Another experiment using pressed flowers, and incorporating one of my favorite crystals as the center of this heart-shaped mandala. I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed creating this one! 💜
I’ve been playing mad-scientist again and concocting more magical potions, this time it’s with coconut oil.
My sis has been singing the praises of coconut oil for years, but it’s only been recently that I myself have began looking more into all of its wonderful health and beauty benefits. And many there are!
To save me from typing it all out and rambling on too much, please just read this article by Dr. Mercola about the Countless Coconut Oil Uses and Health Benefits, it’s very informative and interesting. And you may also like to pay a visit to MissHappySpiritsKitchen, a fellow WordPress blogger (and lovely person) who wrote a nice little post about coconut oil earlier last month.
But before you go, look at the pretties I made…
Coconut oil deodorant, body scrub, and eye cream, all of which are amazing! The deodorant freaks me out at how well it works and the body scrub leaves my skin so unbelievably smooth and silky, seriously… wow! And I scented both of them with lavender essential oil so you know they smell completely divine! ♥
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I’m also still on my adventures of experimenting with other herbal remedies too. I made an absolutely fabulous face toner the other day and it’s made a world of difference in the overall appearance of not only my skin, but my daughter’s as well. She came into my room the other morning and her face was glowing! It looked like she was wearing makeup, her skin tone was so even and polished looking, it was crazy! And here’s the kicker… it only contains 3 ingredients ~ witch hazel, crushed comfrey leaves (made into a tea), and patchouli essential oil. So basic, and yet so marvelous!
This adorable little gal has a great video about all the beauty uses of coconut oil…
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Yep, I’m cuckoo for coconut oil! And with the long, cold (and skin drying) winter weather ahead, I’m going to be taking full advantage of nature’s perfect moisturizer ~ coconut oil! Try it, you’ll like it. 😀
Peace & love…
“For all its internal health benefits, pure coconut oil is also a wonderful all-natural “anti-aging” moisturizer when applied topically. When absorbed into your skin and connective tissues, coconut oil helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by helping to keep your connective tissues strong and supple. It also helps exfoliate the outer layer of dead skin cells, making your skin smoother.
Physiologist and biochemist Ray Peat, Ph.D. considers coconut oil an antioxidant, due to its stability and resistance to oxidation and free radical formation. Besides that, coconut oil also has potent antimicrobial activity. (About 50 percent of the fat in coconut oil is lauric acid that your body converts into monolaurin, which has anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-protozoa properties. Capric acid, another coconut fatty acid present in smaller amounts, also has antimicrobial activity.)
All of these features make it a good choice for skin applications. Coconut oil is perhaps one of the most useful ingredients you can keep in your house. A previous article by Delicious Obsessions lists no less than 122 creative uses for this household staple, including 21 DIY coconut oil skin care recipes. For example, you can use it as a base for body scrubs, homemade deodorant, toothpaste, hand and body cream, lip balm—even bug repellent.”
Guess I’m just about finished with this year’s gardening adventures. It was down right cold out this morning and I’m afraid the temps are soon going to dip down far enough to bring an end to the last remaining growing things in my tiny garden. I love fall, but it is always sad to have to say goodbye to the growing season.
I really hope the cold weather holds off long enough for my bell peppers to finish turning yellow. I’ve been waiting forever…~
There are still tons of jalapenos growing out there too, although most of them are much smaller in size now. ~
That’s about it for what is still growing out there as far a veggies go. I also have some celery struggling along after being shaded all season by my zucchini and a bunch of tiny green tomatoes I don’t have much hope for.
My herbs are still thriving and I will be very sad to see them go. I’m still looking into seeing if I can bring my lavender inside over the winter to keep it going, I love it so much!
The blooming things are also winding down. In my Mmm Autumn post I mentioned that I was digging out my old camera to get reacquainted with because my daughter didn’t like me using hers so much, and I was hoping that it would take as nice of photos. Well, I am pleased to report that I believe it does. I was very happy with the way this next shot turned out while I was experimenting with it…
The Sedum I planted for my mom years ago is blooming and I caught a fuzzy little bumble bee enjoying this one. 🙂~
In fact, the bumble bees are very active right now ~ I was also able to catch this one sampling my mint blossoms.I’m not a huge fan of bees in general, but the fuzzy bumblers are kinda cute and it’s always a good sign to see them buzzing around my plants. 🙂
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I’m so grateful to have been able to have a garden this year after being without one for the past few years. It was a completely new way of gardening for me ~ going from having acres of land out in the country to a tiny 4 x 8 raised box in the heart of the city, but even having only that small bit of growing space fed not only my body, but my soul as well…
It was lovely outside today, so I really enjoyed my time puttering in the garden. One of the wonderful things about gardening is that there is always something new going on each day. Of course it’s not as much fun when there’s bad things happening like pests or diseased plants, lack of rain or too much of it and so on, but when things are good it’s just so very rewarding.
And it’s especially fun to find unexpected things! As I was standing at my potting bench filling up my watering can, I looked up and saw this robin sitting on its nest in my mom’s lilac bush only a few feet above my head…Several days ago I had noticed a mess of grasses and twigs on top of my potting bench, but I thought it was just debris brought by the winds during one of the storms that rolled through. How exciting that I will be having a family of robins keeping me company now while I’m gardening! 🙂
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I keep forgetting to take photos of my peas! We’ve just been so busy picking them and eating them up. But today I caught myself and snapped a photo before I popped them all into my mouth (see one is missing ;)).~
My cukes are really starting to take off and are growing so nicely!
In an earlier post Adventures in Gardening Part 7 ~ Trellis Time, I shared about a little A-frame trellis I built for my cucumbers to climb on, and I’m so excited to finally have them doing just that! I’ve got two different varieties growing up each side and then my lettuce growing underneath… An A-frame trellis is seriously an excellent idea for space saving in a small bed.
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Strawberries are still continuing to grow in abundance on my one little plant. Here is another one just starting to show the first hint of color…I simply adore strawberries. ♥
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I also adore flowering things…
Over the years I’ve always enjoyed growing Astilbe in my shady garden areas and planted some for my mom in hers too ~ they are blooming now. ~
Her Hosta are blooming as well.~
At one of the garden nurseries I visited earlier this spring they had a special promotion where the first 500 customers got a free plant. Mine was this lovely begonia…~
Now, I realize that marigolds are quite ordinary and nothing special, but they are still bright and colorful, and a faithful bloomer.~
And another shot of my English lavender because it’s my favorite…~
The ants and aphids are still hanging around doing their thing, but don’t seem to be causing any real damage at the moment. I’ve just been spraying them off with the water hose for now, but I’m keeping an eye on them…
It’s been storming and raining a lot lately which makes it a bit tricky to get out in the garden, but today while there was a break in weather I went out and poked around out there for a little while and was very pleased by what I saw…
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Man, I do love me some zucchini and was so excited to find this little bad boy shooting out from under the giant leaves of one of my zucchini plants! There’s tons more developing too! This makes me one happy gardener! 🙂~
And my one lone strawberry plant that I bought on impulse and stuffed into a random pot sure is happily doing its thing! It was hard to even get all of the action going on with this little plant into one shot. Too bad I don’t have more room in my garden so I could grow more of these.~
Everything else is doing well too and I’m just so glad. It was rocky there for a while with the bugs bugging. There is still evidence of them here and there, but nothing like the destruction I was dealing with earlier. Hopefully it stays that way.
My Bee Balm got a little damaged by some of the strong winds we had a few days ago and lost one of its main stalks, but the rest of it is still blooming away beautifully…~
And my English Lavender is now blooming too. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE lavender?! 😉~
There are two different yellow flowering perennials that I put in for my mom ages ago and don’t remember what they are, but look at how bright and beautiful their blooms are…
Anyone recognize either of these?
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I noticed a couple of little mushrooms growing in my garden too. I know they’re a fungus, but they’re still pretty cute. It’s supposed to continue raining throughout this next week, so I hope my garden isn’t getting too much moisture. That could cause all sorts of other problems.
But I’m gonna try not to worry about the “what-ifs” of tomorrow, and for now just enjoy the beauty of the present. 🙂
We had some thunderstorms roll through last night and I swear the plants in my garden were “charged up” by all the electricity mixed in with the rain because they certainly are lookin’ good today!
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I went and picked up some bright cheerful “Duck-a-licious” Nasturtiums at the garden center and planted them in place of my deceased spinach a few days ago ~ they make me happy!~
Despite a few bug bites at the start, my new cucumbers are doing well.~
My zucchini is making itself quite at home and taking over the corner of my garden I allotted for it.~
My carrots are continuing to come along slowly but surely.~
My lettuce looks quite happy. Maybe I am psychic because I see myself enjoying a fresh salad in the near future. 😉~
My celery is growing well. I’ve never grown it before so I’m wondering and waiting for when I’m going to start seeing the formation of the stalks.~
My beans are continuing to get more and more new sets of leaves.~
My onions seem to be doing just fine growing in a pot.~
My tomatoes have perked up a bit.And are getting more flowers too…~
Happy little pods are beginning to grow in place of the blossoms on my peas. I can’t wait to eat them!~
My basil had a rough start and the bugs were munching on it quite a bit, but it seems to have recovered.~
I’m letting my oregano bloom ~ it’s so pretty.~
My rosemary is growing well. ~
The pineapple sage I got is filling in very nicely. The bugs were bothering it some, but it still seems to be growing vigorously. It smells amazing!~
Chives aren’t too exciting to look at, but they’re healthy!~
More and more blooms and berries are developing on my strawberries! ~
I don’t remember the name of this ground cover that I planted for my mom years ago, but it’s so pretty.~
And saving the best for last… my fave, my Lavender is starting to bloom! This new French variety I got is very lovely and smells absolutely divine! ♥ ♥ ♥
I just couldn’t wait until my usual Mother’s Day kick-off to head to the garden nurseries for plants this year. We had such an unbelievably early spring and with the lovely weather, it just wasn’t fair to make my inner gardening child wait any longer than absolutely necessary. So off I went to visit a couple of garden centers that are located here in town ~ Bachman’s and Linder’s.
It was so wonderful just wandering around and taking it all in, both of these particular garden centers have an exceptionally pleasing atmosphere. Whoever is in charge of their aesthetics is definitely doing it right!
Although I have specific nurseries that I prefer to buy my tomatoes and pepper plants at, I’m not as picky about my herbs. So once I ventured into the herb area of the garden center, I started selecting ones I have planned (and ones I just got on a whim ;)) to put in my new garden this year.
My potting bench was so happy to finally have some potted plants setting on it ~ even if only temporarily until they get put in the ground…~
I picked up the regulars like Rosemary, Basil, Oregano, and Chives. And of course… the ever constant veggie garden companion (and pest deterrent) Marigolds.
But I also got a few others that I haven’t got before like Apple-Mint…I had originally planned on Chocolate Mint ~ makes a delicious tea, but once I rubbed the leaves and smelled the aroma of this Apple Mint, I had to have it!
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And the same thing happened when I saw (and smelled) this Pineapple Sage ~ I’m pretty sure my mouth was watering…I have no idea what I am going to do with it. There was a mention on the tag of using it as a garnish, but it is soooo yummy that there has got to be more I can use it for. I’m open for suggestions…
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I also got some Lemon Verbena, Celery, and one lone Strawberry plant…I wasn’t planning on planting strawberries ~ we usually go to the farm and pick our fill there. I think it was the sweet little pink bloom that sucked me in and made me have to buy it. I don’t know where I’m putting it yet, but I’ll find a spot…
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Another not planned herb that I ended up with was lavender…This is a French Lavender variety that I haven’t seen before. And the smell… now there’s something you need to understand about me and lavender… “we’re like this.”
Or here… this may explain it a bit better ~ For the Love of Lavender ♥, an earlier post of mine. I have tried for years without success to grow Lavender as a perennial here in Minnesota, so I’m potting up this little baby (and the English Lavender that I also bought ;)) and bringing it inside when the weather gets cold. 🙂
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I’ll be planting all these bad boys tomorrow and there’s simply nothing better than breathing in the wonderful scents of herbs while gardening…
I’ll also be making more visits to the garden nurseries this upcoming weekend, and selecting my tomatoes and peppers, not to mention some flowers ~ I’m so excited!
I created this blog primarily just to express myself by writing about whatever random stuff happens to come to mind on any given day. Over time I suppose it may morph into something more specific, but for now it's just my various ramblings. Thank you so much for stopping by and wherever your day leads today ~ I hope it's to a happy place! :)
Ramblings From Jewels 