Year: 2018

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What’s one choice you made to live more natural lifestyle

What’s one choice you made to live a more natural lifestyle? Just one little change. Every night when you go to bed you face two choices: Option 1) beat yourself up for not making healthier choices or Option 2) give yourself credit for the healthy choices you have made.


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Please choose Option 2. Share some of the healthy choices you’ve already made. I know you can think of at least one. Maybe someone else reading this will be inspired, or will realize that he or she has made a similar choice and finally give him or herself credit for it.

Like what kind of healthy choices?

Ok, I can help you brainstorm.

Think about your meals. Made any changes in the things you eat or how you cook them? Do you grow anything yourself or buy locally?

How about the things you drink? More water. Water with lemon. Less sugar. Less alcohol. Any of those things would count.

What about your skincare or haircare routine? There’s a lot of chemicals in that cheap, store-bought stuff. I don’t expect you to go broke buying the luxury natural skincare, but maybe you found something with less chemicals in it that worked for you. Here are some handcrafted soaps I found for under $10 a bar.

Are you using any natural cleaners around the house these days? For most of my life, I didn’t realize how easy it would be to just make cleaners myself or to use more natural cleaning products, like biodegradable dishcloths.

Exercise? Me neither. Actually, since gardening season is over in New England, you’re probably doing better on this one than I am. But, I said we won’t beat ourselves up today! I’m going to at least stretch and do some yoga poses when I finish typing this and get off the couch.

Here’s a good one. More actively thinking about your breathing. Getting that air flowing through the body. Speaking of air…

Good old outdoors

Remember when someone used to tell you to go outside and play? If you are still doing that, you are living a more natural lifestyle. Gardening. Taking a walk. Putting your feet in the ocean.

You know for me, if I had to pick one thing I do to live a more natural lifestyle, it’d be gardening. Oh, but you might say, I just told you the gardening season is over where I live. Yes, the outdoor gardening season is, but I keep the party going inside all winter.

My natural lifestyle choice is having fresh herbs growing in my kitchen. I use them when I cook at least a few times each week.

Speaking of indoor natural living choices, having some fresh flowers or remembering to water a potted plant would totally count as making good natural living choices. It just gets you in touch with nature a little bit more. Every bit counts.

Maybe it’s just your mindset

Healthier living doesn’t have to always be physical.

Maybe just reading this post and reframing the way you think about your choices is a more natural approach. It means you’re shaking off some social sterotype or negative mindset that comes from living in a highly commercialized culture.

Hey, maybe you found yourself here, reading this post, because you just needed to hear me remind you not to beat yourself up. You probably did something this week that made you 1% healthier. If you did that every week, you’d be 52% healthier at the end of the year.

Actually, that’s not true. It’s better than that. The finance student in me needs to be true to who I am and tell you that with compounding, you’d be more like 67% healthier at the end of the year with a 1% gain every week. But, forget the finance blabbler. Since 67% is better than 52%, it’s fabulous news!

There’s one more thing

One of the most natural choices human beings can make is to connect with other people. We are meant to share ideas, to teach and to learn. We are at our best when we are supporting each other and our communities.

Thank you for supporting this natural living online community. And, thank you for leaving a super quick comment with even one word or one little idea about a healthy choice you’ve made. You’re great. And, you should know how much I appreciate you!

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What makes us buy so many things we can make easily?

Healing calendula herb infused olive oil in a mason jar

One of my professors told me that when he was a little kid in Pakistan, his mother would grab the olive oil out of the pantry, rub it on his dry skin and send him off to play.

That makes complete sense. Olive oil works well on dry skin, even the cheapest olive oil. Actually, cheap oil would be better because the scent is weaker and won’t leave you smelling like a pressed olive. What does a teaspoon of cheap olive oil cost? So little I can’t do the math in my head. You probably already have it in your pantry, too.

Olive oil as a body lotion:
1) works great
2) convenient
3) inexpensive

And yet, like me, you probably also have a bunch of store-bought moisturizers scattered around your house, car and office. If you’re anything like me, you might pull out your winter coat this year and find hand cream you put in the pocket a year ago. I have so many hand creams, I lose them.

I do buy lots of natural skincare products…and pay through the nose for them. When my kids were born, I spent $20 on a bottle of all-natural baby lotion. It was a pretty big bottle but still. After every bath, I would take a couple of squirts of some insanely expensive tangerine and calendula baby lotion and give the kids a little baby massage before bedtime.

In case it sounded like I was exaggerating about the price…

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Lovely stuff, but really pricey.

Here’s a jar of calendula-infused olive oil I made myself for about a penny. All it took was time because I grew the calendula flowers in my organic garden, but at least I know what’s in the oil.

Healing calendula herb infused olive oil in a mason jar

US consumer spending

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the broadest measure of economic activity. In 2017, real GDP in the US increased by 2.2%; of that, 1.7% came from growth in consumer spending (source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis). In other words, people in the US buy a ton of stuff. Buying all that stuff, even if we don’t need it or just because the ad looked good, is like espresso to our economy.

Two main reasons we buy stuff we should make:
1) We didn’t realize we could
2) The ad looked good.

1) We didn’t realize we could

Until someone stumbles across a blog like mine or gets a friend like me to open up to them, it probably won’t occur to him or her to look around the kitchen or garden or farm stand before going to the convenience store. Plus, you know where the convenience store is. Until a few months ago, you probably didn’t know where this blog was.

Most people would be really confused to get a Secret Santa gift basket labeled, “Experience Spa-like Pampering”, and it’s a bottle of olive oil, a bag of cheap sugar and some vanilla. Are you going to bake me? How is this a spa experience?

Then, you read the Directions, “mix thoroughly and shower together”. Now, that’s really confusing. That’s like stunned-into-silence confusing. (Unless you spend a lot of time on Pintrest, in which case, you immediately envisioned a clear glass jar tied with twine and a little cardboard tag that read “DIY Sugar Scrub”.)

In just a few short generations, modern cultures forgot the uses for common herbs and oils. I did, too. It’s been 20 years of part-time study to learn the stuff I write about in this blog, and I will continue learning as long as I’m able.

What’s worse? We use some really gross stuff because we don’t know much about it. None of this was not covered in eighth grade science. You really don’t want to rub synthetic hormone disruptors on your bare hands. Oh but you have, me too. There are usually several of them in inexpensive lotions to extend the shelf-life (many are banned or restricted in the EU) so you can, I don’t know…find a hand cream in your coat pocket a year later, and it still looks the same.

2) The ad looked good

And here’s why we forgot about all this useful stuff. Marketing.

Most of the time, I think marketing is amazing and powerful. Who am I kidding? Without marketing, there would be zero eyeballs on this blog.

It can get out of hand though. Like anything, as a project explodes and makes big time money (i.e. economic profit), more people are attracted to it. The more competition there is, the more humans will feel pressure to compete, including stretching the truth and cutting costs.

There are only two ways to be successful as a business:
1) differentiate your product
2) compete on cost

I’m going to lump, “someone told me it was amazing” into this category. The ad got them to buy it; therefore, indirectly the ad got you to buy it, too.

Once you’ve used it, if there’s no immediate and obvious negative reaction. You assume it’s fine to keep using. It’s not your fault, you have no way of knowing what’s in that stuff. I’ve done the same thing so many times

How does this relate to farmstand culture?

My hope with this blog is to fill you in on all of these simple, quick tricks I’ve learned to make natural living easier. It is exactly what I do for free for all of my friends.

DIY dry shampoo for brown or auburn hair
DIY dry shampoo for blonde hair
Natural skin and hair care

As you keep up with this blog, you will find more uses and benefits for oils, spices and herbs you probably already have in your pantry or…the ones you can find at the end of your neighbor’s driveway available at a quaint, rustic farm stand.

Anyway, it’s Cyber Monday. Go have a guilt-free blast spending within your means.

Here’s a quick link back to a marketing machine, in case you wanted to see those principles of effective marketing in action.  The only thing I’ve done differently here, is highlighted their handcrafted marketplace, which features small batch crafters:

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DIY dry shampoo for blonde hair

DIY dry shampoo recipe for blonde hair

One of my coworkers confessed to me that she tried a store-bought dry shampoo and just didn’t feel like she used it right. It either left white residue in her hair or wore off midway through her day. Meanwhile, she had to breathe in a dust cloud of aerosol spray just to use it. There has to be a better way. As a lover of all things natural, including hair care, I felt inspired to find an easy recipe for DIY dry shampoo for blonde hair that worked.

My personal test of homemade dry shampoo

On Thanksgiving morning, I got up early to finish making a blueberry pie. This is a true story. The rolling, mixing and baking took longer than I thought it would. By the time I finished the pie and looked at the clock, I only had 20 minutes left before we had to leave.

Now we’re all in a rush, and my second-day hair was in need of some attention. All day, I would be hugging relatives and taking family photos. My hair should at least look and smell fresh.

In the past, I’ve used trial-sized, store-bought dry shampoos, but we didn’t have any in the house. What I did have was some spices and cornstarch I bought for the pie filling. How skeptical are you right now? Probably about as skeptical as I was. But, with limited options, I took a risk and tried a DIY dry shampoo recipe that worked great! Read on for the full recipe and my review.

It turns out, homemade dry shampoo is fantastic! You can make dry shampoo with just a couple ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen pantry. For a lot of reasons, homemade dry shampoo is better than store-bought dry shampoo. Another great discovery…by just tweaking one or two ingredients, you can change the color of the dry shampoo. No more white dusty roots!

It is really shampoo?

Not really. It’s not foamy. It’s not liquid. It’s not washing your hair. You don’t rinse it out, but it’s not a leave-in conditioner.

Dry shampoo is a powder that you use to absorb oil, make your hair look fresh and add a pleasant fragrance to your hair.

Five reasons to use DIY dry shampoo

  1. Works great, absorbing oils and leaving hair looking fresh
  2. No chemicals harming your scalp or bloodstream
  3. No aerosol deteriorating the ozone layer
  4. Inexpensive, whip up one batch and store it (pretty much) forever
  5. Easy to make with stuff you probably already have

When to use dry shampoo

It might be that your hair is clean, but you used an oily sunscreen and just want to get rid of the greasy look that’s built up around your hairline. Maybe you didn’t have time to wash your hair or just don’t wash your hair that often, rub a little dry shampoo through it so it doesn’t look greasy or flat.

You can use dry shampoo whenever your hair feels a little oily or not quite fresh enough. As a bonus, the dry blend helps lift your hair at the roots and adds volume.

I tend to use dry shampoo before I style it, but it doesn’t matter if you wait until after you’ve styled your hair. You just want to make sure you can still rub the powder into the hair a little bit, which might depend on the style.

If your hair is in an updo or a tight bun, you will probably have a hard time rubbing the dry shampoo through and getting the powder to blend evenly.  In this case, you can try using a make-up brush to dust the dry shampoo onto your hair. On the other hand, if you just straightened or curled your hair, you shouldn’t have much trouble using dry shampoo after styling it, especially my recipe.

DIY dry shampoo for blonde hair

DIY dry shampoo recipe for blonde hair

for brown or auburn hair click here
for red hair click here
for black hair click here
for white hair just use the cornstarch alone

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 to 1 tablespoon ground ginger root
(optional) a little bit of cocoa powder for a slightly different dark blonde tone
(optional) arrowroot (can be used instead of or to complement the cornstarch)

Need to replenish your spice cabinet? I’ve partnered with spicesforless.com to make it easy for you to find ginger and arrowroot and all kinds of other spices in a convenient click:


Directions:
Mix together the cornstarch, ground ginger root and optional cocoa powder.
Since we all have different hair colors, you might have to play with the color a little bit by adding a little more ginger root for darker or a little less for lighter hair tones. Don’t worry. It doesn’t need to match your hair exactly.
Store in almost any convenient container or baggie.

To use:
Dip your fingers into the DIY dry shampoo.
Dust off any excess powder.
Your fingers should now be lightly coated in dry shampoo.
Rub shampoo dust through your hair at or within 2-3 inches of the roots.
Use the same motion you would if you just took your hair out of a ponytail and are trying to loosen up the roots.
Repeat all over your head. Pay special attention along the hairline, above and behind your ears.
Do not get ginger root powder in your eyes. It might burn.
The shampoo should absorb oil and blend into your hair in seconds.
Your hair will have a faint scent of ginger.
The cornstarch will help add lift and volume.
It should last all day and night.

What happens when I rinse it out?

When you do go to wash or rinse your hair again, there is the faint scent of ginger root in the shower. Nothing else really happens. It rinses right out of your hair.

Please leave a comment and let us know if you’ve tried DIY dry shampoo. What do you think?

Looking for more DIY skin and hair care? You’ll find more of it here. I love this stuff.

DIY coffee scrub
3 reasons I just cannot get into coffee-based body scrubs
Top 5 handmade soaps – inexpensive!
Skincare advice from 80 years of glowing skin

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

 

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DIY dry shampoo for brown or auburn hair

DIY dry shampoo recipe for brown hair

One of my coworkers confessed to me that she tried a store-bought dry shampoo and just didn’t feel like she used it right. It either left white residue in her dark hair or wore off midway through her day. Meanwhile, she had to breathe in a dust cloud of aerosol spray just to use it. There has to be a better way. As a lover of all things natural, including hair care, I felt inspired to find an easy DIY dry shampoo recipe that worked.

Testing out homemade dry shampoo

On Thanksgiving morning, I got up early to finish making a blueberry pie. This is a true story. The rolling, mixing and baking took longer than I thought it would. By the time I finished the pie and looked at the clock, I only had 20 minutes left before we had to leave.

Now we’re all in a rush, and my second-day hair was in need of some attention. All day, I’ll be hugging relatives and taking family photos. My hair should at least look and smell fresh.

In the past, I’ve used trial-sized, store-bought dry shampoos, but we didn’t have any in the house. What I did have was some cinnamon and cornstarch I bought for the pie filling. How skeptical are you right now? Probably about as skeptical as I was. But, with limited options, I took a risk and tried a DIY dry shampoo recipe for my brown hair. Read on for the full recipe and my review.

DIY dry shampoo recipe for brown hair

It turns out, homemade dry shampoo is fantastic! You can make dry shampoo with just a couple ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen pantry. For a lot of reasons, homemade dry shampoo is better than store-bought dry shampoo. Another great discovery…by just tweaking one or two ingredients, you can change the color of the dry shampoo. No more white dusty roots!

It is really shampoo?

Not really. It’s not foamy. It’s not liquid. It’s not washing your hair. You don’t rinse it out, but it’s not a leave-in conditioner.

Dry shampoo is a powder that you use to absorb oil, make your hair look fresh and add a pleasant fragrance to your hair.

Five reasons to use DIY dry shampoo

  1. Works great, absorbing oils and leaving hair looking fresh
  2. No chemicals harming your scalp
  3. No aerosol deteriorating the ozone layer
  4. Inexpensive, whip up one batch and store it (pretty much) forever
  5. Easy to make with stuff you probably already have

When to use dry shampoo

It might be that your hair is clean, but you used an oily sunscreen and just want to get rid of the greasy look that’s built up around your hairline. Maybe you didn’t have time to wash your hair or just don’t wash your hair that often, rub a little dry shampoo through it so it doesn’t look greasy or flat.

You can use dry shampoo whenever your hair feels a little oily or not quite fresh enough. As a bonus, the dry blend helps lift your hair at the roots and adds volume.

I tend to use dry shampoo before I style it, but it doesn’t matter if you wait until after you’ve styled your hair. You just want to make sure you can still rub the powder into the hair a little bit, which might depend on the style.

If your hair is in an updo or a tight bun, you will probably have a hard time rubbing the dry shampoo through and getting the powder to blend evenly.  In this case, you can try using a make-up brush to dust the dry shampoo onto your hair. On the other hand, if you just straightened or curled your hair, you shouldn’t have much trouble using dry shampoo after styling it, especially my recipe.

DIY dry shampoo for brown or auburn hair

for blonde hair click here
for red hair click here
for black hair click here
for white hair just use the cornstarch alone

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 to 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
(optional) cocoa powder for a slightly different brown tone
(optional) arrowroot (can be used instead of or to complement the cornstarch)

Need to replenish your spice cabinet? I’ve partnered with spicesforless.com so you can find any spice you want – including arrowroot – and order online for less than you’d pay at most grocery stores! Click here to check out their beautiful gallery of spices.

Directions:
Mix together the cornstarch, cinnamon and optional cocoa powder.
Since we all have different hair colors, you might have to play with the color a little bit by adding a little more cinnamon for darker brown or a little less for lighter brown. Don’t worry. It doesn’t need to match your hair exactly.
Store in almost any convenient container or baggie.

To use:
Dip your fingers into the DIY dry shampoo.
Dust off any excess powder.
Your fingers should be coated in dry shampoo.
Rub shampoo dust through your hair at or within 2-3 inches of the roots.
Use the same motion you would if you just took your hair out of a ponytail and are trying to loosen up the roots.
Repeat all over your head. Pay special attention along the hairline, above and behind your ears.
The shampoo should absorb oil and blend into your hair in seconds.
Your hair will have a faint scent of cinnamon.
Do not get ground cinnamon in your eyes. It might burn.
The cornstarch will help add lift and volume.
It should last all day and night.

What happens when I rinse it out?

When you do go to wash or rinse your hair again, there is the faint scent of cinnamon in the shower. Nothing else really happens. It rinses out of your hair.

Please leave a comment and let us know if you’ve tried DIY dry shampoo. What do you think?

Looking for more DIY skin and hair care? You’ll find more of it here. I love this stuff.

DIY coffee scrub
3 reasons I just cannot get into coffee-based body scrubs
Top 5 handmade soaps – inexpensive!
Skincare advice from 80 years of glowing skin

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

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10 best-selling handcrafted items on Amazon that aren’t booze glasses

Top ten bestsellers on Amazon handmade handcrafted items that are not all booze glasses

Everyone, myself included, is looking for unique gifts right now. We all have this little hope that the gift we find will be a winner! When our special gift is opened we will see a flash of genuine joy in the eyes of the person receiving it.

I have this hope every year for the most difficult person in my life to buy for…husband. In fact, just the past weekend I finally got around to returning the anniversary gift I bought him three weeks ago. A high-end thermos. He wanted a different size. I was so close.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

If you were to do the research yourself, you’d find that 12 of the top 20 handcrafted items on Amazon Handmade right now are booze glasses. Whiskey glasses with bullets in the side (7 out of 12). Wine glasses with funny sayings (3 of 12). And uh, the remaining two are whiskey glasses with funny sayings.

My husband, by the way, loves whiskey and stemless wine glasses and would really crack up at some of the funny sayings.

I like booze, but I also like variety, which is hard to find on the Handmade Bestseller list. Not one to give up quickly, I challenged myself to dig past the pile of booze glasses and get you a different Top 10 list of (mostly but not entirely) sober bestsellers.

10 bestsellers that aren’t booze glasses

November 2018

#10 Bourbon Lip Balm

It’s probably just a good stocking stuffer. They are trying to appeal to men with this single malt lip balm, but I like bourbon. This would be a good gift for me.

#9 Rustic 1st Married Christmas Ornament

There are many, many of these beautiful handmade ornaments for First Christmases, New Babies, New Homes, Engagements, and Memorials. Sadly, I felt like the memorial was over-priced. They’re not really customizable. I do like to pull out our New Baby ornaments this time of year and remember when my mom got them for us. Wonderful memories.

#8 Harry Potter Quotes, Set of 4

I know some kids who would have loved these framed quotes when they went through their Harry Potter phase. Anything that encourages people to read is fantastic.

#7 Bacon & Bourbon Soy Candle

Bacon and bourbon, the ad says it’s perfect for your man room. When the weather turns cold, I start little mini  fires all over the place. There are four candles in my dining room and kitchen right now, another in my living room. And I saw a wonderful little local company online that sells candles to raise money for their sick child, and now there is another candle on it’s way to my house.

#6 Personalized Necklace with Any Name

Be sure to catch the next Handmade Bestsellers list!
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Phone or tablet: scroll down, it’s after the comment entry box.
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Or if you’re logged into WordPress, just click “follow”.

#5 Dandelion Christmas Wish Pendant Necklace

The dandelion seed in suspended animation is really lovely. What a unique necklace, even for someone who owns a lot of necklaces. Dandelions are a forgotten herb. Not a weed, not a random wildflower, but an historic herb that jumped out of old gardens and spread with the wind.

#4 Target Fan Coffee Mug

Perfect for my sister.

#3 Personalized Bracelet Birthstone Names

A few years ago, I bought a Grandma necklace for my Mother-in-Law. I must have looked for weeks to find one that wasn’t generic or expected. Here’s one from a verified handcraft jewelry artist.

#2 Name Puzzle for kids

In the ad for this handmade puzzle, they are listed as great for toddlers because of the raised letters. That “i” looks like a choking hazard to me. However, preschoolers and kindergartners are either learning to write their names or get really excited when they see their letters. It’d be a good gift for a child ages 3 to 5.

#1 Kitchen Herbs Botanical Prints

I’ve got kitchen decorating on my mind. We are in the final months of a major home renovation. I love herbs, gardening and all things natural. These prints have an authentic, vintage feel to them. They’re so pretty and different.

If you want to scroll through more handmade items that can just arrive at your door. Here is a direct link to Amazon Handmade. I may earn a small commission if you buy anything through this link, but the cost to you is the same either way.

They’re all memorable. Might any of these handmade gifts be the one?

Nothing caught your eye? No problem. You can still scan through the Handmade Marketplace for other unique, small batch products. The handcrafted, small batch skincare is my favorite.

Want to see all the upcoming Bestseller lists? Consider entering your email to follow farmstand culture. I don’t sell my email list. It’s just to keep you updated on the latest finds.

Top ten bestsellers on Amazon handmade handcrafted items that are not all booze glasses

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Best 5 items at the second oldest farm in the US

Field View Farm est 1639 Orange CT

November 15, 2018

Field View Farm, Orange, Connecticut
established 1639

Wow, that’s old. I hope my favorite local historian finds his way to this article.

As far as I can tell, Field View Farm is the second oldest continually-operating farm in the US that is still held by the descendants of the original owner, Thomas Hine. Incredibly, the 12th or 13th generation of the Hine family is running it today.

When a farm is this old, the claim that it is the second oldest American farm comes with some caveats. There are older farms in the US, but most of those farms are no longer in the hands of the original family or had interruptions in farming operations over the years. The only older operating farm I found is Shirley Plantation in Virginia established 1613, which is still home to the relatives of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General who surrendered to end the American Civil War.

Back in Connecticut, Field View Farm is a gem. I pray that it does not change hands or fail in our lifetimes. Please go buy some milk or some transportation services.

Wait, why transportation services?

In 1996, there was a devastating fire at Field View Farm. I was just a teenager then, but I remember the fire. They never really restored the historic main barn back to it’s prior glory, too expensive. Instead, in addition to the farm stand, ice cream shop and milk production, the Hines’ put increased effort into a transportation equipment company.

Field View Farm barn Orange CT

Field View is picturesque but not beautiful or pristine. If you are looking for a perfect, Martha-Stewart-lives-here farm, you won’t find that level of pristine glory at working farm like this one.

What you will find are cows. Sometimes, I drive around the corner and see the cows in the field as the sun sets behind the trees in the distance. It’s a beautiful scene. I find it hard to look away, but I have to because, no driverless cars.

When we bring our kids to Field View for ice cream in the summer, they like to walk down past the cow stalls to see all the animals. And, I am reminded that cows scare me. They are enormous. They don’t look that big when they are moseying through a field. But get up close, and you realize just how easily they could crush you.

There are lots of other cuter, cuddlier animals at the farm. When I was about eight years old, I got two little kittens from Field View, Snowball and Bubblegum. Yes, that’s right. I even get my kittens from farm stands.

The Hine Farm a.k.a. Field View Farm preexists the towns that sprung up around it. Here’s a map of Orange, CT, in 1858. Oh man, I love old maps. Look to the left, above the oval labeled Grassy Hill, between the Y in Derby and the W in Woodbridge, you’ll see a dot for A. Hine’s farmhouse. All of the surrounding land belonged to the Hine family. Then, as it does today, the farm stretched into three cities, Derby, Orange and Woodbridge.

In case you needed more proof of my affinity for old maps, from the University of Connecticut’s Map and Geographic Info Center (MAGIC), you can view aerial photos from 1934 along side a Google map of the present day. Field View’s historic Colonial farmhouse  sits just above that X on the left side of the photo. There is an arched driveway behind it in the present day. Some of the local farm land was sold to developers over the years. You can see the swirling 55+ community across the street from the old Hine’s farmhouse. It used to be a massive corn field.

1934 map of Field View Farm from UConn MAGIC website
University of Connecticut Library Map and Geographic Information Center – MAGIC. (2018).Neighborhood Change in Connecticut, 1934 to Present. Retrieved from http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/mash_up/1934.html.

I can’t believe more people aren’t doing articles on this farm. CBS Sunday Morning should be doing a feature on this incredible plot of American soil, and the family that has farmed it for centuries. The New York Times did do a short article on them in 1989. Relative to the age of the farm, I guess that wasn’t so long ago.

Self service at Field View Farm Stand Orange CT

If it was summer, I would be writing about the farm’s ice cream shop. It’s delicious, but now that the weather turned colder, this farmstand5 is doing double duty. It’s highlighting my finds from a classic, working farm and breaking new ground by debunking the myth that farm stands are a ‘summer thing’. Keep scrolling to get an idea of the finds you can haul home during the colder months.

#5 Bales of hay

Cow in shadow next to bales of hay

If you’re feeding livestock, planting grass seed or trying to create that perfect farm-style vignette for a wedding or Autumn decoration, you need good old fashioned bales of hay. The Hines’ hay several fields around town in the late summer. Hey, when you’ve got the equipment, you might as well use it.

#4 Brown eggs

Local brown eggs fresh from the Field View Farm Orange, CT

Farm fresh eggs are one of my weaknesses. If I see an egg stand, I’m probably going to stop the car and buy some, which I clearly did as this photo was taken on my kitchen table, not at Field View Farm.

#3 Late-season butternut squash

Late-season butternut squash in a basket

You know I love butternut squash. One of these babies is already a soup in my fridge. If you are interested, here’s my recipe for Farm Stand Butternut Squash and Apple Soup.

#2 Handcrafted yogurt

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I have a confession. I just can’t get into plain yogurt. My husband used to eat it with honey, and my sister really likes the tart flavor. What I do like though are yogurt sauces, and this homemade yogurt from the farm is perfect for a recipe.

#1 Fresh milk

Gallons of raw milk from Field View Farm Orange, CT

Talk about living life like our ancestors did. Raw milk is just like it sounds with minimal processing from cow to jug. My husband is a huge fan of raw milk. You pretty much have to take it away from him, or he’ll chug it. Things could get messy. The farm stand offers raw milk with a bunch of required warnings, but it’s pretty special. As far as I can tell, there is only one other farm in New Haven County that offers raw milk. Prefer pasteurized milk? Don’t worry, Field View offers pasteurized milk as well.

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It all started with the original Farmstand5 on Cape Cod…
Fancy’s Farm Stand, Orleans, MA

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DIY coffee scrub

Coconut and coffee body scrub

A few days ago, I wrote about how I feel about coffee scrubs. In the post, I suggested that you make your own, try it out and decide for yourself what your feelings are about coffee scrubs. It’s only fair that I give you some directions about how to make a DIY coffee scrub if I’m going to suggest you try it!

Body scrubs, in general

Scrubs like these can be made with a sugar, salt or coffee base and are blended with natural oils to exfoliate and soften the skin. It’s basically food for the skin, as all good natural skincare should be.

I make body scrubs for my friends – both men and women – on a regular basis. My kids like them so much, I use the promise of a shower scrub as a way to talk them into taking a shower.

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Not really a DIY-er? No problem. You can skip to the punchline here by just buying a ready-made coffee scrub from a verified handcrafter. It is a great gift idea for the coffee lover in your life!

But, if you want to put in the effort, it should be pretty easy to make your own scrub. I recommend you use it in the shower. As I have written before, coffee scrubs can be messy, and it’s best to keep it contained.

One major caveat: some people are allergic to coconut. If you are not sure if you have a coconut allergy, don’t slather your body in coconut oil.

If you are not allergic to coconut, check your kitchen. Do you have coffee grounds, coconut oil, sugar and vanilla? If so, let’s go.

Coconut oil on a white marble countertop

DIY coffee scrub

Ingredients:
1/2 cup coffee grounds (used or unused but why would you not get a cup of coffee out of this?)
1/2 cheap brown sugar (Cheap white sugar will do, too. Don’t use Turbinado raw sugar, it’s too rough)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
(optional) 10 drops of essential oils, like lime, wild orange or peppermint

Directions:
Dump the ingredients into a shatter-proof bowl and mix until well blended.
That’s it. Easy, like I like it.
Some directions online recommend warming the coconut oil for 20 seconds in the micro before mixing. If you do that, it’s best to add the sugar after you blend the oils and coffee together. The sugar melts a little otherwise.
There will likely be lumps of coconut oil left in your blend. Don’t worry about it. They are like little bursts of moisture.
I do not recommend you store your scrub in a glass bowl if you are going to use this near stone countertops or tile floors. Broken glass is a scary proposition for a shower.
Wet your skin and rub it with the coffee scrub.
Let it soak into your skin for a minute if you have the time.
Rinse off.

You might never look at used up coffee grounds in quite the same way after you shower together.

Coconut and coffee body scrub

How to store coffee scrubs:
In the fridge, coffee could grow mold if you don’t use it right away.
Or
In an ice cube or silicone mold in your freezer, then in your fridge in adorable little single-use cubes.

When should you use the scrub?

You can use a body scrub in the shower everyday. If your skin seems irritated, it might be too much exfoliation for you. Just skip a few days. My skin is pretty average, and I am able to use body scrubs in the shower everyday with incredible, skin-smoothing results.

My review of coffee scrubs is controversial. I love that they are natural and reuse coffee grounds that would otherwise go into the trash or compost pile. But, overall I think they are just ok.

How often do I use coffee scrubs?

I do make them on occasion, but most of the time, I use sugar scrubs.

Olive oil and sugar scrubs are not as messy as coffee scrubs and are easier to use on your face. I don’t recommend using coffee scrubs near your eyes. Sometimes those rough little coffee grounds end up inside your eyelid. It’s an unpleasant experience.

Do I have to use it in the shower?

You can use it in any sink, if you are just looking to use it on your hands to counteract the drying effects of soap; however, coffee grounds can be sludgy and messy. I only use it in the shower. A sugar-based scrub is likely a better choice to keep near your bathroom or kitchen sink for after-soap skincare.

Please scroll down a bit and leave a comment to let us know what you think about coffee scrubs. How do they work for you?

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3 reasons I just cannot get into coffee-based body scrubs

Coffee and coconut body scrub for the shower

Maybe you’ve heard of sugar scrubs and salt scrubs (a.k.a. sea salt scrubs or dead sea salt scrubs). I love them. Sugar scrubs are my favorite only because salt will burn if it gets into your scrapes or eyes. I pretty much use a sugar scrub every time I shower, and I make them for my friends (half of the people who ask me for one are guy friends). There’s another option that’s popular for natural body buffing and polishing: coffee scrubs.

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Feel free to leave a comment and disagree with or confirm any of the points I’m making in this article. Your ideas and opinions are welcome. You may even end up doing an experiment yourself. I would encourage you to try a coffee scrub DIY or buy one and make up your own mind about them.

Typically, these coffee scrubs are made from a blend of coffee grounds, brown sugar and coconut oil. Lovely ingredients as long as you don’t have a coconut allergy, and I don’t have any allergies. No, allergies are not one of the reasons I can’t get into coffee scrubs.

I love handmade soaps. Some handmade soaps have coffee grounds blended into them to produce a more exfoliating experience. I do like those soaps. Bars of handmade soaps are very different from oil and coffee-based shower scrubs.

You will see these beautiful photos of coffee scrubs online and on social media. For the record, I don’t have anything against coffee scrubs. In fact, I will likely continue to use them on occasion. Coffee scrubs exfoliate your skin and hold skin-softening oils well.

Once I ran into an old friend on a flight to Chicago. We sat together (Southwest open seating). It was wonderful. She mentioned she loves coffee scrubs. She strongly preferred them to sugar scrubs. It sparked my interest so I went home and made a coffee scrub that weekend. It was just ok.

Why I just can’t get into coffee scrubs

Three reasons why I just can’t get into coffee-based body scrubs:

  1. If you use them on your face, you may end up with rough coffee grounds in your eye.
  2. They leave brown coffee muck under my fingernails.
  3. The coffee grounds get all over my shower.

Coffee in your eye

How did I find out that you might get coffee grounds in your eye? The hard way. Twice.

You can avoid this one if you don’t use the coffee scrub to wash your face or scalp and are careful not to rub your eye before you’ve washed off every single ground from your hands. But, I am looking for the easiest approach to natural skincare. If there are too many restrictions on a product, it’s just not easy enough for me. Plus, pretty much the only time I wash my face is when I’m in the shower. Using a sugar scrub after washing my face adds instant moisture and polishes my skin. I want something I can use from my head to my toes.

Coffee muck

When you rub your body with a coffee scrub, it leaves coffee residue on your skin. It’s a lot like the sludge you may see at the bottom of a coffee cup or carafe. Now, that’s not such a big deal, especially if you only use the scrub in the shower. It only takes an extra 20 seconds in the shower to wash the coffee sludge off your skin.

The thing I don’t like is that after I use a coffee scrub, it leaves bits of muck and coffee grounds under my fingernails. Dirty fingernails might not be such a big deal. Gardeners don’t generally mind dirt under their fingernails all that much. I don’t use gardening gloves, and during gardening season, there’s always a little dirt under mine.

It’s more the discomfort of having coffee grounds under my nails that I dislike. Ok, I’m sure I could use unused grounds instead of brewed coffee grounds, put them through the grinder and make them much finer.  But, now we’ve exceeding the amount of effort I want to put into making a body scrub, especially since I use them every day. I want to be able to blend up a scrub quickly in the middle of checking other stuff off my hectic working parent To-Do list.

Grounds up the wall

I have used body scrubs in the shower for years and plan to use them for the rest of my life. Usually, the only thing I am worried about is leaving a bit of a slippery sheen on the tiles. I do not want to worry about leaving coffee grounds or sludge splattered all around my shower tiles.

Coffee grounds on white marble shower tile

If you’re a bit of a clean freak or you don’t have children, you probably clean your shower more often than I do. In between major cleanings, I don’t want to do much more work than a few sprays of mildew remover.

When I use coffee scrubs in my shower, I end up having to fill a cup with water and splash it on the walls over and over again to clean every speck of coffee off the tiles. Ideal effort level exceeded again.

Three reasons I prefer sugar scrubs to coffee scrubs in my shower

One more thing

Even if you use yummy coconut oil and vanilla (I recommend Mexican vanilla) and elegant essential oils in your coffee scrub, it still leaves the faint scent of cigarette ash on your skin for the first 15 minutes or so after your shower. It may stay on your skin a little longer than that, but I don’t seem to notice it after 15 minutes.

Why would coffee ground residue smell like cigarette ash? I’m not sure. I am not a smoker, but my Gram was. She smelled of Nivea face cream, Maxwell House and Pall Mall cigarettes. She also died of cancer so please don’t take this as an endorsement. But, after I use a coffee scrub in the shower, it reminds me of the smell of my Gram. If I used Nivea after my coffee scrub, I’d be having serious childhood flashbacks. She would be so mad at me for telling you she smelled like cigarettes.

What do you think?

Ok, before I annoy my late Gram any more, I’ll turn this over to you.

Have you experimented with coffee scrubs? Can you connect with any of the points I’ve made? Maybe you wrote a totally contrary post about how much you love coffee scrubs. I respect that. Please scroll down to share your comments or questions.

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Beer Bread

I love beer bread drizzled with honey. It’s great to bring to a party as an appetizer or to have for breakfast. My kids love it.

Just set it out for company, all cut up into little sweet squares. It all goes. I once gave it to a host and hostess for having us over for dinner with a blueberry-infused honey from a local farm stand. They still talk about it.

You can freeze it, too, if you are lucky enough to have the room in your freezer.

Here’s a recipe close to mine (which sometimes only includes more honey in the batter) from Food Happy with Debbie via Beer Bread