Calendula - From Seed to Soap

What is it?
Also, know as pot marigold, calendula is a flower which is used medically and cosmetically.

"Calendula officinalis is one of the best skin-care herbs ever!  Calendula is antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory. It promotes skin regeneration, minimizes scar tissue, is an excellent skin moisturizer, and helps heal rashes, burns, sores, ulcers and skin problems associated with radiation therapy"  from Mother Earth Living


It has tons of uses.

Calendula Shaving Soap

I wanted to match a shaving soap that was really nourishing to the skin. This recipe not only has bentonite clay (for the slip, while shaving), it also includes colloidal oatmeal (which is just oatmeal that has been ground to a fine powder), and calendula-infused olive oil. I will talk about calendula in my next post.

Natural Insect repellent Lotion Bars (Bug-away Lotion Bar)

This is the time of year that I love being outside at dusk. However, so do the mosquitoes!
I've been wanting to try out making Lotion Bars & I just found this local honey farm that sells beeswax. Babe's Honey Farm.

Also, Who wants a insect repellent soap? I like applying it right when the bugs begin to appear. You never know when you will end up at a bonfire.

Ingredients:

With the oils I used a 1:1:1 ratio

2.5 oz Beeswax

2.5 oz Coconut Oil

2.5 oz Olive Oil (Pumace) infused with Lavender and Chamomile

1 tsp Catnip (dried)

7 drops Lavender E.O.

10 drop Eucalytus E.O.

1/4 tsp Tea Tree E.O.

Blueberry Season! Celebrating with simple Blueberry syrup

There was recently a sale of Blueberries and we got 5 lbs! Blue berries and Jesse's (my husband) favorite berry. We froze a bunch of the right away to add to pancakes, muffins, etc. I wanted to make something a little bit more special so I tried out this Blueberry syrup. It was super quick and delicious.

We had it on Waffles the next day.

Blueberry Syrup
2 cups Blueberries
1 cup Sugar
1/3 cup water
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Cinnamon (ground)

Directions: Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a Boil, then simmer for 10 minutes (or until fruit is tender). Some of the blueberries were still whole so we mashed them up then pressed it through a strainer.

Funneled it into an old jar. Yum yum yum!

Recipe inspired by the Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving

I really like this book. Small-Batches are perfect for me and Jesse, we don't need 80 jars of anything since it's just the two of us. Plus, we can try out many more recipes!

Juniper Berry Castiel Soap

I just made a small test batch of Castile soap, which is just olive oil based. I infuse d the olive oil with juniper berries. Castile soap is a nice soap but not as bubbly as the other batches I've made. I want to see how the Juniper berry infusion worked.

Directions after Jump..

Juniper Berry infused Olive Oil

I really liked how the annatto/achiote seed infused olive oil turned out, It turned the soap into a nice bright orange color. (I think it's the color of Mac & Cheese). Anyways I wanted to try something else, so I made some Juniper Berry infused olive oil.

Supplies

I crushed the Juniper Berries that I had to release the flavor.

Orange Eucalyptus Cold-Process Soap

Orange Eucalyptus Cold-Process Soap

Ingredients:

• Coconut Oil (76°) = 10.56 ounces
• Vegetable Shortning = 10.56 ounces
• Olive Oil (Pomance*) = 10.88 ounces
• Lye = 4.53 ounces
• Water = 10.56 ounces
• Valencia Orange Essential Oil = 1/4 tsp
• Eucalyptus E.O. = 1/4 tsp
• Lime E.O. = 1/8 tsp

Washcloth knitting pattern

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From http://myjewelthief.typepad.com/myjewelthief_knits/2008/12/doubel-bump-scarves.html

I love patterns that don't need to be very precise. I was looking for a nice soft washcloth for my face & I tried this pattern from MyJewelThief. I've already made two. One on size 8 needles and another on size 3. 

On Size US 8 needles

The Brussel Sprout Disaster!

We've been having a good time planting things this season. We've got happy carrots, Chamomile, & Dill so far that we planted from seeds. A few weeks ago I replanted the Dill and Chamomile and got starting on the next batch. I planted Brussel Sprouts, Purple Tomatillos, & Cherry tomatoes (that I ordered from Salt Spring Seeds)

Sad Looking Sprouts :(

London fog cold-process soap

Here is my first London fog recipe I made up.

Ingredients:

• Lard
• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Distilled water
• Lye

Flavorings: 

• Lady grey tea
• Vanilla bean
• Lavender

English Muffins

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I found this recipe from Pintrest: http://myfairbaking.blogspot.ca/2012/12/homemade-english-muffins.html

For Homemade English Muffins and I had to give it a try. 


Ingredients
1 cup of milk
3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP of honey
1 cup of warm water (105-110 degrees)
1/4 oz of yeast
2 TBSP cornmeal
5 cups + extra for sprinkling all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Headphone Customization

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Since I've been riding the bus & using my headphones a lot more lately, the tangling was starting to bother me. I saw this cute post (Contemporary Farm Girl) & I finally tried it out. It really keeps headphone from tangling! I'm very happy with it. 

The original post has a great video showing the process. 
I used 3 skeins of embroiderer floss (I used 3 colors I liked together)

Another post with great instructions is on Apartment Therapy. 

The Herring-Bone Knit

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Herringbone Knit

I'm trying out this new knitting pattern and I'm going to say it's my new favorite.
This video shows how to do it very well!
http://newstitchaday.com/horizontal-herringbone-stitch/

This stitch does turn out incredible flat  looks pretty nice on the backside as well.

Herringbone knit on size 10 1/2 needles

Lard Soap - First Try

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Cold-Processed Lard Soap

I made a small batch of soap with Lard as the fat. I based this recipe from Mother Earth News:

Yogurt cups prepared with baby oil (mineral oil) 

I halved the recipe and used some individual yogurt containers.

Purple Peach-Lard Soap:

1 lbs Lard
2.2 oz. Lye
3.5 fl oz. distilled water

Extras:

Red and Blue coloring and Peach F.O.

0.5 oz. Peach F.O. (Fragrance oil)
10-15 drop blue liquid coloring for soap
10 drops red liquid coloring for soap