Use this woad soap recipe to make natural blue soap with specks of darker blue throughout. Part of the naturally coloring handmade soap series. There’s nothing quite like growing a plant, nurturing it through its life, then finally using it in the kitchen or creative pursuit. A full circle of growing, harvesting, making, and finally using that has as much to do with the plate as with the soap draining dish. As you can guess, my main interest, aside from kitchen gardening, is making natural ... Read More about Woad Soap Recipe: Naturally coloring soap blue
Ideas from Lovely Greens
30+ Natural Lotion & Skincare Recipes
Basic lotions, rich creams, and healing balms. Make these natural lotions and skincare recipes using plant-based oils, fragrance, and wax. Imagine walking into the beauty section of your favorite department store. Pots of beautifully packaged creams line the shelves with prices that seem disproportionately large to their sizes. Perhaps you wouldn't bat a lash at them -- the expense is normal. You might change your mind when you learn that the cost of making lotions and creams is really just ... Read More about 30+ Natural Lotion & Skincare Recipes
How to grow Oca, a South American root vegetable (New Zealand Yam)
How to grow oca, a low-fuss root vegetable from South America. This lost crop of the Incas grows edible leaves and up to fifty tubers each. Get a head start growing what I think will become a kitchen garden staple in years to come. The first time I’d heard of oca (Oxalis tuberosa) was five years ago when they were still relatively new to Britain. Also called New Zealand yams, oca is a South American root vegetable that is grown as a major crop in the Andes. It's even said to pre-date the Incan ... Read More about How to grow Oca, a South American root vegetable (New Zealand Yam)
Creative Ways to Celebrate the Winter Solstice
Celebrate the winter solstice with these creative nature crafts, supporting wildlife in winter, warming food recipes, and experiences. When the last leaves fall into the dark of early December, we all feel it. The skies are cold, no matter if they’re grey or blue. Blasting wind batters our faces, but most of all, we lose the light. Dark days crowd in, the commute feels longer, and by the time we finish work or the daily chores, it can be pitch black outside. It can be grim, even if Christmas is ... Read More about Creative Ways to Celebrate the Winter Solstice
Simple Yule Log Cake Recipe for the Holidays
Delicious and chocolatey Yule Log Recipe to celebrate the holidays. It's a shallow cake that you spread with cream and then roll up and decorate. The first time I was introduced to a yule log cake was in French class. Called a Buche de Noel in France, it's a traditional Christmas cake made to resemble a yule log. A big traditional log put on the fire to burn at Christmas. The cake is rich and chocolatey and no doubt inspired by ancient European traditions surrounding the winter solstice. Now ... Read More about Simple Yule Log Cake Recipe for the Holidays
