Nature's Soap!

Soapberries/Soap Nuts/Sapindus! Another one of Momma Earth's gifts!

I really dig the fresh, slightly sweet scent of these...when my boy's Indian Grammie saw us using them to wash his cloth diapers, she told me they are also wonderful as a natural baby shampoo!

Here is a little something i came across about the glories of Soap Nuts. Its from here:

Soap Nuts. Yes, somewhat of a strange thing… Slightly out of my comfort zone when I first heard of them. But with the problems we had with hard water and build up, I was finally willing to try anything. Even if it was a nut (technically a berry) that grows on trees.

An About Soap Nuts Quicky

Soap nuts grow on Sapindus trees and they contain saponin. This saponin is released when the harvested shells come in contact with warm or hot water. Soap nuts have
become a popular environmentally friendly alternative to manufactured, chemical detergents. They are also safe for washing delicates, silks and woolens.


Why Use Soap Nuts?

One good reason of course is the environmentally friendliness of soapnuts. They don’t require any manufacturing to be made since they just grow on trees. Soapnuts also have natural anti-microbial agents so there is no need to add bleach to kill bacteria. People with sensitive skin can also benefit from the seeds of the Sapindus tree because the nuts have proven to be gentle and effective for those who suffer from eczema, psoriasis and other skin conditions.

Amazingly enough, soap nuts even have insecticidal properties and
can be used as a wash for the treatment of lice or gardening.

If you are using cloth diapers and have experienced annoying problems with build up, soap nuts may be the solution since they can strip diapers and leave no residue. This means an extra rinse is not necessary after each wash to make sure they are rinsing clean. Now your diapers can be done faster and you’ll use less water.

Saving money is something a lot of people like to do and soap nuts has such a wide variety of uses such as laundry, cleaning and body care that one could potentially save money on the many different products they need to buy on a monthly basis.

How To Use Soap Nuts

It’s really simple. You have two choices for laundry… to make a liquid or to put 4-5 soap seeds in a muslin bag and add to the drum of the wash machine.

To make the liquid you simply boil water and add soapnuts. How much you use epends on the concentration and amount of soap nut liquid you will use. You don’t want to make too much since it will spoil. We do a lot of laundry so this is what I do:

Boil 12 cups of water and add 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of soap nuts.

Boil gently for 30 minutes.

This liquid can also be used for cleaning countertops and more. Add some essential oils to give it a nice scent.

Get more personal use and cleaning recipes using soap nuts.

From Here
To Here!

Time is Amazing

From This

To This

In Two Short Years!

Sweet Green Pie! A Clear and Bright Recipe!

Doesn't sound too appetizing, huh? Trust me, once you try it you will be thanking yourself for embracing the green.

Yesterday, little lion and i headed over to friends for dinner (or as they say west of the Mississippi, supper). Since it was St. Patty's and since 1/4 of me and an 1/8 of the lion cub are Irish, i decided to whip up an appropriately colored raw vegan concoction. Here are the details:

crust

1.5 cups almonds

1 cup coconut flakes

1 cup golden flax meal

1 cup dried plums (aka, prunes - we were out of dates, so prunes it was!)

2 TBS Agave nectar

filling:

5 ripe bananas

1 medium-size avocado

1 small mango

9 caps Aquazon (blue-green algae)

1 dash of cinnamon

For Crust -

1.In a food processor grind almonds, coconut, and flax meal together until the texture of a course powder.

2. Add in Prunes. Run food processor until everything is integrated.

3. Add Agave and run machine. Dough will begin to stick together.

4. Press crust into pie pan

you could make treats just from the crust recipe. my cub was begging for some!

For Filling:

1. Clean out Food Processor (you don't have to wash it, just wipe it out)

2. Blend all ingredients (add more blue-green algae for a greener hue)

3. Pour Filling into Pie Crust.

4. Smooth out, decorate as you want, and freeze.

5. Take out of freezer 10-15 minutes before serving.

Moss Graffiti

In the Green Spirit of St. Patrick's Day, here is an Awesome Project to work on at home! or out on the town.


if Moss Graffiti doesn't brighten your day, you need a hug...send me your address and i will send one post-haste.

Here is the great post (and pictures) from Heavy Petal:

I lead my first workshop yesterday! It was a Moss Graffiti Workshop for my guerrilla gardening group.

Following a brief slide show and discussion about moss, graffiti, and moss graffiti, we made a yummy moss ’starter’ (see the recipe after the jump). I had planned on
brainstorming potential tags and artwork ideas, but everyone was raring to go
and apply the frothy green mixture, so we just fanned out in small groups and
pretended we were hooligans.

The moss starter goes on pretty much clear; in the top photo, Tim is simply embellishing someone else’s handiwork.
Highly recommended project - I can’t wait to see how all our designs turn out!

To make a quick moss starter, you’ll need:

One or two clumps (about a small handful) of moss

2 cups of buttermilk

2 cups of water (or beer)

1/2 tsp. sugar

a blender container with lid

paintbrush

How to:
1. Crumble the moss into the blender - try to remove any pebbles or insects you find.
2. Add the sugar, buttermilk, water or beer, and blend at the lowest speed until it has the consistency of a milkshake (add more water if necessary).

3. Paint the mixture onto rocks, logs, pots or statuary, or simply pour it on the ground wherever you’d like your moss to grow.

OR: Create some living graffiti. Paint your chosen design on any shaded, damp vertical or horizontal surface. Porous, moisture-retentive surfaces work best (brick, wood, coarse concrete).
The moss starter method works best if it is kept moist until well-established. A
twice-weekly misting with a spray bottle is ideal.

Posted by Andrea Bellamy

*Vegan recipe?*My question was answered in the 17th and 18th comments on the post:

17. hey..im very excited about this possibility, especially because of spring winds blowing through. does anyone know of any vegan alternative though for the buttermilk? my guess is that the milk helps it stick to the wall and i don’t want to use acrylic paint as ive seen suggested elsewhere, so any thoughts? would a simple water/flour mixture work, perhaps? hope everyone’s out there painting in moss!
Comment by fuzzy — April 18, 2008 @ 6:58 pm

18. Hey Fuzzy - I believe the buttermilk acts as an agent to encourage the growth of moss spores… it is full of live bacteria. You could try beer instead. Good luck!
Comment by Andrea Bellamy — April 20, 2008 @ 12:13 pm

the techno-melt

Help! i am having techno-melt. am in need of bloggy help to display comments and labels in blog posts! lost my previous settings and an overwhelmed by search results....

this is what i need:

some relief!

What i am doing tonight and tomorrow...

Wrote about what is going on in the hood in my other blog...

Check it out!

Transitioning Back from Paradise

birds of my neighborhood

Yesterday afternoon our backyard was all a-buzz...or rather all a-chirp with activity.

We had a lot of fine-feathered visitors and a furry one too.

Apparently, the grass and bugs are excellent at our yard cafe.

Don't want to drop names, but here are some of the folks that stopped by:

Dear ole' Ms. Groundhog. (Picture curtesy of a really cool site, Heavy Petal!)
A harbinger of Springy-ness, the American Robin.

The classic cardinal. We heard him before we saw him.

Blue Jay. Beautiful, noisy, and a bit bossy.

A pair of graceful Northern Flickers!

Crows. RIP, Brandon Lee.

A woodpecker, don't know if it was this kind or this kind.

Lots of Starlings.

There were others too, but i didn't catch their names.

And here is the beautiful album that inspired this post title by one of my very favorite bands. Check it out!

Figgy Love

Something to brighten your day...

Send these to someone you dig, and her day will be brightened too.

When cut in half length-wise dried calimyrna figs look like little hearts.

Go ahead, get figgy with it.

*Note: This beautiful idea comes to us via the good things laboratory of Martha Stewarts co-horts/think tank.

**Note 2: I did this and it works! Although, when i sent some to a friend in need of some care their response was, "Interesting Texture." Sigh...we can only try.

***Note 3: To my mind, fresh figs are a gift from the gods. They are divine.

Massage Therapist Meditation

As much as i wish it was, this is not a meditation to draw a massage therapist to you.

It is an exercise given by a dear friend who happens to be an incredible healer of the massage-therapist persuasion (if you are ever in the Wheeling, WV area you can find her at the Oglebay Park Spa).

When i asked her how she clears her mind, here is the visualization exercise she shared...


Keeping your mouth closed, inhale and exhale deeply through your nose.

Visualize the color Pink (she uses a lot of crystals in her healing work so she pictures rose quartz or kunzite, but any pink will do).

Breathe that Pink in through your Crown Chakra and out your Heart Chakra.

Then reverse it...

Visualize breathing Pink in through your Heart Chakra and out your Crown Chakra...

Reverse again and so on...

She added that she also likes to use the color Green.

(These Beautiful renderings of the Crown and Heart Chakra are by Lindy Longhurst and can be found at her website)