Christi from VeganGoods.com

About Mineral Makeup

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:38:00 +0000

It seems that a lot of mainstream cosmetics companies have jumped on the bandwagon and started creating mineral makeup, but after a trip to a local big box store and careful examination of the ingredients in these products, I think they are way off base. Mineral makeup should be pure, without preservatives and chemicals, but these products are chock full of stuff I would NEVER put on my face such as talc and other nasty stuff:

TALC: The dangers of talc have been well characterized by studies that show it to be similar in structure to asbestos, a well known cancer causing agent. Even more disturbing is a study that showed that women who used talc in their genital area had a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer. This is particularly disturbing since this cancer has such a poor prognosis when diagnosed at an advanced stage. Equally unsettling is the fact that talc has been associated with lung cancer when inhaled on a frequent basis. Because the particles of talc are so tiny, they can easily enter the lungs and set up an inflammatory reaction. This inflammatory reaction can cause short term problems such as pneumonia as well as chronic problems such as lung disease and cancer. Studies have shown that talc miners who are in contact with this substance on a daily basis have a higher rate of lung cancer as well as a higher rate of nonspecific mortality. SOURCE:
Ehow.com

Please take a look at the ingredients when picking out your makeup!

Revlon Colorstay Mineral Makeup
Active Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide (0.9%)
Inactive Ingredients: Talc, Silica, Nylon 12, Polymethylmethacrylate, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Dimethicone, Cyclopentasiloxane, Perfluorononyl Octyldodecyl Glycol, Grapeseedate, Polyethylene, Mother of Pearl, Topaz, Quartz, Serica (Silk), Cymbidium Grandiflorum Flower Extract, Lactobacillus/Eriodictyon Californicum Ferment Extract, Lilium Candidum Bulb Extract, Malva Sylvestris Flower Extract (Mallow), Dimethiconol, Dimethicone/Silsesquioxane Copolymer, Copolymer, Triethoxycaprylysilane, Lecithin, Alumina, Lauroyl Lysine, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Mica, Iron Oxides (CI 77491, 77492, 77499), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI 77163)

Maybelline Mineral Power Blush
Polyethylene, Dimethicone, Boron Nitride, PTFE, Synthetic Wax, Cetyl Dimethicone, Acrylates Copolymer, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Trisocetyl Citrate, Aloe Barbadensis (Leaf Juice), Tocopheryl Acetate, Alumina, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Polyethylene Teraphthalate, Polymethylmethacrylate, Chamomile Flower Extract (Matricaria Chamomilla), May Contain (+/-): Mica, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77499, CI 77492, CI 77491 (Iron Oxides), CI 75470 (Carmine), CI 77163 (Bismuth Oxychloride), CI 77007 (Ultramarines), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake), CI 73360 (Red 30), CI 15850 (Red 7), CI 77742 (Manganese Violet), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), CI 77510 (Ferric Ferrocyanide)

Covergirl Trublends Mineral Makeup:
Mica, Talc, Methylmethacrylate Crosspolymer, Dimethicone, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Methicone, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Sodium Dehydroacetate, May Contain (+/-): Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide

There are safe mineral makeups out there:

Herbs of Grace Mineral Foundation
Color Foundation Ingredients: titanium dioxide, iron oxides and mica powder
Translucent Ingredients: serecite

Pure Mineral Color Makeup by Herbs of Grace

Pure Mineral Blush Colors by Herbs of Grace

Lip Luminosity by Herbs of Grace

Again, please do some research before buying cosmetics, for your health :)

Easy Vegan Stuffed Peppers

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:37:00 +0000

This is so super easy! You will need 4-6 green peppers, a box of Fantastic Taco Filling Mix, a can of spanish rice (available at most grocery stores), a packet of Roads End Chreese, fresh cilantro, and fresh onions or green onions

PREP:
1) Cut the tops off the peppers and scoop out the seeds. Prepare an oven safe baking dish with just enough water to cover the bottom of the dish.

2) Preheat oven to 325 degrees

3) Prepare taco filling and chreese according to package directions

4) Heat spanish rice to warm

5) Cut up cilantro and onions and add them to the rice

6) Once the taco filling is done add it to the rice mixture

7) Now, fill each green pepper with the rice mixture and top with the chreese sauce. Put the peppers in the oven safe dish and bake for 25 minutes or until the peppers become soft.

Pure, Natural Deodorant that Really Works!

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:24:00 +0000

Just finished the video presentation for the 100% natural deodorant by Florere:

Purchase product here:
VeganGoods.com

What's Blooming in My Garden?

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Took pictures of some of the plants that are blooming yesterday.

Red Velvet Yarrow:

Pink Primrose

Crocosmia Lucifer

Red Bee Balm

White Bee Balm

Black Eyed Susans (a variety that doesn't have black centers)

Borage

Calendula

White Butterfly Bush with Hummingbird Bug

Lavender Hyssop

One great thing about our house is that the previous owners put bird houses everywhere, which saved me some time and money.

Orange Trumpet Vine Growing up an Old Tree

Skunk Rangling & the 4th of July

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

When you live in the country you never know what kind of wildlife you may encounter on a daily basis. On this particular day, it was a hungry skunk that had roamed into my parents garage trying to eat dog food. I pulled in their driveway and could smell it before even getting out of the car- whew! Well, their black lab Bingo was relentlessly chasing the skunk in the garage. So, I go in for the removal. The best idea I could come up with was to scoop him up on the snow shovel using a broom. It worked and luckily we made it out without me getting skunked!

Headed out to watch fireworks last night. I was able to capture a few good pictures with my phone. Feels like summer is moving so fast and I have many things I still want to do before it ends. Going out to look for chickweed today.

Salad Spinner: Must have for your greens

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:39:00 +0000

This is the salad spinner and a best friend to the veggie gardener! I never really understand what it was good for until this year. We are growing lettuce and all kinds of mixed greens in the garden. Right now, I can go out and pick enough to make myself a huge salad everyday and it's heaven! The only problem is the greens can get really gritty and dirty, I mean really gritty.

I take the little basket part out to the garden and gather what I want to eat. I give them a quick rinse with the faucet attachment. Then I put the basket inside the salad spinner, put the lid on and start cleaning the greens. In the picture at the top, you'll see a hole where running water from the faucet goes. Then you use the little crank to spin the basket around. All the greens go out to the sides to get washed and the spinning motion dries them off when you're done washing. Super invention!

I put my chives, greens, salad burnet, basils, cilantro and purslane together. It makes a wonderful salad and I grew it all myself so I know it's pesticide free!

Calendula Infusion

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Calendula a.k.a. pot marigold
Internal Uses: Petals & leaves can be used in a tea to induce sweating, promote menstruation, increase urination, relieve stomach cramps, indigestion and stomachaches, and for relief from flu and fevers.
External Uses: Flowers & leaves can be made into a salve or ground into a powder to be used for various common skin ailments: cuts, scrapes, abrasions, scald burns, blisters,acne, rashes (including diaper rash), chicken pox, and athlete's foot. The fresh calendula flowers can be rubbed directly on a bee sting to relieve the pain. Calendula has also been used to lighten hair.

The Making of an infusion which will become a salve

For years I've wanted to make my own herbal infusions but lack of space and time have kept me from doing it until now. I finally have plenty of room for my herbs and flowers and I'm finally making the time.

This is my first batch of calendula infused olive oil. The process is easy. Take a mason jar and add calendula flowers, cover the flowers with olive oil, put cheesecloth and a rubber band on the top of the jar. Sit it in a sunny window and rotate daily. Let this steep for about a month. Once it's done I will be making my own vegan calendula salve. Can't wait!

As you can see I don't have a lot of flowers in there, because I don't have a bunch of flowers to pick but as I get more I will add them in along with more olive oil. Only one calendula plant came up from the seeds I planted but it's producing a decent numbers of flowers. I may try planting some more seeds this weekend and hope for better germination.

I encourage anyone who can to experiment with herbs and edible plants. It makes me feel good to know I can make some of my own medicines and grow my own food. I feel less dependent on this busy, chaotic world we live in.

Pesto Pea Salad

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:02:00 +0000

We whipped this up last week inspired by something at our local Kroger deli.
Here's what you need:

Box of Bowtie pasta
Mayo Substitute
Bunch of Green Onions
Package Frozen Peas
Small bag of Pinenuts
2 packages of Pesto Mix

Cook bowtie pasta according to package directions and rinse with cold water. Also, cook pesto mixes according to package directions. In the meantime, cut up your green onions and slightly cook your peas to thaw them (or you can thaw them out ahead of time). Once pasta and pesto mixes are done, add the pesto to that pasta and mix well.
Toss in your green onions and peas. Now, slowly mix in some mayo substitute. This will vary depending on how creamy you like it. Next, mix in some pine nuts. You can add some garlic salt, salt and pepper if you want. Let sit overnight for best flavor.

This makes a great potluck or picnic recipe. It's pretty likely you'll be the only one who shows up with it.

Fried Morel Mushrooms

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:18:00 +0000

Here in Ohio, these mushrooms are hard-to-find but so good to eat. I went out three times this year and didn't find any, but luckily someone found over 400 and was willing to share.

You can prepare these by soaking and then rolling them in a flour and corn meal mixture (with garlic salt of course) but this year I bought a beer batter mix and they turned out really, really good. All I did was add beer to the mix, roll them in it and fry. Season to taste with garlic salt and pepper.

You'll never eat better mushrooms than these, I promise!

What we did for earth day

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Last Saturday, in celebration of Earth day, the street where Different Daisy is located held an Earth Day Festival. In store, we fed visitors
Loma Linda Big Franks and Tings and passed out literature outlining the environmental impact a meat based diet has on the planet.

Flyers we passed out (PDF, you need Adobe for these):
Page 1
Page 2
Feel Free to print these and hand them out at your next event.

For the kids we made "Rabbit Food" Gardens that they could take home. Each child got a reused flower pot with stickers and ribbons to decorate it and spinach & lettuce seeds. The child first places soil in the pot, the adds the seeds, covers lightly with more soil, waters and covers with plastic wrap. The seeds will germinate in about 10 days and in 40-60 they will have "Rabbit food" to eat.

For the adults, we made a body scrub they could take home. We used epson salt and sea salt, sunflower oil, and NOW foods essential oils. Each person got to pick their choice of scent for their personalized scrub.

Recipe for a small take-home container of scrub:
4 T Salt
1/2 to 1 T oil
Serval drops essential oil

Stir and enjoy!

People came up with all sorts of combinations but lavender was a top choice and an invigorating blend containing tangerine, orange and grapefruit was a close second.

New Favorite Flower & Salad Burnet

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:53:00 +0000

Salad Burnet is a cool herb that many people have never heard of before. It is pretty new to me as well. What's fun about this plant is that if you eat a whole leaf you suddenly, magically taste cucumber. I mean the exact taste of cucumber. Just one bite of a leaf and nothing, but the whole leaf and there it is.
You can add this herb to salads, dips and sandwiches. It is perennial in zones 4-9 so you can use it all spring and summer as a substitute for cucumber.
These are my salad burnet starts which I just got potted up and on the porch tonight. It's April 22nd and the last expected frost date for Southern Ohio is May 7th, lots to do outside before then!

Wow, I absolutely love these Rananculus plants! The flowers are so pretty and the blooms have been lasting over 2 weeks, they're amazing. This is the first year I've had these and it won't be the last...

I picked these 2 plants up at a local garden center but I also have some seeds for these so hopefully they will do well for me.

New USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map/Climate Change

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:43:00 +0000

For the first time in 20 years, The USDA is updating the Plant Hardiness Zone Map in response to climate change. The map shows where various types of plant species can thrive, and as warmer annual temperatures move northward, the more than 80 million U.S. gardeners and farmers will be looking to the map to see what new plants may be able to grow in their area.

View the Map:
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

Chocolate Mint Herb

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:22:00 +0000

Common name: "Chocolate Mint"
Latin name: Mentha piperita species
Perennial in Zones 4-7

This is my all time favorite herb! It's in the mint family and has a hint of chocolate flavor. I got 2 plants in the mail today from Companion Plants, based in Ohio. This company has a huge selection of medicinal and edible herbs and they are super nice to deal with too. Since the plants came in the mail, I unpacked them quickly and gave them a little water. When I got home I sat them on the Aerogarden and within an hour they were perky and reaching toward the light. I like to use this herb for tea but I also like to dry some to add to
hot chocolate in the winter.

If you want to grow this plant yourself, plant it away from other plants or in a container because it can be invasive! Harvest it throughout the spring and summer and be sure to dry some to get you through the winter months.

Indoor Tomato Update & Mandevilla

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Last year I posted about the indoor tomatoes I purchased that were supposed to live indoors in the winter and still produce tomatoes. Sadly, they didn't make it through the winter in my house. To be fair, I didn't have them under a grow light so maybe they needed more light to survive. We did get some tomatoes off them last year so they weren't a waste of money but I was really hoping they would produce all year. Maybe if I had a better set up they would have survived.

I did have good luck wintering over my Pink Mandevilla. This plant is an incredible bloomer but tropical so it can't survive the winters here in Ohio. I put it in the basement and just watered it occasionally. A few weeks ago it looked dead! All the leave were brown and crinkled. But, to my delight when I got up close it was producing new green shoots. These last 2 days have been in the 60's here so I've been putting the mandevilla and my orange citrus plant outside to enjoy the warm sun, they seem pleased.

New Video Uploaded- Vegan Cosmetics I Love!

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:34:00 +0000

In this video I will be showing you the vegan cosmectics items I use on a regular basis. To purchase these item please visit:
VeganGoods.com
All items are 100% vegan and cruelty free
Pictures of finished look

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Preparing for Spring

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:47:00 +0000

I finally got the Aerogarden back out to use again. We moved and it had been packed away for a few months. I planted it with an herb kit last week and they are all sprouting except 2 which take a little longer. For Christmas I got a second Aerogarden so I'm about to plant it using a Garden Starter Tray made for the Aerogarden, shown here:

I will be able to start up to 70 seedlings at once to transplant into my garden this spring. I chose the following seeds to start:

Winter Savory, Creeping Thyme, Bee Balm, Wild Bergamot, Salad Burnet, White Horehound, Beetberry, Chinese Wolfberry (Goji), Lovage and Pot Marigold. I'm starting these a little early and plan to keep them growing using a grow light in the basement. I hope it works!

I tried to get all heirloom or organic seeds. I couldn't for a few of these. I chose these plants specifically because they are edible or medicinal. I will do another planting with pretty flowers later, maybe in the Jiffy Greenhouse. They work well for starting seed. You should be able to pick one of these up at Lowes, Home Depot and maybe your local garden center. You can purchase refills so this greenhouse can be used over and over.

At a local department store I picked up some everbearing strawberry runners. This $3 bag should keep me and my family in strawberries all summer and hopefully I will have some extras to sell. Some strawberries produce only during 1 month in the summer, these are supposed to produce all summer. We'll see.

I also picked up a Bowl of Beauty Peony root. I love this type of Peony and have wanted one for myself for at least a year.

This plant is not edible or medicinal that I know of and it will be years before I see the first flowers, but it will be beautiful for sure!

Lastly, there was a brightly colored bluebird making a bunch of noise outside day before yesterday. I tried to get a picture but that crazy bird was flying all over the place. Back and forth he flew yelling at his refIection in the truck mirror. This was the best shot I could get of this pretty but very distraught bird:

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Vegan Cheeseball/Spread

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:46:00 +0000

I make this every year around the holidays and every time I make it I wonder why I don't make it year-round. You will need:

2 tubs Tofutti Cream Cheese

Green Onions

Vegan Worcestershire Sauce

Nutritional Yeast Powder

Bac'Uns Baconless Bits

Garlic Salt

Onion Powder

Chop your green onions up really fine. I use almost all of one bunch. Put your cream cheese out into a large bowl and let it get a little soft, then stir in at least a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and mix. I basically just do all these ingredients to taste so there are no definate amounts. Add more nutritional yeast if if needs to be cheesier. Add garlic salt and onion powder to taste. Then, add worcestershire, you want it to flavor the cream cheese but NOT be runny, so add it slowly. Stir really well, then add fake bacon bits.

Depending on whether you want a spread or a cheeseball:

For a spread just put into a bowl and let sit overnight.

For a cheeseball, put in the fridge for about an hour, then take out and form a ball. You can roll it in nuts if you want, but I prefer it without. Then put cheeseball in fridge overnight so the flavor will set up.

Serve the next day with crackers. Delicious!

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:45:00 +0000

If you haven't tried the Sweetened Mimic Cream in a smoothie yet, you need to try it! This product makes smoothies so creamy they taste like thick milkshakes.

I made this one by dropping a cut up banana in my smoothie maker (blender will work just fine). Then, I added a little Organic Oat Milk and blended for a minute or so. Next, I added a scoop of Chocolate Peaceful Planet Energy Shake Mix and 2 T Ahlaska Hot Cocoa Mix and blended. Okay, now you just add Sweetened Mimic Cream and more Organic Oat Milk to your liking, blend and enjoy!

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Foraging for Breakfast

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:42:00 +0000

I took this picture back in July and just got around to writing the entry. There's nothing quite as satisfying as knowing you can go out in your backyard or nearby woods and get enough food to keep you going. On this particular moring I gathered berries, purslane and cherry tomatoes.

If you aren't familiar with Purslane, it's a common weed here in Ohio and in most other parts of the country as well. You can find it in gardens, sidewalk cracks and yards. Purslane is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Purslane has more beta-carotene than spinach, and contains high levels of magnesium and potassium. Historically it has been used as a remedy for arthritis and inflammation and for respiratory and circulatory function. Recently, it's been found that purslane has lots of alpha linolenic acid, a type of omega-3 fatty acid. The substances in purslane may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as make the blood less likely to form clots. Purslane has only 15 calories per 100 gram portion.

EXERCISE CAUTION: Never eat wild plants unless you are sure of what they are. Take them to an experienced forager or botanist for identification. Some plants can make you very sick or kill you!

Aerogarden Update Photo 09/07/2008

Still no cilantro. I think we got some bad seed.

Caterpillar photo I took Sunday:

Do you see the bug in the picture below? It's on the white flowers below those pods. We call this a hummingbird bug here. Many people have never heard of them. They're very fast and shaped like a hummingbird but they also look like a bee. If you've never seen one they're fun to watch. They love my white butterfly bush!

See it there in the upper corner of this picture?

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Photos & Aerogarden Update

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Well, the aerogarden is still performing well. Chives have popped up:

As I wrote before the control panel notifies you when it's time to add nutrients or water. As of now I haven't had to do either.

I'm loving this Aerogarden so much, I'm thinking of buying another one. They make a set up now where you can use it to grown any seeds you want. I think it will be great for spring seed starting!

Aerogarden and Supplies

A few favorite wildflowers

I have always loved wildflowers but I became interested in identifying and collecting them when I took a spring wildflowers class in college. I enjoyed it so much I took the fall flowers class as well. Hey, it went toward my science minor and it was very enjoyable.

New York Ironweed Vernonia noveboracensis -

Each small floret contains sweet nectar, which makes it a favorite for swallowtail butterflies and other insects. Native Americans may have used the Ironweed root to relieve pain after childbirth. Some species of Ironweed have been used to treat stomach problems.

Goldenrod- Laboratory studies have found that active compounds in goldenrod help reduce inflammation. It was used historically for wound healing. Can be used to make a natural yellow dye.

Orange/Red Trumpetvine (Trumpet Creeper)- This is a beauty! The fresh leaves can be irritating to some people, so it is mostly used dried. Dried plant parts have been used to treat fungus, yeast and tinea infections. If you would want to collect this plant, it is best to wear gloves.

Favorite Garden Flower

This is the Passionflower, my all-time favorite garden perennial. It can be invasive if you don't keep up with it because it spreads underground and also from seeds. This is a climber that can turn any arbor, fence or trellis into what looks like a tropical getaway. It is hardy here in Ohio, zone 6. It dies back in the winter but returns in spring. By mid-summer the plant can grow very tall. The bright green foliage is covered with gorgeous, scented purple and white flowers that bees just love. After the flower dies, a very interesting seed pod starts to form. I'll try to get a picture of a pod to show here soon.

Sunflowers- I love all kinds of sunflowers! They're just so pretty and useful. After the flower dies and the seeds start to form, they make great food for the birds or for people. I like to collect a few seeds for use the following year and leave the rest for my feathered friends. As you can see in the photo above, bees also love sunflowers and I love bees in my garden. Bees make a garden healthy and happy!

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Got the Aerogarden!

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:40:00 +0000

I've wanted one of these for a very long time and I found one for $70 at a local store. It came with the herb kit. I really want the Aerogarden for growing salads in the winter but I won't pass on some fresh herbs! I started it up, very easy set up by the way, and within 4 days I already have sprouts, both the basils

Once sprouts come up, you take off the humidity domes so they don't get too hot.

This is the Italian Basil which is supposed to sprout in 3-7 days and sure enough it did. I'm so excited about my Aerogarden!

I took off one of the labels so you could get a better look at the sprout

The Aerogarden notifies you when it's time to add nutrients or water.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of my herbs

Aerogarden and Supplies

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Got a Greenhouse!

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:36:00 +0000

I really wanted a greenhouse but I didn't want to invest a ton of money. So, I went to Ebay and found this great Portable Greenhouse for under $160 (including shipping).

I was very pleased with the quality for the price. It holds lots of plants. I'm a bit concerned about how it will hold up here with our winter storms, but I'm gonna worry about that a little later. That's Danny, my boyfriend and gardening helper.

I saw this Zebra Swallowtail on our butterfly bush the other day. Haven't seen one of those in years, they are so beautiful! As you can see, this one is missing part of its tail? area.

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Garden Update- July

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:35:00 +0000

The garden is looking great! All our hard work paid off. This picture was taken July 21st:

The heirloom Brandywine tomatoes I got are doing very well (super tall!) though they don't have many tomatoes yet. I plan on collecting and storing seeds for planting next year from these heirloom tomatoes. This will be my first attempt at seed collecting/storing/planting so we'll see how it goes.

I picked these tomato plants up locally and they already have so many green tomatoes for frying:

My indoor tomatoes, which are hanging in the arbor right now are starting to ripen:

I hope they do this well inside this winter.

We have 1 broccoli plant and 1 cabbage plant that I picked up locally jsut to see how they'd do. We also have some onions, carrots and a few pepper plants.

I think I may have the tallest oregano ever! I'm not sure if this picture does it justice or not. The sad thing is that I never even use oregano! So, send me your recipes using oregano. Those with tomatoes and oregano would be even better. christi@differentdaisy.com

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Spinach Lentil Soup

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:34:00 +0000

When you have extra spinach laying around or a bag of spring mix that's about to go bad, use it for this recipe.

You will need:

A can of lentil soup and some spinach

Open a can of lentil soup, you can make it yourself if you feel like working. Put it on the stove, add your spinach and let simmer on low for about 20-30 minutes.

This is really a great soup. Wuick and easy too!

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism

Slow Turtle Relocation Program

christi@differentdaisy.com (Christi from VeganGoods.com) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:32:00 +0000

Yes, I'm one of those people you see in the middle of the road scooping up a slow turtle for relocation to the country. I picked this little guy/gal up today. It's so small, about the size of the palm of my hand.

Too cute not to take a picture!

vegan cosmetics, plants, herbs, gardening, herbalism