November 16, 2009
· Filed under Hobbies & Crafts, Home and Garden, diy · Tagged centerpieces, crafts, diy, foraging, handmade, homemade, how to, projects, thanksgiving
If you are aiming to create a homey fall table spread this year for Thanksgiving, there is no better way to finish it off than with a natural, handmade centerpiece. This takes a larger table, for the most part, but I have included a few smaller ones that might suit a 4 or 6 seat tabletop. I have also included pricier, more complicated designs along with those that require fewer ingredients and a lot less time. I have made several of these myself and can attest to their simplicity and low energy requirements. It will all depend upon what type of spread you wish to create and the type of people you are entertaining.
Some of these are made with flowers and others are made with natural fall findings. Some of these have an ethnic flavor and others are all American. It is up to you which you want to try and it is likely that you will add your own ideas to the mix. So let’s get started. Here are the step by step projects:
Read the rest of this entry »
November 10, 2009
· Filed under Food and Drink, Herb Recipes, Home and Garden, diy, herbs · Tagged cooking, eating, herbs, holidays, homemade, how to, recipes, thanksgiving
How about a more spicy, more herby Thanksgiving? Oh, I know, it’s about tradition and everyone is cooking Turkey with Cranberries and Stuffing. And I am not about to change that. I just want to throw in some recipes that include various herbs. Not only for the great taste and diversity herbs add to the meal but also for the healthy aspects of doing this, too. Herbs have healing powers and if you haven’t been able to start taking supplements or to get the ones you love to do that, either, than adding herbs to the biggest, most popular meal of the year may get them interested in doing more of it.
I promise you that these will not turn your meal into an Arab or Asian repast. I promise you it will not taste like Italian Turkey. I am not going to tell you to add Garlic to the Cranberries. I promise you. What I want to do is spruce up the traditions a little with some of the herbs they probably added to the original meal, back in the day when they didn’t have grocery stores but spent a lot of time in their own gardens. So there’s your selling point. I added some herbs to the meal because that’s the way the pilgrims did it. Maybe the kids will learn something! So here they are… a few simple recipes to include everyday herbs in a delicious rendition of the Thanksgiving pigout.
Read the rest of this entry »
November 3, 2009
· Filed under Herb Recipes, Hobbies & Crafts, Home and Garden, diy · Tagged crafts, diy, foraging, handmade, herbs, holidays, home, homemade, how to, projects, thanksgiving
I thought that it might be fun, with the economy the way it is, to make some cheap, homemade stuff for Thanksgiving. Usually we are all running out and spending a lot of money on table and house decorations along with the traditional food selections and accessories like napkins and serving pieces. When we invite family over for a big repast in our homes, we want it to be festive and enjoyable. What is more original and interesting than something we can’t just buy in Walmart, but has a personalized element? Something like homemade table napkins, handwoven fruit baskets, herbal centerpieces or handmade wreaths. Something they won’t see or experience anywhere else in the world. Something that speaks exclusively of you and your Thanksgiving meal.
I have some great ideas, some real cheap, others a bit more pricey. It’s up to you to determine what you have time for and what you can afford as well as what will work with your overall plans for dinner. How many people are coming? Is it just you and the kids or is your entire extended family coming? Are you serving at one table or more? Is this already so deep in your pocket that you just can’t afford anything at all? If so, I have ideas where you can forage the ingredients for free. So all of this I have taken into consideration and want to give you choices that will work for as many of you as possible. So, with no more adieux, here are the step by step recipes:
Read the rest of this entry »
October 20, 2009
· Filed under Home and Garden, diy · Tagged conservation, diy, electricity, energy, home, how to, saving, utilities
I was not surprised by the fact that the average American family spends more than $1600 a year on utility bills. I know that seems surprising but I know what I pay and when you average it out, this amount seems average for us. This adds up to about $133 a month on average and we actually spend a lot more than that in the summer. I’m sure the same is true for a northern household in the winter. So $1600 does not seem extravagent and yet it is! Do you realize that the electricity generated to power a single family home creates more carbon than two average sized cars?! This, I must admit, I do find surprising and very disheartening. How on earth can we bring this number down? It’s not like we’re overdoing it, at least by our standard of daily life. So what can we do to change these numbers, to save carbon and money? And do these things have to make daily life difficult?
I think there are some easy solutions that can help us reduce this consumption however, I do not think anything is easy when it is not a part of a daily routine. I, just like everyone, has adjusted a routine that allows for just so many tasks a day within the framework of the demands made upon my time. I hate it when I have to stop something, change something, move something and, in the process, disrupt the efficiency of my routines. But, none the less, I do beleive the effort is worth it and I have been trying harder. Here are some of those steps you can take if you are willing to make small changes to your daily routines.
Read the rest of this entry »
October 13, 2009
· Filed under Home and Garden, conservation, diy · Tagged diy, green, heating, home, how to, projects, save money, utilities, warm, weatherize, winterize
It’s hard for me to imagine it, here in Florida where we are all still sweltering in a solar sauna, but it is winter already in many parts of the country. I saw yesterday that it was snowing somewhere already! Wow. I would love a single day below 85 degrees! But even so, it got me thinking about how expensive winter is and how it is hard to stay warm in a tough economy. I have family up there, facing the blast on less money this year, worrying about the heating bills. So it gave me the motivation to look around for some solutions.
I wrote a few posts last year on insulating the home and how to winterize the home cheaply and easily. I thought it was time for an update, with some new ideas thrown in. So if you’re starting to shiver and find yourself shopping on ebay for sweaters, then maybe you can use some of these tips. I promise I will only focus on ideas that cost very little but will work. And, of course, I will stick to the natural side of things and not go suggesting you add abestos! (lol). So, if you’re getting chilly and want to cut back on the green stuff you spend, then give my list a read. It will only take a minute.
Read the rest of this entry »
October 5, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged candy, cooking, diy, food, halloween, herbs, holiday, homemade, how to, natural, non toxic, safe, shopping
Halloween is all about costumes and candy. According to History.com, “Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.”
Hey, there is nothing funner than a costume party where someone reads everyone’s fortune.
So Halloween is actually one of those holidays that hasn’t strayed too far away from the original purpose, unlike Valentine’s Day and Christmas. But many of us would like to see our kids eating something other than tons of commercial candy with so much sugar and chemical additives. Although I do not suggest making candy and handing it out to the kids who come to the door (if you do this you risk serious scorn as well as suspicion). Kids are warned by authorities not to eat any candy that isn’t in a sealed commercial wrapper and this is due to the past poisonings of candy, including razor blades in apples. What a horrid way to ruin the possibilities of getting children to eat apples! So thanks to the creeps strike another victory for food factories. But such as it is, we can still make natural candies every day of the week and on Halloween and teach our own children to make and enjoy it. I threw together a few recipes that I thought my readers might like to try. You might be surprised.
Read the rest of this entry »
September 29, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Health Care, Natural Remedies · Tagged cooking, eating, healing, health, herbs, how to, remedies, safe, sickness, spices
You have a cabinet full of miracle medicine at home! I’m sure you realize that some of it is good for you, this sort of information has been all over the news. But the information is scattered and comes in small doses so that unless you keep a journal you will have trouble putting it all together. So I thought it might be handy to list every spice, explain how it works and give ideas for uses in your cooking. I will be posting in the future recipes that will help heal certain diseases. I am waiting until Winter because most of my recipes are too hearty for summer fare.
Although I have covered the subject in various ways and to a certain extent in previous posts, I am going to bring it all together now. Which spices can be used to heal what? And how do I use that spice in a meal? Here are the answers, in a simple list form:
Read the rest of this entry »
September 21, 2009
· Filed under Hobbies & Crafts, Home and Garden, conservation, diy, recycling · Tagged crafts, diy, foraging, green, halloween, handmade, holidays, projects, recycling, reuse
Oh, I know it seems kinda early to be talking about Halloween but when it comes to DIY projects it sometimes takes awhile to get it all together and no one wants to be rushed at the last minute. So I thought I’d throw out some good ideas for a natural, crafty type of Halloween so you’d have time to work on it if you wanted to. Some of these ideas are really scary so be careful how you use them; if you have religious friends who are easily offended, keep that in mind. If you have kids who are easily frightened, keep that in mind as well. There are ideas that are not scary at all and will be enjoyed by everyone. I also have ideas if you want to throw a party, so those of you are up for that will find something as well.
I tried to find ideas that required few ingredients or steps so that people with skinny wallets or rushed schedules could work in a project or two. So here we go, from the sweetest to the scariest, in that order:
Read the rest of this entry »
September 15, 2009
· Filed under Environmental Detox, Health Care, Personal Care, conservation, recycling · Tagged health, ecology, green, conservation, shopping, waste, recycling, chemicals, products, safe, toxic, plastics
With all the grim news about plastics and plastic products, with much of this information already presented in my posts here on this blog, it brings to mind the question of whether there are safe plastics or not. Are all plastics poison? Or are there some that we can handle without fear? This question interested me so I thought I’d investigate.
Looking around on the web, I found quite a few articles about the dangerous chemicals in plastic and why plastic is dangerous to the human body. It took a little more digging and research to pull together a list of plastics and plastic products that are more benign. Here is what I discovered about both, in a handy, easy to reference, list:
Read the rest of this entry »
September 7, 2009
· Filed under Herb Recipes, Hobbies & Crafts, diy, recycling · Tagged homemade, herbs, diy, natural, recipes, crafts, how to, handmade, projects, foraging, inks
Now that I have finished the two part series explaining how to make herbal papers, I thought I’d post a few recipes for homemade herbal inks. There is no special equipment needed, really, and the procedure isn’t difficult. The first recipe, for Oak Gall Ink is a homemade recipe from scratch, where you make the actual ink yourself. The second recipe is for a simple scented ink, which requires only store bought ink and a few other ingredients.
The third recipe is for a colored ink. In this case, a red ink. With practice, you can learn which flowers will produce what colors and you can create many different colored inks using the same recipe. In fact, you may learn to blend all of these recipes in a creative fashion and come with a colored, scented ink made from scratch. Once you start doing this, it gets to be a lot of fun to see what you can come up with. Use your imagination!
It’s up to you which recipe better suits your lifestyle as to how much time you have and how creative you wish to be. The first recipe requires a few more ingredients than the others but it is the basic recipe for homemade ink that can be altered to make variations. Which ink do you want to make? For me, the goal was always a colored, scented ink made from scratch. It takes practice and time but the end result is really neat and a lot of fun to share with the kids and your friends, too (if they are the crafty type). So dig in and get started! And let me know what the results come out like for you.
Read the rest of this entry »
