I apologize.  This week got away from me.  I expained it on Kettle and Cup if you are at all interested… Basically I have filled in my margins of life and am over extened in every direction.

Believe it or not it is that time of year again.  I know some of you are buried under a mountain of snow but here it is 70 degrees.
We may have a few more cold days here and there but it is definitely time to plan and plant.

Did you know that baby shampoo is a great item to refill your liquid soap dispenser with?  Well it is!  Just mix it one part baby shampoo to two or three parts water (experiment to see what you like).  Add a couple of drops of lavender essential oil for a natural germ killer and to make it smell nice.

What are Swedish Bitter Herbs?
They are a 400 year old herbal combination that is extremely popular in Europe.  They can be used to heal nearly anything from indigestion to scar tissue.
Supposedly they were created to help with indigestion but it was found that they seemed to help almost everything.
Some people consider the cures miraculous.

Why would you need a home remedy for spider bites in January?
Sometimes when it gets cold outside the spiders decide that it is time to come inside.   Generally they stay out of the way and you don’t see them too much but once in awhile  you may get on one’s nerves and…CHOMP!
Spider bite.

Blackstrap molasses health benefits were not a concern to our grand parents and great grandparents.  Much of the United States 150 years ago did not have access to sugar, at least not very often.  They learned to love the sweeteners that they had available locally; honey, maple syrup, other syrups, and blackstrap molasses.
Molassed did have to be shipped in but it was cheap and it did not go bad on long journeys.  Even the most remote mountain cabin generally had a supply of blackstrap ‘lasses.

I guess that writing “because I do” is not going to be impressive is it?
I have shopped at both.  Here are the similarities:

I guess in this modern, medical age we sometimes get lulled into a false sense of security about our healthy and vitamin intake.  After all, we reason, even if we don’t eat right we are taking vitamins and other supplements, right?
You have to count the cost of everything and one thing that we don;t tend to count the cost of living our modern lifestyle is the fact that we often do so at our own expense healthwise.

Yeah.  You put it in stuffing at Thanksgiving but did you also know the the common herb, sage, the one that is so great with poultry is medicinal as well?
You didn’t?
That’s why I am here.
Sage is really not appreciated nearly enough.  It is a hard working plant whether it is in your medicine cabinet or your pantry.

Yep.  You can make homemade deodorant, too.  In fact, as far as keeping you smelling good I think it works better than the chemical stuff.  It won’t keep you dry though, you are still going to sweat.  If you don’t have a huge problem with sweat and only want to keep the pungency of work at bay then this will do the trick.