Gardening 2013 Part 3

In this post you'll read about the new scary addition to our vegetable patch and about how we made a SAFE fungicide and pesticide.

Well, we have had a few set backs. Sigh! One, is the thieving crows and two, is the mildew growing on my zucchini plants.

Set backs, set back, but very educating ones. Firstly, I've needed to expand the little knowledge that I have on gardening, and secondly we get to build our very own custom made scare crow!

The weather has not been the best, little sun and lots of rain. It looks like my garden has taken a long pause and my pea plants have not grown a millimeter since I transplanted them. BIG sigh.

There is not much I can do, but to wait. Wait for the sun, hope the crows stay away and hope I can save my plants from mildew.

Two ways to fight fungus (mildew) on your plants. One is to mix 50:50 ratio water and milk into a spray bottle and spray generously over the leaves. Second is to puree an onion, a head of garlic and 4T cayenne pepper with 4L of water, let it sit for a hour and strain the water into a bucket and then some into a spray bottle. This can be used as both, pesticide and fungicide. Don't spray too wildly with the garlic concoction, it kills the good bugs too. 

Oh, I have a ton of reading to do tonight! I think I just might make it, just maybe. I am slightly hesitant about dreaming of canning our own produce.

Until next time!

Things That Help Me Through a Cold

I want to share with you the things that help me ride out the colds I get.

If I have not been smart enough to take the time and repell them, then this is what I come to. You can read my post on (here) about how to repel the bug!

Let me list them. (For a minor cold)

1. (I swear by this) Neti Pot. I use this 2-3x a day to rinse out my sinuses, and find extreme relief from it. Once you get the hang of it, you won't feel any discomfort whatsoever. I would use this on my kids too, that's how safe it is! More on Neti Pots (here). However, I prefer the Finnish Design best, called the "Sarvikuono" (Rhino).
2. Vitamin- C. I pretty much "O.D" on this. I dissolve the tablets or empty the capsules into my drinking water. I use about 4000-7000 mg a day, untill the cold has passed and then I go down to 1000-2000 a day.
3. Water. Drink a ton of it. 2-4 liters a day. I flush out the toxins and help my cells to work better. Keeping hydrated is important for fighting the bug and keeping the cold short.
4. Peppermint Oil. I usually get "head colds". They affect my top sinuses and give me headaches. I don't like taking Tylenol unless I "have to". I find that peppermint oil rubbed on aching areas help 100%!
5. Hydro-Therapy. Take a hot bath or shower untill you feel sweat pearls on your forhead. While you are in the shower/bath, have cotton socks soaking in COLD water. Come out of the bath, drain the socks and put them on. (Yes, feels awful but bare with me). Put wool socks over your feet. Get dressed into "heavy clothes" such as a sweater, and comfortable trousers. Get into bed, cover your self with warm blankets and go to sleep. You have now kick started your kidneys and liver into super mode and will sweat loads during the night. Your body produces heat to dry the cold wet socks. Do not remove your blanket even if you feel uncomfortable with the heat. You'll feel a hundred times better in the morning.
6. A balloon. Apparently playing with a balloon makes you forget you have a cold, according to my 9month old daughter.

 For a heavy cold, add these as well as the ones above:

1. Ginger. Juice fresh ginger and gurgle with honey and swallow. Ginger is potent, and can  will cause a burning sensation. It is very good for soar throats as it works well for mucus membranes. It is antiviral, antibacterial and anti-imflammatory. One piece of ginger root juiced is enough for a day or two. It's that potent!
2. Garlic. Cut cloves into swallowable pieces. Throughout the day swallow 4-6 cloves of garlic (cut!) with water. Garlic cleans out your blood and has all the above properties as ginger does.
3. Tea. Keep sipping tea! Boil water, add sage, let it simmer and drink it throughout the day. You can add raw unpasteurized honey only after it cools down a bit, else it doesn't add positively to your healing.
4. Become vegetarian and don't eat much cooked food. Putting cooked food down your throat gives your body extra work, especially if it's meat. Your poor body has to give up it's disease fighting enzymes to chop down food that it doesn't need at that time. All the energy goes into healing your body. Pretty smart body you got! Fresh veggies and fruit have their own enzymes and don't take much if any energy away from the healing process.
5. Echinacea and other medicinal herbs. Go to your local health food shop and buy them all! You WILL find great relief from them and add to your health for the future. My personal favourites are

• Oregano Oil
• Grapeseed Extract
• Echinacea
• Bronchosan
• Esberitox  click for info

Last but NOT least: PRAYER and SLEEEEEEEEEEP! Go to your Creator and ask Him to give you the strength to persevere and quick healing. Sweet dreams!

Hope this helps!

Our Family Coconut

I want to share with you HOW we use Coconut oil. We love Coconut oil...

We use coconut oil daily in many ways :

• as body lotion
• as baby lotion
• in the bath water
• in cooking (do note: coconut oil can be bought "smell-free", it won't flavour all your cooking coconutty)
• in baking
• as shaving cream
• as after shave cream
• baby toothpaste
• mouthwash
• medicine
• good omegas
• eliminate bad breath
• in icing
• in salad dressing
• as lip balm
• exfolietor (with sugar)
• make up remover
• conditioner (small amount)
• etc  

Oh and here is another picture of uses for coconut oil, which, we have not tried yet...

Letting Go

A week ago, I started drinking DECAF. For a good week now (and on going), I have had long naps in the middle of the day, have gone to sleep early and haven't wanted to get out of bed the next morning. I still feel this way, perhaps not as severely, but I do feel very tired. I get it. I had tricked my body for months, believing that all was dandy, go go go! I wonder how much harm have I really done to it? I can barely cope with the tiredness. I truly owe my body rest and I plan to give it. If I require 8-10 hrs of sleep per night, then so be it! I have to fit that in and that's just how it needs to be. We were made to live, to work and to REST. Most inportantly, REST in Him.

I cannot be a good wife, mother and homeschooler if I am always dragging along the floors, doing and giving my minimum. 

If we need to eat or drink substances that give us false energy and rob us from our minerals, vitamins and... LIFE, we really should not be doing it. I truly believe that there are foods and natural drinks that give a natural pick-me-up effect with NO side effects.

I personally like the taste of coffee, I just don't need the caffeine to go with it. I am looking into giving up decaf too and swapping it to a coffee-red reishi brew. The red reishi eliminates 97% of the toxins and caffeine in the coffee and it becomes beneficial. This is awesome! More on that later!

Also, we all know how bad sodas are for us, but why do we "gladly" pour this "toxic drink" down our throats and think we can get away with it? We are so DUMB! We won't get away with it, our bodies don't know what to do with it!!!!! No wonder our hormones and bodies are out of whack! And out of whack isn't even the worst case... so sad. You oughta swap the ring pull or bottle cap to a spray nossle and sanitize the dirtiest corner in your house because it kills EVERYTHING.

Please include attribution to TermLifeInsurance.org with this graphic.

Empty Fridge, Oh Bliss! No Unnecessary Organizing Part 3

When you go to your fridge to have look, you open the door, see it packed with tons of jars and bags of something, a few tupperware containers with something in them, left overs, bit and bats, but there's nothing for you to eat, or you cannot see anything you can cook with? You know, your door is filled with small jars, quarter empty, bottles of dressings and what not, but you can't see the wood for the trees? Not only that, but you see pieces of dried up onion peel in nooks and crannies? a sticky spill?

Here me out! This is the time for you to start fresh! No need to plan your next week's meals according to the random ingredients which have lingered in your fridge for months, ( really would you want to cook with a food" which doesn't go bad? ) Get rid of it, toss it out, start fresh! I am going to give you a few rules of thumb of what to chuck out and a recipe for a non toxic fridge cleaner!

Rules of thumb:

• If you haven't used it for a few months, chuck it out. When and IF you really really need it, make fresh or spend the penny to buy "fresh"... you don't want to store jars of random pickles and salsas for months. You'll end up with a hall of fame jar-landia.
• read the ingredients, if there is more than 2 ingredients that you cannot pronounce or know what they are, toss it, just toss it! Go back to basics, to ingredients which won't "cause cancer". Natural.
• If the food product has it own TV commercial, toss it, just get rid of the devil! 

Recycle the jars and containers according to your local recycling instuctions. Empty the fridge, Categorize in the simplest way that you can really, in all honestly, follow through with. Keep the meat away from your fresh produce. Make sure your fridge looks more colourful than "beige", this way you know you're eating healthy(er). Store in glass containers, see this blog post for why you ought to! 

Fridge Cleaner Spray

•  warm water
• 1 tbsp bicarb (baking, washing soda)
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 drops of cinnamon oil (lovely scent, super bug killer, antifungal etc)

1. mix the oil and vinegar first in a spray bottle
2. add the bicarb
3. then fill up with water

Empty your fridge, spray scrub, wipe down. Fill up your fridge. Be picky, think twice. Cut a lemon in half and place it in the back of your fridge for freshness.

Enjoy!

DIY Laundry Whitener

I am so happy to discover a non-toxic, non-smelly laundry whitener! After some research and tries of my own, I have come to the conclusion that these ( below) are the best ways that work for us! 

The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/05/laundry-tip-whiter-whites-naturally.html

DIY Tooth Paste

I've been wanting to post about DIY Tooth Paste for so long now but, I had to go through some trials and errors before I could.

I found a recipe online for DIY T-P and ordered the ingredients online. After about 2 weeks, I finally received the last potion for my toothpaste I could now give it a try. Well, to my dissapointment the toothpaste was horrid! I couldn't finish my teethbrushing and with the few first strokes I nearly vomited! It was BAD (for me).

I then did some research and came up with a *cathy version* yet a healthy version!

Ingredients

• 2 T Coconut Oil
• 2 T Baking Soda
• 1 T Magnesium-Calcium Powder (emptied approx. 8 capsules)
• 1/4 C fruit flavoured TUMS (grinded) -it's calcium! (optional)
• 2 T xylitol powder
• 10 g stevia powder
• 20 drops of peppermint oil (other minty oils are available)
• 10 drops of trace minerals  

verdict: Good enough. :)

DIY Citrus Cleaner

A few weeks ago my friend Heidi (blogger of House Wife University) gave me this link for DIY Citrus Cleaner. I am a big fan of non-toxic homecare, and not only does it save our pennies but it saves the planet too. Come to think of it, if my kids happened to drink it, I wouldn't have to call 911. Chemical based cleaning products today are extremely toxic and cause all sorts of illnesses from asthma to migraines.

It's tough on grime, tough on scum, antibacterial and has a pleasent smell. Very easy to make! 

Ingredients

a mason jar or container with tight fitting lid

orange or any citrus peel

quart of white vinegar

spray bottle (for later use)

water

After eating a few oranges, save the peels and place them into the jar/container with the vinegar. Close it tightly and leave to sit for 2 weeks. Two weeks later, discard the peels and fill a spray bottle with half of the vinegar solution and half water.

Excellent! Give it a go!

I am going to try this with lavender, lime, mint, cinnamon sticks, and whatever I can come up with that is antibacterial and has a pleasent smell.

Home Made Baby Wipes

I have made these a couple of time now. I must admit, I like them. I find them, not only money saving, but also eco-friendly.  I don't use an icecream bucket, instead, I do it the "hard way" by folding the papers on top of eachother and placing them in an empty baby wipes container. I also do not own an electric knife as of yet, so I have actually been sawing the rolls into two with a bread knife :)

Homemade Baby Wipes
A recipe that the Duggars learned from Gil and Kelly Bates, parents of 18--soon to be 19--children (as of December 2011).

• Using an electric knife, if available, cut an entire roll of paper towels lengthwise into two separate rolls. Each will be about the size of a toilet paper roll. The Duggars have tried other brands but have found Bounty to work best. 
• Combine 2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol, and 2 tablespoons of baby oil in a mixing bowl. For extra softness and a sweet scent, add a tablespoon of infant bubble bath. 
• Place one half-roll of paper towel vertically in a clean, 1-gallon container, such as an ice cream bucket. 
• Drizzle the liquid mixture over the paper towel roll. 
• Cut an X-shaped slit into the lid of the container, and place it securely on top of the bucket. 
• After 30 minutes, open the lid and remove the cardboard tube  
• To prevent the wipes from drying out, keep the lid on at all times. 
• Feed the first wipe, from the inside of the roll, through the X-shaped slit for easy access.  

Recipe Rephrased and Reformatted. Original Recipe Source: "The Duggars: 20 and Counting!" by Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar (Howard Books).