Garden update after moving

I brought five plants with me when we moved: basil, Romaine lettuce, green bell pepper, zucchini, and squash. The zucchini and squash seem to be slowly withering, while the others are thriving.

Anyone have any suggestions for the squash and zucchini? I took off the dead stuff yesterday and shook out the leaves, carefully. I also rinsed the leaves down on the top and backsides. I'm afraid they really might just need more space, but I can't plant them yet, unless our homebuilder would let me... The basil looks a little withered in the picture, but it just got water, so it was thirsty.

DIY Roll-on Sunscreen

We tried some sunscreen by Kiss My Face that's approved by EWG, but we didn't like it ant it was expensive. It did the job well, but it didn't rub in easily or well. So, I started looking for a DIY natural option, and here's my first outcome:

Almond oil -- originally purchased off Amazon; 16 oz for around $10

Dark glass roll-ons -- Amazon; $8

Carrot seed essential oil -- Amazon $14

Other essential oils -- purchased various places for varied prices

Here are some tips about DIY sunscreen and such: 

When using essential oils you should store in dark containers because light "kills" essential oil. 

Carrot seed oil, from my research, naturally has around 35-40 SPF, which is the highest.

Almond oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter all have around 2-5 SPF, so they're great additions to a DIY sunscreen since they also moisturize your skin. I'm going to do a post on making sunscreen with some of those items too.

Citrus oils do not belong in sunscreen; they encourage the sun's rays instead of repelling them!

Sunscreen needs beeswax to be semi-waterproof, so this mixture isn't waterproof. Stay tuned for a post on waterproof DIY sunscreen.

I put in about 12 drops of carrot seed first, the same amount of one of the other oils, and then filled each container with almond oil. I snapped on the tracking ball and lid, and then swished the mixture around. Carrot seed oil carries a strong earthy scent, so you definitely want to tone it down if you use it. Even with 12 drops of another oil in each batch, you can't really smell the other oil, but it does tone it down some. In fact, you may just want to wait to apply this until you're outside. It should work immediately, unlike purchased sunscreen. 

We moved!

We have been in the Central Valley of California for a week now. It's hot. Pros, so far:

• Costco here has a great organic selection of produce and other items
• Amazing Farmer's Market that included a chef making an easy recipe with items that could all be purchased at the Farmer's Market (post on this recipe to come)
• Produce of your choice, organic chicken, eggs and milk can be delivered to your door, and it's all locally grown
• My plants seem to actually be enjoying the warm morning sunshine
• Most importantly, a short drive to the grandparents' house

I have a new sunscreen in the works using carrot seed essential oil. I'll let you know how it goes after we try it out a few times.

Natural Bug Bite Relief and Healing

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Lemon.jpg

Last week I hung out with my cousin outside a coffee shop because it was too noisy inside, it got dark, and we got bit by mosquitos. I had probably ten bites total. Within a few hours of noticing the annoying itch, I was flipping through Facebook and saw natural relief for mosquito bites posted by Mama Natural. One of the suggestions was to rub lemon right on the bite, so I did.

After 1 day of lemon rubbing: It relievef the itchiness, not completely though. The lemon also seemed to be healing the bites well. The redness spread out from the bite, but the skin was less puffy.

After 2 days: The skin just had red sections where the bites were instead of any raised sections. Some of the bites scabbed and fell off. The bites were much less itchy.

After 3 days: On the third day after getting bit, I only needed to relieve itchiness once, right when I woke up. The bites continued to heal, becoming smaller red spots that were no longer itchy.

For other suggestions, see 9 DIY Home Remedies for Relieving Itchy Mosquito Bites

Review: Alaffia Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash

I purchased the Everyday Shea Alaffia super-size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash a few months ago now. I really love the lavender scent, but I'm partial to lavender. I find it incredibly soothing and relaxing. Anyways, we got the vanilla mint fragrance in the body wash because my husband doesn't like lavender as much, and that smells like winter fresh gum!

The shampoo and body wash lather well, but they don't over-lather. They're very cleansing. My hair isn't frizzy from this shampoo, which is an improvement. Overall my hair is smooth and has nice body since switching.

We tried mixing some Dr. Bronner's soap with water for our body wash, but it wasn't doing the job, so we got this instead. The fragrance is fabulous and it works a lot better. I just got a set of Bass exfoliation gloves for washing with, too, and I love it!! My skin is noticeably smoother! I'm not brushing off dry skin with my towel when I get out of the shower because the gloves are getting all of it off in the shower instead. I recommend the exfoliation gloves to everyone! I got my pair at Sprouts for about $5.50.

All-Natural, Moisturizing Almond Oil

For years I've struggled to find a lotion that actually helps my reptile-like, dry hands. Actually, I never found anything that kept my hands moist for a significant period of time or healed them thoroughly. Winter was so brutal, and summer could be bad too if it was dry enough. I would put this super-cream on my hands at night before bed at those times of the year because that would ease the itchy dryness. However, like all of my other lotions, it had toxic chemicals in it, so I got rid of it a few months ago and looked for an alternative solution. I found that pure almond oil is a great alternative, so I bought NOW Foods brand off Amazon:

I got a 16-ounce bottle for just under $10, and I only need three to four drops for my hands, so it will last a long time! It's not fragrant, so you can mix in an essential oil if you want. I did that for a massage oil. You can also get bottles in four, eight, or 48-ounce sizes off Amazon.

How do my hands feel now? They're never itchy or cracked, and as long as I apply the oil daily, it smoothes on the surface level too. Even if I don't apply it daily, my hands never feel uncomfortable.

There are other oils you can use as a moisturizer, such as jojoba oil or coconut oil (alone or mixed with almond oil), but almond oil was very inexpensive compared to jojoba and it works!! I use coconut oil for my deodorant mixture, and it would take a lot more work to massage into my skin, so I'm sticking with pure almond for now.

Garden Update Week #4

My plants have been growing so well!! Here's my lettuce:

The original lettuce is growing tall, and the one in the pot is growing fabulously. I don't think the others are getting enough sun. Here's my zucchini:

It's had four blooms on it, so I'm very excited for the fruit it will give us! Here's the squash:

A couple weekends ago I replanted the squash and zucchini into five-gallon metal paint buckets, and since then the squash has taken off! It looks like it will flower soon. I love the metal paint buckets because they look cute and they were under $3 each! My husband just punched three holes in the bottom of each one with a hammer and a screwdriver. Why buckets? We're moving soon, and I really wanted to take my plants with me. When I re-planted, I added a little 10-10-10 fertilizer, as suggested by Omar, and fertilized the rest of the plants in the yard also.

When I re-planted a couple weekends ago, I also planted green bell pepper seeds. I have kept it in the house though in a bay window in the dining room. Finally, this week I noticed a tiny green sprout!

I also grow green onions in clear jars in the bay window. All you have to do is change the water each day. I had no luck growing them from seeds in the yard.

A couple weekends ago, I also bought a large sweet basil plant and re-planted it in a metal bucket too. I have yet to take the time to use it in any of my cooking, but I have plans to make my own pesto in the future. In fact, I recently pinned a recipe for pesto to my Pinterest recipes. Check it out!

Lastly, here are a couple roses that bloomed recently. They're so beautiful, I had to share!