Homemade Chocolate Mint Lip Balm!

Chocolate Mint Lip Balm!

This stuff smells so good I want to put it on all day long!  It's very nourishing for your lips with cocoa butter and mango butter, extra virgin olive oil and sweet almond oil, a little wax to give it body, the delicious fragrance oil of chocolate and the essential oil of peppermint.  How can that be anything but wonderful for your lips?  It's lip-smackin' good, I tell ya!

Homemade Crock Pot Yogurt!

Homemade Crock Pot Yogurt!

I never realized how easy it is to make homemade yogurt until I saw a pin on Pinterest by One Good Thing by Jillee.  She calls it "crock pot yogurt", and it's so easy to make.  Just pick a day that you are planning to be home for the day.  I have a crock pot with a temperature probe, so that makes it just a little bit easier.  I just pour in the milk, add the powdered dry milk, and set the probe to 180 degrees F, and go about my business.  It takes about four hours on the low setting to reach that temperature.  Then I remove the crock pot from the well, set it on my stove top to let it cool down to the temperature of between 95 degrees F and 115 degrees F.  That takes about 1.5 to 2 hours or so.  Then mix in the yogurt tempered with some of the warm milk, stir well to thoroughly mix, and pour into clean mason jars.  Then place them into your oven, pop on the oven light, and wait another eight to twelve hours, I usually just leave them overnight.  Wallah, you have delicious yogurt.  Refrigerate a couple hours to chill for best results.

Here is the recipe:

We Have Eggs!

Yes!  We have eggs, lots of them!  We're getting an average of a dozen a day!  We can't possibly eat all these eggs, so we're trying to sell them.  Please, if you live nearby, and enjoy fresh farm free-range brown eggs, stop by the farm, pick up your eggs and leave your payment in the jar, we're using the honor system. We'll be very happy to sell you some beautiful eggs.  Yes, they're a little more costly than commercially raised and sold eggs, not only is the taste much better, but also the nutritional benefits are well worth the slightly higher cost.

Homemade Face Cleanser & Make-up Remover Pads!

Face Cleanser & Make-up Remover Pads!

This project has been one of my most difficult ones to do, well, except for shampoo, I haven't been able to master that one yet.  There's lots of formulas out there for wipes, but I wanted one that would actually make my face feel good and look good.  We've all gone to bed with our make-up on, or just without washing our face, because we're too tired to go through the whole big rigmarole.  So, these are your answer to that problem if you're tired of using the commercial ones that cost a fortune, and make your skin dry, or worse yet, make you break out as they do me.

These are made with your simple cotton pads, in a 4 oz. jar containing 15 pads soaked with a whole bunch of goodness for your skin like:

The Roosters of Cluckinghen Palace!

Thought I might share a few photos of our handsome "boys".  This is "Big Guy", a Silver Laced Wyandotte, he's the head rooster.  He's a proud rooster, he crows his pride much of the day, and half of the night!  He looks after the girls very well, and struts his stuff all the day long!

Big Guy!

As a byline, the "girls" are all doing well, they're very sweet, and they're laying lots of eggs!  A happy hen is a productive hen.

Eggs!

Now here is Mr. Black, a Black Australorp, he's a mild tempered guy and so very handsome!  He's very serious about his girls, and makes sure they are all in for the night before he goes inside.  He's most always the last one into the coop each night.

Mr. Black!

Last, but not least, there's Rooster Rudy, a New Hampshire Red. He's the littlest of the roosters, and clearly is not fond of the camera.  He's a wise rooster, he can be observed using his little chicken brain to outwit and outlast his larger rooster companions. As roosters go, he has a gentle nature and the girls like him best, I think.  He doesn't require a lot, and stays off to himself much of the time.  The guineas like him, and can be seen keeping him company often.

Rooster Rudy!

And that is all.  A quick peek at the very handsome Roosters of Cluckinghen Palace!

Carpe Diem! Lil and Bill

Shea Butter All Natural Soap Tarts!

Shea Butter All Natural Soap Tarts!

Let me just say this, these are wonderful!  They're all natural with Sage, Alkanet, and Chamomile, and they weigh 2.6 oz. net wt. each.  I added all the natural oils that are in the "cookie" soaps, and added Powdered Sage and Sage EO to the Sage green tart, and Chamomile Powder and Orange, Nutmeg, and Clove EO blend to the yellow Chamomile tart.  The brown Alkanet tart has no additional fragrance, but with the Shea Butter and Coffee Oil, it has a very light fragrance reminiscent of a mochachino. The list of ingredients for these soap tarts is as follows: