nymmh

here she is in all her sickly glory (she's no longer sick....but was when these pictures were taken.....)

flower distractions

whenever i start cleaning, i get distracted by wanting to pretty things up rather than pick things up......

leaf miners

when i was in the garden a few days ago i noticed some artistically defurbished leaves on the wild purslane. leaf miners really like chard and beets, but apparently they'll stoop to eating purslane if no brassicas can be found.

when held up to the light, the leaf miners are more easily distinguished. but since i only got a picture of half the leaf....only one is readily noticeable.

sorry for the horrible picture, it's hard to macro with one hand whilst glaring up into bright light......

garlic braiding

my first garlic braid! it's fairly clumsy and not quite as nice looking as i thought it would be....but it's my first one and it hasn't fallen apart yet. so i'm pretty proud of myself!

don't judge a plant by its stem

last year i ordered a $20 bulb. a year later it's finally strutting it's stuff. to be honest, i expected the plant to be a bit more....grandiose.

but if you ignore the inital ackwardness and get in close.....

real close....

it's satisfyingly pretty.

garlic whistles

we've been eagerly awaiting garlic whistles on our fall-planted garlic- because garlic whistle pesto is GLORIOUS, EPIC, RESPLENDENT, DIVINE, etc.....

lavender limeade

i like limeade.
i like limeade with lavender.
i like limeade with lavender and mint.

mmmmmm....lavender limeade with just a hint of mint.

all it takes is:
eight sprigs of lavender, 2 springs of mint, 1 lime, 2 1/2 cups of water, and a few squirts of agave nectar.
boil 1 1/2 cup of water. pour over lavender and mint. infuse for 15 minutes or so. add the juice of one lime and agave nectar to taste. at this point you can either add ice or water or a combo of both. it all depends on how long you want to wait. i'm impatient. i add ice. (and vodka......)

not on my watch

hmmmm....maybe eating snails is really a type of revenge.....

Toothfairy Powder

we've been making our own tooth powder for a while now (for to brush our teethies with, we don't grind our teeth up for some sort of strange veganic ritual...). we started out with dina falconi's recipe for sage horsetail tooth powder, from her book earthly bodies and heavenly hair. the recipe slowly morphed to become something more like this:

2 t. baking soda
1/4-1/2 stick cinnamon (or around 1/4 t cinnamon powder)
2 whole cloves
2 t. dried horsetail
1 t. dried lemongrass
1/2 t. dried orange peel
1/4 t. myrrh powder
6 drops peppermint essential oil

combine all the ingredients except for the baking soda and peppermint oil. place the herb mix in a coffee/spice grinder (i know everyone says this....but i don't want to be left out, so i'm going to say it too- have a separate grinder for coffee and herbs. unless you don't mind herbal preparations tasting like coffee), grind till all the ingredients are a fine powder. i've found the lemongrass is the most resistant to pulverization. pour the powder through a fine mesh strainer, mix with the baking soda and peppermint oil.
to use, simply sprinkle some of the powder over a slightly wet toothbrush and brush as you normally would.

an explanation of why the above herbs are used:
cinnamon- flavor, mild antiseptic action
clove- flavor, mild antiseptic and germicide action
horsetail- because dina uses it- i'm guessing because it's rich in silica, which is supposed to be good for the teeth....but i don't know how much silica gums would absorb during a tooth brushing
lemongrass- flavor
orange peel- flavor
myrrh- antiseptic properties
peppermint oil- flavor, refreshing, cleansing

you can see here why it's better to put the powder through a fine mesh strainer....mine broke, so i used a larger strainer- hooray for little twiggies in my teethies.


please note: do not swallow this powder. use at your own risk, this information is not here to take the place of any medical advice for conditions or products you may be following or using. as always, you should check with your medical practitioner to learn of any side effects or drug-herb interactions.