Category Archives: Sustainable Living

Full Circle Herbs T-Shirts

Posted on by

So, I am working on getting some t-shirts printed up and I think they are going to be really cool. The front pocket will have my logo:

And the back will have the “History of Medicine” on it:

I am working with TS Designs, an environmentally friendly printer. They use a process called Rehance, that uses water based chemistry to dye the shirts instead of plastisols and phthalates. They will also print the shirts on organic cotton (natural color probably). The left sleeve will also have this logo on it to show that there was no sweatshop labor, plastics, pesticides or resins used in making the shirt, and that they are made with organic cotton. Cool, eh??

So, who wants one?? I’m not sure on the final price, ’cause I haven’t gotten final pricing from them yet. But, they will definitely be no more that $20. So, if you are interested, let me know what size you want so I can make sure to get enough printed. I will probably just start with the basic short sleeved t-shirt style, but I am going to have to get a few for kids and infants too!!

Oh, and the design isn’t set in stone. So, if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Class and Bees

Posted on by

Well, I gave my 20 minute herb talk for 26 eight to ten year olds today and it went fantastic! (I painted a big flower on my face and put glitter on the flower and on my eyes and cheeks.) These kids were so much more interested than the little kids. I think it made a big difference that they are of reading age! I also changed the format so we talked about Harry Potter and Mandrake (although the plant we actually looked at was the American Mandrake, which is a totally different species, but talking about Harry Potter got their attention), we also talked about plantain for beestings, horsetail, chamomile, using plants to make paper and soaps (with lots of examples to touch and smell). Before I knew it, our time was up. Kids these days are so into buying things that they all brought money so that they could buy stuff from the “farm gift shop” 🙂 !!! Do you know of any working farms with gift shops?? Well, maybe next time I will cut up some soap for them to take home.

As far as the bees, I have been doing mite counts every week to make sure that my hive is carrying along ok. Their last treatment of Sucrocide was in April and since then, the only other thing I have been doing is adding “Honey B Healthy” and Bergamot Essential oil to their sugar syrup (and their last feeding was 2 weeks ago). The mite count has remained stable at ~20-25 mites falling off the bees in a 24 hour period. This is still fairly high. But this morning, the mite count was 7!! YAY!! Looks like the little ladies are doing well!

Kids herb class

Posted on by

So, I am going to be helping my farm friend with another kids class on herbs. This one will be for 8 to 10 year olds. As many of them have probably read Harry Potter, I am going to mention Mandrake/American Mayapple (and Professor Sprout and stuff) to try to get them excited about herbs. I will also talk about Chamomile and how Peter Rabbit drinks some Chamomile tea to calm down after being chased around the garden. Any other thoughts on ways to relate herbs to pre-teens??

Lavender Festival

Posted on by

Today we headed out to the local lavender farm, Sunshine Lavender Farm, for it’s annual lavender festival!! (Every town should have one!!) There were foods made with lavender, lavender wand making, pick-your-own lavender, even artists there drawing the scenery. And, it smelled so good!! Here are a few shots of the day:



Check out this white one!!

I think I heard her say they had ~3000 lavender plants!! That is my idea of heaven 🙂

Beekeeping, garden making and land searching

Posted on by

OK, there are going to be lots of pictures in this one!

First, the bees. They are doing well. Though one hive still has a moderately high mite count, both hives are growing rapidly!! The queens are laying really well and the population is just exploding, which is great! They are bringing in lots of nectar and pollen, too. So, you would think that they would stop drinking the sugar syrup and just fill up on the food they are bringing in. But, they are scarfing it down, which makes me think they need it (or maybe what’s in the syrup). To help decrease the mite population we are adding HoneyBHealthy to their sugar syrup, as well as 15 drops of Bergamot Essential Oil/quart of syrup (some friends of ours totally got rid of their mites using bergamot!) We are still doing weekly mite counts to make sure the level doesn’t go up. So, here are a bunch of great pictures (well, some aren’t so great, but I had to post them!)

This one show a great capped brood pattern in the middle with lots of white capped honey on the edge.

Here’s a great one of pollen and capped brood.

Here is a queen. It’s fuzzy, but she is the long bee in the middle.

This is a pic. of brood (baby bees) being capped over.

And this one I was so upset that it didn’t turn out!! We were witness to a bee birth 🙂 This baby bee is just about to come out of the comb. Here is his little fuzzy head!

And one of our girls hard at work.

Now, on to K’s garden! We put in our new/used sink this weekend and put the old one in the garden for K. This morning, K and I filled it with pineapple sage, chocolate peppermint, purple basil, hyssop, chamomile, zinnea, lambs ear, calendula, and a tomato. I tried to put things in there that she could smell, taste, and feel. But, it’s a little crowded. So, I may move the hyssop to my herb garden 🙂 She really likes it! And everything is very well watered!

Here’s one of the garden.

And my little helper.

And my little helper practicing her best sad face.

So, as far as land search… well, we have been a bit disheartened. To be able to have the sustainable homestead that we would like, we are really hoping for more land than we will be able to afford in our current area. Land prices around here (and back in Asheville) are so inflated that we can barely afford an acre! We did, however, just find out about the possibility of buying some land from a family member. This would be great! My biggest worry though, is that we would be surrounded by many people who have very different beliefs than us. Plus, one of my herby friends and I have just started to talk about opening up an herb school here. If we moved, I couldn’t do that. (Well, it’s not that I couldn’t, but I don’t think there would be the desire for an herb school where the family land is.) I wish there were some overwhelming factor to push us somewhere. It would make this decision so much easier… do we spend more and have a higher mortgage, or by less, have a smaller mortgage and less land to work, do we spend more and buy less land to be near a town we love, or spend less and buy more land, but be near a town that doesn’t have such a supportive community for alternative living? I don’t know! Anyone out there got an answer??

Busy bees

Posted on by

We have been staying really busy here! After delivering my order to Weaver Street, I got 3 more orders through my website and wiped out my stock. So, I have spent the last 3 days making soap, ordering supplies, labeling, etc. Toby went out of town for work, and I would have been sunk trying to do all this stuff without a hand with watching K. But, my mom-in-law came to town for a visit and a little relaxation, and she was my savior! She and K played all day and they both slept like logs at night 🙂

I also got a sink (cast iron, enameled in great condition!) off of Freecycle. So, we are going to take the old one and plop it in my garden, fill it with soil, plant some flowers, fast growing seeds and such and let K run free with it! She will get her own watering can and shovel and if she ‘destoys’ everything, that will be fine with me! I have some squash and tomato seedlings without a home. I will get some flower seedlings for her to pick and lots of seed for her to plant. It will be packed with stuff, or not. It will be her own space. Hopefully she will be as excited about it as I am 🙂

Bees and Garden

Posted on by

We did our 3rd and mite treatment for my hive yesterday. The girls are looking great! Lots of pollen and nectar stored, some capped honey and lots of worker brood. We also spotted the queen, which is always a plus since we are looking in a hive of about 50 thousand bees! My 24 hour mite count is down to 55, which is 1/3 of what it was when we started (it was 161 just after the first treatment!)!
We went into Toby’s hive today to check and everything looks good in there too.

Here is a picture of the beautiful pattern they have drwan out of this 4.9 foundation:

But, here’s another frame that they got a little lazy on 🙂 I’ve also heard that they draw the comb out larger when there is a honey flow on… which there is right now.

On this frame you can see lots of capped over brood (baby bees) and some nectar drying out and getting ready to be capped over (see the shiny stuff in the open cells?).

How does my garden grow? Very well thank you! I am having some flea beetle problems with my eggplant, but not too bad. I go out there once a day and just squish them by hand. I also made a spray of 4 cups water, 6 cloves garlic, 2 slices onion, handful of basil, and ~10 drops peppermint essential oil blended up really well!! It seems to get rid of the flea beetles. But, I have to put in on after each rain. My beans are looking pretty pale too, so I added some dried blood for nitrogen. Hopefully that will help. Otherwise, some tomatoes, squash, zuchini, beans, and even a pumpkin and cantaulope are starting to develop flowers! These warmer nights have really helped things take off.

Spiral Update

Posted on by

I’ve been filling in my spiral garden and it is looking nice. It’s going to be stuffed with plants! So far it has Comfrey, Motherwort, Bee Balm, Johnny-Jump-Ups, Chives, Marjoram, Thyme, Magenta Lambs Quarters, Yarrow, Lemon Balm, and Zinnea. I moved the Jeruselem Artichoke and Bay Laurel to another bed once that was set up so they have lots of room to spread out.

We also did the 2nd sucrocide treatment on my bees today and they are looking good. Lots of worker brood and even some capped honey!

Bee update

Posted on by

We checked on the bees this afternoon and they are doing great! Both hives are drawing out the new foundation and storing lots of nectar and pollen. We also found lots of capped and uncapped brood and spotted the queen in both hives. In my hive, I didn’t see any bees without wings this time! We will do another mite count and treatment #2 of 3 in a few more days. Hopefully that will take care of it!

Herb Spiral

Posted on by

I’ve been trying to make another raised bed for some poor little herbs that are in desperate need of a home. But, I seem to keep finding reasons to put it off. Well, I have finally been inspired by Stella and Steph to build a spiral herb garden. I needed to build something more creative than a rectangle. Thanks for the advice ladies!!

Here is the bed before the dirt and plants:

And after:

So far, there are only comfrey, chives and jeruselum artichoke in the bed. But, I will be getting a bunch more from another herbalist this weekend!! Yay!

And just because I am so proud of myself for taking a fairly decent picture with my camera, I have to post this. It is the flower of the pitcher plant that is in the ‘pond’ in our back yard. Cool, eh??

And just because I am so proud of myself for producing something so damn scrumptous I have to post this, too. She likes to pose for the camera and squints because she know the flash will go off. So, this is what happened when I said, “don’t squint, open your eyes.”

And after a little practice…

I could just eat her up!!

Lessons Learned

Posted on by

Lessons Learned From Our First Round Of Varroa Mite Treatments:
1- Start treatment when the day light is increasing, not decreasing. (It might be easier to treat the bees if you can see them!! Don’t start your treatment regimen at sundown like us idiots!)
2-Suit up well! (Spraying your bees with sucrocide, though it will kill the varroa mites, will also piss off your bees. Next time we will wear full beekeeping garb instead of just our veils. Then maybe we won’t both be freaking out and going “Hey! Can you brush this bee off of me??? Fast!!! Please?? Honey?? Please!!”
3-If you just dropped a frame of bees on the ground and knocked some of the bees off, don’t step in that same spot. The bees will crawl up your pant leg and seek revenge.
4-Don’t wear gloves that are wide open around the wrist. Bees like to see what is in that glove!

All in all we came out of it with only one sting, amazingly! Since we are currently using Sucrocide for treatment, we will have to repeat the process of spraying every bee 2 more times. But next time, well will do it in the morning.

We actually put white sticky boards under the hives last night so that when the mites fell off we cound count them. Toby’s hive had 1 mite in 24 hours. So, we didn’t even treat his. Mine had a count of 53 in 24 hours. The threshold for treatment in 10-15 in 24 hours. SO, my hive is really pretty sick. I hope this treatment helps. They looked pretty bedraggled and sticky when we were done. Hopefully they will pull through it ok.

Happy

Posted on by

Just a little tidbit that I thought you might like to know… According to the May 2 Newsweek, if stay-at-home moms were compensated for all the hours they work, their net would be $131,471/year!! It’s nice to know I’m worth 6 figures… now where are my benefits??

What did I get for mother’s day?? Breakfast in bed, time to garden, laundry done, litterbox emptied…!!! And, a sting on my head from one of our bees. To be fair, it was really my fault! I was watching the bees fly around the hives and had just gotten out of the shower, so my hair was loosley bunched up on my head. One of them landed on my head and got caught in my hair. Of course, the more she tried to get out the deeper stuck she got. So, she finally stung me on the head. Well, at least I know I’m not allergic to honey bees. After Toby sifted through my hair to get the stinger out, I headed to the back yard for some plantain. The Herb Of The Week! 🙂 I chewed some up to get it good and macerated and then put it on the sting. Soon, the pain was gone and there is no swelling at all! So, aside from imagining this stinger burrowing deeper and deeper into my head and poisoning my brain with stinger juice, it really wasn’t a bad experience!

Varroa Attack

Posted on by

Well, we had one of the state bee inspectors come out yesterday and go through our hives, show us how to spot problems, look for the queen, etc… Unfortunately, he found evidence of varroa in one of the hives. There were many bees without wings (a sign of varroa infestation) and we even found a few mites on worker bees. SOOO, it looks like we will begin our beekeeping experience learning how to treat varroa mites, do mite counts, etc… The MiteAwayII was just approved by the FDA for use in the US and has been approved for us in NC also. So, we have it on order. We have also put a rush on Sucrocide and should have it by Sunday. Both are classified as “organic” treatments. I’ve not even had them for a week and I feel so helpless that my little bee ladies are sick!!

The Current State Of Bees

Posted on by

Here’s a recent post in the NY Times about the crisis we are in to save the honeybee. Until this year, I never thought about the hit that the farming industry would take if we lost the honey bee… pollination of the blueberries, almonds, everything would decrease dramatically, availability of foods would decrease and food costs would increase! If any of you have ever had the slightest interest in beekeeping, now is the time!

The ladies are finally here!

Posted on by

Well, 3 weeks after we were supposed to get our bees, they are finally home and getting settled in! (We had a few miscommunication issues with the guy we bought them from, but it all turned out fine ) So, we lit our smoker and opened up our hives for the first time. I have to say, I am so very proud of myself for not feeling freaked out. It was actually really neat to be able to handle the bees and not have them all mad at me. We just had a little talk about how I was here to keep them healthy and happy and they listened well:-)




Full up to here!

Posted on by

For this mornings snack time, we had strawberries. Then, for lunch, we had more strawberries. For afternoon snack, we had fresh strawberry muffins. For dinner, we had fresh strawberry pie! Can you guess what K and I did for our morning activity?? You got it – Strawberry Picking at a local organic strawberry patch! And after all that strawberry eating, we still have a quart in the fridge and 1 1/2 gallons in the freezer!! Yahooooo.

K and her cousin enjoying the harvest!

Feeding the hungry

Posted on by

I went to visit the Crazy Tomato Lady for our weekly toddler playdate and after looking at her lettuce, kale and greens I realized that mine are very stunted! They look pretty much the same as they did when I put them in the ground a little over a month ago. So, I went home and sprinkled on some cottonseed meal (for nitrogen) and some liquid mineral fertalizer. I hope that will do the trick. Does anyone know how long it will be before I see results, or what else I should add if I don’t see any results? The under leaves have started turning yellowish and there is very little growth. That’s why my initial reaction was to add nitrogen.

On another note, my business is picking up all of a sudden and it seems to have nothing to do with the Kiplinger’s article. I’ve gotten a emails from people I don’t know wanting to carry my products in their stores, Earthfare is thinking about carrying my products, and tomorrow I have a meeting at our local co-op to figure out which of my products they will carry. I decided that it will make the meeting more memorable if I bring something yummy to munch on while we talk. So, today I made “Cleopatra’s Love Nuggets”, an herbal recipe from Botanica Erotica. It is not my plan to get them horny just to give them a taste of a really yummy herbal treat 🙂 They are delicious!!

    Cleopatra’s Love Nuggets

  • 1 cup of raw sesame tahini
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and aniseed
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1-2 tsp. damiana cordial, vanilla extract, Amaretto, anisette, or rose water (I used a cordial that I made a few years ago that I call “Love Potion #9”)
  • Some optional additions: 1 Tbsp finely chopped mint, 1 Tbsp powdered nettle leaves, 1 drop peppermint essential oil, 2 tsp grated orange peel, 5 drops orange essential oil

In a medium bowl, stir together the tahini and honey. Add powdered herbs and flavorings and combine. Roll mixture into balls and then roll to coat. I divided the batter into thirds and added 5 drops of orange oil to one batch and rolled this in seseme seeds. To the second batch I added 2 drops of peppermint essential oil and rolled it in shredded coconut. To the third batch I added 2 drops of rose geranium essential oil and rolled this in cocoa. They are SOOOO yummy!! You should try it. It’s really simple and quick.

Testimonials

Posted on by

I was just sent a review of one of my herbal products (B’s Balm), but it is in French. Can anyone translate?

—

J’ADORE!!!!!!
Je m’en doutais avant d’essayer mais l. vraiment c’est le pied. Le baume tient bien toute la journ?e, la peau du ventre ne tire plus, la poitrine est bien hydrat?e! M^me ma Lola de 2 ans se fait des massages de ventre avec!
En plus l’odeur me rappelle celle du petit d?j’ aux Etats Unis… les flocons d’avoine…
Le pot m’a dur? . peu pr?s 3/4 semaines en l’utilisant chaque matin. Du coup, j’en ai recommand? 3 pour stocker… 😉
—

I tried using Google’s Language Tools for translation, but this is what I got 🙂

—

I ADORE!!!!!! I suspected it before testing but there really it is the foot. The balsam holds well all the day, the skin of the belly does not draw more, the chest is well hydrated! M^me my Lola 2 years is made massages of belly with! In more the odor that of small the d?j’ in the United States recalls me… the rolled oats… The pot lasted me about 3/4 weeks by using it each morning. Blow, I recommended 3 of them to store…;)
—

I don’t think that is what she meant 🙂 🙂

How’s my hair doing?

Posted on by

Some of you may be wondering how my ‘no shampooing’ is going. I think it’s been almost 2 months… It got to a point where it just felt sticky and heavy. Not oily anymore, but certainly not good either. Everyone said it looked fine, but I really didn’t like the feel. I got some soapwort and made this great sounding herbal “shampoo” with nettles, horsetail, calendula, cherry bark, and henna. I added some Lavender essential oil, of course, and it smelled great. How did it turn out? Like crap! My hair was heavy and greasy, the “shampoo” had no lather and certainly didn’t feel like it was clean. I ended up dumping a whole bunch of baking soda on my head to try to get the grease out. Then, I had to wash it again to get the baking soda out!! SO, I give up. So much for not buying shampoo anymore; making what I need, living sustainably. I know there are people out there who don’t use shampoo and can get away with it. But, I’m tired of checking in the mirror everytime I’m about to leave the house to make sure I don’t have a huge grease cowlick sticking out of the back of my head and I would like to be able brush my hair without looking like one of those girls from that Robert Palmer video. Slick! So, I went to the health food store and found a shampoo that is made with lots of herbs and no chemical crap. Maybe one day I will be able to replicate it, but for now I will pay up.

Vege Garden Update

Posted on by

A few people have been asking for pictures of the garden. So, here you are. It’s doing pretty good. I’m hoping that the warm weather we are having will get my greens going. Here is what the whole thing looks like right now. Everything is still very small. (If we ever use all the mulch in the huge pile, I am going to have to find another spot for taking garden pictures 🙂

This is bed 1: white clover as a ground cover, corn, squash, pumpkin, aster, and radish

This is bed 2: potato, beans(black, cannelini, and toungue of fire), zinnea, parsley, cilantro, and sorrel

Bed 3: nasturtium, canteloupe, watermelon, radish

Bed 4: green onions, red onions, carrots, beets, chard, cosmos, blanket flower, calendula, peppers, and soon eggplant and a blackeyed susan.

Bed 5: nasturtium, cucumber, marigold, zucchini, sweet alyssum, nigella

Bed6: lettuce (3 types), spinach, kale, arugula, basil, tomatoes, and soon borage

I know this sounds very professional. But, all I did was get a book on companion planting and do what she said. This is the first time I have done this, so we’ll see how it all turns out and if the bugs really do stay away.

Lavender – The Ultimate Plant!

Posted on by

I love all my herbs, but I have to admit that lavender is probably my all time favorite. I first ‘met’ lavender when I was studying midwifery in Ireland 9 years ago. I was staying in the nurses quarters in a room about 5′ x 8′ and wanted something to liven up the room. So, I went to the corner store and got some Lavender Essential Oil (all the little stores had essential oil displays at the check out counter). It smelled nice, but I had never used it before. So, every evening I would light my infuser, put in a few drops of lavender, and relax into dreamland. Since then, I have learned so much more about lavender and it is rare that I ever go any where without it. The plant is in my garden, I use the flowers in so many herbal recipes, and I have a bottle of the essential oil in almost every room. So, what’s it good for? Everything! No, really!! It can be used for sore throats, gas, colic, restlessness, headaches, fever, acne, insomnia, healing sores and burns, antibacterial, massage, in food preparation, the list just goes on and on. Why do I mention lavender today? Well, I was cooking my first real meal off my fast, a delicious rice/bean/veggie stew and got what I thought was going to be a pretty bad steam burn across my hand and fingers. But, I grabbed my bottle of lavender essential oil, which I keep right over the stove, and rubbed some oil into my hand. Immediate relief! I can still see where the burn was, it’s a little red, but no blisters or swelling! It’s amazing! You should all get some! Especially if you have children in the house!

So, I’m back on regular foods. I’m having to really hold myself back and not eat everything in site, just for the taste! But, I feel great! I’ve noticed that the tendonitis in my wrists is gone! I don’t know yet about the allergies or asthma. We’ll see as time goes on. Mary asked me if I would do it again. Probably. Now that it is over, it’s easy to say that. But, really, I do feel good and doing this once a year for a spring cleanse would be a good way to get rid of the winter blahs and prepare my body for spring.

Cleanse Day 5 and other stuff

Posted on by

I woke up to K starting her day off in a funk again! She cried through most of breakfast, which consisted of a little yogurt, cereal, egg, prune, and a bread stick. Then more cereal, rice milk and herb tea!! She must be going through a growth spurt!! But, I think her mood is a combination of things. One, I think the weaning thing is finally hitting her ’cause she has been asking for “boobie” lately. But, it looks as if my once plump breastfeeding boobs have started to shrivel up and die! So, even if I wanted to give her a boob, it would probably just frustrate her that there is no milk. At least they are not feeling so engorged anymore. But, also, I think my cleanse is effecting her. This morning, during her breakfast, she kept trying to get me to eat with her, “mommy eat cereal” “mommy drink sippy” and she would start crying all over again when I said no thanks. We’ve been eating our meals together for her whole life, so this must seem like a very major change. Hopefully things will get better soon. She did great the rest of the day.

And I’m doing fine. A little tired and hungry. But the urge to eat just to eat isn’t as strong today. I’m just tired of drinking my meals. But, I really want to make it to day 7. That is supposed to be how long it takes for your body to make a major dump of toxins. I thought I was being handed a double whammy this morning when I started my period, too!! (Which usually makes me a little cranky and physically tired.) But, I have done fine today. Plus, it seems only fitting that I start my period a little early. I am cleansing in every other way, when not mentrually too?

On the home front, I’ve decided to stop using my dryer and start hanging the clothes on a line. I figure it is one simple step to getting off the power grid. It was nice standing out in the sun and wind, putting the clothes on the line. We’ll see how it works in winter:-)

Beetle

Posted on by

I’ve found this beetle in my garden and I’ve never seen anything like this. I thought I had a bunch of honey bees around already, but when I looked closer, it was a brown beetle. It would fly around, land on the garden soil or straw and burrow a little way in, then fly out again. Maybe it is laying eggs? It is similar in size and shape to a June Bug, but it’s back is almost like brown camoflage. Anyone know what this is?