Starting our seedlings.

I learned so much from my gram growing up, like how to whip together a fast and filling meal, how to can in-season food, and how to do a job right the first time. Unfortunately (and fortunately) with gardening, it's a learning experience that is impossible to do right the first time! So in a way it is freeing to just try things out and see how it ends up.

We are starting our seeds way late this year, but hopefully it'll work out anyways. Last year the growing season went way longer than usual (thanks global warming!) so maybe that will happen again this year?

I was hoping to incorporate Devin into helping me, but as expected, her almost 15 month old brain was way more interested in eating dirt and crushing egg shells! So I let her do that while I planted everything.

I couldn't find some of my supplies so I'll be doing more starters in a few days, but we have about 60 for now. We have a really large garden area and I'm not expecting all the starters to survive so I'm doing a lot! Always the pessimist.

As part of my "learning experience", I'm trying some seeds in eggshells and cartons this year. They can be put directly into the soil when it's time to plant so the roots aren't disrupted. I was supposed to poke a hole in the bottom and forgot though, so we'll see how it ends up. I'll be doing another couple dozen in eggs, so hopefully I remember to do those right.

So far the starts are acorn squash, mini cantaloupe, sage, leeks, basil, hot peppers, and celery. I totally forgot about the cherry tomatoes, so I think I'll just buy the starters from the local nursery because there definitely won't be enough time. I can also just plant those now with some walls-o-water. I decided to be smart and kept a record of the planting order that I can now make into labels!

The rest I plan on planting directly into the ground soon include carrots, radishes, potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, gold + green beans, kale, cilantro, cucumber, dill, and rosemary. I really want to can and dehydrate a bunch of stuff at the end of the season and dry a lot of herbs to use through winter because they are so easy to grow.

So that's it! Are you growing anything this summer?

Homemade Toothpaste

Toothpaste! It's something you grew up using and it's always worked, so why change something that isn't broken? To me, there were a couple reasons. 1) I haven't used a toothpaste I actually like. I don't like the flavors or the aftertastes. 2) I hate buying things. 3) It's a waste of plastic. 4) There are toxic ingredients in it.

I honestly can't say it's one thing or the other when it comes to why I decided to make my own toothpaste, rather a combination of the reasons I listed. Regardless of why I did it, I knew it was something right for Vince and I so we did it. Many people will think we are crazy because of it, but we'll just smile our pearly whites at you and say, 'Ok!' We've been using it for a couple months now and really like it. Our teeth haven't starting rotting away, and one of my teeth that used to hurt (but doesn't have a cavity, according to my dentist) has stopped hurting! Read here about ways to actually counteract light decay.

Vince and I don't agree on flavors (or so I thought, he usually sneaks mine), so I have two little jars for each of us.

Mine is orange flavored and his is plain. I also used two different ratios for each of ours to get different flavors. Vince doesn't mind if his is salty and doesn't notice the taste, but I didn't like the original recipe because it was too salty. So if you don't mind saltiness, use his, and if you want it less salty, use mine, or a variation of either. At first I was worried about messing around with the ratios, but after reading about how many people only use water and a toothbrush and still have good teeth, I wasn't too worried.

Steffani's Toothpaste

5 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil

3 Tablespoons baking soda

7 drops tea tree oil

10 drops orange

20 drops trace minerals

Vince's Toothpaste

4 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil

3 Tablespoons baking soda

7 drops tea tree oil

20 drops trace minerals

Directions: Mix in a bowl with a fork until throughly mixed and smooth. Apply to toothbrush with a little spoon. Store in a dry place.

I mixed both of ours together in a bowl, minus the orange oil. Then I spooned out half into Vince's container, added orange oil to mine, then spooned mine into the container. I really like the orange flavor (as does Vince because he usually ends up using mine) and I keep meaning to buy mint or peppermint oil for Vince. He tells me he doesn't care if he has it, though, so I don't think about it very often! 

The tea tree is added because it's an antibacterial. A lot of people don't like the flavor (Vince and I don't mind it) so if it's too overpowering you can leave it out. Coconut oil is antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral enough without the added tea tree oil. I buy my virgin coconut oil from Tropical Traditions. If you don't like the taste of coconut, you can use expeller pressed.

The trace minerals are not completely neccasary, but I think it's important for healing teeth and I already had some in my medicine cabinet. I use Liqumins ConcenTrace Trace Minerals.

Lastly, I painted different colors on ours to know whose is whose.

Do you think it's crazy to use homemade toothpaste? Would you ever do it, or do you already?

Snow day, budgets, dog treats, Revenge, and butter. My life is so interesting.

|| Today was a snow day! A fun and perfectly timed snow day, as I have a bit of a cold and was supposed to have a Chemistry test this morning that I did not study enough for. My college has only had 3 or 4 snow days in the past 10 years, so this is quite a treat. It also means that my adventurous husband it skiing fast down a snowy mountain and will eventually have to drive down a steep icy mountain so I'm hoping he stays safe today. Our Subaru is quite a badass in the snow, so I'm not too worried.

So far today I haven't done too much. I've finished up a post about eating paleo that I will post in a day or two, read a gazillion blogs that have lit a fire of inspiration in me, and sat in front of my heater drinking fresh juice and health tonic in the hopes that I will recover from this cold. This is by far the easiest cold I've ever had, so things are looking good!

|| One of the blogs that inspired me the most was Northwest Edible Life and how her family did a 'no-spend' month. Vince and I are pretty good about being frugal, but the past month or two have gotten out of hand, grocery-budget wise. We are such food people and love making delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners regardless of whether or not things are on sale. We buy ingredients that we are in the mood for. I think in March we need to crack down, meal plan again and write up a grocery budget. Also, I want to do some more homemade things for Roxanne, specifically dog treats. The chicken jerky we used to buy her that was literally just dried chicken and nothing else added was suddenly pulled from all the shelves, and we're left with the Dogswell Vitality brand. It's about $16 for a 15 ounce bag, and a bag lasts us about two weeks. It is from cage-free chickens but they are made in China, so I'm not sure how reliable that is. Instead I'm going to try some dog treats, like dried sweet potatoes, meat balls of some sort with pureed veggies, and drying my own meat in the oven. (Although not the organic meat I buy! Sorry dog, we can't afford that.) I'll let you know how that goes, and if you have any recommendations, let me know!

|| New favorite snack of sorts: mashed banana, raw cream, dried coconut flakes, and pumpkin spice. Holy hell.

|| I started watching Revenge two nights ago and it's sooooo good. So many people have recommended it and said that the first few episodes are kind of cheesy, but I think they've been amazing so far and have to contain myself from watching all of them today. Have you started it? If not, it's streaming on Netflix and if you have it, you totally should.

|| Working out is so awesome. I sound annoying, I know, but it is. I've been going a minimum of five days a week and try for six and I'm still so pumped about it. It's so exciting to be putting my hair up in the morning and realize that my arms? HAVE MUSCLES. I signed up for a weight lifting class that is every Saturday in March, and I can't wait for it to start! The other day I didn't have time to get to the gym but still wanted to do a workout, so I pulled up a yoga video on youtube. I haven't done yoga in a long time so it was a nice reminder that I can get a workout in without going to the gym and also that my body felt wonderful afterwards. There is a yoga class offered at my gym so I might try that out to see how I like it since structured classes work better for me most of the time.

|| Sneak peek at some upcoming posts regarding homemade toothpaste, deodorant, and raw butter!

 

|| Now I'm off to make some paleo lemon poppyseed tea buscuits, but with orange instead of lemon!

Because I shouldn't keep it a secret...

No, sorry, I'm not pregnant. I did come across a super awesome cold prevention, though, which is way more exciting to most of you!

I read the blog DIYNatural and one of the writers also has a separate blog, Matt Jabs. He posted a health tonic and it just so happened to be a few days before I started getting a cold.

A couple weeks ago I was feeling awful. I started getting the super exhausted, whiny, grumpiness I get before I get sick. Then I started getting all mucousy and had a bad headach from the sinus pressure. I started complaining to Vince and as I did, I remember Matt's post for his health tonic! I quickly rushed to the store for Vitamin C powder after some research told me that Vitamin C powder is different from a Vitamin C pill. (For one thing, Vitamin C powder is one ingredient and a pill has like 8...what?!) I came home, mixed up a cup, and gulped it down expecting it to taste awful. It didn't taste too bad, and Vince and I came to the conclusion that it reminds us of Emergen-C, just without the fizz. (And it's healthier!) Well, I wanted the fizz, so I made it fizzy with some sparkling mineral water. Here's a little how-to for the health tonic:

In a small mason jar or any jar with a lid, add 1 tablespoon raw honey(+ local is best!), 1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar (you can get Bragg's from the regular grocery store and it's cheap and the best), 1 teaspoon Vitamin C powder (don't just crush up a pill!) and 1/3 cup water. Put the lid on and shake, shake, shake. If you used raw honey it will more than likely be a solid, so after shaking for a minute or two I let it sit for a 1/2 hour to dissolve, shaking every five or ten minutes. When everything is dissolved, I poured the tonic into a larger cup and filled it to the brim with sparkling mineral water for the fizz. This is optional! Sometimes I drink it with the sparkling water, and other times I just add a little regular water and drink it. It tastes good either way.

I drank some the night I was starting to feel sick, the next morning before I went to work, and then that night as well. I started off Friday feeling the same as I had Thursday night, still not 100%, but by Friday night I felt great! To be on the safe side I also drank one cup a day for four days after.

This will be my future go-to for when I feel sickly again, and I hope it continues to work just as well! Vince is feeling a little sick right now and I've been loading him up on this and elderberry. I'm also loading myself up, because there has never been a time when he's been sick and I haven't gotten sick. This test will tell!

I know a lot of you believe things like this are bullshit, and if you believe that, by all means, support the drug companies and buy yourself a bottle of NyQuil. I am no doctor and cannot tell you that this will cure you of anything, but it can't hurt, right? Vince and I now drink this a couple times a week, especially if we wake up and just feel a little off or need a boost of energy. He calls it the 'orange drink' even though it's not really orange and doesn't taste too much like orange? Either way, he approves.

Lastly, to those of you who are intimidated by the 'raw this' and 'raw that', don't be! I get my raw honey from the farmer's market and it's $12 for a quart, compared to $11 for pasteurized local honey. Only $1 extra for raw? Yes please. (And if you are buying 'regular' honey from the grocery store, I encourage you to do some research because you're not actually buying real honey!) Also, raw ACV? You can get it at the regular grocery store in the vinegar section! Can't get any easier than that.