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.

Indulging my inner Nerd.

For the better part of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I have spent a lot of time looking at this.  Actually several of these.  I’ve been off and about for the past few days indulging my inner nerd.  I went as a rep to a tech fair.  I saw lots and lots of these.  I saw people taking notes on them, surfing on them, and face timing on them.  They were everywhere.  EVERYwhere.  Apple is making a killing.  The iPad 3 came out while I was at the conference.  Sure enough, on day 2 there was at least one person sporting the 3.  I was amazed, really.  That is when I learned something very important.  Some people have more money than they have sense.

I learned something else very important.  This revelation is that I am a much bigger nerd than I previously thought.  I went to several different sessions and in each one, I had high hopes of having a moment of enlightenment.  A moment when the heavy hitters in educational technology would tell me something that would make my earth move, the planets align, and a light shine from heavens.  Didn’t happen.  Not once.  I was a bit bummed about that.  The bright side of course, is that I have been doing things right and keeping up the latest and greatest.  There were a few things I learned, mind.  I didn’t know everything.  But, by and large, I was pretty up to date.  This means that I am either doing a great job or I spend way too much time with my computer.  I’ll have to think about that.

The highlight of the conference was meeting Richard Byrne.  I have a bit of a nerd crush on him.  He has a fabulous blog called Free Technology for Teachers.  He is, in a word, incredible.  Techy and funny.  That is all.  *sigh*  I was also able to see some others, including some “local” state talent present.  I also had the opportunity to play with some of the latest tech toys in education land.  I am in love with the Promethean Table.  It is an interactive table that runs a Windows OS and the Promethean software.  The cool part is that up to 6 students can work at the table at a time, and it TRACKS THE GESTURES of each student so you can see who is really working collaboratively.  Way coolio.  You can use it so many different ways since you don’t have to use the solely the software.  I could go on, but I won’t.  You’d die of boredom.

While I was away for a couple days, the Handyman had two jobs.  Three, I suppose if you include the one that actually pays him.  Job number one:  keep the cats alive.  When I returned both were still breathing and in relatively good health.  Obviously, they were missing the ridiculous amount of attention I give them, but they were fine.  Job number two:  keep an eye on the green babies.  He did a mostly good job at this, too.  Most of the plants were fine.  However, four tomato plants that I have been nursing along since January were in need of triage and ICU today.  They really needed water.  I was able to salvage them, I think.  Tomorrow when I check on them if they look like they are going to make it I’ll replant them in larger pots.  I am hoping to get a few pictures up of the transplant and the progress of the new seedlings.  They are growing like weeds.  But they aren’t weeds.  They are veggies.  🙂

Wish me luck on the emergency transplanting.

On a parting note, this is what I found in one of my flower beds today.  An early bit of color. I’ll take it.

This is only a test. A tasty, tasty, test.

A few months ago,I got the crazy idea to try making my own vanilla extract. I love vanilla. I even like it better than chocolate. So I decided with the crazy cost of real vanilla extract that I would make my own. I looked around town for affordable vanilla beans, but I couldn’t find any that didn’t cost an arm and a leg, or at least a few fingers. So I went online and found a great deal on Amazon.com. Then I headed out to the store and bought a bottle of vodka and a bottle of rum. I looked like a baker with a drinking problem.  I came home, split the beans, and popped them in a couple of repurposed peanut butter jars.  Then I covered the beans with vodka in one jar and rum in another.  I was glad I got a deal on the vanilla beans because I had to use several beans per jar. I gave each jar a bit of a shake, screwed on the lid, and put them in a cool dark place.  Every once in awhile I would take them out and give them another shake. A few months have passed and this is what they look like now.

I used some to bake cookies the other day, and it may have been my imagination, but I thought they were extra delicious and full of vanilla goodness. I didn’t keep track of everything I spent but I feel like this is a much cheaper way to get my vanilla fix. And even if it isn’t, it was fun to try. The only bad part is you really have to plan ahead. It takes months for the alcohol to extract the vanilla goodness. On the bright side if you’re not doing a lot of baking very closely together you can you add more alcohol and it will continue to extract the goodness from the same beans.  The vodka extract leaves a cleaner, vanilla taste, and the rum imparts a richer, warmer flavor. Both are super yummy. I bet they’ll both make a super yummy post planting cocktail. I’ll have to get back to you on that. 🙂

And so it begins… Starting seeds.

mulching

Today I started mulching the area of my garden that I am going to expand.  First I put down some cardboard and then I covered it with fresh mulch.  This mulch is about a year old so it is pretty broken down.  That’s good though, because it will hold moisture and provide nutrients to my plants.  You can see the edges of the cardboard peeking out.  I didn’t get to finish this project today because the neighbor started burning yard waste and the smoke was blowing in my direction.

Greenhouse in January

It was such a pretty day that I decided to putter about in my greenhouse for a bit.  Yesterday I started some seeds and I made a bit of a mess.  I started several varieties of tomatoes, some chard, as well as some watermelon.  I know it is early, but I wanted to get a head start so that my transplants would be pretty good sized when the time comes to plant them in late March or early April.

New Growth

I was happy to see that a pepper I thought was going to die has started putting out some new growth.  You can see the tiny new leaves coming in.  I accidentally forgot to water it when I had the heater running during a cold spell.  That was nearly a disaster.  I have learned my lesson though and monitor the plants in the greenhouse a bit more closely.  Okay.  A LOT more closely.

Happy Pepper

This guy was tiny when I put him in here, but now he is happy and producing.

Rose and Salvia

I also have a mini rose in there and a salvia that I am trying to keep going.  I want to propagate it in the spring.

Planting table

When my Handyman built the greenhouse for me he included a planting table.  I love it.  It folds down when I don’t need it.

Seedling

I repotted this tiny guy today into one of my repurposed milk cartons.  I can’t wait to watch it grow big and strong.

Dr Earth

This is my favorite potting soil to use.  It is called Pot Of Gold by Dr. Earth.  I love their products.  They are organic and have microbiotic stuff going on in it to help the plant grow stronger.  I also use their fertilizer when I need to give plants a boost.

Peas and Pineapple

On a lark I decided to try growing a pineapple.  I was running out of space, so right now my peas are hanging out on top of this pot.  They are Dwarf Sugar Snaps.  I originally got the seed from Seed Savers, but have been saving my own since.  I like this variety because it doesn’t need trellising, and it tastes great.

My babies

These are my plants that I put in pots at the end of last year’s growing season.  We also have a key lime tree in here.  Next winter it will need to live somewhere else.  It takes up a lot of room and we had to prune it heavily to get it to fit.  I have a heater on a timer that I only use on the really cold nights.  Overall, I think my plants are very happy.  Later this week I will try to post some better pictures of the greenhouse itself.  Happy planting!