garden apothecary

This time of year my hands are especially prone to becoming rough and dry – constantly in the dirt planting, weeding and digging. I rub them daily with lotion, to restore lost moisture and smooth any roughness (this and this have been my all time favorites for years).

Last week I finally decided to try my hand at making my own lotion with herbs we grow here in our gardens… Let’s just say, it is a little bit ridiculous how excited I am at the outcome. I don’t know why, but I didn’t think I would achieve such an amazing final product. It’s pretty much everything I could hope for in a nourishing cream – save for a super minor tweak here and there. I’m psyched. Totally!

I did some research to get a sense of the process. I started with, “A Complete Book of Herbs – A practical guide to growing and using herbs,” by Lesley Bremness. I also found a few online resources. I knew I wanted to use lavender – possibly my favorite floral herb,  and we have an abundance of the notoriously skin-supportive calendula blooming right now. I have also been learning about the healing properties of elder flowers, which are blooming right now, so they felt like a natural addition as well.

With a general feel for the ratio differences between salves and lotions, a sense for what I wanted as my outcome, the help of this site for the process and quantities,  and then with what I had on hand, my recipe ended up something like this:

Approximately 1/2 cup of a mixture of calendula flower petals, elderflower and dried lavender

then fill to 3/4 cup with olive oil

.4 ounce beeswax

1/2 ounce witch hazel

3 1/2 ounces calendula infused water

15 drops lavender essential oil

(ounces are by weight)

A little bit about the herbs I chose:

Calendula – Reduces inflammation and soothes the skin. It is a wonderful herb for the general care of skin irritations of all kinds. “Calendula has been used for centuries to heal wounds and skin irritations. Calendula has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, astringent, antifungal, antiviral, and immunostimulant properties making it useful for disinfecting and treating minor wounds, conjunctivitis, cuts, scrapes, chapped or chafed  skin, bruises, burns, athlete’s foot, acne, yeast infections, bee stings, diaper rashes, and other minor irritations and infections of the skin.” (mountain rose herbs – http://mountainroseblog.com/healing-calendula/).

Elderflower – Soothes dry skin and has anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. It is a supportive tonic for all skin types, particularly mature skin. Reputed to soften skin and smooth wrinkles, fade freckles and soothe sunburn.

Lavender – Has antiseptic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, soothing and stimulating. A healing and gentle cleanser and tonic for all skin types. Aroma-therapeutic as well, acting as an uplifting nerve tonic.

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I measured a generous 1/2 cup of calendula petals, dried lavender flowers and elder flowers (separated from the stems), and then covered this combination with organic olive oil until I had a total quantity of about 3/4 cup.

I poured the mixture into a double boiler, covered it, and slowly warmed it, letting it set at a very low heat for about 3 hours.

I weighed out nearly 1/2 ounce of beeswax

and made an infusion of calendula petals and purified water.

When the oil and herbs were steeped to my satisfaction, I strained them into a jar,

squeezing any excess oil out with clean hands.

The oil infusion was then placed back in a warm pot of water and gently heated with the beeswax, until the beeswax was fully incorporated.

Once incorporated, I set the jar on the counter to cool to room temperature, blending periodically with an immersion blender. Then I measured out my witch hazel, calendula infusion and essential oil.

All the ingredients were gradually blended until I reached my desired consistency.

The final step of blending was the most exciting, as the whole mixture gradually transformed into something beautiful and creamy.

The cream is smooth and silky, and not too heavy or oily – particularly when applied to freshly washed skin. Steven is appreciating it as well, for dry elbows and knees, and areas that have been exposed to a lot of sun recently.

Next time I will try different, more deliberately chosen oils, and will explore some other herbs with properties specific to my skin and it’s particular needs at the time. My skin is loving this combination though, and my hands haven’t felt so soft in quite some time!

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growing asparagus

This week we brought home 10 asparagus crowns, purchased on an impulse at our local nursery. You can read about our whirlwind project over at Tend today. We are feeling happy to have this bed made and planted. It feels like we just made a big, exciting investment, though it cost almost nothing and will provide food for many years. If our plants are healthy and happy, the asparagus patch could be a longer term resident of our home than we are!

 

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slugs and gardening

I have a new post up over at tend today, talking all about slugs! Come on over if you’d like.

 

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garden photos (and some thoughts)

I realized that in my previous post, “garden notes,” I actually didn’t include a single garden photo, but rather my surroundings while in and out of the garden – a break on the porch, a cold drink on the patio, some deer that wandered through.

Sometimes I think I would do well to have a little gardening business, just so I could spend more time out there. I love the work of the garden so much. I like the heavy digging, the weeding, the moving of plants, the tending of plants. I don’t mind troubleshooting and I enjoy garden research. Even though there have been frustrating challenges, I have been able to rise to the challenges and even find interest in working through them (like pests for example).

Maybe it’s the perfect balance of physical labor, which I do so well with (I am a JUST DO IT kind of girl), and the parts that require me to slow down and think things through, plan things out (which I don’t always  have the patience for when I just want to do it!)

Gardening has taught me a lot of patience. And as an organic gardener, there are rewards of that patience showing up in ways I hadn’t known how they would look.

The work of providing for ourselves in a way that is direct, foundational and basic – such as feeding ourselves – is so simple and animal, free of superficial complications. Maybe this is why gardening is like meditation for so many people.

I actually sat down to just share a few photos, but I guess I had some thoughts to share too. Gardening, particularly growing food, is like nothing else for me. It’s satisfying to me in a way that is hard to describe. Maybe you know what I mean.

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I will be sharing over at Tend this year, every Tuesday. I’ve been following Tend since it started 2 years ago, and am looking forward to sharing in this year with them (and you!) as a contributor. Hop on over there if you’d like.

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early spring

I think it’s safe to say that spring is really here. And still light out at 7:30 pm? Yes, thank you! The spring peepers in our little cove of the lake started peeping a week or so ago, and to me, that is the sound of spring and summer. It makes my whole body smile to hear them.

The spring-time garden season has officially begun here as well, and the first seeds have been planted. A few weeks ago, I was a little worried whether my excitement for planting this year’s garden was ever going to come. I became a little bit discouraged at an epic fail of my late summer planting. We have a wormy-looking, root-eating soil dweller, taking over the universe out there, and I need to somehow identify what it is so I can figure out what to do about it. But anyway, all it took was a single afternoon out there – working in the soil, weeding, harvesting a pot of soup’s worth of root vegetables – and I realized my worries were for nothing. I simply LOVE to be in the garden. Challenges and all, the garden is a place where I feel happy and at peace.

Notes: March 9: Planted tomato seeds (8 each – Riesentraube, Black Cherry, Purple Cherokee, Orange Banana), 8 ground cherry, a couple dozen sugar snaps, a couple dozen bush beans, a dozen red onion, and a whole lot of basil. I didn’t plan ahead very meticulously, and assumed I had certain seeds on hand that I don’t, so I have just ordered cucumber, summer squash, more peas and a few different herbs. Also, we are thinking about changing the layout of our garden beds this year, so hopefully we will get that worked out in the next couple weeks.

Will you grow a garden this year? Have you started planting? I love to hear what fellow gardeners are up to. In fact, a quick trip to the food co-op today turned into a 45 minute gardening chat. There are always things to learn from each other.

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easing back into the garden

It was such a beautiful weekend here. Coffees were had on the patio, while we soaked up the warm sun. Deer nosed around nearby looking for tasty new growth. The birds were extra talkative, singing all day long. A little chipmunk even came to visit. It feels so much like spring!

Talk of the garden has been ongoing around here, even though somehow it still feels so early to me. I looked back on my blog, and to my surprise, I was planting seeds less than a week from now last year. And I started journaling about last year’s garden in the beginning of March.

On Saturday, we bundled up in the late afternoon to do some outdoor chores. We took all the compost down to “the big bin”

and then we headed down to check out the hoop house, still full of a dried-up tangle of tomato plants.

We gathered up a few tools, and jumped right in.

Between us, we made pretty quick work of cutting the overgrown grass path and clearing out the beds. There is now just a bit of weeding to do, and then we will ready the beds for planting.

We talked about a few improvements to be made, and what we will grow in there this year.

When we were finished, we headed inside to the most amazing smell of fresh bread, just finished baking. I mean AMAZING. I wish I could display smell on the blog.

This was somewhat of an experimental loaf, and it turned out to quite possibly be one our all time favorites, ever. I love when that happens. Onion, chili, caraway, dill, with a fresh flour blend of quinoa, corn, millet and rice.

We made a huge pot of soup, with mostly root vegetables from our garden, and then settled into a long and relaxing, productive evening.

I often have no concept of weekends vs weekdays, but this weekend felt like a real weekend. Yes, I really do like weekends.

Welcome to the new week, friends. How was your weekend?

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indian summer

It’s common, on the Oregon Coast, to have a bit of an indian summer. September is often referred to here as “the best time of year.” The wind calms down and the late season sun shines intensely. We have arrived at this time, and I am loving it.

Today I got another big part of my fall planting done. I am pretty close to finished, I think.

I harvested the last couple Golden Delicious (which are indeed delicious), and the first few Bush Buttercup squash.

I picked more beans and more cucumbers. It’s been a great year for both.

And I did all my digging and planting and compost turning in a mini skirt, and (even in the privacy of our yard) felt a little bit risque for it.

Have a great weekend sweet people.

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REgrow your own

Over the years we have tried to grow, regrow, and propagate many kinds of things. Steven has tried to regrow some things that I thought were pretty far fetched, but it’s amazing what plants can do. Once, we even had a totally far out (far out as in nearly rotting) stalk of broccoli start to put out new growth in our compost pile, and this was discovered after turning it up from 2 feet deep!

I can’t remember if we ever tried celery, but when I saw this by the clever folks at 17apart, and decided to give it a try, the first thing Steven said when he saw it was, “that looks like something I would do!” Celery is steadily growing, and it’s happening remarkably fast.

The first photo up at the top was taken 4 or 5 days after I cut the stalks off and put the end in water. I have just potted it in soil and am excited to see how it does from here.

So before you scrap that veggie end, consider a little experiment with regrowing it!

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some of the last

The garden is winding down from all it’s summer glory, and seems to be happily settling into it’s fall state. I think our greatest success this year was tomatoes, which is quite exciting, since we weren’t even sure if we could grow them well here at all. There are still tomatoes on the vine, and quite a lot of them inside waiting for processing. I didn’t do any sauce making or canning though, and the reason is, I discovered slow roasting. OH my.

Many of you are pretty savvy in the kitchen, but in case you haven’t discovered slow roasted tomatoes yet, it is so simple, and takes any savory meal to the next level. I have made sure we have a glass container full of them, in the fridge at all times, for the last month or so.

Slice your tomatoes in half if they are smallish (or leave them whole if they are really small cherry tomatoes), or cut them into sections if they are large. Brush every side with olive oil and lay them out on a bake pan. Each tomato should touch the surface of the pan. Sprinkle them lightly with sea salt and then put them in the oven at 200 degrees, for anywhere from 4-12 hours, depending on the size and juiciness of your tomatoes, and the way that you prefer them. With tomato sections the size you see here, roasting on glass, I tend to leave them on for about 12 hours. I think that with a metal pan your bake time might decrease. I hope you try it. Enjoy!

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peas and beans

I was inspired earlier this year, by a post on tend written by Julia, about growing dry beans. I have never been a big green bean eater, but I do love cooking dried beans. I decided to let my runner beans and pole beans dry before picking this year, and the experience has been really rewarding. Something about planting a seed/bean/pea, and watching the resulting plant grow through all the cycles of life is a really satisfying experience in and of itself, but growing beans for the result of the actual bean seemed different somehow. Looking forward to cooking them, and I will save some for planting next year as well. I also left some peas on the vine to dry, for planting next year. Opening each pod is like unwrapping a surprise present. So beautiful and colorful.

Scarlet runner beans, back in April

 

Purple podded pole beans and Oregon sugar pod peas in August

 

Scarlet runner beans in August

 

One of each – peas, runner beans, pole beans – just picked

 

 

Just like their mothers

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