Calendula - Son may have Tourette's

[Lesa]

Sorry to hear you have hit a rough patch.. I was wondering how you were doing. Sounds like the garden is doing really well! Don't forget you can pick all those green tomatoes, put them on newspaper and cover with a layer of newspaper and they will ripen right up. I used to do it in the basement, but this year I am doing it upstairs- easier to keep an eye on them. Good luck with the job search.

 

[Farmfresh]

I just spread my green ones out on a table in my seldom used upstairs sewing room.

 

[calendula]

Thanks for thinking of me guys. I found a quote that I like the other day that helps me when I think of it... "Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

There is another chance of frost again tomorrow night, so I think that I will just cut off all the green ones and bring them in and hope for the best!

I found a soap recipe for a Shampoo Bar. I have been using a baking soda mix for washing my hair, but sometimes I still wash with shampoo if it is feeling really grimy. I am excited to see how well this Shampoo Bar will work.

Basic Shampoo Bar Recipe
4 ounces castor oil
2 ounces jojoba oil
4 ounces sunflower oil

3 ounces palm oil
1 ounce cocoa butter
8 ounces coconut oil

8 ounces distilled water
3 ounces lye

1/2 to 1 ounce essential oils at trace

Cut into bars when solid. This recipe takes about 4 days to reach a solid state, but check frequently. Once cut, let the bars cure, covered by a towel, for 4 weeks.

 

[Farmfresh]

I have been making my own shampoo for about a year now.

I start with a few bars of homemade 100% olive oil Castile soap and grate that up. Then I add a little water and allow it to soak about 3 or 4 hours to soften. From that point I heat it gently and stir adding more water or other ingredients as I choose, such as essential oils or herbal additives. I get the soap to a nice thick liquid consistency like "normal" hair detergent shampoo and fill up an old bottle. I like to make a big batch so that I can just keep refilling the bottle as needed.

My last batch I used rosemary and brewed a strong tea. Then I cooled it, strained it well and used that tea for the water in my shampoo. Rosemary is supposed to be anti-dandruff and makes dark hair darker and more shiny. It seems to do a great job!

A word of warning however. If you hair is actually dirty when you wash it the first application of a soap will not lather up like a detergent does. It is busily binding with the dirt to lift it away. That takes a bit of getting used to. When my hair (which is long and often gets pretty dirty) does that I just rinse well and repeat. The second soaping usually lathers up nicely. Soap is very gentle and usually rinses easily for me, but some have said a vinegar water rinse helps at least occasionally. I used to do that but I gave it up.

I used to wash hair daily now it is not so oily and gross and I can do it a couple of times a week. My hair is also much softer and has far fewer split ends since I have started using my own shampoo. Not to mention the cost savings!

 

[calendula]

Thanks Farmfresh, I will have to try that! Using a liquid shampoo sounds more appealing than using a bar. Maybe I could make the shampoo bars and then prepare your recipe using them. Adding the rosemary infusion is a great idea, I have long, wavy (sometimes freaky curly and frizzy), dark hair. You are so right about cost savings! I figured out how much it costs for me to make a bar of soap, and it came out to like 17 cents a bar. I quit buying shampoo (mostly) and conditioner, shaving gel, and laundry detergent...I should figure out how much I'm actually saving some time.

 

[Farmfresh]

I had a recipe for a shampoo bar one time and made a sample batch. It seemed to me my recipe also called for the castor oil to help with suds.

I did not like my recipe, because it left my hair feeling oily. :/ Maybe your recipe has a better balance of ingredients.

 

[calendula]

Well, I didn't quite get around to making my shampoo bar this weekend *sighs* Oh well, maybe next weekend.

Today is my birthday! I'm 31 today, so I'm officially into my 30's.

Well, over the weekend, I cooked two huge bags of apples and sauced them. The sauce is sitting in a giant pot on my front porch right now, which is colder than the refrigerator. It's been getting very cold here lately. Most of the garden is toast now because we have had a couple hard frosts now. The kale and lettuce are still good though, so I'm still harvesting lots of that.

I made sourdough starter, and it was ready yesterday. I put it in the frig, so I will be making my first-ever loaf of sourdough bread this week. My next adventure will be potato bread!

Last night I made a small batch of spaghetti sauce with some of our garden tomatoes and did it ever smell good! I used basil from my garden and the whole house smelled just wonderful. I wanted to add some Italian sausage to it, but I can't find any that is nitrite free!

And finally, I used the last of the cucumbers that I picked before they died to make some fermented pickles. They are sitting on the counter right now working their magic.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

 

[TanksHill]

Happy Birthday!!!

 

[snapshot]

Hope you have a great Birthday with many more to come!!!!!!

 

[i_am2bz]

Happy birthday, you young whippersnapper!