The Herbarium

Something you may not know about me, is that I am a budding herbalist. When ever something happens around my house my first response is, "I have an herb for that!"

I have high hopes of becoming a master herbalist one day, but right now my family keeps me pretty busy.

So when I learned about the Herbal Academy of New England and their Herbarium membership program, I was over the moon!

The HANE Herbarium is a subscription based website that has an amazing monograph database! Just search the issue you are having or the herb you are wanting to learn more about and there it is! There is so much information, with just this feature, that I see this being an invaluable resource to me.

In addition to the monograph database there is also access to articles, media, podcasts, and videos! This site is perfect for beginning and experience herbalists a like. 

With new content being added monthly, there will always be something more to learn. 

For me, this is really great because it makes it really convenient to learn about different herbs that would be a benefit to my family, on my own schedule. 

Another great feature of the Herbarium is the forum! There is a great community of people all ready to share their knowledge and love of all things herbal. Sometimes being into herbalism and more natural things can leave me feeling a bit lonely. So having access to others who are sharing a similar journey is a really great added bonus! 

I highly recommend the Herbarium membership to anyone who is interested in herbs or herbalism. A yearly membership is only $45 and TOTALLY worth it! Membership also gives you access to ebooks, a 10% discount on HANE classes, and  discount on both Essential Herbal and Natural Herbal magazines! 

Just head on over to the Hebarium to get signed up!

*** Disclaimer: I was given a years subscription to the Herbarium in return for my honest review. All opinions expressed in this post are mine, and I would be sharing even if I didn't get it for free! It's just that awesome!***

Homemade infant gas relief

The other night I woke up to my poor baby's screams of gas pain. It was horrible watching him cry and wiggle around in pain.

I tried burping him, bouncing him, rocking him, and even rubbing his tummy. All to no avail.

Finally he let out a hearty burp, passed some wind from the other end, and fell back asleep.

I then began wracking my brain for ways to help him for the future. In the past I've used store bought infant gas drops, but the ingredients leave me feeling rather uncomfortable.

I had heard of fennel being an excellent gas reliever but that isn't an herb I have around much. Then I remembered I had purchased some fennel seeds to make sausage patties! (recipe coming soon)

So the following night when my little guy started to have the same issue I sent my hubby to the kitchen while I rocked and swayed.

After a few minutes he appeared with the liquid gold! Fennel seed tea.

I gave my little guy a bottle with a little of the tea. When he finished it he let out a burp and fell right to sleep! Our prayers had been answered!!!

Now I'm determined  not be with out this tummy calming herb! I'm making a tincture of it to keep on hand for quick fixes, but I will also be sure to have some seeds handy for when sipping on tea might be a preferred option.

For the tea: I recommend about a teaspoon of seeds per cup of water. 

Crush the seeds then steep for about 10 minutes. 

I would then give an older baby maybe a quarter cup of tea. 

For a young baby I would use a dropper and give about a tablespoon.

For the tincture: I recommend making a 2 ounce bottle. 

That mix would be 60% glycerin to 40% water and use up to 2 teaspoons of fennel seeds. 

Place the water, glycerin, and seeds in a a glass jar. 

Seal the jar and place in a large pot filled with water almost to the top of the jar but not covering the jar or touching the lid. 

Then place the pot on the stove to simmer for 2-3 hours. 

Strain out the herbs with a tight-weave cloth (clean old t-shirts are perfect). 

Store in a tincture bottle and give 2-3 drops as needed.

This is a super simple, and quick, way to help alleviate gas in a baby, child, or adult and it's way better for you that most commercial gas relievers!

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DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor! I'm just a momma passing on what I do for my own family. This is not medical advice.**

I'm linking up at: Homestead Blog Hop

Grow Your Own Food

Have you seen the movie "Back to Eden"?

For those of you who haven't, it's all about how to take care of your garden the way the Lord designed it.

I watched it for the first time a few weeks ago with my daughters, and we learned A LOT.

Like, I had no idea that soil being exposed makes it dry out. It makes perfect sense but it's just not something I had ever thought of.

I really love that with every concept Paul Gautchi speaks of, in the film, he has a scriptural reason as to why. I truly believe that the Bible has an answer for everything, so this was right up my alley.

The approach that is taken is definitely refreshing and something we plan to try when we are able to set up our garden. If you'd like to watch it for free you can watch it on vimeo.

Also there is a GREAT opportunity to hear Paul Gautschi from Back to Eden speak during the Grow Your Own Food Summit. This free summit has a a great line up of speakers, like Joel Salatin from "Food, Inc.", and best of all it's free!

I'm really looking forward to learning some great things so that when we're able to grow our own food we'll be starting off on the right foot.

Here is a quick video from the founders:

So hop on over to the Grown Your Own Food Summit website and reserve your spot today.

**Just a heads up this post contains affiliate links and if you decide to purchase something then I will get a commission. This is at no additional cost to you and you are not obligated to buy.**

So are you planning to register for the summit?

Flavoring Kombucha

I have some good news ya'll.... 

I have successfully kicked my soda habit! 

How, you ask?

With kombucha!

It's a been a few months and I don't even have a desire to drink soda. We've been out and there has been soda available but I opted for water or juice. I had soda once or twice in the past few months and it just didn't do it for me. I'd much rather have a glass of pineapple kombucha!

I thoroughly enjoy plain booch, but adding flavors just kicks it up a notch. So far we've tried mango, pineapple, pomegranate, strawberry, and blueberry. Pineapple is our favorite. 

It's super simple to do, and you can have all the same carbonated bubbliness of soda with out the harmful added ingredients. 

First thing you do is brew a batch of kombucha. You need a scoby to do this but if you don't have one you can read my post about how to grow one here. 

After your booch is to the point you like it then you need to bottle it up. Add fruit or fruit juice to your bottles then add the kombucha. I know some people say bottle it while it's still sweet, but I like to get mine pretty vinegary before doing a second ferment. 

I leave the bottles on the counter for a day or two, then enjoy. A trick I've learned is to use smaller bottles. With a big bottle once you open it the fizz dies down. So every time you go to drink from it, it will be less fizzy. Much like a big bottle of soda.

The best kind of bottles are the flip top bottles, because they give a good seal which will give you the best bubble production. The ones you see in the picture above I found at my local arts and craft store. I was looking for something else and when I saw those. Of course I had to buy some :o) 

So what about you, do you have a soda habit you need to kick? Would you make flavored kombucha? 

linking up at: Homestead Barn Hop, Mostly Homemade Monday, From the Barn

Super Simple Sour Dough

I didn't add a recipe to my reasons to make sour dough post because I figured there were already tons of recipes online. But since I've had a few requests I decided to go on ahead and share my recipe/process. 

It's so simple and very rewarding.

First thing I do is clean one of my quart size mason jars making sure to rinse them in really hot water. 

Then I mix together equal parts rye flour and water, and fed it 2 times a day with equal parts water and rye flour. You're supposed to transfer it to a new container each time, but I may not do that each time. I at least aim for doing it after I've fed my starter twice. Changing it helps to cut down on your chances of mold. 

Once my starter got bubbly I started feeding it once a day. It took about a week for it to get good and bubbly.

Doing equal parts definitely makes it easier to not mess up the measurements. If I added too much flour I could easily just add more water ;o)

When I baked the bread I just used half, or more, of the starter and then added flour water and salt. If you are the type to measure things out specifically then the recipe below will be helpful. But if you're like me then just add flour and water until it's a slightly sticky dough.

My first few loaves didn't come out as well as my more recent ones, but the longer I keep my starter going, the better of a rise I  get. I also switched to unbleached all purpose flour because my family didn't care for the taste of the rye bread.

You could store your unused starter in the fridge. But since I bake a loaf once a week, I keep mine out and feed it once a day with about a 1/4 cup of flour. (sometimes I forget and it still does well)

Super Simple Sour Dough Starter Recipe   

(adapted from Nourishing Traditions Cookbook)

1 cup rye flour, 1 cup water, tight weave cloth, 
3 1/2 cups rye flour, cold water

Mix the one cup rye flour and 1 cup water in a large glass bowl or jar. Mixture should be soupy. Cover with cloth and let sit for a day. The next day "feed" your starter by adding 1/4 c of flour and enough water to keep the soupy consistency. After 12 hours "feed" your starter  again. Repeat this process every 12 hours for 7 days. After the 7th day you should be ready to bake. 

note: if you are running out of room for your starter in your jars, pour out half and then feed what's left. It's not about having a lot but getting what you have cultured. By the end of this you should have about a quart of sour dough, more if you didn't dump any out. 

Super Simple Sour Dough Bread Recipe

1/2 quart (2 cups) of sour dough starter, 3 1/4 cups of flour (I use unbleached all purpose), 1/2 tablespoon sea salt, 3/4 cup water 

Pour your sour dough starter into a bowl, then add your flour, and salt. Mix together gradually adding water until you have a smooth slightly sticky dough consistency (add more flour if needed). Then cover mixture and put it to the side to rise for 12 hours. 
Before baking preheat oven to 350*. Then shape your loaves either in a loaf pan or by hand. Bake for about an hour.

This recipe gave me 2 good sized loaves. 

After you finish preparing your loaves to bake you can feed your starter again. At this point I began using unbleached flour to feed mine. 

Make sure if you are fermenting anything else that you keep your starter at least a few feet away. A whole seperate area would be best. I keep my kombucha on the counter and my sour dough on the table. 


Do you make sour dough? Will you now that you have a simple recipe?

linking up at: Homestead Barn Hop, Mostly Homemade Monday, Backyard Farming Connection, Simple Life Sunday, From the Farm

Laundry on the Homestead

We have been using plain white vinegar as fabric softener for about a year now, and it has been great! Before we just didn't use anything and I was always frustrated with how our laundry came out. I'm sure having to use the laundry mat didn't help that any. 

When we moved into where we live now, we were blessed with a washer and dryer! Once we were finally able to do laundry at home I started researching more natural ways of completing this chore, and using vinegar for softener was the first thing I did.

I found countless detergent recipes and I wanted to try them all. But my husband wasn't as convinced. That was until I used his 5 favorite words.....

It will save us money!

After that he was all for it. So I went out to the store to hunt down the ingredients needed. 

When I got to the store I searched high and low for washing soda. But it was no where to be found! My husband had already told me they didn't have it, but I was determined not to come back home empty handed. Like he did, ahem...

So I started reading all the packaging to see if I really needed both baking soda and washing powder. I decided since the Zote is a laundry bar, and people use just that to do their laundry, that I would give it a try without the washing soda.

I dumped the whole box of borax and all 3 boxes of baking soda in a bag. Then I grated up the Zote.

Ok, ok I got my husband to grate up the Zote. Lol, that bar is BIG! I managed to do about a quarter of it before I decided to call in reinforcement. He breezed through it like a BOSS. Love my man! 

Once everything was all grated up I tied up the bag and mixed everything around, so it could be evenly distributed. Then I put it in this awesome green waste basket I found at the store for $1.99! 

So now this, my vinegar, and a bottle of essential oil (to sent the vinegar) sits on my dryer. 

I've used this detergent for probably 10 loads now and I love it. After doing some googling I learned that leaving out the washing powder isn't a big deal and that my recipe is actually better for cloth diapers! Which I am hoping to switch to soon.

I use 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup), but my husband uses like 8 scoops! I can't even call the tablespoons. He goes crazy on the soap, always has. Thankfully he only does laundry sometimes lol.

Even with his excessive soap use, we've barely even made a dent in our soap stash! It cost me about $8 to make this and works out to be around $0.11 per load. Normally we spend about $0.20-$0.30 per load. So this particular batch didn't save me as much as it could have. But I know for a fact I over paid for the baking soda. I'm confident I can get it down to $0.08 per load. If we did liquid detergent I could probably get it down to $0.05 per load but storing a big 5 gallon container kind of makes it not worth it for us right now. 

I know we are counting pennies here but over time it adds up. As a friend used to always say "pennies make dollars". Plus I feel better knowing what's going into my detergent and being able to control it. 

What about you? Do you make your own detergent? Would you ever consider making your own?

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Making Sour Dough Ya'll

So in my quest to "ferment all the things" (kombucha, carrots) I learned about making sour dough.

At first I was a little intimidated but once I got going I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. The only thing that gets rough is remembering to feed it daily.

But with just a little bit of dedication it's possible to make healthy bread for your family!

Why is sour dough healthy you ask? Let me count the ways!

1. It breaks down the gluten in the flour making it more tolerable to those with gluten intolerance. This one is a biggie for us because along with the many allergies my little bit has, the doctor also thinks she may have a sensitivity to gluten.

2. It's easier to digest. The combo of the natural yeast and bacteria work to sort of "pre-digest" the dough making it much easier for our systems to digest.

3. It doesn't cause an insulin shock. Even if you aren't a diabetic this is a great thing! When we eat something that is high in sugar or starch our bodies tell our pancreas to release insulin. A whole host of other things happen but ultimately the stimulation from the insulin causes your body to store fat. And who wants that?

4. Breaks down phytates/phytic acid. Ok this is another big one around here. Phytates are a found in the hulls of nuts, grains, and seeds. They bind to important minerals like calcium, zinc, magnesium, and iron. Then as they leave our system it takes these minerals with it. But by using the sour dough method, instead of modern quick rise yeast, the enzyme phytase is released which helps to break down the phytates.

5. Provides B vitamins. Sour dough is a source of vitamins B1-B6 and also B12. As well as niacin, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, and selenium.

And those are just some of the reasons to enjoy sour dough. It's really not that complicated and it is a real treat. Especially with some homemade butter slathered on it! mmmhm...

Want to know how I make my starter and my bread? Check out this post.

Have you tried making sour dough bread? Are you considering it now?

I'm linking up at: Simple Life Sundays, Mostly Homemade Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, The Backyard Farming Connection

Keep These Bugs Off Of Me!

So it happened.

One of my kids got bit by tick. Ok, to a seasoned homesteader this may not be a big deal.

But we live in the city and I have NEVER in all my life been bitten by a tick. NEVER.

I've never even seen one. My husband, who is even more of a city slicker than I am, was the one who found it. I was in the kitchen and he sort of calmly yells out to me, "come here quick!" So I come into the living room like what happened? And he shows it to me.

In case there are some of you who have also never experienced this, let me tell you a little about it.

THERE WAS A BUG WITH IT'S HEAD IN MY KID!

As I try to act all calm, I instruct my husband not to bother it. Because I had just recently seen how using essential oils would make it back out. His reply? "I'm not letting this thing go all the way inside her!" Again, we have never dealt with ticks before lol.

I found online that putting some peppermint EO on it will make it back out. So I do that and we watch. It starts backing out and then my darling husband was like that's it, I'm getting this thing. So he tugs it out. He had to tug a lot harder than either of us expected! But praise the Lord she is fine and now we know what to do next time... please Lord don't let there be a next time

There will probably be a next time, huh?

In order to be proactive about this, especially since we plan to spend a good amount of time out doors. I scoured the internet looking for some advice on a DIY repellent. I found a list of essential oils to choose from and I have... none of them. But I do have a blend that is called Plague Rescue (clove, lemon, eucalyptus, cinnamon, and rosemary) and that will have to do for now.

Apparently the cinnamon will help with mosquitoes, and the eucalyptus will help with ticks. Clove and rosemary are also supposed to be good at repelling insects. So I figure I can't loose, right?

So here is my recipe for an 8oz bottle:
4oz Water
4oz Witch Hazel
20-30 drops of Plague Rescue (same as Thieves or OnGuard)

In case you are wondering where I get my oils from I have a very dear friend that bottles oils straight from the distiller. I like that I'm helping her business AND that I'm avoiding multilevel marketing. Which I'm really not a huge fan of. If you'd like info about her company please e-mail me, or leave me a comment with your email, and I'd be happy to share the info with you. (trying to avoid spam here)

So what about you? Do you have a plan to keep bugs away this spring and summer?

I'm linking up at: Mostly Homemade Monday, Mountain Woman Rendezvous , HomeAcre Hop, Homemaking Link Up

Momma's Milk Enhancing Smoothie

Three months ago our family grew by two feet! I gave birth, at home, to a beautiful 9lb baby boy. For the first month and a half my milk was amazing. But I started to notice some dry spells. Thankfully my baby boy's weight wasn't affected but if I hadn't of caught it who knows what could have happened!

As soon as I noticed the drop in my milk I set to google to find what I could use to up my milk supply. I found a plethora of recipes for things like lactation cookies, bars, and shakes. But they almost all had ingredients that I didn't have. So I decided to research herbs and foods that help to increase your milk supply. There were three things on the list I actually had: oatmeal (old fashion oats), flaxseed, and alfalfa. So I decided to make a smoothie with them!

This smoothie has been such a blessing because not only is it a great milk booster, it's also delicious! If you're not a nursing momma this smoothie would still be great to drink because it is jam packed with vitamins and essential nutrients!

Blueberry Muffin Smoothie
1/3 c old fashion oats
2 tbsp alfalfa
2 tbsp flaxseed
3/4-1 c milk (any kind of milk)
hand full of blueberries
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
sweetener of choice to taste

Edit to add: I put the oats, alfalfa, and flaxseed all in the blender first. Then once that was grounded up nicely I added everything else.

But we were gentle in your midst, like a nursing mother warmly loving her own children. - 1 Thessalonians 2:7

I'm linking up with: The Homestead Barn Hop, Mostly Homemade Mondays, Farmgirl Friday

Being Happy with What You've Got

I came across the above quote as I was browsing around on pinterest and it really resonated with me. I have been so guilty in the past of feeling glum about what was in front of me. I'm a dreamer and I'm always searching for the next great thing. But lately I have been seeing the beauty in being content with what you've got and where you're at. 

We went away for a week on a camping trip to celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. During that trip Abba really worked on my heart and helped me to see that He has not called me to an arrival point but to a journey. I came back fully recharged and ready to embrace what ever it is He has for me. 

Thankfully my husband and I are on the same page! HalleluYah! So now we are working together to live the life that we believed we were created for. Living to serve and bless the Father and His people. Our goal in life is to live as naturally as we can and to be fully available to do the will of our Abba. We also have the goal to seek the ancient paths. To go back to the ways of out forefathers. We are in the process of adopting a more natural way of living, eating, and healing. 

It's not always easy but we are learning to enjoy the journey. After all "the grass is greener where you water it". 

But godliness with contentment is great gain. -1 Timothy 6:6