Homemade Laundry Soap

Think making your own laundry soap is scary? No...it's actually easy. Is it more difficult than grabbing a jug off the shelf? Yes...but difficult or scary? No. And the satisfaction you get from knowing you actually MADE your laundry soap? Totally cool!

Supper Surprise: Aldi's Mushroom Egg Spaetzle

We love a wide range of foods from ethnic dishes to down home soul food. Grilled to fried. Crockpot to Oven. Completely home grown to I-need-a-quick-easy-dinner meal.  

A couple nights ago I need the latter. A quick easy takes-no-time meal.

Preserving Corn via Freezing

Frozen corn is wonderful! Not only does it preserve your harvest or farmer's market purchase, but it is a very versatile food item. We both grew up preserving vegetables but frozen corn is definitely one of the easy ones. You can freeze corn by yourself or as an entire family unit. As a child I remember freezing corn together as a family on Corn Day. A fun, sticky, laughter filled day. You can read about it here: Corn Day: A Childhood Memory

Corn Day: A Childhood Memory

I love sweet corn. Fresh right out of the garden, boiled and then eating off the cob, frozen and reheated during winter months, grilled, added to dishes....I loooove sweet corn. 

When I was a child, a family member would plant a plot of sweet corn a few rows into his regular field corn. This was in an effort to hide it from raccoon and deer in hopes of it surviving till harvest. And normally it would work! It also helped that he planted a crazy large amount, so that even if it was raided there would still be a lot left.

Gardening Like a Pioneer

My husband and I both grew up gardening.

Some years it was starting the plants from seed. I remember doing multiplication and long division by the light of the seedlings' grow light. Other years it was purchasing plants from the local Mennonite country store.But every year I can remember, we had a garden. A three car garage sized garden.

Welcome!

Welcome to Burlap, Lace, and Pines!

Country living is beautiful and hard. Some days you soak up one beautiful moment after the next. Other days you trudge through mud hole after mud hole just trying to accomplish one simple task.

But those of us with country flowing through our veins would not have it any other way.

Burlap and Lace is the contrast of beautiful lace and tough burlap. In comparison country living exposes us to both the beauty and the toughness of nature and life.

While both of us grew up in the country, several months ago we finally were able to buy our own country home. We would like to share our experiences with you as we turn our new to us house into a home; grow, preserve, and prepare our food from seedlings to delicious homemade meals; and the simpler lifestyle of hand crafts, DIY projects, and the enjoyment of nature's beauty.

Subscribe to enjoy our delicious meals and beautiful surroundings!