Time to start fresh This is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. Don’t go into the new year burdened by the unwanted or unnecessary remnants of 2014. Start the new year off with a clean slate. Make a goal to clean one room or closet this month and give at least one box or…
In case you couldn’t tell, I love herbs. I’ve been cultivating a perennial herb garden for four or five years now. I use herbs for everything–home remedies, soothing cosmetics and, of course, cooking. I have some favorites–basil, of course. And parsley is a long-time friend. But I have to say, for versatility, comfrey comes in…
Sometimes it’s hard to get enough vegetables into your family’s diet. You think picky toddlers are difficult? Try stubborn teenagers. One of my favorite ways to hide veggies is using veggie powder. You can put it into soups, casseroles and (my favorite) meat loaf or meat balls. I use it in the place of crackers…
It can be a challenge getting herbs to survive our Midwest winters. But it looks like most of my herbs survived the winter OK. I mulched the St. John’s Wort and the Arnica Montana last fall. Both were new plants last year and both are hardy to Zone 5 (we live in Zone 4 and…
Cultured dairy is a great way to get calcium into your diet as well as introduce health-promoting probiotics. When we talk about cultured dairy everyone thinks of yogurt. Unfortunately, many of the flavored yogurts in the store no longer contain live cultures. So you might be getting the taste of yogurt but you’re not getting…
In the dead of winter, when everything is frozen and bleak, Mother Nature blesses us with a ray of warm sunshine: Citrus fruit. This is the season that citrus fruit is harvested and so there’s plenty. It’s abundance means it’s on sale a lot. And a good thing too–this is when we are most prone…