Scrub away your worries

I am going to start by asking a question.

How do you wash your face?

Most of you will probably answer with the name of some product that you have bought from a drugstore, department store or other private beauty retailer.

Have any of you thought about the science of washing your face. What you are actually doing to it.
most cleansers are chock full of synthetic chemicals that are put together in a way that break through whatever you have on your face and then strip it of all it's natural oils and moisturizers. If you have oily skin, like me, along with acne, large pores, and sensitive skin, then again you are like me. Even if you are not, this is still something to read on about.

One key to healthy glowing youthful skin is to use a scrub to slough away all the dead skin cells that clog up our lovely faces and make us look drab. You may have one of those days when your makeup is just not going on as well as usual or you had a late night and are in serious need of a mini facial.

Well here is my solution. Tried and true. I have fought with product after product and finally decided to do a little research and make something of my own.

What I learned is that the best way to clean your face is to break down "like" with "like". Oil with oil.

It may seem a little crazy but, the no soap, no foamy way I have been cleansing has greatly reduced so many issues that I can't sing it's praises loud enough.

Part of the answer in the equation has been, Da da da da......Cleansing Grains.

That's where I lose you and your face contorts in disbelief and you say "Whaaaaa is she talking about?"

Well it does double duty as a scrub and cleanser. Gentle enough for daily use and can even be left on the skin for 10 minuted or so and serve as a mask. 

It can be as basic as cornmeal and ground oats mixed with water, but that just didn't resonate with me. I wanted something a little more, well, substantial. A little more kick and power. I wanted it to have some ingredients that really did something for my skin. So here is what I came up with.

This recipe has been adapted from Crunchy Betty. Winter Daily Facial Scrub
Now a happy mix for my sensitive acne prone skin.

Daily Wondrous Cleansing grains, Scrub and Mask

- 1/3 cup rice flour ( I used brown rice flour )
- 1/4 cup finely ground oats( soothing to skin )
- 1/8 cup finely ground coconut ( unsweetened )
- 1 tsp. clay powder of your choice ( Draws out impurities; I chose Kaolin )
- 1 tsp. Neem powder ( great for it's anti-bacterial properties )
- 1 Tbs each dried chamomile and dried lavender finely ground ( great for all skin but very healing to acne prone)
- 2 Tbs dried and ground calendula ( I bought a powder form; it promotes collagen at wound sites and also has anti-bacterial and soothing properties)
- 15 drops Tamanu oil ( great if you have acne; if you have dry aging skin I would use rose hip seed oil )
- 10 drops chamomile essential oil
- 10 drops Tea Tree essential oil ( you could also use rose, lavender, rosemary etc.  depending on what you like and what is appropriate for your skin.)

 Directions : Mix ingredients together and keep in a shaker container or jar. Moisten face with warm water and then I like to soak a wash cloth in hot water, ring it out and place on my face to steam and open the pores. Then place about a teaspoon or so in your palm and add a few drops of water to make a paste. Apply to your face, lightly scrub in an upward circular motion and either rinse or leave on as a mask and then rinse. Follow with toner to remove and traces left behind.

Like I said before, this has been modified for my skin. Do what you wish, modify for your needs. If this has too many ingredients for you to invest in, take out something. The keys here are something to scrub ( ie; rice flour ), something to clean ( ie: clay and the oils ). Make it your own.

I use this every morning, followed by a apple cider vinegar, water and lavender toner.  1/4 cup water to 2 Tbs ACV and 5 drops Lavender EO. Then I apply a natural salicylic acid acne lotion and get on with the rest of my usual routine. 

I also have to say that this is safe for pregnant women to use as many essential oils are not, including rosemary as suggested above as an alternative essential oil.

Please feel free to share any of your own tried and true natural favorites.

The care of of the largest organ / Chemicals and your skin

I feel I must touch on a subject I feel very strongly about. Although it has not always been such.

The devilish ways of the cosmetics industry and what it is doing to you!

They lure you in at a young age. Pictures in magazines and beauty add campaigns showing you how fabulous you will look using their products.

I, up until the last year or so fought with my inner vanity so much so that I could care less about the chemicals I had been slathering all over my body. In fact I still have not gotten away from some products that I am just so happy with that I do not know what I would do with out them ( aerosol hairspray...I know, awful right!?).

So here is the question I ask myself and you the reader. What do you consider an acceptable balance between natural products and the ones that most of us have been using all our lives?

I feel that the balance is different to each individual. We have to decide weather we care about cancer causing chemical or are we going to pretend it is not true because we love our scented body lotion so much it would just die thinking about not being able to have it.

It is a hard change to make. Harder than I would imagine. Who can say they aren't excited every time they walk into a fancy body product store. Well it is even harder to just walk by and not go in anymore....lemme tell ya from experience.

The soapbox ( no pun intended ) that I am jumping on here kind of came out of necessity for me. My body started rejecting all the usual chemicaly products I had been using for years. I looked everywhere but at the obvious. I thought food allergies maybe, or could it be something I am living with in my home. Never mind the things I was using everyday on my skin. So I stopped using fragranced products, but even that was not enough. They had to be specific brands too. They were the more expensive brands, boasting to have "natural ingredients". I thought to heck with this. Why can't I make my own beauty products that are more cost effective, suited to my tastes, not harmful to me or the environment and just plain made me feel good about doing something smart for myself.

So I started with skincare. Well that backfired at first, but I am here to say, that with a lot of things, it was trial and error. I had to scale it back, one thing at a time. I now use an oil blend I make myself of unrefined coconut oil, sweet almond oil, olive and hazelnut oils to moisturize with as I finishing a bath or shower. My skin feels how skin should. Nourished. That's it. No weird greasy layer sitting on the surface of my skin. As for my face, I have been slowly transitioning into things. I have stopped using all acne controlling chemical products and will soon be switching to the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM). Sounds freaky to clean your skin with oil right? Well check out Crunchybetty.com and there are many others who explain why and how it works. My next battle will be my hair. And oh boy will it ever be one. But that is a whole different blog post.

I will say that being pregnant has turned my thoughts to something completely different. How are all of these products affecting my unborn child and once she is here would I dare put them all over her? Well the answer is yes they are effecting her, for the skin is the largest organ and amazingly great at protecting us as well as absorbing all the things we come in contact with. So what I absorb so does she. Would I put them all over her, well no way jose! That's because I also believe that our children are born into bodies that do not need the chemical baby products that line your local super center shelves.  All the products in the world are no match for the mother nature made alternative. So sue me if I am being a little radical or hippie chick here, but I plan on hopefully making most of what I put on my little pea pod or buying the natural alternative.

So what I am currently doing is lots of research. Teaching myself the better alternative. I am slowly purging the things I feel are harmful. I am also one to not waste money, so I am forcing myself to use up things I have already spent hard earned money on. Little by little being a little bit more "down to earth" and not feeling like I am fighting with my own body to feel great everyday. Here are some links that have helped me in my pursuits, hope they can be helpful to you as well.

Oil Cleansing Method

http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method

Living more naturally for myself and baby

http://simplehomemade.net/natural-homemade-baby-care-recipe-baby-massage-oil/

Back in the Saddle

Probably my favorite thing in the whole wide word to do is cook. I cook with how I am feeling at the time. I like to find flavors that I miss from places I have been. It is an escape. I can distract myself from emotions or stand in the kitchen crying like a baby...not from the onions, delicious caramelized onions...sorry...tangent. Until recently I have been a little out of touch with my inner kitchen diva due to pregnancy hormones and a super sensitive....well everything. Nose, pallet, stomach. How many times can you say "Anything but carbs gives me heartburn" really fast.  I am now feeling a bit like my old self and have jumped back in the saddle, chef knife in hand, ready to go.

The last two days I have been a busy bee. Zooming from garden to kitchen. Harvesting flavors that come winter I will crave.

Yesterday was the day to dry peppers. Anaheims, Jalapeno's and Hungarian carrot peppers. Testing out yet another item in the wonderful and amazing " EXCALIBUR DEHYDRATOR" (said with voice of guy trying to sell you a great buy on a washer and dryer in a cheesy add on late night TV)

Today was a little trip to Italy to make pesto then a quick zip to Mexico to roast some peppers...oh then back to Italy to make pizza dough in mass quantity to freeze. Then I decided that was not enough so I made a yummy batch of one of my favorito oatmeal recipes. Carrot cake oatmeal...healthy and delicious. Recipe courtesy of CrunchyBetty.com. Here is the link people, I highly suggest you try
http://www.crunchybetty.com/yum-crunchy-sisters-hearty-carrot-cake-oatmeal

I like to make oatmeal also in large quantity, freeze in muffin tins, pop them out into a large freezer bag and when I want some home made oatmeal, not the instant funky stuff, I grab a couple frozen muffin shaped oatmeals. I stick those babies in the microwave, nuke em a couple minutes and add whatever I am in the mood for. Milk , butter, more brown sugar, coconut...and the list goes on. Not sure if you all are familiar with Trader Joes, but they have frozen oatmeal and its not cheap. At least not in comparison to the low cost of buying oats and doing it yourself.

Tomorrow I will commence Indian food Thursday ( just this week probably but it sounds good). I am going to attempt a crack at making naan bread. For dinner, not for the squeamish but definitely for the adventurous, I am making a curry groundhog dish. We shall see. I do like groundhog, and curry can make anything edible. At least my brother in law seems to think so, so I will try it. If you are interested, here is the link to the naan recipe with a very concise video from an Indian woman I wish I could steel and have cook for me regularly  http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/05/22/naan-bread/

Speaking of heartburn, I must attend to mine. Happy cooking all (:

Recycle Me Please

I want to start off by saying " We are real big into usin' what we gots lyin' around down here". You name it and we probably have it. If we don't have what we need, then well, we make do with what we got. I wanted to share our redneck ingenuity with you all. I am quite proud of our "mish mash put together but really thought out stuff"

 

To the left is our 3 bin compost system. Not very full because our hogs were eating most of what would go there. I will just say that the bins will be getting full from now on and leave it at that. Oh and I love bacon.

They were built with pallets we picked up for free. Kind of wonky just how we like it. 

This is where our garage door once lived. It will be a kitchen soon but for now the garage is a gym so we sealed it off. Of course we had to make good use of the door. Lets play Where's Waldo and see if you can spot it in the next picture.

Any luck with finding the garage door? I will give you a hint...it was brown.

    It was cut up and is going to be part of the raised bed system for my garden.

Pretty clever I thought. You can barely see it there to the right, but the gate to the garden is also made of pallet wood. I quite like it (:

Finally

As I have been absent from blogging, due to lack of things to write about, I am excited by all the wonderful things to come. So FINALLY, there are some actual things going on here at the farm. Winter has really sucked the life out of everything including my inspiration to write witty blog posts. Here I am to tell you it has come to an end and boy oh boy I don't think I am going to have much time to lounge around and sip coffee by the fire anymore.

Yesterday was truly the beginning of spring for me, no matter what the calendar says. Eh hem...March 20th I laugh at you. Of course like most everywhere our spring is dotted with sunny days and drizzly ones. Yesterday being around 70 degrees all day and sunny, while today it is around 40 and raining. Gotta love Missouri for that. Who knows, I may be able to whip out my bikini this afternoon considering the erratic weather we get here. Maybe I should not though. You would be able to see me from miles away like a beam of light due to the lack of color on my pasty white skin.

Anyway, back to spring. The daffodils are blooming everywhere, as are the iris and tulips along with the hyacinths. My garlic and shallots that were planted last fall are looking happy as can be. The chickens are really enjoying the wonderful things that are popping up for them to chase after and peck at. Even the dogs are happy because our daily walks on the property get to include a dip in the creek that is now filled from seasonal spring. Ah the country life.

The hubby and I started a portion of our seeds indoors yesterday. An array of herbs, leeks, brussel sprouts ( two purple varieties ), marigolds, and rainbow swiss chard for now. We may have bitten off more than we can chew but I do believe that the tasty rewards will be quite pleasurable mid summer and fall when picking and processing begins.

As I tell him all the time, my super crafty husband rigged up a neat little grow set up for me in what is currently our laundry room. (below is a picture) It was built with metal shelving we had, probably from Costco, fluorescent light fixtures, daylight bulbs, and a few other Macgyver type items he used to make it all work. This way all our seed that I carefully picked out can get a great start and my tomatoes can be strong before being released into the world. I talk as though they are my children but when someday you are trying to feed your family with all home grown fresh foods and considering all the hours of work...they kinda are like your little babies.

Hopefully I may have inspired some of you to get outside and play or get inside and start some seeds. Whatever the case, trust me, when you are picking fresh herbs and tomatoes this summer you wont be a bit unhappy with time you have lovingly spent with your garden.

Romancing The Farm Life

It all began with a dream. Becoming reality so slow and so fast at the same time. It seemed like an eternity before we finally arrived at what it supposed to be our final home and we got here to see that the months have flown by and we have already achieved so much.

There most definitely was an adjustment period that each of us had to take at our own pace and some of us are still slowly but steadily finding ourselves here in the great openness that surrounds.

My husband and I had romanticized about many different ideas and thoughts about what our new life would enrich our family and souls with. We dreamt of having the ability to raise our own meat and have lovely chickens for farm fresh eggs. We wanted to grow our own food and live a simple ( in comparison to our old city lives ) life out here.

Being here only less than a year I would have to say we are doing well. Although it is hard not to be impatient when you have been dreaming so big for so long.

Recently we have had to re-evaluate what we came here to do. Ultimately it was to live as debt free as possible and "work" as little as needed. By "work" I mean leaving our farm to make money. We would like to use our farm to make money for us...but that is a bit of trip into the future before it will be realized. Some of the things we have just done and some we will be doing in the near future may seem crazy to some but to give up one luxury for another and to free ourselves of what society deems necessities are our ultimate goals. Also, even though what defines a luxury is to each their own, that also has to be changed as well.

We have given up television and are planning to give up our pricey cell phone bills for more economical old school flip phones. This summer we will be starting our first garden and will try not to buy any produce we have not grown ourselves. That being said, it is also with the unknown factor of if our garden will even do well or not. Modern luxuries and food are where most of our money seems to be sucked away from us so those are the first things we decided to evaluate for now. Our gigantic truck is also another thorn in our side. So soon it will be sold and our families for the time being will share a much more economical vehicle.

I know what most people are thinking already. NO T.V.! SHARE A CAR!

It would sound extreme if we were in the city. The city is a place where you rely on the outside world to keep you company and occupied. But as a very smart someone said to me the other day. " If you cant find happiness and fun out here in the country then the city is where a person would belong. The idea is to let our new home be our hobby and entertainment. We all need to get out there and let it do that for us."

 In the short time that has passed since these changes I have already come to appreciate life a little more. The first thing I would do if I was bored would be to grab the remote control. Now I spend more time researching things for farm life, knitting, discovering ways to utilize food that needs to be used, reading, and just plain ole' country sittin' and admiring what is right in front of me and has been all along.

The Beauty and the Wonder

Every morning I wake up and am immediately greeted with a roosters crow. Telling the world to wake up, and demanding his presence to be known. I stumble down the stairs, sleepily dress my self in an interesting layering of pajamas and outdoor cold weather wear. I release the dogs from their cozy kennels and they are ready to play. I on the other hand can barely see straight. We walk out to the coop together, they are looking for a tasty chicken poop treat ( dogs amaze me at what they will eat ), and I am happily opening the coop to say good morning to my flock.
Some mornings I stumble back to bed, but most of them I stay awake and go try to grasp the few moments of actual real peaceful quietness that my country life is supposed to provide me. I sit with my coffee ( black of course, and strong ) with a book, magazine or my knitting. Until the rest of the house awakens and all is lost to the roaring of the T.V.
 On rare mornings I am met with alertness and am able to really take in the beauty and wonder that surround our home. I stop and stare out to the horizon or out to the woods taking a visual photograph to try and remember. The sky is often cotton candy pink and lavender, or swirled with clouds and sunshine is peeking through. The trees are different everyday. Sometimes still and other times being tossed with the wind.  It is surreal, and those are the moments I cherish. I am able to really appreciate the life I could never have had in the city.
As spring approaches in my mind, all sorts of planning and prepping are going to need to take place. We will have trees to plant, garden beds to make and new animals to care for. All are more blessings that come from this new place I call home. Then my mornings will be filled with more hustle and bustle than they are today and I will really have to take a step back and remind myself to not forget about the beautiful sky or the wind blowing in the trees or my hens anxiously waiting to be released into the world to forage the day away.
Ah, the beauty and the wonder of it all.

So Suave

I would like to introduce you all to Rico. That is short for Rico Suave. He is the man of the flock I started and raised as chicks from August of last year. There was another rooster, but he recently proved to be a little too aggressive and so he met his fate and is now living in our freezer til further notice.
Rico os a beautiful ..eh hem ...handsome,  Australorp. He is all black and shimmers green in the sunshine. He crows like clockwork. Annoys my husband and makes me happy every time I hear him. He protects the ladies of his life and warns when danger is near.
All said, he is quite cute and fun to have around.

In Stitches

I am an avid knitter and hope to always be one. I look for projects that are not too complicated, can use up some of my stash, or are pretty thoughtless. Here is one that I knit up quick and covered all bases of my list of needs for a project.
It is a cowl that is a giant cable and when worn looks like it is scrunched just perfectly.
The project can be found on Revelry at : Http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/Tuesday-night-cowl It is by Susan Lawrence and it is a Free! pattern. Yay! Who loves free!?

To Resolve or not to Resolve

I have never been much for New Years resolutions. Maybe I do not have enough faith in my self that I will stick to them. I think this year I am going to look at it with a new perspective. It is a chance to have a fresh start. Wipe the slate clean and start anew.

Every year I aspire to actually remember my friends and families birthdays. Every Year I fail. This year will be different I am sure of it. I am trying a new approach and hoping for the best.  I have already written and highlighted all of the birthdays on my desk calendar. Now all I have to do is remember to look at it.

I also wish to be more active and I have already added Yoga classes to my routine. I want to regain my passion for running and strengthen my body from the inside out. Being healthy is so very important to me, but it seems to always get derailed by my passion for really good food and a family that loves carbs. All in moderation I always say! Now if only I could stop making ice cream and buying candy cane Oreos in bulk.

Wish me luck everyone, and good luck to all of your resolutions for this year.

Review of the Ginger post

I unfortunately came to discover my lovely ginger had started to mold. I have decided that it must be kept refrigerated or in the freezer. I think because the end product is so moist, well, in a closed container it just was way too happy I suppose.

Anymawho,
Happy  Eating!