Rain Country Homestead

To call it a "Latte" is a bit of a stretch since I rarely make up my own cup with milk, though the homemade coconut or almond milk is really good in it. Mr. likes his with some raw goat milk.  It all started in trying to come up with both a coffee replacement and a way to get more healing spices and roots into my daily diet to help with our thyroid since I had made the choice to take us both off our prescription thyroid medications.  The main focus in this  was both the Maca  root and Ashwagandha root.  These roots are adaptogens, meaning they help the body cope with stress of any kind, and both are very beneficial to thyroid and adrenal function.   Here is a snippet from an article on ashwagandha by Dr. Josh Axe:  Animal studies reveal ashwagandha has a thyroid hormone balancing effect.  In a 20 days study mice were give ashwagandha and their T3 and T4 levels were analyzed along with lipid peroxidation (anti-oxidant protection).  Significant increase

Have you ever read the ingredients in store bought skin creams? Truly atrocious! Here are two general rules when it comes to ingredients in beauty products: 1). If you do not recognize what it is, it is most likely toxic and should be avoided. 2).   If you should not eat it, you should not be putting it on your skin. Whatever you put on your skin gets absorbed into your blood stream so you might as well be ingesting it. Some the common toxic ingredients found in most store bought skin creams regardless of the price, from budget creams to the high button shoe variety, are:   Parabens, Propylene Glycol,   Sodium Laurel Sulfate, Synthetic Fragrances, Triethanolamine (TEA)/Diethanolamine (DEA), Behentrimonium Chloride, Aluminum. Those are just a few of the long list and these things can cause a plethora of health issues such as rashes, kidney and liver damage, urinary tract and bladder infections, and cancer.   That is just a sampling of the health impact of

This was our second year to get a good harvest of grapes and this one much bigger than the last year.  Since our Niagra White grapes are not seedless, the best thing for us to do to preserve them is turn them into juice that will have many uses through the year.  I do not have any fancy juicing equipment, I just do it the somewhat "old fashioned" way - though I do not crush the grapes with my feet...yet...haha! I start by rinsing my grapes and picking out any bad ones and leaves.   I then put the grape clusters, stems and all, into a big pot and put a shallow layer of water at the bottom, this is mostly to keep the grapes from burning.  I place my big pot on the wood stove and mash for a bit with an old school potato masher.  I then cover with a lid and let simmer for a half hour or so, periodically lifting the lid and mashing more. If using a conventional stove, I would say set it to medium heat. Once the grapes have been mashed thoroughly, I

Pansies have a wealth of health and medicinal benefits that many people who grow them for their beauty alone may have never heard of. All aerial parts of the plants are edible and medicinal. I love the slight wintergreen taste the leaves and flowers (when the whole flower is eaten) have. The petals alone are rather bland but add an amazing pop of color to salads. Here is a brief list of some of the medicinal benefits of the Pansy (Also known as Heartease): It is an anti allergen and its mucilaginous properties mean it is very helpful for colds and flus as it soothes coughs and sore throats and is also helpful in treating fevers. It is also good for treating asthma, bronchitis, and even whooping cough. Consuming fresh pansies or drinking infusions on a regular basis can help to lower blood pressure and prevent heart failure. Its vulnerary actions make it great for skin with its anti aging properties and helps with disorders such as eczema, psoriasis, acne, and

I have been making my own seasoned salt for over 20 years. It all started when I got my hands on Amy Dacyczyn's Tightwad Gazette book collection.  At that time it was three separate books but now can be found consolidated into one Complete Tightwad Gazette . I think it was in book three I found a recipe for seasoned salt and since modified it a bit to suit our tastes more.  It also spurred me into making other blends like my Mexican popcorn seasoning blend, and I will share that recipe in another blog post in the future. When I first started making my own seasoned salt many years ago, it was for the purpose of being frugal.  Now it is much more than that.  Take a look at the ingredients of most store bought blends.  They will have at least one or more of any of these ingredients such as GMO corn, MSG, or silicon dioxide.  Good grief! By making your own, you can not only cut out all that nastiness and save money at the same time, you can also choose better quality herbs a

Making your own tartar sauce is not only very frugal, it is also quite simple and far better for you than store bought.   I preach it all the time about reading those labels, you will find all kinds of things that serve no real purpose (other than to make a product more appealing through appearance or texture) and are very unhealthy.  Commonly found unsavory and toxic ingredients in store bought tartar sauces are Calcium Disodium EDTA, soybean oil, and high fructose corn syrup. If going with the super simple method, one only needs two ingredients: mayonnaise and  relish.  However, if buying these store bought, you are still looking at either paying a lot of money for ones without all the nasty ingredients or you are still getting the same garbage you would buying the premade tartar sauce. For me, I start by making my own organic mayo from farm raised chicken eggs, avocado oil , homemade vinegar, mustard powder , and salt .  In this batch, I used some eggs I had boug