Sunday, January 24, 2010

Tea and piggy's



Thanks to, Marie, at I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,(Maria, on my list)I found out it was national tea month. So, in response to her post I'm celebrating the rest of tea month! Tom and I usually have tea about every night--maybe 2 cups! I plan to have a tea party with my mom, sisters, maybe a few neices and a few friends this spring. I have been collecting tea cups--I don't have a matching tea set , but that's ok, we'll have fun and the tea will still be good!

You've heard the saying "feed the pig", right? Well, I've found a few that are too cute not to feed!! Makes saving that changs a little more fun.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Another project



I have intended to make lip balm for some time now--I finally got it accomplished yesterday and this morning. I'm happy with it and Tom thought it was good--smooth with a little peppermint tingle. I may try some othr combinations later--this batch will keep us through several months!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Food, family and fun

These are some of the things I've tried and some I continue to do and use.
There's cooling chicken broth, simmered for hours to get all the nutrients and homemade, creamy yogurt.There is a jar of lavender infused raw honey from Tom's own hivesbeside the jar of rose buds. This is new for me , but it's alot of fun and gives a nice result. Ihad already done a jar of rose honey-a very delicate flavor!I also have a container of plain honey which we use quite a bit.Then there's a gallon of organic virgin coconut oil. I not only use this in cooking, but we use it as our body lotion too. No, you don't smell like coconut and it soaks in realatively quick. So,we can keep our skin soft and nourished at the same time! The bag is red clover which I'll be using to make cough syrup. I had a small bottle that an aquaintance had made and I really liked the results it gave so I want to make some to have on hand.The 2 bottles off to the left are Tahitian and Bourbon vaniila. I statred my vanilla back in June and let it set til Christmas-very good! I love the Tahitan vanilla! It has such a rich and wonderful flavor! The small bottle in the front is Echinacea with peppermint tincture. We use the tincture alot to ward off sickness. It does a very good job to stop it if you catch it at the first inking of it coming on--if you don't then it still helps to cut down the severity and legnth, we think.
These are just a few things I do that I enjoy and we can feel good about ingesting. I have done some dinks that are very refreshing and helpful for the body but, since I did not have access to good ater they were let go for a while. Later you'll see that that is soon to be remedied! I also do a milk kefir--this is an excellent probiotic and actually makes wonderful smoothies!
This may sound strange to some, but the health benefits are too good to give up!




Family scenes with Chastity












Scary? Nah--I had seen this area in passing a few times and thought it would be great to have a source of water other than city water. I don't like the thought of ingesting the chlorine and possible flouride! So--one day I finally went over with my jugs to fill and -wa-la! the sign said it was unsafe! Rats! I thought my source was gone until I saw a lady filling her water jugs there. I stopped to ask her and she assured me she has been drinking the water for years and knows older folks that have been drinking it too. Good enough! Now, hers wasn't the only word I took for it, I did talk to someone else, too. We're happy to be able to have a good source of water--now I can get back to making some good, healthy, refreshing beverages! Oh, the litte things in life!!


Andy, Hannah and Chastity enjoyed some winter fun while here. Chastity wasn't so sure about the snow-it was so cold. The snowman was Andy's creation!