Planting a fall garden is a great way to extend your growing season. Enjoy fresh vegetables when most people are stuck with canned or cardboard-tasting grocery store versions. And you’ll be proud to serve fresh vegetables at your holiday celebrations.
As fall approaches you are likely doing a variety of garden chores from cleaning up spent plants to planning your fall vegetable garden. Don’t forget to re-plant some of your favorite herbs for an extra harvest before the snow flies. Continue reading
I am so overdue on writing this post. I have been feeling pretty cruddy the last couple of weeks so I am behind on stuff. But, today is the day! This book rocks and I need to tell y’all about it.
So I met Celeste via email when I was setting up interviews on an article I was doing for a client. It took me a while to realize she was the same Celeste Longacre that writes for The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Duh! Just so happens I made the connection the same day her book arrived in the mail. Continue reading
So I finally made the lavender lemonade that my daughter posted on my Facebook page. The recipe was on the Healthy Holistic Living website. When the essential oils I ordered came in, I couldn’t wait to make this, but I had too much work to do, so it had to wait until today. Finally.
I’m pretty sure I used to have a juicer thingie, but I have no idea what happened to it so I ended up squeezing the heck out of 6 lemons to get 2 cups of fresh juice. It helps to nuke the lemons for about 15 seconds and then roll them on the counter. My hands were a bit sticky once I was done, but they sure smelled good.
Then I added the 12 cups of water and the cup of honey. After a bit of stirring to get the honey mixed in, I added 1 drop of my lavender essential oil*. I mixed it well and couldn’t wait to taste it.
I lifted the glass to my lips and immediately put it back down. What do I smell? Soap?? Arg! So I quickly poured it into another pitcher, thinking I hadn’t rinsed the first one well enough and had ruined my lemonade with soap. By the time I was on my third pitcher, I realized I was smelling the lavender oil. (yes, I’m a little slow sometimes) I am really surprised that 1 drop is that powerful!
Anyhow, the lemonade is really yum and I hope it helps with my headaches. I may need to start buying bigger jars of honey (or raising bees and getting my own).
Lavender is really great for headaches and it also helps you sleep better. You should also keep it on hand for cuts, burns, bruises, rashes and sunburn. It’s really an excellent multi-purpose essential oil.
Now I have a bowl full of wonderfully fragrant lemon peels and they won’t go to waste. You can make an all purpose cleaner with lemon (or any other citrus) peels. Just put them in a jar and cover them with vinegar. Let it sit for a few weeks and then strain it out.
To make your cleaner even more powerful, especially in a greasy kitchen, add a few drops of lemon essential oil*. Lemon essential oil is great for odors as well as breaking up grease, which makes it a perfect addition to your home made cleaners. It’s also a good habit to have a drop in a glass of water each morning to wake up your digestive system and boosts your immune system.
*NOTE: Not all essential oils are safe to ingest so please make sure the ones you have are safe. If you aren’t sure, order Young Living essential oils through me.
Some times I feel like I am in the kitchen all day long. I’m not complaining. I enjoy cooking, even if I end up achy from being on my feet all day.
Recently, I received a cookbook to review called Tasting the Seasons by Kerry Dunnington. It’s a cookbook designed to help readers make great meals with seasonal foods, including some you may never have thought of. Have you ever tried sweet potato leaves? Continue reading
I just realized that I had some ginger root in the refrigerator. I was having some problems with severe nausea for several days, so I bought it to make candied ginger. And of course, forgot I bought it. Because that’s what I do.
If you’ve ever eaten candied ginger, you probably know it’s pretty yummy stuff. You may not know that it’s good for upset tummies, it fights inflammation (making it good for pain) and some think it can even fight certain types of cancer. Continue reading
Wow do we have a ton of eggs! The chickens are finally laying again and, even though we lost a few over the winter, we are getting way more than we can eat. See all those eggs in the picture up top? That’s after Jeff took 2 or 3 dozen to work for people.
We also got a couple of coupons from one of our local grocery stores for free eggs. And I can’t turn down free. Continue reading
The garden has been struggling this year, as have I (hence, my lack of posts lately). The tomatoes got early blight thanks to the wet, cool June that we had. So much for canning sauce this year. The peppers don’t look great either, but not as bad as the tomatoes. Continue reading
I hadn’t really given this question much thought before today. Do you know the average weight of a chicken egg? I didn’t, until I looked it up. Continue reading
Lots of people like the idea of growing their own food but get quickly overwhelmed at the thought of a garden that will grow everything they want to eat. The key is to start small so you don’t get overwhelmed. Some of these simple gardening ideas may be just what you need to get started. Continue reading