Musings 2024

 I had someone tell me, something with absolute certainty. 

They told me I was in Alto. 

Now, this person has musical experience. They have likely a education in some aspect of music. However, I allowed their statement of what I was, to affect me. 

This person is a Christian, this person is in leadership, this person is supposed to be someone who is encouraging, and uplifting..

Now, I don't think it was intentional. I think it was more of a human faulty Factor. But, I have spent a year and a half of my life, second guessing the gifts that I have been given. Given. Second guessing myself. Second guessing, what God's plan for me is.

Amidst all of the things going on right now. No matter what political /religious/ sociological view you have. I implore you, to remember that your words, have effect. 

To One who feels hurt, or scared, or unsure.. or even to the person who's excited.. about the current political environment. 

Please.. PLEASE. Remember, that your words have power. Remember, your actions, have meaning. Remember that you have children watching, and learning, and absorbing everything that you are doing, and feeling, and saying. 

Even the small things. 

The things we think we know.

The things we think, are not a big deal. 

Can have, profound.. and lasting, effects. 

Even when we do not mean them to, even when we mean well. Well. Even when we feel like it is our job to make sure of the goal, or the quality, or whatever it may be. 

If we want to actually make a difference in this world. The first, and most important step.. is how we treat each other. 

We cannot make assumptions. We cannot be divided. We cannot put people into a box based on the most prevalent/ visual representation. No matter the situation. 

I grew up in an incredibly, overprotective and conservative environment. There have been documentaries done, on the cult-like existence that I grew up in. 

I grew up in extreme, Conservative Christian, environments. They have literally made documentaries on the cult like situations that I grew up in. I was partially spared, due to the fact that my father was not a Christian. Factors was that the head of the family was the most important. The fact that my father, was not a Christian, meant that the head of our family, could not be the overarching "umbrella".. therefore, we were not " accepted" within the IBLP structure of teaching.

I have every right to turn away from what I was grown in. I have every right to.. sum up what I grew up with as farce, and Insanity, and near fascist in belief. 

But God. . .

My God. Is, so much more, than any human can describe. So many have tried, and so many have succeeded, and yet failed. A shadow of a doubt that there is no way, for one person, to be able to describe my God. Because my God, does not fit within a box that is comprehensible by the human mind / psyche/ experience. 

If not believe this, that's fine. I don't require you to. I will not run from this, I will not back down from this, I will NOT be afraid, to defend this. 

I understand that I have a unique experience. I understand that not everyone has the same, but there is a difference, between being accepting, and being accepting of what we're okay with. 

Christ. Who was God Incarnate. Accepted, an adulterous woman, a tax collector(most abhorrent in that time, essentially a politician (although, it would take a literal act of God to show he *some* politicians would count)), a fisherman. 

A thief.. who shared a cross beside him.

I have personally.. experienced, too many things, to write them off as "coincidence" or "luck". I have had too many close calls, or instances of "clairvoyance", or even prophecy, to be able to write off my belief in God. 

I have seen too many things. Too many what-ifs, come to fruition. Too many " unexplained" feelings, or knowings, write off, God. 

One of the hardest moments, of my life. Was the first time, I let my firstborn son, fall off at the couch. 

I could have caught him. I could have saved him. I could have lessened his fall......

But in that moment that I saw him edging towards the edge of the couch, I knew I had to decide.   Would I let him make the choice, and learn the lesson himself, or would I try and protect him beyond when I should. 

That. Is the the ultimate, lesson. 

If, a God who knows all, who sees all, who could prevent all.... Does nothing, does that make him an unloving God?

Or? 

Does that make him a loving God , who wants us to be able to learn, and grow, and *thrive*, on our own. Who * wants* Us to have our own free will. To make our own choices. Because having someone else make our own choice for us is..  NOT. Free. Will.

And I *believe*, that my God. Wants to have a personal, genuine, heartfelt, relationship, with me. And also with you. No matter what may may separate us, as far as our beliefs, or our political standpoints, or our personality differences. 

I also believe, wholeheartedly, that my God.. is able to have that kind of relationship with people who don't agree, on politics, or beliefs, or political standpoints. 

I also believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt. That my God. Is greater, than any one-man, who may have been elected, or may tote his name. 

And my God, has said, from his own mouth, as Christ incarnate. 

To any who would lead my children astray it would be better for them to drown in the sea with a stone around their neck.

So I will praise my GOD who I know has a plan. And no matter what, evil, or darkness may seem to prevail, I *know* that my God is bigger.

Hello!! This is Kat! Another one of the Healthy Horizons Family Farm branches!
My sister Elizabeth has been the prime holder of the blogging and "marketing" of Healthy Horizons. I finally am having the kind of energy needed early enough in the year to ACTUALLY get some stuff going!
Mostly my specialty has been more on the husbandry side of the house, and mostly with the poultry. But now we have expanded to having a bunny, chickens, ducks, dogs, and a parakeet.
Amongst also wanting to be able to provide organic and healthy food options for my animals, I'm also wanting to provide healthier food options for my children and family too. I remember a few years ago when Elizabeth had the garden at my mom's house, there was one sunny day in the summer when my daughter, who was 2 at the time, went out to the garden, picked up a watermelon (the size of her head), called to me and said "mommy can I have watermelon!". The pure beauty of that summer, and the fact that there were multiple times that we had to yell at the kids to "get out of the garden", and "stop eating all of the kale!" Makes me so happy. I want my children to grow up with the ability to walk out into the backyard, pick some lunch, and play in the woods. In order to do that, there's lots of prep work, teaching, and work, that needs to go into it. I'm hoping to keep up with this blog for our journey together this year, and the progression of our garden!

Dutch Baby

I'm told that this format works better for recipes so here goes! Here is another delicious way to use up seasonal apples!

I'm not sure the history of the name but I assume is has to do with using a Dutch oven though you can use any kind of oven safe pan. I've made some modifications since my childhood for my own personal tastes so I will note them but also give you the original.

6 large apples (or 7-8 Chehalis apples) cored and thinly sliced
6 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
(I also like a dash of cloves)
1/4 cup sugar or equivalent (I prefer brown sugar)
1 cup flour
4 eggs (if they are my eggs which are slightly smaller then I use 5)
1 cup milk.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. Saute the apples in the oven safe pan along with the butter and cinnamon. (I also prefer to put half the sugar in the pan and saute in order to get a bit of caramelization.) Saute until soft. Pour batter mixture over the apples and place the whole pan in the oven for 25 minutes or until set.

Voila! I like to make a double batch so we can have leftovers because it's just as good cold as it is hot!

Apple prep:

Sauteed and half poured:

Finished! So yummy!

Spring Has Sprung!

Baby goats are born, surprise flowers are peeking out of the ground at our new house, planting seeds, tax season. Sound familiar? I keep thinking one of these days I will learn to stop scheduling new stuff for myself in the Spring. It just keeps happening that once the fruit and veggies are safely stored away in jars or freezer and I've had a few weeks of breathing room that I want to start over already! But we still have the dreary winter to go through. So this winter I was feeling antsy enough that I signed up to be in a community production of Beauty and the Beast. Now that it's time to make new products, build and plant an entirely new garden, raise goats by hand (unfortunately), I also have every Saturday and Tuesday scheduled with rehearsal and set building! Any wonder why we haven't completed fencing in the back portion of our property?!

So, to sum up:
We moved into our new place in Maple Valley last July.

My dad helped us convert the workshop downstairs into a bedroom for our girls.

He built a joint goat barn and chicken coop to my specifications.

I completely refinished the wraparound deck including adding screws to the entire flooring.

We felled several large trees and chopped down more stifling rhodedendron and azalea bushes than I can count.

We thoroughly enjoyed our double wood stoves upstairs over the winter which required many hours of chopping wood. Hours which I was happy to provide considering I'm trying to loose some of the leftover baby reminders on my hips/tummy/thighs/etc!

I learned more about different kinds of nut and seed oils and have updated my recipes accordingly.

I registered both the family farm and the herbal company with the state of Washington.

I applied for Healthy Horizons Herbals to be part of the Maple Valley Farmer's Market all summer (dates to be posted soon)!!

That's all that should be crammed into one blog post, I think. More coming soon!

Launching in 3...2...1...

I finally decided to do it. I'm taking the plunge into actually selling my home-made skin care products. As mentioned in an earlier post, I've been making my magical bug bite and burn salve for a couple of years with amazing results and the only ingredients are infused olive oil and beeswax! Taking what I've learned about infused oils to the next level is pretty intimidating but I've never been one to take on "small" challenges.

Sunscreen and lip balm were introduced here



Due to how much camping and hiking we do, all natural (and safe!) bug spray was my next priority. I found many recipes online that claimed to do the job but that was hard for me to believe considering they were mostly water. The two recipes that seemed to have the greatest compliments for efficacy were either entirely made of apple cider vinegar (ACV) which was effective but stinky or with a high concentration of essential oils which may not be safe for kids or pregnancy and may also burn sensitive skin, all categories with directly apply to my family right now.

So I combined the two recipes, took another ingredient from another recipe and combined them, and infused it all with eucalyptus, mint, rosemary, basil, and lavender. What came out actually smelled really good once the vinegar evaporated. I have tested it here int he PNW with good results and I have a friend in Texas testing it on herself and her family.

Ingredients:

Witch Hazel extract

Strong decoction of distilled water and herb mix

Apple Cider vinegar

Vegetable Glycerine

Eucalyptus and Lemongrass essential oils

General body lotion and mature skin cream are currently in testing and should be available soon. There is still some tweaking I want to do with both of those and today I'm taking on the challenge of refining the lotion recipe which, so far, has ended up too thick.

Bug bite and burn salve is brewing for another two weeks, infusion for extra dry skin cream is brewing another week, and brew for face toner will be another week. Probably the most difficult part of starting all this is I'm trying to predict the demand for products that I haven't introduced yet and take several weeks to prepare.

This week I received the professional logo I requested, set up a domain name, and began setting up my e-commerce presence thanks to TicTail.com. It was difficult deciding which platform to use to sell my products since skin care products tend to be small and with low price points. Etsy requires a listing fee and a percentage fee of each sale and you get hit a second time with PayPal surcharges. I found a great article by Grace Dobush, long time Etsy seller, which addressed all my concerns about e-commerce sites in general including a chart outlining the various platforms available for selling products online, what they offer, and how much their service charges cost for a variety of price points.

Later this week I expect the website healthyhorizonsherbals.com to go live with all the products currently available. Already you can e-mail healthyhorizonsherbals@gmail.com and expect a prompt response from me. Also on the "to-do" list are business cards, unique vintage labels, twitter account, and a facebook page. Until then, I will keep my Products page up to date with what is available. Shipping within the USA is available for $6.

New herbal products!

Over the past several years I have been slowly learning about the edible and medicinal properties of many plants, especially those native to the Pacific Northwest. Though it's considered an invasive species from the Old World (the Indians called it "white man's foot") my gateway drug was Plantain. Not the banana, but a green herb that comes in about two hundred varieties spread over the entire earth, the most common of which in our area are "broad leaf" or plantago major and "narrow leaf" or plantago lanceolata. Being so widely spread, of course the two noted above have many more than one or two names, but for the sake of my reference and brevity I'm sticking with "broad" and "narrow."

Plantago has been used for millennia for a combination of topical and internal ailments and is an excellent edible green as it is extremely high in vitamins and minerals. One species is cultivated specifically for psyllium and they all produce very small seeds that can be powdered into flour. My favorite use is putting it directly on bug bites. You have to bruise it first to release the oils by rubbing it in your hands or mashing it up in your teeth. It has antimicrobial, astringent, anti-histamine, and anti-inflammatory properties. We most often use it for soothing nettle stings, general bug bites, rashes, scrapes, and burns. I've developed the habit of picking some on the side of a trail and keeping a few leaves in my pocket whenever hiking just in case. My personal experience leads me to believe that the broad leaf variety is more effective for skin and topical issues and the narrow leaf variety is more effective internally. Of course, if you can't find one, the other will do just fine!

On to products!

I've made salve for the last couple of years using primarily broad leaf plantain and a couple other skin beneficial herbs like yarrow, comfrey, and dandelion soaked in extra virgin olive oil for a few weeks. Add some beeswax for structure and you have portable, spreadable, skin-healing magic! My family swears by it and we use it for just about any closed skin issue like bruises, boils, bites, burns, and stings. I always take a few ounces with us on camping trips.

**FYI oil and beeswax products are discouraged for open wounds as they tend to seal in bacteria**

Given my sensitive skin, Shoshana's even more sensitive skin, and our concerns about applying toxins to the largest organ in our bodies I've been interested in broadening my homemade skin care products so I can feel confident using things like moisturizer, lotion, scrubs, and soaps. The most accessible of which were sunscreen and lip balm! Quick online search will bring up several simple recipes for both. I picked my favorites and tweaked some of the ratios for my personal preference and added vanilla as a basic scent. The difference is my use of herb-infused oils when the recipe calls for liquid oil. At this point I have my skin salve combo, rosemary, lavender, rose, eucalyptus, calendula, echinacea, oregano, and peppermint infused oils, and dandelion root tincture (made with alcohol instead of oil) available for tinkering. 

Sunscreen recipe:

1 cup infused olive oil (I used a combo of skin healing salve, eucalyptus, and rose oils)

1/2 cup beeswax

1/2 cup coconut oil

4 tbs Shea butter

2 tsp raspberry seed oil

1 tsp vanilla

4 tbs zinc oxide

Chocolate peppermint lip balm recipe:

2 tbs beeswax

1 tbs shea butter
1 tbs cocoa butter

1 tbs coconut oil

1/2 tbs rose oil

1/2 tbs lavender oil

1/4 tsp peppermint essential oil

30 drops raspberry seed oil

I hope you're inspired to embark on your own herbal journey, even if that means understanding their importance and relying on someone else to do the work. (wink, wink!)

Please check prices and upcoming products over at our products page!

**UPDATE**
Lavender lemongrass lip balm now available. It is made with the basic recipe above except 2 tbs Shea butter instead of half cocoa and 18 drops lavender and 10 drops lemongrass essential oils instead of peppermint.

February Chores

It's been a long time. And a difficult year. I'm sorry to miss a lovely summer and harvest season but I was having difficulty recovering from the birth of my youngest, Judah Daniel. If you want to read more about it look here.

February in the Pacific Northwest is typically cold, dreary, with lots of precipitation, sometimes in the form of snow. So what could possibly be a garden chore for this month? In my experience, proper planning for your garden takes just as much time as doing the initial planting. And with proper planning your garden will be more efficient and satisfying.

Step one for planning crops is knowing your garden space. What is your zone? What is your microclimate? Do you have clay, boggy, flood plain soil? Where is your best sun exposure? What about slopes, drainage, existing trees, bushes, or man-made structures that effect wind, heat uptake, and water drainage? 

(pic: freshly harvested crabapples,)

Tip: You can even create sub-microclimates with the crops within your garden by planting for density and height in a wide horseshoe shape. The area within the horseshoe will be a significantly warmer climate than within rows. Some of my favorite garden planning resources are "Gaia's Garden," "Week-By-Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook," and "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible." For more of a landscaping emphasis check out "The Garden Planner."

Of course, the majority of winterizing your beds and garden space should already be done but maintenance is important. Some areas of my garden need deeper mulch so I need to finish that before the end of the month so the mulch has time to donate extra nutrients before the sprouts really need them.

Once you have a basic garden plan it is a good idea to start comparing seeds and deciding which varieties you want to grow. There are a few local options for free seed trading such as the Olympia Seed Exchange, Harvest Pierce County (extension of Pierce Conservation District), and the King County Seed Lending Library besides swapping or sharing with your neighbor or at an organized seed-swap. These stock varieties that have been locally grown and donated by other growers, not regulated companies who make a living selling seed, so be aware they may have been improperly crossed or harvested poorly. The next seed swap is this weekend, hosted by Sustainable West Seattle. Check it out!

There has been some legislation discussed in other states that would force most seed libraries to close in attempts to protect the integrity of seeds. This is not expected to be an issue in Washington State in the near future but if you want more information there is a good article here.

A few seed companies operate within the PNW and specialize in varieties that thrive in our cool, maritime climate. My favorites are:

Adaptive Seeds

High Mowing Seeds 

Nichols Garden Nursery

Irish Eyes Garden Seeds

Happy Planning!