Shredded Paper in the Garden
I frequently use newspaper to smother weeds and grass when making a new garden area. I notice that the earth worms LOVE it when I do thes, I always find tons of them under the paper. Even though I was comfortable using newspaper in the garden, I used to be really leery of using regular shredded paper in my compost because of the chemicals used in it. Then I decided I’d rather use it here than send it away to be recycled.
Now I use most of my shredded paper in the compost or in the garden as mulch. I still don’t use heavily colored or shiny printed paper, but just about everything else that can gets recycled into my own garden. I figure if I buy straw to use in the garden it most likely contains more chemicals than my shredded paper since I know it wasn’t grown organically.
How do you feel about using shredded paper in the garden?
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Make Your Own: Toothpaste
For the past couple years Mr Chiots and I have been trying to get rid of any products that contain harmful chemicals especially when it comes to personal care products. We were using some all natural toothpaste for a while, but it still contained fluoride. I won’t go into the details of why we try to avoid fluoride and sodium laurel sulfate here today, you can google it and find all kinds of information. The toothpaste brand we were buying was also bought out by a large corporation so that helped prompt our decision to make some toothpaste at home. Making toothpaste is quite easy, you can make it in powder form with things you probably already have at home. If you want it to have a sweeter taste and paste like texture like store bought then you’ll have to buy some vegetable glycerin.
I used a recipe that I found over at Mountain Rose Herbs which is where I bought the vegetable glycerin that I used for the batch I made. They have a bunch of recipes on their website. This is the one I used:
Citrus Mint Toothpaste
ΒΌ cup baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons vegetable glycerin
10 drops peppermint essential oil
10 drops orange essential oil (I used lemon)
5 drops eucalyptus essential oil
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly in a small bowl. Store in a small, tightly covered container. To use, scoop a small amount out onto your toothpaste and brush. Beware, you’ll think you add to add more glycerin when you first mix this up, but resist the urge. If you do it will be too runny after it sits.
We actually were very impressed with this toothpaste and we really like it, we’ve been using it for about a month and a half now. It leaves your teeth felling fresh and clean, much cleaner than with regular toothpaste. The flavor and consistency are not like store bought toothpaste and it doesn’t foam since there are no added foaming agents (which is what we were trying to avoid). I think I’m going to try to make some tooth powder with myrrh next. We’ll be making homemade toothpaste from now on since we like it and it’s very inexpensive, this batch above cost me only about .50 to make, which is a great price for fluoride SLS free toothpaste!
Have you ever made your own toothpaste?
If you’re going to buy a few ingredients at Mountain Rose Herbs I’d appreciate a click through the link to the right as they give me a small portion of what you buy.
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Saving Tomato Seeds
I’ve been saving tomato seeds for a few of my favorite varieties including: ‘Principe Borghese’, ‘White Beauty’, ‘Brandywine’ and ‘Goldman’s Italian American’ tomatoes. Saving tomato seeds is an easy process, if you have a favorite heirloom variety you should give it a try to preserve it.
The most important part is choosing a few of your best tomatoes. Obviously these tomatoes have had great germination and have good genes to pass on. Ideally you’d want to choose a few nice ones from different plants (of the same variety of course), but don’t worry if you only planted one plant, the seeds will still be OK. I only have on ‘Brandywine’ plant and I save seed from it every year.
All you need to do to save tomato seeds is to scoop out the seeds and gel and put them into a jar. Add some water and let them sit until a scum/mold forms on the top of the jar. This process ferments the seeds and helps remove them from the gel, I’m guessing it also helps kill bacteria and disease. All the seeds will sink to the bottom when they’re ready to rinse. Generally I let mine sit for a week or two.
You’ll want to skim off the scum/mold, then pour the contents of the jar into a colander and rinse them to get rid of all the gel and any scum. Next you’ll want to spread the seeds on a towel to dry (I prefer a cloth towel as I find the seeds don’t stick as much as they do on a paper towel). When they’re good and dry, put them in a small envelope and label, they’ll be ready to sprout next spring. Make sure you keep them labeled throughout the process as you don’t want to mix them up! Label the jar, label the towel you’re drying them on, and label the envelope, believe me you won’t remember – I know from experience!
Not only is saving your own seeds a great way to keep you favorite tomatoes around, but it’s also a great way to save some money on seeds and have some from trading with friends. You can also give them away to encourage others to garden and grow some of their own food. I’ll be giving away some of mine in a few weeks when I have them all saved.
Do you save your own tomato seeds?
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Quote of the Day: Proverb
“Bloom where you’re planted”
~ Proverb
This alyssum was a volunteer that grew up in a crack in our driveway. It’s the most beautiful alyssum, it’s bloomed prolifically all summer long and it looks much nicer than the ones I started from seed and planted in the flowerbeds. I must try to save some seed from this hardy little plant, I think it had great genes.
Are you ever amazed by the hardiness of some plants?
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Catching the Moment
I almost always have my camera by my side, even when I’m working inside. You just never know at what moment you’ll want to capture. Luckily last week, I had my camera so I was able to catch Little Softie looking at Dexter through the back door. They pawed at each other a bit and Dexter was chirping away at Little Softie. I imagined her saying, “Dad?”
My photos are almost like a photo diary of my life, hardly a day goes by where I don’t take at least 15-20 photos. My life is well documented through the lens of my little camera. I must thank all of you who read as this blog is the reason I started taking lots of photos, I appreciate all of you who stop by every day to check out what I’m snapping photos of and talking about!
Do you keep a diary or journal? Are you in the habit of carrying a camera around to capture the moments?
