pendleton scrap wool rug

Here's a new small rug I made from Pendleton wool selvadges.  It's super thick.  The strips varied in width, and it created a bumpy fabric.  I have it for sale here on my Etsy page.

hanging orchid box

I made this orchid box for our bathroom window, based on a project I saw in the really cool book Cultivating Life.  The wood I found on a Columbia River beach.  I drilled holes in each end and then assembled the "log cabin" by running wire through the holes. I glued 4 slats across the bottom with JB Weld (best adhesive ever!), hot glue or super glue would work too I'm sure.  Moss was picked up off the ground in a nearby forest. Twine and wire came from the hardware store.  

This planting supposedly resembles an orchid's natural environment, as a parasite up in the treetops.  The roots need lots of air circulation to not rot, and I think pots can encourage that.  Planted this way, the roots will grow outwards, eventually feeding off of the box itself.  This window is in our shower.  The extra humidity I'm sure will be good for them too. 

I like hanging house plants in windows.  It frees up counterspace, and the plants get more light- especially important for the sunless winters here in the NW.  I love this DIY post on Design Sponge about a window hanger made from leather. 



 

kim chee

 

 

I made kim chee!  I've been curious about home fermented foods.  I used the recipe in The Whole Foods Encyclopedia. (great book!)  You mix napa cabbage, garlic, ginger, chilies, sesame seeds, and salt and let it ferment for several days at room temperature.  This was great, next time I'll add more chilies though.



fruit preserves and garden vegetables

I made four batches of preserves this summer- red plum, blueberry, strawberry, and wild blackberry.   I used the recipe in the Tartine Bread cookbook, which has a 75% sugar to fruit ratio (by weight).  I doubled the recipe (ended up using 2 kilos of fruit per batch) which fills all 12 of the half pint jars that come in a pack.  I used Pomona's Universal Pectin.  All of these came out great.  The plum was surprisingly delicious.  The blackberry is fun because they're free and everwhere at places like Kelley Point and Sauvie Island beaches, and you can feel like you're doing nature a favor by harvesting an invasive plant.

I like to use as little sugar as possible so the flavor of the fruit comes through.  I like the reicipies in Jam On, which have a 50% sugar to fruit ratio and several that use only honey.   Does anyone know how little sugar can you safely use?  For these batches I used cheap white sugar.  I would like to use something more high quality next time.  Does anyone have any suggestions for a natural sugar?

 

 

Some things I grew this summer: 



spring greens- mizunte, red russian kale, swiss chard

lots of zuchinni

old german tomato

butternut squash





orca beans are the coolest ever.   I experiemented with planting some of these that came from the grocery bulk section.

Teotihuacan, El Tajin (pt 2 of our 2007 trip)

  

Our next stop, northeast of Mexico City, was the massive pre-Aztec ruin site Teotihuacan.  The pyramids there are some of largest in the world.  They could easily be mistaken for mountains at a distance.  If you go here bring plenty of water and a lunch.   It's a huge site and takes all day and lots of walking to see.  We ate breakfast that morning that a fantastic restaurant that was facing the Pyramid of the Moon and dinner that night in a restaurant inside an enourmous nearby cave, where I tried the huitlacoche, the black corn fungus.

After leaving Teotihuacan, we headed East to Papantla, which is the vanilla growing capital of Mexico and is also nearby the ruin El Tajin.

 I got a bag of 10 vanilla beans in the Papantla market for $2 and also learned that the vanilla bean is the seed pod of an orchid. From there we spent nights at Xalapa, Veracruz, and Acayucan. Continuing further south we arrived at Villa Hermosa only to find that all of the roads leading into the Yucatan were closed due to flooding. We ended up retracing our path north while waiting for the floodwaters to subside. It was frustrating, but we got to see something we would have otherwise missed- and what ended up being one of my favorite places on the trip, Las Pozas and Xilitla.

DIY bath products: aloe and jojoba anti acne facial lotion, lotion for dry skin

I've made my own facial products for several years now.  It's fun, you save a ton of money, and they work better than most things you can buy in a store.  Here are some recipes I've had success with.

Moisturizer for Acne Prone or Oily Skin:
1/2 C aloe gel ( Lily of the Desert works well)
1/2 to 1 t jojoba oil. 

After three months of using this recipe, my acne was gone.  I had been battling fairly severe acne for 6 years and was amazed at how well this worked.  I was totally sold on making my own bath products  after this.  Jojoba oil "tricks" your skin into not producing oil because it resembles your skin's natural oil closely.   It works better than soap to clear clogged pores.  The aloe calms irritation and very hydrating.

Moisturizer for Dry Skin:
I made this body lotion with a mix different oils I had lying around, and I found it works well on my face too.  This recipe has a lot of oil, but for whatever reason doesn't make me break out.  I found the cobalt glass jar at the Alberta Co-op. 

1 C cooled brewed herbal (calendula) or green tea
1/4 C safflower oil
scant 1/2C olive oil
spoonful of virgin, raw coconut oil
spoonful of shea butter
2 T grated beeswax
8 drops ylang ylang essential oil
5 drops sweet orange
4 drops lavender
1 drop rosemary

Heat the oils and beeswax in a double boiler (or a pyrex mixing bowl placed over a pot of boiling water) until the wax melts.  Remove from heat and let cool for 2 min.  Blend the water on high in the blender, remove the stopper on top and slowly pour in the oil/ wax mixture.  Blend until it's emulsified completely.  Add essential oils when cool and jar it.  (Mason jars are great.)


Toner:
Fill a spray bottle (available in the travel area of the toiletries section) halfway with water or cooled herbal/ green tea, halfway with witch hazel, a squirt of honey, and a drop of rosemary, mint, or sweet orange essential oil.


Masks:
I buy french green, red, or white clay from the bulk section of natural food stores, which can be rehydrated with water, green tea, milk or soy milk.  Yogurt, honey, or egg whites are all edibles that make great masks.

I also keep several aloe plants around my house.  Nothing beats fresh aloe!

Real de Catorce, San Miguel de Allende (pt 1 2007 trip)

In 2007 my boyfriend and I took a road trip though Mexico and Central America.  We spent several weeks driving down the gulf side of Mexico to the Yucatan Peninsula.  We left our car in Playa del Carmen (a town an hour south of Cancun) and then spent another month traveling by bus through Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala.  It was a really awesome adventure though sometimes stressful (don't try this in a low clearance vehicle. . .)  The mix of indigenous and European cultures makes these countries fascinating places to travel.  Many places feel like Europe, with old colonial buildings and outdoor markets.  The food is great- corn tortillas (flour tortillas origintated in Texas- you won't find them in Mexico), chiles, avocados, chocolate (still only found as a drink, as it was in precolonial times), mole, nopales (prickly pear), tamales, empanadas,and abundant fresh juice.  Most areas have a year round growing season, so the produce is really fresh, and there is delicious and cheap street food everywhere.  Most Americans are surprisingly unaware of the great things the countries south of the border have to offer, outside of the heavily touristed coastal areas. 

  

After crossing the border at Laredo, our first stop, several hours south of Monterrey, was Real de Catorce, an formerly abandoned silver mining colony high the desert mountains.  We drove for an hour up the old cobblestone road, passing by donkeys, prickly pears, and many crumbling buildings.  We arrived at a tunnel, which was so narrow only one lane of traffic can go through at a time and was only lit by our headlights.  The town is nestled in a little valley on the other side of the tunnel.  The hotel we stayed in had a rooftop patio, and I remember being woken at dawn by the roosters.  I was glad we had sleeping bags, as it was very cold there in November. 

Our next stop, 5 hours south, was the beautiful colonial town of San Miguel de Allende.  We stayed at the fantastic hotel San Sebastian, which was an old masion.  Our room was only $20.  San Miguel was one of my favorite places in Mexico.  It has wonderful architecture, panaderias (pastry shops), and there are hot springs just outside of the city.  We soaked at a place called La Gruta.   There were many vendors selling freshly pressed juices, an apothecary with herbal tinctures, and a great artisan market.  There is a large American expatriate community living here.

view from our hotel window.  lots of traffic in this town!



my boyfriend, Robert

 tilework in our bathroom



that's me!





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After two days in San Miguel de Allende, we drove an hour east to Guanajuato, another beautiful colonial city famous for it's pastel buildings and maze of tunnels underneath the downtown area. Driving here was especially challenging, as we'd completely lose our orientation after going through a tunnel. I forgot to take pictures here, but it's a beautiful place and well worth a side trip from San Miguel. 

pick your own berrries on Sauvie Island

My boyfriend and I picked berries this weekend at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie island.  They have the best strawberries I've ever eaten (the small "Hood" variety).  We got 7 lbs of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries for $13.   Pick-your-own fruit is awesome because it's inexpensive, and you can get enough to make a batch of preserves or freeze some so you can eat them all year long.  A dehydrator is a nice thing to have too.  You can add dried berries to trail mixes or granola.  

During the hot months I trade out my usual oatmeal for cold cereal.  I made granola from this recipe on the Kitchen Sink Recipes blog that was fantastic with yogurt and fresh berries.  It's funny how granola is marketed as a health food, but you realize when you make it yourself how much sugar and oil it has.  I guess it depends on recipe.  Regardless, I'm totally sold on the idea of making my own breakfast cereals.  They're really cost effective to make and have so much more nutritional value than their store-bought counterparts.  I want to make muesli next time.  This recipe on the Etsy blog looks great. 

toothpaste, mouthwash recipes

I've been making my own toothpaste for the past few months, and it works really well.  It probably costs only a couple cents per batch to make.  This gets you thinking about how much the price of things reflects the cost of the actual ingredients and not packaging, shipping, or advertising.  Many store bought kinds have ingredients that are bad for your teeth- like glycerin, sweeteners, and SLS.
 

Toothpaste: 
1/3C baking soda
1t sea salt

3T calcium carbonate powder  (available in the supplements section)

1T coconut oil

5-10 drops peppermint essential oil

5 drops sweet orange essential oil
enough water to make a paste

Mix together powder ingredients.  Warm coconut oil until liquidy and mix with the powder.  Add enough water to make a paste.  Add essential oils. 

Mouthwash:
I make mouthwash that is 1/3 hydrogen peroxide, 2/3 water, and a drop of peppermint essential oil.

pictures from a recent trip



I like taking pitures from the air.




century plant flower spire and moon



tree frog



there were so many frogs in Arkansas



vintage cameras and curios at my boyfriend's parent's photography studio



an aloe plant in bloom



Mt Hood