Zoe

Mini Pumpkin Pies

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This recipe makes enough for 12 mini pies and 1 full 8” pie 

Pumpkin pie filling:

3 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (I used a purée I made form our home grown sugar pie pumpkins, if using canned you’ll need around 28 oz- or two 15oz cans)

4 eggs

1 cup heavy cream 

3/4 cup packed brown sugar 

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 

Mix all ingredients together in stand mixer with whisk attachment until there are no lumps.

Sugar cookie recipe:

1 1/2 cups of flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup sugar 

1 stick of butter, softened 

1 egg, beaten 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Food coloring in yellow, green, and orange

Beat together sugar and butter until incorporated and fluffy. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until it comes together in a ball of dough. Separate the dough into three equal pieces and color each with food coloring. Knead in the coloring until the dough is fully colored.

Chill dough at least one hour

Shape the dough into three equal tubes and roll them together into one. I cut the large tube in half and added each half into each other and rolled to creat a marbled effect.

Roll out dough on a well floured surface to about 1/4” thickness

Cut out the desired shapes (I used a mini maple leaf cutter) and place about an inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle a little white sugar on top of each cookie before baking.

Bake 375° for 8-10 minutes until just turning golden on the edges

Pie crust:

I use Martha Stewart’s Perfect Pâté Brisee recipe on page 12 in this cookbook

http://The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/0609607502/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_zDxOFbZ5X8HQZ

but you can use your favorite pie crust (store bought would work just fine)

The recipe I use makes two 8-10” crusts. I use one crust to make the mini pies, and the other crust I use to make an 8” regular pumpkin pie

To assemble:

Grease a muffin tin 

Roll out one pie crust on floured surface

Use a glass to cut even circles, or use a circle cutter if you have one! The circles are about 3” in diameter

Place them in the muffin tin and gently mold them to shape up the sides and the bottom of the cavities 

Freeze 10-15 minutes

Using 1/4 cup measuring cup, carefully measure out pumpkin pie filling into each cup. You will half enough pumpkin filling leftover to fill your remaining pie crust.

Bake the mini pies at 375° for 20 minutes, or until the middles no longer jiggle when moved. 

As the mini pies are cooling add a cutout sugar cookie in the middle

*For the regular sized pie, roll out your crust to fit inside an 8” pie plate. Fill with the remaining pumpkin filling and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes, or until the middle no longer jiggles.*

These little pies are so delicious and so cute for autumn. They are the perfect size for little hands and grownups that don’t want to eat an entire piece of pie (think Thanksgiving, when there are so many pies to taste!)

These little pumpkin pies are so fun- to make and eat!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know any changes you make <3

Starting Vermiculture

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Let’s talk worms!

I was not raised a “country girl” by any means. I spent my growing years moving from town to town, city to city. However, there was always something in me that wanted to live a simple, quiet life. I dreamed of goats and sheep dotting the hills, and making bread from scratch. Was I dreaming of cinematic Ireland?? Quite possibly!

As we’ve started to establish ourselves on our little 5 acres here, not in Ireland, but Northern Wisconsin, I get more and more excited every year. I absolutely love to see things falling into place, though not always on the timeline I’d prefer. Which leads us to FINALLY beginning the vermiculture journey!

If you’re unsure of what vermiculture is, it’s basically providing a place for worms to live and grow and compost. When the worms work their way through your scraps (and cardboard, leaves, etc) they produce beautiful castings that are so beneficial to your garden.

Creating the space

We knew we needed a place to compost that wasn’t accessible to our dogs. They can seemingly find rotting food no matter where it’s put. Very annoying. We happened to have a stand up freezer go caput, and it seemed like the perfect environment to start our worm farm. It’s insulated for temp regulation, will stay dark and retain some moisture for the worms. Most importantly, repurposing it keeps it out of a landfill! I found a few articles on using freezers to house worms, and I combined the knowledge people shared to get started on my own.

My husband got to work stripping everything out of the freezer we wouldn’t need- the shelves, Freon lines, etc. We were left with a completely empty insulated box. He removed the seal from around the door to create some airflow.

The freezer raised up on cinder blocks with one side lower than the other for drainage

Since a large white freeze is a bit of an eyesore, we chose to keep our worms somewhat hidden behind a shed/between the fencing for our chickens. This also makes it easy to bring out kitchen scraps to give both the chickens AND the worms. In order to facilitate good drainage, we propped the freezer up on cement blocks, making sure the side with the drain was lowest. There was already a “drain” hole we could use. We will use a bucket to collect the what drains out so we can use it diluted in the garden and for watering houseplants. Absolutely nothing goes to waste!

Next, my husband sealed all other holes with silicone. He bought a piece of thick pvc and drilled lines of holes up and down, sticking the narrowest end in the drain hole, and caulking it in place. This will help prevent a clogged up drain.

Sealing up all the holes

I noticed a few people used bricks on the bottom of their freezer or fridge to prop up their hardware cloth bottom layer. Our freezer has ridges that I figured served the same purpose. We filled the bottom of the freezer with rocks (some I saved from our fish’s old aquarium, most from the driveway). My husband cut a piece of hardware cloth to fit snugly inside, covering the rocks.

Because we had saved some cardboard boxes (and I have read how much worms LOVE corrugated cardboard) I soaked enough to lay over the metal. On top of that we put a few inches of aged compost. Thankfully we had some on hand from used chicken bedding!

Cutting out the spaces for the drain and the ridges so the mesh fits snugly
Fitting the mesh (He was so annoyed, don’t let this pic fool you)

Where do you find these worms?

I was so tempted to just dig up my own earthworms in the garden to use, but opted to order some instead. It seems like most people recommend the Red Wigglers, and initially that’s what I planned to buy. However, the more I read about them, the more I was unconvinced they would work best for BOTH composting AND as fishing bait. It was important to me that we could use them for both purposes!

After hours and hours of reading, I finally decided on Super Red European Earthworms that I ordered from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. They appeared to be the ideal size. I spent around $60 for 2 lbs Of worms. Seems like a lot of money for worms, I know. But! I’m so glad I bought as many as I did.

Wiggly worms!
Adding the aged compost

Worm bedding choice

In preparation for the ordered worms’ arrival, I got to work shredding newspaper for their bedding. I didn’t want to make any other purchases after spending money on the initial worms. A lot of people have success using coconut coir, though. After saving newspapers every week (I use them to clean windows and glass instead of paper towels) I had quite a good collection to use. Unfortunately I’m the only adult in America who doesn’t own a paper shredder. I may also be the cheapest person in America, because I was not willing to spend $35-75 dollars on one just to shred paper.

Painstakingly shredded newspaper bedding

Oh well. Grabbing my scissors and with the help of my 4 year old I had the afternoon planned. If you think you would be long done before your four year old finished their story- you’d be wrong. She managed to talk nonstop for probably an hour straight. Maybe that made the time go by faster? No. No, it did not. We cut the black and white sections of newspaper into skinny strips and filled a big bucket.

The long awaited arrival

Then the most beautiful sound a woman can hear: the FedEx truck pulling into the driveway with a package for little ol’ me. It felt like Christmas! That may be a little sad. I’ll get back to you on that. Soon after opening the bags and seeing the wriggly worms I followed the instructions and added a half cup of water to “rehydrate” them. We immediately put them in the compost in our freezer farm. My daughter and I soaked the strips of newspaper and wrung them out until just moist, not sopping. We laid them gently over the worms and let them be. Possibly the only person as excited about these worms as I am is my daughter. She wanted to hold them and sing to them. Haha

The worms are on the left, and well add food on the right. They’ll migrate back and forth allowing us to collect the castings on alternate sides

I had a great experience using Uncle Jim’s for my worm order, there were only a couple worms that didn’t survive the shipping. After checking on them the next morning, they all appear happy and wiggly!

My fearless 4 year old with her “wormy friend”

I absolutely can’t wait to start harvesting the castings and keeping these little guys busy helping us compost.

One step closer!

Part of my “zero waste” journey is reducing the amount of trash our family produces. As a family of four, we create one bag of trash per week. I seriously cannot wait until the youngest is out of diapers, it will reduce so much waste! (Unfortunately we weren’t successful cloth diapering the youngest, although we had few to no issues with our oldest) A large part of the trash we end up with are vegetable peels that the chickens don’t care for. I save as many veggie scraps as I can to make vegetable stock for soups, but so many end up in the trash.

Long term my goal is to only produce one bag of trash per month- and I hope I’m well on my way to that!

I’d love to hear about your vermiculture journey! How do you utilize these little creatures?

Easy Summer Jam

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Strawberry, Rhubarb and Raspberry Jam


Makes 12 – 8oz jars of jam

Rhubarb, black raspberries and strawberries make the perfect combo of sweet and tart

Ingredients:
2 cups crushed raspberries
2 cups chopped strawberries
6 cups chopped rhubarb
7 cups sugar
1 pkg pectin
1 tsp butter (to reduce foaming)

Prepare the fruit and stir in package of pectin. Using a large stock pot- bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly. When the fruit starts to break down I like to use a potato masher to help it along.

Start sterilizing your jars, lids and rings while the jam cooks. Fill a large pot with water and place a rack in the bottom (so the jars don’t touch the bottom of the pot) and bring to boil.

When jam reaches a rolling boil, stir in the sugar. Bring back up to boil (only takes a minute or two)

Ladle out jam into sterilized (and hot) jars, leaving about 1/2” headspace. Tighten lids and gently lower filled jars into the pot of boiling water, making sure there’s 1-2” of water above the top of jars. Process for 10 minutes.

Carefully pull jars up one at a time and set on a kitchen towel somewhere they can remain for the next 24 hours to set. As they seal you’ll hear little “pings” from the jars. Check that the tops have all been sucked in (if you feel a little button on top, the jar has not sealed properly) If your jar hasn’t sealed, make sure to keep it in the fridge.

Nothing better than sweet jam on fresh homemade bread

Thought I’d try something different and get right to the point at the top of the post! Summer time here means an abundance of berries, but also the last of our rhubarb harvest. I couldn’t find anything to use up rhubarb and BOTH strawberries and raspberries…. so I just came up with my own easy recipe.

If you’ve never tried to process jam before, just give it a try! I promise it’s not as difficult as it seems! Honestly, it doesn’t take but a few minutes longer than refrigerator jam.

I’d love to hear what your favorite jams to make are! I’m always looking for new things to try <3

Fluffy Raspberry Sourdough Pancakes

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Are these not the fluffiest pancakes??

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good summer so far! It’s berry season here and we’ve had quite the haul from our black raspberry bushes. Usually, my 4 year old eats as many as she can right off the bush- but I’ve convinced her to patiently wait for me to make something with them instead. Not an easy task.

Ripening berries in the backyard

During this strange season of pandemics and uncertainty, I have to admit I have become one of the people making their own sourdough starter at home. ( his name is Bob, and he’s beautiful) Yes, I am a pandemic sourdough baker. :\ In my defense, I’m still going strong even after a few months! Haha

All this sourdough making leaves me with quite a bit of the “discard” from my starter (after halving the starter to feed it, it’s the amount you take away) and that means pancakes! It’s my favorite way to use the discard so it doesn’t go to waste.

Beautiful Bob, my sourdough experiment

In our house we LOVE fluffy pancakes. None of that “flat as a pancake” nonsense here. So, if your looking for a crepey style pancake recipe- this is not the one. These pancakes are thick and airy. They’re perfect with a pat of butter and some homemade maple syrup. If you don’t have any, try my super simple raspberry syrup at the end of the recipe. Raspberry on raspberry on raspberry. If that’s not enough sweet decadence to start your day, you can always do what my daughter suggests and put a dollop of whipped cream on top. Starting your day with an extra, unnecessary amount of sugar. 😉

Love the jewel tones of the black raspberries

However you make these, I hope you enjoy and get to feel like a little kid on Saturday morning again <3

Yield: 8-10 pancakes

Fluffy Raspberry Sourdough Pancakes

Fluffy Raspberry Sourdough Pancakes

These pancakes are super fluffy and airy. They make a perfect start to a summer day, using seasonal berries and fresh ingredients.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar ( or honey or sweetener of your choice)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup sourdough discard (if you do not have any, add 1/2 cup milk instead)
  • 1 cup warm milk (buttermilk would be delicious!)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup or more raspberries or other fruit
  • 1-2 tablespoons butter for the griddle
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons raspberry jam

Instructions

    Super Fluffy Raspberry Sourdough Pancakes 

    Pancake Batter:

    (Makes 8-10 4-6” pancakes)

    2 cups flour

    1/4 cup sugar ( or honey or sweetener of your choice)

    1 tsp baking powder

    1 tsp baking soda

    1/2 cup sourdough discard (if you do not have any, add 1/2 cup milk instead) 

    1 cup warm milk (buttermilk would be delicious!) 

    2 eggs 

    1/2 cup or more raspberries or other fruit 

    1-2 tablespoons butter for the griddle 

    Preheat pan or griddle (medium heat for pan, 275° for griddle) 

    Mix wet and dry ingredients together and fold in berries. I use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop out the batter for even sized pancakes. Let cook for a few minutes on each side. Pancakes are done when golden brown. 

    For the quick and easy syrup:

    1/2 cup sugar

    1/2 cup water

    2 tablespoons raspberry jam

    Heat the water and sugar until sugar dissolves and the liquid is clear. It’s easy to throw in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons jam and stir until incorporated. That’s it! Not at all healthy, but very delicious. 

Category: Recipes

Simple Sensory Activity

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Sensory Tray with colored quinoa and small animal figures

As a mom of two young girls, I sometimes struggle with not seeing the forest for the trees. I get caught up in every day life and chores, and household tasks. While my oldest daughter is always keen to help with any task I’m working on (and has quite a few of her own to do) it’s also important for some strictly play time. She’s a curious and intuitive child after all!

All across pinterest and Facebook I see beautiful sensory trays. A rainbow of colored rice perfectly laid out for little ones. I thought it would be so fun to try that at home and give my daughter something to focus on for a little while… because let’s be honest, just washing dishes alone can feel like a break to a stay at home mom!

I decided to use quinoa instead of rice because my family isn’t too willing to eat quinoa. I LOVE it, but have to give it up for my diet. If you decide to try a sensory tray for your own child, I would recommend rice or some other larger medium. The quinoa is so tiny and it bounces when it inevitably hits the floor. Haha! We spent the afternoon vacuuming up every little grain that filled my cracks in the wood floor. I turned that into a fun activity as well! Who can vacuum up the most!

We started by filling 7 small bags with a 1/3 cup each of dry quinoa. Then we added a few drops of food coloring to each bag. I tried to stick with rainbow colors, because those are what she loves! Make sure the bags are closed TIGHT then let your child squish the quinoa (or hopefully rice if you’re smarter than I am ?) into the coloring until it’s evenly distributed. When you’re happy with the color empty the bags onto a baking sheet and let dry. Once you can touch the grains without coloring coming off on your hand they’re ready to go!

We used some small ocean figures and small spoons/medicine cups for playing. My daughter is so interested in colors and matching right now, this was perfect for her. She matched her animals to the correct colors (other than the white beluga whale, who she said “Loves all the colors even though he is just white”) Matching didn’t take too long, and she quickly started using the small spoons to scoop and fill the medicine cups. This simple activity kept her occupied and focused for the entire afternoon.

Rainbow Quinoa

Now something you may be wondering is what does the end result of this activity look like? No way will these colors stay separate and stay in the tray! You would be correct. It’s a mess on your floors, your chair, your table, your child, your ceiling somehow. Only kidding on the last one. Mostly. You will be left with a small sea of brightly colored grains. Instead of just tossing them out I used a funnel and filled a quart mason jar with the mixed colors. But now what?? What on earth can you do with a jar of colorful quinoa?? Initially the plan was to let my daughter keep it in her room because she thought it was so pretty. After showing my friends, one of them had an even better idea!

An assortment of trinkets for the sensory jar

I took her advice and turned the collection of quinoa into a sensory jar. I gathered up some small trinkets (buttons, a ring, a tiny clothespin, a rubber bumper, a pearl, a small blue spool of thread, and a tiny black clip) and pushed them into the jar making sure to push them down as far as I could. Gave the jar some good shakes to mix everything up and it’s done! It’s an awesome calming down tool. My daughter can spend some time looking for the individual items inside the jar. Sometimes it’s just fun to watch (and listen to!) the quinoa rattle around in the glass jar.

Tiny purple crab button peeking out from the sensory jar

This was a super simple, fun activity that ended with no waste- which I love! Using items and accessories I already had in my house I was able to create hours of fun for my toddler. That feels pretty great!

Journey to Minimalism

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I’ve learned that minimalism isn’t about what you own, it’s about why you own it.

-Brian Gardner

Modern minimalism

It’s something we see everywhere thanks to social media. Perfect houses and beautiful possessions. Simple yet sophisticated aesthetic. I have spent so many hours on Pinterest looking at these gorgeous staged photos of a “minimalist” home. It’s impossible not to feel a twinge of envy. It’s made me think : someday, when I have more money, I’ll be able to buy those beautiful things. But is that really what being minimal is about?

Is it really minimal to replace everything you own with more aesthetically pleasing possessions? Even if they are more sustainable versions?? I have so much passion for being sustainable and contributing less to waste…. but I lack the funds to buy the trendiest replacements.

As I’ve gone through everything we own and use in our own home I’ve really come to see how much we have. And while yes, some things are better replaced with a more sustainable version, many of the things we use are fine the way they are. Remember back in the 90’s (and maybe 80’s,too) when all we heard was “Reduce Reuse Recycle”? Somehow as the years have gone by it’s become more about trends and consumerism. The first step is supposed to be “reduce”. That is becoming more of my focus.

What reducing looks like

For me it is really about assessing what I already have. Getting creative with the functions. It’s so tempting, especially with online shopping, to just buy whatever we want on a whim. And it’s easily justified by looking at it as an eco friendly alternative to something we already have. But anytime we purchase something- we create waste. In one way or another. I absolutely believe reducing our consumption should be the main focus in becoming more minimalist.

I was inspired one day to make an experimental soap. I wanted to try piping roses for the top. Now I’m order to pipe something on top I needed a loaf type mold. My usual creamer container (at least the way I’ve always used it) wouldn’t work because the top of each bar wouldn’t be exposed in the mold. It would have been incredibly easy to hop on the internet and order a loaf mold. But I’m so glad I got creative and thought of a way to make what I already had work. I took the cream container (the same I always use) cut one side and the top off, butted up another cream container to the cut off end and taped in place. It cost me nothing. It’s not the prettiest set up…. however, it worked perfectly for what I was making!

How I “make do”

When I first started using Pinterest, almost everything I saw was DIY projects. How to use what you had to make something else. It was so inspiring! Now it seems like my feed is mostly products to buy. And that makes me so sad! So many days I’m inspired to create something in my home and I don’t have the exact items. I love to be able to turn something that’s not being used into something amazing. One of the projects I took on was actually one of the simplest. I wanted a bed skirt for our bed, and didn’t have one. Bedskirts are pretty much available at any Walmart. It’s not like they’re difficult to find ? But I wanted to create a “farmhouse” feel while at the same time not go out and buy anything. Using some scraps of dropcloth I had leftover from another project I got the look I was going for! All I did was cut the strips into the right width and length and tuck them under the mattress.

Honestly, sometimes the hardest part about being intentional is telling yourself no. No, we don’t need to buy this or that. Make do or go without. It’s a hard lesson, but one I think is important to learn. Everything is so easy now- click of a button. When we have to really think about purchases and be intentional with our choices we really take a step back. What is necessary? What’s just an impulse?

Simple ways to reuse

One of my favorite ways to reduce waste is to reuse everything! I wash out ziploc bags to reuse. I cut up my husbands ripped and torn shirts to use as cleaning rags. One of the things I’ve recently begun reusing is the little ads we get in the mail. Seems weird, but it works. My three year old is fascinated by scissors, so I’ve made her a cutting station on our dining room table. She has a tray, her little scissors, and any mailed ads and used coloring books. She gets to practice cutting to her hearts content (which is sometimes hours ?) and those papers which will be recycled anyway get to have a second life. I mean, it’s not a great life if you’re the paper… but it is what it is. Haha

Creating a calm space

Trying to keep the decor simple and tidy

According to the World Economic Forum- 275 million people worldwide suffer from an anxiety disorder. I am one of them. Having a lot of clutter in my life can really make that harder to deal with. I wanted to be sure to mention this, because I do love the minimalist aesthetic. Creating spaces in my own home that stay tidy and simple gives me some calm in my otherwise chaotic life. I really try to keep things simple and only use what’s necessary. But I won’t do that at the expense of having to repurchase things when I need them. There needs to be a balance and I really think that’s where being intentional in your life comes into play. If you can take a look at the things you buy and the things you use, really look at them, you can make a difference in your own life and ultimately in the world.

Lavender and Himalayan Pink Salt Bars

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Lavender and Himalayan Pink Salt bars

Hey guys! Today’s post was inspired by one of the most inspiring things you can do- walk through Menards with your husband. Haha

But really, we were doing our monthly stroll through Menards for the usual; lightbulbs, batteries, and random tools when I saw a huge bag of Pink Salt on sale. The first thing that came to mind was “I should make salt bars!” Because, why not?

Had I ever made a salt bar? No. Had I ever used a salt bar? Also no. But I know it’s something people make! That’s good enough for me. There’s something so contradictory about using salt in a product that’s supposed to moisturize…. so I needed to read up a bit before attempting.

My decision to make a salt bar was based on Himalayan Pink Salt being on sale, but it is a popular choice on its own merit! The salt creates a creamy lather, like lotion. It is a gentle exfoliant and people often use a salt bar before and after shaving. Pink salt in itself is nourishing to the skin and moisturizing. Not to mention it’s just so pretty in a cold process bar!

The salt does make the bar very hard and have a creamy lather as opposed to a bubbly one. Coconut oil is the oil of choice for most people. I love using coconut oil in my cold process soaps, but it is very cleansing. It can be a little harsh on skin at 100%. I decided to try castor oil (the coneflower infused oil I made in this post ) as a percent of the oil content. The ratio I used was 85% coconut oil and 14.6% castor oil. I wanted a 10% super fat (lye discount) so the bar wouldn’t be as harsh. I plug all my recipes into soap calc before making. This is so important to make sure to get the amounts correct. http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

Now, because I’m frugal ( Cheap? Hippie-ish? Super weird?) I like to reuse containers I already have to make my soap. I do have one silicone mold, but other than that I use household items to make my bars. Typically I use cream containers because they make nice square bars. For these I thought it would be fun to make mini soaps. I don’t own a mini mold so I had to get creative. If you’re interested in how my soaps look when using cream containers check them out here: https://www.chaosandconeflowers.com/goats-milk-shampoo-bars/

A few weeks ago my husband came home with a surprise box of chocolates. He says for me, but honestly he ate most of them. 😉 I really try and limit the single use plastic we bring into our home, but sometimes life (and a husband) makes that hard to do. When we had finished our chocolate I debated on what to do with the plastic that held the candies. It wasn’t listed as recyclable. Then the idea hit! How are these little plastic trays different from a little cavity mold? I’m so happy I decided to give it a try!

The chocolate candy “mold” worked great!

My soap bars usually use goats milk instead of water. Unfortunately while I didn’t have any to use right now, I did have coconut milk in the fridge. It’s not something I’ve used in soap making before, but hey! Why not? So for this recipe I used coconut milk, coconut oil, castor oil, lavender essential oil, the pink salt and of course lye. The lavender oil is such a calming scent to me. It’s the perfect addition to these spa- like bars.

For the amount of salt to use I’ve read various amounts. Typically people use 50%-100% of the weight of oils. So for example, the bars I made had an oil weight of 16.4oz. I decided to try the 100% of the weight. 16.4oz of salt is a LOT of salt to measure out. But the results were beautiful!

I’d love to hear your results from trying this recipe out!

Yield: 1 pound

Lavender and Himalayan Pink Salt Bars

Lavender and Himalayan Pink Salt Bars

Here’s what you’ll need:

Coconut oil 14oz

Castor Oil 2.4 oz

Coconut milk 6.23oz

Lye 2.59 oz

Lavender essential oil 0.5 oz

Himalayan Pink Salt (fine) 16.4 oz

Make sure to follow safe soaping protocol.

Using a digital scale, measure out 6.23oz of coconut milk. In a separate container measure out 2.59oz of lye. Slowly and carefully add the lye to the milk and stir to combine.

Melt and measure 14oz of coconut oil. Add to that 2.4oz of castor oil and stir to combine.

Make sure the lye mixture and the oils are close to the same temp, I usually soap at just above room temp. Carefully pour the lye mix into the oils and incorporate with a rubber spatula. Use a stick blender to bring to trace. When you’ve reached a medium trace add the salt and lavender oil. The salt really speeds things up so you want to get it into the molds right away.

The salt bars will need to be cut in just a few hours if you use a loaf mold. If you wait too long they’ll crumble when you go to cut. If you’ve used a cavity mold you don’t need to worry about that!

After you take the bars out of the mold, put them on a drying rack in a cool place to cure. They’ll be ready to use in 3-4 weeks.

© Zoe
Category: DIY Beauty

Christmas Advent Calendar

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Why I chose to follow this tradition

If you’re here strictly for an Advent Calendar idea you may want to scroll down to the bottom of this post!

I’ve gone back and forth for a little while on what to post this week. We’re into December now- the busy season for most people. Holiday parties, family gatherings, endless activities and events make up this entire season. Just the thought makes me feel anxious! The work involved in making this season “magical” puts so much stress on me as a mom. Honestly, a part of me would rather do away with the majority of the holiday.

What is the reason?

As I began to mentally prepare myself for the job of providing endless holiday cheer for my children, I had a thought. Why?? Why am I doing this? Because I have to? It’s just expected of me? Because it’s Jesus’ birthday for crying out loud?? This is the first year in my life as an adult where I’m actively questioning the things that I do. I am really trying to get to the intent and the purpose. What is the reason? Maybe not surprisingly my answer wasn’t “because it’s Christmas!”

I was raised in a Christian home. My husband was raised in a Christian home. He grew up with Santa Claus- I did not. I struggle with the manipulation aspect of Santa. “Be good or no presents!” “Good girls get gifts, bad girls get coal” “He sees you when you’re sleeping….” ( Does no one else find that creepy??) I believe in being honest with our kids. I also believe it’s important for kids to have a sense of wonder and excitement. So this became a bit of a struggle for me.

My oldest is only 3 1/2, but she’s at the age where she is beginning to understand the reasons behind things. I think it’s so important that we nurture that in her! Instead of telling her just to behave for a reward, I am modeling the behavior that I want to see. Part of that included taking myself out of my comfort zone. Looking at the big picture and making a compromise.

So what does any of this have to do with anything??

Being intentional isn’t always easy. It doesn’t just come flowing out of you. I have needed to take a step back and sometimes take myself and my past experiences out of the situation. Whether or not the holiday season as it’s become causes me stress isn’t as important as I initially thought. What is the big picture? This is a time in the year where many different religions have some overlap. It’s a time for celebration! A time to be kind, to be grateful for the things you have, and to think of others before yourself. But it’s also a time to experience some joy and excitement! I didn’t want to be so focused on putting a message across that I lost sight of what this feels like to a child.

I started by writing out a list of “winter time” activities. Sledding, making gingerbread houses, decorating the house etc… all of the things you look forward to at Christmas time as a child. Then I began sprinkling in some activities or thought provoking questions (age appropriate of course). What does it mean to be kind to someone else? What is one thing you can do today to show someone you care about them? There is a family about an hour from us who lost everything in a house fire. My 3 year old doesn’t know what that kind of loss would feel like… but she’s capable of thinking of things we use everyday that they may need. So we have started making that list.

Making Christmas magical- and intentional

I decided to try my hand at making an Advent Calendar this year. It felt like I could combine the message and the joy best this way. I used regular envelopes I had at home and cut them in half so they were square. On slips of paper I wrote down an activity/ act of kindness for every day leading up to Christmas. A simple green velvet ribbon and some small clothespins keep the envelopes in order. My husband clipped a piece of an evergreen branch and I added a pine cone for the decoration on top. Very simple. Very minimal.

Every morning my daughter happily takes an envelope down and is so excited to see what’s inside, to find out what it is we’ll be doing today. And whether or not it benefits her in anyway doesn’t matter. She’s just as excited about building a snowman as she is making bird feeders so the birds who are crazy enough to stay in Northwest Wisconsin over winter aren’t hungry. There’s a bit of magic about it. And that makes my heart happy.

Advent Calendar

Advent Calendar

Here is the list of everything I included:

My kids are very young, so the activities I used are simple and not very described on the papers. I verbally explained what we’d be doing and why.

Build a snowman

Sledding

Make pine cone bird feeders

Fill a box with items for a family in need

Invite a friend for dinner (the child helps prepare the meal)

Make a Christmas wreath for someone

Dry out oranges and cranberries to make our own decorations

Make beeswax dip candles

Find something kind to do for someone today

Fill a box with unused toys to donate

Visit a nursing home

Make Christmas cards

Bake cookies for someone else

Gingerbread houses

Decorate the Christmas tree

Make snow angels

Christmas caroling

Drive around to see the lights

Bring gifts to a children’s hospital

Make gifts to give our friends and family

Spend extra time with grandparents

Make a popcorn and cranberry garland for the tree

Play a game as a family

Make Moravian stars

Make paper snowflakes for the windows

© Zoe
Category: Uncategorized

Gentle Face Mask

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One of my favorite parts of being a “girl mom” is all the fun spa days we have together! My 3 year old daughter loves everything fancy. She is always asking to have tea parties and paint our nails. Because I’ve struggled so much with finding sensitive products for my skin I needed to experiment a little with the right ingredients. The result is my go-to gentle face mask for our girls’ nights.

gentle face mask ingredients-aloe vera, white Kaolin clay, and green tea
Simple, gentle ingredients

I love to use super simple ingredients for basically anything I make. Can’t screw it up if it’s easy, right? As always, everything in this face mask is skin safe, gentle, and perfect for sensitive skin.

Make it yourself

Start by brewing two bags (or 2 tbls loose leaf) of green tea in 1 cup of water. Let it steep and cool. Measure out 4 tbls into a small glass bowl. Add in 2 tbls of White Kaolin clay and stir until incorporated. Next, open up and scrape out the aloe from 1-2 leaves of an aloe vera plant. If the mixture is too runny, add another tbls of the clay. You want a loose batter consistency.

Simply use your fingers to apply to your face, avoiding the eye area. Let it dry (around 10 minutes) and then rinse off with warm water and a washcloth. The Kaolin Clay is a very gentle exfoliant. I keep the glass bowl covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. Although I don’t recommend using this mask more than twice a week, I have read that Kaolin Clay is gentle enough for everyday use. Using masks, even gentle face masks, too often can be harsh on your skin and cause irritation. It’s so important to take care of your skin. For more diy skin care products for sensitive skin check out my Tea Tree and Goats Milk shampoo bars here and my Simple Toner here.

Simple Toner

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Skincare is something I didn’t give much thought to for the majority of my life. Just being honest. I was not opposed to sleeping with my makeup on (yikes) and never checking expiration dates on skincare products (extra yikes). As I’ve gotten older I haven’t been as blessed with forgiving skin.

Around Christmas time last year, a few months after my second daughter was born, I began having issues with my skin. Rashes and red, irritated everything. Every makeup product caused a rash. Every lotion. Every perfume. Even my deodorant (the same brand I’d used for 5 years) started causing irritation.

I eliminated just about every product from my bathroom cabinet. At first I started experimenting with different storebought products, but it was getting expensive and they all ended up causing the same problems.

In an effort to heal my skin I looked into some more simplified beauty products. Things that used natural ingredients and were free from unnecessary fragrances and colorants. But they had to also not cost an arm and a leg. Not so easy unfortunately! Ultimately I came to the conclusion that I would need to make these products myself. It’s been nonstop experimentation since!

My skin is pretty sensitive (if that’s not obvious already) so I couldn’t use anything that was too harsh. The combination of hormonal changes from having my second child and diet changes had brought on some pretty terrible acne on my face and neck. So I definitely wanted to tackle that area first. I found that keeping everything super simple has had such a huge impact on my skin becoming clear. I do not wear makeup for the most part, and wash my face with the same shampoo bar I use to wash my hair. You can find the recipe for that here. For even more acne clearing power I added in using this toner to my regimen.

Toners come in a whole variety of ingredients and with a plethora of intended benefits. Because my skin is prone to acne, and extra sensitive I needed to focus on those two things. I found quite a bit of information on using witch hazel as a toner, by itself or more expensively- infused witch hazel products. It’s definitely cheap and easy to find just about anywhere by itself, so that’s where I started.

Witch Hazel is a pretty common astringent. It’s effective for reducing inflammation, tightening skin, and is also an antibacterial. I wanted to add something to it. Something that would be healing for my skin and sensitive. That is how I stumbled across using yarrow! I had already started growing Red Yarrow in my garden. It’s so pretty and the pollinators were drawn right to it.

Yarrow is used in skin care for its healing properties. It’s easy on the skin, is antimicrobial, and soothes irritation. I clipped off some of the flower heads and dried them out in my dehydrator. When they were completely dry I filled a small glass jar and poured my witch hazel over top until the jar was full and the flower heads were covered. Cover the jar and keep in a cool, dark place making sure to give the jar a shake daily. After about 2 weeks the witch hazel had turned a reddish brown color. Simply strain out the flower heads and pour the liquid into a dark glass container.

I found some amber bottles on Amazon that work amazing for this. They came with spray nozzles that make it so easy to apply.
I apply daily after I’ve washed my face.

I’d love to hear some of your favorite skin care products you make at home! I’m always looking for new ideas 🙂