Pioneer Woman at Heart

  How each container looks before I mix the "water" solution into the oil mixture.  I use a hand held immersion blender (specifically for non-food mixing). I use Rosemary Gladstar's recipe for this, using grapeseed oil/apricot oil and shea butter (vs. cocoa butter or coconut oil).  The recipe is now online (video with Mother Earth News, as whipped face cream) as well as in her book. New to the medicine stash - yarrow salve.  I've already used it for a scraped up arm.  Works great to stop bleeding, but has other uses.  You can find free recipes online for different amounts, and you can add essential oils in the end if you'd like to.  It's a basic melt down and pour type making, and very easy to make (you'll need to infuse an oil with the yarrow first). Both are very easy to make. I do have utensils that I only use for making homemade items such as these, and the face cream requires a blender or hand held immersion blender (which is what I use for an eas...

  Yesterday started out with a lot of fog.  The weather warmed up to the 60's and felt so great.  Today it's dropping down again with wind and rain.  We are now in the mixed up time of year where we can get snow, rain, fog, nice days, ugly days....just typical for us. I had high hopes to hang laundry on the line, but the wind was pretty nasty out. I needed more wood on the porch, but someone left the garden cart out by the coop (full of dirty straw that needed dumped).  Wasn't me. I finally got my homemade face lotion made.  I use the recipe in Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs book (A beginner's guide).  I will need to make more oil this summer for the next batch.  I store the extra lotion in the refrigerator until I need it. Signs of spring are showing up in the flower beds now.  Some areas are a bit over crowded, so I may be digging and splitting them up after they are done blooming.   Update on the general store and consignmen...