Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
They are "OK" roasted, but better for making corn meal, which is good
because I'll need cornbread for all the Okra and beans I'm growing.
Those blue stones were left behind from my former neighbors garden.
I didn't throw them away, and I have no idea what they are.
/Salute
http://www.homestead.org/BarbaraBambergerScott/BUTTER‘N’EGGS%20-%20WITHOUT%20THE%20MANURE!.htm
BUTTER ‘N’ EGGS
- WITHOUT THE MANURE!
by Barbara Bamberger Scott
artwork by Mary Gunn/Joe Brzoska
Two Decembers ago I was sitting on the porch enjoying the smell of wood smoke rising from our little outdoor cooking grill, and I made a New Year’s Resolution: to keep some of the money that seemed to run through my fingers, and to make as much at home as I would if I had a part-time job.
It didn’t seem possible when I started out but I’ve more than realized that goal in the time since. In fact, I made my first profit within 24 hours.
I didn’t really know what I was going to do to follow through on my resolution. Serendipitously, my answer came about a month later when I was trying to buy a book about apples. We have 2 1/2 acres of fruit trees and day jobs, so a computer is still part of our trappings. Looking in amazon.com for a used copy of the book I needed, I saw a little sign that alerted me to a new concept: “Sell Yours Here.” Did this mean that I could sell my books to amazon.com? As an experiment I took a less-than-beloved title from my shelf and went through the simple steps to sell it. 24 hours later I got a message that I now anticipate 4-5 times a week: “SOLD! SHIP NOW!”
I told a friend about this little business when I was just getting started, and he said, in his charming Carolina drawl, “Oh, that’s what my grandma called ‘butter’n’egg money.’” I thanked him for giving my business a good name, Butter’n’Eggs Specialty Services (BESS). Even though it has nothing to do with chickens and cows, BESS provides my personal spending money just like selling butter and eggs helped Grandma to get things she needed in town.
And Grandma saved her pennies too, just like I have learned to do. Recently, while my husband was in the hospital and we were short of ready cash, I was proud to realize my “little” BESS stash was enough to carry us through a couple of weeks!
Having been a book lover and a thrift shopper all my born days, I knew I was on to something. I ran, not walked, to my nearest Goodwill store and bought several books, put them up for online sale, and BESS was launched.
Within a short time, I had two major markets for the books - amazon.com and half.com. I had set up a corner space to keep the books in and store my mailing supplies and a bank account to store my money in. And I knew the location of every thrift store in three counties!
I began to develop some guidelines for this business which make it uniquely successful, and wrote a set of BESS’s Ten Rules. These include:
Don’t despise a dollar! - some sales may yield a net profit of only a dollar, but we were taught in school that if you have a dollar, and take zero away, you’ll still have a dollar. The point of BESS is to keep money! And if you follow my advice, most of your books will have an average sale price of $5 or more. You can let this income pile up, satisfyingly, in the bank account which is a requirement for the dot.com payment process.
Condition Condition Condition! - don’t buy books that are not in near-perfect condition. You’ll be surprised how easy this is, how many people dump books at thrift shops after one read. If your books are nearly new, you’ll never get a bad Seller Rating from the dot.com, and you’ll be able to use the precious space you’re allowed for describing the book to extol its marvelous contents rather than having to list its embarrassing appearance.
Nonfiction Nonfiction Nonfiction! - nonfiction books are the ones we keep. The price for fiction drops off as soon as the books hit the stands - non-fiction books are perennial good sellers.
Using my own rules (always a good idea) I found that I was bringing in about $25 per week, even after mailing costs. This made me a happy hobbyist but not quite the grand entrepreneur I aspired to be. Then amazon.com alerted me to another possibility - I could write reviews of the books I was selling. If there was some information about the book at the sale site, I reasoned, it would make the book more interesting to a potential buyer. So if the book hadn’t already been reviewed, I wrote a short review of my own, always positive and enthusiastic of course.
Once again, serendipity played a role in my development of BESS. I’ll never know if my amazon.com reviews stimulated sales, but the effort led me in yet another direction. Book reviewing! I found that there are various on-line sites that will send you new books to review. Suddenly BESS ratcheted up to a new level, with what I call a piggy-back enterprise.
For brand new books you get more money! No more hunting through dusty thrift shop shelves (though I do that for pleasure anyway, as I have since my mother took me to the Junior League store to get my first prom dress). No more worries about condition. Some websites even let me choose the books I wanted to review, so I could check them out for price and resale value before requesting them. Or I could select books for family gifts.
Writing book reviews helped me hone my writing skills. Generally a book review has to be of limited length and cover certain essential details. By the time I’d been writing reviews online for about 6 months, I found I could write 4-6 per month and was enjoying the challenge, as well as the money I made from higher and more frequent BESS sales. I then took courage and sent out query letters to local newspapers, offering my services as a book reviewer. I got one bite. I used that bite to solicit two more, and now review for three state papers. To my delight, they pay me to do it!
The result is that BESS has become a non-stop moneymaker for me. The books I review sell quickly because they’re current, and because I can offer them in mint condition - as long as I don’t spill coffee on them as I did once in a rapture of absorption!..
But I still treasure my scavenging time and the thrill of chasing down a good seller at thrift shops. My best find so far was a big book in good condition, an obscure historical tome, that sold online for $50.00. This was a net profit of about $47.50 after the cost of the book ($1.00) and the mailing at media rate.
Meanwhile, I have good books (that cost me pennies) to give to friends, great books to read at any given time on every subject imaginable, and an income of about $70 per week from what I think I can validly call my “second career.” I’m now contemplating cutting down my regular work hours to have more time at home to pick and can, weed my flower beds and smell the roses. BESS has made that a real possibility. And the business will carry over into retirement, when we want to spend fulltime on the smallholding.
I have a pamphlet about BESS that is, believe me, chock-full of info - no fluffy feathers, just the straight poop. I sell it for $8 including postage - another piggyback rider on the original “little” business. The pamphlet describes everything you need (access to a computer with internet service and a few used books!) - and all the steps you’d need to go through to get started successfully in BESS. You can contact me at - read the name carefully - butrneggss@yahoo.com.
The beauty of it is that there’s no problem with competition - the world-wide web is our mall and at this mall, there’s room for all!
Grandma would be proud.
© 2003 by Barbara Bamberger Scott
I took another look at them, are they slices of stone?
If so, a good guess is dyed slices of geodes. At first I thought they might be the globs of glass from a glass factory.
If they are mineral stones, they will more than likely be copper ore and possibly azurite.
If they are stone, take a good look the next time you water them, as wet is what they will look like if cut and polished, they could be jewelry stones.....notice if they have fractures, from being blasted or if they can be sliced.
OK, on the bugs, I have ordered them, never did get past reading on the bees.
You now need a super tall growing bean to grow up the corn stalk and we want to see a photo of you on the ladder picking your beans.
The asparagus /yard long bean grows tall, it is good for stir-frys.
Thanks for that advice! I’m going to get one after years of “thinking about”!
Going to need one to conjure up some Portugese honey bread (looking for the recipe) to go with my tomaters... nothing is tastier than fresh home grown tomatoes sliced, with mayo on top of that bread...MMM MMM MMM!
Portugese honey bread, sounds good to me.
When I get caught up, I will check my old yahoo email account and find the name of a good group that I am a member of, at Yahoo groups, they may have it.
I would say to get it, if for no other reason, than to make the house smell like one should smell, “homemade with love”.
I can have a loaf working in less than 5 minutes and do not go out and pay $8.00 for a bag of bread machine yeast, buy the 18 ounce of Saf brand yeast, you may have to hunt for it, I get mine at:
walton feed.com
It is the same product. I keep it in the freezer, and fill a small jar for the door of the refrig, that I used daily.
In a hard spot, I have used 10 year old yeast, that had always been in the freezer, and it worked still, I did add a bit extra and I do that anyways, as I like the taste of yeast in my bread.
And do not buy bread mixes. Make your own.
I use the 4 # margarine containers, line up 4 or 5 of them,
put the white flour on the bottom, then the Ww flour, or cornmeal for what ever you want to use, on top of that, add the salt on one side and the sugar on the other, the same with the butter milk powder and the egg powder, if you are going to use them. Don’t add the sugar, if you use honey, add later for the honey.
The reason for this method, is to keep the taste separate, which may be all in my head, and to get the salt and sugar in the water first. seal the container and stack in a cool spot or cabinet. Not the refrig.
In the bread pan goes the warm water and the honey if you are using it, and the oil, then dump your container in the pan and add the yeast on top of the white flour, which is now on top.
Yeast is the last item added, make a small well and put it in there.
Seat the pan in the machine and be sure the hooks are holding the pan secure and then press start for normal bread.
I use the Waltons dry buttermilk, eggs and common white or wheat flour.
And I do not like the name brand flours, as Pillsbury, etc.
No, I am not a gourmet cook, just a country cook.
I would rather have 12 loaves of good bread in the freezer, than one perfect award winning loaf.....
My regular bread recipe made 12 loaves.
My friend Mary gave me her 1920 era bread pans that she used over 50 years, most of them in a wood stove and they are so coated with the love she put in her bread, or the wood ashes and grease, that they are black, I used them for over 30 years,
for my 12 loaves, my pans looked bare and naked, next to them.
It is often the men, who do the bread baking, when they are given the chance.
I keep a separate set of measuring cups and spoons for my bread, 1 cup is for wet, the other dry, seal in a plastic bag, and kept with the baking supplies, so one reach and I have what I need, or as I am now, I will never get them all out.
Have fun.....
No, have to disagree, partly, when I made cheese, I would put chopped jalapeno peppers in it.
Sometimes on the weekend, we would have fresh tomatoes, fresh cheese and homemade bread and a beer and it was perfect.
Laughing at us, we are able to taste, what is not even created yet, the seeds are barely in the ground and we can taste them.
Good morning, Granny....
Just checking in, for now — this has turned into a really active thread, just jam-packed with great information, so I’m still trying to catch up.... ;~)
Suggestions?
I have one - let's not get rid of them. lololololol
I love deer meat. Our SIL cooked some when we were over at their house in Basil for a bbq. Feels good for someone else to do the bbq'ing for a change.
I would love to have a freezer full of pork. I'd think about buying one to slaughter but I can't get over that pig sty smell. My inlaws used to give us some after they butchered one of their hogs.
Up thread I read where beans, fried potatoes and cornbread were served at meal time. That made me think of my inlaws. Not once did we eat there and that was not on their table. Of course they drowned their fried potatoes in syrup, hubby still does, along with his eggs.
I think Oster acquired Sunbeam — or vice versa. Anyway, it makes bread in a typical loaf shape and I can’t ever recall a failure. Of course, you can also make pizza and cinnamon roll dough in it, among a variety of other breads and quick breads. We especially love the 7-grain loaves.
Morning Granny, I have tried various flours, but I do think the store-bought “better for bread” flour works best for most standard loaves because of the gluten content.
I also make a sour rye bread that is heavenly. It uses sour cream as part of the liquid and of course, caraway seeds. Makes me want a toasted slice with my a.m. coffee.
As long as you check in, so we know you are ok.
Never would I have hoped for a thread such as this, good information and good people to share it.
Thanks for the support.
Laughter, yes we will keep the men around.
I am always afraid to joke about them, can’t stand the thought of being put in the womans libber class.
I’m too cheap to burn my bra.
Bill said that I did not need to be liberated, that I was born that way.
I am so glad that I don’t own a tv, the ads would put me in a nut ward, I hate the ones, where the super smart gal tells the dump guy how to do things.....talk about brainwashing and the kids soak it up.
” Laughter, yes we will keep the men around. “
I, for one, am thankful for your support... ;~)
I was raised on beans and cornbread, so even today, I get hungry for them.
I felt sorry for my poor beginning, then discovered that what we had been fed had the vitamins and acids that we needed.
Something about the Mexican diet being balanced, corn, beans and rice.
At one time the hot peppers were used for medicine, and they are high in vitamin C.
There was some research done in the 1960’s, and the results showed less stomach cancer, in the countries that hate a lot of hot peppers.
We did not have hot peppers, but there was a can of cayenne/red pepper sitting on the table, always.
Even now, I drop a hot pepper in my soups and beans, it is the difference in good and just ok.
If you don’t have a lot of pigs and a lazy pen keeper, the pigs should not stink...
If you give them a large enough pen, they will choose a corner of it for the bathroom use and unless you give them a contained source of water for bathing, they are quiet clean.
I had one for a pet, there is even a photo around of us playin with the water hose and he was clean.
Of course, in Wellton, it was hot and dry and there was no hog waller.
There some experiments done with hogs, to reclaim land, it has been too many years since I read the article, but they put the hogs in a sectioned area, the hogs rooted and tore up the soil, eating roots and weeds as they went, left behind clean land, that had been fertilized.
People talk about stinking goats and that is not true, it is owners who do not clean the pens.
Bill hated for me to get bored, he knew I would start a new project and he would be involved, and of course he had just cause to not want more work to do.
I had a chance to buy a good milk goat, the first year we were in Wellton, LOL, we had moved there, because he was sick and the doctor said “it would be nice if you could take him to Arizona” and I did.
I have always like land and a couple years before started making payments on 8 acres in Wellton. 5 miles out of town, in the desert.
The first year or 2 we lived in a 26’ trailer, so set up as much as we could outdoors in the patio.
I loved sleeping out there, sure beats 4 walls.
It wasn’t long before I got a second milk goat and when we went to bed at night, Lucy would sleep on the ground on Bills side and Misty slept on my side, they guarded us through the night.
Bill built them pens and locked them up, the truth is, I thought it was fun having them so close....they were not on chains or anything, just loose, so they went out aways to leave their manure.
I have had good luck with the cheaper flour, the worst that I made was with Pillsbury flour.
But I also usually add either ww or cornmeal so I am changing it.
Your sour rye bread sounds very good.
I started using the cheap flour, when we were getting it in Mexico and then I just switched to the stores brand, usually from Safeway.
The difference in our locations and the dryness, might have something to do with it.
The main thing is to stick with what works for you, some of my changes were disasters..
I am laughing, we were not talking about this thread, that was a throw away line, related to men and “Honey do this” lists.
If more women supported their men, it would be a better world.
I don’t last long in a crowd of the average women, as my standard answer is “ Well if he is such a _____, get a divorce”.....
Their standard answer is “But I would have to go to work”.
And if there are any men around, I change groups and might even learn how to fix something.
My brother and I always were ‘fixing and building’ things, the other 3, do not have a clue to what makes us tick.
I understand.
I’m too cheap to burn my bra.
I'm to top heavy to burn mine. lol.
Bill said that I did not need to be liberated, that I was born that way.
Same here.
talk about brainwashing and the kids soak it up.
That sure is a pity too.
You are more than welcome. rotfl
Hubby and I will joke around, he'll say, 'women, cain't kill em, cain't live with em.' I come back with, 'men, cain't kill em, who'd build the closets.'
I was raised with a bottle of tabasco sauce always on the table.
Even now, I drop a hot pepper in my soups and beans, it is the difference in good and just ok.
I make a chili that will make you break a sweat and get a runny nose.
If you give them a large enough pen, they will choose a corner of it for the bathroom use and unless you give them a contained source of water for bathing, they are quiet clean.
My inlaws had a huge pen and when the wind would change directions and blow toward their house...ooooo we, the smell.
Gotta have a little bottle of hot peppers on the table to sprinkle the juice on collard and turnip greens, too. My dad bottled his own.
Just added lots of cukes, yellow (summer) squash, more tomato and bell peppers to the garden this morning. Onion sets going in tomorrow. Everything is looking good.
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