made from scratch

Tomorrow we go back to work.  We sure needed this week off to catch up on gardening, preserving, and decluttering.  We managed to get rid of fifty things and I think we must have completed fifty chores as well!  Some of our labours of love:

Fermented Beets

We had a bumper crop of beets this week, which is great because it was part of my Naturopath's prescription.  We started some ferments in jars with the lids left on slightly loose.  We dissolve 2 tbsp of sea salt into 4 cups of water and then pour the mixture over the grated beats.  Check every few days and see if the beets are tasting pickled enough (like sauerkraut).  Then chill them down in the fridge to stop the ferment.

Dried Herbs

After growing all these herbs, if you them to last longer than the life of the plant, you have to preserve them in some way.  We used our dehydrator on our two types of oregano (Italian and ...the other kind), mint, peppermint, and sage.  We made cilantro pesto since cilantro doesn't dry as well as other herbs.

Home-made Granola

Good granola is expensive!  Ours contains spelt, kamut, raisins, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, molasses, cane sugar (not a lot), and coconut oil.  I forgot to add that dash of salt!  For breakfast I just add coconut milk and some fruit.

Dry Shampoo

To be honest I've never made this before and will be testing it in the morning.  I love dry shampoo since I have long hair and I find that washing it every day dries out the ends.  For in between days I pat a little hair powder into the roots and then brush it through.  It looks clean with a matte texture.  I mixed 5 mls of baking soda with 20 mls of cornstarch and two drops of lavender oil for this test batch.  The puff will be kept in this lovely lavender pouch in between powderings.