In season

Today for lunch I made butternut squash soup using half a squash left over from my Dinner for Henry Pizza. I modified this  healthy recipie, adding milk at the end to add some bulk and thicken it up a little bit- though if you wanted to stay vegan, you certainly could.
After finally figuring out what is what in the garden, I harvested a decent amount of collard greens. I wanted to keep this lunch as healthy as possible and also wanted Mom to eat it (she despises collards with bacon fat) and didn't want to go to the store. So, in big pot, I combined the greens, some prepared salsa, garlic, some onion, about 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for a while. Next time, I'll add less vinegar. Once the green were limp and tender, I spread some soft herbed cheese on whole wheat toast points and topped with a spoonful of the greens. OMG! so good! The cheese was a good counterpoint to the greens. And the soup balanced the whole thing out.
Norm ate the whole meal! Mom liked the greens, and so did Dad, a born and bred Southerner.

Baby steps

I've been doing a lot of yearning for my own piece of land- to grow a substantial garden, to raise goats for milk and meat (and maybe wool?), to have chickens for eggs and Sunday dinner. To produce many if not most of the things I need. To have a homestead.

Right now, I am where I am and I have to do what I can with what I have. So I'm taking baby steps; soon I will be able to take a big leap- knock on wood.

One baby step is to make my own shampoo and conditioner. I use recycled bottles so I save packaging. The soap base is Dr. Bronner's so it's bio degradable. With the exception of the lavender and the nettle, the herbs came from my garden. (I tried various ways, but lavender just won't grow here for me from seeds. Too wet and warm I think.)

Amy's Homegrown Herbal Shampoo
4 oz. Dr. Bronner magic soap (I used lavender because I'm addicted and it's what I had on hand)
one cup herbs ( I used Rosemary, peppermint, lavender and nettle: If you have light hair nix the Rosemary and use chamomile- it brings out highlights.)
about a cup and half of water
glass jar with tight fitting lid ( I used a rinsed out pasta sauce jar)
plastic squeeze jar ( a recylced shampoo bottle would work; so would a plastic salad dressing bottle)

Boil water and pour it over herbs in glass jar. Screw on lid and let steep for about 10 minuets. Strain out herbs- I use a kitchen strainer though cheese cloth would work too. Really squeeze out the herbs to get every last bit of liquid. Add the herbal water to the soap. After it's cool I check to see if it foams up enough for me. If not I add more soap. This isn't an exact science.

Some other nice herb/soap combination:
Mint soap and Rosemary, nettle, peppermint
Lemon soap and basil, nettle, lemongrass
Tea tree oil soap and lavender, nettle

The nettle helps your hair soak up the herbs.