At a Farm Near You!

photo source

This picture represents the amount of factory farming in the U.S. OH.MY.WORD! Awful, right? Not because factories are bad and not because farms are bad, but because most factory farms are not producing good food or treating the animals they're raising for it well.

SO...here's where you can be responsible about what farms you support! :) There's this great resource on the Food & Water Watch website where you can search according to your zip code and it will bring up all the CSAs, health supermarkets, and a bunch of other stuff. I put a 50 mile radius from my zip code this is what came up. Six CSAs (and yes, Victory Acres is on there), a bunch of farmers, 7 restaurants, 3 co-ops, 17 stores, 19 farmers markets, an orchard, a brewery, and even a B&B that cleans their furniture only with natural lemon oil and handcrafts their bathroom amenities with organic ingredients and essential oils AT the B&B. Isn't that cool?!?! I found some awesome new stores and restaurants that I didn't even know were super close to our regular stomping grounds. SO excited! 

And the website is....http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Skipping Stones on Walden Pond

Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,
         Withstand the winter's storm,
         And spite of wind and tide,
         Grow up the meadow's pride,
            For both are strong

Above they barely touch, but undermined
         Down to their deepest source,
         Admiring you shall find
         Their roots are intertwined
            Insep'rably.

-Henry David Thorough, excerpt from his poem Friendship

On my trip to Boston last week I was able to take a morning and visit Concord and Walden Pond. Let me just say the entire thing was incredibly surreal and beautiful! We hiked a trail all the way around Walden Pond and were able to see where Thoreau's cabin had stood. The fall colors were incredibly beautiful and basically, I stood on the edge of the pond skipping stones thinking, "This is SO STINKIN COOL!!!" I wanted to sit the cove and write a poem but as Thoreau says, "My life has been the poem I would have writ, 

but I could not both live and utter it."....at least I hope that's the case. :)

Where I stood and skipped stones, I got one to skip five times!!! :)

Other cool things that I was able to do in Boston:

• Go to the International Leadership Conference and hear some great speakers, scholars, etc. on leadership. By far the best talk was given by Jeff Schwartz, the CEO of Timberland on "moral capitalism." His basic point was that making a profit and doing good/creating social change are not antithetical notions, but rather that they depend upon each other to happen.
• Walk Freedom Trail
• See the Old North Church (one if by land, two if by sea)
• See the Old Meeting House (where the Declaration of Independence was written)
• Eat at some GREAT places (Lucia's on the north end Italian district, Mike's Pastry, b.good, CafeTeria, a little seaside cafe in Rockport for fish & chips)

 Minute Men Park

Old North Bridge

And Minute Men Park, this is where the "Shot Heard Round the World" was fired, starting the Revolutionary war. Oddly enough, I thought it would be an awesome place to get married.

Thank you SO much to Kristy and Bill for making this an awesome trip! 

All Natural Baby Safe Dryer Bags

SO...ever since I started using Soap Nuts for my laundry (read info here and here), I've been trying to figure out a way to get my clothes to smell lovely and fresh. There were some suggestions on adding some essential oils to the muslin bag that I put the soap nuts in, but that didn't really work. And I didn't want to use dryer sheets, because they just coat my clothes with chemicals that irritate our skin.
But then I saw these HUGE fusible tea bags on From Nature with Love, where they say one of the uses is dryer bags. What?! What a stinkin' good idea! So I bought some lavender, chamomile, and orange peel (all safe for babies) from the Bulk Herb Store, and started experimenting.
My first bags last for about 5 loads, then the tea bag gets too thin to hold it any more but the herbs are still fragrant, so I can use it then in my pillowcases or dresser drawers. :) Here's how I made them:

Gilmore Baby-Safe All-Natural Dryer Bags


1/2 c orange peel (cut)
1/2 c chamomile flowers (german)
3/4 c lavender buds
12 drops each orange, chamomile, and lavender essential oils
5 Large Tea bags


Shake all ingredients in a tupperware container with a lid.
Scoop approx. 6 tablespoons of the herb mix into each Tea bag.
Throw in the dryer with your laundry.


The laundry (and our laundry room) smell great! I'm trying to see how I can get the bags to last for more than 4-5 loads, because a busted dryer bag is not a good thing. For now though, I'm very happy with this solution.

TIP: If you're still using dryer sheets because of static cling, just throw 1/4-1/2 cup apple cider vinegar in with your clothes during the rinse cycle of the wash. It gets rid of static like a charm and the vinegar smell completely dissipates when the laundry is dry. So here's the laundry routine --> Wash: Soap Nuts (oxygen bleach for nasty stains), Rinse: Apple Cider Vinegar, & Dry: Herb Dryer Bags. All-natural, gets rid of all dirt, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and keeps your clothing looking and smelling great!

A Beautiful Fall Day

Today has been a fun day so far. We're actually staying home this weekend, which is quite refreshing and it's been beautiful outside! Last night we had a lovely "cookout" (the men and children cooked out while the women folk stayed inside) with Ev's coworkers and their families. It was really nice to get to know them a little better and meet all the kids and such.
Today, we slept in...a little, had breakfast and watched a few shows and then I went out to look at the state of my little plot of land that I used to call a garden. Despite the frost, the herbs are still looking great and I think I'll be able to pick some of the kale still. Then I'll have to hoe it and cover it for the winter I think.
Anyway, Evan finished up mowing the front yard while Elliot and I worked with the leaves in the back. He had a blast crawling through the woods and then when I had finally gotten a big pile together...we PLAYED! I completely forgot how great the smell of a pile of fall leaves is! Below are a few pictures from our adventures.

In the Hammock

In the Woods

In the Leaves

Our attempt at a family picture (Elliot and Rory weren't really interested)

My favorite boy...giving me kisses!

Then we went into the garage and helped Ev finish cleaning some of it out. Our goal was to be able to get our car into it by the end of the day, because neither of us are too keen on scraping our windshield if we don't have to.
I know...we've been living here for about four months and our garage is still not cleaned out...it's pathetic! But we're actually almost there. In fact, the car is presently sitting in the garage! Then we all came in to clean up and have some snacks and now Elliot is napping peacefully while we play on our computers. If we accomplish the goal of cleaning up the kitchen by the end of the day. I think we'll have been quite successful.
Anything you're trying to accomplish before it gets too cold? This might be just the weekend to try!

Haha...Happy Fall!

So...today is the first day of fall (I hear it officially starts in about ten minutes). So here's funny story and a fall recipe.
Today I drove over to my classroom because I had left it a mess yesterday afternoon and knew that some more people were teaching in it today. I had left posters on the wall, bandanna's on the counter and chairs scattered about. As I got out of the car, I thought, "What is the world is that smell?" Oh well, I was on a mission, so I cut across some "grass" to get to Center Hall. "SPLUCK!" Yes, that's the sound that I heard, as I pulled my foot out  my shoe mid-stride, the shoe remained stuck in the mud and my foot was covered up to the ankle in gobs of mud. And guess what the smell was...yep! The mud! Gross, huh? So I walk to the classroom holding my white pants high above my muddy ankles, drop my shoes at the door and go in (where people are already starting to gather for class), grab one of my bandanna's and wipe my feet off. Then I come back to my office to make sure I don't have any meetings...barefoot. Grab a co-worker's tennis shoes and head off to Meijer. Meijer's cheapest pair of shoes were $20...ridiculous! So I went to Walmart. I scored a $7 pair of shiny bronze shoes and came back for a productive work day.
Happy fall! Go grab yourself a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks and try some Autumn Tea Butter on some scones or biscuits.

Autumn Tea Butter
Blend 1 stick softened butter with 2 tablespoons store-bought apple butter, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg.

Enjoy!

Homemade Natural Lip Balm & Scrub

I found these great little plastic containers at CVS a couple weeks ago. They're the perfect size for keeping all little masks and soaps and salts in the shower too.

One of my favorite little beauty rituals used to be using my Mary Kay Satin Lips set every night. There was a lip mask and a silky balm. Well, I've run out and while I could buy more, I have no idea what's in the stuff, and I've been wanting to make my own lip balm for a bit now. I also made my own lovely little scrub. I will use it and feel PRETTY! (Guys can also use this and feel _____ (insert masculine good feeling adjective here - sharp, cool, smooth, handsome, "hot as fire", whatever).

Megan's Lip Scrub

Ingredients:

Dead Sea Salt

Sugar

Carrier Oil (I used Grapeseed Oil)

1. Fill container about 3/4 of the way full with half sugar and half Dead Sea salt.

2. Put lid on and shake to mix.

3. Pour in carrier oil until salt/sugar mixture is covered.

4. Stir with a toothpick or chopstick.

Megan's Marvelous Lip Balm

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Beeswax

3 Tbsp. Carrier Oil (I used Jojoba Oil)

2 Vitamin E Capsules (Prick the end and squeeze out contents. Great for your skin, and a good natural preservative)

1 Tbsp. Honey

1 Tbsp. Mango Butter (I'm sure you could use Shea Butter as well)

1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

10 drops of Essential Oil (I put in tea tree, sweet orange, & grapefruit)

1. Put all the ingredients (except the essential oil) in a Pyrex measuring cup (or a similar pourable container).

2. Melt ingredients by placing the Pyrex cup in a half full pot of boiling water and stirring continuously.

3. Once all the ingredients are melted remove the Pyrex cup with a hot pad and add essential oils.

4. Pour mixture into containers and let solidify (you can place it in the freezer to speed up the process)

For other fun at home body products, check out Rachel's recent Bath & Beauty Roundup at One Pretty Thing

Worms & Weeds

Elliot helping me weed! I just had to stop and watch...he's so sweet!

I finally got my Red Wigglers yesterday! Woohoo! Who knew someone could get so excited about worms?! The funny thing is Red Wigglers are really popular fishing bait (so my hubs tells me) but I couldn't find them. I checked three different bait places. But then, guess where they were? Yes, that's right. 1/2 mile from my house in lil' ol' Upland. At the BP gas station there's a little fridge in the back with like 10-12 different kinds of live bait. (Seriously now?!) So I bought my little guys and excitedly brought them home with a rake and a weed eater/trimmer. I finished off my DIY Worm Composter, and Elliot and I weeded and raked while Ev mowed and trimmed. Our yard looks very nice and we LOVE being outside!!! It's so nice to actually have a space that we can be outside and that Elliot can safely crawl and stand around.

Below is a picture of the worms...just because I'm proud. However, I know some of you are squeemish (I actually was pretty jumpy opening the little containers of worms myself. I don't know how I'm ever going to separate them from the compost!), so I waited to put it at the end. You can choose to look if you'd like.

See...It's not that bad! :)

Cool Cool C-UH-EWWWL...Baby Toys!

Look at these! They are made by a couple in Columbus, Ohio from locally grown maple trees and finished with organic flaxseed oil. (Cool!)

Their Etsy shop is Little Alouette. They have a bunch of toys ranging from teething rattles to little safari sets. (Cool!)

These wooden toys are the absolute best. We definitely have our share of plastic toys, but I definitely want to get some of these for the E-Man. Wooden toys are better for the environment, they're more durable than plastic toys, they won't break into small parts, and there's no risk of crazy chemicals like PVC or BPA or anything like that. (C-UH-EWWWL!)

Detecting Chiggers and Natural Bug Repellent Recipe

So I don't know that I was EVER bit by one of these little devilish puppies until last week. Right on my stomach! It's still there. It still itches. It's awful. So here's the deal. Chiggers are REAL! You can tell whether or not you have a lot in your yard by putting a black piece of paper or cardboard upright in your lawn. In just a few minutes you can check the top and you'll be able to see those little red guys crawling all along the edge. Their size is deceptive and they seem harmless, but they're not and you can't really see them when they're on you. Get more info on them at Wikipedia.

You can protect yourself by using an insect repellent, but with a little baby and a dog. It makes me cringe to think about spraying deet on them. Check out Little House in the Suburbs on making your own bug repellent naturally. I put the recipe below, but she has some good points about frequency of use and such. There are TONS of essential oils that deter specific kinds of bugs, and you can customize yours for the needs in your areas. You can even add in an oil for your pet spray that deters fleas!

DIY Natural Bug Repellent

(Recipe taken from http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2009/06/make-your-own-insect-repellent.html)

1 cup vodka
2 T. aloe vera juice
2 tsp. favorite conditioning liquid oil (soybean, olive, castor, etc.)
1 1/2 tsp. essential oil blend (I use this preblended one)

Combine in a spray bottle and shake before each use. These oils have less staying power than chemicals such as DEET so they need to be reapplied about every 30 minutes or as needed.

You can buy a blend or create your own blend from these oils found to have insect repellent properties.

• Catnip Oil–mosquitoes
• Cedarwood Oil–lice, moths
• Cinnamon Oil–ants
• Citronella Oil–mosquitoes
• Clove Oil–mosquitoes
• Eucalyptus Oil–mosquitoes
• Geranium Oil–flies, mosquitoes
• Lavender Oil–mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, fleas, flies
• Lemongrass Oil–mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, fleas, flies
• Litsea Cubeba–mosquitoes
• Patchouli–gnats
• Peppermint Oil–lice, spiders, ants
• Rosemary Oil–fleas, ticks
• Tea Tree Oil–mosquitoes, lice, ants

Although found in many lists of repellents, I avoid pennyroyal because of its potential toxicity.
All essential oils are best used in dilution. Don’t apply them directly to the skin in full strength.

FREE SoapNuts Giveaway!

FREE Soap Nuts giveaway today at Passionate Homemaking! Enter there to win and check out Lindsey's website for a bunch of other great advice and fun tidbits. You can enter HERE!

From Nature with Love

I found another great website and wanted to share it with all of you. Mountain Rose Herbs is still a favorite, but this is another one where you can get a lot of organic products for household and personal care. Check out FROM NATURE WITH LOVE for tips on soapmaking, essential oils, and even great environmentally friendly and appropriate bottles and containers!

Shoe Organizer = Hanging Herb Garden

Imagine having a vertical herb garden growing on the side of your house. My hubby send me this one. It is SO cool! Check it out at Lifehacker.com and Instructables.

DIY Vintage Herb Labels

Okay, so most of you know that I'm on this natural, herbal kick. So I was SUPER excited to find this tutorial on DIY Vintage Herb Labels on EatDrinkChic. She even has a free download of the labels!

She also has vintage labels for oil, vinegar, teas, and more --> here!

I'm going to try to start making some of my own essential oils next week after I do some picking at Victory Acres. So stay tuned for that herbal adventure! :)

U-Pick Season!

Time to get out there and pick your own fresh fruits and veggies! We went out and picked some fresh blueberries yesterday, and Elliot had a blast, especially when he found a car battery in the middle of the field. SERIOUSLY?! Who does that?! After we moved down a few rows from that hazard, he had fun picking blueberries and definitely decided that the blue ones were better for eating than the green ones!

I'll be getting some more herbs today. The pesto that I posted the recipe for was fantastic! I mixed it with a little Laughing Cow cheese, spread it on some bread, and topped the sandwich off with some cucumbers. SO good!

We've missed the strawberry picking season. But right now, you can do blueberries, green beans, herbs, etc. And we still have raspberries and lots of veggies still to come!

I'm picking up some Kohlrabi from my CSA today. First time to even HEAR of that, but I'm excited to see what we can do with it.

First CSA Experience

My friend Kayla clued me in to this Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement that's sweeping the country. Maybe it's not a movement, maybe it has been going on forever, and I'm just now learning about it. But there is a CSA farm in Upland, where we're moving.

Basically, you buy a share of this farm for a year, and then you get a portion of their harvest during that season. Our season lasts from the beginning of June through October. So we are going to have fresh, organic, locally-grown produce for that amount of time. Our CSA does mostly vegatables and herbs. Then they have pasteur-fed chickens and eggs as well. After you've paid for your share, it equals out to about $1 per pound of vegetables.

So at Victory Acres this is how it works --> You go and check off your name and pick up your veggies and herbs. They have this list of how much of each thing you get, and you get to gather it from these crates and pick which ones you want. This week we had summer squash, red & yellow onions, cucumbers, swiss chard, and basil. If you get a vegetable that you and your family don't particularly like, or you have too much of it, you can take it and leave it in the "swap box." Then if there is anything that you particularly would like more of you can check the "swap box" and just take it. Also, if there is anything they have in over-abudance you can pick as much of it as you want by yourself. This week they had quite a bit of basil, so they supplied pesto recipes and let us go pick a ton of it. We were able to pick basil, oregano, thyme, and chives. Let's just say, my car smelled was a very fragrant vehicle!

I would encourage you to check out a CSA in your area, most people don't even know they exist, but several farms have drop-offs in larger cities too.

Here's the pesto recipe that we'll be trying this week!

Pesto

3 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves

3-4 large cloves of garlic

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup parmesan

Optional: 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts, lightly toasted

Optional: salt & peper to taste

1) Place basil and galric in a blender or food processor and mince well

2) Add nuts, if desired and continue to blend.

3) Drizzle in olive oil as you continue to blend. When you have a smooth paste, transfer to a bowl and stir in parmesan.

4) Season to taste with salt and pepper, refrigerate in an air-tight container.

Pesto is often used with pasta, fish, etc. One of my favorite uses for it is to mix it with cream cheese as a sandwich spread. Enjoy!

Herbal DIY - Part 2

Today, Beth was over and we decided to try a couple little projects. We were inspired by some recipes at www.craftbits.com, but by the time we actually made the items they were far from the recipes that we started with. Here are our two creations:

Miracle Milk

Leave-In Hair Goo

**Leaves hair feeling OH SO soft and manageable**

Mix the following ingredients together and put in an airtight container (We used Gerber baby food jars, painted the lids, and put labels on them).

Use 1/2 tsp. on clean, damp hair, and then style as usual.

3 Tbsp. Good quality Organic Conditioner (we used Aubrey Organics GBP Balancing Conditioner)

1/4 Water

1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Essential Oils (we used Lavendar, Sweet Orange, & Tea Tree)

Elliot's Evening

Bath Bombs

**Soothes baby's senses and skin to prepare them for bed**

Mix dry ingredients. Then slowly mix in wet ingredients and essential oils. Roll into 1" balls and place on wax paper to dry for at least 12 hours.

Run a bath and throw the bomb in to dissolve.

2 Tbsp. Citric Acid

1/4 Baking Soda

Dash of Stevia Leaf Powder for Color

2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1 Tbsp. Jojoba Oil

15-30 drops Essential Oils (we used Lavendar, Sweet Orange & Patchouli)

I'm working on a soap recipe with the soap nuts, but it might take me a few days before I have it down.

My First Original Herbal DIY Tutorial - Deodorant

So...this is my first attempt at making my own herbal recipe. I chose deodorant, because really it is my most pressing need at this time (gross, I know). Since the active ingredient in most deodorants is some form of aluminum zirconium, I decided that I needed another option other than spreading a powdery metallic substance in my armpits. However, going without deodorant is definitely NOT an option.

I am really excited about this! So here is what I did...

First, I cleaned out some old deodorant containers...

Then I took the recipe from PassionateHomemaking and used her ingredients, but altered her method. Since I wanted to add some essential oils, I first melted 6 Tbsp. Organic Virgin Coconut Oil in the microwave, then I added in...

Top Note - 30 drops Orange Essential Oil

(Anti-cancer, anti-depressant, anti-inflammatory. Kills bacteria)

Middle Notes - 15 drops Tea Tree & Lavendar Essential Oil

(TT = Anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal. Kills pain)

(L = Cell regenerator. Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory)

Base Note - 8 drops Patchouli Essential Oil

(Anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal. Cell regenerator)

*For more info on blending essential oils, you can visit Cranberry Lane

After that I added in 1/4 baking soda & 1/4 cornstarch, mixed it up, poured it in the containers and popped them in the freezer, so the oils wouldn't have time to separate or evaporate before the mixture solidified.

While they were solidifying themselves, I made some labels to mod podge on when they were finished.

(Bad Picture...I know)

Voila! Healthy, natural, deodorant. I will probably still sweat, but I will smell lovely doing it (I'm also thrilled to see what this does for those nasty little razor bumps)! :)

In a Nutshell - It's Soap!

I've been undertaking the task of making some of my own cleansing products & bath/body care. However, almost every recipe that I've looked at has lye or glycerin in it, neither of which do I want to use. I have read a good deal of info on it too, and everyone says that you really can't make a sudsy soap or cleaner without lye.

WELL! Look at what I found! :) These Soap Nuts have been used for centuries as a cleaning agent and for personal hygiene because of the substance "saponin" found in large amounts in the shell of this fruit. Our Latin root for soap is "sapo." Interesting, huh?

I'm looking forward to getting my sample of nuts in the mail soon. After I do, I'll post a tutorial on making soap and laundry detergent. For now, you can check out the NaturOli and SoapNuts websites for more info.

I Like to Hike!

Sarah and I went hiking today. It has been awhile since I've been on a good hike, and this was a REALLY good one! Here are some snapshots of our adventure on the Ridge Trail along the Blue Ridge Mountains.

At the beginning of the hike, Ev dropped us off at the "Scenic Overlook" where there was a lone college guy sleeping in 

his car.

Sarah at the Summit! (She is powerful and free!)

Coming down off the mountain!

 

At our special spot - PSALM 19!

Aromatherapy!

Sarah and I went to an Introduction to Aromatherapy seminar yesterday. And it was AWESOME! We learned a lot about essential oils and how to mix them both for pleasure and relaxation and for therapeutic benefits. I purchased a few basic oils and a carrier oil and we were able to mix up one thing for free! There was also a lot about the things to look for and not to look for in ingredients. Basically, most of us slather chemicals, toxins, heavy metals, and plastics on our skin and hair most days - an interesting thing to think about.

Here are some highlights:

• Essential Oils do not have a shelf life until they are mixed with a carrier oil like, sesame, apricot kernel, sunflower, sweet almond, etc. After mixing, you should use the product within 9-12 months. This is why if a product claims to be all natural/organic and has essential oils in it, you should also be able to tell when it was made and when it expires.
• The best oils for decreasing agitation and increasing concentration are a mixture of lavendar and orange.
• Essential oils are actually better for killing germs, bacteria and viruses than most household cleaners, antiseptics, and cold medicines. The best for killing germs in the air or your home is Cinnamon Oil, so you can mix a few drops with a couple tablespoons of water and put it in a diffuser (viruses are actually unable to live in cinnamon oil). Lemongrass is the best deodorizing oil and it is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, so it is good to use as a deodorant or insect repellent. The best ones for your skin are Patchouly and Tea Tree. Patchouly is an anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal oil with properties that actually help with cell regeneration, and Tea Tree is strongly anti-bacterial and anti-fungal with anti-inflammatory and pain killing properties.
• You can use essential oils in a number of different ways, including but not limited to - body oils, facial oils, scalp oils, therapeutic baths, direct inhalation, steam inhalation, compresses, diffusers, facial spritzers, and perfumes.

If you have specific needs and are wondering how essential oils might benefit you, just let me know and I can share some of these resources with you.