Clean.

Three Year Blog Birthday and a LuSa Organics Giveaway.

  

Four years ago I had a baby on my hip and an almost five year old at my side, a new small business venture of my own making, and a very happily full plate. I was home with my kids, my man, and our body care business wondering what the next phase of my life was going to bring.

Four years ago I did not even know what a blog was. Really.

Then while searching on-line for some craft tutorials I found a handful of lovely blogs. I found community, education, and inspiration through my computer. This was new for me. I dug it. Real people. Like me! People who share my values who were talking about things that inspired me. I loved it.

Then three years ago I decided to write my own. Three years. Nearly 500 posts. Sewing patterns and knitting updates. Holiday celebrations and recipes. Unschooling ideas and gentle parenting advice. So many posts, and so many more yet to be written. I feel like I've barely begun. Suddenly (three years later) I am a Blogger. And you get a peek into my life each week, to see how we live, what we treasure, and what makes me tick.

Why "Clean"?

I am a soapmaker so I named my blog Clean. I own an organic body care company so I believe deeply in what I would call Clean ingredients (whole, natural, non-synthetic, organic). I believe in what I think of as Clean food (local, organic, whole), and Clean relationships (non-violent, connection-based) and a sustainable Clean lifestyle. So Clean it was. And then I sat down and started typing. And I really haven't stopped. 

Why Blog?

Initially I started blogging to create some transparency for people learning about my body care company, LuSa Organics. I wanted customers to have a chance to get to know me so that they knew where I was coming from when it came time to choose safe, natural body care products for their family. I wanted to show people who I was, what I believe in, and why I do what I do. I am not a corporation. I am a mama who cares deeply and believes passionately in how we go about our business. I am also a teacher, so reaching out this way was a natural fit. And that is what I did. And it felt great.

And then... something shifted.

This transparency for customers and future customers was still an important component, but the connection to my readers and the act of writing became an important part of my life in-and-of-itself. Writing became a passion in its own right. And that shift was really about all of you. You came here, day after day, either through LuSa Organics or separate from it and you cared about what I had to say. You kept coming back. And you brought your friends. And you shared your own ideas, your own inspiration, your words. Community manifested out of thin air.

The more I wrote the more important it became to me. And so today, thanks to your support and encouragement I have started working on my first book. A book! It is an exciting time in so many ways. Good things brewing on so many fronts. Thank you for showing up here (the frequent commenters and the quiet folks alike). You've given me the courage to take on a big exciting project that will change my life.

To celebrate my blog's birthday I am giving away some LuSa Organics goodies. LuSa Organics is how our family makes its living. We also are a portion of the income of thee other local families. Because of LuSa Organics it is possible for me to be home, unschooling my kids and bringing this blog to you.

One blessed winner will receive an assortment of LuSa Organics goodies, from either our Mama and Baby lines or our Body Care product line. Choose from a Baby Mama Gift Set or a Blissful Bath Gift set. 

Oh, and for everyone, how about a LuSa Organics coupon code? Place an order before the end of the week (By June 4, 2011) and receive a free scrumptious LuSa gift with your order. Just say "Blog Birthday" in the comments field. You won't regret it. Best. Body care. Ever. I promise.

Comments are now closed. I'll announce the winner later in the week!

To be entered in today's giveaway, do as many of the following as you wish. (Be sure to leave one comment for each action for up to five entries per person.) Thanks for celebrating with me! I'll close comments and annouce a winner after the weekend.

1. Tell us why you read Clean and/or why you love LuSa Organics.
2. Share with us one new (natural) scent combination for product or one new product you would like us to offer.
3. Become a fan of LuSa Organics on Facebook.
4. Become a fan of Clean on Facebook.
5. Share a link to this giveaway via Facebook or Twitter OR Invite your friends to Clean via email (for the non-social media folks).

Thanks again for coming here and for sharing in the little moments of my life.

Today.

Today is...

* A homemade nettle chai day... iced with honey almond milk. Without question the most delicious thing I have tasted in days (see below.) 

* Our first full day on our version of "normal" food after abandoning the GAPS intro diet when the sight of a bag of lettuce brought me to tears and my children were begging to eat lemons. (It'll take us a while to get over those few long days of soup, stew, and broth from morning 'till night. Today when I poured my chai Sage recoiled and asked, "Mama, is that broth?!")

* A day with my family off on a quick adventure while I spend some quality time with my grandma's sewing machine, completing (I hope) two quilts to donate to Craft Hope's Project 13. (You might recognize the robot quilt. I've been working on it for... seven years. Whoa. All it took was a major natural disaster to get me to complete a quilt. Now I know.

*Memorial day... and like every year my heart is holding the vision of peace for all.

*Sunny, bright, and warm... suspiciously like as my sister put it "the elusive concept know as 'summer'."

*The first day we plan to put our canoe in the water this season, out on the lake with friends.

 

What does your Monday look like?

Sending heart-felt blessings to you all this bright and beautiful day.

xo,
Rachel

 

 

Sparkly/Not So Sparkly.

A friend recently scored matching fancy girl outfits that belong on the set of Sold Gold. Matching golden sparkles in size 5/6. What could be better?  They stood, transfixed before a full-length mirror wiggling and shimmering and dancing, unable to look away for 20 minutes. Then they took their show outside - in the rain - to share it with the neighbors.

Cute squared.

Today none of us are feeling quite so sparkly. We're lying low this morning. We started the GAPS intro diet yesterday and everyone is in...

.  .  .  s  l  o  w    m  o  t  i  o  n.

The intention if the GAPS diet in general but the intro diet specifically it to heal and rebalance the gut to eliminate food allergies and sensitives and digestive woes. It's feeling like a big detox right about now. (For more info on why our family is on GAPS, read this post). Last night I slept for more than 12 hours, the kids for 14 and Pete for 9. It's 10 AM and we're still in our jammies.

Because of my brain fog I'm holding off on Chapter Five. From your emails quite a few of you have fallen a chapter or two behind, so that'll give you the weekend to get caught up. See, I'm not slacking. I'm being helpful.

If you need me I'll be wandering aimlessly through my house, wondering what exactly it was that I was doing.

Sending love and blessings to one and all.

xo
Rachel

Make Your Own Sunhat.

This is a re-post from last July. Since summer is on its here in then North I wanted to share it with you again. This pattern is sweet and simple (and easy to sew). Sage is still loving the hat shown below and I'm thinking of making a fresh and girlie version for Lulu.

Homemade is always better than bought, don't you think? If you sew one post some pictures in the flickr photo pool. I'd love that.

~ *~ * ~* ~ * ~

This is a little late in coming. I promised this pattern to you weeks ago! I didn't make the time to stitch up a second one and I didn't want to post it without photos, thus the delay. But summer is wearing on and I have this image in my head of many little boys out in the sun, squinting like mad.

So here it is - a sewing pattern without photos - but a pattern none-the-less. Go forth and sew hats, you brave, bold mamas.

(Note: the hat below seems a bit too tall to me, so the pattern trimmed off about an inch.)

Sage's Sunhat

Materials:

• Pattern - three pieces (below). Print without scaling so that you get the proper size.
• Outer fabric (I used linen)
• Lining fabric (I lined with the same)
• Timtex or other stiff interfacing for brim (afflink)
• Matching thread

All sewing was done with a 1/2 inch seam allowance. This was sized for my 7 1/2 year old. Adjust as needed to fit a younger or older child.

Boy Sunhat Band (No pattern piece. Rectangle 21.5" x 4") - cut two (one lining, one outer fabric)

Boy Sunhat Top Pattern - cut two (one lining, one outer fabric)

Boy Sunhat Brim Pattern - cut three (two outer fabric, one interfacing.) Note: When you cut out your paper pattern fold and cut so you have the entire 1/2 moon. I only copied down 1/2 of the pattern to make it fit on a single sheet.

Brim

1. Cut interfacing brim down by 1/2 inch on all sides.
2. Sew outer curved edge of brim, right sides together.
3. Turn and press.
4. Insert interfacing and trim if needed to fit smoothly inside.
5. Top stitch outer curve through all layers to hold interfacing in place.

Crown

1. Fold hat band so that the short ends line up (right sides together), creating a flattened cylinder.
2. Sew.
3. Pin cylinder shape carefully to hat top (also right sides together).
4. Sew.
5. Turn right side out and press.
6. Repeat with lining.
7. Pin brim to hat, centered opposite of back seam with top side of brim flat against front of hat (it will look like someone flipped the brim up, 1980's grade school style).
8. Sew into place and flip down. It should be starting to look like a hat now!
9. Press under 1/2" on bottom edge of hat and hat lining.
10. Insert hat lining into outer fabric hat and top stitch together very close to the edge. 

Your hat is done! Dance around a little and then call in your boy (or girl) and share your creation. Feel free to leave comments or send emails with your questions.

xo

Rachel

In the Kitchen: Rhubarb Recipes for You.

As I said. Yesterday was rhubarb day. We ate it from morning 'til night and barely made a dent. Seriously. 33 pounds is a lot of rhubarb. Whew!

I appreciate all of your wonderful suggestions for rhubarb recipes - some basic, some super fancy. I'll be trying a few in the coming days. For you who don't live in the land of rhubarb, it tastes like... like what? Um, like lemon soaked celery? No. Like juicy semi-soft sour apples? No. Rhubarb tastes like spring. And like sour. Yes. It tastes like sour. That's the best I can do. As for recipes, I can be more precise on those. I'm still up to my ears in simmering pots, but here's what I've made since we last chatted.

Rhubarb-Ginger Syrup: As I shared with you before, we drink a fair amount of fizzy water around here. We normally go sans-sugar and add freshly juiced ginger and a dash of stevia for fresh ginger ale, or stevia and vanilla for homeamde vanilla cream. Last night I made a divine batch of rhubarb-ginger honey syrup. My jumping off point was this recipe, thought I strayed quite a bit.

Ingredients:

• 5 C sliced rhubarb
• 3/4 C honey
• 2" chunk of ginger
• 1 C water

My favorite way to encorporate ginger into a recipe where you will remove it later is to smash it. First cut it in half the long way. Then turn cut side down and pound with the butt-end of your biggest kitchen knife. You'll be smashing it with the handle and the knife will be pointing dangerously up towards your face. I hope this makes sense. If not (or if it does and you think you'll poke your eye out) grab a hammer instead and go to town.

Combine honey and rhubarb. Stir. (Awkward but workable.) Sit for 20 minutes or until the water begins to release. Add water and ginger and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through a mesh strainer. If you pick out the ginger you can eat the left overs as a sauce or add them to your yogurt in the morning.

Truth: I put some in white wine last night. Yum. I also put some in my fizzy water, but the wine in particular was really good.

Rhubarb Crisp: My crisp was not so crisp. It was sloppy. But yummy just the same. I will spare you the recipe until further refinement. I'm thinking egg yolks and pre-honeying the rhubarb and then draining off the juice before baking.

Rhubarb Sauce: Think applesauce but wicked sour. I made a few quarts and froze them for future enjoyment. Slice rhubarb, mix in sweetener of your choice (I go for 6 or more parts rhubarb to 1 part honey). Sit for 20 minutes, then cook until the rhubarb breaks down. If you want to can for the pantry, follow the instructions here including their sweetening recommendations. As I misplaced the top of my canner (insert cursing here), I decided to freeze mine. 

Rhubarb GAPS Muffins: These are our breakfast today. I could eat these every morning. We have these with 24 hour cultured (for GAPS reasons) homemade yogurt.

Ingredients:

• 2 C soaked almonds
• 1/2 C cashews
• 1/2 C cocount flakes (unsweetenend of course)
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 ripe banana
• 2 tsp minced, peeled ginger
• 1/4 C honey
• 1/4 C coconut oil
• 1 c sliced rhubarb

Preheat oven to 335 F.

Grind nuts and coconut into a coarse flour using your blender, food processor, or juicer.

Combine all other ingredients except rhubarb in blender. Blend until smooth.

Combine wet ingredients with dry and stir in rhubarb slices.

Oil muffin pan with coconut oil, then fill 3/4 full with batter.

Bake until golden brown and springy when touched in the center. (About 30 minutes, maybe more if your rhubarb is super juicy.)

Rhubarb Ketchup (or Rhubarb Catsup):  I was the sketchiest on this of all the recipes we tried. It made a great deal of sense to me, but wonky recipes often do until I taste them when they're done and then I realize I've spent four hours making food for my compost. But this recipe. This recipe is YUM.

Sage just discovered that he can't eat nightshades. (This is one of the bonuses of the GAPS diet. You get to the core of what is really bothering you by peeling away the major irritant like sugar, grains, and other complex carbs. I had planned on making homemade ketchup but now we can't. But rhubarb ketchup. Hmm. I thought that rhubarb ketchup might just work.

And does it ever. It is so good. I jarred it up last night and couldn't stop licking my fingers. I mean really delicious. Now I'm not sure that anyone with a bottle of Annie's (heck, or Heinz) in their fridge would call this ketchup, but it will likely be our standard yummy sauce to eat with anything savory. It is really delicious. (Have I made my point?) I found the base recipe here, and I adapted it a bit for my needs/wants.

Ingredients:

• 6 C Rhubarb, sliced
• 1 1/2 C Honey
• 3/4 C vinegar
• 1 1/2 C chopped onions
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• a few big grinds of black pepper

Combine honey and rhubarb and let sit until juices have begun to release. Add other ingredients and cook in a wide saucepan until the rhubarb has broken down and the sauce begins to thicken. I cooked a double batch for more than 1 1/2 hours on low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and cool somewhat. Puree in batches when cool enough to handle. Jar and freeze. I don't know how long it will keep, but I expect for a good long while in the fridge. (P.S. did you notice that one jar is red and the others are not? My rhubarb is an old-fashioned green type, so the finished goods lack that rhubarb pink sparkle. I added a few drops of this red beet food coloring thought next time if I am married to a pink sauce I'll just toss some shredded beets into the pot.)

Sliced, frozen Rhubarb for Winter: It doesn't get more basic. Slice. Bag. Label. Freeze. I packed mine in approximately 4 C measures and figured on one to two per month for nine months. Whoa.

I hope that gives you plenty of inspiration for your harvest (or for the rhubarb you pick up at the market). Sending sweet/tart blessing your way this morning.

Love,
Rachel

Rhubarb Day.

Today is rhubarb day.

Last night on a whim I looked up the name listed in the plat book of the owner of a semi-abandoned farm. Their patch of rhubarb was starting to bolt and it looked like a person could fill a truck with juicy stalks from that one patch if they had a mind to. I figured it didn't hurt to ask and I had nothing to lose.

He answered my call. And he told me to take all we wanted. He said he planted the patch 30 years ago and recently moved to town. He doesn't like rhubarb, so no, no need to bring him a pie. It was a rhubarb goldmine.

Since it was already getting late (well, late in our world - 6:30 PM) I got the kids ready for bed and we piled into the car at the time we should would normally be moving towards a book in bed. We headed out of town to the old farm.

We arrived after 7:00. In PJ's the kids cut and pulled and laughed and played in that old farm yard. We had a blast. We filled bag after bag with juicy stalks. I finally cut off their harvest, lest we overfill the freezer (or maybe my trunk) in one short evening. As I loaded the rhubarb into my trunk and saw the bags all heaped on top of one another it felt the tiniest bit like hoarding. But it felt a whole lot like putting food by for the year. In the end we half-filled the trunk of my Beetle. That's a lot of pies.

Today if you need us we'll be in the kitchen. We'll be making a gluten-free/GAPS rhubarb crisp, a big pot of rhubarb sauce, and plenty of slicing and freezing to last us the rest of the year. We also plan to juice a ton of rhubarb to make soda syrup and perhaps also serve as a local lemon juice substitute in recipes.

What is your favorite way to enjoy rhubarb? Believe me - we're looking for suggestions. 25 pounds Thirty-three pounds of rhubarb leaves plenty of room for experimenting. What do you suggest?