Fruit roll-ups...

I finally got around to making fruit roll-ups! My family and I are so excited about this it's ridiculous. I mean ridiculous that we are so excited about these fruit leathers. AND it was so easy that I am kicking myself for not jumping in before now. AND they are so good, I'll probably have to make more by the end of the week I am that sure that they won't last.

Here's what I did to make Strawberry-Orange fruit leather/roll-ups...and I did double this recipe for all the Monkeys in this house LOVE fruit leather.
3 cups of Organic Strawberries
2 Tbsp Homegrown Orange juice
2 Tbsp Local Honey
Blend in a blender until smoothie-like and pour onto a prepared cookie sheet. I prepared my sheet using parchment paper. Put in 180ºF oven for 5-6 hours.  When they are dehydrated, take from the oven and cut into strips and roll up.

The house smells divine during those 5-6 hours and it is so hard to stop looking into the oven to see your work. Next time I make these I'm definitely getting creative with fruit flavors. The sky is the limit!

Have fun creating and enjoy!!

Poured our and in the oven!

Dehydrated!

Cut into strips and start rolling!

All rolled out, these will be devoured by the middle of the week!

Chicks...

Friends of ours are diving into chicken keeping and invited us over to see their new little babies. Rebekah is an animal lover so we went over for a bit to see them play with them and hang out with them. They are so cute when they are small. We haven't had baby chicks for a year, they grow so fast that you forget how little they are.

Biztown...

Noah, our 10-year-old, went to Biztown with his class this week and I volunteered as a chaperone. It was such a great experience last year that he wanted to go again this year, and it didn't disappoint! He worked at the San Diego Humane Society where he was an educator for anyone who wanted information about adopting animals. They had rabbits, guinea pigs, cats and dogs for adoption. The kids were given a salary for their work in their businesses. They were given two breaks during their work day, and during those breaks they were able to go shopping, to the bank or go eat at Jack-in-the-Box where they could buy real popcorn to eat!

I was a volunteer at Kaiser Permanente and I helped the kids with the various jobs that they had. There was a receptionist, some nutritionists and some doctors. They had to check patients in and send them to the nutritionist who then sent them to the doctor if they were sick. The business, Kaiser Permanente, needed to pay their employees and pay their bills and pay the loan back. So one of the CEO jobs was to make sure they were on track with their finances. So the kids were able to see most aspects of running a business with this experience. Everyone had a great time and everyone was exhausted afterwards.

More on Biztown here: https://www.jasandiego.org/programs/ja-biztown.html

Rebekah sews...

Rebekah (7yo) decided that she wanted to enter a sewing project into the San Diego county fair. She wanted to make a bag. We did an online search with images and found a cute messenger bag on this website: http://crazylittleprojects.com/2015/06/reversible-messenger-bag.html  We went through my fabric and found two pieces of fabric that would accommodate the pattern that we created. She took charge of the project and knew exactly what she wanted, how big it would be...etc. we made our own pattern with a piece of paper.

Here she is cutting the pattern with fabric pinned on the back.

Pinning the fabric together, getting it ready to sew.

Sewing on the machine. She is so proud of herself!

All finished! Clipping the random strings.

All finished! A miniature messenger bag made just for her.

She entered this bag into the San Diego County Fair, so if if you are at the fair, stop by the Creative Youth area and look for her bag!

Drying herbs...

I clipped bunches of basil today and now we have it going in the dehydrator. My kitchen herb garden has been doing well this year. I have had parsley, 2 kinds of basil, lemon balm, and chives growing in it for at least one year. This year I added thyme and oregano and planted a few beets and carrots. The carrots never sprouted and I have five beets growing. Better than nothing!

Snake season...

Snake season has arrived early this year! We have been having lots of HOT weather and not enough rain (which is very bad for San Diego) so that means that snakes are out in full force.

This snake was slithering around on our property and it's the only kind of snake I've seen on our property (thank goodness). Actually, Noah was getting out of the car and almost stepped on it! He was none too pleased to say the least!

According to this site this snake is a Pacific Gopher Snake (or locally called a San Diego Gopher Snake) and is not poisonous but it will bite/attack. We have lots of gophers so he is welcome to stay as long as he wants! He does sound a bit like a rattlesnake when he feels threatened but he's just a wannabe. Since we do live on a larger property than we did when we lived in the city, we are always aware of our surroundings and keeping our ears alert.

He was not very happy with my picture taking so I backed off and let him be...probably better for both of us in the long run! Go eat gophers big snake!

Thanks for stopping by!

Farm trip...

Hannah and I went to a local farm over the weekend and it was rejuvenating to be there. There are a lot of projects that we want to do on our little suburban homestead and it's hard not to get caught up with what is not done yet. So going to the farm was a nice breath of fresh air for me.

We went to Suzie's Farm in South San Diego, what a great place! I had been with the kids for a picking tour about 5-6 years ago but since then the farm has changed quite a bit, they've developed it a little bit at a time, added fields form planting and it is wonderful.

We went with a small group of Girl Scouts, the field trip title was "Imagine You Are a Backyard Farmer". We got to tour the greenhouses and see their setup for their seed trays and sprouts. We saw the warehouse building where they have aquaponics set up and we were not allowed inside so we looked from afar (they didn't want their secrets revealed!). We took samples of some sunflower sprouts (delicious!) and then emptied the tray into the compost piles. They test for listeria and other bacterias pretty regularly so we didn't want to put our sample tray (about a 1/4 tray full) back into the greenhouse. This was a "no photo zone" so I only have pictures in my mind. After the tour we went to the picnic tables and the girls made strawberry bruschetta and strawberry salsa.

Then we walked the fields. Wow what an experience. There were lots of chickens in a fenced off space for eggs for them to sell, I think maybe 150 hens with another 150 chicks in a separate space. The rows of veggies are long and beautiful. Lots of weeds within the rows, it makes me believe that they are needed for attracting good bugs and bees (this is an organic farm) and for adding nutrients to the soil. We walked and picked beets, carrots, herbs and a few greens (kale and a few others) and strawberries. The berries are enormous and delicious and organic. Lots of berries.

This is a wild radish. I found a seed pod on the plant and am going to try to plant them here on my homestead.

Hannah and her friend walking across the field to see the chickens.

The chicken coop, there were 4 of these.

After picking carrots, they went a little wild with carrot picking.

A little swing fun.

So you should go to Suzie's Farm if you live in the San Diego area. It's a great place, we had a blast. Right now they are busy with strawberry pickings on Tuesdays and Saturdays and in May they host an event called Strawberry Jam. Oh and they host a CSA box. You should check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Etsy shop...

Did you know that I have an Etsy shop? I'm just starting out but I have some of my reusable bags listed there. If you didn't know about it go check it out and add it to your favorites! I have so many ideas for the shop that my name doesn't really match everything. I need some ideas for a new shop name, can you help me out? Right now it's SoReusable but when I opened the shop I just had my bags to sell.

I'm still building the shop and my plan is to add other products to my shop like lip balms (like those that I posted yesterday), soothing salves and other balms for various needs (baby rash, itchy skin...). I also have diffuser necklaces to use with Essential Oils, Essential Oil travel bags/cases and eye pillows for relaxing. And I may even decide to sell some of the home made items that I can like my jams, jellies and pickles. The ideas are a-plenty!

So, if you have any creative Etsy shop names that I could use, send them my way! I'd really appreciate it! I can only change the name once, so I need a little help...and I know there are some creative people who are great with words out there!

Thanks for stopping by...and thank you for your help!
Jen

Lip balm

I decided to make a lip balm the other day. I have been thinking about doing it for so long and I finally did it today and don't know why it has taken me so long to take the plunge! It was so easy and it took maybe 10 minutes of my day. And the result? Four lip balms tubs and one tube. I'm totally doing it again!

The recipe:

6-7 Tbsp Jojoba Oil (I used Trader Joes, but you can buy it here)

2 tsp Beeswax (buy it here)

1 tsp honey (raw is fine, but you do heat it up)

5-6 drops of Wild Orange Essential Oil (buy it here or I can help you get it at a 25% discount!)

You also need:

A wooden stir stick (I used a kabob stick)

Some containers (here are some, I used these and could have filled 5-6 of them)

Here's how I did it. I mixed the Jojoba oil, honey and beeswax in a "double boiler". It was a glass measuring cup with all the ingredients in it in a small sauce pan with boiling water. Once the ingredients were melted and mixed together I added the Wild Orange oil, mixed together and poured it into my little containers. I actually cleaned out one of Noah's lip balm tubes and re-filled it!

 

Here is the oil, honey and beeswax with my kabob stick as a stirrer. The honey wasn't easy to melt so I mixed it up quite a bit.

All melted and ready to pour.

And poured! I used a little drip on the stir stick I was using and man does it taste delicious! My kids are in love with this lip balm! Let me know if you try it, or if you need some of this delicious Wild Orange Essential Oil (really, the best!) I can hook you up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Volunteer growth...

I went out to the garden yesterday and found a cute little sprout. I am pretty sure it's a volunteer pumpkin - a giant pumpkin - since it is growing right where I had pumpkins 2 years ago! I suppose I need to re-think that garden box plan and leave it there. It may get huge!

I also have a huge tomato vine growing in another box, I planted it last August hoping I would get more tomatoes but it hasn't taken off until now. Now it is full of little flowers that are getting fat with fruit. I am so excited about tomatoes, I love growing them! Rebekah eats them right off the vine...red or green, she doesn't care. So I grow a lot of tomatoes every year and make tomato sauce, salsa and put them in salads for most of the year. mmmm...

Thanks for stopping in!

Lundy Sweet Lundy...

Every year my family has taken a summer camping trip to Lundy Lake Resort in the Eastern Sierras. I have probably been going since the late 1970's...phew! Long time! But we still go and it is so beautiful every time that I thought I'd share pics from our trip last summer.

Here's a caterpillar who will be a swallowtail butterfly. We were thrilled to spot it, but then couldn't find it again.

Here we are fishing on the famous Lundy Lake.

The girls hanging out in the hammock...a very popular spot to play, hang out and just relax.

The crew...

Rebekah and Bella (she loves Bella)

We walked to the Tufa with all the kids this year. We have to do it every few years because it's beautiful!

We visited Travertine Hot Springs outside of Bridgeport, CA. What a fun treat for everyone.

We took a ferry boat across Saddlebag Lake and went on a beautiful hike. This was our lunch spot. After this hour of rest and lunch it hailed ferociously on us, we got drenched and cold. But it was a hike we will never forget!

Ben with Bella at lunch.

And my kids cooking up some breakfast at camp. They love camping!

Thanks for stopping in!

Edible weeds...

We have lots of weeds on our property and many of them are edible, some are not. We have not identified all of them all but we are in the process of it!

We have dandelion pictured below. It's the leaves that are long and jagged. The leaves are good in salads and they are chock full of nutrients. It is a diuretic and is a stimulant to the system, in particular the urinary organs and most use it for kidney and liver disorders. Many decoctions or teas are used in combination with other herbs to help these ailments.

We have sour grass (below picture). I used to eat this when I was a kid. My kids sure like it now. I find bits and piles of it all over the house.

We have nettle (below). This grows in certain areas of the garden not everywhere. I am sure it has to do with the soil composition and shade availability. This is an awesome 'weed' to have or use in cooking. It is a powerful herb to fight allergies and it can be used to help when you touch it and get all itchy. Just put some of the leaves in your mouth, chew and spit the whole glob on the itchy-ness and it should go away.

This one looks like wild chamomile (below), but I really have no idea what it is. It grows low to the ground and has little white flowers. I'm not sure if that's what it is but it sure looks like it!

This one is NOT edible and is considered a deadly weed. It is called Nightshade (below picture) and is of the tomato family. When it grows larger it has black berries that kind of look yummy but beware, even though some websites say that it's edible and others say that it's not, we will stay away from this plant. We are cautious.

We have little mallow. Many people add this to their salads or use it as greens for soups. We have not ventured that far in our culinary travels.

We have horehound (below 2 pics). I am pretty sure this is the one that is edible but we are waiting to view the flowers. If the flowers are white then it's safe but if the flowers are pink/purple we are pulling it up! It is better to be safe than sorry!

These are only a few of the edible (& some non-edibls) weeds that we have, there are so many more out there! What do you have in your backyard? Have you been adventurous and eaten them? I think it's kind of important to know what you can and can't eat...especially with kids!

Here are a few books available to read more about foraging! Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt to Plate, The Wild Wisdom of Weeds..., Backyard Foraging: 65..., and Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants. 

Thanks for stopping in!