Sweet Love and Ginger

Natural Living

Life Lessons from Compost

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Guys I have so many things going on over here. Blame the season, the moon or whatever I’m changing my ways, for good it seems.
I have always been a granola-y, experimental type, but I’ve always thought that so many of these things had to wait until I got a house. You know a place I owned that was mine, that I could build on to or change however I wanted. When I had that house man I could make some real changes, I could live so much greener. I’m starting to hit a point where I realize that this house is a bit further off than I have ever previously thought. We are waiting for the stars to align over here, and the gods only knows when that will happen.
I’m realizing that I will always be waiting for something before I start. I realize this is not what I want. I don’t want to be a big talker who never takes action. I don’t want to learn to love my walls (we are paraphrasing here).
“These walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.” – Morgan Freeman, Shawshank Redemption
I want to do these things, and live this life that I envision, and I’m going to start doing that, right now.

I know we are getting deep here, and all I meant to talk to you about today was compost bins, because this is one of the many projects that I am starting, so that I can get where I want to be. I’m also not using shampoo, experimenting with vegetarianism, learning about essential oils, learning to can and jar, and gaining a more in-depth knowledge of tea. I also want to pick sewing and knitting back up, as well as yoga and art, since I don’t want all those childhood lessons my parents sent me for to go to waste.

These are all things that touched my life at some point and have since fallen away, and I want them back to be a stronger presence for me.

So yeah I set up my compost bin this weekend.

Yellow Tomato Jam & Learning to Can

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I’ve mentioned before, rather recently in fact that my tomato
plants have gone a little nutty. A few of them are even taller than I am, and
they are producing a lot. I never realized how many tomatoes you could actually
get from one single plant let alone the 3 that I have.
I decided to try a canning experiment this year, since the
tomatoes are abundant and everyone knows how much better home grown tomatoes
are. I of course went to seek the oh so wise words of the internet for a good
recipe and method for canning these little babies, and settled on this recipe
from Food in Jars.
I made about 1/3 of the prescribed batch, and the recipe for that
is listed below. The sauce was amazing and the spare can I left out for tasting
was gone in minutes. I’m sure this would be a great pairing for scones at a tea
party, or mixed with cream cheese at a cocktail party. It’s pretty versatile and
totally delicious.
Yellow Tomato & Basil Jam
1 1/3 pounds Sungold tomatoes, halved
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of ½ a lemon
1 ½ tablespoons basil, chopped
Toss the tomatoes with sugar in a large bowl. Let them sit for an
hour or more and allow their juices to release. In a thick bottomed sauce pan add
tomatoes, their juices and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes
stirring continuously, until the sauce becomes thick. Remove from heat and stir
in lemon zest. Can immediately, or allow the sauce to cool and serve. The sauce
will store for up to one year in sealed jars.
I used the water bath method for canning, which I have seen Miss
Amy do about a million times, though she usually prefers large batches. I think
this method of just sticking leftovers into the water bath while I’m cleaning
up dinner is a method that will work for me. There are always leftovers with it
just being me and chuck around here, and this is a great way to get that
amazing flavor year round, and stay a bit greener, which is always a bonus.

Since I am not an expert yet, (yes, I plan to one day be) I don’t
think my experiences are enough to go by to tell you how to can things
properly. Besides I don’t want anyone to get botulism on my account. I suggest
using this website for the canning basics, it is a wealth of information.

No-poo Day 1

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Today marks the beginning of a new hair journey for me guys. I’m going to get on board this crazy no hair washing train that’s going around. A couple of my best friends are already doing it (and one for over a year) with some pretty amazing results, and it’s supposed to make my curly hair beautiful so why not?

 

I’m already half way there since I only really wash my hair once a week or so, more often if I have a particularly sweaty workout. I’m not really one to do much styling on a daily basis, and up until this past Wednesday I hadn’t had a hair cut since my birthday in February (yes that’s six months ago). I didn’t need one because my hair had been pretty healthy, but I thought that six months should be a good maximum for length between haircuts. You can read more about how I got my hair to be this long and this healthy here. It’s pretty simple really.
So this is my plan: I’m going to start off by washing my hair with baking soda and rinsing with apple cider vinegar when necessary (hopefully my current 1-2 times weekly). As for styling if it is actually required I’m going to use coconut oil, because you know it’s used for everything these days. I have been using this for the last few weeks instead of my usual products and I really like the results. It helps the curls stay silky without making them crunchy. I can run my fingers through the curls and they bounce right back like nothing happened. It’s great!Some things I am afraid of: I have A LOT of problems with dry skin (Gingers are meant to live in rainy places). I switched last year to an all organic soap (it is made in HI, however they started in VT and still have a small shop there so it’s local, double bonus) and so many of my problems just disappeared. I still have issues with the skin right around my hair line, you know forehead, behind my ears, and the base of my neck. It’s super embarrassing and I have been using head and shoulders to combat it, but it doesn’t always work. I am really hoping that switching to something more organic will fix this as well. But I suppose time will tell.

At the absolute minimum I am going to shoot for a month, but ideally I would like to give this change a solid 6 months before I decide if it’s a keeper.

Wish me luck!

I will let you know how this experiment goes in a few weeks. Any thoughts, comments, or info is greatly appreciated.

The Lazy Girls Guide to Getting Long Hair

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I have read hundreds of these kinds of posts, and articles in hopes and prayers that something will make my hair grow longer faster, and the fact of the matter is that your hair simply grows at one rate and there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it, some of us are lucky and it seems to be faster than others.
According to Sheldon Cooper it grows at 4.6 yoctometers per femtosecond, which is less than half an inch per month. I’m a nerd. Moving on.
The Lazy Girls Guide to Getting Long Hair

I get comments and compliments all the time on how fast my hair grows, how long it is and how amazingly still healthy it is at that length. Since I have chopped my hair off and donated it several times since the age of 12 I thought I would share my few secrets.

  • Don’t cut it. I have heard all kind of things about every 6-8 weeks, and getting the dead ends off and all that but the fact of the matter is the more you cut the slower the growth. Logic people! I only get my hair cut every 4-6 months or more. There have been times where it’s been almost a year. Basically I just watch the ends when they start to get bad it’s time to go.
  • Don’t style with heat. I know a lot of you are cringing right now, but heat damages hair, that’s a fact. The more you use heat the more damage, and breakage and therefore less growth. I only use heat once or twice a month, the rest of the time I just let it go naturally, occasionally adding some leave in moisturizer to help out the curls.
  • Don’t Wash it (that often). I only use shampoo on my hair 1-2 times a week, more if I have some hard workouts. I still wet my hair when I am in the shower, and sometimes use conditioner, or apple cider vinegar, to help the curls out, but that’s it. If I don’t wet my hair for a few days I use backing soda as a dry shampoo.  I love Katie’sPost on dry shampoos, there is so much to talk about there.
  • Take your vitamins. B vitamins are great for growing strong and healthy hair and nails. I take a basic multivitamin with iron, because I am a little anemic. I can totally feel the difference if I don’t take them for a few days, and also see the difference in the strength of my nails for sure.
  • Oil, egg or avocado scalp massages. I don’t know if these actually do anything for you, but I have issues with really dry skin, especially in the winter. I do these once a month in the winter time and they do wonders for my dry skin, they may do something for strengthening the hair at its root, or maybe they do nothing, but they do feel awfully nice. Here are the basics, you can find links all over the internet for hair masks with other ingredients.

Well now if I have not cemented in my hippy nature with this post I’m not sure what else will. Basically there’s only really two things here required of you, if you take the last point as anything worthwhile, and the rest is about being lazy, or hippi-esque. Call it what you will but this is my method and it works great for me. If you have anything else to add I’d love to hear it!