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On miso, caffeine and the search for a morning brew
Mrs. Homegrown here: I am a caffeine addict. Erik is too, though he doesn’t admit it. Actually, he was only a casual user until he met me, and then became habituated to the morning brew, and eventually...
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Advances in Gardening Series: The Fan
Yet another heat wave slowed our backyard redesign project, but the weather is looking more cooperative at last and things are coming along. What we thought we might do over the next few days is share...
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What’s eating my cilantro?
Mrs. Homegrown here: While we’re inviting questions, we’ve also got a question for you guys. What sort of critter likes to eat cilantro? I think it’s a critter, not a bug. There’s no sign of leaf...
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Sun Bleaching Really, Really Works
Line drying in the sun is a time honored means of brightening whites. But I had never guessed how effective it can be. I have a pair of white bath towels which developed mysterious, spreading yellow...
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Bringing Blossoms Inside
It’s such a simple thing to do, and so beautiful. If you’re trimming your fruit trees while they’re in bud, as they are now here in SoCal, keep all those twigs and bring them indoors. Stubby little...
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Cleaning the Sink with Baking Soda and Lemons
Our sink, freshly cleaned and so darn photogenic!This is because you can’t see all the clutter just out of view. A little green cleaning review here. It is possible to keep a sink white and shiny...
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How to clean a stained coffee cup
This is what it looked like fresh out the dishwasher. Ugh! The sink post reminded me about this quick and easy tip. If you’ve got a stained coffee mug, baking soda will take that gunk right off. Just...
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Why not plant some Calendula?
Calendula glows like the sun. Mrs. Homegrown here, leaving the composting controversy behind… One of my favorite plants in the garden is Calendula officinalis, aka pot marigold. It should not be...
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Strange brew: herbal steam for a chest cold and sinus pain
Mrs. Homegrown here: I’ve had a bad cold for almost a week now. It’s gone through all the classic steps: the sore throat, then the snot factory, then the ghastly “productive cough” that keeps you...
View ArticleAddendum to the previous post: Nasal irrigation and pressure points
[I’m going to spare you an illustration on this one] Mrs. Homegrown here, again: While I credit my recovery from this nasty cold/sinus thing largely to the herbal steams of my previous post, I also...
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Harvesting and Drying Calendula
Mrs. Homegrown here: Okay, so in a previous post I talked about growing Calendula. This post I’m going to talk about harvesting and drying it. The next post I’ll do on the topic will be about making a...
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Power of the Patch
Our littlest Ramshackler sits on a hand-me-down car seat whenever we venture for a drive. After six years of use, the cover started to show some wear. I thought about buying a seat cover or making one...
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California poppy tea
Mrs. Homegrown here:Where we live, this is the poppy time of year. California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are blooming all over our neighborhood, and most especially in our yard. I have to...
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Natural Dyeing with Woad
Earlier in the month while the boys stayed at home with Eric, I attended a French General workshop on dyeing with woad (Isatis tinctoria). Woad (from the Brassicaceae family, a cousin to broccoli...
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Stinging Nettles and Cat Allergies
Facebookers have already seen these pics. Kitty, being a fast moving black hole, is very hard to photograph. Mrs. Homegrown here: Sorry this is sort of rambling, but context is everything. Our friend...
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Quick and Easy Fire Starters
I came across these fire starters this week while sorting out our camping gear, and thought I should blog about them. Then I realized we already have–long, long ago: way back in 2006, when we were all...
View ArticleSpinning Wheel Restoration?
Do any of you fine folks happen to know of anyone who repairs and restores old spinning wheels? I have a spinning wheel that my great-grandmother brought over on the boat from Norway, but it is in some...
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How to make a Calendula oil infusion
Love that golden orange color. It’s prettier in real life. So finally I get around to finishing off this mini series on Calendula (pot marigold). This post will be on infusing oil, and next week we’ll...
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Making Salves, Lip Balms & etc.: Close of the Calendula Series
My calendula after-bath salve. The camera refuses to capture the deep butter yellow color On Saturday, as a part of this long series on Calendula (here, here and here), I posted about infusing oil...
View ArticlePDF Lip Balm Instructions
There’s a little piece on us on the Good Magazine Blog right now. Good got our publisher’s permission to offer a PDF excerpt of our book. By coincidence, they chose our lip balm recipe. So if you’d...
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