Fall in Love With Handmade Giveaway Hop: 3 Lucky Winners!

Welcome to the Fall in Love With Handmade Giveaway Hop! I have been working hard over the last month to find some wonderful sponsors I think you all will love.

The Fall in Love with Handmade Giveaway Hop is hosted by Going Green with the Grizls , The Vagabond Studio, and Eight Days a Week! In this great event, a large group of bloggers are offering prizes valued at $15 or more and everything is handmade! You can find the list of participating bloggers at the bottom of this post under the Rafflecopter form. Make sure you hop around and enter all of the wonderful handmade giveaways. The more you enter, the more chances you will have to win the grand prize! The giveaway ends on September 15th, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. Good luck!

Our hosts have also put together an awesome grand prize valued at more than $470! The grand prize includes:

Foodie Friday: Cherry Kale Crackers for Baby and Family

We go through a lot of finger food snacks in our house, especially crackers and rice puffs. Between my high metabolism and our little nugget’s love for food she can feed herself, snack foods go fast. I try to buy healthy, organic snacks but this can be expensive.

MontanaSolarCreations Sponsor & Review: Living Vibrations-Ancient Oils

Today I want to share with you MontanaSolarCreations sponsor, Living Vibrations- Ancient Oils.

Ancient Oils is is the brand name for Living Vibrations' all natural aromatherapy products. Each product is designed and handmade by owner and Holistic Practitioner Lilly DelValle.

MontanaSolarCreations Sponsor & Review: Balm! Baby

Today I want to share with you MontanaSolarCreations sponsor, Balm! Baby.

5 Ways to Reuse Veggie Steaming/Blanching Water

Did you ever look at the colorful water left in your pan after steaming or blanching veggies? It always amazes me to see what colors the water changes to. 

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the reason it is colored is some of the nutrients from the veggies have leached into the water. All the more reason to NOT dump that nutrient dense water down the drain!

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

We have so much to be grateful for this week, here are the highlights:

MontanaSolarCreations Sponsor: Hip Mountain Mama

Today I want to share with you MontanaSolarCreations sponsor, Hip Mountain Mama.

Zucchini Mock Crab Cakes

This recipe for Zucchini Mock Crab Cakes has been in our family for a number of years. I remember back when my mom first found this recipe and made it for our family. We loved it so much it became one of our favorite recipes to use up our abundance of zucchini in the the summer.

MontanaSolarCreations Sponsor: The Indigo Forest

Today I want to share with you MontanaSolarCreations sponsor The Indigo Forest.

We first met Kellie from the Indigo Forest when she linked up to our favorite weekly blog link-up,

Our Birth Trauma & A Healing Journey

My hope in writing the following post is to share our story about facing a traumatic birth and coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Postpartum Depression so that it may help someone else out there who is having a similar struggle. 

There is no need to suffer in silence. There are many resources out there in communities and online to help families through these difficult times. It is never too late to reach out and get help.

Please note that the following post does have some detail that may be difficult for some readers. I

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn over at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

Although I did not sit down every evening this week and write my daily gratitudes in my journal, I found that throughout my days I was thinking about things I was grateful for.

 Sometimes I would stop and take a few minutes to write them down in my journal. Sometimes I would just smile and think to

Things to Look Forward to

In two weeks we will be participating in the "Fall in Love With Handmade" giveaway blog hop that starts on September 1. What's so great about this upcoming giveaway? It will all be handmade items from a variety of crafters and creators! I have been working hard to coordinate some wonderful sponsors for this

Foodie Friday: Wild Morel & Garden Harvest Walnut Pesto

I’d been wanting to make pesto all summer, but every time I went grocery shopping I looked at the pine nuts and just couldn't bring myself to fork out the high cost of what they’re selling for right now. While camping with some friends a few weeks ago, one family made walnut pesto

Nature's Band-Aid

I once heard that Yarrow was Nature's Band-Aid but had never tried it. Recently when we were out in the woods exploring, I found a meadow filled with native perennials including yarrow. I had a small knife with me and began harvesting. My intent was to harvest the yarrow along with some Ceanothus and dry and use for tea.

DIY Blown-out Carhartt Button Waistband Repair

My husband is part owner of a solar business so is constantly up and down ladders, roofs, crawl spaces, and attics. Needless to say he is hard on his clothes so he is primarily a Carhartt guy and Carhartts are expensive.

So a few weeks ago when he told me he blew out the metal grommet button

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

This weekly post on Sunday is truly my favorite post each week, the one I most look forward to writing and sharing. Whether you’re a blogger and want to join in the link-up or you just want to write your own gratitude in a journal just for yourself, I encourage you to do so. 

The act of writing down your daily or weekly gratitudes is something to be grateful for, a wonderful way to reflect back and realize what we truly are blessed with and grateful for in our lives. 

Get Rid of Wasps & Hornets Naturally!

The last few years we had a horrible issue with wasps and hornets. They love to build nests in the eaves of our old house and underneath the solar panels on our roof. If they kept to themselves it wouldn't be an issue, but they are obnoxious pests with a terrible sting! 

It was getting to the point we couldn't be outside on our deck which is one of our favorite spots in the summer. When we would try to eat outside, the bees flew around us and landed on our plates and occasionally on us. When it was just us we managed, but this year we have our little nugget.  When those nasty wasps and hornets started landing on and near her we decided the bee killing war was on!

We tried using the wasp/hornet spray killer from the hardware store but it was pretty nasty stuff and didn't seem to make a dent in the population. 

Then one day my husband came home with several different types of bee traps from the hardware store. One was a common plastic one you see a lot of other folks using and the other one was a pretty glass hive shaped bee trap.

We were desperate for anything to work so we could be outside on our deck again. We followed the directions for both of the bee traps and hung them up along the deck. Both called for using a "bait" such as rotted meat or fish to lure in the bees and both came with a little capsule of "bait" to use the first try. The glass one had us put in the "bait", a little juice and a squirt of dish soap.

We were pretty disappointed after the first week. A week later still only 2-3 bees and the "bait" had dried up. My husband rinsed out the glass one and put in just a little fruit juice and hung it back up.

Wow! That was all it took for those bees to start flying in and getting trapped. It is amazing how simple it is! Basically the bees are attracted by the fruit juice and climb in a little hole in the bottom of the glass hive. There is a removable cap on top for easy clean out but the bees can't get out when the cap is on. The plastic one still wasn't catching bees even with fresh "bait".

A week later I cleaned out the the glass hive  filled with bees, added fresh juice and less than a half hour later had several bees trapped.

 Imagine just how full it gets after a week! There are dozens in there by the time I clean it out, so thick it is solid bees covering the bottom about 1/2 inch deep! I clean it out every 1-2 weeks and put in fresh juice. Easy, simple and all natural.

 

We've noticed a HUGE difference in the wasp and hornet population around our house. We spend a lot of time out on our deck now and rarely have one pestering us. 

Who would've thought that a simple glass hive and some fruit juice would be the answer to our war on bees?!

We found our glass hive at a local hardware store but they're also sold here online.

May 2013 update: I've had some recent questions from folks who are worried about trapping their "good" pollinator bees in a trap like this. This year when I hung our glass hive trap outside I kept a closer eye on what we were catching. Our intent was to only catch the wasps and hornets, not the "good" bees like bumblebees that I enjoy attracting to my flower gardens. We have always hung our glass hive in the area where the wasps and hornets frequent which happens to not be near my flower gardens. 

The results? So far this year we have caught quite a few wasps, hornets and even a few flies! But I have not seen any other bees floating in there. Not to say it won't ever happen, but with plenty of colorful, scented flowers in our gardens to attract those bees it seems they don't frequent the area near the glass hive.

 

***If you enjoyed reading this post, please join our other regular readers and subscribe to this blog by clicking here. We are so grateful to our regular readers and feel so blessed, thank you all!

Shared on: 
Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Homestead Barn Hop, Natural Living Monday,Wildcrafting Wednesday,Simple Lives Thursday, The Homeacre Hop, Sunday School Blog Carnival, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways,    
Party Wave Wednesdays, Simply Natural Saturdays
The Gathering Spot, 

Foodie Friday: Garden Harvest Scramble

After harvesting a nice haul of produce from our gardens, we were all hungry and needing some lunch to refuel us for the afternoon’s projects. I couldn't resist sharing a picture of my little helper, a future gardener in the making!

A friend recently gave us a dozen eggs from her chickens so I decided to

Blooming Beauty

While I do love veggie gardening to be able to grow and harvest food for our family, I am first and foremost a flower gardener. I am always amazed at the exquiste design and beauty of each flower, so many shapes, colors, smells and uses. 

Here is a little peak into what we have

Preserving Kohlrabi

This spring I decided to a plant a bunch of kohlrabi in our gardens since we now have a tasty family recipe to use them in. Earlier this summer, I shared the family recipe for Kohlrabi Soup that was taught to me by my husband’s German and Hungarian

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

Today we are joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots for

G r a t i t u d e  *  S u n d a y

{Sunday's heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.} 

Highlights of what

Foodie Friday: Dutch Oven Scalloped Potatoes

When it is too hot to turn on the oven and bake, we opt for baking outdoors in the dutch ovens! Dutch Oven scalloped potatoes are an easy, tasty side dish you can bake in the dutch oven outside while relaxing in the cool shade.

Recently I was hosting our monthly book club meeting and wanted to bake some zucchini bread but it was too hot to bake indoors. I figured I might as well make the zucchini bread in a dutch oven and while I was at it, make some scalloped potatoes in the dutch oven to go with

Solar Panels & Offsetting our Carbon Footprint

Having solar panels on your home is such a wonderful way to reduce your carbon footprint and live more sustainability. These days there are many federal and state tax credits available and even grant funds to help offset the expense to have solar panels installed on your home.

My husband is the co-owner of a solar business. To say he is a solar nerd is an understatement. At the beginning of each month, my husband looks online where our household solar production is recorded on a daily basis and tracks a variety of interesting stats. His monthly check is to find out how much energy our solar panels generated last month and what that equates to in our carbon offset.

Choose to Reuse Giveaway Hop: Upcyled Green Up Your Kitchen Set

Welcome everyone to this super fun and ecofriendly giveaway, The Choose To Reuse Giveaway Hop! This fabulous green event is hosted by The Organic Times, Happy Mothering & Earth Faerie Momma. There are quite a few blogs participating and