I think almonds are my favorite nut, but I won’t refuse a handful of cashew, pistachios or macadamia nuts.  Pecans and walnuts make it into many of my meals too.  Almonds though, are my savior.  I always have some in my bag for work.  They are quick and easy energy for those times I can’t get to my lunch in a timely manner. I also love the yummy milk they make.  It’s my milk of choice, for my cereal, smoothies, tea and baking recipes.

I recently read this great post about making your own almond milk.  I had no idea it was so easy.  Very cost effective and more nutritious as well (no weird additives).  Novel Eats has a great break down of cost too.

I only used a half cup of almonds, just to try it out.  It made about 3 1/2 cups of milk.  After straining you are left with the almond meal, which I didn’t want to waste.  So, I decided that it would make a great face scrub.  You can use it on its own by putting a small amount in your hand plain or with a couple of drops of honey and add a bit of water.  Make a paste and scrub up your pretty face.

I made my own yummy smelling scrub instead. Here’s my recipe (modified from Family Herbal):

1/4 cup almond meal (from the almond milk making process or you can use dry by grinding up some raw almonds in a food processor)
1 tablespoon white kaolin clay
1 tablespoon oatmeal
1 heaping teaspoon  dried lavender
1 heaping teaspoon crushed dry rose petals
1/2 tsp poppy seeds

Combine oats, lavender and rose petals in a food processor or coffee grinder and grind up to a fine/course consistency.  Mix with almond meal, poppy seeds and clay until thoroughly combined.  Keep in an airtight  container in your fridge. If using all dry ingredients, refrigeration is not necessary. Use a small amount and add a bit of water to make a paste.  Add a few drops of honey for added moisturizing benefits.

This scrub smells heavenly!  I’ve been using it everyday for the last 4 days and my skins feels soft and nurished.  I will definitely be making more of this.

herbal vinegar, for use as hair rinse and facial astringent

I’ve been making my own shampoo, herbal vinegars and face scrubs.  I feel a little bit like I am making potions. A little Felix Felicis or Pollyjuice potion would be fun to make too, if only I could get the recipes (and a little magic).   Anyway, I’ve had a little bit of help with the basics of natural home and body potions with the following wonderful books.

1. Rosemary Gladstar’s Family Herbal: A guide to living life with energy, health and vitality.  This one is my favorite of the group.  It is truly a classic and Rosemary Gladstar is the mother of herbal body care. I love to just thumb through and read about all of the healthy and natural things you can make and do.

2. Earthly Bodies and Heavenly Hair by Dina Falconi.  This one is a nice compliment to the Family Herbal.

3. Make Your Place, affordable, sustainable nesting skills by Raleigh Briggs.  a completely wonderful and delightful little book with A LOT of good info on health & first aid,  non-toxic cleaning, body care and  gardening.

4. Clean Body: the humble art of zen-cleansing yourself by Michael Dejong. Learn all of the magical wonders of lemon, baking soda, salt and white vinegar.  It is all categorized by body part, which I think is pretty cool!  I won this one from Jessica at Green Mamma and I love it.  Thanks Jessica!!

This is what’s in my potions cabinet.  I have slowly adding to my collection of essential oils and herbs. I keep everything in a little basket so I can pull everything out when I need it.  Someday I’d love to get little apothecary jars for everything.

Also, I actually used this shampoo recipe (with chamomile and lavender) for me & the boys.  I love it so far. Next I am going to try to make lotion!!

Check out our sweet pototo that we have been growing.  He started budding in our pantry in early June and we popped hime into this cool little thrifted vase and he just took off.

We have never been successful at growing a potato.  S0 we are delighted that this one thrived. He was quite thirsty too.  Needed water almost daily–maybe because of our warm climate. We waited a little too long to get him in a pot.  The roots are crazy thick, started taking the shape of the vase.

While we were potting Mr Potato Plant, I decide to get some of my other new plants in pots as well.  A few of them are in biodegradable bamboo pots.  Kind of anxious/excited to see how those work out for us.

Now, does anyone know what will happen next. Will my potato plant give me a new potato?

Hi,

I’m back from an unexpected little blogging break.  My mom was here last week and we spent some good quality time together with the kids.  I even pulled Super-E out of school one day so we could all have a little fun together.

We had a wonderful time and even did a little planting and terrarium making.  I have been really wanting to incorporate more plants into my home.  I had 5 plants, but dreamt of a magical, lush, green home environment. Plus, they are so good for your health! Unfortunately my cat loves to eat plants, which is one of the reasons I had so few.

Terrariums seem to be the perfect solution for a plant-eating, leaf-puking cat.  After getting THIS great book, I was inspired to start some terrariums of my own.  A little trip to the nursery and to the thrift store for cheap glass containers and we were in business.

I also replanted a few of my house plants into bigger pots and added some chocolate mint and a fern to my home collection. The mini cactus and succulents caught my eye as well. I have been swooning over this amazing succulent collection and I especially like this herb/succulent combo.

Maybe eventually, I can hang some plants from the ceiling to prevent that cat problem.