Weekly Garden Update 8/10/16

Update time!!

We have, as of yesterday, caught FOUR groundhogs trying to make a meal of my garden. Sorry you adorable little garden munchers. I didn't start seeds and set alarms to remember to water and build beds and haul dirt so you could eat my maters. 

Since we got the trap from a friend everything is coming in so much better!

Before we had the trap they ate all of my cucumber plants, much of my zucchini plants, and would nibble all of the tomatoes the moment they're start to maybe kinda sorta look ripe. 

I've yet to eat a single (good) tomato out of my garden. 

BUT.

BUT.

BUUUUTTTTT!!

Look at all them little flowers. All a dem little flowers are eventually going to be tomatoes and I'm going to be one of those people with tomatoes falling out of my ears. I can't wait. 

The word to describe this week's garden update is SOON. 

A few tomato plants have been pulled as they'd taken on too much damage. Remaining ones all have flowers and are setting fruit. 

Pepper plants are setting flowers and fruit.

Cucumber bed has been replanted with an early variety

Fall/Spring bed has been weeded and turned and will be seeded with cabbages, brussel sprouts, kale and a bean plants to replace the ones that were eaten.

Drying beans are rebounding well. Fresh bean plants were all destroyed by the groundhog.

ok. i ate this one but had regrets. It wasn't ripe :(

There were 6 plants here but they ate them all

I was all OOOO EXCITING IS THIS WILD CARROT??!!
nah. it's ragweed. Bye boo, bye

This bed was full of cucumbers. It's been replanted with an early variety.

July Ipsy Bag Review

I debated about posting about makeup. 

Your blog is supposed to be about gardening and hippie shit, Yvonne. Not makeup.

Then I remembered it was my blog and I do what I want.  

So here's my July Ipsy Bag. Forgive the crappy picture, I was wrestling all the shiny things away from little hands. 

July's bag comes in a shiny iridescent bag with a pattern of beach umbrellas. 

Included (from top, clockwise):

Ofra Cosmetics lip liner in Maya

Thrive Causemetics Infinity Waterproof Eyeliner in Lauren (matte black)

Luxie Beauty Luxie Rose Gold Small Angle Eye Brush

Too Faced Hangover Replenish Face Primer

Briogeo Curl Charisma Rice Amino + Quinoa Frizz Control Gel

So what did I think of all these things?? Well, honestly, Ipsy has been banging it out of the park for me the last few months. It's been all sheet masks and marine cream over here and I've been so happy. This month was just "Meh". 

Ofra Cosmetics Lip Liner - I like the color. It's a brick red that will likely go well with a few lippies I wear already. I was going to try it with my NYX Liquid Lingerie in Exotic at work the other day and got in the office and realized I'd left the lippie in the car and only had the liner in my pocket (GASP). It was hot and we were busy so I just used the liner and some gloss and it looked fantastic. However, the liner itself is a little dry and didn't go on as smoothly as I would like. I would likely not buy.

Thrive Causemetics Eyeliner -  OMG yall. I'm in love. This eyeliner goes on so smooth. So incredibly smooth. There's a bit of a learning curve involved though, because it goes on so smoothly. One light swipe and you're good. The end includes a sharpener and a smudger to give a smoky look. I will most definitely buy this when it runs out. 

Luxie Beauty Angled Brush - Well, it's a brush. It brushes. I've used it to stamp wings and it does that mildly ok. It's very soft though so it's not even super at that.

Shrugs. Just another for my arsenal.

Too Faced Hangover Replenish Face Primer - This stuff is amazing. I was not sold on the usefulness of primer at all until using this. I'm not exactly sure what magic it infuses into my skin but that beat GLOWS when I put this on first. If nothing else in this bag is useful, I'm so happy I got this. I used the last little bit from my bag today and a tube is already bought and purchased and on it's way.

  Brigio Curl Charisma - Ipsy had been doing well with the hair products. I'd gone two months without any. But here we are again. I'll give it to someone who can use it because I sure won't. My locs have tons of charisma, but thanks though. 

Final rating of this month's bag? C+

I love the eyeliner and the primer but everything else was a wash. 

What did you get? How did you feel about this month's bag?

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?

Suburban Herbalism - Plantain

When I was young, I remember playing on the playground with these plants with a long stem and a small oval shaped round thing at the top. We would pick the stem and tie a lose knot around the bottom of the round thing. Pull it just so and the round thing would fly off. Sound familiar? That was plantain!

Plantain is your best friend when bugs bite or your skin is itchy while you're in the yard. It's almost everywhere. There are two varieties of plantain typically found in yards - narrow leaf or broad leaf. Narrow leaf is the above described plant. At the base of the stem there are narrow leaves. The broad leaf variety has a broader leaf and the stem is lined with seed pods. I typically work more so with broad because it's what I have growing.

broad leaf plantain, busted toe

Using plantain is fairly simple. You'll use what's called a spit poultice. So lets say you're hanging out in your yard and get bit by a mosquito or stung by a bee. Just grab a leaf or a few of plantain, chew it up a bit, and slap it on your bite. Rub it in a bit and leave it on there, replacing as needed. You may cover it with a bandage to keep it in place but you want to let it breathe if possible. You can also prepare an oil. I'm making an oil this week so will post about that when I'm done so I'll have pictures to share!

A spit poultice is an effective, quick way to take the itch or sting out of an insect bite while on the go and a easy to recognize and use introduction to backyard herbalism. Plantain is everywhere, look for her while you're out and about and say hello!

Herb: Plantain

Use: Skin irritations, insect bites, stings 

Preferred Vehicle: spit poultice, herb, salve

As plantain is used on broken skin, a tincture wouldn't be ideal as it would involve alcohol on a wound. A tea or infusion would also be less ideal as it's being used to treat an acute and isolated ailment. 

Fermentation Super Duper Incredibly Basic

Currently, my favorite way to preserve is by lacto-fermentation. Basically, delicious controlled rot. 

Fermentation is using the good bacteria to crowd out the bad and turn ordinary vegetables into super veggies! Gut healthy, probiotic rich, bioavailable vitamin heavy, immunity boosting SUPER VEGGIES.

The good bacteria we're aiming for here is largely lactobacillus which is an obligate aneorobe which means it thrives in an environment free of oxygen. To get this we submerge our veggies completely in a brine solution. 

So what's in this solution? How do we do it? 

Salt is a must have. We have to control the numbers of bad bacteria with salt. Depending on what vegetable we use we may need a different salt solution percentage. Find a good recipe and follow it closely. 

The controversy comes in with whey v no whey. Until recently I've always used whey, following the advice of Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions. I'm now experimenting with fermenting using a heavier brine solution without whey on the idea that whey, while introducing good bacteria, doesn't introduce the right good bacteria and can prolong the process. I'll let you come to your own conclusions on that. It makes sense but I've used whey all along successfully. They only draw back is if you're not a cheese or yogurt maker it can be a pain to come across which is why I'm trying not using it. 

So that's basics. I highly recommend Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz to learn more. 

My fermentation station - ginger bug, honey garlic, lactofermented garlic, sauerkraut, kombucha