The new store for Time to Thyme Herb & Soap Co.

Last weekend we had a booth in Canton, Texas, on "The Mountain," next to Old Mill Marketplace, where we were selling all of our Time to Thyme products.  While we were there, we found the most perfect little store for our business.  See the two-story light yellow building with  purple trim underneath The Boardwalk sign in the picture? That's the new store for Time to Thyme Herb & Soap Co. It's very easy to locate, as it is at the end of the little entrance bridge on "The Mountain." We're very proud of our new store and when we're finished fixing it up it's going to be so cute.
We can't wait to move in and set up our products. It's going to be a long hard month getting everything ready before Canton's 1st Monday Trade Days, in December (Nov. 29 - Dec. 2), but we're going to do it. For those of you that have never been to Canton's 1st Monday Trade Days, you're in for a real treat. Canton weekend started 150 years ago and now there are over 7500 vendors.  I mean, it's a seriously HUGE flea market.
We will have soaps, tea blends, herbal preparation kits, sugar scrub, sachets, Mala/Prayer beads, salves, lip balms, tinctures, essential oils, and many other herbal products. We'll also have unique merchandise from India. We hope to see you there in a few weeks. When you come in the store, help yourself to a free sample of our tea, which will contain one of our many herbal tea blends.

Tattoo Salve

20 years ago I made a salve for wounds.  One day, my son came home with a tattoo.  He put some of the salve on it and was amazed at how quickly the tattoo healed, and there wasn't any itching.  The tattoo healed so fast that it sealed in the color and the tattoo looked the same after it healed as it did on the day that he got it.  Needless to say, Brian was extremely happy about that and had me make him a lot of what he dubbed "Tattoo Salve." 
When Brian's friends realized how fast his tattoo healed and that there wasn't any itching and the color remained the same, they started going to Brian's house and use his "Tattoo Salve" after they got tattoos.
I haven't made Tattoo Salve in a few years and the other day when Brian found out we made some, he was incredibly happy and immediately started plotting and planning his next tattoo just so he could use his "Tattoo Salve."
We've added the Tattoo Salve to our list of products on our website, www.timetothyme.com

T3's Store Debut

This has been an extremely busy two weeks for us.  We've been brainstorming, creating products, and getting everything ready for our Time to Thyme debut at our first store.  As of last week, we have some of our products on display at StarDragonfly Herb Company, in Winnsboro, Texas, (a.k.a. The Little Herb Shop on Elm Street).  We're very proud of our display and would like to thank Susan Thames for including our products in her herb shop.  We love StarDragonfly Herb Company because we feel instantly comfortable when we walk in the door, therefore, we were delighted when Susan contacted us requesting some of our products. 

Our products on display at
StarDragonfly Herb Company
in Winnsboro, Texas

 This is one of the display areas in Susan's herb shop.  If you happen to find yourself near Winnsboro, Texas, drop in and take a look. 
We've been working on new products and have already included some of them on our website, www.timetothyme.com and plan on adding more in the very near future, so be sure to check back from Time to Thyme to see what's new.
We've been testing one of our products on several family members for quite some time, and have found it to be amazingly AWESOME! and will include it on our website soon.








Busy, Busy, Busy...like a BEE

Time to Thyme Update:
Vannoy, Lin, and I have had a HUGELY productive weekend of creativity, brainstorming, decorating, and very hard work at our new Time to Thyme Distribution Center, which we affectionately call T3. We spent 3 days working as hard and fast as we could from early in the morning until late at night. We made soaps, tinctures, herb infused oils, tea blends, and many other herbal inspired goodies.
Most importantly, and much to our delight, we updated our Time to Thyme website, www.timetothyme.com  We added more products to our website, and reduced the prices on some of the pre-existing products.  We got so much accomplished this weekend and can't wait to go back for another round of busy creative activity. 

Help deter lice with lavender and tea tree

School starts in a couple of weeks and one thought that is always at the back of your mind is the possibility of the dreaded LICE INVASION. Lice can be a real problem at some schools and it can also be so very hard to get rid of, especially if you have small children.  Little kids don't understand why they can't wear their friends hats, jackets and scarves, or use their combs and brushes. If you're like me, just thinking about the possibility of having lice shoots you right into a full-out anxiety attack.

This is what I've been doing for the last few years to help keep lice at bay, as I have quite a few grandkids that go to school and another one starting his first year of school this fall. I went to the local health food store and bought a bottle of Lavender Essential Oil, which is usually between $7.25 and $11.50 for a 1 oz. bottle. It all depends on where you live and what stores you have access to. I live in a small town, so it's $11.50 per bottle at our health food store.  If I want to drive 65 miles and go to Drug Emporium in Tyler to buy it, I would only have to pay $7.25 a bottle. Needless to say, unless it's an emergency, I wait to get my essential oils until I go to Tyler.

I went to Walmart to the vitamin section and bought a bottle of Tea Tree Oil, which is around $7.97 for a 2 oz. bottle. Lice DO NOT like the smell of lavender or tea tree. (You can also buy tea tree essential oil at health food stores but it will cost more than it does at Walmart).

While at Walmart, I went over to the section for eye drops and contact solution and bought a pack of two eye droppers, which were about $1.50 for the pack. Then I bought bottles of Suave Lavender shampoo and conditioner. I buy Suave because I can't find lavender shampoo in any other brand.
When I got home, I took the tops off of the shampoo and conditioner and added 10 or 11 drops of lavender essential oil to each bottle. Then using one of the eye droppers, I added about 15 drops of tea tree oil to each bottle. I put the lids back on the shampoo and conditioner and shake them real good to mix the essential oils, which is hard to do since the bottles are so full.

I feel safer sending the kids to school after they've been using this shampoo and conditioner.  The essential oils I bought will last a long time, and it was money well spent for me to have peace of mind. I know that it's still possible one of the kids will eventually pick up lice somewhere even though we use this shampoo and conditioner, but at least I feel better about the possibility of that not happening very often. We also still use all the other precausions to avoid a lice attack. Blah! That stuff freaks me smooth out.
I read in one of my many herb books that if you put a sprig of lavender under your pillow, it will deter head lice.

Tinctures almost ready to decant

Jars of tincture waiting to be decanted

A month ago, I had a blog post titled, "Grasshoppers Galore" that told about my devastation when I realized grasshoppers had eaten most of my herbs. I cut what herbs I could rescue and went tincture insane. I made tinctures out of all of it. Seems like I was in a hurry that day and making tinctures was the easiest route to take. I open my herbal supply closet all the time and stare at my jars of tincture because they're so pretty. It's been four weeks and four days since I made them and I'm so excited for the day to come when I can decant them. There are seven different kinds of tincture: thyme, rosemary, calendula, lemon verbena, bee balm, lemon balm, and oregano.
I've included a list below of what I plan on using my tinctures for.
Thyme has so many different uses, but I'll use the tincture mostly for allergies, coughs, and stomach cramps.
I will use the rosemary tincture to relieve stress, as it is an herb that "raises the spirits." Rosemary will also be used to treat headaches and mild depression. I have a lot of grandchildren and will use it many times on wounds, cuts, and scrapes, and also as a liniment to treat muscle spasms and rheumatism.
The calendula tincture will be used to treat inflamation of the digestive system, fevers, flu, stomachaches, and cramps. I'll also use it on cuts, wounds, scrapes, and as a liniment to relieve muscle spasms.
Lemon verbena will be used to relieve abdominal discomfort. It has also been used as a mild sedative.
Bee balm is going to be used for coughs, nausea, and sore throats. It has also been used as a mild sedative.
Lemon balm will be used to relieve anxiety and mild depression.
The oregano tincture is going to be used for respiratory problems such as coughs, asthma, and bronchitis.

My family members are just a herd of guinea pigs

For the last several months I have been plagued with a horrible pain in my neck.  The pain starts in the middle of the right side of my neck and shoots up behind my right ear and goes all the way down my neck and shoots down to my shoulder blade.  At times, the pain is quite excruciating. 

The other day I decided to make a liniment for my neck to relieve the pain.  I have arthritis in several of my fingers and believe it's quite possibly rheumatism, so I decided the pain in my neck could very well be caused by the same problem.  I used essential oils to make the liniment and since I convinced myself that I have rheumatism in my neck, the essential oils I chose to use were for rheumatism, arthritis, and inflammation.  When the liniment was ready, I began putting in on my neck several times a day for three days.  The liniment brought a little relief to my neck and it did relieve the stiffness, so I guess I could call the liniment a success. 

I was so focused on trying to decide if the liniment worked on my neck that I didn't give my hands a second thought.  Needless to say, I was quite stunned when I realized that the fingers on my left hand that are swollen and painful with rheumatism, felt better and not so stiff.  I realized that when I put the liniment on the right side of my neck, I always used my left hand and the liniment relieved the pain in the joints of my fingers.  I was quite excited by this discovery and have been using the liniment on ALL of my fingers on both hands for the last two days.  I'm amazed at how much better the middle finger on my right hand feels.  Two days ago, the joint by my fingernail on my middle finger hurt so bad that it was very painful to touch it, and I could barely bend it.  Now the pain's down to a slight throb.  FREAKIN' AMAZING!!

I love to experiment on family members, so I called my mother and told her about the affect my liniment experiment had on my fingers.  She was excited because she also has rheumatism in her fingers and has to deal with the daily pain.  I told her she was my first rheumatism guinea pig and I wanted her to try the liniment so I could make sure it really works, and it wasn't just a coincidence that it worked on me.  Of course, she's more than happy to help me with my little experiment.  I made her liniment last night and will take it to her in a day or two.  After she uses it for a couple of days, I'll let you know how her fingers feel.

Hamsters, Frogs, Hermit Crabs, Fish, and My Newest Pet

I used to have two hamsters, Kizmet and Mojo, I loved those hamsters. I had them for two years and they finally died within one month of each other. Within a couple of days, I missed my hamsters so much that I went right up and bought two more hamsters, Zeppelin and Mozart. I loved my new hamsters just as much as I did my other hamsters.  Two years later they both died within three months of each other. I was so sad, but after four years of hamsters, I decided I was done. I got rid of the cages and all of the tubes, toys, hamster balls, food, everything.  I felt free cuz I didn't have to feed them anymore, or put them in their hamster balls every day so they could get exercise, or clean out cages anymore (I hated that part).
Over the last couple of years, I've had frogs, hermit crabs, and fish but after several months of having each one of them, I would give them away because...well, I was tired of catching crickets for the frogs, the crabs were boring, and I got tired of adding water to the aquarium for the fish AND the tanks took up so much room.

Lately, I've been fighting the urge to get birds.  BIRDS!!!  Can you imagine? I had two parakeets 30 years ago and there were constantly feathers and seeds EVERYWHERE. I woke up vacuuming and went to bed vacuuming. It was horrible. A few months ago, I told Vannoy, my sister, that when I started looking at birds in pet stores or talking about wanting birds that it was her job to make me come to my senses. She talked me out of wanting birds a few times just by saying, "Remember how much you hate all of the feathers and seeds." That's all it took to keep birds out of my house. 

I want a lizard too but when I convince myself that I N-E-E-D one, I talk myself out of it. All I have to do is think of my grandson, Kyle. A couple of years ago he went outside at my house and found a blue-tailed lizard. He picked it up and screamed cuz the lizard bit him. It was hanging from the tip of his finger. I had no idea that they would bite you.

Venus Flytrap
Isn't it cute? It's so tiny. I know the
toothpicks look like some kind of flytrap
torture device, but they're not. I'm trying to
make the little flytraps evenly spaced out
so I won't be driven crazy by the
unevenness of it.

Yesterday I found the perfect house pet. I went to the store and as I was walking through lawn and garden, I saw a bunch of Venus Flytraps. I found the prettiest one and bought it.  When I got home I got on the Internet and researched flytraps to see how to raise them. I hope I don't kill it. I think this will be the perfect pet for me. I don't have to feed it, or put it in a ball so it can exercise, or give it a bath like the crabs, or clean out its cage, and I won't have to vacuum up and feathers and seeds. PERFECT PET! The grandkids will have fun feeding it bugs.  All I have to do is try to remember to give it bottled water a couple of times a week.
I completely forgot to mention Borealis. That's my Beta. In December I'll have him for three years. He's so pretty. I give him bottled water too. I'm not getting rid of him, he's been through a lot with me. He's a good fish.

Grasshoppers Galore

The only grasshoppers I could catch
with my camera.  They're fast.

OMG! at the grasshoppers. My yard has been taken over by herb gobbling grasshoppers. I can't even walk in the yard without being in what looks like an ocean of the horrible things. I'm sad to say that they've devoured a lot of my beautiful herbs. Last week when I realized what was happening, I ran in the house and grabbed several bowls and the scissors and took off outside to "rescue" my herbs. I cut and cut and cut until I saved all of my herbs that I could. Well, I didn't actually save my herbs, but I did rescue some of the leaves so I could use them in my herbal recipes. It's just devastating.  I hate grasshoppers so much, but where I live it's inevitable that there are millions of them every single summer. Ugh! I would give anything if I knew how to murder them. I would gladly do it with a smile on my face while laughing evilly at their unfortunate demise. At least the spiders are fed well.  Too bad I hate spiders way more than grasshoppers. Just the thought of a spider's freaky little legs touching me and their nasty awful fangs sinking into my skin is enough to send me over the edge into a major creep-out. EEE-GADS!!!

Homemede Spoon and Fork Wind Chimes

15 years ago, Vannoy, Tina, Teena and I went to Beaver's Bend to spend the weekend, as we did every year in October. While we were there, we went to the gift shop and I saw the cutest wind chimes. I looked at them and decided I could make some of those myself. I thought about those wind chimes the rest of the weekend, and by the time I got home, I knew what I wanted to do.


Bent prongs

I had several old spoons and forks that were my grandmothers and this is what I used because I knew I would have the wind chimes forever and I wanted them to be special. I found five spoons and one fork that I wanted to use and my husband drilled a hole in the end of each handle; I used wire pliers to very carefully bend each prong on the fork. The outside prongs were bent straight out (East and West), and the two inside prongs were bent, one in each direction, (North and South). This made the prongs look like a plus sign. Then I got a pair of pointy nose pliers and carefully curled the tip of each prong up to form a loop (I had to use three forks before I could curl all of the prongs tips without breaking one). I took one of the spoons and a hammer and went to the road and beat the bowl part of the spoon until it was flat; this spoon was for hanging from the middle of the fork.

Spoon and Fork Wind Chimes

I used 5 inch long pieces of chain to attach the spoons to the fork and used another 5 inch long piece of chain to attach to the fork handle for hanging (I attached a round key chain to the other end of the hanging chain). When I attached the spoons, I hung the flattened spoon in the middle of the fork and the other four spoons from the four corners.
My wind chime makes a beautiful "ting" noise when the wind blows and is also a very interesting conversation piece. These wind chimes are perfect to hang from a shephard's hook in your garden.
This wind chime looks just like the one at the gift shop in Beaver's Bend. Not only did I save $16. 97 by making my own, I had a fun craft day and now I'll always have a piece of my amazing grandmother with me in my garden.  I think of her every time I look at my wind chimes. I have two of these wind chimes, as I made one with big spoons and one with little spoons.

Sand, Rock, Seashell, and Debris IDEA

Several years ago, I saw a picture in a Martha Stewart magazine of a mantle with a bunch of little bottles on it and in the bottles were sandm seashells, rocks, coral fossils, tiny drift wood, and such. I thought they were so cute, as I'm absolutely obsessed with every single one of those things anyway.  The article said that when the family went on a vacation, they would always find something on the beach to bring home and add to a little bottle for their collection. I was so happy that there was something useful to do with MY collection of stuff I'd been obsessively collecting for years.  I showed the article to my sister, Vannoy, she was also excited about it. You see, Vannoy, mama, and I have been on a lot of cruises and road trips and have brought back little pieces of the differect countries, states, and parks that we've visited. Vannoy and I went to Hobby Lobby and found these little packs of plastic bottles. There are nine in a pack for $2.97; we bought several packs of these bottles apiece and brought them home and set about filling them up.

Bottles of sand, seashells, rocks, and
coral fossils from vacations

I didn't want labels on the front of my bottles because it would cover up part of the collection and, so I wrote the name on top of the lid. I put the bottles in front of my TV so I could look at them while I watched TV. I love those bottles and looking at them always makes me so happy. It's visually appealing, as all the little bottles match and they're lined up so perfect. It's amazing because the sand in each bottle is completely different. They range in texture from fine powder to course tiny pebbles, and the color ranges from almost white to light brown. How can there be such completely different sand on every beach.  Since they're all connected to the same body of water, it seems like they would at least match. Perhaps I sould whoop out my Geology books and read them again. It has been awhile since I took those courses.

Okay, I wasn't going to say this because I'm sure it's obsessive behavior, but it worked so well. I had to put labels on my bottles to remind me where I was when I got the contents of each bottle, but I didn't want to SEE the labels, so they had to be transparent. After way too much thinking, I developed a plan of action. I wanted to write on top of the bottles because I didn't actually want to see the labels when I looked at the bottles, and the sides of the bottles had to be visually appealing or it would have driven me smack-dab nuts. I knew that permanent marker would come off after it's been touched several times, and I couldn't take that chance, as I wouldn't have known where the contents came from if the words came off. So here's what I did, I put a piece of clear tape on top of the bottle, of course it was perfectly lined up where the little tab that stuck off the side of the lid was at the back becasue I didn't want to see that either. I wrote the country, beach, resort name, lodge, month and year (whichever one was appropriate for the trip) on top of the tape. Then I put a piece of clear tape on top of that. Now I don't ever have to worry about the label getting smudged, seeing the little tab on the lid, or SEEING a white label because they're clear, AND on top of the bottle. So pretty.

Homemade Yellow Jacket Trap

I woke up bright and early this morning and decided it was a good day to cut my Rosemary and make some herbal medicinal supplies.  I grabbed my big colander and scissors and went out into the yard to attack my rosemary.  I was cutting away on one section of one of my Rosemary and decided to move to another section.  After I moved, I was happily cutting away when I noticed a yellow jacket next to my hand.  I moved away a little bit so I wouldn't disturb it.  Then I noticed another yellow jacket sitting on the colander I was holding, so I kind of moved the scissors next to make him to make him move.  He flew in a little circle and landed on my shirt.  I looked down at him and noticed another one on my pants, another one on my arm and several swarming around me...AAHHHH!!  Instantly, I went into self-survival mode and started screaming, jumping up and down, running in circles, and swinging my scissors around like a baseball bat to try to deflect them.  No matter what I did, they stayed right next to me, so I took off for the house as fast as I could go.  I opened the door and ran inside.  When I was in the house, I looked down and was grateful to see I still had my colander of rosemary in my hand. 

I waited about 15 minutes and grabbed my colander and scissors and tiptoed back out to my rosemary, but this time I stayed as far away from the "contaminated" area as I could.  Moving as little as possible, I began very quietly, cutting more rosemary.  It felt sort of like I was stealing someone else's rosemary, as I was forced to cut it so cautiously and quietly.  Needless to say, I never cut rosemary so fast in my life. 

Wasp Trap
Bottle and 2 inches of Kool-Aid with extra sugar

My next mission is to kill those yellow jackets without using any kind of spray, as I don't want chemicals anywhere near my herbs.  I heard one time that you can get a bottle and put a couple of inches of sweet liquid in it and set it outside and the yellow jackets/wasps will fly inside to drink the liquid and can't get out.  I've thought about this often because I know my hummingbirds can't get to the feeders sometimes because of the yellow jackets/wasps.  I just set the trap a few minutes ago.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I put 2 inches of Kool-Aid in the bottle and EXTRA sugar.  Hope that will lure them in, then we'll let the trap, hopefully, do what it's supposed to do.  I think I'll get my binoculars because I have no desire to go next to that bottle and look inside to see if any of them have been trapped by the enticingly sweet liquid inside. 
I did notice something as I stealthily crept over to my rosemary to place the trap in a strategic spot.  If you notice, to the left at the top of the bottle is a dead sprig of rosemary.  This sucks for me.  I know that if I don't hurry up and get that dead sprig off of the plant, it will keep dying back until I'm forced to cut off a whole entire limb.  The reason this sucks is because the dead sprig is in the vicinity of the enemy, and the enemy is dying to sting me because I interrupted their nap time.  After it's been dark for a couple of hours, I'll go out and cut the dead sprig off when the yellow jackets are sleeping.  Until a little bit ago, I completely forgot that yellow jackets and red wasps LOVE LOVE LOVE my rosemary.  : (

My Grandson, The Herbalist

My oldest grandson, Kyle, is 14 years old, and has "career goal # 2" lined up.  When he was four years old, he decided he was going to college to major in art and computers, because that's the two things that he loved more than anything.  That's been the "Big Plan" for years and I've encouraged him to follow his dream ever since then, but about a year or two ago, he became interested in herbs.  At first, he was drawn to the planting, smelling, and cooking aspect of herbs, which is what draws most of us in the beginning.  About six months ago, he really has been drawn to the healing realm of herbalism.  When I make my medicinal herbal supplies, he always has a lot of questions and wants to know exactly what I use to make each item. 

It was a couple of months ago when I realized his questions went way past normal curiosity, he was actually intensely interested in herbs and essential oils.  I came upon this realization when we were talking one day about the different aspects of herbal healing, and Kyle said, "I want to be an Herbalist."

I was so stunned.  I had no idea that Kyle was THAT interested in herbal remedies.  We talked about his decision to become an Herbalist for a little bit and while we were talking, it came to me that for the last couple of years, Kyle really hasn't talked about college, art and computers.  He'd lost interest in that career a long time ago and I didn't even notice.  He's so happy with his new career goal and I haven't seen him this interested in anything in years.  Now that I know that's his goal, I'll encourage him all I can.  I'm tickled pink to have a budding Herbalist on my hands. 

T3 has finally been released

It's been such a long wait for us but as of yesterday afternoon our family-based herbal website is finally complete and has gone LIVE LIVE LIVE!!!  It's an Herbal Preparation website about educating people on natural, chemical-free ways to care for their family and homes.  We're very excited about our new project and hope everyone loves our website as much as we do. 
Please visit our website, www.timetothyme.com

Babies and Spikes

Last night two of my grandsons were spending the night with me, their two brothers were next door spending the night at my sons house with his three kids.  Brayden, Hunter and I were getting ready for bed when I heard thunder.  I told the kids I was going outside to watch the lightening and asked if they wanted to go with me.  We all went outside to hang out and watch the lightening show.  After a little bit, I went out in the yard with my flashlight to look at my cactus.  I have two cactus that my husband got for me in August 1992.  Both of these cactus have been in the house since I got them.  I was always afraid that if I put them outside they might die and I loved them so I never took them out.  In March I broke down and put the tallest one outside.  When I put it out by the fountain I measured it and it was exactly 31 inches tall. 


My beautiful 20 year old cactus

When I looked at that cactus last night, I noticed something on the top of it.  I thought it was a grasshopper and I leaned over to knock it off.  To my stunned amazement, it was a new little branch growing on my cactus.  I looked again and noticed another one, and another one.  I couldn't believe it, in almost 20 years that cactus has never grown anything except three inch long spikes, now, all of a sudden, it has three babies.  This morning I decided to measure that cactus to see if it's grown taller since March because it just seems like it's bigger than it used to be, and now it's 35 1/2 inches tall.  SHOCKING!!!  In March it was 31 inches tall, that's 4 1/2 inches it's grown in THREE MONTHS!  I'm so proud of the new growth and how tall it's grown that tomorrow I'm putting my other 20 year old cactus outside too.  Apparently, if I'd put them outside 20 years ago they'd be humongotoid godzillacactus by now.


My beautiful 20 year old cactus and its
very first little baby branches

The spikes all over the whole cactus have ALWAYS been brown. Now, the spikes all around the crown of the cactus are green at the base and they're longer than they've ever been before.  You should have seen me carrying this cactus from the living room to the fountain.  It was so scary.  The pot is about 18 inches tall and wide and VERY heavy.  The cactus was 31 inches tall with 3 inch long spikes.  While carrying it to the fountain I was poked by the spikes so many times, and let me tell you, it hurt bad.  I'd swear poison was in those spikes.  I dread fall when I have to carry it back in the house because apparently, It's gonna be taller than ever with branches full of spikes, eee-gads!  I think when that time comes, I'll find some man-power to help me.  Better someone else to get stabbed this time around, as I've been stabbed by that cactus for 20 years.  But if worse comes to worse, I'll pick that sucker up myself before I let the cold weather have it, because it is my baby, after all.

Much Needed Rain and New Project

So when the thunder and lightening woke me up early this morning, I was very grateful for the impending rain, as I totally forgot to water my poor thirsty herbs and cactus yesterday...and the day before that...and it's very likely, from the looks of them, I forgot to water them the day before that.  Sometimes I wonder why they don't go on strike.  I hope they never catch wind that there's such a thing as a strike because I'm sure they would be the first plants in line to join the strike brigade.  It's really sad for them that they still have to survive the HOT part of being from Texas in the summer.  I've barely survived so far, and it's only the middle of June, (pant pant).  I must be more diligent in my watering routine or my babies will pay pay pay.
My sister, niece and I have been working very hard on a project and we are in the hopes that all of our pain and suffering will be for naught and our little project will be up and running very soon.  Just as soon as we get the go-ahead for our project to get under way, I'll tell you more about it, but for now, we're keeping it quiet until we get all of the kinks worked out.  We're very excited about it and can't wait until we can begin the next phase of our life. 

Yellow Jackets, Porch Swing and Morning Ritual

Porch swing, "transportable" plastic chair, & baby greenhouse

This morning, as every other morning, I set about preparing for my morning ritual.  I collected my coffee, house phone, cell phone, blue ink pen, notepad, Aromatherapy book, lap pad to lay my book on, small wicker basket to put ALLLLL of my stuff in, and headed for the backyard where I sit for a couple of hours every morning to reading/studying/devour my book of choice for the day.  I either set in my comfy plastic chair (because I can move it wherever I want to sit), or on the porch swing.  Today I decided to sit on the porch swing, as I haven't set there in a week or so.  When I set down, I felt like my knees were up to my chest.  I got up and looked at the swing and realized the legs of the swing set had buried themselves into the ground.  I know from past experience that if I pull the legs out of the ground, they're just gonna sink in again.  So I decided to take the easier route and raise the swing up.  I raised one side of the swing, then went to the other side and reached up and put my hands on the chain to remove it from the hook so I could raise it...that's when I noticed movement.  I looked and about one inch from my hands was a big yellow jacket home with about 20 yellow jackets all looking at me and let me tell you, they did not look happy at all.  Of course, this made me squeal and jump, which scared me more because I know they attack, as I've been the recipient of many attacks from those horrid beasts.   I squatted down and tiptoed away.  When I got around the corner, I ran in the house and told my husband where the angry little things were.  While I hid in the house, like any sane person would, he went outside and killed them, then I went back out and raised the other side of my swing, and set about completing my morning ritual. 

View from porch swing

This is the view I see when I sit on my porch swing.  It's our pasture, but not our horses, those belong to the neighbor, but they look real pretty in our pasture and help create a calm, relaxing feel.  See my poor Mimosa tree?  Last year it was so beautiful, but the drought last summer almost killed it.  Most of the limbs are dead.  I want to cut them off but if I do, the tree will be nearly naked.  I think I'll wait until fall to do it.

Panoramic view, how pretty.  No wonder I like to set in the back yard in the morning.

3rd Annual Gentles Family Reunion

This past weekend, we had our 3rd Annual Gentles Family Reunion.  Every year we rent three HUGE cabins right by each other at Beaver's Bend in Oklahoma and our whole family stays for the weekend.  We had so much fun.  Our family is pretty big, so it's really hard to get all of us in the same place at the same time.  This is the 3rd year in a row to try to get everyone at Beaver's Bend at the same exact time and this is the 3rd year in a row that we were unsuccessful.  Perhaps next year it'll happen.  Oh!  Wait!  Never mind.  My nephew just joined the Army...for the 3rd time, and him, his wife and two sons are moving to Alaska in 5 or 6 months and won't be able to come to the reunion next year.  They're so lucky, they get to move to someplace nice and cold while I remain behind in TEXAS.  If there's anyone in the whole entire world that shouldn't live in Texas, it's ME.  Too hot.  And when I say it's too hot, I mean it's TOO HOT!


Passion Flower

While we were at Beaver's Bend, I saw this beautiful flower down the road from our cabins.  It's intricacy and delicate appearance qualified it as the most beautiful flower I've ever seen.  This picture DOES NOT do it justice.  My mother said it was a Passion Flower.  It was so beautiful that my sister and I just stared at it for a long time.  The actual flower was probably about 2 1/2 to 3 inches across and 1 1/2 to 2 inches tall.  So beautiful.  I can't wait until next years reunion because we're gonna rent the same cabins and I'm gonna walk down the road and find these flowers again so I can stare at them some more and take tons of pics.

Perfect Beautiful Dried Flowers

Today I went to the school where four of my grandsons go because Hunter and Tanner had their award ceremony.  They're in fourth grade this year and Tanner got an award for A-B honor roll and Hunter got an award for perfect attendance.  They were so cute up on the stage.  I took pictures and waved at them a lot.  Tomorrow night I have to go back to the school because Kyle, my oldest grandson, is having his eighth grade graduation.  I have to take pictures of him too, so I hope I don't forget my camera.

I've tried several different ways to dry flowers and herbs and each method would take too long and the end product would usually be brown and ugly.  I've tried drying herbs on screen frames, laying them on plates and putting them in a dark dry place, in the sun, on the dryer, and I've even tried drying them in the microwave or oven, but I never liked the results from any of these methods.  I heard one time about a drying method that has worked so well for me that it's the only way I've dried ANYTHING for several years.

Paper bags of flowers and herbs drying on my dash.

I cut the flowers or leaves of what I want to dry.  Then I put each item in its own brown paper bag, fold down the top and put a clothes pin on it to hold the bag closed.  Then I take the bag(s) out to my car and put them on the back dash, leaving all of the windows rolled up, and I have perfectly dried specimens in only one or two days, depending on how hot it is.  If I have too many bags to dry at once, if it's hot enough in my car, I'll lay some of the bags on the backseat.  I suppose it would be handy to have an old car sitting in the yard to dry my little bags of flowers/herbs in.  Using this method, the flowers retain their beautiful color and the herb leaves remain green.

Flowers dried in car in a paper bag:
Calendula, Lavender, Chamomile and Rose Petals

I just took this picture of flowers dried in brown paper bags on the dash of my car.  Aren't they beautiful?  On the back row is Calendula and Lavender, and on the front row is Chamomile and Rose Petals.  I hope if you haven't tried this method of drying yet, that you will give it a try.  It's very rewarding when you want a cup of tea and the herbs and flowers you have to choose from look like this instead of being brown and colorless.  Happy drying.

Herbal Supply Closet Overhaul # 2

I really enjoy  having an herbal supply closet, but I just don't have enough room.  Several days ago I tried to rearrange everything to make it look more orderly so I could find what I wanted easier, but it turned out looking just the same as it did before I began.  I've thought about that closet for days and realized I needed more shelves.  Half of the closet had all of our Christmas stuff stacked in it and half of the closet had a stand with four shelves, and that's where my herbal supplies goes. 

Herbal Supply Closet

I spent hours yesterday and emptied my whole entire closet and put every bit of the Christmas stuff in storage and went to Walmart and bought another tall stand with four shelves and put that in the closet right next to my other stand.  Now I have plenty of room and can find everything.  I love it.  It was four hours well spent.  Now I can find whatever I want easily and I have way more room to add MORE STUFF!! 
Luckily, this closet has the kind of doors that fold out and it opens the whole front of the closet so it's real easy to see what's in it.  Sometimes I go over and open both doors and just stand there staring at everything because it makes me happy to see all of my beautiful stuff.  I guess it doesn't take much to make me happy.
I have a shelf for herbal medicines that I've made and my essential oils.  There's a shelf for tinctures and the supplies needed to make herbal remedies.  A few shelves for my dried herbs and a couple of shelves to store jars.  I'm in heaven with my herbal supply closets new face lift.  Now I'm thinking about giving it a new name to go with its new look.  I just have to think of one.

My Fountain and Butchered Rosemary

I love my fountain.  It's one of the joys of my life.  See the green thing in the front corner of my fountain?  That's where I like to sit so I can stare at my beautiful yard.  This is a great place to go to sit and think.  At the back of the picture, you can see some of my potted herb garden.  I have 32 herbs growing there.  I spend many hours sitting on my front porch watching my yard while reading the textbooks for my ongoing Homeopathic courses.

In this picture, you can see the rosemary right behind my fountain. There are three of them now, I started out with five rosemary 18 years ago and two have died over the years.  There's a story behind my rosemary, as they've had their struggles to survive during their life.

I planted these rosemary 18 years ago at another house and when I moved from that house, I dug them up and carried them with me.  They were only 2 years old when I moved them, but they were already 2 1/2 feet tall and I was so scared they wouldn't survive being moved, but I had to try because I loved them.  Surprisingly enough, they all lived and this made me extremely happy. Then a few years later, we moved to the house we're in now and my poor rosemary had to be moved again. There wasn't any way I was going to leave them behind as they were very much a part of my life.  They all miraculously survived, again, and there was much rejoicing.  A couple of years later, two of them died, but the other three thrived and were monstrously gigantic.  They were so big and bushy that you couldn't even see through them and they were taller than me.  Then came the big drought during the summer of 2011.  So many branches turned brown and died that it took me 3 1/2 long pain filled hours to cut all of the dead parts off.  Now my beautiful rosemary look just like big bonsai.  Luckily, I think bonsai are so pretty.  I affectionately call them my rosemary bonsai and consider myself lucky that any of them survived. 
This is a secret about rosemary that I learned years ago.  When a sprig of rosemary dies, remove it IMMEDIATELY.  If you don't, then the limb will develop more and more dying parts until the whole limb is dead.  If you remove the dead sprig as soon as you see it, most of the time, the dying will stop and you've saved the limb.  Well, this is always the way it happens with my rosemary, so I assume all rosemary are the same.  After removing a dead sprig, keep your eye on that part of your rosemary to make sure the dying doesn't go to another sprig.  If it does, remove that sprig also.

Cactus, my first plants to love

When I was a teenager, I discovered cactus.  Within no time, I had 113 different cactus growing in the living room.  My parents were very tollerant of my new hobby and my unusual love of cactus.  I had so many pots that my dad finally had to build this big stand with a bunch of shelves for me to have somewhere to set all of my cactus.  I've always thought they're beautiful and over the years, I've had many many cactus. 

Flowering Cactus

Two years ago, I bought this cactus and put it in a clay pot so I could raise it in my fountain.  During the winter, I bring it in the house so it won't die.  The other day I was rewarded with three beautiful flowers that grew out of the top of the cactus.  The flowers only lived for three days, but during those three days I really enjoyed looking at the flowers and would make special trips outside to stare at them.  There's something about cactus flowers that give them an artificial quality.  They look so perfect that it makes them appear fake.
I'm also a sucker for a cactus that's striving to live.  When I pass by the cactus section at the store and see a cactus that's been knocked over and has fallen out of its pot, I always have to stop and pick it up and put it back in the pot.....UNLESS, it's the kind of cactus that will leave thousands of horrible little painful stickers in you.  Then I'll try to figure out how to put it back in the pot without actually touching it.  As I said, I'm a sucker for suffering cactus. 

Loving cactus is a painful job.

Hibiscus, trial and error

Hibiscus

A month ago I went to Lowe's and while I was looking at roses, I walked past a bunch of Hibiscus. Some of them had the biggest prettiest flowers on them, so I decided I needed two of them. I brought them home and planted one on each side of my fountain. After a month, they're still alive, so this makes me very hopeful for their continuing success. I've bought Hibiscus a couple of times over the years but they don't live very long. I think I always buy them too late in the growing season, and here in Texas, that's a big no-no. Also, this time I planted them in the front yard and they get way more water than when I plant them in the back yard. You know what they say, out of sight, out of mind. I think whoever said that first was referring to neglected plants stuck off in some random corner of the yard.
Both of my Hibiscus are a foot tall and ten inches wide, which makes this flower look HUGE. I measured the flower and it's a little over six inches wide. So pretty. I can't wait until my little plants have many many flowers every single day...I have plans for them. Have you ever had Hibiscus tea? If not, you should try it. That's what I'm going to do with the flowers, but for now I'm leaving them alone, as they don't grow too many flowers yet. The flowers bloom early in the morning and live only for that one day. Needless to say, I'll be picking them like crazy in a year or two.

Pet Spiders and Sweet Basil

I haven't written anything in a couple of days because I've been in and out of the house a lot. So, the other day when I went to take my grandsons to baseball practice, my oldest grandson met me at the door with a horrible spider in a bowl and said it was his new pet. I absolutely loathe spiders, Actually, I'm really scared of them. Kyle and I searched the internet until we found the spider he had and discovered, to my great relief, that they aren't poisonous. We dropped his three brothers off at baseball practice, then Kyle and I went to the store and I bought each of the boys a plastic home for their nasty pets. Kyle put his spider in his bug house and caught a grasshopper and moth for his pet to eat. His brothers were equally happy to get their bug houses. They caught grasshoppers to put in them, but wanted a spider like Kyle had. The next morning I told my daughter-in-law, Jennifer, that her nephews wanted a spider for their bug house and she started looking around and found two spiders and captured them. I found one in my house, blah, and after much screaming, jumping up and down, and running in place, I caught him and put him in a bowl. This was an amazing feat for me, as I was incredibly terrified. That night, I took the boys their new pets and they were ecstatic. Now I'm waiting until they get more bug houses at the store so I can get three more for the other grandkids. It's nice that they're all so easy to please.

Today my sister and I were in Tyler all day and we went to Drug Emporium, where I found lemon and myrrh essential oil. I've wanted these two essential oils for a few weeks, but had to wait for a Tyler trip to finally get to buy them. The problem is, I've waited to get them for so long that I can't remember what I wanted the myrrh for. But it doesn't really matter. There's always something I can use it in. 

Sweet Basil

A few days ago I potted my little sweet basil and put them in the greenhouse until they adjusted to being in their new pots. A little bit ago I put the pots in the front yard with my other potted herbs to see if they were strong enough to survive this Texas sun. I'll have to keep a close watch over them the next few days to make sure the sun isn't too much for them. Sweet basil is one of my favorite herbs, the smell of it always reminds me of spaghetti. Basil has so many different uses, it"s used in cooking fish and poultry, and is delicious when cooked with pasta, rice, eggs, tomatoes and all kinds of vegetables. It also tastes good in sauces, soups and stews. Basil is an excellent herb when used to make vinegar and oil. I've used basil to make oil and vinegar in the past and either one of them are a perfect addition to salads. During the spring and summer when I have basil growing, I go out every day and pick a leaf and put it in my pocket so I can smell it all day long. Oh, how I love that smell.

I also brought out the two long rectangle pots of calendula and put them on the patio of my fountain.   I hope the cats stay out of them, they won't really be safe from the cats until they get a little bigger and cover up the dirt more.  I'll have to check them several times a day to see if they're getting droopy. I can't wait until the flowers grow, as I have plans for them. I'll let some of the flowers die on the stem so I can use the seeds for growing more calendula next year. The rest of them will be used in tea and herbal medicines. I'm impatiently waiting for them to grow.

My big decision

I've been outside today potting my little baby sweet basils.  I grew them from seeds and have been waiting ever so patiently for them to get two inches tall so I could put them in their own pots.  I can't put them in the front of the house with all of my other herbs yet as they are too tiny and the cats will just make a bed out of them.  I put them in the greenhouse in the backyard until I can go out and find little sticks to poke in the soil so the cats won't roost in the dirt.  I've discovered in the past that this method works quite well.  A few days ago I potted a bunch of calendula that I grew from seeds in two long rectangle pots and had to poke sticks in the dirt all around them to ward off cats and that did the trick.  It looks kind of silly, but at least in a few weeks I'll have a bunch of pretty flowers to enjoy looking at while I drink my coffee in the morning.  Then I'll cut the flowering tops off and use them to make tea.  I can't wait. 

Oh!  I was going to tell you about the big decision I made yesterday.  My sister, Vannoy, and her daughter, Lin, are taking one of their many homeopathic courses and were getting ready to sign up for more courses and I gave it a lot of thought and decided I would do that course with them.  I signed up last night and will soon begin taking more homeopathic courses.  I believe I'll take another one after I finish this one.  I'm so excited.  I can't believe I'm going back to school.....again.  After college, I said, "No more school!  I'll never take another course."  So much for never.  Herbs are something I've been dabbling in for 20 years, so what better courses to take than something that you're really interested in.  Besides, it's going to be fun getting my hands on and reading all of those awesome herbal books. 

I better start cooking.  I've gotta take two of my grandsons to baseball practice in a little bit and have tons to do before I leave.  You know what?  I think I'm going to like having a blog.  :)

My first day as a blogger

Today is May 14, 2012 and it's my very first day as a blogger.  I never thought I would actually say that sentence.  Today has been very productive for me.  You know the days where you get a lot accomplished, but its nothing that you can see when you look for it?  That's the kind of day I've had.  One of the things I did today was arrange, rearranged and re-rearranged my herbal supply closet.  When I was finished with the re-rearranging, I realized the end product looked much like it did before I began.  Oh well, I love playing with my herbal supplies, so it was more like fun than actual work.

My husband brought me home a foot tall solar light frog this afternoon.  I put it out by my fountain where I can see it from my TV room window.  The frog is made out of metal and the light is green.  When it lights up at night his little eyes are green too.  I just looked at it and it's so pretty.

I spent a couple of hours today making a huge decision, but I'm tired and want to go to bed, so I'll tell you all about my decision tomorrow.  It's a life changing decision.  See you tomorrow.