This is the spruce in grape seed oil that I put up around the full moon in February. I usually would leave it til the next full moon but life circumstances changed that and here we are two moons later. I checked it several times because you need to make sure  that the plant material stays under the oil. And that there is no room or conditions for condensation to happen or that would make for mold growth and other nasties.

 Depending on the plant material, I sometimes use cheesecloth as a filter when squeezing the oil out. I didn't find it necessary for the spruce.

 After squeezing what I could, I left the spruce in a sieve over-top of a measuring cup and let it drip what was left while I had a cup of tea.

Hello :)

 I filtered the oil again, through a smaller strainer this time to get rid of any debris that went through the first one.

 I put the bottle of the grapeseed oil next to the infused oil. You can't make it out too well but there is quite a difference.

 Next I measured out small chunks of beeswax. I had about 1 1/3 cup infused oil so I weighed out an ounce of beeswax.
Some people will say use more and some people will say use less.
I think it is one of those things that is based a lot on your experience, a what you are trying to achieve and plain old personal preference
Also some people grate the wax. Some have it chunked. I usually just break it up as small as I can with my hands..

 I use a double boiler to make salves.
Here the infused oil in in the pan and the beeswax has been added.
It looks like I grated it myself, but in truth those are the crumblies from the bottom of my beeswax container.







You can't see the beeswax in there once it melts. But it's there and will be doing it's job shortly. 

The salve pour into the jars.

 And the salve no longer a liquid and after it cools some more I will lid and label.
Spruce salve is good for sore muscles and stiff joints.
You can also make the same salve with a pine needles(I have heard that pine is actually more potent). We have spruce here and pine are scarce so spruce salve it is.

Join me in an exciting adventure

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Come and adventure here with me! Everything requires practice to master and creative writing is no different. I have been a writer as far back as I can remember. I recently found and read some short stories of mine from when I was maybe 13 or 14. A time when I was consumed by airplanes and living in the woods(well one stayed with me). I have a stack of journals full of my history as well as poems and rants. My eyes are always searching out words. I read everything I can. I must say that the past few years writing has been on the back burner for me. Besides just living life I have found it harder to concentrate in the past few year.
Now here is a chance to work on the lack of something in my life that I truly love and enjoy doing. By using the seeds that are one course of generating ideas for a story in The Idea Garden, ones mind is engaged, sometimes your funny bone is tickled and sometimes you may gain experience doing research and learning something new.
Hopefully the practice of sitting down and concentrating may help with being able to focus.
So if your writing has been lying dormant for some time or even of you are an active writer, come and join us growing seeds into trees.
Like us on facebook too please ;) https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Idea-Garden/218059818290810

On another note; I am spending a few weeks in town house and dog sitting. I am not spending the same amount of time in out in nature as I would like.....but my wanderings last night made up for it.

Dark night and silent sea,
Venus shining down on me.
Open my heart, bare my soul,
for isn't connection the ultimate goal?

It was extraordinarily peaceful standing on the shore looking out at the water and although the moon is close to her darkest time, Venus shone so brightly making the water glimmer and making me feel something glow within my soul. I could hear the waves softly lapping at the snow covered ice at the water's edge. 

I relished the feeling for a time. Soon I started to hear something growing louder and louder in my consciousness; the sizzle of the hydro wires that were beside the road behind me. As I turned to look at them a car with those nasty, bright headlights drove by, both telling me the moment had gone.

 

On a different note, my spruce needles are still at home sitting covered in grape-seed oil. If i get a chance to go home between now and the full moon I will bring the oil and the other items I need to complete it with me. If not, it will be fine until the following month.

I have been suffering with a bad tooth lately. At some point I will have to go see a dentist but until finances allow I have to figure ways to help myself out. One thing that has been helping is using one of those toothpastes for sensitive teeth. It works but I feel uncomfortable using something with fluoride in it. 

My solution that turned out to be helpful quicker than I thought it would was to make a tincture from whole cloves. I basically emptied half of them out of the glass bottle they came in( since I am not at home it was the fastest thing I could think of to make the tincture in). I then filled it up with vodka so that the cloves were covered with it. The next day I found that the cloves had absorbed the liquid and expanded and needed a topping up with the alcohol. This is the first clove tincture that I have made but instinct  (and a bit of knowledge) led me to know that this is what would help.

I made this Thursday evening. I tried the tincture today and the alcohol has already absorbed enough of the clove to numb my gums a bit and give a bit of relief.  I will leave the cloves and vodka together probably until the next dark moon. It will be an interesting learning curve with a tincture that you can feel the effects of immediately as the tincture matures.

Hopefully, the next post will not be on my experiences in dentistry!  :p

 

 

 

 

Starting the Spruce Salve

I brought a bough of spruce home with me this morning.
I stuck it on the clothes line that in across the main room of the cabin to dry off a bit.

 I left it there while I went on my first hike of the day.

Later on in I cut it up and placed the pieces in a collander on the woodstove to try and get a little more of the moisture out. (the moisture could contribute to mold growth while the spruce is infusing in the oil and I don't want that.)

I left it there while I was puttering around in the cabin. I didn't want to leave it unattended as the stove was pretty hot at the time.
My next step was to squash as much of the plant material into a glass jar as i could. Then I filled the jar up with grapeseed oil.(you could also use light olive oil as well as other but the grapeseed and olive oil are what I have expirence with)

Next I put a lid on the jar and a label saying to open at the full moon in March.
Once finished, this salve is good for sore muscles and joints. Kinda of like an A535 rub(except that you know what is in it)

Happiness is.....no skidoo marks on your trail!!!

Just came back from a visit to my current grandmother tree that I have been going to sit with for a while now.

As I sat it was oddly quiet. To my right there were two young trees growing close together that we're creaking in the breeze. To my left snow would often whoosh down off the boughs of the trees. My family of grey jays that generally meet me somewhere on my walk, looking for cat food or raisins that I have brought along, they were not to be seen nor heard today.
I sat there and sought to quiet my mind for a few minutes. My thoughts are always do fast, random and scattered; one of my things to actively work on is focusing.


This second picture actually occurred first. I wasn't far along, maybe 500 ft from home. (this trail is a peaceful one because it has been abandoned and no skidoos or quads venture on it)
Anyway I have suspected that the water on this trail may actually be some kind of spring. My walk up there today confirms it. Now just to get that water down the hill to home!!!(add it to the list)

I am not sure in what order these pictures will publish.

Hopefully what show up as the last two pictures are my compost pile. The first one showing the pile with the insulating snow on top and the second one after having dig into it to make an addition.
I have a compost thermometer on the way because I am interested in seeing what temperature the pile is in the depths of winter. It is still giving off noticeable heat once you dig into it .
Only the outside is frozen.
If I haven't stated previously, we use a sawdust composting toilet system. I will do a full post on this at some point.
There is a wee bit of modification that you have to make as the temperature drops, such as not emptying buckets until there are seven or eight of them. Because we have a small house there is nowhere to store full buckets inside ( and if there was ... no they don't stink)
Leaving them full outside beside the compost pile creates more work because they are quite difficult to empty when frozen solid.
The water that I use to was them is the grey water from either washing dishes or washing water( people or clothes )
Having the water still warm in
the winter is a huge help.

Got myself an iPhone so this off grid woman can finally get back to her blog !!!

She may look pretty but she is solid ice underneath! After falling once backwards and once on my face I decided to don my new snow shoes with grip to get the driveway done.

Hopefully won't be too long and we will be snowed in and have to walk from the road.