LOWER your Chemical Exposures - Shaving Cream

We've been having successes, and a couple of fails  ;-D, in my ongoing quest to lower the chemical exposure from everyday cleaning products, everyday health and beauty products, and pharmaceutical medicines in our family.  I want to start documenting the ones that WORK for our family.  Hopefully one or more help your family too!  :-)  And bonus... I can find the recipe again when I need it, LOL.

An  EASY change from store boughten SHAVING CREAM to one that is not that difficult to make, store, use... and is inexpensive.  We use certified, high quality, therapeutic level essential oils and blends in our "on the skin" products… to avoid both ineffective essential oils, and adulterations.

You will need to line up:

1/4 cup extra virgin Coconut Oil (we use Nutiva's Organic... excellent for cooking too).  This is a white solid at room temp
1/4 cup refined Shea Butter (yellow or white solid, organic or not).  We order this from Aroma Tools or Amazon.  Some local stores may carry it... make sure it's 100% shea butter.  You'll use this one in other recipes  ;-)
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

Optional 100% pure, therapeutic essential oil (EO) additions:

6 drops of Rosemary EO plus 2-3 drops of Peppermint EO for a Rosemary-Mint cream
OR
6 drops of Lavendar EO plus 2-3 drops of Peppermint EO for a Lavendar-Mint cream
OR
up to 10 drops of any creative EO combination  :-)

Optional: a vitamin E capsule

And a 4oz glass jar if adding EO's.  Plastic is okay if not.

Using a glass measuring cup or corningware, melt the Shea Butter and Coconut at low heat until ALMOST melted.  Remove from heat and stir occasionally until completely melted.  Add in the olive oil and EO's.  Poke a hole in the vitamin E capsule and squeeze into the mixture.  Stir and refrigerate until hard.

Remove from frig and pop out into a small mixing bowl.  Wait 5 minutes or so, blend, then whip.  Scrape the whipped mixture into your storage jar, label, and store in a cool, dark place where you shave.  DONE!  Clean up beaters and all pans with a paper towel before washing them... it's easier.

This small amount will actually go a long ways!  The razor will stay fine if soaked in a bit of hot water right after use, before drying off.  Let me know how it works for you.  :-)

Prepping Established Raspberries

If you have not yet tackled the job of getting your raspberries ready for another season, here is how I tackle the prickly job (wearing gloves and a long-sleeved shirt/jacket!).

Our raspberries were starts from Nourse, planted in trenches with compost added.  The rows are six feet apart.  In between the rows, the ground is covered with landscape fabric topped with pine bark chips for mulch.  We have used straw mulch in the past, but it does tend to "compost" itself, and let more weeds come in.

The goal in renovating your raspberry bed is one good cane per foot for maximum berry size, flavor and plant health.  This is what one faces come the spring snow melt:

It's fairly easy (if tedious) to prune out the little-finger-sized canes, the peeling, dead looking canes (they bore berries last year and won't again), and the ones growing outside your intended row.  Once you've removed all of the definitely-unwanted canes, prune the tops down to your preferred height.  For us, that is approximately 3 feet tall.  Any taller, and the branches tend to bow down to the ground when full of berries... where local critters then pick more than I do!

So now your row should start looking like this:

If your plants are healthy, you have lots of strong, sturdy canes to choose from.  This is where some "art" comes in.... you need to choose which canes to prune out (at the base again) until you're down to approximately one cane per foot.  I pull back leaf mulch around the canes at this point.  Once all of the branches are finally removed (our kids LOVE the bonfire  :-)  ), it's time to lightly rake the leaves off of the mulch (again, for plant health and less future compost for weeds to grow in).  And you're almost there!:

Irrigation needs to be connected (raspberries like LOTS of water during fruiting!).  We use t-tape drip irrigation, with the t-tapes connected to the white PVC header pipe pictured in the distance.  Microirrigation (with emitters) also work well.

Fertilizer needs to be added.  Our llamas provide what we need for rich llama manure compost  :-).  Fish meal provides an added Nitrogen boost.

And the trellis either needs to be established, or the wires tightened, or the string replaced so all is ready for a heavy load of berries come summer!  :-)  (see above picture for our very simple design).  You CAN do without a trellis, but picking is slower and trickier.  ;-)

We throw out "semaspore" from Planet Natural a few times each May and June to naturally reduce grasshopper populations.  Shiny bird tape tied here and there to flutter in the wind help repel birds.  We really have no other pest problems with our raspberries here in southern Montana.

And your end result this summer will hopefully look like this (2012 crop)!  :-)  Happy Berry Growing!

The Secrets of a good Raised, Covered Bed

As I start to plan retirement from intensive Market Gardening, (NEVER from gardening :-) ), I want to pass on a few "trade secrets" learned by experience and experimentation. :-) As we finally move back into early spring here in Montana, getting our 4' wide, 48'long, 18" tall raised bed up and running is one of the first projects on the longggg outdoor todo list.

After reading "Square Foot Gardening" about the same time I needed Physical Therapy following a 1000 pint hand-picked strawberry season in our Market Garden (OUCH!), I was VERY interested in both getting those strawberries up off the ground ;-D, and getting rid of the intensive, on the knees, weeding process needed twice through every spring when one raises perennials without chemical use.

I found easy to follow plans for building raised beds here: http://www.sunset.com/garden/perfect-raised-bed-00400000039550/ . We made our first raised bed 18" tall, and made the corner posts longer, of course. Since the beds are first made upside down... we did that on our relatively flat gravel driveway near the final bed site. We used mostly used redwood from someone's deck remodeling... stain almost completely worn off and placed to face the outside of the bed. Since most of the boards were 12' long 2X6's, we built 4 units... planning for joining the middle sections... with braces, as shown, at the 6' mark of each board. Purchased 4X4 redwood posts were cut such that they went 6" into the ground when placed upright. They were cut 18" even for the 6' mark bracing spots. 3.5" and 4" decking screws were used to attach all the pieces of wood together.



After each section was moved into place and leveled onsite... they were attached to one another to make one long 48" bed. This bed has been in use for 2 years now, and is very solid.

Then hardware cloth (similar to chicken wire but thicker) was placed on the bottom of each bed to help prevent rodents from tunneling.

WHAT WE'D DO DIFFERENTLY >> Grass and Field Bindweed became an issue EVEN through 18" of soil! We had tilled the soil around and under the bed several times prior to installing the bed, but as you can see in the picture... they renewed before we could finish the bed. We eventually laid down landscape fabric on both sides of the bed, and covered it with natural pine chips. Now I would do that AS the bed is established.

In Montana's short growing season, we need to capture all the early and late heat possible. I found 3/4" outdoor PVC conduit (the grey hoops) that would fit inside 1" PVC piping cut into 12" pieces. We found conduit clamps (inexpensive) to attach the PVC footlong pieces inside the beds... even with the top of the beds. 1.25" decking screws were used. Two hoops were placed in each 6' bed section, as shown in the picture. Once you get your covering cloth, you can slip the pipes back out and cut them to the length needed... or measure ahead of time. More on covers later. But keep the hoops IN while you fill the bed with soil, or the insert holes may plug up.

Basic bed done!!

"Square Foot Gardening" recommends a fill of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 mixture of different composts, and 1/3 vermiculite. Ex.pen.sive for such a big bed! We had locally dug coarse sand-gravel delivered to our gardens. Without a tractor here, and no other innovative idea cropping up, I moved bucket after bucket of the sand mix into the bed by hand ;-}. Great heavy lifting exercise! So the first 10-11" of the 18" bed is straight sand-gravel mix. Then I used a small tarp, laid over each 6' section, and filled the tarp with 1/3 peat moss, 1/6 OMRI approved compost, 1/6 our own llama/mini horse compost, 1/6 vermiculite, and 1/6 the same sand-gravel mix. Shaking the ends of the tarp helped mix the recipe. Sliding the tarp out dumped it into the bed. This was repeated until all of the bed sections were filled to within 1-2" of the top of the bed.

WHAT WE'D DO DIFFERENTLY >> We have good loamy soil. Weed seeds were a concern, but the soil texture is good. We will be making OUR raised bed soil mix 1/2 our own soil from now on... with the other half consisting of the same recipe as above. Why? Besides less expense, the recipe used above dried out too quickly in our low humidity. And a little blew away each time :-O in strong winds whenever covers were not on and plants weren't anchoring the soil mix. Otherwise... all plants grew beautifully in this recipe :-).

STILL IN THE EXPERIMENT PHASE: We were so impressed with the production, and the better use of MY back with the raised bed, LOL, we built 2 more. One is 12" tall, and the other is 6" tall. 12" may be the "right" size? The 6" bed allows watermelon and pumpkins to drape off the side easily :-), BUT it also filled up with our pine wood chip mulch every big wind :-(. The mulch is not blowing into the 12" or 18" beds. So for that reason... we'll be raising the height of the 6" bed as soon as we locate more redwood 2X6's in need of a new use.

Info on covers, watering and plantings to come in future posts. Happy Gardening!!

The World of Computer Blogs and FB pages! Oh My!!

Wow! Please have patience with me as I try to figure out the crazy, not-always-intuitive, ins and outs of blogging and setting up a business FB page, etc!

I've already learned one VERY important lesson to share with you'all. I played with lots of potential blog names, etc, and checked on my final choice "Heavenly Essentials" :-). It was available as a .com name, a blog name, and a FB page name, AND as a Montana registerable DBA (Doing Business As) name! Yahoo! So I quietly set up the nonpublished FB page, the unadvertised blogsite, and sent off my DBA registration. As soon as approval of the DBA name arrived in the mail, I went to register the .com name. Taken and parked and offered for sale at a steep price!! :-O My other, oddly named, private blogspot name is "parked" also?! I suspect a sneaky bot...

Lesson learned... google possible names to see if they're in use or not, but lock up the .com name FIRST.

Hence the "z" in Essentialz, LOL.

Now if I can only learn how to do the business FB page, while not messing up the news feed for my much more private, personal FB page...

Which Would You Rather Use?

A few months ago, I was talked into purchasing a "Blue Oil", that is advertised to help dissolve tension and ease tired muscles, with the included products Peppermint and Chamomile. It smells good, looks good, and is mildly effective in my experience. It wasn't until I got the magnifying glass out that I could read the ingredient list:



Then I discovered that DoTERRA developed an essential oil blend called "Deep Blue". The listed ingredients are:

Wintergreen, Camphor, Peppermint, Blue Tansy, German Chamomile, Helichrysum, Osmanthus. That's it. No filler oils, no chemicals/pesticides, no blue dye needed. (for topical use only).

Yes, it costs more, but I use much, much less of it per application (usually ONE drop into 1/2 tsp of carrier oil, such as extra virgin coconut oil melted in my hand, will cover the tight muscles needing it). It smells amazing. And it works very well, in our experience.

Which would you rather use?

Welcome!

Life is BUSY when you're a mom to children with a few extra challenges thrown in, and our home is no exception ;-D. My main focus is our 4 children (3 still at home), and our daughter-in-law and 11 month old grandson, as well as my best friend and husband of 32 years and counting :-). Our children are all adopted, and are ages 21, 17, 14 and 8. I don't want to talk about them specifically in this forum, but we deal/dealt with challenges like RAD, vision and hearing impaired, severe Sensory Integration Dysfunction, PTSD, autism, ADHD, undiagnosed neurological issues, asthma, allergies, jaw deformation, vascular anomalies, IEP's and more! Keeping up with everyone, their therapies, doctors, specialists, equipment, and latest research results keeps me young ;-D.

I (Cindy) have been a gardener since my Dad got me involved at about age 5 in central Illinois. :-) I have now gardened in IL, ND, southern GA, and MT! Hubby, Phil, grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch in northern MT. The current gardens (two hoophouses and three 48 foot long beds included) were started in 1994. We did Farmer's Markets for many years... until it became more work than fun for our children. I now am about 90% wholesale... to the two Community Food Coops in Bozeman, MT. Our specialties have evolved over time, and currently include red and purple sweet peppers, basil, burpless cucumbers, winter squash, raspberries, aronia berries, shallots, gourmet beans, and floral bouquets. Our fertilizer sources are the compost made from the droppings of our 6 llamas and 3 mini horses, and "green" manure. The only pest controls needed in the 2012 growing season were for deer, and for aphids inside one hoophouse. The deer proved tough to convince... even teenage boy socks did not deter them for more than 2 days at a time ;-D. The aphids were fun to control! I released several hundred lady bugs, and within 2 days, I could not find anymore aphids :-). Outside of the help of the 2 younger boys, my right hand man in the gardens is Phil.

Twelve seed trays are already going indoors, despite the snow and nighttime temps in the teens lingering outside. I love this time of year! The intense work, outdoors, will begin mid-April. Our 2 non-heated hoophouses should be all planted by the end of May, and the first crops ready to harvest by late June :-). Growing in the foothills of the Bridger Mountains, our growing season is all-too-short, and challenging. But with creativity, watchfulness, and care in variety selection...the rewards can be great in good years :-).

My INTENTIONS with this blog are to cover hard-learned gardening tips, my journey experimenting with pure high quality therapeutic essential oils in various uses and homemade products, promote the adoptions of kiddos around the world with special needs, and whatever else seems worthwhile blogging (to me, LOL). Enjoy!

Organic?

Back when Organic Certification of fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains, animals, etc was done within states, our farm, Heavenly Llamas, was indeed Certified Organic each year with Montana, for fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. AND I was on the screening committee for a number of years. So I had to know the regulations well.

Once the certification process went USDA and national, it no longer made economic (costs soared) sense to continue to certify. Nor did I have the time for the huge increase in certification paperwork as more children joined our family. :-)

We are legally allowed to call our produce "organic" ONLY if our gross farm income is below $5000. In 2010, after golf ball size hail destroyed much of the produce, it was ;-D. Most years, we hope we'll end up over that mark. Thus, our produce is labeled "local sustainable" on local store shelves. But please be assured that we have not lessened our farm's standards, and in fact have improved them as we do more green manure crops, mulching, crop rotation and become more efficient with water usage (microirrigation).