Makin'

New clothes...






Colorful bouquets... (yesterday morning I got to sleep in for just a little... when I came downstairs Grace and Jackson were just coming inside with this beautiful bouquet. needless to say it was a pretty good start to my day.)


Winter scarves (Grace recently learned how to knit!)...


Dried herbs (for winter)...


Our favorite taco salad (with our lettuce and first tomatoes)...




(I think I'm starting to get my energy back...)

Nettles

I recently was reminded by our good friends that it's nettle season. I love nettles. Love that they are everywhere, love the numerous health benefits, and (surprisingly) I love the taste of them.



While nettle tea is always fun to make, what I had really been wanting to try since this winter (when I got this awesome book), is nettle soup. Both Grace and Jackson recently got sick again with a cold and I decided it was time to try and rebuild all of our immunities. This soup is great for that.



2 tbsp of butter
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 medium potatoes peeled and chopped
450g of freshly picked nettle tops (er, ah, no clue about the 450 grams since I don't have a cooking scale... we just picked a lot)
1 qt of veg. stock
2/3 cup of cream
freshly ground nutmeg
salt and pepper

Melt the butter and saute the onion and garlic for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and nettles and saute for 2 minutes. Add the stock and cover. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool and then puree the soup. Stir in cream and season with a little nutmeg, salt and pepper.



Delicious.

6 Things That Are Making Me Smile

My girl and her new love of pink


Peas coming up


Gardens getting planted


Sunny spinach


My bees (they accepted the queen!)


Peppermint tea from our peppermint leaves (for all my sick children that are now all better)... add a little cream and it almost tastes like a treat.

Bees

I found a new book to get my mind off goats and onto bees, which is much more fitting considering tomorrow I am going to go order them (and purchase my hive equipment). Thankfully this book is just as poetic as "Goat Song" and is having the same effect on me... I am completely caught up in the world of honey bees.



I am both excited and nervous about this new venture. The more I read the more I realize just how many wonderful things you can do with honey and beeswax. But I am also learning how one mistake or one unfortunate act of nature can cause the whole hive to collapse.



And while I'm on the topic of bees, I forgot I still need to write down my recipe for the handsalve I made over Christmas.

For starters I should note that the best place to get all the oils is definitely the bulk section of a co-op. The canisters came from Michael's (they are actually sold for candle making but worked great for this too). The beeswax came from Michael's too but I won't make that mistake again. The local beekeeper and dealer that I found where I'm getting my bees sells his beeswax for almost a forth of the price (not to mention is it's probably much purer).



When you're heating beeswax you can't heat it directly in the pan so I put a bowl over a pan to create a double boiler (and it is now my "beeswax" bowl as the wax does not really come out that easily).



Herbal Salve Recipe (found here and adjusted for a bigger batch)

Ingredients:
12 ounces Beeswax
18 ounces Sweet Almond Oil
6 ounce Jojoba Oil
3 oz. Canola oil
60 (or more) drops total essential oil of your preference

Makes about 24 ounces of salve

Simply heat the Sweet Almond, Canola oil and Jojoba oil in a saucepan and add Beeswax. Pour into tins and let cool. Next time I will experiment with the oil to wax ratio (and try adding more oils) to get it a little bit softer. But overall I am loving this salve. It is so great for dry hands and even cuts and scrapes.

Sick Day

Well that didn't last long. We didn't even make it a week before we all got sick. I didn't mind though. It was nice to have a day at home again, even if it was a sick one.



I did make (for the first time) some homemade cough syrup today from our horehound. I wasn't so sure about the taste but both Grace and Jackson liked it enough to take a spoonful before bed. Horehound is a really great herb for colds and coughs.



Recipe for Cough Syrup

½ cup of fresh horehound leaves (or ¼ cup of dried)
2 cups of water
3 cups of liquid honey

Place the horehound in a stainless steel pot with the water and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to steep for about 10 minutes. Strain and then add the honey. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring consistently until mixed well. Store in refrigerator for up to three months. The amount of honey can be adjusted for taste and consistency.

Fresh Nettle Tea

Why, why you might ask. Why would anyone make tea out of stinging nettle? Well to begin with it is loaded with nutrients- calcium, iron and antioxidants. And with a little lemon, it tastes pretty good too.

Nettle Tea
1. (Using gloves) cut just the tops of nettle plant off.
2. Cut leaves into smaller pieces
3. Boil water
4. Poor water over leaves and let soak. Equal parts nettle and water seem to make a good tea, but you can make it stronger or weaker with less or more water.
5. Strain the leaves out.
6. Add lemon slice and enjoy