A day in our garden

Those curious locks so aptly twin'd, Whose every hair a soul doth bind.

I'm always interested in finding alternative ways of doing things.  For the purposes of this blog, I try stuff out so that I can offer first hand information on my experience .  .  . you know, so that I actually have some sort of clue as to what I'm talking about.

I decided that I wanted to find a natural approach to coloring my hair.  I only have a few grays, so the only reason I typically color my hair is to cover them . . . yanking them out hurts!  So, after some research I opted to try henna.  

Henna . . . true henna is red and red only.  I don't want red hair.  I simply want to cover those silly strands of elderly hairs and maintain a brownish hue.  So, why did I pick henna?  Because, there are other color options for 'henna' hair dyes but they are not . . . uh . . . henna.  Let me explain.

There are three different plant types that are used for hair coloring because of the natural dyes they contain.  They all come as green powders but each has a distinctively different resulting color.

Neutral henna, is not exactly neutral and it is not henna.  It is Cassia obovata has a golden dye molecule that will stain dull blonde and gray hair yellow.  It will help damaged hair, make hair full, glossy, healthy.

 

Red henna, true henna, is Lawsonia inermis, commonly known as henna.  The leaves of the henna plant have a red-orange dye molecule.  Like I said before, henna will stain your hair red-orange; but the stain is translucent and will combine with your natural color.  Henna will make your hair heavy, thick and silky.

Black henna is neither black nor henna. It is indigo, Indigofera tinctoria.  And, obviously, it will color your hair black.

Like most gentlemen . . . and I use that term loosely . . . my husband prefers blonds.  Needless to say he was not thrilled with my choice of dye hair dye.  He’s not a fan of red heads. 

Henna will not . . . I repeat . . . NOT lighten your hair.  It only stains your hair.  It is also not truly a permanent color.  Shampooing, the environment and the chlorine in water all will degrade the color to some degree.  And, because henna is a single-compound natural dye it is far less likely to go brassy or bronze like synthetic dyes.

So, here’s where you get to benefit from my experience. 

I choose neutral henna because I wanted to minimize the red factor.  This is irrelevant to the outcome but neutral henna is supposes to smell like fresh mowed grass.  I like that smell . . . it’s so summery.  Except that *I* happen to think it smells like spinach . . . good to eat but not so nice on my head. 

I followed the package instructions for preparing the dye and applied to my hair as per the directions.  Henna is messy, messy, messy.  I used to be a hairdresser and I’ve been coloring my own hair for years.  Henna is, by far, the sloppiest, goopiest gunk I’ve ever used. 

That being said, you don’t need to be a hair dresser to apply the stuff.  You basically section off your hair and slap it on.  You just need to make sure that you cover your entire head.  And use a drop cloth or towel and, for the love of God, use gloves!

Henna is safe for your hair.  It doesn’t damage your hair, so you can leave it on for minutes or hours.  The depth and intensity of color depends on how long you decide to keep it on. 

Since this was my first try I decided to let it stay in my hair for 30 – 45 minutes.  After my time was up, I hopped in the shower to rinse it out.  And, I can tell you, it doesn’t rinse out easily.  Despite the fact that you where a plastic cap while it sets it still gets kind of stiff and dries out a bit.  So, you need to rinse and rinse and rinse. 

You can shampoo and condition as you normally would.  Now, I mentioned that neutral henna smells like spinach, right?  Well, I’ve been no-pooing for over a month . . . that is I’ve been using baking soda to wash and apple cider vinegar to rinse.  My experience has been that the baking soda wipes out even the strongest odors  . . . including cigar and cigarette smoke.  It didn’t touch the spinach smell.  Thank goodness my hair didn’t smell that way after it was dry.

As I dried my hair I was very surprised at how well it covered up the gray hairs.  None was to be seen.  Very cool!  

It was brownish with red highlights.  It's very pretty . . . but hubby is not thrilled even with the little bit of red.  He'll get over it.

Taken inside

My overall experience was good.  My hair is definitely shiny and thick and has lots of body.  It looks remarkably healthy and lustrous.

I'm a happy girl!

Taken in the sun

A day in the garden

Firewater Friday - Sure God created man before woman, but then again you always make a rough draft before creating the final masterpiece

There all kinds of myths, superstitions and omens related to itchy body parts.  Then there’s the whole left/right, good/evil and man/woman aspects thrown in just to complicate things. 

Right equals good but it’s also supposed to relate to man.  As opposed to left being equal to evil but also relates to woman.

A disturbing train of thought there; you see where that’s going, ladies?  Nice, huh?

For example . . . if something on your right side, say an eye, is itchy and you’re a man then that means something good is going to happen.  But, if his left eye is itchy then it’s all doom and gloom and hide from the moon. 

So, then the opposite is supposedly true for women. 

From the man’s perspective, when his right palm is itchy then he will be coming into some money  . . . and if his left palm is itchy then he will be spending money.  But what if he’s left handed? 

Then there’s another twist . . . if he’s left handed and his left ear itches then someone is talking good about him.  If his right ear is itching then someone is talking trash about him.

Confused yet?  Yeah, me too; all this superstition crap is . . . well . . . crap.

And, speaking of crap . . . here’s the biggest question of them all . . . what does it mean when your BUTT is itchy??

I’m not going to spell it out for y’all . . . frankly I think all the hoopla is nothing but a bunch hooey . . . so if you believe omens and whatnot, then you can take the time to decipher all the twists, turns and complexities. 

Now try this one on for size . . . see if you can figure this out . . . I'm a woman (obviously) and I write with my left hand.  That would make me left handed, right?  No . . . left . . . er  . . . right . . . OY!!  ANYhoo, So, I'm left handed but I am right eye dominant and I do mostly everything right handed.   So, what does that mean for me?

Bah!  I’m washing my left hand of it!

 _____________________

Pina Colada

1 Cup Coconut Milk

1 Cup Pineapple Juice

1/2 Cup Rum

4 Tablespoons Confectioners Sugar

8 Cubes Ice

In a blender, combine coconut milk, pineapple juice, rum, sugar and ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses, and serve immediately.

How my garden grows - What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it

Weeding the garden is one of my least favorite chores.  It’s monotonous, laborious and never ending.  Falling behind in weeding isn’t an option.  If I miss even one day I’ll have to work five times as hard to get rid of the nuisances . . . yeah, they grow that fast. 

I don’t want to have to spend so much time weeding, but weed I must.  They steal light, water, and nutrients from the soil and, ultimately, my precious plants.  And, shelter pernicious insects and disease.

The best way to control the weeds is to learn to identify them when they are young. It’s easier to control them when their just popping out of the dirt.  And, once the get established, getting rid of them will be a greater effort.

In an attempt to thwart some of the weed growth, we’ve overlaid some of the bare spots with heavy plastic topped with wood chips.  This should stifle their growth if not suffocate them entirely. 

If you can’t get the whole root out, just remove the top of the weed. Persistent weeds, such as dandelions, may have to be cut down several times, but eventually they will die.

Die weeds die!!

Not all weeds are bad, however.  Purslane, grows naturally and heartily when we have our garden plot.  Not only is it a beneficial weed but it's an edible one . . . and tasty, too.    Be on the lookout for this good weed and leave it be.  It creates a ground cover that helps the soil moist by preventing evaporation.  Harvest it when you want something different to add to a salad or main dish.  

One of my favorite ways to use purslane is in a tangy cucumber salad.  Simpley, slice cucumbers and chop purslane.  Toss with garlic, olive oil, cider vinegar, salt and pepper.  It's light and refreshing.  Very yummy!

How my garden grows - Be your own politics, grow your own garden, and maybe you can help out more.

Companion Planting is a theory that placing certain plants near each other will provide benefits to one another by attracting insect allies or repelling pests and, in some cases, enhancing the growth and flavor of one another.   By creating a little eco-system within your garden space where your veggies, herbs, flowers, and fruits can benefit each other simply by their proximity to one another.                    

I’ve planned our garden around this premise.  I’ve planted basil with my tomatoes to growth and flavor. Tomatoes and basil also does well with peppers so I’ve planted my peppers next to and alongside them.  Carrots and tomatoes are good together but tomatoes will stunt the growth of carrots so I’ve placed them away from each other.  Carrots and celery go well together in a salad but not so well in the garden so I’ve also separated them.  Cucumbers do well with peas, so I put them next to each other.  Garlic does well near cucumbers, peas, lettuce and celery; but, I’ve planted them closer to my zucchini because the bulbs release a chemical that repels beetles and root maggots which is something we had a problem with last year.  Lettuce and radishes are pretty much friendly with everyone.  I've interspersed marigolds throughout the garden because they discourage many types of pests.    In fact, I had them planted around my tomatoes last year and I recall a bare minimum of damage pests.  Purslane grows naturally where we have our garden and it’s a good friend to the garden.  It creates an edible ground cover that helps retain moisture in the soil.

We spent the better part of a day working on the garden.  After shopping for the plants that I had not started from seed we headed to the garden.  Poor hubby was sick and not at all happy about being forced into labor.  I needed his help but didn't expect the level of effort he exerted.  He really is awesome and I'm thankful for his fortitude.  My son "helped" us . . . sort of; we managed to wrench some work out of him.  

It was hard work on a hot day, but it will be so worth the effort.  We weeded and raked before laying out the tomato cage placement.  Once that was done, I planted the tomatoes, peppers and so on and so forth according to the plan above.  

Hubby laid out heavy plastic bags and topped them with wood chips in between certain plantings for easier access and for the added benefit of weed reduction.  Between myself, my son and hubby . . . mostly hubby . . . we humped bucket load after bucket load of wood chips.

I did all the planting and most of the weeding . . . there were lots of weeds and I know I'll be spending much time keeping them from taking over the garden.  

After everything was planted the whole garden got a good watering making sure that the soil was nice and soaked.  

We got home almost in time for bed . . . showers, dinner and cool beverages all around  before crashing.