Month: July 2012 (Page 2 of 3)

The Magical Bee Sting Cure

July 16, 2012 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

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Lavender essential oil!

It’s a shame this isn’t more common knowledge. Maybe you already know about it but if not, I want to tell you that lavender essential oil is the most magical treatment for a bee sting (or wasp, etc.). I’ve been treating stings this way for many years and it’s truly incredible. The pain disappears! As do the redness and swelling. Very soon your sting is a distant memory. Every single time I use this remedy I am completely blown away by its efficacy.

Just apply some lavender essential oil, neat (undiluted), to the bee sting. Lavender oil is gentle enough to be used neat for most folks, unlike some other essential oils.

Lavender oil is a great thing to keep in your first aid kit, if only for this reason alone.

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Do you know of other magical uses for lavender oil? Do share!

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Gratitude Sunday * July 15, 2012

July 15, 2012 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

~ I’m once again joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots in her Gratitude Sunday tradition. ~

Gratitude Sunday is a time to slow down and remember those thankful moments that graced our week. One reason I love keeping a daily gratitude journal is because it helps keep things in perspective for me. Each Sunday, I open my journal and share some of those moments with you here. If you’d like to join in, just leave a comment!

Gratitude is powerful energy. I love hearing others’ gratitudes!

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– Waking up to a morning downpour early this week — what an excitingly unusual treat that was~

– Hauling all the houseplants outside so they could have a rain bath and get all squeaky clean.

– That this particular week is over. BATTERING is the word that comes to mind!

– Watermelon! For some reason I suddenly love watermelon. It was always my least favorite, but now this year I’m stuffing my face with it. I finally get why everyone loves it now!

– Making time to visit an old family friend along with my dad. That was a really nice, different, thing to do.

– New and different experiences, which make me feel alive!

– Meeting F for a fun little lunch date this week — I loved how it was just the two of us.

– Laughing with my honey!! I really love that.

– Eating out of the garden more and more. Today for instance, a little snack of still-vine-warm cucumbers and tomatoes:

– Feeling so excited by the thought of our new house!! I keep thinking about all the things I/we can do once we live there!

– My mom’s support, and how she dropped everything to just be with me during an unusually difficult and hopeless-feeling day. She is an incredible mother, and I’m so lucky she’s in my life.

– Slowing myself down. Slowing the pace when it begins to get a little out of hand.

– Showers. I love how rejuvenated a simple shower can make you feel.

– Reading an article to F. Remembering that I want to read aloud more, because we both get enjoyment from that.

– Getting rid of stuff!

– The beautiful garden, and how well it’s doing this year. Nothing makes a gardener’s heart swell quite like seeing their gardens flourish!

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What’s on your gratitude list this week?

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Soup of the Day

July 13, 2012 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

This was a delicious little lunch for today. I pulled the beef broth out of the freezer, and the rest is from my own garden! With everything cut into little pieces, it cooked up in just a few minutes.

beef broth

scallions (white part)

celery

kale

potatoes

…and at the table, I stirred in some raw homemade sauerkraut with some of its juice, which leant a wonderful brightness to the soup!

And I just remembered I have some soaked & cooked lentils, which I think would also go well in this soup.

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And a Few More…

July 12, 2012 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

Here are a few more garden pictures that I wanted to show you, since I was over there yesterday. It was a brilliant weather day — not too hot, not windy, and just humid enough to make the air delicious and soft. Mentally and physically however, it was a total bummer day, so being in the garden felt vitally important! It’s such a grounding and life-affirming space, that wild and abundant garden. There’s some really intense energy flying around right now to put it diplomatically. Can you feel it? Intense situations, frustrations, and pivotal decisions abound! Nature spaces are the antidote — I’d make time to visit one if I were you.

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So what you have here are the first tomatoes of the year — Black Cherry, and the orange one further down is Jaune Flamme, both heirlooms, and both really awesome. The Jaune Flammes are always my earliest and most reliable tomatoes; Black Cherry is a new one this year, but so far I’m definitely impressed.

I put up this bean trellis on Sunday; I really love it. It creates the feeling of a cozy outdoor room, and maybe if the beans get big enough they’ll provide some welcome shade from the afternoon sun.

And here this is our living room right now. In flux you might say!

As I write you this, I’m eating a beet that I pulled out of the garden yesterday. Steamed whole and eaten plain with just a bit of sea salt, how can something BE so delicious!?