need to visualize this as a grocery bag with the top stapled shut and the opening in one side. That is where the other zipper is going to go).<br />
5.	Straight stitching, trimming and cutting corners – this will help give the corners shape.<br />
6.	Rolling. (rolling? – yes, rolling) There are several points in the process where you will need to roll the body of the clutch in order to make the sewing easier. One of them is putting on the strap on the back (see Ann Steeves’ photo at the link above). The other place is once you’ve attached the lining pieces to the seam allowances for the opening zipper and then want to sew the lining together. It really helps in terms of sewing the lining pieces together if you roll the front of the bag into a cylinder to keep it out of the way of the needle. Then, when you want to fasten the back of the bag itself to the front, you will want to roll the lining into a cylinder to keep it safe as well. Needless to say, putting Pellon™ Peltex on the felt did NOT make rolling easier. </p>
<p>So, here are the two places where I think people might get frustrated and how to do them.<br />
The front of the clutch:<br />
Once you’ve ironed on your interfacing (if you are going to do that) and put on the magnetic closures corresponding to the marks on the pattern, go to the corresponding lining pieces. One will have a pocket with a zipper on it – do that and put that on the lining piece to correspond to the markings on the pattern. The other one will look much too long for the other piece of the front of the clutch. Don’t panic! This will be folded to provide a protective flap at the entry to the purse.<br />
Put the top and bottom pieces of the purse front together using the magnetic closures – the edges where the zipper is going to go should line up. Baste that edge together, flatten out, and then put in a centered zipper (this is where the bigger zipper goes). Remember, if you are making this out of leather or faux leather or Ultrasuede™ or something like this, don’t use pins..use tape or something because you don’t want to make holes). </p>
<p>Take the piece of lining with the zippered pocket. With it facing you with the pockets opening up, fold toward the wrong side, 5/8”. Take that fold and place it right up on the tape of the zipper, on the larger piece of the bag front. Visualize when you put your hand inside that zipper, it will go into the pockets to pull out your cell phone, right? Tape that down. Flip that over and using a zipper foot, sew next to the original stitching you did to put the zipper in, BUT NOT ALL THE WAY TO THE OUTSIDE EDGES.  Remember, we’ve got the be able to roll this thing around to put the lining together and then do the bag outside seams, so you only sew these lining pieces down to the bottom stop and at the top stop. </p>
<p>Take the other piece of lining for the front of the bag – it’s plain right – no pockets, nuthin’. It also looks too big for the other half of the front of the bag. With the wrong side of the bag front facing you, line up the top edge of that top piece of the bag with the top edge of the lining piece. Smooth the lining down to where the other side of the zipper tape is. Secure that in the seam allowances and stitch the lining on the tape all the way through to the other side of the bag. You now will have about 4” of flap. There are directions on the pattern sheet to handle this. Here is what I did (because I am annoying this way): visualizing what I felt this was meant to look like (that is, that there would be a flap across the zippered opening), I folded under a 5/9” hem and sewed that. Then I folded the flap again and secured that against the place where I had sewn the lining to the zipper tape and sewed through all of this. This produced this situation:<a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/baglining1.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/baglining1-270x300.jpg" alt="" title="baglining1" width="270" height="300" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1247" /></a> </p>
<p>Then, with the bag front and the bag front lining facing me(just like in the picture), I put the back of the lining on top and sewed that on, rolling up the bag front as I went so that I would not catch that. You can sew the lining all the way around because you do not need to turn that inside out. At that point, I had this situation with the bag front. My kind assistant opened up the zipper so that you can see the opening, the pocket AND the other zipper, which is part of the zippered pocket in the other part of the lining.<a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/baglining2.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/baglining2-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="baglining2" width="300" height="225" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1249" /></a></p>
<p>At this point, what you have facing you is the right side of the front of the bag. Placing, right side to right side(making sure you get the strap in the right spot), the back of the bag on top, and rolling away the lining as you go, I sewed three sides of the bag, leaving the fourth open so that I could cut and trim the corners and turn it inside out, putting the finished lining bag into the inside of the purse. I then ironed down the seam allowances at the bottom and sewed those closed to finish the bag. </p>
<p>Materials:<br />
Bag: Wool Felt<br />
Lining: Polyester ‘technical’ taffeta<br />
Magnetic Closures: two sets<br />
Zippers: 1, 10”, 1, 16”<br />
Interfacing: Pellon™ Peltex</p>
<p>Will I make this again: You bet, but with something softer than Peltex, which I think would make terrific  bills for newsboy caps but just ruined the look of this. However, having said that, I actually like this; it’s sort of portfolio-y and my son made the observation that it would be a perfect way of sneaking in a mini-laptop into an event. He would think of that.</p>
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		<title>You don&#8217;t have to be Jewish to love Passover</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/24/you-dont-have-to-be-jewish-to-love-passover/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/24/you-dont-have-to-be-jewish-to-love-passover/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:17:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Buying It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the holidays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1241</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here's a creative way to find food products that won't have high fructose corn syrup - or even corn syrup at all.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ketchup1.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ketchup1-225x300.jpg" alt="" title="ketchup1" width="225" height="300" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1242" /></a>But if you are trying to get high fructose corn syrup (or corn or grain products) out of your family&#8217;s diet, foods that have been produced specifically for the Passover season (March 29th through sundown, April 5th this year) are your friends. I went to my local &#8216;large regional supermarket chain&#8217; and found that the Passover display was already up: matza, coconut macaroons, breakfast cereals, baking mixes, potato flour, you name it. These are products that although you will want to read the ingredient labels just to read them, it is not as if you will have to read them to catch the manufacturer in putting corn products into them. Corn and other grain products are forbidden for Passover, so products are manufactured specifically with that in mind and the manufacturers&#8217; premises are rigorously cleaned and inspected by religious authorities before the manufacturing process takes place to make sure that there is no &#8216;chametz&#8217; (grain products) left behind to contaminate the manufacturing processing equipment.<span id="more-1241"></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ketchup2.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ketchup2.jpg" alt="" title="ketchup2" width="288" height="278" class="alignright size-full wp-image-1243" /></a>When I saw that ketchup, I knew that it was time to stock up. Passover is not for another month, but I can tell you that the more unique items (the baking mixes, the salad dressings, the breakfast cereals and the ketchup) tend to disappear quickly. So, if you don&#8217;t see any of those items on the display, find the department manager and ask if the store will be getting any more shipments in before Passover. You might even ask the manager whether or not you can order case lots of items for personal purchase.  </p>
<p>Not that I am advocating running around to all the stores in your area and buying up all the Passover items, but stores will order more if they think they can sell more.  If you don&#8217;t see a well stocked Passover display in your area, you might wish to contact your local Jewish community and ask whether they are doing co-op buying for Passover &#8211; but do it quickly. Passover is one of those holidays in the religious calendar that is very important and Jewish families will have been planning for this for several weeks at this point. </p>
<p>If nothing else, tuck this fact in the back of your head: There is one time of the year when, if your supermarket has a well-stocked display, you will be able to find products that do not contain grains, corn, or corn sweeteners. And that is the month before Passover.</p>
<p>Eat in good health.</p>
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		<title>Repairing a Blue Jeans Fly &#8211; Part 2: The Zombie Attack Version</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/21/repairing-a-blue-jeans-fly-part-2-the-zombie-attack-version/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/21/repairing-a-blue-jeans-fly-part-2-the-zombie-attack-version/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:45:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Clothing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Repairing It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[repairs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sewing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1231</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Even if you don't have a zipper, you can repair a fly so that you can still close it.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yfDUv3ZjH2k&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yfDUv3ZjH2k&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> So, let&#8217;s say that you are holed up in an abandoned farm house and the zombies are attacking and the zipper on your fly breaks. Now, Aunt Toby realizes that perhaps at this moment you are not worrying about your pants falling down while a zombie eats your brains, but you never know. Here&#8217;s a way to repair that fly, keep your pants up so that you can pay proper attention to the zombies and perhaps get a few damaging licks in before they overwhelm you. I mean, Shaun would have made sure his fly was all fastened up..Right?<span id="more-1231"></span></p>
<p>You will need:<br />
<strong>Some sort of firm fabric to make a panel </strong>of &#8211; it needs to be slightly longer than the fly is, and twice as wide. Firm fabric would be twill, denim, the sort of thing Dockers(tm) or Dickies(tm) pants are made from. If it&#8217;s lighter than that, make the panel slightly longer than the fly is and three times as wide You&#8217;ll be folding the panel in half if it&#8217;s firm fabric, into thirds(with one edge inside) if it&#8217;s not very firm. You basically need a panel to put buttonholes into, so you need something firm. I put four 3/4&#8243; buttonholes into my panel, with the first about 3/4&#8243; down from the top. You will be tucking the top edge under the waistband seam, so you will therefore end up with the top buttonhole about 1/2&#8243; down. </p>
<p><strong>Buttons &#8211; 3 or 4.</strong> I&#8217;m using 3/4&#8243; wood buttons that I happened to have around. In your abandoned farm house, unless the owner was one of those (ahem, like I am) stashing sewers and has a big collection of buttons still on the cards, you won&#8217;t know the size of the button. And you probably won&#8217;t have a measuring tape either. But if you have buttons and don&#8217;t know the size, lay a measuring tape or ruler on a flat surface and put one of the buttons on it and measure it. Or, if there is no measuring tape available then compare the size across the widest part of the button with the first joint in your thumb. The average size of that part of a person&#8217;s body is actually about an inch and that will be a good estimate for how big the button is. That&#8217;s the size of the button hole you need to make. Mark the buttonhole placements evenly down the panel. If you have a sewing machine, use that to make your buttonholes and sew on the panel. If you do not have a sewing machine here&#8217;s how to make non-machine buttonholes:</p>
<p>Fold your panel into half (or thirds if it&#8217;s not really firm fabric) across the width and run an overcast stitch all the way around. Mark the places where you want your buttonholes down the length, as evenly as you can.<br />
Center across the panel the length of the buttonhole you want to make and draw a line that long.<br />
Take a pair of scissors, or (be careful!) a single edged razor blade or other sharp blade and carefully slit open that line. Do that for all the buttonholes you are going to make.<br />
Take a needle and doubled thread and overcast the edges all around (if you know that arcane thing called a buttonhole stitch, use that :<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttonhole_stitch?&#038;priref=110904&#038;_function_=xslt&#038;_limit_=10">Buttonhole stitch</a><br />
Then, line up the long side of the panel and sew that to the back side of the front panel of the fly &#8211; you&#8217;ll know where to sew by the original stitches that are in the front &#8211; that &#8216;j&#8217; shaped stitching line.<br />
Then, line up the buttons on the other side of the fly, to correspond with the buttonholes, and sew those on.</p>
<p>And watch the rest of the sewing adventure (and I promise, no zombies..really&#8230;)</p>
<p><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="225" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&#038;photo_secret=c988c8bd2d&#038;photo_id=4373152925"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&#038;photo_secret=c988c8bd2d&#038;photo_id=4373152925" height="225" width="300"></embed></object></p>
<p><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="225" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&#038;photo_secret=d4020b754d&#038;photo_id=4373914290"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&#038;photo_secret=d4020b754d&#038;photo_id=4373914290" height="225" width="300"></embed></object></p>
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		<title>Replacing a zipper on blue jeans &#8211; Part 1</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/20/replacing-a-zipper-on-blue-jeans-part-1/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/20/replacing-a-zipper-on-blue-jeans-part-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:59:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Clothing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Repairing It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[repairs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sewing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1229</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Given what it costs at the tailor's to get a zipper replaced, it's a skill that is worth knowing.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="225" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&#038;photo_secret=5e3dbff264&#038;photo_id=4373868124"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&#038;photo_secret=5e3dbff264&#038;photo_id=4373868124" height="225" width="300"></embed></object> Aunt Toby&#8217;s repair basket probably has at least as many pairs of blue jeans that do NOT have rips or tears in them as she does the other sort. They are there because of &#8216;zipper failure&#8217;. Do not ask me why this happens &#8211; these zips started out life as vigorous metal zippers but many times lose the pull or the top stop or something and then the only thing holding the owner in is a hardy sense of decorum and the top button. And perhaps some safety pins. It&#8217;s really quite annoying because most of the time the zip fails before anything else fails and because we all see replacing a zip in an already finished garment as being too much work, the jeans end up in the repair basket or thrown away. </p>
<p>Very sad. <span id="more-1229"></span>Because basically, what replacing a zip entails is:<br />
1) Finding another zip. If you have another &#8216;ready for the dump&#8217; pair of jeans with a good zip, then take THAT zip out to use. WARNING:  when you are taking it out, just before you remove the whole thing, take a needle and thread, butt up the top of the metal teeth together and sew firmly just above the teeth. These zippers do not have a top stop on them and as I demonstrated in one of the videos, if you just remove it and do the natural thing (which is to zip the zipper closed), then WHOOPS! the zipper pull comes right off in your hand. No more useful zipper. So, sew it together at the top so that you don&#8217;t lose the pull off the ends.<br />
If you do not have another zip to use, buy a 9&#8243; metal toothed zipper (these are marketed as &#8216;jean zippers&#8221;) at your local &#8216;extremely large national chain of whatever passes as a sewing store&#8221; these days.<br />
2) Take out the old zip.<br />
3) Lining up the left hand (as it faces you) top of the new zip and snuggle it up underneath both the waistband and the extra flap (see video). Sew down the zip under the flap and with the fly facing.<br />
4) Lining up the right hand top of the new zip underneath the right hand part (as it faces you) of the fly, pin that down and sew it down to the bottom, being careful to &#8216;take a left&#8217; when you get close to the bottom of the zipper. Be sure to avoid the metal bottom stop. That is a guaranteed &#8216;needle buster&#8217; if you hit it. Find it and mark it before you start down. </p>
<p>Enjoy the videos. For those folks who do not want to fiddle with a new zip but who DO wish to not embarrass their friends by walking around with undone flies, see Part 2.</p>
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		<title>The Little Red Hen Moves</title>
		<link>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/19/the-little-red-hen-moves/</link>
		<comments>http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/2010/02/19/the-little-red-hen-moves/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:30:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>htwollin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Raising It]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chickens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[small scale livestock raising]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/?p=1223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Far be it from me to make the claim that Aunt Toby and the DH are experts at raising chickens or hatching chickens with a broody hen. Chickens, as I have noted before, are the &#8216;gateway drug&#8217; of livestock raising: as long as you can keep them save, fed and watered, you are good [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/henmove1.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/henmove1-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="henmove1" width="300" height="225" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-1224" /></a> Far be it from me to make the claim that Aunt Toby and the DH are experts at raising chickens or hatching chickens with a broody hen. Chickens, as I have noted before, are the &#8216;gateway drug&#8217; of livestock raising: as long as you can keep them save, fed and watered, you are good to go. You don&#8217;t really need to be an expert first to raise them.  In all the years we raised chickens in a henhouse, we only had one hen go broody, and she was part of a &#8216;matched pair&#8217; of Old English that a co-worker of the DH&#8217;s gave to us. Most chickens have had broodiness selected out of them because a broody hen does not lay eggs,<span id="more-1223"></span> so unless you are in the hatching business (and no hatchery uses hens that I know of), they are an expense with no revenue. That particular broody hen hid her eggs &#8211; we had no idea what she was doing until she showed up with chicks in tow.</p>
<p>This time, it&#8217;s slightly different because this particular hen is totally different looking than the other birds and we have a tendency to look out for her because she&#8217;s a bantam and about 1/3 the size of the Light Brahmas that she is with. The DH put some of their fertilized eggs under her and she has been a very good mommy so far. To give her more privacy and to put the chicks closer to the ground when they hatch, we moved them into another room, with a heat lamp (that&#8217;s why the color in the photographs is so red &#8211; the lamp is infrared). Readers who are familiar with the set up we had to raise the Light Brahmas when they arrived last year will remember this plywood box with the holes in it &#8211; we are reusing this as a corral to help keep the hen and her chicks inside and help hold the heat in as well.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/henmove2.jpg"><img src="http://www.kitchencountereconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/henmove2-300x225.jpg" alt="" title="henmove2" width="300" height="225" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1225" /></a>Now, I probably should have read up more on moving broody hens &#8211; it can throw them off completely, which it did to this particular LRH. Once we&#8217;d moved her, she seemed to have no interest at all in getting back on those eggs, which considering it&#8217;s February, we were pretty concerned about. So, the DH tried a trick with an old lined curtain we had up there. He got her back into the nesting box (which my son had made out of three old feeding pans we had) and tucked the curtain all around her to block off the light. The next morning when he went out to feed her and give her more water, she was all cuddled down on top of the eggs and had gotten into the whole rhythm of the thing again. She jumps out, does her business, takes a drink, eats a little and is right back on the eggs again. Another method that supposedly works is to move a broody hen only at night, which I think the DH reproduced with the curtain.</p>
<p>Whew. </p>
<p>H-Day (hatching day) is now estimated at mid-week or so, so we&#8217;ll have to keep an eye out. Stay tuned.</p>
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