MommyCon DC 2016

My sign!!

I'm a week out from MommyCon DC and I have to say, the feeling of community - the buzz, the fun, the energy - is lingering. I had such a great time.

I spoke about ways to be sustainable and how to start your own suburban homestead. I was one of the first speakers of the day but that was fine, gave me a smaller crowd to get my feet wet with that level of speaking and gave me the rest of the day to hear speakers and enjoy the exhibit hall (which I did, immensely!). I'm planning an upcoming blog post covering what I discussed so more about that.

After my talk, I enjoyed a talk entitled Queering the Birth Space that dealt with being purposefully inclusive in birth work. It isn't enough to being open to LGBTQIA+ and other nontraditional families. Value is in actively seeking them out and ensuring that they know that the services are there for them in both our actions and in our words and in our education. While I no longer work as a birth worker, I do hold great value in their work and in inclusivity. I really enjoyed what she had to say.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sit in on anything else! I was privileged to be able to assist in the facilitation of a conversation on raising racially conscious children that was a late addition to the schedule. When the email went out announcing that this was happening, I (and damn near everyone else that got the email) was shocked to see that both of the facilitators were white presenting women. I decided to contact MommyCon and ask if I could help. It was wholly inappropriate to have that conversation without a black voice in the lead. I found out that while they had tried to find someone, all the women of color that they'd asked had declined. The facilitators that they did have were from the University of Maryland and did this as professionals. MommyCon was thrilled to have me volunteer and agreed that it was needed. I was very happy with how the conversation went. While I'm not a professional anything by any means I really enjoyed talking and sharing my views and my only complaint was that we needed more time.

I also bought a bumper sticker with placentas on it because of course I did.

The exhibitor space was amazing. So many vendors and information tables and SWAG. Yall, I bought $25 worth of butter. There were people there with this AMAZING ghee and I had to have it. Browned ghee on bread almost tastes caramelized. It was so good.

This was my second MommyCon and I loved speaking. While I do wish there were more brown faces there I enjoy the feeling of community. Here's to next year!

Xza. The Mama behind it all.

My swag

Babywearing in my MommyCon shirt

Suburban Herbalism - Warm infusing oils

Step one to making an herbal oil is to realize that the guy is coming to cut your grass OMG RIGHT NOW.
Step two is to pick plantain behind the bushes and almost get runned over with a lawnmower.
For herbs that are to be used topically, an oil is an excellent first step. From there you can apply the oil as is or use it as a base or ingredient in a salve or lotion.
An herbal oil can be done by either a warm or cool infusion. For the majority of dried herbs a cool infusion is going to be the way to go. Roots or barks and fresh herbs typically need a warm infusion. Why warm for fresh? Because typically the water content of the fresh herb can cause the oil to go rancid in the time it takes to infuse. A warm infusion is done quickly, 8-10 hours max, and a cool will take weeks.
Today I made a warm plantain oil. Plantain is a skin soothing, anti-itch herb found in almost everyone's backyard. I blogged about here.
You'll want to use herbs as dry as possible. Knock off as much debris as you can but don't wash unless you absolutely need to. Only use unsprayed, untreated herbs and try to pick a few days out from the last rain.
Technique is simple and straightforward.
Chop or tear your herbs into small pieces to fit into your jar of choice, cover with oil of choice. Keep plant matter below the surface of the oil. Leave for 8-10 hours.
I typically use olive oil as it is readily available, stays liquid at room temp, and I can buy a whole bunch of it at Costco organic for not a whole bunch of money. Other choices include coconut, sweet almond, avocado, or jojoba. Whichever oil you prefer is typically fine.  For a heat source you can opt for the stove, a heating blanket or a crockpot. You need something that will maintain a low heat for a long time. You don't necessarily want this to get super hot as it can damage the volatile oils in the herb. Low and slow is the way to go here.

I like to use my crock pot as I can set it and go on about my life and not have to fuss with it too much and I can do more than one oil at a time. Place your prepared jar with herbs in oil in the crock pot and fill with water around the jars. Leave it for 8-10 hours. I've done it for more and I've done it for less and it hasn't seemed to affect the quality of the oil too much. Leave it for 6 hours at least. When the oil is done infusing, strain through a sieve or cheesecloth. I like to use cheesecloth so that I can pour it all in there and really squeeze to get all that good oil out of the plant material before composting. Let the oil sit and settle for a little bit, then strain again through a coffee filter to get all the plant particulates out. Leaving those in there isn't going to affect the potency of the oil but it will affect it's shelf life and quality.
So now you have a good infused oil that can either be used alone or as an ingredient in a salve or lotion! GO YOU!! We've all gotten eaten alive by mosquitoes the last few days and I rubbed this oil all over my babies when they got out the tub tonight to help with itching.

I maintain a collection of random small things that will fit inside jars.

herbs, oil, jar, water, crockpot

the top wouldn't fit!

strain it and then strain it again.

Groundhog, revisited

That damn groundhog!
Do you know how much food I'd have eaten over the last few years if it wasn't for that furry butted scoundrel? Last year I had Alden in June so the garden really took back burner. The groundhog ate every single tomato the moment it started to turn even a little bit red and every bean and cucumber plant right down to the ground. Towards the end of the season I made some AMAZING green tomato salsa with what I could get out but still the whole season was a wash.
This year we tore out all our old fencing and replaced it with new and better reinforced and moved our beds around so they'd all be in one place and in one fence.
He's still getting in.
Imagine my surprise when I read that fences are pretty much useless against groundhogs because they can dig 4 feet straight down! FOUR FEET!
As soon as we find where he's getting in and block one hole he's coming in another one.
The other day I visited my favorite tiny house homestead to borrow a havahart trap. It's baited with cantaloupe and waiting for him. It was initially placed where he's coming in but it seems he's found another entrance to come in since we set the trap and eaten even more!
Now the question is, what so we do with it once we find it? Rehome or eat?