Monday, February 23, 2009

Making Butter,Facial Scrub Toutorial, and Painting

Finally! It was the computer again! Does anyone have as many problems as we do??? I still seem to have something lurking. We've worked through several problems, some that were hidden by the technicians working on this beast last time. They could not fix the problem, so tried to bypass, that worked for a while until.........Now there seems to be a conflict between our anti virus and our server..........I run on while I could be writing about some fun stuff.
I've been buying our milk from a farm nearby. The milk soooo yummy! One fun thing is that it comes with cream. If you look carefully, you can see the line between the milk and the cream. I whip some of the cream to have on mocha's and hot chocolate. I use most of the cream for butter.
Right now, I'm making it in the blender. I know, sure way to burn the motor out. I'm hoping to find a small churn soon.
I like making fresh butter. It's a relaxing process. "Churning" the cream, washing the buttermilk out, then adding salt. I know what the cow ate and how the cow is cared for. I know that my family is eating dairy that is pure, no gmo's, no hormones or additives. I like that. I also have been making yogurt, cream cheese, and other simple cheeses.
I made a gentle face and body scrub. I use oatmeal for the base. Then add dried roses, calandula (pot marigold), and lemon peel.
First, I grind the oatmeal in a small coffee grinder. It's a grinder that I use only for herbal things. I don't want my herbal things to smell or taste like coffee, and my husband doesn't want his coffee to taste like herbs. I grind the oatmeal to a powder. Oatmeal is very nourishing to the skin and is a gentle exfoliate.
After putting the oatmeal in a jar I grind small roses saved from last summer. I pull the petals off. In the center are small seeds that I add. Then grind.
Then I add some calandula to the jar. You can see about how much I add. I don't measure too closely. On top of it all I add about 2T of ground lemon peel. This is anti bacterial, cleansing, and exfoliating.

Now it's time to mix it all together.
When You want to use it, just scoop out about 1 1/2 T. I have this cute little soap dish I put it in.
Then I add a little warm water, and stir it around with my finger. I scoop a little up with my fingers, and rub it onto my face. I gently rub my face all over, then rinse it off with warm water. Then rinse again with cold water. It's refreshing. I love the way my face feels afterward. I have very oily skin. This really helps without making the cells produce more oil. Again, it's something very natural and gentle for me. No additives. I can say the name of every ingredient.
I also started a larger project. Look at this horror. It's a large closet that we have used as an office. Lots of years ago the kids wanted to paint it the way they wanted. They wanted to have fun with it. I let them. Every wall was a different, bright color. It suited them at the time. Now they are gone. My husband wants to use the space for his at home office. One daughter is back home for a short time. A HA! She gets to paint the base coat of paint. With that done, I get to have some fun with the walls.
I'm sponging on some greens and copper, and making some swirls in antique bronze.
It's very random. It's hard to see in these pictures. When I get the room (closet) finished, I'll see if I can get a picture that gives you the feel of the whole room. It has an old world feel. I don't usually use white or off white, but with no windows, and small space I went for it. It's called Primitive White by Dutch Boy. It's kind of fun to rub and swirl paint on here and there. The walls in our home are lath and plaster. All the bumps and ridges that you see are really there. Painting a more modern look wouldn't would look out of place. It's great to finally change this wild look.


7 comments:

A Bit of Colour said...

How blessed are you to get the fresh dairy products. Thanks for the instructions for the facial. Here's hoping that all your computer problems are fixed. Have fun doing your project. Do we get to see pictures of the finished project?

Debbie said...

I'm hoping to show pictures of the finished room. We painted half of the room, now my daughter needs to find time to paint the other half base coat. So it might take a couple of weeks. Thanks for asking.
Debbie

tincanlily said...

The painting technique looks really nice. It will be nice to see the finished "room". Fresh milk what a treat! Thanks for sharing your facial scrub recipe. Another great idea. I still want to make the lavender sachets!
denise

Yesteryear Embroideries said...

You are so lucky to be able to get fresh milk! I love your facial instructions and the cute little dish! Such a good post! blessings,Kathleen

A Romantic Porch said...

Debbie, You are so creative! I'm amazed at all you do! xo rachel

A Romantic Porch said...

I didn't realize the butter was on this posting when I left the other comment. When I was a child and growing up at home, it was my job to churn the butter. Mother would pour the milk into a quart jar and I would shake it. It probably took about 15 or 20 minutes of shaking to get it to come together for butter, but it was always fun to see when it started doing this. When the cow died we started raising goats and then made butter from the goat's milk. It took a little longer because there isn't as much cream/fat in goat's milk. The butter was pure white! I just wanted to tell you! I wish I could find raw milk here. I can't find your email address...can you email me sometime when you get a chance. rachelgoing@gmail.com I have some questions about herbs that I am wanting to plant. xo rachel

Doreen Frost said...

Wow..this is wonderful..thank you for this tutorial...I shall give it a try :)

Doreen