puttin out fires

my mom called me the other day, desperate for something to help my 2 year old nephew, Oliver. now, since they all live in southern california and i'm way up here in portland, i figure this is my best bet for being a part of the little guy's life...

apparently he has a digestive sensitivity to citrus, but he eats clementines (aka cuties!) all the time then is just beside himself from the pain and discomfort caused by what is going on in his little diaper (he's going to kill me if he finds out about this when he's older).

so i hit the laboratory. i spent most of last night heat infusing organic extra virgin olive oil with organic herbs: calendula, st. john's wort, aloe vera, comfrey, and myrrh. all of which are anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, healing, and calming. (this took a few hours, so i watched the fantasy movie "inkheart" in the meantime. it's actually good despite brendan fraser's attempts to be a cheeseball).

after straining the herbs, i added candelilla wax (a vegan tree wax) to make a salve, then lavender and tea tree essential oils which are astringent, and ta-da! my new baby bottom balm!

i figured i'd send some of the baby wipe solution i make too... it hasn't been selling very well despite rave reviews. Oliver's mom has been using heavily perfumed commercial wipes and i could just strangle her! (I hope you're reading this!) mine contains aloe vera gel, an organic calendula hydrosol i made myself, castille soap, apricot kernel oil, organic virgin coconut oil, lavender, and tea tree. it's nice because it's concentrated. so you can put some in warm water and use it throughout the day, or throw the bottle in your purse and spray it on a warm wet wipe as needed.

I had just sent my family a huge box of last season's preserved goods that i knew i couldn't eat... jam from strawberries i picked on sauvie's island, plum jam from my step-grandma's trees, spiced peach butter from peaches i picked in the columbia gorge, and pickled green beans from my own garden. I could have saved a few bucks by tossing in the baby products but that's what i get for trying to send surprises!

spring special for my etsy shop!

Get it while it's hot!  Lots of new spring and summer products: lip balm, bug bite spray, sunburn spray, baby balm... and of course the good old standbys... all 10% off when you enter the code SPRUNG. This is just for my facebook and blog followers, as a special thanks :)

see the shop here!

the best kale chips in america

i don't presume to know what your diet is like and i don't know if you've ever had kale chips. regardless of whether you have had them or not, i have the best recipe for them right here.

basic kale chips are pretty straight forward. toss some bite sized bits of kale sans stems (dino or curly) in oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake.

boring.

the other day i pulled last seasons dino kale out of my garden. the stalks were about 3 inches in diameter and the plants were taller than me! surprisingly, there were still a ton of harvestable leaves on them. i wish i had taken photos. oh well. anyway, back to the recipe... i have made two batches now. both times i thought i was making a ton that would last me a few days. both times it was all gone within an hour of coming out of the oven.

here's the not so big secret: sriracha

i use about a 5 second squeeze on a big bowl of raw kale (about 3 handfulls) torn into bite sized pieces. toss them along with about a tablespoon of olive oil until the leaves are more or less coated evenly. you can use more or less sriracha depending on your tastes, it's not an exact science.

spread the leaves onto as many cookie sheets (lined in parchment paper) as you need to avoid overlap.

sprinkle with sea salt AND garlic powder.

bake at 275 for about 15 minutes. until they're not floppy but not burnt.

the best news about it? kale is one of those "cruciferous" vegetables everyone says you need to eat all the time. these are "brassica" veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, and collards that are descendants from wild cabbage. kale lowers cholesterol, is anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and rich in vitamins K, A, and C!

springtime

it's mid-april and that means a lot is changing around here. it has been unusually sunny for this time of year, which gets everyone in a fuss: shopping for shorts/sunglasses/swim suits, sitting with the masses on restaurant patios enjoying margaritas and bloody marys even though it's still only 58 degrees out. the weather tricks us every year by giving us just enough of a taste of sun in order to keep us/remind us why we're in portland before the rain comes back: summertime.

when the sun is out is when i'm the most productive. cleaning long forgotten dust bunnies, finally getting rid of clothes i'll never wear, mowing the lawn, planting the garden, transplanting house plants, saying yes as often as possible... i feel like myself again.

speaking of the garden: my seeds are sown! i still have some beautiful rainbow chard that thrived through the winter, despite (or perhaps in spite of) my negligence. in my 6'x4' bed, i have now planted kale (both dino and curly), broccoli, spinach, carrots, and lettuce. in my 4'x4' bed i have zucchini (i took a chance planting it early, hoping the last frost has passed) and onions. i have one large pot for strawberries and i have yet to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, and peppers. i hung two long plastic containers on my fence for my herb garden: parsley, sage, cilantro, etc. and i have starts for rosemary, lavender, peppermint, and spearmint (seen in the photo above). clearly i'm more interested in vegetables than flowers, but the one flower i do want to grow is calendula, which is a beautiful bright orange flower that is a potent anti-inflammatory.

speaking of herbs, i have exactly 5 weeks until school starts. i went by the ACHS apothecary and picked up my materials for my first classes!

now, the herbs were an understandable component of the kit. but i've never had a class require me to purchase a bath brush! having some knowledge of dry skin brushing and the benefits to circulation i can understand the need, it just looks a little weird. these materials are for my introductory class on nutrition, bodycare, and herbalism. my first of three anatomy/physiology courses only has books.

lastly, there are only 3 weeks until my 6 day vacation to new orleans! it's in the 80s there this week, so i can only imagine how amazingly miserable it will be in may :) i can't wait. 

for chapstick addicts

This is my 1oz recycled aluminum tin of wax free moisturizing balm for hands, body, and lips that does NOT contain aluminum, parabens, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl/lauryth sulfate, any other chemicals, preservatives, or products tested on animals. 

seen here in my shop

I don't know about you, but I got tired of having multiple tubes lip balm and leaky lotion bottles floating around my bag. That's why I designed this balm that moisturizes any and all skin with only 4 high quality ingredients:


• raw, organic, fair trade cocoa butter
pressed from the roasted seeds of the Cacao tree
softens at body temperature and adds a rich, creamy, and thick consistency 
reduces dryness and improves skin elasticity

• raw, fair trade shea butter
from the vegetable fat of the Karite Tree
forms a breathable, water-resistant film and is the leading natural product for moisturizing

• raw, organic coconut oil
contains lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties

• vitamin e: 
antioxidant


it's great for camping, travel, purses, and gifting! it can also be used to tame fly away hairs.


choose from:

lemon/orange.
rosemary/peppermint.
lavender/tea tree.
lemongrass/ylang ylang
unscented.

lil baby sprouts

alfalfa sprouts: day 2

how are these little legumes so delicious? i think 99% of it is texture. man do i love that crunch. i guess it doesn't hurt that they're packed full of nutrients like beta carotene and isoflavones (antioxidants, yo. they help protect cells from damage), as well as vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and potassium. and they maybe, just mayyyybe, can lower cholesterol and blood glucose. Also, due to their size and taste you can eat hundreds of sprouted seeds at a time, each of which may contain all the nutrients of a full grown plant. So, in a sense, you can get all the goodness of eating hundreds of fully grown plants in one meal!

the long and the short of it? they're good for ya.

welp, here goes!

hello world (or at least the few people who will be seeing this for now). this is a step in an ever growing effort to expose myself, my products, and my knowledge to the planet. i hesitate to say "my knowledge", since most knowledge is gained/borrowed from others. in this sense, i hope that "their knowledge" becomes "my knowledge" and ultimately "your knowledge". then it's just stays "our knowledge".

i live in portland, oregon where there is an abundance of individuals not incredibly unlike myself. there is a community rich with open minded, eco-friendly, DIY, small business supporting people whose worst fear is a Wal-Mart coming to town. until now i have been learning home remedies on my own and selling some of them on etsy at stegosaurusrex.etsy.com. specializing in organic & vegan personal care products, i've made many a mess in my kitchen. it is here in portland that i am beginning a formal education in herbalism and holistic nutrition with the goal of one day having a private consulting practice while continuing to formulate my own concoctions that help people avoid dangerous commercial products and pharmaceuticals.

this marks the beginning of my journey.