WE'LL HAVE A COUPLE NEW BATCHES OF SOAP AT THE RIVERWALK THIS SATURDAY!

While I was thinking about all of the kids that love to visit my table at the riverwalk I decided it would be fun to make some soaps that are very kid specific and this was my first of several to come. A real rubber ducky for kids to have in the bath. When the soap runs out the ducky will still be there to play with. 

The following batch smells super yummy. It's made with orange essential oil and colored with orange mica. It's smells so uplifting and the extra bonus is there's a luffa inside to help exfoliate the skin when washing. 

Both of these soaps will be at the riverwalk this Saturday. 

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OUR FIRST GARDEN PARTY

My daughter and I have been wanting to have a potluck garden party for years but it's complicated since our entire backyard is forest and native plants with our man made trails going through. It's filled with pollinators, stinging and biting insects; all things we choose to attract with native plants but don't coexist in close proximity to people and our food very well. This year, since it's the 3rd year of the drought, we aren't getting the abundant wasp population we normally have because the Joe pye weed and goldenrod are a bit behind the blooming schedule so we had a chance to carve out a spot for a party. We removed a bunch of mint and chives to locate elsewhere and then cleared the ground for tables. Our little party was nestled in among the plants and everything went great. We didn't see a single mosquito, YAY, and only a few insects appeared to sniff at the food. 

We had a lot of crafting with friends. We're so grateful for wonderful people to spend time with creating in the beautiful outdoors. 

Painting by Maya Valadez

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OUCH! ACUPUNCTURE

For years I've had people tell me I should try acupuncture but I have a severe needle phobia so I've avoided it. I don't care how tiny the needle is, it's still a needle and just knowing it's being stuck into my skin is enough to make me sweat and worry. 

A few months ago I finally broke down and went for my first treatment. I had such severe anxiety at the time and nothing was helping with the reflux, insomnia, and adrenaline rushes that I thought acupuncture couldn't hurt. I first tried a place in Burnsville. I was amazed at my first session because I didn't feel the needles at all and the rush of energy I felt flowing through my body made me euphoric. I knew right away that I was hooked. My new doctor recently had me try a new acupuncturist in Roseville, one with more knowledge and experience with Chinese medicine, and I'm so glad I switched over to her because she's truly a master at what she does. 

Every time I get a treatment I walk out feeling 100x better than when I went in. I still fear the needles and I cringe every time I have to lay down on the table and be poked but I love the outcome so much I just don't care. I feel the needles more now which is a good sign according to the acupuncturist. My favorite part of each session is feeling the energy flow through my entire body. I use to only feel energy in my hands but now I sense it from my head to my toes. It's calming and healing for sure. 

If you've ever tried acupuncture I'd love to read about your experience. 

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MET WITH A NUTRITIONIST

My new doctor has a group of people that are part of her healthcare team and so far everyone she has sent me off to see I've been impressed with. My most recent appointment was with a nutritionist. She went over my medical record before meeting with me so she had plans for me the moment we sat down to speak to each other. 

First priority is to find foods I can tolerate and gain weight so she had me experiment with cassava flour today. I've had cassava before in the form of pasta but hadn't eaten it since getting sick again back in December and never worked with the flour. I cooked up two tortillas, added some almond butter and blueberry jam (100% pure fruit) and ate both. It was a nice change from eating the same foods over and over for months. I hope my body handles it well. 

Normally not handling well means becomes abdominal pain, bloating, loose stools, and horrific reflux. Fingers crossed for a good outcome. 

For anyone interested in a gluten free no grain flour alternative, the recipe on the bag is:

3/4 casava flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 Tbs olive oil

1/3 cup warm water.

Mix together well and then make six balls. If the consistency is a little dry just add a tiny bit more water. Roll out the balls in between two sheets of parchment paper and place on non stick square griddle pan on medium heat and wait for bubbles to form on each side like you do with a regular flour tortilla. 

The cassava tortilla is close in taste to a flour tortilla but a little more doughy tasting. 

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LAWN BE GONE!

 In 2020 we removed a large portion of our front lawn and today we have just about 1/4 left to remove before it's all gone. We filled the empty space in with 90% native plants and have been very pleased with how it turned out. 

We aren't strangers to replacing non natives with natives. When we moved into our home nearly 16 years ago our entire backyard was buckthorn. It was an extension of the forest into Alimagnet park. Our first year we hired a company to remove all the buckthorn then after that we had to deal with flooding all the time so we had the yard regraded. After the regrading we bought a large sack of native wildflower seeds and spread them all over the backside of the house and within a year we started to see native grasses, goldenrod, Joe pie weed, daisies... Today we have so many natives growing back there I've lost count. The amount of wildlife that loves to be in our yard is what makes me the most happy. Frogs, toads, turtles, fox, rabbits, deer, snakes, wasps, hornets, bumblebees, hummingbirds, butterflies... We now see so many insects that we'd never seen before planting natives. We also stopped raking up our leaves in the fall and that has caused a boom in the firefly population around us. It's truly incredible and very special. 

Some people are surprised to learn that the adults of most firefly species are in fact pollinators. 

 

The honeybee isn't a native pollinator but it's a pollinator none the less.

Beautiful Monarch butterfly.

The bumblebee has some pollen on her legs.

When we removed a portion of our lawn in 2020. We did this on both sides of our driveway.

These are the plants we put in to replace the lawn. We have mountain mint, butterfly weed, bergamot, boneset, pearly everlasting... and many more.

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THE NEW WEBSITE IS ALMOST READY

I have a new website! It's not quite ready yet. I expect to be done with it around July 9th since I'll be finished tweaking it sooner than I thought. I originally planned for maybe the first of August but things are coming together quickly so I'll announce when I have all the soaps uploaded to the site so people can check it out. For now I'll have bath bombs, cold processed soap, and knitted wash cloths. In autumn expect to see more fun things. 🙂

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HAD FUN PICKING LAVENDER

Our family has wanted to visit a lavender farm for years but we've been unable to make a trip out to Washington state where they have the nations most beautiful lavender farms. We found one place in Wisconsin that grows lavender and allows visits but it is a five hour drive there, a ferry ride to an island, then a five hour drive back and I like to bring my granddog everywhere with us and they aren't dog friendly 😭 

This year while checking out Instagram I came across a post by a farmer just 10 miles from my house. She has a new lavender farm called Lavender Barnyard so I quickly signed us all up for some lavender picking and we headed over there. She's in the early stages of developing her business but she still had a good variety of lavenders to pick from and she has a great little gift shop. The owner is super nice and she shared her plans for expanding in the future, which we really look forward to because we'd like to make multiple visits each year. Following are some of the pictures we took from our first visit. 

We currently have the lavender hang drying in the living room and the whole area smells amazing!!

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