Keeping the Water Flowing

This  happy, homey scene is our bathroom sink in the RV. Featured are my homemade Lavender Tea Tree Goat Milk Soap and Lavender Tea Tree Lotion Bar made with all natural coconut oil, shea butter and beeswax. The bottles in the background contain homemade mouthwash, toner and nasal spray. But enough product promotion. This post is all about how we make the above picture possible. RVing in sub-zero temps is not what we had in mind for starting our full-time RV lifestyle. We have adapted.

After a few minor freeze-ups in December, earnest efforts to keep the flow of water steady were undertaken. Both fresh and gray/black water systems had to be addressed. The sewage pipes were wrapped with R30 insulation and further protected by surrounding them with old hay bales. We discovered that, when parked for more than a few days, the gray and black water need to be kept moving. Normal driving of the RV usually takes care of this. If you are traveling slow, as we are, and are parked for a few weeks or months in one spot, you need to run more water through your black tank, especially, to flush out all the solids. This is fine, because we are also hooked to pressurized water and can afford to use a bit more for flushing.

As for the fresh water, the hose was heat taped and covered with foam insulation, which has kept the water flowing into the RV. I leave the faucets open to drip slowly overnight and the Colorado sunshine keeps the hose thawed (along with the heat tapes) during the day.

The addition of plywood flashing or some more of those old hay bales around the bottom of the rig would undoubtedly help, as well.

As for my little trailer, well, spring is on the way...here you can see my latest batch of soap - Pure Castille, cut and waiting to be put on the curing racks inside the trailer. It should be ready to ship in March. Look for details on my first adventure in soapmaking on the road, in my next post.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Dry Skin Relief - Coconut Oil, Shea Butter and Goat's Milk

It's well into winter and relief from the dry air seems far away. Heaters, fireplaces and air cleaners don't help with the dry skin issue. Even normal, everyday activities like washing clothes, dishes and produce, even just handwashing seems to leave my skin ready to dissolve into powder. That might actually be less painful that the cracking, splitting and peeling that is taking place. 

Wait, I'm a soap maker! I should have soft, smooth, healthy skin, right? Regular use of my goat and cow's milk soaps certainly helps. They are gentle and nourishing. My reformulated lotion bars, with extra coconut oil and shea butter, are easier to spread in winter's colder temps. The thing is, in the drier climates, I find I need to reapply frequently. My homemade lip butters are handy for this. The coconut oil and shea butter are soothing, and heal up our chapped lips quickly. If we would remember to keep using it, the chapping would also be prevented.

My favorite lotion bar in the winter is the Jasmine Rose. Rose oil is reputed to be soothing for dry skin. I like to recycle a 2 ounce size tin or snack container with a tight-fitting lid, smoosh a lotion bar inside, and carry it in my purse for easy application after handwashing on the go, or any time. I also keep a lotion bar next to the soap on each sink in my house, RV, trailer and in my travel bag. Okay, that seems obsessive, but I really am the biggest fan of my homemade soaps and lotions. Of course, that's why I make them. They're all natural and if I'm not happy with them, I know you won't be, so I make sure they're just right.

Want some help with your dry skin? Check out my Etsy shop, or my website, Mrs. D's Homestead.

Thanks for stopping by.

Vintage Trailer Rehab

We've finally arrived at our first stop on the road - the grandparents' in Colorado. As we spend some time enjoying the holidays, here's a little bit of what we've been doing to make my 1975, 14ft. MeToo travel trailer more suitable for full time living:

Tearing out the bunks and dinette resulted in an large open space. Now, what to do with it? The bunks from the house would have fit, but too heavy. A lightweight futon was a consideration. Yak wanted a hammock to sleep in. The man of the place came up with the idea of removing the bunk from the old RV and making it a fold-up bed. That sounded good, so he went ahead with it.

Here you can see the bed folded down, with a little bit of a shelf next to the wall. The bottom picture is the bed folded up. You can see the mattress sticking out the top and the hinged leg supports folded against the bed. I still have to add a center support and straps to hold the bed in the up position. There is now quite a bit of easily accessible storage space under the bed, and when folded up, storage boxes can be moved outside, to give me a large workspace for sewing, writing, whatever.

Another modification we made was to remove the smaller, non-working fridge and replace it with the larger fridge from our old RV. This involved removing the entire door frame and building out the cabinet to accommodate the bigger fridge. A few more cubic inches doesn't seem like much, but it really makes a difference.

A former owner upgraded the electrical system, including putting in an independent battery system, which I have yet to figure out. I still have some work to do on the heater and oven, though the stove works. The hot water system is a battery operated pump at this time, until I get the hot water pipes replaced and can check the water heater. The cold water works fine. When it's not frozen solid. I fiberglassed a crack in the gray/black water tank and have a minor repair to do on the toilet, but then I think the plumbing will be ready to use.

Right now, everything's thawing out, as I had no electricity the first few days we were here. Now I'm plugged in and have the electric heater going. Luckily, we've been warm and dry in the grands' guest room while we work out the bugs.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

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It's Cold!

We're experiencing a cold snap here in Northern Arizona.  Last week it was in the 70's during the day, dipping into the high 30's overnight.  This week, though the rain and snow seems to have passed us by on the homestead, the temps are more like 50's daytime and 20's overnight.  So the woodstove is working hard, we are getting in the last of our firewood on our wood permit, and lots of baking and canning can be done any time of day because heating up the house is now a good thing!

The winter garden is in process.  The greens and broccoli we planted last month are doing nothing.  Either too much straw over the top or too little.  The indoor plantings of mint, garlic, onions and leeks are really taking off.  The lentil sprouts are a little slow, with the cooler weather, but still supplying us with fresh green additions to our meals.  Wheat grass is growing like crazy.  Thinking about transferring some of it outside to see if it will "take".  This week's plan is to put in some peas and celery in the greenhouse.

We are working on our gray water project right now.  The bucket system has already cut down on water hauling tremendously.  Using bath water to flush and water the gardens.  Next is connecting up the hoses to divert the laundry and bath water for irrigation (not to mention cutting down on the labor of carrying the buckets outside!).  We'll see the best results from this effort once the weather warms again and we start with the spring and summer gardens, which really soak up the water.

At any rate, the holidays are upon us again, today's task is to get the pies going for Thanksgiving, which will be at the Homestead this year.  Pumpkin and double crust lemon are on the menu.  So time to put on my apron and get back in the kitchen.