Kitchen Wisdom

In honor of summer days ahead, I thought I'd share some more from Your Household Guide ... especially about flowers!

• A tablespoon of household bleach added to the water in a vase of zinnias will keep the stems from rotting and you will have fresh flowers longer.
• Midday or afternoon is the best time to cut roses and gladiolus.
• To make a fern healthy and grow fast, put a piece of fresh meat in the pot every few weeks; must not be salty.
  
• Use ice cubes to water indoor plants. They will melt slowly and not spill over.
• Insert a few rusty nails in the soil around your African violets. The blossoms will be larger, more profuse and will have a brighter color. Keep in north window and water from the bottom.
• Did you know that if you pour 2 tablespoons of castor oil around the roots of your Christmas cactus in October it will bloom in December?

Enjoy your 4th of July holiday weekend! Be sure to spend some of it outside in your flower garden.

~Judy

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Kitchen Wisdom

I love to collect old cookbooks, especially those from folks I know. My kitchen is small, so I don't own nearly as many as I'd like, but those that I do have are very special. One book I find especially intriguing came from my dad's mother. It's not really a cookbook, but a volume of what I like to call "kitchen wisdom". It's titled "Your Household Guide" and was published in 1951 by Walsworth Brothers.

I thought I would occasionally share some tidbits from this book under the title of Kitchen Wisdom. Hopefully you will find these as interesting and helpful as I have! I love to take a glimpse back at households of years gone by. I find that the truly helpful wisdom stands the test of time.

Two snippets of wisdom to share for today . . .

To evenly distribute wear on sheets, put the small hem at the top of the bed at least half of the time.

Place the egg in a pan of water. If fresh, it will lie on its side. If a few days old, it will tilt upwards. If stale, it will stand on end. If very old, it will float.

There, now don't you feel wiser already?!

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