Hadith of the Week

The prophet (peace be upon him) was reported to have said
"Muslims will always earn the reward of charity for planting a tree, sowing a crop, and then birds, humans, and animals eat from it." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

To Diaper Service or Not

If you have already decided that you want to cloth diaper the next thing to think about is do you want to wash the diapers yourself or do you want to hire a diaper service.  I wash my son's diapers but my Aunt chose to use the diaper service for her three children.  Most diaper services provide you with a certain amount of diapers which they pick up once a week and give you clean diapers for the coming week.  The diaper service in my area charges a weekly fee but you must commit to 1 month.  A diaper service is great for those who want to cloth diaper but do not have a washing machine or a dryer.  It is also a good option for people who are busy and do not have the time to wash diapers themselves.  Or some people are just grossed out by the idea of putting the dirty diapers in the same washing machine as their clothes.  With diaper services you must purchase and wash your own diaper covers.  Diaper services cost more than washing the diapers yourself... you are paying for convenience.  
Washing the diapers yourself is really easy.  I chose to wash my own diapers because it was a lot cheaper than using the diaper service.  And I didn't like the idea of using a diaper that was used on someone else.  If I wash my own diapers I can control what kind of detergents are used too.  I must say that if I didn't have a washing machine I probably would have used the diaper service. 

Strawberry Picking we Went!

Strawberry Goodness

Yesterday was Father's day.  My husband's first.  He wanted to go strawberry picking to celebrate.  We picked about 6 quarts.  We all had a great time and were stuffed with strawberries by the time we got home.  Now I have dreams of some fresh made jam... yum!

Someone had fun!  Devouring juicy berries!

My son loved it.  He was eating strawberries off the vine.  It was so funny.

Cloth Diapering 101

I am planning to do a couple of posts on all aspects of cloth diapering.  I have been using cloth since my son was about 6 weeks old.  In the beginning I was overwhelmed with all the options out there.  I didn't even know how to put the diaper on.  But through a lot of trial and error I finally found a system that works well for me that I want to share with all of you.

Yogurt Soup (Yayla Corbasi)

A tangy traditional Turkish soup. This is a quick and easy soup to make and can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner along with nice crusty bread.

Ingredients:
5 cups water ( add an extra 1 c. if using uncooked rice)
1/2 stick of butter
a heaping 1/2 cup cooked rice or barley or 1/3 cup uncooked
3 cups yogurt
2 egg yolks (1 is o.k. but 2 makes it richer)
1/4 cup flour
salt to taste
dried mint
dash of red pepper flakes (optional)

Place water butter and rice in a large pot. Bring to a boil. (If using uncooked rice/barley lower heat and simmer until rice/barley is cooked.) Lower heat. In a large bowl whisk together the yogurt (you can use the whey as well) the egg yolks and flour until smooth. Slowly temper the yogurt mixture by adding a ladle full of hot liquid from the pot to the yogurt mixture. Mix. Then slowly pour the yogurt mixture into the pot. Bring the soup to a simmer. Season with salt to taste and mint (I usually use about 1 tbsp. of mint)

The biggest compliment ever was when my husband said that my yogurt soup was better than his mom's!

The Electronics Graveyard

Or so me and my mom call it. I am refering to my town recycling center. Yesterday I went to drop off a non-working T.V. to be recycled. Everytime I go down there it always amazes me at what is available. At my local recycling center there is an adopt a bike program where you bring your unwanted bike and then the town gives it to someone in need. That's wonderful. Especially since it could help someone with employment, make them feel more independent and reduce carbon emissions. The whole point of this post is to encourage you to learn about your local recycling center. See what's available. More things can be recycled then I thought (a couple months ago I brought a broken hair dryer). If everyone took a couple of minutes to go drop off a broken computer or whatever you have we would be saving resources from the landfill, we would be keeping our water clean, and we would be making revenue for our town (since they sell everything to a private recycling company).