Solar Food Dehydrator

Many of you are dehydrating food in order to preserve it. In a conversation recently with the Shibaguyz, I promised to post pictures of my solar food dehydrator. I bought it about fifteen or sixteen years ago from an advertisement in Earth Garden or Grass Roots (I can't remember which). It is called a Solar Safe and is manufactured in Euroa; the address is RMB 2317 Euroa, Vic 3666. I do not know whether or not they are still in production nor how much they would cost.

I'm thinking that a handy person could probably construct one of these. In deference to the intellectual property of the person(s) that designed it and also because they have a "Patent Pending" sign on the side, I'll just list a few of the measurements. You'll need to work out a detailed design for yourself if you want to make one. There are plans for various solar food dehydrators on Mother Earth News, but all are different to mine, so I thought I'd add it to the melting pot.


Here is the front view. The cover appears to be polycarbonate (laserlite) sheeting. It is held down by battens on the top and sides and by capped screws along the bottom. It seems to be pretty good at keeping any moisture out. There is an overhang of a few cm at the bottom, which shields the bottom vent.

As you can see, the bottom of the drier and the back panel are covered internally with black plastic.





This is the side view. Again, the side is covered with polycarbonate sheeting. The height of the side panel is 24" (61cm) at the apex and it is 28" (71cm) long on the base.






Because of the triangular side design, shelves are staggered and so each shelf gets a bit of direct sunlight. Food placed on the top shelf tends to dry fastest, so I often shuffle the food upwards, as the top layer dries.

I forgot to take a photo of a shelf, but they are basically rectangular wooden structures with plastic mesh attached. The bottom three measure 22" (55cm) x 12" (30cm). The top shelf is 22" x 8" (20cm). The shelves rest on wooden runners and are easily removed or fitted through the open back door.


Here is the back panel. It is 24" (61cm) high and 25" (64cm) wide. It consists of a top meshed part (the back vent), a door and a bottom support. The back vent is about 2.5" (6cm) high and extends across the entire back.

The door is held in place by wing-nut type catches. There should be a knob in the centre top of the door, but mine has fallen off (note to self: replace knob before next drying season!).

Here is a close up of half of the back vent.
Here is a close up of half of the front vent. It is about the same size as the back vent, only positioned at the lower front, under cover of the polycarbonate sheeting.



The principle employed in this drier is that the air is heated by virtue of the sun and the black plastic. Because warm air rises, cool air is drawn in at the bottom, warmed, and expelled at the top. This creates a nice air current for drying the food.

The dehydrator is virtually vermin proof, as everything is fairly tightly fitting. The only issue I have ever had is with ants, but that was solved by having a moat around each leg, so that the ants can't crawl up. The way to do this is to get four average sized tin cans (or similar) and turn them upside down inside larger tins cans (or ice-cream containers or similar). Rest the dehydrator on top of the four smaller tins and place water in the larger vessels. This way, you have water which the ants cannot cross and the wooden legs (which are about 6" (15cm) long) are not sitting directly in water.

Hopefully this is enough to get you started on your own solar dehydrator project. I like this design because it is simple and compact and can be carried by one person. Food dries in a day or two (depending on original moisture content, thickness, etc) and of course, it uses free energy and lowers our impact on the planet.

love and light
naturewitch

Some Meditations

I receive daily emails from the Australian Meditation Society. Here are a few recent ones for you:

Tuesday, 30 September 2008 - Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. - Martin Luther King Jr

Sunday, 28 September 2008 - Live simply and take life more easily. Happiness lies in giving yourself time to think and to introspect. Be alone once in a while, and remain more in silence. - Yogananda

Saturday, 27 September 2008 - The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy. It depends upon the way we occupy that place. -- St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Enjoy!

love and light
naturewitch

Happenings in the Garden

After surviving (cross fingers!) two exams today, I wandered out into the garden to clear my head late this afternoon. Here are some of the things happening . . .

Here is the first purple asparagus spear of the season. It may just find itself being eaten tomorrow night! This is the fourth season for the purple asparagus in our garden. Given how much it produced last year, I'm already thinking of preserving some.


And here is the first Greenfeast pea flower of the season. The Red Flowering Peas are yet to produce any blossoms, but when they do, I'll post a pic.
Some beautiful broad bean flowers . . .


And the first of the Solomon's Seal rhizomes that I planted a while ago is off and running.

Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum multiflorum) is a magic herb. Its tincture, made from the root, can be used to heal ligaments and tendons. Somehow, this amazing plant knows how to shorten stretched ligaments and tendons and lengthen short ones, bringing the body part (eg, ankles) back into perfect alignment.

Some people refer to Solomon's Seal as the "herbal chiropractor". Matthew Wood calls it the Indispensible Muscular and Skeletal Remedy.

Some blackcurrant cuttings I took a few weeks ago (from the prunings off the blackcurrant) now have little roots attached to them. I'm hoping they'll develop further and I can obtain some more big blackcurrant bushes.

Marshmallow seeds I planted back in Autumn have sprouted when I had almost given up on them (shame on me!). Here are some of the little darlings I hope will soon grow into rampant plants.

Marshmallow (Malva sylvestra) is great for treating dry irritating coughs and as a mild astringent for gastroenteritis.

Happy Gardening!

love and light
naturewitch

Herbs to Plant

Many of you are looking at being self-sufficientish, so thought you may be interested in hearing about some basic herbs to plant in your gardens you can use to treat simple ailments.

Borage - for the worn down person with just too much to do (sound familiar? :)); include chopped leaves and flowers in salads and drinks for a refreshing cucumber flavour, but don't eat too much!


Calendula - such a gorgeous sunny plant, great for burns, cuts, grazes and nappy rash. The petals are also great in salads. Essential if you have children. Will post soon on making ointment of this - really I will :).

Aloe Vera - use the juice for burns, especially sunburn. Again, great when there are children around.

Thyme - fantastic for sore throats and chest colds. In some cultures, they drink a cup of thyme tea every morning during autumn and winter to strengthen their bodies against lurgies. To make the tea, simply place 3 or 4 sprigs in a small tea pot, add boiling water and let steep for 5-10 minutes. Delicious with juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of honey, especially Manuka honey.

Sage - also great for sore throats. Make an infusion with thyme and gargle to aid a sore throat. And you can swallow this gargle if you like. Breastfeeding mums may want to avoid sage, though, as it will dry up your milk.

Parsley - chock full of vitamin C and iron, a great pick me up for everyone, especially those with heavy periods or anaemia.

Rosemary - great for soothing furrowed brows and aching muscles and for aiding the digestion. Also good for memory and a bee food in late winter.

Garlic - fantastic to eat whenever your body is struggling with an infection, it may also help some people during times of hay fever. Slice up fresh cloves and add them to your cooking in the last couple of minutes - this gives you the great healing properties of raw garlic, while reducing the breath and body odour. Don't ask me why, but it really seems to work.

Elder - see recent post.

Dandelion - don't pull them out, let them grow (well at least some)!! Use their leaves in salads as a bitter herb to aid digestion, brew up a tea of the leaves for fluid retention and dry and roast the roots for a coffee substitute, which is also good for your liver. Just make sure you have positively identified the plant as dandelion and it is not something that merely looks like it.

Chamomile - the flowers are great for soothing teas for people who find it difficult to relax and good for helping babies and children during teething; great for babies of all ages.

Feverfew - if someone in your house gets migraines, this may be the very herb they need.

Basil - a good digestive aid, it is also very effective at relieving some headaches. I combine it with lavender and peppermint to help reduce the severity of migraines.

Lavender - as well as being beautiful to look at, lavender oil is great for healing burns and the flowers can be used in combination with basil and peppermint for migraines.

Peppermint - great for colic and digestive upsets, but don't use for someone who gets oesophageal reflux; helps cool and soothe hot heads.

Yarrow - magic for deep cuts and wounds which are bleeding freely. Stuff some leaves into the wound to stop or slow the bleeding, while you seek further medical attention.

Melissa (Lemon Balm) - lovely soothing tea to help those "busy bees" in life calm down and relax.

Marjoram - as well as being a culinary herb of merit, some marjoram oil on the temples, a cup of marjoram tea or even a generous sprig under the pillow will help people get a restful night's sleep.

These are just a few of the wonderful healing herbs suitable for a domestic garden. As always, this information is intended for general interest only and is not intended to be medical advice. Please consult your health professional for assistance with any health issues.

love and light
naturewitch

Using Less and Valuing More

Well, the energy and water bills are in for this quarter, so it's time to make a comparison with the same period last year. Our consumption of:

• Gas is down by 8.5%
• Electricity is down by 15.5%
• Water is down by 8.9%

I am absolutely thrilled! And the best thing is that I don't think it has impacted on our lifestyle at all. We have simply tried to be mindful of what resources we are using. It's amazing what we can all do if we try.

So what have we been doing?

• Not having mega showers, although from time to time we have to remind someone who is taking a while
• Not heating as much - we reduced the temperature by about 2 degrees and covered up a bit more; we were still comfortable and upped the heat a little if people were sick
• Consciously turning off lights and unplugging appliances not in use (except for the TV which is always plugged in because it's too hard to get to the plug and the clock radios and things like that)
• Turning off our computers when not in use
• Cooking some foods such as oats and rice by bringing them to the boil then turning them off and leaving them to cook in their own heat

Things we could do to further reduce our energy and water consumption include:

• Eat more raw food ;} and/or obtain a solar cooker
• Have shorter showers (we try to keep them short, but we're not turning the water on just to rinse or anything like that yet)
• Install a grey water recycling system - we do put the water from the laundry out onto the garden (only with low sodium detergents, of course!) but we are not harvesting the water from the shower yet
• Mulch more in the garden

I'm sure there's a lot more we could do; I don't think we are really doing the hard yards yet.

As for other areas of resource consumption, such as transport - we are using the bus more, but because my partner's children's other home is 90km away, trips back and forth do add up to a bit of petrol. Even so, we have reduced our petrol consumption to one tank or less per week. And growing some of our own food and trying to eat as locally as possible, means our food miles have come down as well.

The other side effect we've noticed over the past year is that we are generating a lot less rubbish. We no longer put our bin out every week and even when it goes out it is generally only half full. Most weeks we would only generate about two shopping bags worth of rubbish. Even the amount we put out for recycling has reduced, as we are endeavouring to re-use things before recycling - most of my purple asparagus seedlings are quite happily growing in tin cans and the potatoes are coming up through a cover of shredded paper.

The way I feel about all this was summed up nicely in an email from the Meditation Society of Australia the other day:

How inspiring it is to walk all day in the sunshine and sleep all night under the stars. What a wonderful experience in simple, natural living. Since you carry your food, sleeping equipment, etc., on your back, you learn quickly that unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. You soon realize what the essentials of life are - such as warmth when you are cold, a dry spot on a rainy day, the simplest food when you are hungry, pure cool water when you are thirsty. You soon put material things in their proper place, realizing that they are there for use, but relinquishing them when they are not useful. You soon experience and learn to appreciated the great freedom of simplicity. - Peace Pilgrim

love and light
naturewitch

Candida

Many people can have problems with candida (yeast) infections without knowing it. Symptoms can include recurrent thrush and/or urinary tract infections, fatigue, malaise, lack of concentration, etc.

Candida Saliva Test
Here is a free and easy home test to check your system for a yeast/candida infection:

When you awake in the morning, before you put anything into your mouth, work up some saliva and deposit it into a clear glass of water. After about 15 to 30 minutes, look through the side of the glass. If there are strings coming down from your saliva, or if the water turned cloudy, or if your saliva sank to the bottom... you may have a yeast or fungal concern!

This site has another quick test you can do to see if you might fall into this category.

If, after doing these tests, you think you might have an issue, please see your health professional.

love and light
naturewitch

A Couple of Recipes

Wheat-free, Dairy-free, Sugar-free Date Loaf

This sounds somewhat impossible and you may wonder if it is actually edible, but I assure you that this recipe is not only edible, but quite delicious.

Ingredients
1¼ cups chopped dates
1 cup fruit juice (I use grape or apple, but any sweet juice will do)
1 teaspoon mixed spice
½ cup oil (I use rice bran or macadamia oil)
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 large eggs
½ cup oat bran
¾ cup wheat free flour (I use a 50/50 mix of Orgran and FG Roberts plain gluten free flours)
2 teaspoons baking powder

Method
Place dates, juice, spice, oil and bicarb soda in a saucepan (large enough to mix everything in) and bring to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes until dates are soft. Stir well and cool.

Add eggs to the date mixture and beat with a wooden spoon. Add the oat bran and stir in. Finally add the flour and baking powder and mix with wooden spoon until well combined.

Pour mix into a well-oiled loaf pan (about 21cm x 11cm) and bake in a moderate oven until a skewer comes out clean (about 45 minutes). Leave in pan until cool before removing.

This cake will last for up to a week in a sealed container.

Note: the presence of oat bran makes this recipe not gluten free, but it is wheat free. If this is an issue for you, simply replace the oat bran with gluten free flour. I like to include the oat bran as it is great fibre for our bodies, assisting our intestines and helping to clear out excess cholesterol.


Soy Eggs

Ingredients
Hard boiled eggs
Mayonnaise
Soy Sauce
Chives
Parsley

Method
Peel hard boiled eggs and split lengthways. Scoop out yolk halves and mash together. Place whites on plate.

To mashed eggs yolks add about 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce for every 6 eggs. Combine together until smooth. Add more or less mayo or soy to taste (especially as I cannot remember the exact proportions). Finely chop chives and parsley and add to mix.

Place teaspoonfuls of mix into the whites and they are ready to eat.

Bon Appetit!

love and light
naturewitch

Pics from the Garden

I snuck out into the garden this afternoon after class and took a few snaps to show you.

In the vege patch
Here are the snowpeas ready to get climbing. They are Yakumo Giant snowpeas and they can get as long as 12cm or so and still be lovely and tender.
The unidentified leafy green, which I think is English spinach. Its leaves are thicker than usual. Consulting my open seed packets reveals it may be Mediana variety.

The artichokes are really getting ready to go forth and multiply when the warmer weather hits.

And you can see the baby beets around them, gradually getting chubbier and ready to munch.

But what has been eating my baby artichoke?

And here's one of my purple asparagus seedlings. Doesn't look very purple at the moment, but it does have quite a way to go . . .
















Meanwhile in the herb garden
The Tarragon is just peeking through after its winter sleep . . .

And Yarrow has produced some babies!

Sweet Violet has just started to bloom . . .















And Melissa is growing under cover of last year's growth, yet to be removed.

The Applemint is creeping outwards . . .

And Pennyroyal is consorting with some mint (haven't worked out who just yet)!


Lovely Angelica has survived the winter thus far


And Rocket's in flower

Next to a self-sown seedling



And here's the first Comfrey leaf of the season
















Over to the fruit trees
The nectarine is in blossom . . . .

And the quince is about to burst into leaf



















For the soul
Gorgeous, fragrant blooms - Daphne, Jonquil (Erlicheer) and Hyacinth - what a lovely trio!






















Hope you enjoyed your little visit to my garden.

love and light
naturewitch

This Weekend in the Garden

I didn't get done anywhere near what I had wanted, but the snow peas are now weeded, hilled and mulched, with a few parsnip seeds and carrot seeds planted to keep them company. I also managed to put some wire between the stakes we put in a little while ago, so they now have a trellis to climb as they grow.

Excitement set in last week as I noticed that the purple asparagus seed I planted a few weeks ago has mostly germinated. Today I counted 44 baby asparagus plants, out of 65 seeds sown. Given they are just emerging (the tallest one would only be about 15mm high), I'm hoping for more little asparagus babies over the next few weeks.

Didn't do quite so well on the artichoke front. To date, only three seedlings have appeared, but there's still time for more. The seed was over a year out of date, so I'll try some fresh seed and see how that goes. Meanwhile, in other parts of the garden, the artichokes are growing well, so I'm sure we'll have heaps of artichokes to eat later in the season.

Wandering around, I noticed a couple of leafy green plants in one of the beds. Unfortunately, when sowing the seed I didn't label it, so was not so sure what it was. It looks like spinach, but maybe it's some sort of turnip? A quick feel underground reveals no tuber; a quick munch reveals spinach. Wish I could remember what type it was; I think it was something a bit different. The leaves are thicker than usual, but just as yummy. It's now three hours later and I haven't dropped off my perch, so I'm guessing it's OK.

The potatoes I planted about a month ago when I was planting the kiwi fruit have now made an appearance. They get a bit of protection where they are, so I'm hoping they will be OK if we get any late frosts.

Checking on the carrots led to three lovely long ones being pulled up and grated for lunch, alongside one of our winter lettuces. The beets are coming on and I must start pulling up some of the larger baby beets to thin the rows out for the others.

Apart from all that, the deciduous herbs are starting to wake up, with one of the comfrey plants, a French tarragon and some of the mints sporting green leaves again. It won't be long now before spring really will have sprung!

love and light
naturewitch

Elders

A few of you are planting Elders and I am soooo glad. They are a veritable medicine chest, although not all parts are used these days. Here are some bits and pieces about Elders for your amusement and general information.

Elder is a smallish tree up to 10m tall, which generally has several hollow stems arising from the base of the plant. The leaves have 5-9 leaflets, which are ovate-lanceolate and lightly toothed. The small creamy-white flowers have 5 petals and are held in an umbel about 20cm across. Sambucus is fast growing (eg, my four year old plant is over 3 metres tall) with thin, spindly growth in the first few years. The trunks and branches thicken only in later years as the tree matures.

In Australia, Elder has the status of introduced weed and it is prevalent in cooler regions of southern Australia where it has been spread into bushland by the aid of birds. Elder enjoys high rainfall and rich soils, often colonising low ground. Low lying ground naturally attracts moisture, frosts and cold air, which tie in with the Elder's Underworld connections.

Elder has been used since prehistoric times. It was well known to ancient Greek physicians such as Hippocrates, Plinius, Dioscorides and Galen and was purported to be the tree upon which Judas hung himself and that Jesus was crucified. Pan pipes made from Elder were considered to produce the most haunting music and so the Elder was linked to Pan in Greek mythology. [Pan, in his pursuit of Syrinx, is left holding nothing but a reed when the nymphs turn Syrinx into a reed in order to protect her. Pan then takes seven reeds and turns them into the first pan pipes.]

In northern Europe, the Elder was linked to the Elder Mother (aka Hylde-Moer or Lady Ellhorn), who needed to be offered something in return for a part of the plant. In western Europe, the Elder was considered to be the door to the underworld and the fairy realm. Cradles were never made of Elder wood for fear that the Elder Mother would steal the baby away into the Underworld. Hans Christian Anderson used the Elder in stories such as The Daughter of the Marsh King and The Little Elder Mother.

Elder commands great respect. You should always ask respectfully for a part of her, be it the flowers, berries, leaves or cuttings. It is also prudent to offer something in return. So for example, you may acknowledge her importance, ask for her permission to pick her flowers and state that you will one day pass on and your body will be returned to the soil to nourish her kind and others in the plant kingdom. Above all, thank her for anything you take from her. You will generally find the Elder to be quite agreeable to your requests if stated in this way.

Many authors follow Mrs Grieve in stating that the word Elder comes from the Anglo-Saxon word æld, meaning fire. But latterly, Wood suggests that the word Elder comes instead from hulda, as in the Icelandic huldafolk, meaning the “hidden people” or fairies. The Elder is therefore associated with magic, fairies and Pan, Lord of the Underworld. In fact, my Elder is planted at the bottom of my garden, which is where the fairies usually reside. . .

Charlemagne (Charles the Great), who ruled the French empire from 768 to 814CE, decreed that every household in his empire have an Elder planted in the garden, to be readily available as a “medicine cabinet”. Parts of the Elder were used wherever bodily channels needed to be opened, eg, as a purgative, diaphoretic and diuretic, as well as an emetic, emmenagogue and expectorant.

Elder is traditionally used as a diaphoretic in fevers, colds and influenza; for sinusitis, nasal catarrh with deafness, pleurisy, bronchitis, sore throats, measles and scarlet fever; and topically for treatment of inflamed eyes, skin disorders, wounds, burns and liver disorders.

Constitutionally, Elder is a great infant remedy, especially where there is pale blue swelling across the nose and red, dry irritated skins on the cheeks and cheeky parts of the body. It is also suited to elderly people with blue swollen ankles and anywhere there is stagnation of fluids and blood with pale blue swelling and red, dry irritated skin. Elder is also well suited to sanguine children with strong personalities, who may be poorly socialised and resistant to taking directions and may be classified as "hyperactive".

In modern herbal medicine the main parts used from the Elder are the flowers and the berries. The fresh flowers are highly purgative and so they are generally dried before use. The fresh berries can also have a purgative or laxative effect, so I wouldn't recommend "pigging out" on them.

As well as making tinctures from the flowers and berries for medicinal use, you can make elderflower cordials or elderberry wine. Some good recipes for elderflower cordials are on the Selfsufficientish site. Elderflower cordial is very refreshing in summer, especially mixed with mineral water.

As always the information supplied is for your personal interest. You should consult a professional herbalist if you think you are in need of any herbal treatment.

love and light
naturewitch

Flea Collars

My dear man asked me why I had a ready supply of vodka that I could use for the strawberry liqueur. Well, the answer was for herbal tinctures (although I mostly use brandy for those) and for flea collars. The thought struck me that others might like to know about them also, so here is the recipe.

For each collar:

• 2 teaspoons vodka
• 1 drop cedarwood essential oil
• 1 drop lavender essential oil
• 1 drop citronella essential oil
• 1 drop thyme essential oil
• oil from 4 garlic oil capsules

Blend together and allow the collar to soak in the solution. Lay the collar out to dry, before putting on your pet's neck.

The collar should be an absorbent one - I found some suede looking ones at the pet shop that seem to do the trick for the boys.

The recipe is modified very slightly from the one in The Fragrant Pharmacy by Valerie Ann Worwood. The author says that the collar should be effective for about a month, but I've found that after a few treatments, the collar is effective for up to three months.

The cats seem not to mind this collar anywhere near as much as the commercial ones. They've been wearing these for about five years now and I've not seen a flea yet.

love and light
naturewitch

Strawberry Liqueur

We picked up some strawberry "seconds" at the farmer's market last weekend and I thought I'd make a few pots of jam. Well, I didn't get a round tuit on the weekend, but the berries (what we hadn't eaten) made it to the pot early this evening.

The strawberries were in the pot, simmering away when I noticed there was a fair amount of liquid in the pot, even though I'd only added the juice of a couple of lemons. The evil plan was hatched (tee hee :)). If I only potted up the berries and some of the syrup, I could use the rest of the syrup for strawberry liqueur.

Quick trip to the liquor cabinet revealed a bottle and a little bit of vodka. Some quick calculations and 800ml 40% vodka + 500ml strawberry syrup = 1.3L strawberry liqueur at 25% alcohol. Should work.

Scurry back to the stove, skim off the fruit and some syrup - two pots of strawberry jam. With assistance from my dear one, we strained the syrup, mixed it with the vodka and bottled. Taste test (of course!) revealed a fruity drink, obviously quite alcoholic. Will taste sooo great this summer on ice with a sprig of mint!

Oh, and we are so having oat cakes for breakfast to check out the jam.

love and light
naturewitch

Shredding and Milling

Inspired by the Crone's Mount Mulch, I decided to get the shredder out of the shed on the weekend and convert some prunings into mulch. Well, I ended up converting Mount Prunings to Mulch Molehill! It is absolutely amazing how much the pile shrinks when shredded.

On a totally unrelated note, I finally got back to milling some soap a little while ago and thought I'd share the results with you.

I know a lot of you are making basic soaps, but I'm not sure how many of you are milling your soap. Milling soap is when you grate up your basic cured soap and remelt it. You can then add all sorts of things and they don't react with the soap ingredients, so you don't lose the fragrances, colours, etc.

To mill soap, add 3 parts of water by weight to every 4 parts of grated soap, eg, to mill 600g basic soap, you add 450g water.

Slowly remelt it over a low heat, stirring occasionally but not too much or it will go frothy (if it does, you can always turn it into floating soap by giving it a good stir to incorporate lots of air).

When the soap is remelted, add whatever ingredients you like, eg, nut butters, pureed fruits, oatbran, honey, etc. Remove from the heat and stir gently until the soap stops shrinking and is relatively thick. Pour into moulds. Lightly tap moulds on the bench or table top to remove air pockets. Place in a warm spot. Remove from moulds in a day or two, then leave to dry for a couple of weeks before using. You can trim off any little extra bits if you like to neaten them up, but I don't usually bother.

Most authors recommend milling within a few weeks of making the basic soap. I've found, however, that if you are patient with the remelting process, that you can mill soap at any age. The older the soap, the drier it tends to be, so you may need to add a bit extra water, but it still seems to work. For example, the soap I used recently was actually about 8 or 9 years (yes, years!) old. Admittedly, there are some white parts in the finished soap where the base soap had not melted completely, but I think that just adds to the charm.

For moulds, I use whatever little containers I can get my paws on - generally the little plastic containers they put camembert in are a good size. You can also use milk cartons, then cut across to make soap slices.

Now, to satisfy your curiosity - the soaps are (clockwise, from top left) mandarin and passionfruit (pulped mandarin and passionfruit fragrance); pawpaw (pulped pawpaw skin); jasmine scented yoghurt soap (out of date berry yoghurt found in back of fridge); and shea nut butter and honeycomb (from bees, not confectionery).

Milling soap is such a fun thing to do from time to time that I recommend you try it! And the finished products make great gifts.

love and light
naturewitch

Lunar Eclipse

While I was taking the cats for a walk early this morning (between about 5:45 and 6:15am), there was a partial lunar eclipse. The earth was blocking the top part of the full moon. This is roughly what we saw.

love and light
naturewitch

Solar Rooftops

From the latest Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) bulletin:

Take action: 1,000,000 solar rooftops in 15 years!

ACF wants to see a million solar rooftops within fifteen years. To do this at least 1000 Australian households need to install solar panels every week. An excellent way to achieve this would be if households get paid for all the electricity their solar panels generate. Send an e-mail to Environment Minister Peter Garrett now, asking for the introduction of an effective national solar feed-in tariff by July 2009.

This sounds like a great opportunity to lobby for solar subsidy.

love and light
naturewitch

Cosmetics

Lots of us try to be careful about what we put on our skin for many reasons - our health, the environment and our finances, to name a few. But what are we really using?

A couple of friends have recently emailed me about a cosmetics ingredients site that may interest you as well. There is an American site: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ which tells you the possible effects of ingredients in cosmetic products. Although the site is American, because a lot of cosmetics companies are multinationals, you'll find heaps of familiar brands.

I looked at a few items and it was scary what they contain. My favourite body butter (my main cosmetic indulgence), for example, contains ingredients linked to cancer, developmental / reproductive toxicity, allergies, immunotoxicity, etc, etc. And it is one touted as being "natural"!

Well, it looks like it's back to the kitchen for me - I've never quite managed a moisturising cream that's completely satisfactory, but I'll give it another go.

love and light
naturewitch

Are Animal Manures Organic?

I had an interesting conversation with someone the other night about organic gardening. He maintained that the animal manures we can purchase (eg, cow, sheep, poultry) are not truly organic products because of the hormones and/or antibiotics the animals are fed.

However, most advocates of domestic organic food production seem to use them, as I'm sure do most of us. The person I was talking to said that he considered the only "organic" fertilisers commonly available to home gardeners were fish emulsion, seaweed extract and home-made compost.

Granted, the fish emulsion and seaweed extract probably are "organic", but we know our oceans and waterways are often polluted and are therefore contaminants will most likely be present in the fish and the seaweed. As for compost, how many of us manage to have the only components in our compost fully "organic"? For example, I add shredded paper to mine, which I would almost guarantee is not totally "organic".

Which leads me to wonder about the time it might take for "non-organic" components to break down to the point of being relatively harmless. If this break down does occur within a reasonable period of time, maybe the manures we buy are OK, as they tend to be heat composted.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

love and light
naturewitch

Another Fun Day in the Garden

Today was another productive day in the garden. I dug over a neglected area of the garden to plant my red pear and put the mattock through a dock. I decided to try to identify what sort of dock it was and I think it may be yellow dock or Rumex crispus, which is the medicinal dock. Before getting too excited, though, I'm going to confirm with my herb teacher tomorrow.

Yellow dock is great for a host of ailments such as liver congestion, gall stones, spleen and lymphatic conditions, psoriasis and constipation, as well as promoting the flow of bile and cleansing the blood. (As always, this information is intended for interest only and any treatment of these conditions should be done under the supervision of a qualified herbalist.)

Apart from the great find, I planted a few things today:

• 20 Lily of the Valley pips
• 40 Solomon's Seal tubers
• the red pear
• a female and a male kiwi fruit

It started to rain at that point, so I had to come inside, but the rain will water everything in nicely. Don't you just love the way that nature provides us with what we need?

love and light
naturewitch

Delightful Day in the Garden

I cannot be cooped up for too long, so I've found the past couple of weeks or so very frustrating, as I've recuperated from my horrible lurgy. However, this morning dawned beautifully fine and feeling somewhat recovered, I headed for the garden.

The first delight that greeted me was a lovely buzz coming from our early flowering peach - about two dozen bees were already at work, drinking the lovely peach flower nectar. I tried to take a photo, but alas it didn't come out very well. Actually, this peach tree was one I bought from someone at the local farmers' markets. It was supposed to be a yellow fleshed bottling peach, but turned out to be a white fleshed eating peach. It has some of the best peaches I have ever eaten, so the mix up is long forgiven. Can't wait for the new crop.

Another delight was discovering some little waxy potatoes in an area I was preparing for kiwi fruit. I had planted potatoes in this area the summer before last and apparently, a few have continued to grow. They made a lovely warm potato salad for lunch, accompanied by fresh herbs, baby beets, carrots and winter lettuce, all from our garden - not bad for the middle of winter!

While I worked in the garden today, I was serenaded by a local family of magpies. The song from Australian magpies is indeed unique and is especially beautiful on a Sunday for some reason. I found a lovely fat scarab beetle larva while digging and threw it to one of the magpies who then watched me keenly for the rest of the day, awaiting further treats. No more fat grubs, unfortunately, but the family did come down and dine from our compost heap, as well as checking over my diggings.

During the day, I was also talking to my neighbour and saying that I wanted to get some bees. Apparently, he has had the same thoughts, so a hive in the back yard should not present any problems. I just have to source one now.

And at the end of this gorgeous day was a chat with my sister, a lovely hot shower and dinner with my darling man. Hope your day was just as great.

love and light
naturewitch

The Joys of a Hot Shower and a New Desk

I stood under the shower late this afternoon and gave thanks to the sun for heating the water and thanks to our local authority for having dams that supply us with running water. How luxurious that shower felt! And how many people don't have that luxury?

The truth is that I have been a mad woman today, rearranging bookcases and other furniture about the house, all because I got a desk for my study so I don't have to take over the kitchen table any more. So I was tired and dusty and the shower went down a treat.

When I went looking for a desk the other day, I decided to check out the local classifieds first (always been a fan of second-hand items and op-shops). There were heaps of second-hand desks, many of which people were struggling to sell. I guess that people in Canberra generally just go out and buy things brand new. Anyway, I found the perfect desk in the next suburb for the bargain price of $60.

This got me to thinking about what will happen to all those other desks on the classifieds? Will they all find new homes? Will they eventually be dumped? How much are we, as a society, reusing items for which others no longer have a use and how much are we just going out and buying things new, just because we can? And what is this costing our planet?

I'm pleased with my desk. It meets all my needs and fits the space we have beautifully. The "desk miles" were not that many and we are using something that someone else no longer needed. It was a great purchase for us and also for our planet.

love and light
naturewitch