Along with winter sports and icy outdoor conditions come the chance for sprains and sore muscles. Someone slip going down icy steps? Need an ice pack in a hurry?
~Grab a bag of frozen peas from the freezer to apply to the ankle.
~To make your own cold pack, place 1 part isopropyl alcohol to 3 parts water into a zip lock freezer bag. With a permanent marker, label the bag, Sprain Pack, do not consume. Double bag to prevent leakage and lay flat in the freezer. The alcohol will keep the water from freezing solid, making a soft, cold pack when needed to treat sprains.

©Deborah Tukua, www.hollycreekbooks.com.

by Farmers Almanac Staff
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A Quick Way to Update Your Address Book
When the flurry of holiday greeting cards arrives I check the return addresses on each envelope. If it’s a new address, I tear off the return address label and glue it into my address book.

Stamp Collecting
We always check out the postage stamps on the envelopes we receive in the mail too for our stamp-collecting album.

Recycle Lovely Greeting Cards
Some greeting cards are just too beautiful to discard. Instead, remove and save the front of the greeting cards you like. Use as postcards, to decorate the front of gift packages or frame the special cards that fit your décor. Card art works great in scrapbooking projects. To use artwork from cards, cut around the shapes or designs you’d like to incorporate into an album.

Deborah Tukua, www.hollycreekbooks.com. For more great household tips, you’ll want a copy of Deborah’s book, Pearls of Country Living.

by Farmers Almanac Staff
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When cooking with fresh oranges, lemons and limes, there’s a unique bonus that other fruits don’t yield. Dried citrus peels are expensive to purchase, yet ever so easy to prepare at home. While enjoying the bounty of luscious citrus fruits, now in season, don’t forget the bonus bouquet flavoring found in the peel of citrus fruits. You’ll get twice the flavor while stretching your food dollar. Here’s how.

Selecting Citrus for Peels Plus
Never use the peels from citrus fruits that contain injected color dyes. Read the label on the citrus bag before buying. Remove any pesticide or fungicide residue from non-organic fruit by plunging whole fruit in a solution of apple cider vinegar diluted with a little water for two minutes, then scrub. Rinse completely and dry.

Peels from orange and lemon are the most frequently used either fresh or dried in most recipes interchangeably. A zester or a vegetable grater may be used to easily prepare citrus peels at home. Do not grate down into the white (pith) portion of the fruit, as it will yield a bitter taste.

Fresh Grated Citrus Peels
When a recipe calls for a teaspoon of lemon peel, grate and measure one teaspoon from a fresh whole lemon and return the lemon to the refrigerator. The lemon will continue to stay fresh in the produce drawer for about one week. Add grated citrus peels to cake batter and icing, puddings, yogurt, bread dough, pastries and cream cheese spreads.

Drying Citrus Peels
To dry fresh citrus zest, grate peels over a metal tray. Place tray in a gas oven without the heat turned on, overnight. Remove the tray in the morning, label and store in a spice jar out of direct sunlight.
To dry in an electric oven, place the tray of fresh grated peels in the oven at the lowest temperature setting, 150°F for two hours, checking after the first hour for dryness. Citrus peels will change color slightly when dehydrated.

©Deborah Tukua, author of Citrus Morning, Noon & Night: A Citrus Cookbook, which features over 130 luscious ways to enjoy citrus anytime. Spiral bound cookbook on sale now at www.hollycreekbooks.com.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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While more practical than stockings, deep oven mitts, gardening gloves, bath mitts and winter mittens too make very attractive ways to present gifts. These unique stocking substitute gift holders can be put to great use as well as all the good things stuffed inside.

The Kitchen Mitt Gift Idea~
Purchase an attractive, deep oven mitt to match the recipient’s kitchen colors or go with a holiday theme. Every cook needs to replace kitchen tools from time to time. Fill a lovely oven mitt with zester, vegetable brush, vegetable peeler, measuring spoons, wooden spoons, knives, etc. Hang the mitt by its tag on a cabinet drawer and pleasantly surprise your queen of the kitchen. Or present as a hostess gift at the next dinner party you attend.

Gardening Gloves~
Although gardening gloves aren’t too deep, there should be ample room for filling with a hand tool, seed packages, a gift certificate from her favorite gardening center, and some gardeners’ soap or handcream. What gardener wouldn’t love this gift?

Bath Mitts~
While on the subject of soaps and creams, don’t forget the bath. A bath mitt could be filled with bath salts, oils, and scented soaps.

Mittens~
Winter winds can dry the face and hands and chap lips. Fill a colorful pair of new mittens with lip balm, nail polish, fingernail file, face and hand creams.

©Deborah S. Tukua, www.hollycreekbooks.com.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Even if you don’t want to make wreaths, Evergreens add a nice touch of green to the  landscape, and stand out against the dull brown or all-white backdrop of winter.

When spring rolls around and all outdoors is bursting with color, it will be easy to forget to plant Evergreens for winter appeal. So take a look at your landscape now. Determine where the addition of Evergreen plants and trees is needed most. Add where to what’s on your spring planting list so you won’t forget!

~ Great Evergreens for Wreath Making and Seasonal Decorating ~
(Check local gardening centers for species suitable to your climate and region.)
Ivy
Gardenia
Boxwood hedges
Magnolia
Holly bushes
Bay Laurel
Citrus: leaves of lemon, limes, oranges trees, etc.

©Deborah S. Tukua, www.hollycreekbooks.com, co-author of Pearls of Garden Wisdom.

by Farmers Almanac Staff
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The right gadget and gizmo can make cooking and serving a breeze. Most likely there are items around the house that could be used more often in ways that might be considered non-traditional. Here are several common household items that we use in new ways in the kitchen. Hopefully you’ll find these helpful as well.

Ceramic tile – use a single ceramic tile as a spoon rest on your kitchen counter or stovetop. Wipes clean easily and can be placed in the dishwasher.

Rubber spatula – works better than a knife for spreading mayonnaise on sandwiches.

Dental floss – cuts bread dough into dinner rolls with ease, precision and no mess.

Cookie cutters – cut cute shapes from a pan of Jell-O to delight the children. Large cookie cutters can be used to cut shapes from party sandwiches, adding a fancy flair to your party platter.

Decorative ceramic flowerpots can be lined with a napkin and used to serve muffins, breadsticks or rolls on your buffet or table. Upright flowerpots also are ideal for setting out flatware for a buffet style dinner party.

Sugar bowl and a new powder puff – Add flour to a sugar bowl and top with a new powder puff. The powder puff provides an even dusting of cake pans with flour. Store the powder puff in a sugar bowl, newly converted to‘flour bowl’ for convenience while adding organization and charm to your kitchen counter.

©Deborah Tukua, www.hollycreekbooks.com.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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It’s December 12th, National Poinsettia Day! If you haven’t already adorned your house with a lovely Poinsettia, by all means, celebrate the day by purchasing a potted Poinsettia. Don’t go home without one!

Did you know? The Poinsettia was named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Ambassador to Mexico during the 1820’s. Ambassador Poinsett imported the tropical plant to his greenhouses in South Carolina, where he began propagating and distributing them. From these humble beginnings, much like the Easter lily, the popularity of the Poinsettia has increased to enormous proportions.

Poinsettias are the number one potted plant sold in the USA today, exceeding annual sales of all other potted plants combined!

Here’s a myth that we can put to rest about this beautiful plant. Poinsettias are not toxic and thus not dangerous to have indoors near children. Although Poinsettias are not food and should not be eaten, a child would have to consume more than 500 bracts in order to reach an unsafe level, according to the Poisindex.

What’s your favorite color Poinsettia? From the traditional red to shades of white, peach, pink, and yellow, cultivars are now available in marbled, striped and spotted tones. A new seasonal variety, “Jingle Bells” with its red bracts and pink flecks is sure to gain popularity among many this holiday.

By Deborah Tukua, www.hollycreekbooks.com, country author and proud owner of a pretty, potted Poinsettia, dusted with gold glitter!

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Start Preparing the Soil for Your Spring Garden
By Putting Your Garden to Bed Before Winter!

One of the nice things about late autumn and early winter is it frees up time from weeding and gardening to take care of other things that were put on hold during spring and summer.

So why would we mention preparing the soil for a spring garden at this time of year? Because the method we’re about to suggest won’t take much muscle power or time and will give you a tremendous jumpstart you’ll be glad to get when spring wheels into motion.

Select a site for a new garden plot? Cover the ground with a heavy black tarp now and secure it into place with blocks, bricks or stones. Not only will the weeds and grass be killed, but the black tarp will absorb extra sunshine and help warm the soil, enabling you to start spring planting two to three weeks earlier than usual. That’s a real jumpstart. So, get out the black tarp or heavy plastic sheeting and lay claim to your new spring garden site! When spring rolls around, the black covering will stay in place to continue to add heat to the soil. Then you’ll cut openings in the sheeting to directly plant seeds or transplants.

©Deborah Tukua, co-author of Pearls of Garden Wisdom.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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A few hints to help to keep your Poinsettia healthy and pretty:

· Don’t purchase from outdoor areas when temperatures are below 50°F. When carrying from the store to your car and it is below 50°F make sure the plant is in a plastic bag or otherwise protected from receiving direct wind.
· Once inside, Poinsettias do best in room temperatures of 68°F to 70°F, in the daytime and not below 65°F at night. Keeping the room within this range of temperatures will help keep the color of your plant vibrant longer.
· Poinsettias need six hours of indirect sunlight a day to thrive.
· Do not leave the plant sitting in standing water. After watering the plant, pour off any water remaining in the dish. Standing water will cause the roots to rot.

There is such a beautiful range of colors to choose from white to peach to candycane striped. With a little tender loving care, your potted Poinsettia should keep pretty indoors for several months.

Keeping Poinsettia as a House Plant Year Round-
The Poinsettia can be treated like a houseplant and fertilized every few weeks. In March, once the leaves have fallen, the stems should be pruned. The plant can be placed outdoors for a rest when spring temperatures permit. In June repot in a slightly larger container. Come September a rigorous routine of 10 hours of daylight followed by total darkness in a closet will be required each day in order for the plant to flower in time for the holidays.

©Deborah S. Tukua, co-author of Pearls of Garden Wisdom.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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A generation or two ago, preparing for winter was something that everyone did toward the end of summer or early autumn depending on where you lived. Square bails of hay were often stacked around the foundation of outbuildings and even houses to keep winter’s frigid air from going up under off grade buildings.

Vast supplies of firewood was split and stacked into the infamous wood shed!
With the advent of central heating systems a lot less people take thought in preparing to keep warm in winter. Yet, today there are things that we can still do to keep the costs of heating our homes from escalating.

Here are a few ideas.

- Turn the thermostat a few degrees lower at night just before going to bed and when leaving the house for several hours.
- Clean or replace the filter on your furnace or heating system monthly.
- Sleep between flannel sheets and under a goose down comforter or an electric blanket.
- Use thicker area rugs on the floor.
- Install blinds or shades on your windows and pull down at sunset to keep the heat indoors. Wait until it is sunny during the day to put the blinds up. The natural sunshine will help warm your home during the daytime.
- Check the weatherstripping on your doors for leakage and replace if needed. To determine if weatherstipping on a door seals out air leaks, light a match or hold a lit candle and move slowly in front of where the doors and jamb meet. If the flame flickers, the outside air is entering the house and needs replacing.
- If space and lodging permit, consider installing a wood burning heater or an insert into your existing fireplace. Cut your own firewood. Or, ask a sawmill for their discards.
- In winter, always wear long sleeves indoors.
- Reverse the direction on ceiling fan blades and keep constantly on low speed to force the warm air down and circulating through the house.

Deborah S. Tukua, author of Pearls of Country Wisdom.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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