Natural Dyes

I took a short workshop in February on natural dyes, paints, pigments, and paper which was really inspiring. I have been experimenting with different plant based dyes including onion skins, beets, red chard stalks, California Mountain Lilac, and wild fennel. It is super fun and fulfills my need to not throw ANYTHING away - (shout out to Mom for the lifelong guilt for wasting). 

I soaked my textiles in Alum Sulfate beforehand, but someone told me that Alum Acetate is apparently better for cellulose materials (plant based textiles). 

This is the onion skin dye, which only boiled for two hours and the yarns only soaked for about one hour. The color is vibrant and it took almost no time. 

 

Here are the drying yarns lookin pretty in the sunshine. 

 This is the beet/chard dye. It sat in my fridge for five days while I waited for the Alum to come in the mail, and it didn't work to dye the yarn very well. I think the dye probably needs to be used immediately to have the greatest staining power. Now it kind of just looks like a dingy white and purple tangle. Going to retry with fresh chard stalks! 

Rainy February garden

Here are some savory and sweet photos of all the little details happening in our garden right now, after a long windy day of rain yesterday and a day of sun showers today. 

Blueberry flowers (hummingbirds were pollinating them this morning)

Daffodils (I am trying to force pollinate them.... more on that later)

A winter sunflower, almost blooming!

volunteer lavender

And finally, some pumpkin seeds to save for spring. I saved lots of pumpkin seeds this fall of myriad varieties and am super excited to see if I can have a full squash garden over the summer. 

Soap / toothpaste recipe!

I can never remember to buy toothpaste, shampoo, hair products, cosmetics, etc. It's one of those things where I forget all day until I go to brush my teeth and bam! the tube is empty. Or bam! my shampoo is gone and I have to borrow yours (sorry). 

So I decided to just make my own, in bulk, with only natural ingredients. It's probably one of the best choices I have made in a while. Not only am I using products that I feel good about, having made them myself, but they don't contain any preservatives, sulfites, or other weird chemicals.

Here is the easiest recipe in the world (arguable maybe) for making toothpaste which doubles as body wash:

1. baking soda

2. coconut oil

3. essential oils

I looked at a ton of recipes which contain other speciality ingredients but just these three are working pretty well for me. I have been using the coconut oil toothpaste at night and Tom's during the day, because I'm not sure if my recipe is totally successful yet. (Breath / cavities results pending).

Mix baking soda with coconut oil (I heated my oil for easier mixing. Funny aside - there was some foil seal left on the plastic bottle and it sparked my microwave. Exciting!) Add 10-20 drops of oils to start. 

Then, test it out. Too salty? Dilute with more coconut oil. Or add more oil. 

To turn this sucker into body wash, I added more and different oils (like orange, which I want on my body but NOT in my mouth). Then I mixed in some coarse sea salt to act as a scrubbing agent. You can do so many different things, just be creative with the key ingredients. 

Mariah Carey

Why have I never seen this video?

Blueberries for Sal

Hey, guess what? I made this video for one of my classes. I want to show it to my students next year (or any other years in the future). 

Just click through with your arrows until you get to the youtube video and you can watch me read you a book out loud. This is one of my favorites from when I was a kid. :) 

Blueberries for Sal

Tuscan Bread

This recipe comes from someone's More Bread Machine Magic book, but works just as well self-risen and baked in the oven. I learned this one day when the machine inexplicably decided to stop working. 

Tuscan Bread

Dissolve 1 packet of dry yeast in 1.5 cups of warm water

Mix in: 2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar

3 cups flour

I also mixed in a jalapeño, and a half of a zucchini, both diced finely. 

(You could do shredded veggies of all types). 

Rise ~2 hours, beat once in between if that's your style. Roll into a luscious log, or a toad stool, or a regular looking baguette. I cut a star into the top of mine too and the veggies peaked out.

Baked at 375 degrees F for 40-50 minutes. Use a knife test to see if yours is done. 

And just for fun, here is a real toad stool (Amanita Muscaria) seen the other day at Sibley Volcanic Preserve when some friends and I climbed the top of a volcano. There were bright red mushrooms everywhere after the long rainy days we have had. 

Quilts in Progress

These are two quilts I have been working on for a little while, both for amazing women that I work with who are having babies next year. The first is a material I posted a photo of a long time ago, and just finally found the most perfect gray fabric to back it. It has little puffs all over and will match the colors nicely. The second is a log-cabin quilt and my first time using a real pattern and not just slapping remnants together. The dark/light fabric will continue around and hopefully look a little bit like a gradient or steps. 

Central Coast

This weekend I surprised T with a little trip to the central coast. We made pit stops in Seaside, Monterey, Point Lobos, Moss Landing, and Capitola. Point Lobos is my favorite chunk of nature to explore: I went once last winter when it was colder but just as sunny and windy.

More pictures on my flickr from this year and last year's trip.

Barcelona

Photo only post because I have no words for how much I liked Barcelona. 

British Natural History Museum

To be honest, I thought the Natural History Museum in London was a bit dusty and boring. Nothing compared to our brand new and super interactive Oakland Museum of California's natural science exhibit. So I left the back door a little disappointed and stumbled on the best part of the museum, it's outdoor ecosystem garden! The garden features different ecosystems in England and had beautiful benches and rocks to sit on throughout. There is also a plaque in front of a mysterious mound of rock explaining that there lies ancient dinosaur footprints, right there, in that very spot. So cool! 

Here are just a few of my photos. See more and more of my entire trip to Europe on my flickr, here.

View of the museum in the background. 

I wish I had seen a wild fox while in London too. Apparently they live throughout the city, which seems likely since there are so many parks. 

Mugwort Magic

A gift from Jessica's garden, tons of mugwort which we thought were in bloom, researched, and discovered we had harvested loads of flower buds. Anyway, I used a portion to make sleep sacks for vivid dream recall, tea for overall health, and a tincture for topical salve.