Making your own homemade dog toy is a fun project that is fast, simple, and inexpensive.

The following instructions will show you how to make a braided fleece rope toy. This inexpensive dog toy will cost you less than $5 to make, and shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes to complete! (Similar toys sell in pet stores for over $10!)

What you will need:

How to make your homemade dog toy:

1. Cut 3 strips from your fleece, the width of the strips is dependent on how heavy you want the braid -
   • 3″ wide for a lightweight toy
   • 5″ for a medium weight toy
   • 8″ + for a heavy weight toy
2. Lay the strips on top of one another and tie one rubber band 6″ from the end.
3. Hold the end with the rubber band between your knees and braid the strips of fleece tightly together.
4. Braid it to your desired length. (remember you will lose some length in the knots)
5. Rubber band the other end of the braid.
6. Tie a loose knot and slide or cut the rubber band off.
7. Pull on the knot as hard as you can to tighten it.
8. Trim the end tabs to about 3″, and cut in thirds.
9. Repeat knotting and trimming for the other end.
10. Tie a knot in the middle of the rope if you like.
11. Now you have your very own homemade fleece rope dog toy!

Additional tips:

• The tighter your knots, the longer the toy will last. So pull them REALLY TIGHT!
  
• Try braiding a round rawhide chew into the fleece for an extra treat.
• Make sure you do not use any fabric that has been treated with chemicals, such as a flame retardant.
  
• You can re-purpose your old and worn fleece jackets instead of buying fleece fabric new. Just cut them into strips.
  
• Inevitably this toy will get all nasty from the puppy lovin’ it will receive, just throw it in the wash to get it squeaky clean.
• If your dog is a heavy chewer or likes to rip apart his toys, do not cut the ends in thirds, it will make them easier to rip.
  
• If you want another great homemade dog toy idea, I recommend the tutorial for Making a Monkey Fist Knot Rope Dog Toy.
  

I was not able to plant a full garden this year due to monetary and time constraints. We recently moved to this new house and there was so much to do! I compromised by planting my favorites in container gardens. The herbs have been flavoring my cooking all summer, but I just picked the first vegetable of my labor, a medium hot pepper.

My favorite thing to do with hot peppers is to slice them and put them in my salads for extra zip. I have pimentos and cayenne peppers ripening also, so I will be able to make salsa soon.

I am already thinking about next year and what I am going to plant. Because they are my favorite, I am planning the pepper section first. I am going to order my pepper seeds from fantastic site, pepperjoe.com, they have a great selection. It is a favorite of Martha Stewart, don’t just take my word for it. They offer no genetically- altered seeds, and they are 100% organic. You should check out the X-rated pepper that is shaped like a (gasp!) penis. No really, it is…see the “Peter Pepper” here.

I grew the PEPPER JOE CAYENNE this year, and I cannot wait to try these other varieties next year…

• HAITI CLUSTER PEPPER
• PAPRIKA PEPPER
• 5 COLOR MARBLE
• BARNEY PEPPER
• FIRECRACKER CHILE
• CHICKEN HEART PEPPER
• JALAPENO PEPPER-EARLY
• ITALIAN PEPPERONCINI
• CHARLESTON PEPPER
• SWEET CRIMSON
• FLUORESCENT PURPLE PEPPER
• and of course, the “Peter Pepper”

You can see all of the Pepper Joe pepper varieties on the Pepper Joe website. Happy browsing!

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One of my favorite recipes is a banana bread that I make from super ripe bananas. it is the softest, tastiest banana bread you will ever bake. I always make a double batch because it is wonderful for breakfast, snacks and dessert, so it doesn’t last long!

This recipe makes one nine inch loaf. It takes about 15 minutes to put together, about an hour to bake, and a half hour to cool, for a total time of 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 small container of plain or vanilla yogurt (1/4 cup)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons of butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Supplies:

• 2 mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Measuring cups/spoons
• 9 inch loaf pan
• Non-stick baking spray or vegetable spray
• Fork or potato masher

Baking your tasty bread:

1. First preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave and set aside to cool.
3. Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in one mixing bowl.
4. In the other mixing bowl, whisk the eggs.
5. Add the bananas to the eggs and mash them well. You can use a fork, but a potato masher (if you have one) works dandy.
6. Add the vanilla, melted butter, and yogurt into the eggs/banana mixture, and whisk it together.
7. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined, but don’t over mix it.
8. Spray you loaf pan well with the nonstick spray and pour the batter into the pan.
9. Bake it for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean from the middle.
10. Let it sit for a few minutes in the pan before you transfer it to a cooling rack (then let it cool for at least 20-30 minutes).

Additional tips:

• You can use shortening in place of the butter if you don’t have butter on hand.
• Make this recipe banana nut bread by adding a cup of chopped walnuts when you are folding wet and dry ingredients together.
• Wrap the loaf in aluminum foil to keep in the moisture.
• Don’t skip checking the bread with a knife or toothpick. The bread can look done it still be very raw in the middle.
• If you want this to be more of a desert bread, use 1 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup.