Five New Fabulous Christmas Gifts you can Make with Essential Oils

I love giving homemade gifts! Below you will find all the details on how to make these five fabulous natural gifts with essential oils. These are such wonderful gifts to give and so easy to make!

Layered Lavender Hot Cocoa:

You know chocolate fixes everything! Well now its lavender and chocolate fix everything. Relax and warm up with this wonderful blend. For this project follow these steps:

1. Measure 1/2 cup sugar into a separate bowl and mix with 5 drops lavender.
2. Using a canning funnel, put sugar/lavender mix in bottom of canning mug.
3. Tap to get it all level and packed
4. Then add in order to layer 1/2 cup cocoa powder
5. 1/2 cup powdered milk
6. 1/4 tsp salt
7. 1/4 cup chocolate chips
8. Push down on the chocolate chips with your hand to pack the jar well
9. Then pack the top with mini marshmallows
10. Add lid and label. For the label add the instructions: Empty contents into a large bowl. Mix well. To make cocoa add 1/3 cup of mix to 1 cup hot water. Store mix in a sealed container. 

Super cute, fun with a lot of yum!

All Natural Glitter Body Spray with a Silver Diffuser Necklace: 

This all natural body spray has some shimmer and some sass. Use your favorite essential oils or try the suggested ones below. Pair it with a fun diffuser necklace for a perfect combination! For this gift you will need:

4 ounce spray bottle
1/3 cup witch hazel
your choice of essential oils 

• Beautiful- 8 drops ylang-ylang essential oil and 8 drops orange essential oil

or

• Energizing- 5 drops grapefruit, 6 drops lime, and 5 drops lemon essential oils

1/2 tsp all natural mica powder (glitter)
1 tablespoon glycerin
1 tablespoon oil (like sunflower, grapeseed or almond)

Once you have added all ingredients to the bottle, replace the spray top and make a cute label for your bottle. Shake well before using.

Diffuser Necklace: for second part of this gift you will need a rope or chain for your necklace, a spiral pendant and lava bead or wool ball. Put the wool ball or bead inside of your pendant by gently pulling the wires apart, then add pendant to your chain. Super simple and really cute. We gifted this with a small sample bottle filled with essential oil blends we made to match the spray.

Eucalyptus Mint Bath Oil: 

A wonderful addition to any bath. Pour one tablespoon of this into your bath as you are running the water.  Improve your concentration, boost your energy, ease sore-achy muscles and oh yeah, kills germs on the side.  For this gift you will need:

4 ounce glass bottle
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
5 drops peppermint essential oil

Approximately 4 ounces of olive oil

Add essential oils to the bottle. Then fill to neck with olive oil. Screw on the cover, shake well and add a cute label. We gifted this oil with a super fluffy white spa towel.

Peppermint Foot Rub: 

A great treat for tired and achy feet! We wrapped this up with a pair of fuzzy socks for a super cute gift. To make this gift you will need:

• 2 ounce glass bottle
• 4 Tablespoons of oil (like sunflower, grapeseed, or sweet almond)
• 2 Tsp of Vinegar
• 15 drops of peppermint essential oil

Add all the ingredients to you bottle, cover & shake. Add a cute label and wrap it with your favorite fuzzy socks.

Whipped Body Butter: 

This is not just lotion, it's butter! It is a wonderful blend of all natural oils to sooth your body. A little goes a long way.

1/2 cup sweet almond oil
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup mango butter
1/2 cup shea butter
1 tsp vitamin E (preservative)
Essential oils of your choice (we used 2 drops of joy and 3 drops of orange for each 1/2 cup)

Melt the coconut oil and butters in a double boiler until combined.

Remove from heat and add sweet almond oil and vitamin E. Then place in refrigerator to cool down for 2-4 hours. When it is almost solid put it in your mixer to whip it up. If it is not whipping well you may need to refrigerate it a little longer.

Once whipped add your essential oils to your preference and whip another minute to incorporate. Spoon into your jars and add a cute label.


Looking for more ideas? You can view previous years projects here:
Five more DIY gifts for Christmas using Essential Oils
5 Easy DIY Christmas Gifts with Essential Oils
Mens All Natural Bath and Body Products Using Essential Oils

I hope you enjoy creating these wonderful natural gifts for your friends and family. Do you have a favorite homemade gift you make? Share some of your favorites with us below. In the meantime have a wonderful holiday season and a very merry Christmas!

Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.

Thats a Wrap - wrapping up the bee year

So many people say...."What do your bees do in the winter? Do they hibernate? Do you send them down south?" Nope. They stay right where they are. But before I get into that let's do a quick update.

• I started this year with three new packages. Getting them all in their new homes was quite an adventure.  One of my queens flew off and I was hopeful that she returned. 
• Once I realized that she was gone and I did indeed have a laying worker, I was faced with figuring out how to get a new queen accepted into my hive. Laying workers are hard to correct but I was able to get the hive (Alveare) to accept their new queen. She was very far behind in growing her colony for our short season here in Minnesota. 
• While I was worrying about her, one of the other colonies (Kosnica) swarmed on me. They were so sneaky in hiding their plans to swarm. Once it happened I was helpless as they were not taking any of my bait to get them to stay. 
• Several weeks later I am happy to say they were able to make a new queen.  While I was ever so patient (NOT) I made some markers for my hives to dress them up a little.  I found the new queen was laying and all was right in the world again. Well, as much as it could be given the circumstances. 

How's the honey? Sweet! But with all of this going on, it definitely puts a damper on the bees honey production. When there is no queen the bees do not bring in nectar which equals no new honey.  The only one of my hives who was not having a queen controversy this year was the hive which had the Russian line of honey bees (Panj). Russians do not make as much honey as Italians and that was evident when it came to harvest time. The only hives I was able to get honey from were Panj and Kosnica. I was able to collect a total of about 50 pounds of honey between the two.

We had a nice warm fall. Alveare was still small and not storing much. I was feeding them in hopes to help them to survive the long winter here. They gladly took the feed but instead of storing it, they kept growing the colony size. Alveare is only two boxes deep and does not have much honey stored for the long winter ahead. Those babies eat a lot. Only time will tell if they make it this winter.

This fall, my son really enjoyed coming up to help with feeding. This week was our last warm weather in the forecast.  We are due for a winter storm and the bees will not take sugar water when i'ts cold.  I had to take the feeder off Alveare and wrap all the hives for winter.

What is wrapping the hives?

Wrapping the hives is just one step you can take to help the honey bees survive our harsh northern climate. I had one winter wrap I used on Alveare (far left). This is a pre made cardboard wrap that is painted black on the outside. The other two were wrapped in roofing paper. This black exterior helps to heat up the hives in winter when the sun beats down on them. The trees and brush behind the hives aid in blocking the harsh northern winds in winter as well.

Are they completely closed? Nope. There are two doors for them to enter/exit all winter long. Honey bees do not relieve themselves in their house, so they need to get out when its time to go. I have one in the bottom of the hive and one on the top box of the hive for if the snow covers up the bottom entrance.

You can see Alveare (left) is shorter than the other hives. Hopefully we will have some warm days each month this winter so I can check on them and sneak in some emergency feed as needed. Panj (middle) had fairly good stores, the third box was not completely full so I will be checking in on them come January or February if we get some warm days.  Kosnica (right) had a full third deep box and although I will check on them in February if I am up there I am thinking they should have enough food to last them until March/April.

So as I was turning to leave, I tapped them on the top and said good luck girls! Its all up to you now!

That's the buzz!

Blessings!

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No diffuser? Try a Pillow Mist for a Great Night Sleep

My son was a horrible sleeper! Before he got his own "confuser" (that is what he calls his diffuser), he absolutely loved this pillow mist. He would spray it on his "blankie" before bed every night.

He did not show a huge response to the sleepy time roll on we made. He liked to use it but it did not change his sleeping patterns. He did much better with the spray. We started with just Lavender. He was sleeping better but still waking crying (we thought it was really bad dreams). I did a little research and decided to try adding White Angelica. Yeah! No more night terrors. He would still wake up but he was not crying with terror. Mostly there is no crying at all. It was more to do with wanting to have his Daddy next to him than it is not wanting to sleep or having a night terror. So here is what I made:

I use a 4 ounce glass bottle for his spray.

1.   Fill about 1/2 way or 2 oz. with Vodka

2.   Add 2 oz. distilled water

3.   Add 4-5 drops vegetable glycerin

4.   Add 15 drops Lavender Essential Oil and 15 drops of White Angelica

5.   Screw top on and shake a little to mix

Now he is a little older and has his own diffuser. He still uses his pillow mist occasionally but he gets the same aromatic response with his diffuser. He loves his "confuser" and turns it on all by himself each night. We bought him a spill proof one which is perfect for kids and the bedside.

How about you? Do you have a diffuser? If not, have you tried other ways to use your oils aromatically? If you want to learn more about how to use essential oils let me know. I teach classes in person and online regularly and would love to have you join us! If you are ready to jump in with oils I would love to help you. It is super easy just click on this link...Sign up for Young Living Starter Kit Here


Blessings!

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New Queen and New Markers

It's been a stressful month around here. My last update was about Kosnica's swarm. Since then I have been watching for the new queen in Kosnica to hatch and return from mating!

While I was patient (read NOT) I decided to work on some markers for the hives. Each hive has a rock on top to keep the lid on snug. I want to paint the hives but really have not had the spare time to committ. (I think that is more of a winter project.) So in the meantime my daughter and I had some fun painting rocks....

 

Rock painting is actually quite fun and my daughter has already asked to do it again. We used acrylic paint and sprayed it with varnish once dry. They turned out really nice. It will be interesting to see how they stand up to the extreme changes in weather on the top of the hives.

Ok, back to the queen! Kosnica was quite agitated during its weekly inspections. They were clearly not happy with their situation.  The last couple weeks were the hardest since there is such a large variance (2 weeks!!) when you can see evidence of the queen (eggs). I was pretty anxious and prepared for the worst.

Here is a general timeline for a new queen:

For those of you trying to do the math here is my best guess on where Kosnica was in the timeline: 

• June 21st, the hive swarmed. Typically they swarm before the queen cell is capped, which they did. 
• June 28th, when I inspected the queen cell was capped. (I do not know how long before or after my inspection it was capped- so you see the problem). Being on the conservative side, I should have started to see eggs between July 11th and the 25th.
• July 21st inspection I did not see any eggs, however honestly, I did not thoroughly go through both brood boxes. I was overheated and the bees were crabby. I should have taken more time.
• My last inspection, July 29th, I was planning to go frame by frame to make sure the queen was not there. This is where I pick up the story...

Since I did not see eggs on my last visit to Kosnica, I had feared the worst. What was I going to do? Try to find a queen this late in the summer? Then I realized- I had a queen. Alveare is still a very weak colony but has a queen. So I began to make plans on merging Kosnica with Alveare. In preparation, I spent several days researching how to merge two hives. I had it all planned out for the next day if I did not find any eggs.

I needed to go very slowly and spend my time looking carefully. I removed three honey supers and a deep box filled with honey and went into the top brood box first. Imagine my relief when the second frame into the brood box I found eggs!! I cheered (maybe actually squealed) with delight. I quickly closed up the hive so she could continue with her job of building up the colony. 

For now I am going to focus on what I can do to help out Alveare. We will see what honey I end up with from the other two hives. Until next time, that's the buzz!

Blessings!

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What's that Buzz?

My hive last year was so compliant. They only drew in the lines and were very pleasant overall. PLUS they gave me over one hundred pounds of honey. This year on the other hand, my hives are challenging me constantly. In this post I will share some more of their antics of late. First, since I have a few hives I will be discussing, I will give you a little bit of background on each of them before I get too far into my latest update. I named each colony so I could keep them straight. They are all named "hive," but in different languages.

Alveare (Italian for hive) is where Athena is. The hive started out as an Italian race of honey bees however I am not sure what Athena is, I would say is is most likely Italian. She is our new queen whom I have written about. On my last two checks she has been there however her brood pattern is spotty. The picture on the left is from this hive. See if you can find Athena, she is marked with a white dot.

I am hoping this colony picks up soon so they have a better chance to survive out long winter here in Minnesota. Currently they only cover about three to four frames. Only time will tell if she will be able to build a strong enough colony before winter set in. Lets pray for a long summer and fall.

Panj (Slovenian for hive) is an Carniolan colony which is doing very well. I used Panj to help Athena along when she was first introduced. Panj is the colony I switch locations with Alveare so it lost the foraging bees that day. However it is still going strong and in fact on last inspection I found the queen (unmarked) and was so excited. Its really hard with so many bees! They are currently running strong with three full deeps and are making extra honey. If you look at this picture you can see very few empty cells, this queen is a super star. Those are all baby bees in those cells soon to be born.

Kosnica (Croatian for hive) is an Italian based colony and has always been the strongest hive. It filled its three deep boxes and received its honey supers a good week before Panj. However with that comes some bee-attitude. In mid-May this hive had started a queen cup on one of its frames which freaked me out a bit. A queen cup is the start of a queen cell. The location of the cup made it a supercedure cell. Meaning if they filled it they were planning on replacing the queen. Talk about stress for me! Losing a queen is huge with our short season. False alarm, the queen cup was never filled and was gone by next inspection. However as you will see this is not the end of Kosnica's shenanigans...

So let's get back to where I left you last... Athena was out of her cage and doing well. My plan was to let her be for a couple weeks.  My strong hives were doing so well. I did quick checks for eggs to ensure the queens were there and ok. I removed a little burr comb (drone brood which the bees make on the bottom of the frames- it makes a mess). And I accessed for the need to add supers, otherwise I let them bee. 

Mid June we had some really hot days so I let the next inspection go a few extra days. Normally I go in every seven to eight days. This one was planned for day eleven. Before hand, I was sitting outside with my kids eating lunch and I could hear a buzzing sound... I thought there was a hornet's nest close by. I told the kids to get in so I could check it out. As I carried our garbage to the driveway I found the source. There was a swarm forming above my driveway!!! One of my hives was swarming!!

I quickly inspected and found Athena wondering around. Alveare was a small colony, but thankfully still there. Then I went to check the other hives. However, since my other two queens are not marked, I was mostly going in to see if they were missing large amounts of bees or looking for other signs of swarming. Yes, both had bees.  However, Kosnica had made queen cells from the burr comb wax and hid them with the drones on the bottom of the frame. My strongest hive was now queenless. Well, at least for the next three weeks until the new queen *hopefully* starts laying eggs.

I left my hives to go check on the swarm. The swarm settled on a branch about forty feet up in our big oak tree. I set out a lure box with some lemongrass but they had other plans. Within two hours the swarm took off in a cloud and buzzed off over the houses and treetops.  

That buzzing, like a small engine plane was half my hive and my super star queen showing me they had other plans this summer.

Well, that's the buzz, for now...

Blessings!

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DIY Hair Detangler

Oh for years I bought the premade stuff. No more! It is so easy to make it yourself!

Seriously this is so easy it is embarrassing.

Ok ready?

1. Take a spray bottle.
2. Add conditioner.
3. Add water.
4. Shake it up.
5. Spray on hair.

Ok so you want more details?

Here is my exact recipe:

1. using a 4 ounce bottle
2. add about 1 tablespoon of conditioner
3. optional: add essential oils for hair health and to repel bugs (lice!) I use 3 drops of each: lavender, cedarwood, ylang ylang, rosemary and tea tree.
4. shake well and spray directly onto hair

There you go! Now go untangle.

Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.

God save the Queen

So where did I leave off on our girls journey? Oh yeah I left you up on the hill wondering about the possibly missing queen. Well long story short... turns out she flew the coup. After eight days there was still no sign of eggs in the hive. The other two hives had brood (babies) at various stages. My bee supplier did not have queens in stock for another week. To top it off in three days we were leaving for vacation for a week so there was literally nothing I could do until I returned.

When we returned from vacation I inspected the hive. I was elated, I found capped brood and larvae! That means eggs were being laid. Well lets say I had a brief period of excitement. Until I realized it was not the kind of eggs I needed. It was all drone brood. What is drone brood? Drones are boys. When you have ALL boys that most likely means the female that is laying eggs is not fertile (has not been mated), and not a queen. It means one of the girls panicked and started to lay eggs. She is called a laying worker.

When you have a laying worker, the hive thinks it has a queen since there are eggs and brood. However a laying worker can only lay unfertilized male eggs. This means as time goes on there will be less and less females to do the work. (Boys do nothing in the hive but consume food and fly off to mate with queens from other colonies).

As I started to research this I found that it is really hard to correct this problem. Its impossible to identify which female bee from thousands of bees is the one that decided to lay eggs. So all the female workers look the same. How do you get rid of her to replace her with a new queen?

After much discussion and research I came up with a plan. When my new queen arrived I had to dump the entire hive out of its home about 50 feet away up the hill. The reason for this is that the laying worker would not be able to fly back to the hive. Her abdomen is swollen since she started to lay eggs and she would not be able to fly. The majority of the other bees would fly back home.

This hive was already weak from being almost a month with no queen. So once I removed every single bee, I brought back the box and switched places with one of the other hives. The foraging bees who were out in the fields collecting pollen and nectar would return to the place they left from and make the weak hive their new home. This would give my weak hive a boost while the new queen had time to get accepted.

A hive can only have one queen. They identify their queen by smell. This queen was brand new and they would not recognize her. Queen Athena needed to be released slowly or the hive would kill her. Her cage had a piece of fondant candy plugging the hole. This candy would take the bees 3-5 days to chew through to release her. In that time the hope is that they will become accustomed to her scent and accept her.

I checked at five days and surprisingly she was still in the cage. I waited one more week. When I returned I am happy to say I found her walking around a frame. She was out of her cage and was alive. All good news! So I removed the empty cage and closed up the hive. Letting her start her very important work of rebuilding the hive. She has a lot of work ahead of her, she is a month behind so hopefully she can build enough of a colony for winter. Only time will tell.


For now, that is the buzz... blessings!

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Super Simple DIY Dry Shampoo

No time to wash? Or maybe something keeping you from it? Before my surgery this fall I found myself looking for options. I tried out a few store bought dry shampoo but hated them. They made my hair feel weird, kind of sticky. It also made my hair snarl up as the day went on. So the do it yourself part of me got to work.

Here is what I found... There are many options for oil absorbing powders. However after much research I chose arrowroot powder.  Arrowroot powder is all natural, very gentle on your skin and is great at absorbing oils. It also has anti inflammatory properties and many beneficial minerals as well. (look up other uses for it, you will soon find it a favorite too!) Adding essential oils gives it a great scent and has the added bonus of health for your hair!

Super Simple DIY Dry Shampoo:

1. Put your arrow root powder in a glass jar with a tight lid. 
2. Optional: Add essential oils for hair health or experiment and use scents you love. Rosemary, lavender and cedarwood are great for hair growth and health. I generally use 3-6 drops for 1/4 cup of powder. 
3. For dark hair you can add cocoa powder.
4. Mix and cover tightly until ready to use.
5. Use a makeup brush to apply to the roots, let it sit for a couple minutes, then brush and style your hair! 

Seriously easy right?? Who needs chemicals?

Happy healthy hair in three easy steps. Who knew?

Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.

Girls on the bus, are you ready for this?

Like many beekeepers, our colony did not make it through winter. So this spring I ordered three new packages of bees. Mid April, they arrived in these new "buses". The plastic cages you see here. I was hoping they would be easier that the wooden ones but more on that later.

When the packages arrived, I was home with both the kids. The bees had already been in their bus for a week. I decided I could not wait for my husband to get home that night. It would end up being too late in the day. So I asked the kids to play nice and not scream or interrupt me so I could concentrate... lol.  Well, I think you know where this story is going.

The steps to install the bees into a hive from the new busses is slightly different from what I did previously. After watching the video of how the new busses work I was hoping for the best. I knew it would be a bit tricky with my recent surgery. My hands are both pretty weak.

First package, I was able to get my first queen cage out and put her in my pocket fairly easily.  I sprayed the bus with sugar water really good to wet the bees. It took a lot more work to open the end of the bus with my hive tool than it did with the old wooden cages. Finally I got it open and I dumped the bees into their new home. I instantly started to curse under my breath (and I do not curse). The new buses plastic cages really did not allow the sugar water to penetrate on to the bees. So when I dumped them into the hive, they did not stay there. They were flying everywhere. Then to add to my frustration, I realized I forgot to remove the cork from the queen cage and replace it with a marshmallow. This was suppose to be BEFORE I dumped the bees! Now not only did I have thousands of bees flying all over, I also had to somehow calmly but quickly get the queen in there with them.

Keep in mind, my kids are SCREAMING at eachother less than 50 feet away and I am trying my best to concentrate.

Frustrated, I was able to get the cork out and was covering the hole with my glove. I realized that my finger was not all the way over the hole. The gloves are longer than my finger. So I turned my wrist to pull the glove down a little. When I turned my wrist back to look at the queen and put in the marshmellow, she was gone. She had snuck past my gloved finger. I looked all over my arm and my body thinking maybe she was crawling on me. Nothing. What a great start.

I could not find her anywhere. I placed the cage in the hive and closed it up hoping she had flew in or would fly back. The kids were still fighting like rabid dogs in the background (ok, it was probably not that bad but really when you are trying to concentrate it seems like it). My heart sank. I still had two more packages to install. There was no one else who could do this, I needed to keep going.

I took a deep breath, said a quick prayer and started to work on my second package. The second and third went very smoothly. It was still hard to open the buses with the hive tool (aka small crowbar). The thickness of the plastic cages blocking the sugar water was still a problem. I sprayed a ton so they were flying less but still more than normal.

Most importantly, I decided to remove my gloves to work with the other two queens.  This allowed me to work with them more easily. I also stepped away from the hives about 20 feet while doing it. I did not have bees hovering around me. I took my time. I talked to each queen about her new home. I welcomed her. I found this little one on one time with the queen to be very peaceful and calming.

I was able to finish the last two hives with the queens (and most the bees) safely in their new homes. The kids were now playing peacefully in the backyard. With much hope for my girls (and my possibly AWOL queen) I went to the house to make dinner...

Stay tuned for more on happenings with the girls.
Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.

What is Bugging You? Lets look at a few simple and effective ways to get rid of bugs naturally and make a DIY Bug Spray with Essential Oils

Did you know many bugs are repelled by essential oils? (not honey bees however, they are attracted to scents). For example ants follow a scent trail. So when you see them marching across your kitchen counter grab your essential oils. Essential oils work great at erasing that trail and sending them packing! You can put essential oils on a cotton ball and place it in a drawer or corner or wipe the area with the cotton ball. You can also make a simple spray with water and essential oils. 

Here are some essential oils to use instead of reaching for those nasty chemicals: 

• cinnamon 
• peppermint
• clove
• tea tree 
• lemon or orange

Here are some other natural ant solutions:

• Sprinkle cinnamon in the area, they won't come back.
• Chalk, mark a line, they will not cross the line of chalk (but they may find a way around it).
• Sprinkle borax in the area they are in, they ingest it and it will (eventually) kill them, however it is toxic to ingest so should not be used around pets or children. (This one takes too long for me personally, I just do not have that kind of patience.)

Others bug problems? 

• Mosquitoes, slugs, spiders, fleas, flies, lice, roaches, beetles, ants and most bugs do not like peppermint.
• Wood ticks are repelled by lavender, lemongrass and thyme.
• Moths are repelled by patchouli.

Personal Bug Spray

You can also make your own all natural bug spray! Mix equal amounts of water and witch hazel in a 4 oz. bottle with 25-30 drops of essential oils. Some effective essential oils you can use are: Thyme, Citronella, Clove, Lemongrass, Rosemary, Tea Tree, Eucalyptus, Cedar, Lavender, Mint and Purification

I personally made a bug spray last year for our family. It worked great. The first time I used it I sprayed myself and had a wood tick run off my head right after I sprayed (I had been outside before hand and had forgotten to spray). Eww!!!

Here is the recipe I use:

DIY Bug Repellant 
2 ounces water
2 ounces witch hazel
5 drops Purification
5 drops Lemongrass
3 drops Tea Tree (Mel-A)
3 drops Peppermint
3 drops Thieves
3 drops Lavender
3 drops Lemon

Bug bites? 

Our favorite remedy for anything skin related is to use is lavender essential oil. Purification works great as well. We keep a roll on of lavender with us all the time for those occasional cuts, rashes or bug bites. It is an essential part of our first aid kit.

Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.

Sharing Kefir Grains

Fermented foods are so good for you. They are becoming more and more available in stores. However, like most things the ones you find in stores have lots of added ingredients (especially sugar). Fermenting at home allows you use quality ingredients and have only what you want in there.

One of the easiest ways to get started on fermenting your own foods is with milk kefir. Milk kefir grains multiply fast and are great to share with others when yours grow. Many times I have shared my kefir grains with family and friends. It is an easy and quick way to get started on fermenting foods yourself.  Kefir has way more probiotics than yogurt and a great deal of fiber as well. It is a nutritional powerhouse for your gut. Just google it and you will find a wealth of information!

So for those of you just starting out, here is a quick reference on how to take care of your kefir grains:

1. When you first get your grains you will want to put them into a glass jar. I use pint mason jars. But many people use the larger quart size, it just depends on how much kefir you want to make. You will put the grains in the jar with whole milk. Use milk that has NOT been ultra-pasteurized. The less processing the better. The amount of milk again depends on how much you want to make. I generally make 1.5-2 cups at a time. Then you will cover it lightly with a breathable cloth or coffee filter. I also like to add a little note as to when I placed it in the jar (day and time). Then let it sit on the counter for 24-48 hours depending on how thick and tart you want it. Longer time will make it thicker but also more tart. Have fun experimenting with what you prefer. The temperature in the room will also affect how fast it ferments. I generally try for about 36 hours but life happens so it does not always happen that way!


2. When you are ready, strain the kefir into a new jar. I like to use a spoon to mix the grains and kefir in my strainer to make them strain faster.

3. Put a lid on your jar of strained grains and place them in the fridge if you are not ready to use them immediately. Then take your grains, add them to a new clean jar with milk and start over. Super easy!!

Some helpful hints:

• If you forget them for a few days no worries. Just strain it and start over.
• If you are going on vacation or want to put your kefir on hold for awhile you can store them in the fridge. Just place the strained grains in a jar with fresh milk, cover them with a lid and put them in the fridge. They will need to be fed so you should re-strain them about every 2 weeks and add fresh milk.
• The grains are pretty resilient. Don't worry, they are hard to kill. But if you lose them, no worries it's easy to get more.
• If you are fermenting other foods or have compost in your kitchen make sure they are not close to each other.

I love to use my kefir to make smoothies. (That is my personal favorite.) Others people like to drink it straight and find they prefer it more tart. Kefir can also be substituted in any recipe for buttermilk.  I also use them to make pancakes! Have fun and enjoy the good health!

 Blessings!

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Treat your Feet with These Easy Recipes

Spring is coming! We have had some unseasonably nice weather here in Minnesota and people were wearing shorts and flip flops. This brought me to a startling realization....my feet were badly neglected. So I took action today to get them ready for the next warm up.

First up, the foot soak. This is a nice treat for sore aching feet. I used our epsom salts we keep in the bathroom and soaked in a nice warm foot bath while reading up on some bee books. If you do not have ready to go salts or need to know how to use up the last tiny drops in your bottles, you can check out my post here. For a simple recipe see below.

Essential Oils with Epsom Salt:

1. Find a large jar with a tight lid. You can make more than one jar if you wish to have salts for different uses. Such as a relaxing jar ( with oils like lavender, stress away, orange, etc) and one for sore muscles (with oils like peppermint and panaway).
2. If you have empty essential oil bottles you would like to use, remove the tops and place them in the bottom.
3. Fill most the way with epsom salts.
4. If you do not have empty bottles or want to add more. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil for each cup of salt to your preference.
5. Cover the jar tightly, gently shake to combine and allow to sit.
6. When you are ready to use your epsom salts, add 1/4-1/2 cup into your bath. (For a small foot bath a few tablespoons will work.) 

So gather your supplies, a towel and something to read.  Insert your feet and chill!

Once your feet are good and soaked, grab your scrub. This will moisturize and exfoliate your feet. Take about a tablespoon and rub it all over your feet. Paying special attention to the problem areas. Give yourself a nice foot massage while you are at it. You deserve it! (Bonus if you have someone who will do it for you!!)

When you are done you can rinse off in the foot bath before toweling off. Don't wash off the oil. That is supposed to be there! Let it soak in. You are mostly just rinsing off the sugar. Don't have a scrub? Here is an easy recipe:

Sugar Scrub:
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons of natural vegetable oil (such as olive, almond, grapeseed or sunflower)
1-3 drops of essential oil (for this recipe I used lemon essential oil)

Mix the above ingredients and put into a glass jar. Store in a dark area.

Once your feet are rinsed and dry it's time to pamper them with the best love- the magic healing lotion bar! You can find out how to to make make one here.

Now don't you feel fabulous?

Have a great day.
Blessings!!

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Everything is better with glitter! Lip balm with attitude

My daughter always asks for those flavored lip balms. You know the ones, marketed for kids. The ingredients list always makes me cringe. So over the years I've made her some lip balms and she accepted them-reluctantly. However she still wanted those "cool" ones. So recently we made tinted balm with sparkle and she is head over heels!!

Here is the recipe we created:

You will need:
6-7 lip balm tubes
1/2 tablespoon beeswax
1 tablespoon Shea butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 capsules or 1/2 tsp vitamin E oil
1 teaspoon mica powder- approximately
10-15 drops essential oils of your choice (like lavender, or lavender and peppermint)

First melt your beeswax, coconut oil and butter in a double boiler.

Once melted remove from heat and add vitamin E, mica powder and essential oils. Stir the mica powder in really well! It does sink to the bottom. 

Gather your lip balm tubes with a rubber band for ease of filling. Slowly pour the balm into your tubes. Let it cool completely before capping.

Add cute labels or use decorative tape.

This is seriously so much fun. There are so many natural color combinations and essential oils you can choose from. If you try it out, let me know what you make. I hope you have fun with it!

Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.