Lotion

L and I get eczema and years ago I discovered that Shea butter gets rid of it. However, Shea Butter by itself isn't very easy to rub into the skin. That's when I started experimenting to make something that I could rub into our skin easier. After researching different oils and how to make lotion, I came up with my own special blend.

Little batches seem to work best for me, but I love what I came up with. I found that it also heals those cracked, dry, flip flop wearing heals.

One of my friends noticed my soft feet and wanted some lotion for herself. She found these adorable jars at World Market. I absolutely love them!

Now I have eczema free, baby soft feet and lotion that we love around here!

To make my lotion, I take equal parts of Coconut Oil* and this Unrefined Shea butter. I mix that up until it is a uniform consistency and add in a little almond and avocado oil. The almond and avocado oil are about 1/2 parts of the Shea butter. This seems to give me the best creamy consistency without adding beeswax.

This lotion works best after an olive oil and salt scrub on the feet. For eczema, I will put the creamy lotion on the eczema patch about 3 times a day. If you are able to wrap the patch after putting on this cream, even better.

*I buy such a big coconut oil because I also use it in cooking every day. Pancakes are so much better with a little coconut oil in the pan then butter. Or any baking recipe that calls for oil, I always use coconut oil.

Dinner from the Garden

This is one of the reasons I LOVE summer...

All those fresh veggies. They sure look yummy. Too bad they weren't all perfect. The lemon cucumber wasn't quite right and the regular cucumber I let grow too long. I was waiting to see if it was a lemon cucumber and if it was going to change colors. Obviously, it was not!

Isn't this a lovely garlic from the garden?

I was so excited when I saw how big the cloves were. I need to make roasted garlic with one of them.

I put the garlic with some olive oil in this butternut squash that was given to me out of another garden. Mine are not growing yet. I really hope that changes soon because I really love this stuff and because of the hard skin it keeps all winter long. Anyway, I bake it at 375 until it's soft and it is so, so good.

Here is my favorite salad made with all the summer veggies. I have the peppers, red onion, and carrots from the garden then I added some avocado, lettuce, feta cheese and almonds. I tossed it all together and added Trader Joe's Cranberry Walnut Gorgonzola Salad Dressing, my favorite! The only thing missing was the cucumbers.

To go with my salad and butternut squash, I made teriyaki meatballs, bell peppers and onions.

It was a delicious dinner!

Mostly all organic. The meat, avocados, cheese and dressing were not organic, but the rest was.

Did I make you hungry? :-)

Kristen

What's growing and not growing...

We planted our spring garden I think a little over a month ago. So, it should be growing like crazy by now. We had some issues with the watering and our corn flowered way too soon, the squash didn't grow and I lost some of the tomatoes. Now that we got it all straightened out, I think we are finally growing strong. Maybe another month and I can start posting organic recipes. 

Anyway, here is what is growing and not growing...

Some of the onions are looking good, some are kind of small. There is an elephant garlic down there and 2 regular ones. I'm letting them dry out to see how they turned out. I sure hope the elephant garlic turned out. I love roasted garlic.

This is the biggest onion I have EVER seen!

This is the second year for our strawberries. They usually get eaten by the rolly pollies, but then a squirrel found it's way into our garden by a hose that was left draped over the little fence. That darn squirrel ate ALL of our strawberries, even ones that were not ripe. But, once I took the hose away, the squirrel can't get in so we have beautiful strawberries again. Also, for some reason, there are a few less rolly pollies. If you have a good trick to get rid of the rolly pollies PLEASE, please tell me. Organic though.

We have 3 artichoke plants, one was amazing grew so fast and then it started to do terrible. The plant was turning black and the artichokes were misshapen. Today I discovered it was aphids! I kept thinking that, but didn't see any. Well, it's the green kind on a green plant, of-course I didn't see any! I sprayed Neam oil today and every day I'm just going to blast them off with the hose. That should work.

At least the plant that wasn't doing so good is doing much better now and I have this beauty...

Here are the peppers. Much better so far then last year. I still need some shade. I'm thinking another basil plant.

Since my other corn planted with my squash and beans didn't do so well, Mr. C planted a bunch more off on their own. Now I get to "watch my corn pop up in rows." Ha, ha! I just had to say that. Yes, I am a country fan much to the disappointment of my husband.

Here is a very sad tomato plant. Who needs tomatoes anyway...

Ok, I suppose I can use them for cooking. This one is doing much better with more water.

And, that is how my garden is growing. It's on it's way to getting better. This is what I have been working on instead of sewing. I weeded SO much this morning and got covered in aphids. I can't stand those little things.

Kristen

Eggs!

Woo-who! I went out to pet the chickens this afternoon about 12:30. I didn't check their roost this morning because I do every day and when I peaked in the hole to see who was hiding, Honey was in there. Then I remembered I got 2 new chickens yesterday. The white one, the frizzle to the right of her and the other one in the middle behind the white one.

So, I opened the door and guess what I found in this little basket?

Yep, you guessed it, eggs! 3 to be exact. I am so excited, even more then my kids are. Little C said, "Ah-oh, I hope it wasn't a rooster that laid those eggs." He knows we have to get rid of the roosters.

We are on our way to not buying eggs anymore, that's saving 4-8 dollars per week! Organic eggs are expensive and we usually go through 2 dozen a week. Yes, these little eggs are a bit small, but our chickens are barley 6 months old. I am assuming as they grow, so will the eggs, at least a little and if they don't we have 8 chickens to make up for the size.

Kristen

Artichokes

I love food fresh from the garden. The other day we had this...

It ended up here a couple nights later...

Then it found it's way here...

And here...

And finally became this...

It's amazing how much better fresh from the garden food tastes. These artichokes had so much flavor. L's plate was completely empty after dinner, she kept saying, "Mommy, I want more artichoke, I need more food." I love hearing that when it comes to fresh organic veggies.

It was originally little C's idea to plant the artichokes, he has been waiting and waiting till we can eat them. Needless to say he was very excited.

Here is a little tip for those organic gardeners out there that are also having trouble with earwigs. When you cut the artichoke off, tap it upside down first, then look inside the petals (or what ever you call them) for any earwigs hiding, knock those out, then soak it in a bowl of water before you refrigerate. This so far has keep me from finding earwigs roaming around my refrigerator or finding a surprise little extra protein in our meal.

Earwigs and rolly polly's (woodlice) are the worst! I can not figure out how to get rid of them yet. If you have any tips for me, I'd love to hear it.

Kristen

Chickens

Well, it turns out 2 of our chickens were roosters. It started last weekend, Mr. C thought he heard the singing of a rooster at 6 am. I slept right through it and couldn't understand how he "thought" it was a rooster. You either hear a bock or a cock-a-doodle-doo. 2 days later I heard it, it was definitely a rooster. Mr. C went out there to see who it was and the little boogers were in the roost. Couldn't see them. Yesterday, I snuck up on them, peaked through the hole at the top and saw 2 singing. BUMMER! We started with 4 and now were down to 1. Our white one got taken away by a Red Tailed Hawk.

I called the very nice lady we got the chickens from and she said to bring them back and get new. Today we went with 2 roosters and came back with 5 more chickens! Don't we have such a pretty flock?

Too bad it wasn't just that easy to get them in the coop. I had the carrier outside the coop waiting for little C to go potty. L comes out and opens the door when my back is turned. I hear, "Mommy, L let the chickens out!" WHAT?! I look and 3 chickens are scattering all over. We not have a nice enclosed small yard. We live on about an acre of land. This was not an easy task getting them back in.

I'm trying to gather them into one area barking orders at the kids to help me and get their dad. Finally they come walking over as I'm yelling, "Did you tell daddy the chickens are out?"
C responds, "Yes."
Me as I've got my arms spread bending over trying to heard in the chickens: "Where is he?"
C says calmly, "Over there."
Me: "Over where? Outside?"
C: "Yes"
Me: "Did you tell him to come?... Then I yell at the top of my longs his name!

So, Mr C comes over asking what happened before he jumps into action. Like we really have time for the discussion of what actually happened! The point is I need help or we are going to loose 3 of our new chickens that don't know where their home is and who are running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

Eventually it becomes me chasing down the chickens. I thought that I could just chase them right into the coop so I asked little C to go to the door and open it. By open it I meant wait there and open when it's time. I guess I should have been a little more clear to a 5 year old because I see Robin running out of the coop! Oh my goodness! Luckily, Robin is our only original chicken left and she knows where her home is. She also knows what corn is when I toss it at her. The new ones just ran further away. We got Robin back in the coop pretty quickly then I was off to capture the others.

Finally, after running all over the place, get to where I can grab one, she is kind of cornered. I step, reach and go tumbling down! I get back up and I'm not sure if she is looking at me because I looked crazy or she is confused by what just happened. But, she is still there a just bit further, so I quickly step a little closer to reach again, but my foot landed on a fallen orange from the tree and slid all the way till I was down in the splits and the chicken was gone. That was this girl that looks like she has a hat.

I did eventually manage to get her. Yes, it was me that grabbed her and all the rest while Mr. C was doing some chasing or blocking and laughing. Little C and Mr. C named her Alice.

This pretty girl, well hopefully girl, is Daisy (my name choice). She is one that got out. I got her just as she ran out from under the trailer. Mr. C scared her out from the other side and I grabbed. She got out of my hands, but I grabbed again. She is a beauty!

This little one here is Snowy. Little C said the white on the tips of her feathers looks like snow so he wanted to call her Snowy.

The last one we caught was Honey II. One of our Roosters we named Honey because of her honey color. She is a honey colored frizzle like the chicken above. I didn't get a good picture of her because she kept hiding behind the others. But she was the most wild. I tried to get her over to the coop in the beginning, but she just ran to the other side of the house on top of the wall that has a huge drop on the other side. I was worried she'd go down there, so I left her alone to calm down. After the first 2 were in, we went and found her at the other side of the house waiting to go in. Mr. C suggested we let her in, then it might be easier to catch her... Yeah, right! and get poop all over my house?! I don't think so.

She was running and flying all around and she flew right in-between our back door and laundry room door. HA! Trapped, cornered. I grabbed and put her in the coop. I was pooped after that. There was my cardio for the day.

Now that we have 6 chickens that are safely in their coop, no broken bones on my end, hopefully we will have some eggs and no roosters. Those chickens are not getting let out for at least a month now.

Kristen

Hummus

We love hummus around here and it's so darn expensive for how fast we go through it. I thought making my own would be just as good and a little cheeper.

I sure was right!

Here is what I needed for the original recipe + a cucumber. I didn't like the cucumber hummus so I omitted it and added more garlic.

Recipe:

1/3 c tahini sause

1 can garbanzo beans

1 T olive oil

1/2 c lemon juice

4 cloves garlic

1 t garlic powder

I blended it all together and it needed a little something more, so I added Franks Red Hot sause, red pepper and a tad garlic salt and paprika. Much better!

Here is the final recipe. I don't really measure when I cook so amounts are guestimated.

Hummus:

1/3 c tahini sause

1 can garbanzo beans

1 T olive oil

1/2 c lemon juice

4 cloves garlic

1 t garlic powder

1 t Franks Red Hot

1/4 t red pepper

sprinkling of garlic salt

sprinkling of paprika

For some reason my kids are pretending to swim in the house today. It's actually cold out today. C is trying the hummus with a white carrot from the garden.

L already ate up her hummus and is now having a "Daddy Shake."

It must be good!

How could I resist putting this picture up of L waiting for me to make the hummus.

Since I showed you the "Daddy Shake" that we have almost daily, I'll give you another recipe...

Daddy Shake

1 banana

4 oz oat milk

hand full rolled oats

spoon full of peanut butter

3-4 ice cubes

Variation: add a scoop of choc, honey or agave. My kids like it with or without the other stuff. I usually add honey though.

I hope you like it as much as we do! Oh, but I won't drink the shake. Peanut butter and banana is just wrong!

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The Garden is Planted

I am SO excited! I have been waiting and waiting for the huge plant sale at the arboretum. Finally, this weekend it was here.

Here is what my planter boxes have looked like since we got a huge truck full of soil that we had to shovel into the boxes.

At least I have some other stuff growing in the garden all year.

We just planted this a few months ago. I actually planted 3, but this is the only one that really took off. The other two are small.

Lots of onions and some garlic.

I got to the arboretum by about 10:30 and it was already a good 85 degrees. That's ok, I just wanted all my organic veggie plants. Once we got in I went straight to the organic booth.

All in all, I ended up with 48 plants for about $56. I know it doesn't look like 51 plants, but some of those like the pole beans have 4 or 5 in one container. They are pretty easy to split.

Here is my first planter box, remember the peppers? Well, I got one more and added some basil and garlic to the box. The garlic didn't transplant well so it doesn't look so pretty. I also added one more pepper. A yellow one.

You can click on that picture to see the 5 bush beans in one little container. :-) That is so exciting.

In this box, I have 12 corn, 8 pole beans and 4 cucumbers.

Here I have, 1 crimson watermelon, 5 bush beans, 1 muskmelon, 1 zuccini, 2 butternut squash, 1 squash with a hard green outer shell and the rest I don't know because Mr. C planted them and didn't keep the tags. So, it will be a surprise. But there are 16 plants in all. So fun! I will have to show pictures in a month so you can see the growth. I just learned that the butternut and other squashes with the hard outer skin will keep all winter long. I hope I get a ton.

Here are 5 tomatoes, 3 celery (transplanted), 2 peanut plants and 1 egg plant. I am totally excited about the peanut plants. They will be very fun!

Last, I have these 2 cucumbers that Mr. C is trying. It's a new self watering space saver thing. So far, so good.

Can't wait to see it grow and eat it up!

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