Natural Citrus Herb Cleaner

Natural Citrus Herb Cleaner

    Great for cleaning cooking surfaces, counter tops & disenfectant the natural way without dangerous

chemicals. 

Ingredients:

- Clean empty glass 16 - 20 oz bottle or jar

- White vinegar

- 1 cup dried orange, grapefruit or any citrus 

- 1 cup dried big leaf thyme

- 1 cup lemon balm leaves

Directions:

1. Place all the herbs & citrus in the jar. The herbs & citrus does not have to be dried. I had that in my dried herb storage.

2. Fill that jar with the white vinegar all the way covering the herbs & citrus. Allow to sit for 4 to 8 weeks.

3. Once it is ready, take out all the herbs & citrus and leave the vinegar. You can dilute 1/2 cup with 16 oz of water depending how powerful you need the cleanser to me. When I need to cut the grease on the cooking surfaces, I don't dilute the vinegar. 

 

Italian Vinaigrette Recipe

Italian Herb Infused Apple Cider

 Ingredients: 

 - Apple cider vinegar

 - Sprigs of rosemary

 - cup of purple basil

 - cup of big leaf thyme

 - 1/4 cup of dill leaves 

 - 6 garlic cloves

 Directions: 

1. Place all the herbs inside the bottle or jar. I used herbs from my own garden except for the garlic

cloves.

2. Fill up the bottle or jar with apple cider vinegar. I heard it works best with red wine vinegar, but I

didn't have any.

3. Allow to sit in a dark cabinet for 4 to 8 weeks. 

Italian Herb Infused Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

2 parts of Italian herb infused apple cider vinegar

3 parts olive oil

1 tsp of mustard

Directions:

1. Add all the liquids together with the mustard. Shake vigorously. Store in a the fridge or a cool space. 

My Herb & Vegetable Garden (2022 - 2024)

My New Raised Bed Garden: 2022 - 2024

I decided to start my raised bed gardening again in 2022. I just have always had this intuition when things are going to get bad and to prepare for the worse. That being said, I knew that I needed to start building my herbal medical cabinet and then my vegetable garden.  Thankfully, I had all my prior experience of raised bed gardening 2007 - 2012, my old gardening journal, my old gardening books and started on this journey. 

The beginning of my raised garden July 2022

I found these self watering containers at Home Depot back in 2022 for about $40 each. That was definitely a steal for me because I had experience building my own raised garden in 2007 from scratch. Not fun if you don't have carpentry experience. I remember the palms and the grip of my hands being super sore and my skin really irritated. 

Broccoli 

My first lettuce plant with companion plant Marigold

Aloe and Salvia

Echinacea on the back left

🠉This was my garden from January 2022 - February 2023. Some plants I bought from the discount shelf at the stores, others I grew from seed. Below, is the progress of my garden from March 2023 - 2024.

My first mini harvest of rosemary & my little helper Taco the Chiweinie!

This Bachelor Button was a difficult grow, but worth the beauty of the flower.

My garden started taking up more space. I now have pineapple in the mix. This pineapple actually produced one fruit and a tacuache (possum) ate half of it before I got to harvest. Lesson learned to when pick your fruits before the pests get to them. 

Harvest of Cuban Oregano

My first California Strawberry growing! I bought these plants at Wal-Mart for about $4 each. I got a handful of strawberries from these plants. 

Moving up to a 8x4x2 Raised Bed

I ordered this larger stainless steel raised bed on Amazon for around $90 for my Herb Garden. I really wanted to start producing a lot more food for myself. I had seen these beds online as I got more affiliated with Tiktok. Very easy to put together! When I did this back in 2007, I built the bed by hand with wood boards, a saw, & large plastic mesh sheet to protect the bottom of the bed from ground dirt & weeds. As you can see in the picture above, the bed is half full with some dried palm leaves & tree branches. 

This time around I bought Vermiculite to add to the soil mix!

When I built my raised bed before, I didn't have a lot of monetary resources and didn't buy vermiculite. My raised bed in 2007 did very well without the vermiculite, I used mulch instead to keep the soil moist. 

Adding my Lemongrass plant from my smaller raised beds.

I was very surprised when i saw how much the root system grew into the smaller raised beds self-watering storage chamber. I had to cut all this roots off.

Look at that root system that grew!

Filling up the bed with soil for raised beds & adding more Herbs

After I had filled up the beds with dried plant matter, tree branches and palm leaves, I added raised bed soil from Wal-Mart. I placed the plants where I wanted them while keeping in mind that some grow very tall, some are compatible together while others are not. I later learned that the City of McAllen has it's own compost, mulch & soil for way cheaper than Wal-Mart. I was buying 4 cubic feet for $7 each at Wal-Mart while the City of McAllen sells the same for $3.

The finished Herbal raised bed garden

Herbal Raised Bed Garden end of 2023

My Herbal Raised Garden 2024

The beginning my Vegetable & Fruit Garden

 After mastering my technique to grow an herbal medicine cabinet in my back patio, I decided to move on and start growing my vegetable garden in pots and my small raised gardens. With the success of moving my herbal plants to an 8x4x2 stainless steel raised garden, the plans for the future raised vegetable will eventually manifest.

Alpine Strawberry 

I got this awesome garden light at Dollar Tree! I love the butterfly inside!

First Harvest of Arugula & Red Lettuce

Green Lettuce & Arugula in my 2x2x1 raised (self-watering) container

Echinacea Bloom

Grape tomatoes mini harvest

Building my Stainless Steel Vegetable Raised Bed Garden 8x4x2

Steel Raised Bed Pieces

Almost done putting raised bed together

Gathering FREE organic matter for the 2nd raised bed

 

Bag of dried leaves from Texas Oaks

Large Palm & small Texas Oak leaves fill half of raised bed

Raised bed now ready for compost & soil

Placing where my plants are compatible to each other

Plants removed from their containers & inside the raised bed for my vegetables.

Natural Hair Rinses

 

My Hair Before

Did you know that you can use plants from your garden to enhance your hair's potential and treat disorders? I had zero idea myself until I got back into herbal gardening.  I started over a year ago and I am now making products for myself and my clients to use. This article is about infusions for hair rinses. 

Rose Water Hair Rinse: Loaded with vitamin A, B3, C & E. It helps nourish the scalp, stimulates hair follicles and promotes hair growth. Rose water can tame down frizz and add shine and luster to your hair. It works well for any hair type, but the best for oily hair because of its gentle astringent properties. Rose has inflammatory properties that may help skin conditions like dandruff, psoriasis and eczema. It can be applied in the scalp as a form of shampoo, conditioner or an after-shampoo rinse/mist. Rose water is safe and can be used every day. 

Rosemary Hair Rinse: Great for boosting hair growth and aiding with preventing hair loss. Decreases inflammation in the hair scalp by acting like an antioxidant by helping to improve circulation in the hair follicles. It also helps darken grey hair. Prevents frizziness, boosts volume and enhances shine. It also naturally darkens grey hair andk is often used as a natural hair dye.

Lemongrass Hair Rinse: is high in vitamin A & C. It helps the keep your hair shinny and glossy without having oily hair or scalp. It has antimicrobial & inflammation properties helps treat dandruff and other scalp conditions. Lemongrass is rich in iron and aids treating hair loss, aneama and other iron deficiencies. 

Marigold Hair Rinse: Prevents dandruff. The cleansing and antibacterial properties. Moisturizes and adds shine to the hair. 

Sage Hair Rinse: Helps prevent hair loss by the regeneration of hair follicles. Sage also can darken greys and restore natural hair color. It helps prevent dandruff. 

My Hair After

Check out my video on Tiktok!

Natural Lemongrass Hair Rinse