Author: dcarey

Bird feeding is an easy and rewardable hobby to get into. If you want to attract the most birds to your backyard, you will want to feed them suet during the winter. Learn the best practices for feeding birds in the Winter and instructions for a simple homemade suet cake to use this year.

Making your own laundry detergent is easier than you think. Some people make their own to save money, some to protect their family from dyes and perfumes. Whatever your reason for making your own, Rural King makes it easy for you by carrying all the products you need.

Ingredients

• 1/3 Bar of Fels Naptha laundry Bar Soap (grated)
• 1/2 Cup of 20 Mule Team Borax Laundry Booster
• 1/2 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 1 Rural King 5 Gallon Bucket with lid

Directions

Mix Grated Fels Naptha Soap with 6 cups of water in sauce pan, heat until soap melts.
Add washing Soda and Borax to Sauce Pan Mix. Mix Well until Washing Soda and Borax Dissolve
Pour 4 Cups of Hot Water into Bucket and add mixture from sauce pan.
Add another 1 gallon 6 cups of water and stir well.
Allow 24 hours for soap to gel.

Use 1/2 a cup of soap per load, recipe produces approximately 50 loads

*We recommend using a dedicated sauce pan for this recipe. Keep soap and ingredients out of reach of children and keep bucket sealed when soap is not in use. A double recipe may be produced with the Rural King 5 gallon Bucket.

Have you ever gotten your ATV in a place that you’re not quite sure how to get out of? Then this could be of some help. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of the woods, tracking for the “sweet spot”, and all of a sudden, you’re up to your axles in mud. Well, if you have a winch like the Grip Tools 3,000 lb. 12 volt electric ATV winch from Rural King Supply, then all of your worries will be a thing of the past. You can also use it to get that perfect kill out of a precarious location.

Here are some tips on how to winch properly…

1. Inspect your cable for frays or kinks before going on your trip.
2. Always wear gloves while winching.
3. Make sure you have anchor points (usually tow hooks) front and rear of your rig.
4. Make your you have a tree strap, some ‘D’ shackles of size, short length of 3/8 chain and a good pulley block rated at twice the capacity of the winch.
5. If you are winching another rig out you should anchor your rig to something like another rig , or a tree or a special made winch anchor.
6. Put a heavy coat, towel or blanket over the cable while winching.
7. After the trip, or when you put on a new cable, or when you buy a new winch you will need to rewind the cable.
8. Let out the cable while on flat ground and run it to an anchor point.
9. Winch your rig to that anchor point making sure the are no gaps between the cable as it winds up.

Remember:

1. Always use a tree strap to get an anchor to a tree and not your cable. Cable cut into the tree and will kill it in the long run.
2. The heavy blanket or what ever you use on the cable while winching helps the cable to go toward the ground instead of up where it could hurt or kill someone.
3. Remember winching can be dangerous.

Suet is a good choice for attracting insect-eating birds.  Suet can be purchased as processed cake that includes seeds, berries, and other ingredients like this one, from St. Alban’s Bay, available at Rural King.  Suet is a high energy formulation of animal fat and other ingredients to attract insect eating birds, which, in return, help keep down the insect population in your yard. It is also a quick source of heat and energy for birds, who’s metabolisms are set on fast forward. It traditionally has been used as a good substitute for the insects that birds usually feed upon but are not plentiful in cold weather. Suet can be presented all year long.  Offering suet in a wire cage or suet log is a low-maintenance bird feeder. You refill only once every week or so, you never need to scrub the feeder, and you can leave it in your yard year round. Presenting suet in your backyard will also attract a greater variety of birds for your enjoyment.

It’s hot, so sometimes, our vehicle’s air conditioners don’t feel as cold as they should. It’s always a good idea to have it serviced regularly, but sometimes, there’s no time or money to do so. In that case, you can charge the system yourself, and thanks to Rural King, it’s very inexpensive. Rural King carries 12 oz. cans of R-134a refrigerant plus all the other necessary supplies.

Here are some basic steps to recharging your system.

1. Determine if you have any refrigerant left in your system at all.
2. Check for any obvious leaks. If your system has lost sufficient refrigerant to quit working.
3. Make sure the condensing coils are not obstructed with debris, and that the compressor is operating.
4. Tap your refrigerant can.
5. Securely thread the tapping valve on the refrigerant can, close the valve completely shut.
6. Purge the charging hose by opening the valve until you hear it fill with refrigerant, then slowly loosening the brass fitting that connects the hose to the valve.
7. Locate the low pressure charging port on the refrigerant line on your car.
8. Crank your engine and turn the AC on high cool, high fan.
9. Open the valve until you hear refrigerant passing through the hose.
10. Allow the can to dispense its contents.
11. Close the valve and disconnect the hose when the can is empty or no longer discharging enough to keep the can cold.
12. Check the air from the AC vents in the car.

Welcome to the official Rural King blog, an exciting online forum designed to share your farm and home experiences. Like Rural King itself, our blog is a place for how-to information, insight, and fun! We will be providing general knowledge on a range of products that we carry, projects we think you should try, or activities that we love. Our farm and home stores carry a variety of products for work, hobbies, and everything in between.