Yarrow Herbal Bug Spray-Herb Mentor News 53

Here is the newest newsletter from Herb Mentor-HerbMentor News 53: Yarrow Herbal Bug Spray. They use alcohol for the recipe, but I'm sure that vinegar would work just fine. Let me know how this works if you make some.

 I was also going to start my bulk baking series yesterday, but I was up to my neck in pickles:) I canned quite a few and it was my first time doing pickles, so it took most of the day. I am planning on doing a separate post on the whole process for those of you that would like to know How to can pickles in the next few days.

So back to the bulk baking thing... I've been thinking this over and I thought that doing a series on Homemade Convenience foods and mixes would be better instead of a series just on baking, what do you think? I figured that I could do some on baking, some on soups, some on pre-made things like Homemade Riceroni etc, and some on spice and dressing mixes. I am gathering some recipes for this and hope to get them all selected for the post soon. If you make some mixes yourself, what are they, and how has that helped you in your kitchen?

How to Make Your Own Cheese

About a year and a half ago, I did a post about how to make cheese from powdered milk.  We were living in the Philippines at the time and they do not have dairy products like what we have here.  They mainly have powdered milk or milk that is processed for a long shelf life, and both are pretty pricey.  I was really interested in making yogurt and simple cheeses like cottage cheese, or "farmers cheese", and some spreadable cheese.  Well, I was never able to make any before we returned to the states, so I just posted the recipes that I had found.  So now that we are back,  I thought a post on making your own cheese would be fitting.

We are starting to receive an abundance of goat's milk from some of the families that we fellowship with here, so Joanne has started making things like yogurt( made with the crockpot) and herbed farmers cheese.  I have 2 quarts of goats milk in the fridge right now and was looking up some information about liquid rennet and found this useful site-Fankhauser Cheese Course

Wow, this website has so much useful (besides my most favorite word when it comes to this kind of stuff)practical information, plus the next best thing; great step by step pictures:)  Here are some links from this site for:

• Beginning Cheese Making
• How to Make a Cheese Press

I think I'm going to make yogurt first then experiment with some other cheeses.  Let me know if you make any of your own cheeses and if you have links to some of your creations, great!

Where can I buy Medicinal Herb Plants?

I have recently wanted to grow my own medicinal herb plants, so that I can have the ones that I am planning to use on hand year around. I looked for awhile and was surpirsed that it took a long time to find this website- Crimson Sage Nursery.

They offer medicinal plant sets like:
Cold and Flu sets
Salve Making sets
Respiratory support sets
and many more.

I would like to eventually have a little greenhouse like the one I posted about a few weeks ago for just medicinal herbs, but probably not this summer.

How to make Herbal Popsicles- Herb Mentor Newsletter 52

I just recieved my new e-newsletter from Herb Mentor. I really like this website as it has so many practical how-tos and recipes with great pictures. This edition is a recipe for how to make Chamomile Popsicles.

HerbMentor News 52: How to Make Chamomile Pops

Enjoy:)

Make your own body products-Homemade Homemaking part 2

I recently got my order from Azure, and made my own shampoo using this recipe-Make your own herbal shampoo.  I had stop using commercial shampoo for about 3 weeks when I made this, so my hair had been clean of all that extra gunk for a while.  I did a few things differently than the recipe; which is probably why I got the results that I did.  Instead of using rose buds, I used packaged tea that had some rose blossoms along with chamomile, lemon grass and mint.  I also used a handful of fresh mint and made the "tea" to add to the shampoo.  I  left out the jojoba oil, since I was using Dr.Bronner's tea tree soap which has jojoba in it, and I left out the essential oil too.  When I washed with it the first time, I was pretty disappointed.  It felt dry and brittle and also like there was a big glob of hair gel on some of my hair.  When it dried it was really yucky feeling and greasy, like I hadn't washed my hair in a few weeks.  I know that it is supposed to be different that using commercial shampoo, but it didn't do much of anything except put more stuff on my hair.  I will try it again sometime when I can make the recipe the way that it was supposed to be made. 

In the meantime though I will use what I was using before I made this shampoo.  This combination might sound a little strange to some of you, but I had been using this for three weeks , and it works really well.  My fellow sister and churchmate Joanne shared this with me after she received it from a friend.  It is a bar of unscented homemade soap that you scrub into your hair, then you rinse it with powdered ascorbic acid.  I know, sounds crazy huh!  But it really works!  We are almost out of the bar, so we will make some ourselves using this recipe-Homemade Borax Soap.

I've gathered a list of some sites that have more homemade recipes for body products such as;

• Soap-  Homemade bath recipes,  Great soap and scrub recipes, Borax Soap (This is what I use for my hair with the ascorbic acid rinse)

• Homemade shampoo and conditioners-  Pioneer Thinking, Long Locks

• Homemade Deodorant-  How to make your own deodorant

• Toothpaste, Mouthwash- Make your own toothpaste and mouthwash,  Tammy's Recipes( all kinds of homemaking stuff here from homemade laundry detergent to whole wheat tortillas

• Where to get supplies for these recipes-  Mountain Rose Herbs, Bulk Herb Store, Glory Bee Foods, Azure Standard, Places to purchase lye for soap

If any of you are making and using your own homemade body products,  how are they working for you?  Please share in the comments.

Make Your Own Natural Cleaning Products-Homemade Homemaking Part 1

I have been doing a lot of research and learning a lot about herbal and natural products.  I'm not interested in the New- Agey stuff or homeopathic, as I have read lot about these types of alternative medicine/natural practices and think that they are just plain ridiculous or they have some kind of weird "spiritual" foundation or idea.  A long time ago I read this book- A Look at the Facts on Alternative Medicine, and it was very informative.

So I have been looking at natural products and how I can use them to help my family save money and for our health.  I started finding all sorts of neat and cheap ways to use things like vinegar, backing soda, lemon juice etc... around the house and for our bodies.  I was pretty excited as I went through all the information about these types of cleaners and quickly became convinced of their value.  I just wanted to share what I found regarding using natural cleaners.

Here are some benefits of using natural cleaners:

•Less packaging waste. You’re not buying new bottles over and over.

•Less expensive. You probably have some in your kitchen right now, so you wouldn't have to go buy a seperate cleaner

•Less harmful (often not harmful at all) to humans, animals, and the earth.

•Less noxious home smell. Homemade natural cleaners always smell better than store bought. Well, except vinegar, that can be worked around somewhat by using  Lavender essential oil and lemon juice, or I have boiled Cinnamon and let it sit where the smell was strong and "steam" the smell out.
 
I have gathered a list here of some sites that give information on how to use and make your own Natural Cleaning Products;

• 131 Uses for Vinegar
• Make Your Own Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit
• 25 Safe Non-Toxic Home Cleaning Supplies
• Make Your Own Natural Cleaning Products
• More Make Your Own Cleaners
• Pioneer Thinking-Household Cleaning Solutions

I'm sure that there are oodles and oodles of websites out there that you can find, so if you stumble across any that are note worthy, let me know:) If any of you use natural cleaners already, how and for what do you use them, please share in the comments!

 If you are not really interested in making your own cleaners, you can get great natural, non-toxic cleaners from Meleleuca. 

Most of their products are cheaper than commercial ones you get at you get at your local grocery store and they are do the job well.  I have used the tub and tile cleaner for getting soap scum out of the bathtub, and it works better than Kaboom!

Garlic Ginger Cough Syrup

Here is a great video on how to make cough syrup. This syrup is excellent for treating coughs that are deep and won't go away. I have used this with my children and they like the taste and the relief it provides.


Here are the ingredients used:


1/4 cup water

1/4 cup Honey

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 large garlic cloves

1 t. grated ginger

dash of cayenne pepper

Enjoy:)