Give Away!!!

If you are new to my blog, welcome and thanks for stopping by! I wanted to create this blog, not only to share my experiments with making my own natural products and dabbling with homeopathic remedies, but also to meet other people with the same interests.

I would love to hear your story! How long have you been living this lifestyle and what was it that turned you on to it? Or maybe you are just starting to develop an interest, what made you want to give it a try? I would love to hear alternative ideas and suggestions, recipes you love or hate, and topics you would like to see me post about in the future! (Any comments on this post answering those questions will also get you an entry in the contest mentioned below!!!)

Some post topics to look forward to: 
essential oils
reusing items around the house that you would normally throw away
food recipes
herbal remedies
juicing recipes
and of course home made, all natural beauty and hygienic products

If you aren't already aware, Wall-to-Wall Books (aka my mom) is doing a give away on her blog to win this book:

To Enter to Win:

- Comment on two different posts from my blog

- Sign up to be a follower

- Sign up for email alerts

Doing one of the above will get you one entry!

Doing two will get you two entries

Doing all three will get you three entries!

When you have made your entry, make sure you go to 

Wall-to-Wall Books 

and fill out the form in order to make your entry valid! 

Thanks for coming and I'm looking forward to meeting/getting to know you all!

Cilantro Window Garden

Remember the green onions I posted about a few weeks ago?

This is what they look like now, and we have been cutting and regrowing them every couple of days! I knew this would happen and I am still amazed at the rate of regrowth!

Anyway... you can apply the same method to cilantro! 

Put the Cilantro roots in a jar of water. Place the jar in a sunny spot and change the water every couple of days. 

The Cilantro does grow at a slower rate than the onion, but look how much it has grown in just a few weeks. Once the plant gets big enough you will be able to prune the leaves regularly to use for cooking without causing harm to the growth process of the plant. 

Aloe Face Cream

You've probably heard of Aloe Vera gel, most likely while looking for a sunburn remedy, but did you know Aloe Vera can also be used as an acne fighting moisturizer? The gel inside the leaves of the Aloe plant has natural healing properties and regenerates damaged tissues without harming sensitive skin.

Aloe Face Cream Recipe:

3 - 4 medium sized Aloe leaves

1 Tablespoon Base Oil* 

1 Tablespoon of distilled water

1/2 Tablespoon of Witch Hazel

2-4 drops Vitamin E oil

2-4 drops Tea Tree oil

*see list below of which oil to use for your skin type

 

Step 1

Remove the gel from the leaf. If you don't know how to do that, click here for a great (and slightly adorable) tutorial. Of course our leaves are much, much smaller than his, but same technique is applied.

Step 2

Rinse the sticky, yellow, gooey stuff (also known as aloin) from your gel. This goop is not harmful but has a gross smell and can be irritating to the skin. (It actually can be used as a laxative.)

Step 3

Put the Aloe gel in a blender (I used a bullet), add the rest of your ingredients and blend! Pour mixture in a jar and VOILA: face cream. Store jar in refrigerator. In theory this mixture should stay good for 6 - 8 months but you will most likely use it up before that point.

*Base Oils for your skin type
Acne Prone : Hazelnut or Sunflower oil

Oily Skin: Sunflower, Grapeseed, or Almond Oil
Normal Skin: Jojoba, Grapeseed or Apricot Kernel Oil
Dry Skin:  Apricot Kernel or Avocado Oil

If you are planing on using an oil based face cream for the first time, you might find that you have an oily film on your skin. I added the witch hazel for this reason, but you can also let the cream soak into your skin for a few minutes and then wipe off any excess oils with a clean towel. If you find the excess oil is causing you to break out (the very thing we are trying to remedy) then just play around with using different oils, different combinations, and different amounts. If the oils are truly bothering your skin but you still want the healing effects of Aloe Vera, just blend the gel into a paste and use that as an acne fighting agent without adding any moisturizing ingredients.

Conditioner Treatment

Hello everybody, here is my homemade Conditioner recipe. It is very rich in oils so I wouldn't use it as a regular conditioner but rather as a bi-weekly or monthly treatment.

Coconut Conditioner Recipe:

1 cup organic coconut milk

1 Tablespoon Jojoba Oil

10 Drops Pure Vitamin E Oil

2 Drops Essential Oil of your choice

Warm the coconut milk on the stove (don't boil).

Once the coconut milk is warm, add the Jojoba Oil and Vitamin E Oil, mix well. 

Pour the mixture into a bottle.

Yup, it's that easy. Here's how to use it:

Apply conditioner to damp hair. Massage thoroughly into the ends of the hair and scalp. (If you have extra oily hair you can skip the scalp and just use the conditioner for the ends of your hair). Let the conditioner sit in your hair for several minutes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water, shampoo lightly and rinse again with cool water.

Shampoo Recipe

You know those commercials that show a before shot of a dry poofy frizzed out head of hair, and then an after shot of silky smooth hair that probably took hours of styling and loads of professional and damaging products to achieve that "all natural healthy look"... well here is a recipe that will actually achieve that look with out the products and professionals and chemical dependency.

Shampoo Recipe
1 cup distilled water
1/4 cup Liquid Castle Soap
1 Tablespoon Lemongrass (dried)
1 Tablespoon Henna (because I have red hair and would like to keep it red)
2 drops Essential Oil (fragrance of your choice, I used peppermint)

 Put your herbs in a 10 -12 oz glass jar. Bring the water to a boil, pour it into the jar with the herbs, seal the jar and wait 10 - 20 minutes. (Be careful, the jar gets HOT)

Strain the herbs out and pour the water into a bowl. Add the Liquid Castle Soap, you can use the unscented kind, here I used almond. Stir well. Add your drops of essential oil for added fragrance. Stir well.

Pour mixture into a bottle of your choice. I recycled an empty shampoo bottle. This Shampoo will be very watery and thin and will not lather like store bought shampoo but will clean more effectively. Since your hair has been dependent on chemical shampoos for so long, it has been stripped of it's natural oils on a daily basis and therefore has been trained to produce more oils to stay hydrated. Because of this, your hair will probably be extra oily and maybe even greasy for about a month after switching to homemade Shampoo. I added a little witch hazel to my mix, but you can also rinse with Apple Cider Vinegar to reduce the oily film.

Different herbs will produce different results. I used Lemongrass because it has natural cleaning properties and henna because I have dyed red hair and henna will give your hair a red tint. Below are a list of some herbs that you might want to consider for your own hair type. You don't have to use any or you can use a few, the combination is up to you and the measurements can be played with. This is your own recipe, so experiment and have fun!

For Dry Hair: Comfrey Root, Avocado or Grape Seed Oil

For Normal Hair: Dandelion, Clover, Horse Tail

For Oily Hair: Watercress, Strawberry Leaf, Lemon Grass

For Shine: Egg, Raspberry , Nettle, Vinegar

For Manageability: Yogurt, Beer

For Dandruff: Comfrey, Nettle, Peppermint, Vinegar

The following herbs will help you maintain a certain color, again everyone's hair is different so you'll need to experiment with combinations and measurements to find what works for you.

For Blonde: Chamomile, Lemon Peel, Honey, Lemon Juice, Calendula

For Brunette: Sage, Lavender, Cinnamon, Cloves, Rosemary

For Red: Henna, Calendula, Red hibiscus, Cinnamon, Beets

For Black: Indigo, Lavender, Sage


If you try this recipe please comment with your experience and an alterations you may have made! : )

Re-Grow Your Own Green Onions

My first experiment proved to be quite simple and only required a one time purchase of green onions. (make sure the roots are still attached)

After you chop the greens off, put the roots in a glass of water. Change the water every couple of days and you will begin to see new growth.

They will grow just fine in their glass and don't require sunlight, although I have mine sitting on the kitchen windowsill. However, if you feel the need to pot them (as I did with a few below) feel free to do so.

I have three small jars with two or three green onions in each, and 5 plants in one pot. They regenerate so quickly that I don't anticipate ever being in want of green onions again. You may chop and regrow, chop and regrow to your heart's content.

Happy Growing!

Turning over a new me, using the same old leaves that have existed for thousands of years

This is going to be a blog about that fad we all hear about and some of us strive to accomplish: going green

I will post weekly updates (hopefully... I don't have the best posting track record) on my attempts to grow my own herbs, create my own recipes, and make my own organic health and beauty products. This is going to be a learning process for me and I'm hoping through experiment and research I can establish a new way of life for my husband and I.

I would love feedback from people who have already achieved this lifestyle and have helpful advice; or from people who, like me, are taking the leap into going green. Join me as we learn together how to live off the land and eliminate the use of chemicals in our bodies.

Thanks for reading and please be sure to share and follow my blog!