Tin Lizzie Food

I used to watch YouTube movies about the Stone Age, early humankind and how the modern man evolved. Realising how people that time used to live and eat drew my attention to find out more about their lifestyle and especially, what they ate. During the same time, I read an article in a newspaper about several celebrities and their eating habits. Among them was Henry Ford that loved to eat Wild Edible Plants (Afrikaans onkruid). Immediately I knew what to name my blog. I started the Tin Lizzie Food blog in 2017 and the whole idea of the blog was to illustrate Wild Edible Plants. It dawned on me how fascinated I was about the Homesteading and Sustainability concept. Today, with all the hype about climate change and ‘saving the earth’, I realised how close to the earth I’ve been living all my life. I truly want to do everything in my power to be a part of it - to be able to say one day that I tried my fair best to conserve our natural resources and to reduce my carbon footprint.

I am very well aware of Air Fresheners - the spray cans you buy at the local retail store, but I was thinking of taking a different approach towards making my home smell fresh whole day long. On my blog "Why Tin Lizzie Food", I mention ways how you can naturally freshen your home without buying expensive Air Fresheners. Because I love plants, I incorporated plants into my home. In my living room, I have Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) . This beautiful climbing plant with its green-white-yellowish leaves removes xylene, benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene toxins from the air. It is also believed to be one of the top air-cleaning plants for your house. A  Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) is standing a mere reach of an arm from me when I watch television at night. When in bloom they produce the most beautiful white flowers with a bright yellow Spadix. Peace Lilies removes toxins such as benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and xylene from

I am sure you bought shoes and after some time the complete inner sole lifted out as you pull out your foot. Know that too well, and then every time you need to squeeze the inners in place again. What makes it worse is that the thin material on the top of the inner sole crumbles up which makes your feet all sweaty and sticky. Charmaine made a plan.  With so many material off-cuts and torn jeans around, you can easily devise a plan to revamp your shoes. Can you see what I did on the picture above? I took a torn jean, cut off a piece of the legging and marked the inner sole to cut the fabric to the correct size. With needle and thread, I stitched the jean into place. I used Super Glue to keep the inner sole from popping out again.  There you go - shoes as good as new! Instead of spending money to have it repaired or buy new shoes, I revamped it in a short period of time at no cost at all. 

As a Homesteader (or Apartment Homesteader in my case), there is nothing more rewarding than making your own things. I am living in an apartment in Port Elizabeth, a coastal metro of South Africa. In an apartment in the city, it is not easy to go fully off-the-grid or sustainable, but you can try as far as possible to live in a country-like way. Living in an urban area it would be more manageable to adopt the 3 "R's": - Reduce - Reuse - Recycle Instead of spending money to buy a new blanket, I crocheted this Queen sized blanket over a period of 4 months using off-cut wool from previous projects. Because I was using crochet, it went faster than knitting and the pattern left small holes in the process. When I layer this blanket in between other blankets or sheets, the small holes form little air bubbles - it is these air bubbles that increase the heat so you can have a snuggly, cozy bed without heavy or expensive duvets.

How to survive when you have nothing. My previous post was about a difficult period I went through some time ago forcing me to make drastic decisions and changes. I will begin with smaller changes. Let me start with my apartment: - Removing plugs from the wall socket every time I'm done with an appliance - Switching off the light each time I leave a room - Goodbye geyser - No more filled-up kettles when I make coffee or tea (or better yet, use a flask) - Sweeping instead of vacuuming - No more late-night TV - Instead of air fresheners, open the windows - Add a different air purifying plant to each room Garden changes: ~ Grow lavender ~ Grow mint ~ Grow sweet potato leaves ~ Grow spekboom ~ Grow a lemon tree Healthy changes: • Less tea & coffee • Drinking more water • Less Meat • Much less sugar • Growing sprouts indoors • Growing herbs in a sunny windowsill • Herbal teas - from the garden General changes: √ Repair your clothes √ Repair your sh

As a working-class person, I have more than 25 years of experience in Office Administration and just because I was always willing to help out in other departments, I gained an extra array of knowledge and expertise. But I am not going to bore you with each and every skill I've developed, so I am going to stick to my blog - Tin Lizzie Food. Why "Tin Lizzie Food"? Well, besides staying in an apartment in Port Elizabeth in South Africa and being perfectly well adapted to a modern world and modern living, I am absolutely crazy about the idea of homesteading. So much to say about modern living anyway if your whole world comes crashing down on you when you lose your job. You see, if you lose your job in South Africa (especially if you are over 45), you can almost be guaranteed that you will not be able to find a job again. I know, in countries like the USA, they have hundreds of open positions but do not have the workers. Here in South Africa, it is the tot

I recently discovered the amazing benefits of liquid banana peel fertilizer and immediately started using it on my house plants. After about 3 months I was seeing the results. I lost one of my African Violet plants, but the other one is doing great since I fed it this homemade special fertilizer .

I found a great fertilizer for my indoor as well as outdoor plants. Bananas  itself, are a very healthy fruit and can be utilized in so many ways. You can use it for your skin, it is said that you can use banana peel to whiten teeth, bury a banana peel at the bottom of the container when you plant a new flower... and I recently discovered banana peel works absolutely brilliant as a liquid fertilizer! This is what I do every second day (as needed) : - Place a banana peel into a glass jar - Fill the jar with water - Leave for 2 days - On the second day, shake the bottle lightly and water some indoor plants with this newly made fertilizer - Discard of the old peel - Clean the glass jar and add a new banana peel, should you require more of this liquid fertilizer In tomorrow's post, I will show you how my flowers bloom after I treated them with banana peel water. My flowers just love this fertilizer!

I found this little fella in a packet of potatoes I bought recently. Can you see the two adorable eyes and the skew nose? This odd-looking potato was laying on my kitchen counter for a few days and every morning I would rub the nose and greet it. It sort of became one of the members of the household. But finally, I realised that I will have to do something with this weird-faced potato before it goes rotten. I just couldn’t get it over my heart to cut it up or cook it. To let it “live” for a longer time, I decided to plant it. I cannot say if this face looks happy or sad, but I do believe that the “burial” went quite easy. Though it did leave a poignant feeling in me that it is gone and that I will not be able to stroke its forehead or nose anymore, but there was a bit of joyfulness in reaping the new potatoes one day... Finally, it was the last goodbye before I slipped some soil over this little potato that I grew so fond of. May your of

If there is something that is always an eye-catcher it is beautiful and strong nails. I've always wanted strong nails and tried quite a few products, but nothing really helped until one day... You will soon get to know me, I nibble on or try anything to learn more about what is going on around me. So that night, after skinning some potatoes for dinner, I took some potato peels and while watching my favourite South African soapy - 7de Laan - I rubbed my nails with the flesh side of a potato peel. Later in the week when I cooked with potatoes again, I did exactly the same - rubbing my nails with some potato peel. The outcome was remarkable! Within about a month I could see a difference and after another month I couldn't believe my eyes. My nails were healthy, shiny with white tips and strong. Never am I going to buy expensive products ever again for beautiful nails!           

Hi, it’s me again, Charmaine. I would like to show you step-by-step how to make lentil sprouts on the cheap. Either the brown lentils or the black lentils will do. In South Africa, a packet of 250g sprouts normally cost around R16 to R18 in the local retail shops. For this article, I’m going to round the amount off to R20. Say for example I grow sprouts 13 times from one 250g packet and the packet cost R20. This will mean that the cost of the sprouted seeds would be more or less R1,50. I haven’t weighed it yet, but I estimate that it is approximately the same volume as a punnet of sprouts you would buy at a chain store, and the last time I checked the price for such a punnet of sprouts were in the region of R15 per punnet. Now that is a whopping 1000% difference! Growing lentil sprouts is very easy and you do not have to buy anything – in fact, you can make use of what you have at home. What you will need : Glass bottle Mesh Elastic Lentil seeds Small bowl Container

Today I want to tell you a bit more about the benefits of avocado for your skin. Not only is it packed with healthy fats, vitamins, and antioxidants as a tasty fruit, avocados are great for your skin too. Apply the fresh pulp, mixed with yoghurt, on your cleansed skin to moisturize it and reduce acne flare-ups. Wash off after 15 minutes. Avocado pulp can also heal wounds faster. Use avocado oil on your skin after coming back from the sun. It prevents sun damage and reduces suntan. This way, it also prevents skin ageing. Look at these 7 amazing benefits avocado can bring to your skin : 1. Moisturizes your skin 2. Smooths out wrinkles 3. Protects your skin from the sun 4. Prevents and treats acne 5. Removes suntan 6. Heals wounds 7. Helps with Psoriasis A fruit? Really? Let's see what the Huffington Post says about it: "You might be inclined to call it a vegetable, thanks to its green hue and savoury taste, but the avocado is technically a fruit, and even more sp

In this article, the term ‘Leafy Vegetables’ was adopted to refer to the collection of plant species which are used as leafy vegetables and which are referred to as morogo or imifino by African people in South Africa. The collection of these types of leafy vegetables from the wild, or from cultivated fields where some of them grow like weeds, has a long history that has been intimately linked to women and their traditional livelihood tasks. Among poor people in remote rural areas, the use of these types of leafy vegetables is still common but nationwide there is evidence of decline, particularly in urban areas. Cultivation of leafy vegetables is restricted to a narrow group. In this eBook seven groups of leafy vegetables were given special attention to and their nutritional values, ecology, use, and cultivation are discussed. The beauty of weed is that it is not bound to a certain country. Wild edible plants are readily available across the globe. Download my "Lea

It is so rewarding to grow your own sprouts! And you really do not need a big space to do it. From Butternut shoots to lentil sprouts - I grow them. There was a time that I grew popcorn and sunflower shoots as well. Even off-cuts from the kitchen, such as onion and carrot greens. In the end, I ran out of space! My apartment is not big enough to fulfill in my need to grow too much, so I had to scale down... But with my Mini Hydroponic System, I am able to grow Butternut shoots on a windowsill in my apartment. Butternut shoots have a nutty taste and are very tasty in salads and even stir-fries. Want to know more? Download my  FREE eBook ! This eBook is a guide on how to make your very own Mini Hydroponic System. It is great for those who live in small apartments in the city. Enjoy!

And then I was bitten by a Violin spider... I woke up one morning feeling terribly weak as if I had no power to do anything. With that, I was nauseous, had a terrible headache and even my tummy was not well. The next day I did not feel much better, but then I realised the bite and immediately knew it was a spider bite. I went spider hunting! And where did I find the culprit? In, or rather underneath my huge and heavy bed! Because I'm a nature lover, I could not kill it. The best I did was to capture the spider in a plastic container and let it free in the wild. Upon searching on the internet I found that a Brown Recluse (Violin) Spider is not really that venomous to adults - children yes! Because their bodies are smaller. Lucky for me I have a friend who was a qualified nurse and she guided me how to make a poultice (heating equal amounts of grated green Sunlight bar soap and brown bread and applying it to the affected area as warm as you can bear twice a day - for two