Organic Harvest

I had no idea that "going organic" would impact so many areas of my life and thinking. First it invaded my shopping and eating patterns. As part of a new eating plan I started last January I began a committment to buying organic foods to bump the nutrient density of what went in my mouth and to reduce chemical exposure. It's expensive yes! So I started slowly adding more and more organic foods each shopping trip while our budget adjusted.

Then it impacted my gardening principles. As I continued to purchase organic foods this conviction started brewing: "how can I buy and eat organic foods while at the same time loading my lawn and garden with chemicals?" So off to Barnes and Noble I went to find some books on organic gardening.

Applying organic gardening principles to my vegetable garden wasn't so hard, after all we were going to eat the harvest. We had utilized mostly organic principles for many years, it was just a matter of taking it to the next level: a firm conviction to add no chemicals. I knew the hardest areas would be pest and weed control. Well we did it. We made it through the entire growing season without using any chemicals on any part of our yard. There have been moments of doubt like when the squash bugs were attacking our pumpkins and zuchini. I scoured the shelves at the gardeners supply for an organic remedy for squash bugs. The salesperson sounded pretty doubtful when he said "this one is organic". We handpicked larva and bugs and sprayed the organic soap on the backs of the leaves. Admittedly, I was surprised when the effort saved our plants!

As far as the lawn goes, it looks terrible. It's full of weeds. We have a huge lawn so handpicking the weeds is, well, unlikely. Thankfully it will go dormant soon and we can take another whack at it next year. There are some good ideas in the organic gardening books that we can implement next time around, but for now, I'm choosing to live with the weeds, the look of not perfection, because I'm sticking with my convictions. If the chemicals are bad I can't contribute to the chemical mess by using them.

I guess going organic is contagious, or perhaps it's just that deep personal convictions tend to invade every arena of our lives. When I first started my business occasionally I would meet someone who was looking for organic soap. In my mind I thought that I might some day go organic or I might make a few organic soaps, but only if my customer base was looking for it and willing to pay for it. Even in this my thinking has shifted. I can't just create what I think people are willing to pay for. The things I create and bring to the world must be consistent with my own personal convictions. So I'm starting slowly in this as well. I've made a shift in two major ingredient players in my soap:coconut oil and palm oil. Now they're organic! And so far I've been able to do this without a shift in pricing. The net result is that my typical soap recipe is comprised of a minimum of 56% organic ingredients. And I have a yummy organic cocoa butter, so in the recipes that have cocoa butter: Orange Chip, Mint Chip, and Candy Cane (coming back for the holidays very soon!) almost 60% of the total ingredients are organic! Quick disclaimer: this is a go forward decision, and some of the soaps in my current inventory were produced pre-thinking shift. So bear with me as I complete the conversion.

Going organic has been an adventure well worth the effort. We're enjoying our garden's all organic harvest. Everything in the photo (above) is from our garden.

A Place Called Home

Recently we took a ten day vacation that was just pretty awesome. Spent six days on the beach playing, reading, and sleeping, then another few days visiting friends in our old stomping grounds. It was all great fun and so relaxing. But this body of mine is not so adaptive to travel so when day ten came around I was ready to embark on the long drive home. We got a late start and ended up driving late into the wee hours of the morning. I dozed off several times. We were dropping out of the foothills into our valley when the familiar aroma hit me and wow did it smell good.

There's an irony in the "wow". I can only describe the aroma as a combination of cow manure, rotting mint, onions, and farmland dust. I have grown to love that smell and it evokes the sweetest memories. Of course I live in Idaho's treasure valley year round and I don't "smell" it. But when I leave and come back it's like this aroma pleasure every time I do. Who would ever have thought that cow manure, rotting mint, onions, and farmland dust could smell so good? Well it does and here's why: I've found this place I call home. It's not perfect, it just a place where we've put our roots down and we're raising our kids. There's trial and error, just as there are ups and downs, but it's where we are, it's home, and wow does it smell good even if there's a little cow manure thrown in there.

This post inspired by Switchfoot's song "This is Home" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwa8-3GXbuE. Yeah, I borrowed my teenage son's ipod while he was driving. I needed something to distract me!

When to hire a mold expert

Don't bother. Recently we hired a mold expert to do indoor air samples as we were concerned about a mold problem in our home. The tests came back and according to our "expert" we didn't have anything in our home that needed treatment. Yes the air samples had mold in them. But according to the experts the mold we had in our sample wasn't statistically significant enough to point to an indoor source. He believed that what was in the sample had been tracked in by people and dogs. My symptoms told me otherwise. The expert looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I was sure we had mold.

At a loss for what to do next and a word for the experts that we didn't have a treatable mold problem, we installed an infinity air purifier to our HVAC system. The air purifier kills mold, dander, bacteria,viruses etc. Within 5 days I was feeling much better and actually in certain parts of the house had no symptoms. However, certain rooms would flare up my symptoms. So we bought an $8.00 mold kit from Lowe's. Big surprise ... the test was positive for mold! The picture above is our mold petri dish after 5 days.

So the hunt for a mold source was on. We removed carpet in our home office. We had already removed my son's carpet before the air samples were done, but when we went back in to remove the carpet in his closet we discovered mold underneath the carpet and up his wall and in his ceiling. So much for the expert advice! My recommedations for anyone out there with mold suspicions: "find it yourself!" In our case the expert did not lend a bit of help to the situation, in fact he temporarily through us off the trail of what we needed to find. I was getting sicker by the day. I am so thankful for my husband who hung in there with me on the hunt.

Moral of the story ... be your own mold detective. If you find yourself facing a mold situation you might refer to this website for information http://www.aehf.com/

Mint Chocolate Chip Soap reviewed by The Soap Bar

I know I make awesome good soap because my customers rave about it. They say things like "the aroma lasts the whole bar. I've used soaps and the aroma dies before you're done with the soap." Or they say "Your soap lasts a long time". But honestly I rarely use someone elses handmade soap from start to finish. So I don't always know how mine is stacking up against the competition. Naturally I was thrilled when Joanna at the Soap Bar, an experienced soap maker and soap enthusiast, reviewed my soap. You can read her comments at http://thesoapbar.blogspot.com/2009/06/mint-chocolate-by-lavande.html

When I started blogging it was to tell the stories behind each soap recipe. Soon I started writing about life snippets and my quest to discover healthy life alternatives. But now would be a good time to talk about my Mint Chocolate Chip soap. This one is near and dear to my heart for one reason. I LOVE chocolate! I am an absolute chocoholic more recently converted to dark chocolate because of the health benefits. But this is a no calorie alternative for me. I get real mixed comments from first time soap converts. Some think chocolate in the shower sounds terrible. And others think it looks good enough to eat. The truth is the cocoa butter in this soap adds wonderful light bubbles to the lather. It is absolutely luxurious on the skin. This soap has an extremely smooth texture. The spearmint essential oil blends with the cocoa butter to create light refreshing aroma. The aroma refreshes your mind while the soap soothes your skin.

Leaving the mask behind

Recently my doctor said that I am chemically sensitive. This was no great news flash to me since I’ve been very aware of my chemical sensitivities over the years. In the past year I have plunged into buying organic food and scouring labels for hidden ingredients that are counter to my quest for good health. The doc did have a new twist on this quest. He suggested that my cosmetics might be a source of chemicals that has left me with chronic illness. Wow …

I’ve been thinking about a whole new change to my cosmetics for a long time. I’ve been aware that there are chemicals that mimic estrogens in cosmetics. And for my body estrogen is the enemy. But once I started looking at the chemicals in my cosmetics … yuck no way do I want daily exposure to this stuff! So then I started the quest to find replacements. I thought that would be relatively easy in this day and age with so many progressive consumers seeking better more healthy alternatives in every venue of life. So off to the local Co-op I go and I return with some wonderful alternatives. But …

I brought home eleven new skin care and cosmetic products. I rechecked the ingredients through my online sources and decided that one of them was beyond my comfort level of scary ingredients so that one would be going back. The rest looked pretty good. So I decided to try the rest all at once. I proceeded to have itching and burning reactions. So after a long process of trial and error I figured out the four items I’m sensitive to, and the rest are working fairly well. This new quest turns out to be not so easy! I now have huge gaps in my face prep line up! What’s a girl to do without foundation to hide all the blemishes and uneven skin tones?

I have been using make up since I was a teenager. I was taught (by cosmetics companies of course) that you always put foundation on to protect your skin from free radicals and dirt that might cause blemishes and premature ageing. What they didn’t teach me is that the foundation has chemicals in it that are known to cause cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and a host of other things. I feel like I’ve been duped by cosmetics manufacturers into unnecessarily exposing myself to toxic chemicals under the guise of good skin care for over twenty-five years!

I find that I’m caught between this need, this drive to eradicate all things harmful from my environment and this compulsion to live in the culture as I always have, with my mask on! Can I do it? Can I put the mask aside, the foundation, the lipstick, eye shadow, blush, eyeliner, lipliner, and mascara as a step toward embracing healthy living? I’m starting small. I’m leaving off the foundation. I’ve found more healthful alternatives of the others.

Since I've been talking about my quest to erradicate the hidden chemicals in my life people have been asking about how to get more info. So here's a couple links to try if you're ready to take the plunge:

Skin deep cosmetic safety reviews http://www.cosmeticdatabase.com/

Consumer Health Organization of Canada http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=19990303213610

Gluten-free Dairy-free Egg-free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I've been baking gluten-free creations for many years now. More recently I've been presented with the challenge of baking without dairy and eggs as well. When I started searching for a recipe online nothing came up that met my needs ... so I took a gluten-free recipe and adjusted it. I figure after making six ingredient changes and amount adjustments I can claim this as my own. Enjoy!

¾ cup sorghum flour
¾ cup almond meal (I used ground almonds)
¼ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup potato starch
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
2 tablespoons flax seed meal whipped into ½ cup boiling water, let sit for 5 minutes
Juice from 1 lemon
1 cup almond milk (soy or rice milk would probably work fine)
½ cup agave syrup
8 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Zest from one lemon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and oil muffin tins.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, xanthum gum, and poppy seeds.

3. In another bowl combine flax seed mixture, almond milk, agave, extra virgin coconut oil, vanilla and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Do not overmix.

4. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for about 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Makes 15 muffins.

The power of suggestion

Ever since Rex mentioned the pedicure my feet have felt insanely dry (see post below "Real men use naturally good soap"). The mere mention of the pedicure heightened my senses to my own "need" for one. Have you ever stood in line unable to make up your mind and just ordered what the stranger in front of you ordered? I have. Crazy, that a stranger would influence my decision making. Well that's just how the world of consumerism works. We are influenced by people, especially those we respect.

I make this soap called Nature's Goodness. It's a soap packed with a ton of nutritive ingredients like aloe vera, sea kelp, vitamin E, rosemary, lavender, etc. Anyway, the sea kelp kind of throws the aroma, so it has a very unique fragrance and people either love it or hate it. Well I wasn't really selling a ton of it and it was destined for extinction until ...

A good friend hosted a soap naturally party for me to share my products with her friends. She raved about Nature's Goodness. Well, guess what? I sold out of Nature's Goodness that night. So Nature's Goodness was brought back from extinction and I've learned a great lesson: never underestimate the power of endorsement.

Real men use naturally good soap

I just have to talk about this comment from my good friend BJ. This comment was generated from the post below "The best things in life are often not planned", check it out.

So here's BJ's comment:
Ok this it "BJ" the guy that likes the fancy, black soap (I also like quiche, occasionally wear a pink shirt and tie but still consider my self a real man....)and i do like this soap... it has a soothing smell. With the economy the way it, i consider it a small treat for myself (and white chocolate mochas).And black soap... who would tease a guy for black soap... awesome marketing plan...

I so appreciate this comment because I totally agree. A small luxury like awesome good soap to incorporate in your bathing ritual is a great way to beat the economy blues. As for my marketing plan, LaVader just happened upon me. I'm glad it did.

But BJ brings up an important point. What is the deal with men and soap? Why is it not okay for men to want to smell good? I just don't get it. When I do shows I see men walk by my booth with intense interest but like this inability to come in and smell the good stuff. Or they buy it for their wife or significant other. I am most inspired by the real men who come out and say, "I just love handmade soap". Like the other day, Rex, a very manly gentleman from my pilates class, came out and told us that he'd had his first pedicure and loved it. No Rex is not gay. He's just a man who doesn't need to prove his manliness, so it's okay to get a pedicure, and tell the world about it. Don't worry dear hubby, Rex is old enough to be your dad, and tall enough too! Anyway, guys enlighten me.

Insights from a 7 year old

I went on a field trip with my son's class today. As I was driving down the road I felt like a fly on the wall of their conversation, it was amusing. But I also heard some practical insights that the adult world could benefit from. One little girl said, "I believe in monsters, and it scares me." Another little girl said, "then stop believing in them." I chuckled out loud and thought, "could it be that simple?" In this case surely it is that simple. But think of the things we are afraid of. How often are the fears that we have really just imagined threats to our security, like a monster living under the bed? It's just a thought ...

Ravenous for greens

My doctor recently turned me on to green smoothies. It has turned my taste buds upside down! I'm like ravenous for greens now. Over the past several years I've noticed that I feel my best when I'm eating lots of leafy greens. But I usually get tired of chewing a salad before I get full of it. So this simple approach to adding more greens to my diet has really given me the energy boost I needed to get through the holidays and now the January funk that usually follows the flury of holiday activity.

To get me going on the green drink, my doc recommend Victoria Boutenko's book "Green for Life". I highly recommend this book, a great read, full of great information about how and why to consume more greens. She mentions that soon after consuming more greens she started looking at greens differently. I've had a similiar experience. When I walk to the produce section I get excited about experimenting on the next green drink. She explains the importance of using a variety of greens in her book. So trying new things all the time is definitely the way to go. I look at a handfull of carrot tops, you know the green part, and think, "I wonder how this will taste in my smoothie".

It took me a while to get started because I felt like I needed to read the whole book and get to the recipe section. But now I realize how easy it is. So I thought I'd let you know what I've discovered as three simple steps to more energy. Take your blender, add two cups of water, one piece of fruit, and two large handfuls of greens. Blend. It's that simple. I feel great when I drink it regularly. I look forward to discovering what the next smoothie will taste like depending on the fruit or greens I have available. And I look forward to shopping for the next load of greens (and shopping is something I really detest). My favorite smoothie is pear and spinach with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. Also, most of the recipes I've seen have more fruit than I use, so if you're just getting started and want to sweeten your smoothie up a bit add more fruit.

For more information on Victoria's book go to http://www.rawfamily.com/index.htm

Idaho Mossmint

Soap with moss in it? Yeah it's kind of weird, but I LOVE it, and it's getting rave reviews from my customers, that is, they're buying it!

The story behind this soap is simple. I saw a soap with moss in it and thought it was cool. When I discovered moss growing on the trees at our favorite campspot I was inspired. The camp spot is on a secluded lake on privately owned land; my family has been going there for thirty years and it still looks much the same as it did when we first started going there - rugged, pristine, serenely beautiful. This camping experience represents everything I longed to return to Idaho for, the quiet beauty of the outdoors, largely untouched. So for me, making Idaho Mossmint soap is all about bringing the outdoors into my bathing ritual.

More on Idaho Mossmint Soap: I add spearmint and rosemary essential oils for incredible uplifting aroma. The moss creates beautiful lichen green highlights throughout the soap and feels like a very soft loofah. In all of my recipes the highest percentage of oil is olive oil, which produces a very gentle bar of soap, but to this recipe I also added safflower oil, and I've noticed this bar seems to produce larger creamy lathery bubbles than some of my other soaps while maintaining the same great gentleness.

Painting my world

I don't know how many days it's been since we've seen the sun in Boise ... at least a week ... going on two. But really this is getting dreadfully depressing!

I'm so thankful I talked my husband into a painting project over the holidays. Color is so uplifting!

Today I made a batch of Orange Oatmeal Soap. Customers have requested that I share the story behind each soap I make. I decided that today is a good day to write about Orange Oatmeal. Orange essential oil is amazing! I was seriously down yesterday with a migraine too. The bright spot of my day was receiving an order of essential oils. I quickly opened the package and inhaled deeply the bottles of spearmint and orange essential oils. My daughter looked at me and said, "Mom, are you getting high off your oils." It was an attempt to be sure. According to Susanne Fischer-Rizzi in Complete Aromatherapy Handbook, "The essential oil of the orange is sweet, warm, sensuous, radiant, and alive. The oil is wonderful to use when we take everything too seriously and forget how to laugh - when we feel tense, nervous, and withdrawn." She also states that orange essential oil's "influence on mood is positive and joyful; it harmonizes feelings and awakens creativity." Making orange oatmeal soap today has been the best antitode to this inversion yet. I'm continually amazed at the effect that essential oils have on me, especially orange. By nature I tend toward the melancholy side of mood, but especially with the icky gray clouds looming over me, day after day, I've sunk into this aimless sort of existence. But today, I made soap, now I'm blogging, and I have a new outlook despite the gloom outside.

Back to the soap, I also add lemongrass essential oil to this recipe, it too has refreshing and mentally stimulating properties. An infusion of annatto seeds in the olive oil gives this soap it's radiant sunshiney glow, and to all that I add oatmeal for mild exfoliation. This is a great morning wake me up soap. It's kind of like having oatmeal and oranges for breakfast. Only in the shower, it is mentally stimulating, the orange essential oils really does make me happy.

This brings me to an important point, I started making soap as a creative outlet for me. But I soon discovered that having my family test the soaps was creating shared experiences and as my test subjects they were soon lending their creative ideas to the process. This led me to what has become the underpinning of my goals with making soap and bringing it to the consumer: to create soap that provides multisensory goodness on three levels. I want the aroma to be inspiring and revitalizing, the color to be soothing and of course match the aroma, and I want it to feel rich and luxurious on the skin. Because each of us is unique, I make lots of soaps with the hope that you will find one that will nurture a unique you. But honestly I use them all, and I have anywhere from five to eight different soaps in my shower, primarily because I test everything before it heads out the door, but secondarily because aroma and color have such a powerful effect on my brain, I get to pick the one or two I need for that day.

I am grateful for my husband who partnered with my in coloring my kitchen world so that when I'm in that room my mind is soothed. But since changing the color of my kitchen every day is not so feasible, picking the soap of the day is a way for me to color my world with aroma and color that nurtures my mind and body. So that's my tip for the inversion blues, pick up Orange Oatmeal soap, or if you don't have a bar, pick up an orange and take a good sniff.

If you'd like to get your hands on a bar of Orange Oatmeal Handcrafted Soap go to http://www.lavandedebois.com/

Peppermint Craze

I went on a peppermint craze over the holidays. It began when I made my first batch of Candy Cane soap in September. When I took it out of the mold it smelled so awesome I immediately walked over to the pantry and took out a Candy Cane left over from the past Christmas ... and ate it. By the time I sold out of my 70 plus bars of Candy Cane soap I was making Peppermint Bark Lip Balm, Purifying Bath Oil, and then took the craze a little further to food, and made Peppermint Bark Popcorn. I gave the homemade popcorn away with a lip balm as lip smackin' treats to friends and family. Anyway, I'm posting the peppermint bark popcorn recipe here because several have asked for it. It was scrumptious and addicting. http://www.foodbuzz.com/blogs/643885-peppermint-bark-popcorn

Yesterday I used up the last little bit of my very last bar of Candy Cane soap and wondered if I would be able to wait until next September to make more. Peppermint essential oil has become one of my surprising new favorites. The aroma is intoxicating! In any case, you'll probably see peppermint appearing in more of my products soon.

The best things in life are often not planned

One of the greatest life lessons that making soap has taught me is the best things in life are often not planned. I am a recovering perfectionist. When I started making soap I expected to produce perfect little bars of soap. When a batch of soap didn't turn out the way I had planned I sunk in discouragement. Or if I didn't cut it quite right I would be irritated. Well this is contrary to the whole notion of "handcrafted". The entire process of making handcrafted soap is this interaction between the soapmaker and the ingredients and tools producing bars of soap that are inherantly unique. I quickly discovered that the uniqueness of my soaps is what drew people to them. People who want perfect shape and form can get it that at the drugstore.

One of my favorite unplanned soap stories is "La Vader". I planned to make a goat milk & lavender soap that was a hazy purple color. Using natural colorants is tricky because each ingredient reacts with the others affecting the outcome, especially the color. When the soap went in to the mold it looked exactly like what I was going for. Two days later when I pulled it out of the mold it was black. I was bummed. But it had this beautiful aroma. Just a touch of lavender with chamomile, very mild. So last Christmas I packaged it up with a little note that read "La Vader Handcrafted Soap - Feeling melancholy? Try the dark side of clean. Let lavender and chamomile soothe your mind and body." I gave it to my friend BJ as a joke and he loved it. I told him it was an accident, and he said "No, I really think you've got something here ... keep making it." So this past fall I added it to my line-up of seasonal soaps. People really love it. It cracks me up because I never would have planned this.

I see this irony in life. I have struggled (in vain of course) to create life that is according to my plan. I have often resisted the things that go against my plan. But if I roll with the unplanned there is great mystery and goodness in it. I find the greatest fulfillment in life when I surrender my plan and appreciate what comes my way. I've lived this habit of being disappointed over the things that didn't go according to plan. By living in this mode I have missed the joy of appreciating the unexpected. Especially as we head into the holidays which are often replete with expectation I want to live out the soap lesson learned, to enjoy and celebrate the unexpected, and even look for it.

You can find out more about LaVader all natural handmade soap at http://store.lavandedebois.com/servlet/-strse-48/lavender-chamomile-goat-milk/Detail

Happy Anniversary

This month marks the first anniversary of launching my business, Lavande de Bois! I'm celebrating by inviting my friends over for a little mojito twist and hors d'oeuvres. Of course, I've never made mojito twist, it sounds good doesn't it? Kind of risky, inviting friends over without a trial on the recipe first. Oh well, isn't that what a business venture is? Putting something out there for people to like or dislike everyday of the week?

The mojito will be my (twisted) variation of the cuban cocktail, Mojito, that has inspired the most recent addition to my product line, Coconut Mojito Handcrafted Soap. It's an awesome combination of spearmint and lime aroma with coconut milk adding luxurious skin softening properties. Swirls of mossy green and creamy vanilla colored soap create visual luxury too (at lease for those of us who like green, can you tell I'm on a major green festish?)

So back to the anniversary celebration, the invitation reads "celebrating one year of soapmaking and the inspirations behind it". I plan to make a toast to my friends for being "inspiration" for me; and to my husband and children for brainstorming with me, encouraging me, and taking part in the adventure. I also want to celebrate the things that have inspired, basically the world around, the cuban cocktail mojito, the colors of my daughters room, the moss on the trees at my favorite campspot, lavender (of course), herbs, aroma, everything! But ultimately it's not the things of the world that provide the inspiration, it's God who created them. Have you ever wondered why God had Adam name all the animals? I think it was our Creator's way of giving Adam a piece of the action, just like he gives us of a piece of the action when we use our creativity.

I so appreciate this gift. And I thank Him for releasing me from the things that have bound me to unleash creativity for me in a new arena. Not just in making soap, but in putting myself, my soaps, my business, out there for the world to see. I've spent a lot of years hunkered down, hiding out. I'm thankful He has pushed me way out of my comfort zone into a new wild adventure that is full of creativity, full of ups and downs (what would a roller coaster be like anyway if you didn't go down?), full of good things.