Super Simple Homemade Deodorant Tutorial

I've been making Youtube videos again, I'm finding it can be a lot easier to explain a technique by speaking than typing and a lot of pictures at time.

This time it's how I make my super simple homemade deodorant.

Elderflower Recipe Round-up

Summer is finally in full flow here in Orkney and with that comes the late flowering of our Elder trees which are covered in an abundance of blossom this year.

Now I am on the hunt for ways to use them whilst I can, as the berries never set due to our high winds in September.

So follows my round-up of recipes from around Pinterest to give a try...

These Elderflower Ice Pops from The Greedy Vegan

I love Lemon cake to begin with but adding Elderflowers sound gorgeous,

here is the recipe from Daisy and the Fox

Elderflower and Lime curd from A Recipe For Gluttony

A variation on Turkish Delight from River Cottage

Orange and Elderflower Liqueur from Things We Make

Elderflower Jelly from The Greedy Vegan

And of course My own bloggy offering for Elderflower Cordial :)

Homestead Reality Lessons: Episode 1

I've been recording videos again, this time I'm talking a little about some of the realities of running a smallholding or homestead that you may not have learned from watching river cottage or the Good Life.

Dandelion and Rhubarb Mead Tutorial

I've been busy putting together another video for my youtube channel with this tutorial on how to make Dandelion and Rhubarb Mead, hope you enjoy it :)

The Caravan Dyeing Studio Renovation

Well after creating so much mess and awful smells in the kitchen the hubby thought it a great idea to commandeer the old caravan as a dyeing studio. Bye bye Hogwarts Potion lab, hello another room to make practical and pretty :)

As you can see at the moment it is being used for strorage, mostly fabrics and bedding, but I have grand plans for shabby chic vintage styling in the crafting end, and a bank of dying pots and drying racks in the kitchen end :)

Trust me it's gonna look great, you just need a big imagination !!

A Naturally Plant Dyed Handspun Adventure

Well after a couple of months of not great health I finally got my butt in gear and got some handspun yarn listed in my Etsy store, it is something I have been wanting to do for a few years now, and I had intended to a long while now, but other stuff got in the way such as the renovating, health and life in general. There is also the fear of failure with a new project to contend with too of course.

So I have been spinning and dyeing like a crazy busy worker bee, it has been a dream of mine to spend my days spinning beautiful yarns and naturally dyeing them with plants and I finally get to do it.

I'm even thinking of turning the old caravan outside into a workshop. I'm fairly sure John will encourage this as he is already complaining about the horrid smells emanating from the mordant and dye bath cauldrons in the kitchen and working their way through the house !!

I am working on building up a range roving of different colours using various plants to spin up multi-coloured handspun, but also spinning plain yarns in the interim to dye in solid colours and ombre, like the photo at the top of this blog post.

I forget how long it can take to spin and ply up a fairly fine yarn rather than an 'art yarn', 5 hours on average and that is before finishing and dyeing, but it is a joy to do.

I'm choosing to mostly spin with sheep breeds from here on the Northern Isles, i.e North Ronaldsay and Shetland, but I also cant resist working with some of my other favourite fibres too like Merino, Blue Faced Leicester and silk.

My freezer is also now half full of daffodil flowers as the blooms begin to fade I am dead-heading them for future dyebaths throughout the year, it makes such a bright shade of cheerful yellow :)

Betty's Reading Room

Whilst sorting through some photos found on my camera I came across these I took on a trip over to Betty's reading room a few miles along the road from here.

This cosy spot was constructed as a fitting memeorial to Betty Prictor by a pair of friends of her's Craig Mollison and Jane Spiers.

The building was an old cottage which was donated to them by a local farmer which they then proceeded to renovate into the reading room and drop in spot you see now.

Books come and go and anyone is welcome to visit, it is also conveniently near to the Tingwall ferry terminal so when waiting for the Rousay boat you can stay warm and dry.

There is a TV interview which was filmed and shown on the BBC news website which you can watch HERE   :D

Not All Rural Life is Rosy

This week has in part been one of those where as a blogger we gloss over the shittier parts of smallholding which usually only shows the quainter aspects like raising baby chicks and pulling home-grown carrots. 

Now dont get me wrong there has been plenty of the nicer stuff like a light dusting of snow and calm sunny cold winter mornings, but I'm not gonna lie, there is plenty of crap mixed in with it, and I mean that literally.

For instance one of our cockerels doesn't like me so chicken chores have to be done with a shovel in one hand in case he attacks me (never bothers hubby though). We also have a duck separated at the moment as she has problems oiling her own feathers and gets soaked andcold in bad weather, add to that our 2 young Buff Orpington cockerels don't seem to realise she is a duck and keep... well umm... 'pouncing' on her!

To top all this off we have had the drains backing up and a toilet that would not go down, resulting in fishing around in the septic tank, digging up sewage pipes and too much time spent with arms down toilets, wonderful. 

Thankfully we did not need to remove the toilet, I was having an anxiety attack envisioning removing said toilet and ruining the bathroom floor and waste water to clean up everywhere in one of the few finished rooms in the house.

Of course now I can't get the scene out my head from Christmas Vacation with cousin Eddie emptying his chemical toilet into the drains, shouting to all who will listen 

"Shitter full !! "

Women's Daily Herbal Tea Recipe and Video Tutorial

I was needing to make up a fresh batch of  my everyday tea this week so thought I would quickly set up the camera and film a demo video, nothing polished but it shows just how easy creating your own blend can be.

This is my usual daily health mix with no added extras for any symptoms or illnesses I may be having, so hope you enjoy and find useful :)

           

Four Winds Herbal Tea Video Tutorial

Today I am sharing a video I created to show to make a herbal tea called Four Winds Tea which is great for trapped wind and bloatedness.

 It comes From a book by James Wong and can be found here: http://goo.gl/ltXpfo on amazon. I hope you enjoy the video and the Tea.

        

My Witchy Temple Room Tour Video

I decided last week to do a wee tour video of my witch 'craft' room and altar space and giving more detail than a written blogpost or instagram photo could do. I hope you enjoy the tour :)