Quote of the Day: Mark Twain
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
In the last couple years I’ve been trying to really live by this motto; trying to not waste my time on things that I’ll regret, in order to have time for that which I want to do. When we were talking about heading to the Dry Tortugas National Park we were discussing which way we wanted to head out and finally settled on taking a sea plane (mostly because I get horribly seasick and thought this might be the best option in order to enjoy the trip).
We’re so glad we chose this option, it was a little more expensive than taking the ferry, but it was 4 hours shorter and it was a blast. If you ever decide to head down to Dry Tortugas National Park I cannot recommend Key West Seaplane Adventures more, they were fantastic!
What things do you wish you had more time to do?
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Making Infused Vinegar for Non-Toxic Cleaning
The Non-Toxic cleaning series will be coming up soon. I’ve been taking photos of my cleaning products, writing down the recipes I use and researching answers to some of the questions that were asked in the Q & A Post (there’s still time to get questions in). Until that happens, I have a quick project for you that you can use in some of the recipes that will appear during the series.
Making infused vinegar is so simple and easy you won’t believe it. Simply add citrus peels to a jar or your bottle of vinegar. Yep, that’s it. I know so easy. For the photos I used a quart jar, but you can simply add the peels to your gallon jug of vinegar if you want to.
I’m guessing lavender, mint, or other herbs would work just well, perhaps roses would too. I’m not much of one for floral scents so I’ve never tried that. I stick to grapefruit since I buy them by the case this time of year and have grapefruit peels coming out of my ears.
You won’t believe how the vinegar smell simple disappears. This is perfect for those of you that want to use vinegar to clean but don’t like the smell of plain vinegar (my sister being among that group). This would even make a great febreeze alternative. Did you know that vinegar will mitigate odors? Mix this 50/50 with some water and spray on and around furniture to keep them smelling fresh & clean.
What scent would you like best for cleaning? Are you a floral or a fruity kind of person when it comes to cleaning products?
NON-TOXIC CLEANING SERIES
Stocking Your Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit
Learning to Love Castile Soap
Make Your Own: Foaming Soap
Make Your Own: Infused Vinegar
Make Your Own: Multi-Purpose Cleaner
Make Your Own: Color Safe Oxygen Bleach
Friday Favorite: Charlie’s Soap
Friday Favorite: Twist Sponges
and more to come
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On the Road Again
Remember when I mentioned a month or so ago that Mr Chiots and I were headed to Florida to film a few events? Well, these past two weeks we were on the road again. Driving down to Florida, stopping for three days in Orlando to film the Disney Princess Half Marathon for Girl Power 2 Cure. My college girlfriend works for the charity and has a daughter with Rett Sydrome and we like to help when we can. Then we had a few days off and headed down to Key West, where we went to Dry Tortugas National Park and enjoyed some relaxing camping in our tiny teardrop by the the ocean. Then we were off to Naples for another event and made sure to stop at the botanical gardens of course. Then on to Tampa and Georgia to visit family and a few friends along the way.
Originally we were hoping to take a few more days for a bit of a vacation, but we have a tripped planned to Maine again in April/May to look at houses, so our vacation days will be spent doing that. In the coming weeks I’ll be sure to share the wonderful things we experienced as I have time to sort through the photos.
Do you have any trips planned for this year?
For everyone that’s wondering how we manage to eat healthfully while we’re out on the road – there’s a post all about it over on Eat Outside the Bag.
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Potatoes?
I always save some space to grow new varieties of vegetables in my garden. Since I’ve only been growing edibles for 4-5 years, I haven’t honed in on the varieties that I love yet, at least not in every area. When it comes to potatoes – I have learned that I LOVE Kennebecs. They grow well for me, the texture is great, and they store beautifully. I’m looking for another variety to grow this year and I’ve been debating between Katahdin & German Butterball as part of my main crop potatoes. I don’t like a mealy potato, so I’m wondering if I’ll like the Katahdin.
The ‘Butte’ potatoes I grew as a late harvest crop are doing wonderfully and are still going strong in the cellar, but I don’t love the texture of them so they got knocked off the list. Way too mealy and the skins are too tough (at least for my tastes). It might be a good mashing potato, but it’s not great fried – which is how we eat the majority of our potatoes.
I stumbled upon a new source for seed potatoes – the Maine Potato Lady and added her to my seed potato source list. Thought you might like to check our her website, she specializes in potatoes, shallots, onions, and garlic.
Have you had any experience with either of these or another variety of potato you think I should try?
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Friday Favorite: Camping
Mr Chiots and I are campers. Until this past summer we were tent campers until this past summer when we built our tiny teardrop trailer. Our tent won’t be going into the garage sale pile, we still enjoy tent camping and can see a place for it in our travels. While the convenience of the tiny camper is wonderful, you can’t hear the birds or the breeze as much as you can in a tent and that’s one of the things we love about camping, being surrounded by nature!
I think the reason I love camping so much is because of the simplicity of it. Since our lives are so filled with technology all the time for our jobs, we love the unplugging that comes with camping. When you stay in a hotel there’s not much to do, so you find yourself on the internet or watching TV. When you’re camping you find yourself sitting around a fire enjoying a cup of tea. You get the watch the sunrise while you drink your morning coffee and cook breakfast. There’s really nothing quite like it in my book!
Are you a camper or do you prefer less rustic vacation accommodations?
