Organic Body Care

Aahh, yes. I now smell a little like patchouli, which as I've said, is a wonderful aroma to me. Not everyone likes it, but maybe my enjoyment of patchouli  makes it easier to assume the mantle of hippiedom. Above is my nearly complete body care regimen, made from herbs, oils, vinegar, nuts and seeds. Tree-hugger enough for ya? I've got lavender cleansing cream, oatmeal-almond-sunflower seed-peppermint-rosemary face scrub, and lavender facial toner and body mist. I've got chamomile basil shampoo and peppermint rosemary vinegar rinse (for dry, itchy scalp). And finally, I've got calendula and rose body lotion with patchouli. I'm in heaven.

Next up, I need to make deodorant, and I'd like to dabble in first aid remedies, including ointments. There's a diaper rash in the house that's hanging around rather unpleasantly.

If anyone cares, I had to give up the baking soda and plain vinegar rinse for my hair regimen. Not only was I not very happy with the results, but I also realized I like my hair to smell good. It does now. Once a week I'm using a lavender and almond oil treatment that leaves a wonderful aroma for a couple of days, and the shampoo and vinegar combo also leaves a clean, herbal scent. My hair feels clean and soft, which it did not with the baking soda. And, I can use the gentle shampoo every day if I need to, which I also was not able to do with the baking soda. I might need to add a light conditioner as my hair gets longer to help tame flyaways, but right now I just rub my recently patchouli-lotioned hands over my hair to help tame it, and that's working great.

All of the above recipes came from one of these two books: Organic Body Care Recipes and Earthly Bodies and Heavenly Hair: Natural and Healthy Personal Care for Every Body.

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 Update: I'm not so happy with the lotion. I love the patchouli scent, which I should point out is a very mild aroma, but it doesn't really moisturize. I think it's a manufacturing error: the lotion needs to be whipped or beaten for a while in order to emulsify the oils, and I had trouble with this step. The oils have separated out and I think what I'm left with is rubbing my hands with the herbal infusion water and very little oil, which doesn't do much for moisturizing. Hmmm.
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Cookin' in the Kitchen

 

Continuing my adventures in hippie-dom..... Above is yogurt cheese smeared on rosemary bread (from a bakery in Pagosa) and (almost) yogurt. 

The yogurt cheese is soooo tasty, I can't imagine how we've managed to get this far in life without constantly having some on hand. It's also very easy to make: just dump a couple of cups of plain yogurt (fat free, lowfat, or whole) into the middle of 4 to 6 layers of cheesecloth. Gather the sides and secure with a rubber band or twist-tie on top, as if you're making a hobo bag. Place in a colander inside of a bowl (to collect the water that will be squeezed out), put a couple of heavy bags of beans or rice on top, and put it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, dump out the extra water and put the cheese in an airtight container. Enjoy! I've seen recipes adding herbs and spices before leaving it in the fridge, but haven't yet tried them. I'm sure that's really tasty, too.

The (almost) yogurt is really tasty on cereal, but is not quite yogurt. I've now tried three times to make yogurt– heat the milk, stir in the yogurt, keep in a warm place overnight– but haven't been able to get it to thicken up. It tastes like a very rich milk that's just slightly thicker than usual, but it's definitely not yogurt. I need to do more research and practice, I guess.

Awakening My Inner Hippie

Aaron has told me title of this post should actually be "Reawakening My Inner Hippie." I've suppressed this particular aspect of my persona for a few years– I think because of the intervention of "modern western" medicine in Rhys's premature birth (which brings up so many emotions I really can't express them in an online blog). I'm now moving back to my mostly vegetarian, shampoo-is-merely-a-money-making-conspiracy, aromatherapy anyone?, mmmmmm-patchouli-smells-yummy self. So: I prefer eating vegetarian, although I've found my son is a willing and ready carnivore; yup, I'm not using shampoo at the moment (with mixed results, but it bears more study– I'm using baking soda and a vinegar rinse, if you're interested); with the colds going around the house we've been using steamy tea tree essential oil for treatment of stuffy noses and coughs; and, well, I do love the smell of patchouli. Above is my homemade beeswax-olive oil-honey lip balm and the horehound lozenges (also for treatment of colds) I made yesterday. Our cleaning supplies have mostly consisted of vinegar and baking soda for a while, but now they're pretty much exclusively those two ingredients, with the addition of a general purpose cleaner I got from a friend (below). I'm even cutting out high fructose corn syrup (which isn't too difficult since we don't consume much of that anyway) and already make my own laundry detergent. I'll be donning flip-flops as the weather gets warmer, and I'm growing my hair out long again. I don't plan to go bra-less, encourage dreadlocks, or smoke pot. Does that make me only a hippie wanna be?

Oh, and, I'm planning to start making my own granola....


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Here is the all-purpose cleaner recipe:

2 TB salt
1/2 cup vinegar
*60 drops orange essential oil
*30 drops lemon essential oil
*30 drops grapefruit essential oil
water
2 TB eco-friendly dish soap

Start with an empty quart-size spray bottle. Add 1 cup of warm tap water. Use a funnel to add salt. Swish the water until the salt dissolves. Use funnel to add vinegar. Remove funnel and carefully add essential oil. Fill bottle with water to one inch from the top. Finally, add dish soap. Replace sprayer and shake gently.

*You can use ~120 drops of whatever oil you have or like. I (my friend) use a combo of bergamot and lavender because they are inexpensive and I like the smell. I (Britton) used lavender and tea tree oil.