Hippie Lifetime Membership Achieved

I bet you’re wondering what that stuff is.  It’s okay.  I would wonder, too.  Especially since the color is a bit off thanks to the lack of light.  Next you’re gonna wonder if I’ve lost it, but that’s okay, too.  It is.  Wait for it.  Deodorant.  Yep.  Homemade deodorant.  Not antiperspirant, but frankly, I live in the South.  No amount of antiperspirant is really going to help me most months of the year.  And I’m a little nervous about blocking up pores with chemicals and aluminum.  I have enough trouble remembering things, I don’t need help forgetting where I put my keys or who so and so is.  I took some medicine once that wrecked my brain temporarily.  I had little short term memory and I thought I was loosing my mind.  That put the nail in the coffin for conventional deodorants for me.  So I’ve tried several natural deodorants.  Some have worked great.  Some not so much.  So I decided to take the leap and make my own.

I read lots of things on the webernet.  There are loads of recipes out there.  After reading them I poked about in my cupboards and found that I had several of the ingredients that had been mentioned repetitively.  I decided to use coconut oil (I used the vanilla stuff I made.), baking soda (I’m a bit nervous about using this.  Some people reported irritation from it.), and corn starch (Arrowroot powder was often used in place of this.), and a few drops of lavender oil.  I used 3 T of baking soda, 4 T of corn starch, and I would estimate 4 T of coconut oil.  After I mixed it up I added 6 drops of lavender.

I have to say, it smells amazing.  Bonus:  It’s gluten free and I know it.  Feel free to sing that to the tune of I’m Sexy and I Know It.  I did.  I suppose tomorrow will tell the tale since we are in the middle of a heat wave.  Hopefully it will work.  Right now it is pretty thin.  I’m going to put it in the fridge to thicken it up a bit.  I’m not sure if it will ever be able to go into a recycled container.  I know it won’t travel particularly well because of the low melt point.  But I don’t travel a whole lot anyway.  I’ll keep you posted.

Oh, and this alone is not why I got lifetime membership.  I’m also made (maybe) kombucha today.  I’ll have to get back to you on that.  I have assembled the ingredients into one container.  Hopefully the magic will happen.  Cross your fingers for me.

Naturally gluten free

Which is good. Because I have them coming out my ears. You see, last year’s harvest kind of, well, stank. So this year I was determined to have at least a couple dozen good tomatoes. I think I may end up with a couple dozen dozens. And I will be thankful. And so will my friends. And possibly stangers

Travel Makes Me Nervous

Summer will officially be here in a couple of days.  For lots of people, including myself, that means travel is looming on the horizon.  I used to LOVE to travel.  Not that I have been anywhere particularly worldly or exciting, but I have always enjoyed a change of scenery every once in a while.  Now, I kind of break out in a sweat. Traveling with gluten issues is way different than traveling without them.

Now I have to plan things like where I am going to eat OR what I am going to take with me to eat.  I can’t really take for granted that anything will be safe.  Even well meaning family and friends can make things for me that they think are safe for me to eat, but the problem is gluten has multiple personality disorder.  It goes by dozens of names and can show up in things that you think gluten has no business being in.  Salad dressings, soy sauce, heck, even broths have to be examined to make sure that I can eat it.  It is annoying at the least and makes you feel like a burden at the most.  You can feel like an outcast and a diva when really, all you want is to be able to eat safely.  Before I can eat anything other than what I’ve brought along my brain screams STOP!

And I have to ask myself, “can I eat this?”  Sometimes the answer is yes.  Sometimes it is no.  I prefer to err on the side of caution.  So, if you see me at a picnic, or maybe a cook out, and I’m eating a KIND bar while everyone else digs in to burgers (seasonings may have gluten) and potato salad (may have cross contamination from gluten containing dishes), don’t be under the impression that I’m a vegetarian, or a food snob.  I’m just trying to play it safe.  I would much rather do that and be able to hit the beach, than be stuck inside feeling miserable.

 

 

It was Colonel Mustard, In the Kitchen, With the Lay’s Bag

I apologize for the “Clue” reference in the title.  I couldn’t help myself.  I tried.  Really.  But not very hard.

I was sick last week.  Some how or another I got glutened and I couldn’t figure out how it happened.  I fixed everything I ate at home.  I avoided the snacks and treats at work that were offered to get us through a big project.  Dude, I walked away from a Krispy Kreme doughnut.  Less than an. hour. old.  I was doing everything right, so how did I get sick?  I felt like Sherlock without his Watson, because I was finding no clues.

Then, over the weekend I saw it happen.  My beloved fixed himself a sandwich on regular ol’ gluten filled bread (Which I am OK with him having in the house.  He is normally more careful than I am about keeping me safe and he usually takes his sandwich to lunch.  He has a crazy metabolism and a crazy job so he needs something he can hold in one hand and shove in his face.)  But then, he did it.  He reached right into the potato chip bag with his gluteny hands and grabbed a handful of chips and put them on his plate.

I practically catapulted out of my chair with a screeching “A-HA!”  As soon as I said it, he knew what he had done.  We already have two peanut butter jars and two mayo jars in the house to prevent cross contamination issues.  Now, apparently, we are going to have to have two bags of chips.  Just kidding.  We don’t really eat them that often, so in the future, he’ll just make sure he washes his hands before he touches the bag and he’ll pour out what he wants instead of reaching in the bag.  Now he knows that I’m so sensitive that I can get sick off of just that little bit of gluten.  Heck, now I know how sensitive I am.  The longer I am gluten free, the more sensitive I become when I’m exposed.

I wonder if I can just smell them?

In the meantime, the rest of that bag is off limits to me.  Which is fine.  I am just glad I figured it out, because I was going nuts trying to locate what was making me sick.  Now I know.  And knowing is half the battle.

A Disturbance in the Force.

I am an introvert.  More of a sit back and watch the action kind of person.  That’s one of the things that I like about gardening.  It doesn’t require me to engage a whole lot.  I can sit back and watch things happen.  Observe.  For a while, anyway.  Inevitably, the first shot will be fired by the insect world, and then, the war begins.  And once it starts, it doesn’t stop.  Now that I have a greenhouse, it won’t stop even in the winter.  It is frustrating, but part of the deal.  Here is the current enemy.

Aphids.  Nasty little devils.  They come in an interesting variety actually, and I wish I could take the time to appreciate that.  But I can’t.  I killed enough today that I’m sure there was a disturbance in the force.  My karma is probably screwed.  I am an organic gardener.  And let me tell you, once you garden this way, you have a totally different opinion of the organic prices at the grocery store.  Bug warfare can be intense.  Especially when you are trying to target individual infestations so that you don’t mess up your whole micro ecosystem in your yard.

Today my peas were covered in these buggers.  I mean, like, totally covered.  So off I went for my initial maneuver.  Soap.  Yep.  Soap.  I use Dr. Bonner’s because it is fair trade and biodegradable.  I have tried a couple of different fragrances, but one doesn’t seem any more affective than the other, so I usually use the citrus, because that is what I use in my showers and I like multipurpose products.  I like peppermint, as well.  Anyway, I have two sprayers, a two gallon and a half gallon.  I used the half gallon today.  I filled it up with water and added about an ounce of soap.  I don’t measure.  It is one of the reasons I stink at baking.  Anyway, They were concentrated on my peas, which I have given up on since it is so hot already.  I am taking the few peas that are still kicking and using them as a seed crop.  But first, I needed to kill the aphids.  I sprayed them down pretty well.  And I will give them another bath tomorrow, then every few days until the problem is cleared up.  That will only be temporary though.  They always come back.  Always.

Here are a few other shots of what’s happening around the yard.

Potatoes doing well.

Where’s Waldo Garden with some wildflowers that reseeded from last year.

Tomatoes

More tomatoes

Chard. A new favorite.

Newest members of the garden. Eggplant.

Running out of room.

Until next time, resist the Dark Side.  Even if they do have cookies.

Woo hoo!

This tomato stayed on the plant for approximately five seconds after this picture was snapped.  It is now in my tummy. I can’t wait for his little friends to join him.

TED Talks Food

Have you heard of TED?  I love it.  Granted, I’m a big ol’ nerd who is in a constant search or ideas, facts, opinions, news and innovations.  This is one of my favorite TED Talks.  It’s a kid.  From North Carolina by the way.  Who has more sense about the food he is putting into his body, and the food system.  Food is a very emotionally charged and highly political subject, whether we want to admit it or not.  Check it out.  It will only take about 5 minutes of your day.  Totally worth it.  Totally.

Yummy Pizza Goodness

So, I can’t eat gluten.  That means that I can’t have pizza, right?  Oh, so very, very wrong.  You see, there are lots of things this nerd can live without, but pizza isn’t one of them.  No way, no how, uh-uh.  Before learning that I couldn’t have gluten, I had three favorite foods.  1.  Pizza.  2.  Burgers.  3.  Tacos.  Numbers two and three transitioned easily enough.  Tacos, well, just skip wheat tinged seasonings and and make sure that the chips or shells are gluten free.  Nowadays, I don’t even really use the chips or shells, I just have a big honkin’ salad.  Although sometimes, I like to get crazy and put all that goodness on a baked potato.  Burgers are easy enough, too.  The bun was really only a vehicle to get the beef, cheese and foolish amount of toppings I would put on a burger to my mouth.  My burgers used to resemble a salad stuck inside a bun.  Now it is just a salad wrapped up in more salad.

But the pizza.  Oh, the pizza.  I have tried many different things.  And trust me when I say there are lots of ideas out there on how to go about making a gluten free pizza.  I tried gluten free doughs, but they all tasted a bit off or they left a weird film in my mouth.  I also tried the cauliflower crust.  Now that was amazing, but a calorie bomb with crazy amounts of cheese.  Not that I have a problem with that, really, but the frequency with which I would like to enjoy pizza makes that a bit of a problem.  So,  enter into my life portobella pizzas.  I attempted to take a picture of this goodness, but it looked rather… unappealing.  To say the least.  BUT, it was delicious.

You use the mushroom to make the “crust”, by baking in the oven for a bit.  Next time around, I  will drizzle balsamic vinegar at this step to give it a bit more kick.  I may even add a bit of pepper flake.  Then you load it up just like you would a pizza, sauce, peppers, olives, ect.  You can skip the mushrooms though.  You’ve got that covered.  Toss it back in under the broiler to melt the cheesy goodness and then (and here’s the important part) DON’T FORGET IT.  I did.  Oops.  But it still tasted great.  I see this going into a regular Friday night rotation in this household.  Next time, if I don’t forget about it, I’ll take a picture.  But you gotta try this.  Even if gluten isn’t an issue for you.  Here’s a link for one recipe, but you can google it and find loads more.  Bon appetit!

Irish eyes are smiling. Hopefully.

Sunday was a busy day around our place.  I had some tomatoes that needed repotting and potatoes that needed planting.  I really should have put the potatoes in the ground a few weeks ago.  Especially since the winter here was so mild.  But one thing would pop up and then another.  Or the weather would be gorgeous during the week when I was too busy and then it would rain buckets on the weekend.

Plus, I needed to decide exactly how I was going to plant the suckers this year.  Potatoes are not my area of success.  They should be.  I am vaguely Irish.  It should be genetic, shouldn’t it?  And I love them.  A lot.  I have the same relationship with potatoes in all their wonderful forms that some women have with chocolate.

In the past I have ordered seed potatoes from very reputable (and expensive) seed companies and I have picked up seed potatoes from the local big box home improvement place.  Neither attempt worked out.  I wasn’t really planning on trying again this year, but you know how sometimes you buy some potatoes with every intention of turning them into something and then for some reason it doesn’t happen?  You don’t?  Oh.  Okay.  Me, either.  Soooo…. I bought some potatoes, and then I intentionally didn’t cook them and I intentionally left them under the counter to intentionally start growing.  That’s exactly how it happened.  So I had some seed potatoes.

I only buy organic potatoes to eat by the way.  Potatoes have a thin skin and when fertilizers and pesticides are sprayed they stew in them in the dirt, unlike the fruit and veggies of above ground plants which have the benefit of being washed off by the rain.  Also, if you haven’t seen this experiment by a young girl and the effects of bud nip, you really should.

I decided to go with the potato condo again this year.  I made it last year and I did manage to get a few tiny spuds, so I thought I’d try again this year.  I moved them to a different spot, this year.  I’m not sure if that will help or not.  I think they were getting cooked in the afternoon, so in the new location they will have afternoon shade.  I had three different random varieties floating down in my cabinet.  Three scraggly looking red potatoes (I actually think I did intentionally save those.), two Russets, and four Yukon Golds.  The Russets and the reds are bunked down together, and the Yokons are in their own condo.  As the plants grow, I’ll add a bit of compost and straw (I think.) and add boards to the condo.  Supposedly, you can get quite a yield with this method.  I suppose we’ll see.

I did find a surprise while I was working in the spot where the taters were last year.  BABIES!  I covered them back up and marked the place.  I’m not expecting anything to really happen there, but stranger things have happened.

Stay tuned to the next exciting episode where tomatoes are transplanted (yet again!) and dastardly pests stalk their delicious leaves.  War has been declared…  Who will win?  The gluttonous mystery insect?  Or the green murderous gardener?  Until next time… happy growing!

 

Photo update

These guys are popping up in my garden.  I love these peas.  The blooms are purple and the leaves are variegated.  So pretty.  And tasty.

The swiss chard is coming up as well.  I love the red and green.

I thought this guy was a goner, but I left it alone to see what would happen.  I’m glad I did because it is shooting out tiny little leaves.  Apparently the cat has been nearby.  I just noticed the fur ball.  Shedding season is here.

 

The seedlings have really taken off.  They are loving the longer days.

I really think they may have nearly doubled their leaf size.

I didn’t measure of course.  But I should have.

I am not sure if I’ve shown you the jasmine the Handyman started from seed.  My stepfather collected the seed and shared them with the Handyman.  He is hoping to run it up the fence to add an extra foot or two of privacy.