Category: Saving Money

How to Install a Printer: Dell B2360dn Mono Laser

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Connecting a printer to your computer is sometimes tricky. I got a used black & white (“mono”) laser printer and my computer could not recognize it despite connecting it by the USB cord. Here’s how I finally figured it out. These steps should generally work for adding any older home printer with a USB cord to your laptop or computer, not just the Dell B2360dn Mono Laser printer.

Step 1: Turn devices on. Plug in your printer and computer and power them both on. Connect the printer to the computer by USB cable.

Step 2: Download the printer driver.
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/dell-b2360dn/drivers

Search online for your printer brand + model + driver. That should lead you to the official printer brand’s website where you can search for your specific model, then download the corresponding driver for free.

I downloaded the driver for “Dell Printer Driver for PCL5e…” from this list because the File Name contains “signed” (UPD v3 APW Driver Package_signed – PCL5.zip).

The driver is a software that helps the computer recognize and connect to the printer hardware. These are sometimes downloaded automatically upon plugging in a printer and having internet connection. But for some older printers, these are not automatically downloaded.

Step 3: (for Windows 11) Open Windows search bar, type “printer” > choose “Printers & Scanners” or “Add a printer or scanner” > Add Device > wait a few seconds as it searches, then “Add Manually”.

The printer is not detected by the computer and does not appear on the refreshed printer list, so we will add it manually.

Step 4: Choose the last option in the new popup window, “Add a local printer…with manual settings”.

Step 5: Choose “Use an existing port:”, then select your printer from the drop down list > Next.
Troubleshooting if printer not in drop down: Make sure the printer is on and connected by USB cable to the computer.
This is how I confirmed my printer make & model name.

Step 6: Install the Printer Driver you previously downloaded.
I selected Dell on the left side, then “Have Disk”, and pointed it to the signed driver file downloaded in step 1 that ends in ‘.inf’ file extension.
This is where I read about ‘digitally signed’ drivers and thus opted for the signed option from the Dell website. I had to dig a little amongst the downloaded driver files to find the one ending in .inf. In this case it was DKUD1o40.inf.

Mission complete!
Your printer’s driver is now installed and it should show among the printers list. Happy Printing!

Fall Eggies: Aug, Sept Oct 2024

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Last night (just after Thanksgiving) there was a solid frost blanketing the grass and tree branches. I broke up a top crust of ice in the hens’ water bowls. The hens are going to roost with the sunset around 4:40pm and rise at 7am, so they are sleeping well over 12 hours. These are the signs of late fall and winter.

Here is the egg count for the year thus far:

Month
(2023)		Laying
Hens		Eggs per Day (avg)Eggs per WeekDozens per WeekEggs per MonthDozens per MonthFeed CostCost per Dozen
Oct5.254.0292.412510$ 30$ 2.85
Sep64.6332.813711$ 30$ 2.60
Aug75.6413.417515$ 30$ 2.04
July75.8423.517915$ 30$ 1.99
June76.2453.718615$ 30$ 1.92
May7.256.2453.719216$ 30$ 1.86
April7.255.8423.517314$ 30$ 2.06
March7.54.5322.713812$ 30$ 2.58
Feb53.8282.31079$ 30$ 3.33
Jan3.52.7191.6837$ 30$ 4.30

The “Laying Hens” count is now corrected, which I forgot to do in previous posts. 3 hens have been molting this fall: Waffles, Shaki and Tots. I’m surprised Tots is molting at just one year old, which I realized when she became unusually skittish to the touch and started losing head and tail feathers. The partial hen counts mean that a hen stopped laying (started molting or Nuggo’s henopause) for part of a month.

There is a noticeable decline in egg laying. I now sometimes buy eggs to supplement. I always thought that my hens’ eggs were on the smaller-side compared to large supermarket eggs, but pleasantly found ours to be as big or bigger than large eggs by weight.

I am also perplexed why the 2 year old hens (Brownie, Blanqui, Ramsey) haven’t noticeably molted nor paused laying eggs. Are some barnyard mixes or hybrid varieties capable of not molting?

It’s reassuring that even though our winter egg count is low, the cost per dozen still beats the price of organic-fed, cage-free eggs at Costco or supermarkets. I believe our hens live out better qualities of life than those from best eggs at a premium grocer because their beaks are never trimmed, they can forage bugs (so many worms in the rainy season!), enjoy organic garden veggies, fruits, and grass, and have a large area per bird to roam around. The most comparable brand I have encountered so far are Wilcox Farms pasture-raised eggs (by taste) and Vital Farms Organic Pasture Raised Eggs, but my babies’ eggs have the plus that they don’t require any trucking or logistical delivery to our kitchen.

I want to raise chickens forever!
– Korean Chicken Tender

Blackberry Jam Recipe

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In the Seattle area, invasive Himalayan blackberry vines abound with thorny branches and complex root systems. From my experience, these are the #1 most difficult weed to remove because the thorny branches always leave bloody battle scars, grow extremely fast, and it’s never clear how extensively the root system goes. Even their serrated leaves have thorny center veins!

But there is one silver lining! Once a year, at the peak of summer (usually late August), they yield a bounty of edible fruit with rich flavor and big seeds.

Walking back from the library, I scouted a blackberry patch on an abandoned lot. These berries grew with less exposure to car traffic and pollution being on a quiet residential street. I later set out with the hubby and big bowls to harvest as much as we could until we couldn’t tolerate the thorny pricks, stings and sticky berry juice stains any more. I blended the berries, strained out the big seeds through a sieve, and set out to make blackberry kombucha and enough preserves for the year. These can be enjoyed with plain greek yogurt or in baking.

For the first time, I got fruit jam to set! 2 full days after preparing the blackberry jam and putting some jars in the fridge, I tilted them and noticed they were no longer watery. Yes!

Here is the actual recipe I used, which is based on the tested Ball recipe from my pectin jar label. This was my first serious attempt at making jam and the result is good, but I don’t feel it’s good enough to share as a gift to neighbors or friends. I include notes for future recipe improvements.

Improvements for Next Time:

  • Use less water: There is a half inch of excess water above the set jam in most jars.
  • Use slightly less pectin: The jam is a little thick like jelly, whereas I’d prefer a spread.
  • Keep more seeds: I like a little more visible seeds
  • Try sugar instead of honey: There is a distinct honey taste. I don’t mind, but sugar is more neutral.
  • Add lemon or lime juice to add slightly more tartness

Ingredients

  • Yield: 12 half pint jars + a quarter pint
  • Total process time: 2 hours. Start a few hours before dinnertime!
  • About 2kg or 4.2lbs freshly picked blackberries, washed and rinsed
  • 14 tablespoons of low/no-sugar pectin (next time: try 12 tablespoons).
  • 2 cups or 500mL of water (next time: 1.25 – 1.5 cups)
  • 510g (about 3/4 of a bear bottle) of Organic Raw Honey
  • Next time: Juice of 1 or 2 fresh squeezed lemons

Tools

  • Pressure Canner (Presto Model 0178)
  • 12 quart stock pot
  • 12 Half-pint mason jars, canning lids and rings, sterilized in boiling water
  • Wide mouth funnel, canning tongs, hot jar wrench
  • Blender
  • Strainer
  • Boiling tap water to submerge jars in the canner
  • Timer

Steps

  1. Blend blackberries and strain out the seeds in batches. Pour fruit juice/non-seed pulp into stock pot.
    Note: The seeds comprised about 1/4 of my blackberry weight.
  2. Add some seed pulp back to stock pot, to taste or visual preference. I used 70g of seeds, next time try 150g of seeds.
  3. Heat berries. Bring berry stock pot slowly up to a boil, gradually stirring in pectin. Break pectin clumps and stir continuously. Bring to a full roiling boil that cannot be stirred down.
  4. Add sweetener and boil 1 minute. Sugar or honey. The blackberries are not sweet enough for my taste to make a true no sugar jam. Some day you’ll be hardcore. Add lemon juice here and taste test. Return to a full rolling boil for one minute (set timer).
  5. Remove from heat. No need to skim foam per Ball, it will go away!
  6. Follow canning directions to water bath 12 jars’ worth of delicious preserved blackberry jam, with a little extra (quarter pint) to enjoy without canning.
  7. Chicken snack. Feed excess blackberry seed pulp to chickens! They will love it, and you will love not having anything to throw away!
Water bath canning
Finished product!
Brownie: What’s this? >:->
I never knew Nuggo’s neck was this long. (center, golden)
Misty (grey, right) likes blackberries too!

June & July Egg Eggies – Heat, harmony, & 6 a day!

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It’s mid-August and the first heat wave has struck Seattle this summer. The highs are near 90 degrees and my back porch thermometer reported 96 degrees due to a greenhouse effect from the semi-transparent porch roof.

When it’s hot like this, with highs above 80 degrees, I check outside every hour or two to observe how the chickens are coping. They hold their wings apart from their body, pant, hang out in the shade in the north side of the house, eat less grain, and need their water bowls refilled twice dailyi. I give them kale and outer cabbage leaves in the evenings because their appetite for salad spikes. The older hens (las reinas) tolerate the heat best, while the youngest ones (las angelitas) pant and show signs of distress the most. Each year they learn to cope better.

Penguin Ramsey!
Hot, panting Brownie

I am grateful for these hens and the bounty of eggs they lay for us. Here’s the egg count for June, July and other months thus far:

Month
(2023)		Laying
Hens		Eggs per Day (avg)Eggs per WeekDozens per WeekEggs per MonthDozens per MonthFeed CostCost per Dozen
July85.8423.517915$ 30$ 1.99
June86.2453.718615$ 30$ 1.92
May86.2453.719216$ 30$ 1.86
April85.8423.517314$ 30$ 2.06
March64.5322.713812$ 30$ 2.58
Feb63.8282.31079$ 30$ 3.33
Jan62.7191.6837$ 30$ 4.30

Observations:

  • May was the peak of egg productivity with 192 eggs that month, costing $1.86 a dozen (organic, pasture-raised).
  • June is close behind with 186 eggs at $1.92 a dozen. It’s downhill from here due to the shortening daylight!
  • Longer daylight and sunny days induce egg laying, not warm temperatures.
  • Now, in early August, the sun rises about 2 minutes later and sets about 2 minutes earlier each day. I expect greater decreases in eggs for the remainder of the year.
  • Brownie and the two youngest hens (Misty and Tots) are finally living in harmony! After many months of Brownie spontaneously puffing up her feathers and terrorizing las angelitas, they now share moments of dust bathing and pecking at grass seeds within a few feet of each other. It’s wonderful to see your children getting along after months of bullying and fighting. Brownie was the lowest on the pecking order (Rank # 6), so I suspect she wants to make it clear to the newcomers she will not be outranked.
  • Tots glucks in fear every time Brownie gets near, which instigates anger and a peck attack. She has been getting better about staying calm and not becoming an easy target.
  • Tots and Misty still appear to be in equal rank, but occasionally they challenge each other and puff out their hackles (collar feathers).
  • Hens abhor equality, so Tots and Misty will likely have a fight and set their positions for Number 7 and 8 in the pecking order — they cannot both stay tied for 7th. It’s only a matter of time.
In harmony~

Hatch Chiles – “It’s a wonderful thing to buy a case”

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Since last summer, I’ve been patiently keeping an eye out for Carpinito Bros’ hatch chile roast. They bring up boxes of real hatch chiles from Hatch, New Mexico and fire roast them in a rotating barrel drum. This past weekend was that once a year event.

These peppers bear a special significance for me, fondly recalling my time in Colorado. I remember passing by gas stations with farmstand peppers set up with and barrel roasters which blister the pepper skins. Those hatch chiles and Palisade peaches are the taste of Colorado summer.

Come to think of it, various peppers in are nostalgic for me – stay tuned for future stories about ají amarillo, ají charapita, 홍고추 (hong gochu), 풋고추 (put gochu), 오이고추 (cucumber pepper), 꽈리고추 (shishito pepper).

Medium and Hot level hatch chiles were sold by the pound in freezer-safe bags. I picked up two bags, about 3 pounds each. When I checked out I realized I had bought much less than half a case’ worth of peppers for over half the case price. My sometimes irrationally frugal spirit could not tolerate paying more for less. “Can we change these for a case instead?” emerged from my lips.

Several minutes later I’m loading up a 25 pound box of hatch chiles. Kudos to the young men who fire-roasted these peppers under the afternoon sun. I felt a bit overwhelmed by this decision to bring home a case of one crop, but the worker assured “It’s a wonderful thing to buy a case”. I wondered if this was the start down a deliciously dangerous path, remembering my great aunt who buys cases of blueberries and tofu. I was now committed to peeling and canning 25 pounds of roasted peppers that night.

I learned that hatch chiles are the same as anaheim peppers, but which are grown specifically in Hatch, New Mexico. So hatch chiles grown outside of Hatch are called “anaheim”. I picked up a couple which a fellow customer New Mexico recommended for stuffing.

My car has a lingering scent of roasted hatch, and I love it.

April & May Eggs – $2 a dozen!

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The days are getting long now as we near summer solstice. There’s still light in the sky at 9pm! The hens rise around 5am and go to roost around 8:45pm. It intrigues me how they are used to such variable sleep over the year, because in the winter they rise around 7am and roost at 5pm (over 12 hours of sleep!) vs around 8 hours in the summer. This post’s photo features the 2 new layers, Tots (golden cheeks) and Misty (grey).

Here is Korean Chicken Tender’s April and May egg counts!

Month (2023)Laying HensEggs per Day (avg)Eggs per WeekDozens per WeekEggs per MonthDozens per MonthFeed CostCost per Dozen
May86.2453.719216$ 30$ 1.86
April85.8423.517314$ 30$ 2.06
March64.5322.713812$ 30$ 2.58
Feb63.8282.31079$ 30$ 3.33
Jan62.7191.6837$ 30$ 4.30

The cost per dozen has gone down because there are 2 new laying hens, all hens are laying almost daily, elder Nuggo occasionally left henopause, and we’ve been able to stretch a bag of organic feed for longer thanks to a Treadle Feeder.

I have been very satisfied our RentACoop Treadle Feeder which has saved me lots of time and feed. My feed costs continue to be the same going from 6 to 8 layer hens because wild birds don’t eat from the feeder. I refill the feeder about once a week now. It’s more frequent in the longer summer days because the hens are awake and active for more hours. Back in February, it was once every 2-3 weeks. One feeder is sufficient for all 8 hens, and this is much more convenient than the conventional feeder I used to refill every 2 days. The feeders are expensive but very much worth it. After patient searching, I found a new open box feeder on Marketplace for about $80 instead of the retail $145.

Thank you dear hens for providing delicious, nutritious organic pasture-raised eggs for under $2 a dozen! Me and my husband do eat all these eggs. They have become a staple in our diet!

Strawberry Season

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It’s the start of June and the first big wave of strawberries are blushing bright red. My husband tasted the first berries of the season when he noticed the red berries while mowing the lawn. I ate my first portion together with a friend – home grown food tastes better when shared with loved ones. Now, I enjoy the little berries with morning oatmeal or peach cake.

This peach cake base is the Just One Cookbook plum cake, with frozen peach slices in lieu of plums and a sliced almond topping. I made this cake using 150g of flour in a 9-inch round pan and added 3 eggs and 100g of vegan milk to the recipe.

March Egg Count

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It’s time for Korean Chicken Tender’s March 2023 egg count!

The daylight has gotten longer and there’s been an uptick in egg laying. My number 1 ranked hen, Nuggo, emerged from her summer-fall-winter-long henopause and started laying her trademark asymmetrical, lopsided eggs. This heavyset alpha female’s eggs are a treat with their rich yolks and fragile cream-colored shells.


Same as in my last egg count, I currently raise 6 layer hens. They eat organic feed and garden greens, range freely on pasture, and slurp up tasty slugs seeking solace from the spring rains.

Here’s our monthly Egg Count thus far for 2023:

Month (2023)Laying HensEggs per Day (avg)Eggs per WeekDozens per WeekEggs per MonthDozens per MonthFeed CostCost per Dozen
Jan62.719.41.6836.9$ 30.00$ 4.30
Feb63.827.72.31078.9$ 30.00$ 3.33
Mar64.532.22.713811.5$ 30.00$ 2.58

Observations:

– The cost per dozen of our organic, pasture-raised eggs dropped from over $4 in Jan to $3 in Feb to now $2.58 in March!
– Hubba hubba Nuggo resumed laying, which increased the egg count.
– When I didn’t see Nuggo roaming around with the other hens one morning, I thought she had died standing erect on her roost bar. (When the time comes, I believe she will die no less a noble death). I was shocked to discover her in a nest box. That day she did a full egg laying simulation with no actual egg. The egg appeared a few days later.

Bottom left is Nuggo’s cream-white egg – note the calcium deposit, pointed tip, and lopsided-ness compared to the other eggs. It is nonetheless a treat to eat!

Awaken the bread machine!

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Last year, I received a bread machine from a neighbor who had previously received it from another neighbor. It sat unused for years at her home so she passed it on. Alas, the tradition continued as it sat on my shelf for many months, yearning for yeast and flour.

I resolved that 2023 was going to be different. I would awaken this bread machine from its deep slumber.

Also, I jogged with a friend along the lake, and we chatted about schmalzkuchen (German beignets), sourdough, and this bread machine. Thank you to this friend for sharing the joy of running and making bread!

Here is a 1 pound loaf, which is the smallest size possible with this machine. The machine kneaded away my fears with its automatic mixing, gentle heat application as the dough rose (proofing), and finally the actual baking. It took 2.5 hours from start to finish with very little hands on and cleaning effort. This cube loaf is chewy and tastes like normal bread! The crust is a little tougher through than store-bought loaves, but I will eventually figure out how to amend this. The yield is a perfect amount for me to enjoy in one week, 1 to 2 half slices per day as part of breakfast or a snack with vegan butter and homemade invasive blackberry jam.

Also: The proofed dough is an exquisite texture that I highly recommend patting. Far better than a baby’s bum!

I was curious…
How much did this 1 pound loaf of homemade bread cost?

IngredientGrams in packageCost of packageCost/gramGrams in loafCost for loaf
Water240g (1 cup)$00240g$0
Olive Oil (organic)1832$15.99$0.00872828g$0.24
Honey
(organic, raw)		2040$19.99$0.00979930g$0.29
Salt453$2.00$0.0044158g$0.04
All-Purpose Flour
(organic, 5 lb bag)		2268$3.49$0.001539300g$0.46
Active Yeast (2 lb)908$7.49$0.0082494.2g
1.5 teaspoons		$0.03
Sunflower Seeds, Toasted, Unsalted, Shelled454$2.99$0.00658660g$0.40
1 Loaf Total–––670.2g
(about 1 lb)		$1.47
Note: All ingredients were from Costco except for the flour (Grocery Outlet) and Sunflower Seeds (Trader Joe’s).

So I made 1 week’s worth of organic bread for just 147 cents! Definitely a tasty and inexpensively repeatable activity. Next time I will mix sunflower seeds into the dough (I love seed-rich, “bird food” bread) and maybe use a third or half whole wheat flour for more nuttiness.

*Update February 19, 2023*
I’ve now made this recipe 4 times. By happy accident, I discovered that doubling the honey from 15g to 30g somehow produced a softer, chewier bread (did not dry out as quickly) without noticeable sweetness. I also add 60g of sunflower seeds which gets mixed into the dough and gives nice texture. Trader Joe’s has the best value on these. The final bread weight is lighter than adding all the raw ingredients due to water evaporating as it bakes.

If you have a bread machine, you can follow the Ingredient + Grams in Loaf columns to get the recipe. I poured the ingredients in this order (top to bottom) in the Breadman Plus machine.

Curtain Hemmer

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If you asked me who am I, as in my role, title or vocation, I would tell you:

My name is Michu, Chicken Tender and a Hemmer.

I recently went to a sewing class at Cultivate South Park (an art studio above Resistencia Coffee) and the teacher, Emily, helped me remember how to use a sewing machine. I had once learned over 4 years ago. I emerged from the first class with a pair of hemmed hiking pants. After the second class I could confidently wind a bobbin and had repaired a shopping bag with button thread, now ready for another thousand grocery hauls.

There are miscellaneous projects at my home that require the precision, speed, and secure stitching of a sewing machine and not hand-sewing. One of these is a pair of curtains. They drape lightly against the floor and have visibly rough edges that were pasted with some kind of glue. My first home sewing challenge! This waited a few weeks as I didn’t have any pins. I followed the Uber Frugal Month’s recommendation to wait 72 hours before buying non-necessities…lo and behold, a few weeks later I found a mysterious tomato pin cushion deep in my sewing box. I don’t know how I have this; the pin cushion I remember from 4 years ago are at my parent’s place, and this one is different. Once I discovered this tomato I threaded up the machine, pinned the curtain hem, and pushed the foot pedal.

I’m pleased because the finished curtain hem is barely noticeable. It wouldn’t catch your eye because it looks factory-made. Which for someone with little sewing experience, is a pleasing achievement!

After that second sewing class, I felt ready to have my own machine. I scoured the used marketplace and found one from an alterations store that was closing (congrats to the owner who is retiring to a farming community on Camano Island!). I like that this Brother is mechanical and not digital (less maintenance complications) but still has a sleek and sturdy design.

It feels good to have acquired a machine for the same price I sold mine for 4 years ago.
It feels satisfying to fix things and do little improvements for my cozy home.
It feels right to buy useful, thoughtfully-planned things that are within my means (this was part of my monthly $200 ‘homestead garden’ budget).

Come on over if you have anything that needs a-hemmin’!