Category: How-To / DIY (Page 13 of 14)

How to Prepare Your Vegetable Garden for Winter

November 2, 2009 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

Lindsey's garden after the first frost. Pretty, huh.

The first frost. What was green and growing yesterday, is today a jumble of limp and blackened leaves. Overnight, your pride and joy has become something of an eyesore, and you’re staring at the mess thinking “now what?”

When the vegetable garden dies in the fall, what’s the best course of action? Actually, doing pretty much nothing is both the easiest and best way of preparing your veggie garden for winter.

Here’s how I prepare my garden for winter…and why:

1. Cut off any dead stalks/vines at the soil level — no need to pull out the roots, and no need to till the soil. There are a few reasons for this. First, I aim to keep soil disturbance to a minimum. Whenever soil is disturbed, an ecosystem is disturbed…and so some of its worms and microorganisms die. The decay of dead worms and microorganisms leads to a flush of available nutrients that plants can use. While there’s never a good time for mass death among our helpers in the soil, autumn is the worst time to turn the soil, since there are no growing plants to enjoy the newly-released nutrients.

Another reason why I leave the roots place is so that they can break down, replenishing the soil with what they removed during the growing season. Leaving the roots in the soil also means that they become a nice habitat for soil microbes.

Plus, it’s much easier than removing the plant material in the autumn, composting it in the far corner of the yard, then hauling it back to the garden in the spring. Easier to just let it sit there and compost in place!

(Click below to continue reading…)

Healing From Surgery, Part 2: Herbal Wound Remedies

October 21, 2009 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Calendula Petals for Herbal Wound-Healing Oil

Welcome back!

For an introduction to the series, and the pre-/post-surgery homeopathic regimen I created, visit Part 1: Homeopathy.

For Part 2 today, I’ll be showing you how to make Herbal Wound-Healing Oil and an Antiseptic Herbal Wash. You can make these and keep them on hand for cleansing and healing any type of wound.

One thing: Be careful when applying the Wound-Healing Oil to burns or infected areas, because they may heal over “too quickly,” sealing in heat and bacteria. For these situations, make sure the burn has completely cooled, or that the infection has first been treated with a good antimicrobial preparation.

For me…since the incisions were on my foot (where there’s a higher risk of post-surgical infection because of decreased circulation), I conservatively used only the Antiseptic Herbal Wash until the wounds had completely closed up and there was no sign of infection. At that point, I no longer needed to use the Antiseptic Herbal Wash…and began to then use the Wound-Healing Oil.

Herbal Wound-Healing Oil

Wound-Healing Oil infusing on a sunny windowsill

Making herbal oils is easy because you don’t really need any special ingredients or equipment. Herbal oils can be made by either hot infusion or cold infusion. For a hot infusion, equal amounts of herbs and oil (often olive oil) are simmered over low heat for a few hours.

Cold infusion is a much slower process whereby you pack a clear glass jar with herbs and oil and let it stand for several weeks, often in the sun. Sunlight encourages the herbs to release their active constituents into the oil. Cold infusion is the best method for fresh plant material, especially for more delicate parts such as flowers. Since my herbs were fresh, and I was using delicate calendula flower petals, I chose the cold infusion method. Olive oil is very good for cold infusion because of its resistance to turning rancid. The intensity of sunlight and the length of time the herbs are infused will affect the strength of the end product. For a stronger oil, strain out the first batch of herbs, add a new batch of fresh ones, and infuse again for another few weeks.

Cold Infusion Step 1: Gather your plant material — either dried or fresh, or a mix of both. I used all fresh plants this time (fresh is almost always better). Any medicinal plant will work, and you may use just one type, or a mix. For my Wound-Healing Oil, I chose a mix of antiseptic, skin-healing, and bone-healing plants:

Sage (leaves) – antiseptic

Yarrow (leaves) – antiseptic, heals wounds, anti-inflammatory

Thyme (leaves) – antiseptic (contains Thymol, a very potent germ killer)

Comfrey (leaves) – heals wounds, assists with bone fusion (it’s also known as “Knitbone”)

Calendula (flower petals) – antiseptic, heals wounds, anti-inflammatory

Step 2: Chop the herbs into little pieces. Stuff them into a clear glass jar that has a lid. Pour olive oil into the jar until it completely covers the herbs. You may need to poke around with a spoon to get the oil to seep down to the bottom of the jar. If there’s any plant material above the oil, it will probably mold, so try to pour enough oil in to cover everything. I had a little mold growing on the surface of the oil after a few weeks (probably on a plant piece that wasn’t submerged), but I just scooped it up and threw it away. No harm done.

Step 3: Screw on the lid, and place the jar in a spot where it’ll get plenty of sunshine, but where it won’t be disturbed. (Again, if any herb pieces are washed out of the oil and onto the side of the jar, they’ll get moldy. It’s not a big deal, but if they get moldy you should scoop them out.) Leave it there for at least 2 weeks, but preferably 4 weeks or longer.

Wound-Healing Oil. Twice infused, strained, and ready to use.

Wound-Healing Oil. Twice infused for a total of 6 weeks, strained, and ready to use.

Step 4: Set up a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl. Pour the contents of the jar into the strainer and squeeze the herbs tightly in your fist to get as much oil out as possible. It’s a messy job; don’t wear your Sunday best. Run the oil through the strainer again if any plant material accidentally got into the bowl. Discard the plant material.

Step 5: I like to puncture a Vitamin E capsule and squeeze it into the jar of finished oil. Vitamin E is a good preservative. Store the oil in the fridge for a longer shelf life.

Step 6 (optional): For an even stronger oil, chop up a new batch of fresh or dried plant material, and put it into the oil you’ve just strained. Place in the sunny spot for a second round of infusion. For my Wound-Healing Oil, I strained the oil after 3 weeks, and then added more fresh Calendula petals and Comfrey leaves (both fresh and dried), and left it to infuse for another 3 weeks.

Antiseptic Herbal Wash

Making the Antiseptic Herbal Wash

Antiseptic Herbal Wash is what I applied to the surgical incisions until they were completely healed. After I made the Herbal Wash, I froze it into ice cube trays, and then stored the ice cubes in the freezer. Each night, I would take out a cube and let it thaw in the fridge. Then, both morning and evening the next day, I would pour the liquid over my foot, rubbing it into the wounds. It didn’t sting, but I tasted a little bit of it once, and it was very strong and very disgusting! Not something you want to drink, certainly! After the wounds had completely closed up and there was no sign of infection, I then stopped using the Wash and began using the Wound-Healing Oil.

Step 1: Gather your plant material — either dried or fresh, or a mix of both. I used all fresh plants this time (fresh is almost always better). For this Antiseptic Herbal Wash, I chose these medicinal plants:

Sage (leaves) – antiseptic

Yarrow (leaves) – antiseptic, heals wounds, anti-inflammatory

Thyme (leaves) – antiseptic (contains Thymol, a very potent germ killer)

Lavender (leaves) – antiseptic, soothing

Step 2: Chop up the plant material, and place into a large jar that has a lid. Pour enough boiling water over the plant material to cover it completely. Screw the lid on loosely. (If a lid is not used, the precious volatile oils will dissipate into the air.)

Step 3: Let the mixture steep until the water has cooled to room temperature…or longer. I let mine steep for the whole day. Pour the water through a strainer, squeezing the herbs tightly to get all the water out. Discard the herbs, and either refrigerate or freeze the herbal water. Again, I like to freeze mine into ice cubes that can be defrosted when needed.

Antiseptic Herbal Wash frozen into ice cubes

How to Save Your Own Tomato Seed

October 5, 2009 / Lindsey / 5 Comments

How to Save Your Own Tomato Seed

If you grow tomatoes in your garden (or if you plan to in the future), you might be curious about saving your own seed. I really love seeds for some reason, and I used to trade seeds on gardenweb.com about 10 years ago. The lovely gardening community at gardenweb (wonder if it even still exists?) was the source for many of the heirloom tomatoes I still grow in my garden. Tomatoes that are called “heirloom” or “open pollinated” are genetically stable, and will produce offspring consistently like themselves (unless they’ve been cross pollinated with something else in your garden, which does happen occasionally!). Hybrid tomatoes are much less stable genetically, and if you save seed from them, you never know what their offspring will be like (which can also be great fun!).

(Click below to continue reading…)

Nourishing + Frugal: Homemade Applesauce

September 16, 2009 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Homemade applesauce is one of my favorites for breakfast or a snack! And it’s SO EASY TO MAKE! Organic applesauce from the store is pretty pricey (especially at the rate I go through it), and the taste and texture just don’t compare with homemade.

We’re lucky to have a local health food store that puts out their markdown organic produce in $1 grab-bags. So when they put out bags of organic apples, I snatch ’em up to make applesauce. That means I can make 3 or 4 lbs of organic applesauce for only a dollar!

Here’s how I make my applesauce:

1. Dice the apples into small pieces. I leave the peel on for texture and nutritional value.

2. Place the pieces in a saucepan with a dash of salt (optional) and a small amount of water. For 2 or 3 chopped apples, I usually put in about 1/4 cup of water.

3. COVER the pan, bring to a boil, and turn the burner down to low. Cook the apples until they’re very soft, stirring once or twice. This shouldn’t take long…maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

4. When they’re very soft and can easily be mashed with a fork, dump them into a colander to drain off excess water.

5. Return the apples to the pan, and mash them against the side of the pan with a fork. You could also run them through a food processor, but I really like the chunky texture of hand-mashed applesauce.

6. I enjoy my applesauce just plain, or sometimes with 1/2 & 1/2 (or cream) and a sprinkle of cinnamon. So delicious! Use your imagination…try toasted nuts on top for a more substantial meal. Or you could also make applesauce bread!

7. The applesauce doesn’t last that long in the fridge — maybe 5 days, tops. However, this applesauce freezes quite well, and I’ve also canned it with pretty good results (I prefer the freezer, though).

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday over at The Nourishing Gourmet.

My Favorite Flower for Attracting Beneficial Insects

September 8, 2009 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

It even attracts beneficial kitties into the garden...

Queen Anne’s Lace! Also known as Daucus carota, or Wild Carrot. Beneficial insects are an easy method of organic pest control, and the beneficials absolutely LOVE these white, lacy, umbrella-shaped flowers! None of the other flowers I grow get quite as much attention as the Queen Anne’s Lace. (Click below to continue reading…)