Spring Garden

I've got a broccoli crown that is just started to grow, carrots that can be harvested to make room, or wait until they get a bit larger, pea & cucumber seedlings ready for transplant next week, & strawberries starting to grow. A friend of mine mentioned pollinating the strawberries as he had a hard time with them before, but we have so many bees buzzing around our plum trees out back it hasn't been an issue.
The plant seedlings were not organic, but the growing methods are. I know that still does not make my food 'organic' but I feel better knowing my food only needs a good rinse when it comes out of the garden.

Bees- they buzz around, collecting pollen and sometimes stinging people. There are usually bumble bees out buzzing around me while I garden, and I make sure to give them space. They are tending to my plants making sure the flowers get pollinated. I have always liked bees and since I eat a lot of local honey my allergies aren't even half as bad as my boyfriend's-who hardly sweetens stuff.
If I ever reach my goal and live on my own land my main priorities will be my garden and my bees. I want to keep bees to extract their delicious honey in the spring and fall. I have read up about bee keeping and it seems like something I would really enjoy. Not only that but it will definitely be an income earner for my 'farm' and I can focus on having a garden purely for sustaining my 'family' and not having to stress and mess with large quantities of organic produce.

Easy Beeswax Lotion

'Nana Puddin'

I wanted to find an easy lotion to make that required few all natural ingredients, and after searching I finally found on A Sonoma Garden blog.
I cut the recipe in a quarter as I don't go through lotion too fast. I also used Jojoba oil instead of olive, but I think a mixture of the two would be lovely. Mine came out very yellow so I call it "Nana Puddin" cause it looks like banana pudding.

Its really as easy as 1-2-3

Ingredients in Nana Puddin~
1/4 cup Organic Jojoba oil (purchased on ebay)
2 Tbs Organic coconut oil (Earth Fare)
.5 oz Organic Beeswax (purchased in 1 oz bars on Amazon)
2 caps Vitamin E oil (any store)
5 drops essential oil

I mixed the lotion already in the glass Ball jar by placing a wire rack directly over a pot of boiling water. You can also try a double boiling method and pouring into your container, or follow the directions on A Sonoma Garden. Once its all melted and combined, remove from heat and allow to cool until room temperature. Whip it with a fork every 15 minutes or so to keep it all combined. Once its at room temperature add the vitamin E oil and essential oil for fragrance.

The batch I made today has 5 drops of Sweet Orange essential oil but usually I leave it scent free and enjoy the honey coconut scent it naturally has.

I chose jojoba oil because it supposedly has properties similar to oils naturally found on our skin, so its easily absorbed and good for sensitive skin. So far its great for my skin, which can be very sensitive.

DIY Toothpaste

6 parts baking soda + 1 part hydrogen peroxide + 1 part vegetable glycerin + flavor

I used peppermint extract. Brushing my teeth with this makes them squeeky clean, when I ran out I felt duped after brushing with a commercial brand~ I still felt plaque on my teeth. After using this recipe I do not have any plaque on my teeth after brushing, same tooth brush and all.

Broccoli FTW

I did very well with growing broccoli this winter. In the deep south this mild winter rarely lead to freezing temps. The 4 broccoli plants I grew from young plants at Lowe's yielded a large broccoli crown each, and very many florets. Some of them flowered and I still ate them raw in salads and on veggie sandwiches. I read that once they flower they are inedible... but when ate some like this and I was fine... The broccoli leaves are also edible and I've found a few recipes online but have not tried. Now I have 9 very happy young broccoli plants growing in my potting mix and compost I got from a neighbor. Strawberries are also surviving the cool nights well in the middle of the broccolis, and a young carrot harvested was delicious and told me they still need another month or two before they're full grown.
I also planted a tomato today, the small cherry kind because those did best in the buckets last year; and 5 bell pepper plants.

We may be on the road again soon. And when that happens I don't want to abandon my garden. So I am looking at buying a trailer and building up sides, drilling holes in the floor and putting my soil and garden in that. I will garden in square feet so I can easily determine how much I can grow. I have a design laid out and seeing on craigslist the one I'm looking for can come inexpensive so I look forward to practicing (on a small scale) a gardening style that was practiced successfully by native Americans.

Zuni Gardens, Curtis

Soothing Deoderant

I've had a deodorant recipe from the Bust magazine sitting around for about 3 years, so I finally made some. I ordered organic cocoa and shea butter online, the rest I had at home.

In a double boiler melt 3 Tbsp Shea butter, 3 Tbsp baking soda, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch or arrowroot powder, 2 TBsp cocoa butter and 2 vitamin E oil gel caps together. Mix it together good and when its liquified remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator. When it is at room temp (before it hardens) add essential oil of your choice I added 15 drops, you can add anywhere from 10-20.

Be careful with changing the recipe to a smaller amount. I scaled it down to a quarter amount to put in a decorative tin I had. I must have squeezed a little bit too much vitamin E oil as my armpits turned red and irritated. This did not happen with the above batch. Vimatin E and the essential oils act as preservatives, which can irritate skin (esp sensitive skin) if used too much. I've had the above batch a month and a similar recipe found online yeilded about 3 to 4 months of freshness. So I would scale it down to half if using alone, and to the full amount if sharing.

My first batch a mixed 10 drops Eucalyptus with 5 drops Lemon grass for an androgynous scent which both my boyfriend and I enjoy.