Where to make donations in NYC and the U.S.

Tis the season of giving, and giving back! Here's a list of sites that provide useful information about where to make donations across the country. What You Can Do wishes you all a very happy and healthy holiday!

Places to donate toys in NYC

Used items for babies and toddlers

http://babybuggy.org/

Donate pretty much anything

http://housingworks.org/

Toys of Hope

http://www.toysofhope.org/

Schedule a toy donation pick up today and donate toys to the local charity you choose.

http://www.donationtown.org/news/donate-toys.html

http://www.examiner.com/article/10-places-to-donate-gently-used-children-s-toys-and-books

http://store.freecycle.org/

 Places to donate in Brooklyn

http://zc.purpleheartpickup.org/

http://charity.lovetoknow.com/Donate_Used_Toys_in_Brooklyn

http://www.stuffedanimalsforemergencies.org/

Where to donate toys in US

Goodwill

www.goodwill.org/

Ronald McDonald House

http://www.rmhc.com/who-we-are/chapter-search/

Toys for Tots

www.toysfortots.org/

Salvation Army

http://donate.salvationarmyusa.org/

Missy's Homestead: A Time of Giving

As we get closer into the holiday season I start thinking about giving back and being thankful.  When I was growing up my mother tried to do a good job at teaching my brother and I that the holidays were not all about receiving gifts but about giving gifts to others and or giving to good causes.  Every christmas morning we would do as most families around the country and wake up and rush to the tree and open presents and stockings.  My parents were always very generous at Christmas.  We didn't always have a ton of presents but we always got several things we both wanted and a few other items that my parents knew we needed.  It was always a great time.

After all the presents were open my mother would say that we had one more thing we needed to do.  Inside the tree would be four envelopes with each member of my families name on it.  My mom would would let us know how much money we have to give and we were told to pick our favorite charity to give money to for the end of the year.  We would go around the room and say why were were choosing that particular charity and then she would right a check in our name for a donation. 

I would almost always choose to give to the american cancer society since both of my grandmother's had breast cancer during my childhood.  I felt that this was a cause close to me and my family and that others needed my help.  I always felt so great when mom wrote those checks to give to charity.  

When I think back to this tradition I think my mom created a genius way to teach kids about giving and making sure that the holidays are not just about opening presents and leaving out cookies.  That the holidays are a time to be thankful for what you have and enjoy the feeling of giving.

My husband and I don't have any children yet and we both have a charity that we give monthly to during the year.  However, I think that if I ever have kids that I will continue this tradition that my mother started.  I am so grateful that my mother cared so much about teaching us about how to be the best people we could be.  

Below are two of my other favorite charities, and links to videos that we at WYCD have done to help raise awareness.   If you can this holiday season please consider giving to help a cause that means something to you.

Cheers to a very Happy Holiday.  And remember: Consume More, Buy Less, Give a Gift. 

Fight Parkinson's disease.

https://www.michaeljfox.org/get-involved/donation.html

WYCD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ChrL63v4w

Give Clean Water

https://www.charitywater.org/donate/#step-1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlGqCGD-8hw

Missy's Homestead: Making Plans

I am currently away from my homestead.  Away from my dog, my winter garden, my not-quite-ready-to-lay-eggs chickens, and everything else that my homestead offers me.  I will go into more details later but for now I am away.  I keep thinking of my homestead. Dreaming about the things I would like to try later this winter early spring.  Here is a little list of the projects I am looking forward to tackling once I am back on the old "farm". (I might even try a few while I am away....)

1.  Make my own bread.  I have made my own pizza dough and also make sourdough pancakes from a starter I keep in my fridge but I have never made bread from scratch.  This would be a perfect afternoon project for a blustery Sonoma County day.  Pair it with some local or homemade cheese and what could possible be better?  I like this recipe and will report back later how it goes:  http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/breads/sourdough/sourdough-rye4.html

2.  Work more with winter squash. I have always wanted to work with spaghetti squash, butternut squash and acorn squash.  Unfortunately for me (And the squash)  my husband is not the biggest squash fan so it is often times hard for meto convince him that I should make some.    However, I think if I am diligent about finding recipes I can master that maybe he might give it another try.  Nothing sounds better in the winter months than roasted butternut squash soup.  (Please if you have some delicious squash recipes comment below and share!!)

3.  Make my own sauerkraut.  During the summer I went to a festival that my friend coordinated called the Fermentation Festival and I watched a couple demos on how to make sauerkraut.  I have yet to attempted this project.  I love putting sauerkraut on pretty much anything but I have been a little standoffish about jumping in to make my own.  I just need to bite the bullet and tackle the things that challenge me.  (Have any of you made your own kimchi or sauerkraut before?  Give me a holler in the comments below)  Here is a recipe I think I will try: http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

4.  Make my own Butter and Cheese.  I made a type of butter awhile back when I was making a fruit tart but it was by accident.  I whipped buttermilk and mascarpone for too long and it turned into a butter like thing.  It was very sweet and not great for any type of real use but I did get me thinking that I could probably try my hand at making my own butter and or cheese one day.  My friend in Sonoma County offers cheese classes so I think I will buy myself the gift of taking a class with her when I get back.  She brought homemade goat cheese to my house one time and it was to die for.  I want to be able to do that!  Maybe I need to get this book for the homestead: http://www.amazon.com/Home-Cheese-Making-Recipes-Homemade/dp/1580174647 or do this recipe for butter: http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-make-butter/

Well that is all for now.  I have some other goals in mind to accomplish by the end of spring but we can go into more details about that later.  Please if you have ideas or thoughts about great homesteading projects I would love to hear from you all.
Until next time, Consume More, Buy Less, Set Goals.

Missy

Missy's Homestead: Bad Tasting Fruit, Delicious Spread Does Not Make

Missy's Homestead:  Bad tasting fruit, delicious spread does not make.

I like to be perfect.  There is no such thing I know but honestly it is how I feel about most of the things I try to do in my life.  As you all might imagine wanting perfection in everything one one does can only lead to heartache at times.  Living in my little homestead world has given me plenty of chances to deal with this part of my personality.  I am starting to learn that it doesn't all come out exactly the way you planned and that you just have to learn from it and pick yourself up.  In face my most recent disappointment came in the form of some small little purple figs.  Homemade Jam: 

I have been talking about making Jam and curing olives, etc. etc. for awhile now.  I really wanted to do it this season.  However, fruit can be expensive in those quantities and so can jars.  Since I was working with a small budget I decided to try and make a small batch before I attempted a larger batch. Across the way from my little cottage is a Fig Tree that no one uses and on it there were many ripe figs free for the taking.  So one afternoon I went and picked a bunch of figs from the tree and went back home to make a very small batch of reduced and sugared fig spread. 

One of the stories that my mother often read to me as a child was about this little girl called mini muffin who, long children's story short, made muffins but didn't follow the recipe and was than shocked when the muffins tasted horrible.  The story was about following directions etc. etc.  Well you would think that after all that time I would know better than trying to make things work the way I want them instead of the natural way life goes.  Oh no...not me.  When I got home with the figs looked beautiful however when I tasted them they didn't have a ton of flavor.  I knew in my head that bad tasting fruit was not what was best for the recipe but I said oh this will be better once I add a bunch of sugar and cook those babies down.  It will taste great. 

I chopped up the figs and added lemon juice a bunch of sugar and reduced those figs down as per the recipe I had found on line.  Everything was going fine and in the end the finished producted looked great.  I tasted it and it was fine.  But not amazing.  Oh...it needs time to set and cool before it will be delicious I told myself.  Sadly as you can imagine after the spread was in the jar for a few days it did not taste any better.  It tasted pretty bad.  And can you believe I was actually disappointed?  How silly of me to assume that not starting with the best fruit for the spread I wanted to make would yield a product that was delicious.  As I thought more and more about it I was not surprised.  Of course there was no way that the fruit was going to get better if I just added all those other ingredients.  If I didn't start with the best fruit there was nothing that was going to change that.   My good intentions were there but obviously there is a reason why no one else wanted to use those figs.  There was something just not right.  Sometimes the best intentions lead to disappointment.  But I will not let that get me down.  The next Jam session will be different. 

More to come. And remember it is not a failure if something doesn't work out the way you intended if you take the time and learn something from your trials.  It is only a failure if you fail to learn the lessons.

Until next time.  Consume More, Buy Less, Always use the best figs.

Missy