Foaming Sugar Scrub (by SpiceySuds)

Making foaming sugar scrubs is super easy.

In Jen’s video,she gives a recipe and demonstrates how to make foaming sugar scrubs. I use her recipe except I do not add mica or any colorant to my scrubs; she uses foaming bath whip from a soap supplier, but I use a foaming bath butter from a different soap supplier. It is also a melt and pour soap.

The recipe I use is:

1 lb foaming bath butter/whip

1 lb sugar

1 oz light oil (sunflower oil, almond oil, avocado oil,)

.3 oz - .5 oz fragrance oil

I use a kitchenaide mixer. Add the bath butter and oil in the bowl, starting out on low until the butter softens up a little, then turn up to medium for a few seconds. Then I add the fragrance oil and sugar, mix for a couple of minutes or so until I like the consistency, then spoon the mixture into jars and that’s all-simplicity.

SpicySuds

Cover it Up. You Don't Want That Showing.

The other day I watched a video of Gabe Brown explaining the five tenets of soil health. He gives an excellent presentation on soil.  I was so impressed with what he had accomplished on his ranch in North Dakota, I realized I needed to step it up on my place and do something more like he is. He has been using no-till, cover crops,and grazing to build his soil. They help to build the organic matter in the soil which helps with sequestering carbon in the soil which helps with water infiltration and retention making the land resilient against drought and flood. They help suppress weeds reducing or eliminating the need for herbicides, prevent erosion, improve yields by improving soil health thus reducing or eliminating the need for fertilizers, protect water quality and conserve soil moisture, as well as help manage insect pests. One of the things he mentioned is that what he is doing can be done on any size plot from a spread of thousands of acres to a window box. Another was that as his soil has improved his crops have shown some resistance to frost thus extending his growing season. For these reasons, I have been researching cover crops.

During his presentation he stressed the importance of keeping "armor" on the soil. Soil armor is simply the plant residue left on the ground to protect it. It is what I have been trying to do but with limited ability to haul in materials to cover the ground, it is, at best, difficult. With cover crops I can achieve the same thing with relatively little expense. Since I am going to no-till gardening it also makes sense to use plants that will help build up the soil with relative ease. All I have to do is mow and, at the appropriate time, knock the cover crop down to cover and feed the soil. To contrast that he showed a picture of a barren field and quoted Ray Archuleta, "This soil is naked, hungry, thirsty and running a fever."

In the few days I have been doing this research a number of resources have come to me. Gabe mentioned a book that can be found at the SARE website. I found a couple of books there. Managing Cover Crops Profitably and Building Soils for Better Crops. Both books can be downloaded for free. I also found this page filled with further information to look into. Complete List of Cover Crop Resources. There is a great deal of information available.

While pursuing another vein of thought in permaculture I came across this article on Toby Hemenway's site which lead me to information on Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. And one thing has lead to another. There is a ton of information to absorb on this subject. The basis seems pretty simple, cover the ground. You don't want naked soil.  Grow plants to protect and build the soil. Knock or mow the plants down to create armor on the soil to protect it from the elements especially sun and rain while adding organic matter to the soil. The regenerative cycles of life will take care of everything else.

I look forward to being able to show the improvements to my garden soil from growing cover crops. 

Here is a list of suppliers for cover crop seed. Let's get those cover crops growing.

Nature's Seed. (UT) Cover crops under their specialty seed category.

Green Cover Seed (NE)

Walnut Creek Seeds (OH)

Adams-Briscoe Seed Company (GA)

Albert Lea Seed House (MN)

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply (CA)

Seven Springs Farm (VA)

Turner Seed (TX)

Permaculture! What is it?

It has been a few years since I discovered permaculture. I was immediately enamored with the concept. 

What is permaculture? For those who are interested here is what Bill Mollison co-originator of the term says,

    "Permaculture. A copyright word, owned as a common copyright by the Permaculture Institutes & their graduates. Derived from ‘Permanent’ and ‘Culture’, as follows:

    Permanent: From the Latin permanens, to remain to the end, to persist throughout (per = through, manere = to continue)

    Culture: From the Latin cultura - cultivation of land, or the intellect. Now generalized to mean all those habits, beliefs, or activities than sustain human societies.

    Thus, Permaculture is the study of the design of those sustainable or enduring systems that support human society, both agricultural & intellectual, traditional & scientific, architectural, financial & legal. It is the study of integrated systems, for the purpose of better design & application of such systems."

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    "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them & of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions."

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"Permaculture seeks the Garden of Eden & why not?

The overall aim of permaculture design is to produce an efficient low-maintenance productive integration of plants, animals, structures & man; with the ultimate result of on-site stability & food self-sufficiency in the smallest practical area.

The aim is also to plan for craft or other products on larger areas, that yield a trade or commercial potential for clients, again as diverse products resources. The design should aim for a total, secure, long-term integration of all elements; stability & diversity are the keynotes. Conservation of soil, water, & energy are central issues.

The system combines rational landscape design, organic gardening methods, & alternative energy systems into a unified design encompassing many trades, skill, & disciplines."

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"Permaculture really starts with an ethic or earthcare, understood as care of whole systems of earth & species. So we actually devise model systems. Much of the design is drawn from nature. The end result that we aim for, is to produce a system that is ecologically sound & economically profitable. It can get sophisticated or be as simple as you like.

1. Permanent Agriculture, the requirement for a permanent culture

2. An ethical philosophy of earthcare & peoplecare supported by the distribution of surplus goods; wealth, labor, attention, information

3. The condition of abundance in nature marked by cooperation, diversity of species, occupation of essential ecological niches, & stability over time, in contrast to the conditions of competition, scarcity, monotony, &^ imminent decay which predominate under hierarchical social conditions.

4. A productive system of human design based on maximal beneficial connections between the elements thereof.

5. A global grassroots movement for self-reliance, community responsibility, decentralization of social, political, economic, & technical authority.

6. The demonstrated & replicated teaching & techniques thereof.

7. Interactive, recombinant ecologies marked by elegance of principle, efficiency of function, appropriateness of form, & astonishing beauty.

8. Maximum satisfaction of needs for all living beings employing the minimum area of built space with a high density & quality of biological information"  

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Here are some links that define permaculture. The first is where I pulled these quotes from.

About Permaculture 

Definitions of Permaculture

This Is My Garden

 This is me. My name is Jeremy.

This is my garden.

I live and garden on the Colorado Plateau on the Arizona Strip, in Zone 7B at a five thousand foot elevation on an acre and a half of land. This was where my original garden spot was when my family moved here some thirty years ago. We originally cleared all the brush and tilled it up. I then double dug beds which have long since disappeared. Due to health and other issues it has been fallow for a number of years and I am just to the point of reclaiming it. This time all I have done is remove the brush that had overgrown the spot. I am going no-till and will be utilizing cover crops to help build up the soil. My goal is to create a resilient regenerative ecosystem on this little piece of land.

Several years ago I discovered permaculture and it has changed my perspective on food growing.  I am beginning by growing vegetables and over time will transition it into a food forest.

Instead of neat rows of veggies I mixed the seed together and broadcast it into the beds.  I was inspired by Matt Powers' throw sow method.  I wanted to do winter sowing so the seeds could sprout when they are ready. The first bed was seeded just before it started to rain and snow a few days ago. When these seeds have sprouted more will be broadcast. That way I can get successive crops.

My mix consists of: beets, broccoli, radish, kohrabi, turnip, parsley, onion, carrot, dill, lettuce, cabbage (green and red), swiss chard, garden cress, mustard, endive, garden purslane, dwarf pac choi, cherry tomatoes and sunflowers.  It is mostly cool weather crops. I added a few warm weather crops as an experiment to see if and when they will germinate. As the season progresses and each bed is seeded a different mix of seed will be put in. I want it to end up being a diverse polyculture.

I will keep you updated on the progress of the garden.