Wordless Wednesday

  Thanks to Angry Julie Monday for this great idea!





German chamomile in my garden this summer, with a white sage seedling mixed in for good measure.
(Look closely in the back left.)



Why Make Your Own Salve?

Why take the time to source the ingredients and supplies to make your own salve when you can stop by any drug store or discount store and pick up a commercially prepared remedy for almost any ailment? The same reason you'd make a cake from scratch instead of buying one at the bakery, or grow your own basil to add to your homemade spaghetti sauce. Quality. Freshness. Personal satisfaction. Natural preparations. Knowing exactly where the ingredients originated. Although you may choose to add glycerin or other preservatives, you will have a mixture without cetyl alcohol, socium lauryl sulfate, methylparaben and other chemical ingredients you can't pronounce.

High quality, natural beeswax, pure oils and organic herbs combine to create unique lip balms, skin salves and natural remedies for many conditions. When you use fresh, natural ingredients, whether it's for cooking or personal care preparations, you become more closely connected to the natural world, mitigating many stresses of modern life. You also create something natural and useful for yourself, your family and friends, and contribute to their wellbeing as much as your own. And if you grow the ingredients yourself, you know exactly where they come from, how they look, smell and feel and the environmental conditions that produce them.

Why not try making your own herbal muscle rub instead of buying products like Bengay or IcyHot Patch? Why not add natural, organic vanilla to a small batch of melted beeswax and almond oil to use on your lips this winter? Why not distill 8 ounces of that peppermint in your garden (or from a fresh herb supplier) into a marvelous essential oil to use in your own refreshing foot cream? This autumn season, I'll share simple recipes for these and other easy, useful recipes for natural salves, rubs, creams and lotions that are perfect for your first aid supply, medicine cabinet, personal toiletries and gift giving. They are a perfect way to get your green on and add some natural ingredients to your life!

Garden Regrets

What I grew this year: sweet corn, chocolate tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, yellow squash, lemon balm, cucumbers, potatoes, raspberries, sunflowers, cilantro, horseradish, green beans, white onions, chives, asparagus, jalapeno peppers, green bell peppers, habanero peppers, rue, German chamomile, white sage, kiwi seedlings, cosmos, marigolds, mesclun lettuce, aaaaaaaaaaaaand spinach.

What I wanted to/tried to grow but didn't get to plant or didn't work out: pumpkins, epazote, valerian, soapwort, comfrey, jicama, dill, carrots, motherwort, money plant, indigo, mignonette, eucalyptus, St. John's wort, angelica, parsley, paw paw seedlings, strawberries, shallots, ginger, bronze fennel, snap peas, wheat, millet, Indian corn, big, beautiful, fragrant roses, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand lavender.

I really, really, really want to grow lavender and roses that smell wonderful. I am beginning to realize that I have to prepare a special garden bed for lavender that is dug down at least 3 feet, lined with gravel, and filled with rich loam that has a lot of sand mixed into it to grow lavender successfully in my yard. And roses? I am going to have to spend more than $18 per plant and prepare a special bed  for the kind of roses I want to grow.  Will I make the necessary commitment to do the work and prepare the right growing environment for these 2 special, wonderfully aromatic flowers? Yes! Spring 2012 is in my head right now, mentally making lists of "things to do" for the garden. First up, location, location, location! Where will I prepare the lavender bed and the rose garden? Both need full sun and dedicated space that won't get overgrown by garden neighbors and special bed preparation and the roses need mulch. Oh, so many kinds of mulch...which to use for the special, expensive, beautiful and fragrant roses I will buy next spring? Decisions, decisions.

Autumn is the time of year for garden regrets, wishful thinking about next spring's garden and garden "housework." Harvesting, pulling out browned plants, composting, cleaning out vegetable garden beds, bringing in houseplants from the patio and gazebo, fixing borders, etc., etc., etc. Enjoy the last sunshine and mild temperatures before colder temperatures set in, and keep on gardening, even if it's only in your head!

Natural Eye Cream

 Photo by H. Zell/Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Comfrey, Symphytum officinale, is an herbaceous perennial that is easy to grow in the garden and landscape. It is an attractive green plant with fuzzy leaves and pretty, drooping purple flowers. Comfrey is a useful herb for topical treatments for bruises, sore muscles, achy joints and broken bones. Grow it or get it from a grower, and use it as a natural treatment for aches and pains and bruises.

Make your own natural eye cream to treat dark under-eye circles. It's easy and effective, doesn't involve chemicals that you can't pronounce, and is cheaper than commercial eye creams. You'll need beeswax, oil of your choice, such as olive oil, sunflower oil or almond oil, and fresh comfrey. The best fresh comfrey comes from your own garden or landscape, but you can get it from herbal growers such as Zach Woods Herbs http://www.zackwoodsherbs.com/, or Healing Spirits Herb Farm http://www.healingspiritsherbfarm.com/.

Warm 1 1/2 cups of oil (do not boil) and add 1 cup of fresh comfrey leaves and shaved roots. Gently stir the combination over low to medium heat for an hour. Remove from heat, strain out herbs and set aside. Melt 3 cups of grated beeswax or beeswax beads over medium heat. When melted, remove from heat and add the herbal oil you made earlier. Mix the oil and melted beeswax with a few drops of 100 proof vodka and a few drops of essential oil by whipping them together in a food processor or with a frother until creamy and smooth. The vodka is a natural preservative and the essential oil lightly scents your natural eye cream. Orange, spearmint, lemon and almond essences all work well.

Store your freshly-made eye cream in small cosmetic tins and label them with the date and ingredients. Store the excess herbal oil in a glass bottle or jar and label it. Use it to rub on bruises, dry skin and sore muscles.  Double the recipe to make eye cream for gifts for friends and family.

I Love Lemon Balm

Lemon balm has sprung up in my back yard. Its cheery green leaves have opened up to soak up the sun and they are bigger evey day. I've made my first pot of fresh lemon balm tea and can't wait to make iced green tea and with lemon balm and orange slices on the next hot day. The next sunny, warm Sunday, I plan to make a sweet, crunchy fruit salad with chunks of pineapple, red delicious apples, fresh chopped lemon balm, chopped walnuts and vanilla yogurt.

Hmmm, maybe I'll pot up some lemon balm to take to the farmer's market in town this June...I love lemon balm!

God is Green

I saw a small, round bumper sticker on a van in the library parking lot this afternoon that said "God is Green". That struck a chord with me, it was like a little whisper of fresh green truth. I wanted to stop and take a picture of it with my phone but I was on my bike and there were people and moving vehicles around so it was awkward. I kept pedalling, but thought about how God is Green all the way home.

God is Green in the spring, when all the plants and flowers and trees awaken from their winter rest and start to grow again, sending new leaves and shoots and freshness into the rainy, sunny springtime. God is Green when you see deer from within your car on the way to somewhere you forget for a moment in the awe of seeing those creatures. God is Green because we keep getting another chance to stop polluting our earth, to clean up our acts, to do something worthwhile and good and - green.

Recycle, donate, reuse, repurpose, or just clean up a small part of our shared world and remember: God is Green.

Moneyless? Really?

I like to browse the new books section at the library and this book caught my eye, "The Moneyless Man" by Mark Boyle. For whatever reason, Mr. Boyle became disillusioned or dissatisfied with his life and decided to tryo to live without money for a year, and start a movement along the way. So he sold his houseboat, closed his bank accounts and figured out how to run his laptop by cranking it instead of plugging it in to an electrical outlet and paying an electric bill...  Long story short: he is single, no mortgage, spouse, kids, or dogs to worry about so it was probably relatively easy for him to chuck his way of life and embark on this interesting experiment. And while he did get a mobile home for free he had to go without indoor plumbing and write about going to the bathroom outdoors in the middle of winter, so apparently living without money involves considerable sacrifice. I'm not done reading the book yet but I think the point he's trying to make is that money gets  in the way and ruins things and if we take money out of the deal we can interact on a different, better level, a level of kindness, caring, understanding, cooperation and sharing that doesn't happen when money is involved.  

I've been as preoccupied with money as the next person I guess. Saving it, not spending it, how to generate more of it, the best ways to use it, teaching my kids about the value of it, and trying to figure out how to use/get/make things I and my family need without spending it. I've been trying to figure out how to generate solar and wind power for our home without spending thousands and thousands (or even hundreds for that matter) of dollars, if and how we should try to raise some chickens in the back yard for eggs, recycling and garden control, and how to grow most if not all of our own fruits and vegetables in our little corner of the world without it taking 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

But money is not the real problem. It's time. Will I really be able to incorporate 3 chickens into our lives along with everything else? Can I ever truly get to the point that I and my family recycle everything and work really really hard not to pay for unnecessary packaging that we will just recycle? Can we really keep adding more and more fruits and vegetables to our garden every year along with taking more time and effort to cultivate and harvest them? Even if I love those things, what about real life? What about the other people in my family, the dogs, work, movies, track meets, vacations, school, etc., etc., etc.? How much more time and effort can I squeeze out of every day to do things for my family instead of taking advantage of things that are taken care of with the convenience of money? Do I really have to give up the convenience of money to be able to enjoy and participate in truly important things like growing food for my family and not polluting the earth?  Those are the big questions that I'm trying to find answers for, and I suspect Mark Boyle is too.

Greenery On the Bathroom Shelf

Here are some of my winter green growing things catching the morning light on the shelf in the bathroom. I can't resist planting big fat lemon seeds, or anything with a green shoot that's trying to grow. The garlic was stretching for light so I had to plant it. 

The Future is Green

I just read two very interesting items, one a book and one a magazine article: "The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century" by Dr. Dickson Despommier and "Population 7 Billion" in the January 2011 National Geographic. Both talk about the world's population in different ways, and environmental and food production challenges.

In "The Vertical Farm," Dr. Despommie proposes that growing food plants and producing clean water locally in multistory greenhouse buildings, and even in portable verticle farm units, is the solution to the world's food production challenges. Dr. Despommier envisions the vertical farms as ultra clean units where workers would shower and change into sterile clothing to work inside to protect the food and water produced there from contamination by things like e. coli, salmonella and insect infestations.

In "Population 7 Billion," author Robert Kunzig explores the impact of population growth, poverty, and increasing consumption on the earth's resources. He discusses solutions to poverty, overpopulation and changes and ideas that will be required in the future.

I would love to be able to grow all the food for my family at our home, although we don't live on a farm. I'd love to have a home that can take advantage of solar energy and wind power and not have to pay the gas and electric company.We live in town on less than half an acre, with neighbors on all sides. We are very happy to be within walking distance from a CVS pharmacy, a Dominick's grocery store, local banks, a very good family medical practice, a veterinary hospital, our library and the high school and grade schools. But even so, I'd much rather grow the tomatoes and lettuce for our salads, and a whole year's worth of produce and other food. While it might be possible, it would take a lot more time and effort than we'd be able to give it to make it happen while working full time and taking care of a family.

I spend a lot of time wondering about it, how to make it happen, what it would take to be fully self-sufficient in the midst of modern life. The flip-side of that is that we are all inter-connected, dependent on each other in a myriad of complex ways, so where does self-sufficiency fit into that? "The Vertical Farm" and "Population 7 Billion" offer a lot of ideas about how we will all meet the future, together.

As much as I love my houseplants, I miss the summer garden...

Goodbye 2010...

As the year winds down, I find myself ready to jump into a fresh, green start. Why wait until January 1st? I'm already dreaming about spring 2011, wishing I had some brand new seed catalogs in hand and wondering if I could start some tomato seedlings this week. It's time for HC Greenery, a little bit of green on the web. Welcome 2011 and welcome green friends! Let's get growing!