Easy Homemade Beauty Products!

Here on Ear to the Earth, we mostly talk about what goes into your body and the importance of a whole foods plant based diet, but today I want to discuss a few things that, although we don't eat them, end up inside our bodies all the same. As I'm sure we all know by now, our skin isn't an impenetrable barrier between us and the outside world; it is, in fact, permeable, and much of what our skin comes in contact with is absorbed straight into the bloodstream! I've been slowly transitioning the few beauty and personal care products I use from the creepy chemical-laden store bought brands to clean, safe, and simple homemade ones for some time now, but then one day I thought, "I kiss Viv's chunky little cheeks about 50 million times a day. I do NOT want to be plastering her with all these creepy toxins!" And so the great clean out has begun. I started with products I use on my face, since that's what comes in contact with her the most, and will move on to hair next. Until then, let me share with you these simple (but important!) changes I've made.

One of the only bits of makeup I wear is blush, and the only thing you need to make your own is a beet! I got the instructions from my favorite blog, YumUniverse, and I encourage you to toss whatever blush you're currently using and make your own beet blush today. It has such a nice subtle and natural color that I just love and can feel so good about applying to my skin.

I don't really use eyeliner, but sometimes for special occasions (like my wedding) I do use eyeshadow. Here is a super simple way to make your own eyeshadow/eyeliner from activated charcoal capsules, which you can find for less than $10 at your local health food store, and it works so well! Much better than any other eyeshadow or eyeliner I've ever used.

And finally, the lip balm. This is the one product I use all the time. Right after Vivian was born, the only things I wanted were water and my lip balm - ha ha! This recipe is marvelous, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make enough to have one tin in every room of the house. It really is that good! Here's how to make it:

1t beeswax
1T coconut oil
1T grapeseed oil
6 drops orange essential oil (You can substitute other essential oils here; just be sure they're safe to apply to the skin!)

• Heat beeswax and oils together in oven (on lowest temperature setting possible) till melted.
• Remove from oven and add essential oil.
• Pour into 2 lip balm tins, cap, and allow to cool.

These three things are so easy and inexpensive to make on your own, and the finished products are well worth the small bit of effort required. If you try any of them, I'd love to hear how they turn out!

Blueberry Studded Lemon Cookies

So even though I write a blog about health, it's no secret that I have an insatiable sweet tooth. (Someday I really, really want to cut sugar out of my life, but not today!) Today I had no means of satisfying that sweet tooth - no ready made goodies and none of the right ingredients to whip something up. I was desperate enough that I took stock of what I had and with it miraculously came up with the most divine cookie ever. I present to you Blueberry Studded Lemon Cookies.

I say these are blueberry studded because lemon really is the star of the show. I'm a bit lemon crazed; I just can't get enough of it, and so I used the zest and juice of an entire, rather large, organic lemon in this recipe.

Next time I want to try to vegetarianize them, replacing the butter with coconut oil and the egg with a chia egg, and I would also like to try a Lemon Lavender version because I love lavender as well. (Have I mentioned that I started an entire packet of lavender seeds? Some women think you can't have enough shoes, some think you can never have too many handbags. Me, I don't think you can ever have too much lavender or lemon!)

Blueberry Studded Lemon Cookies
1/2c organic butter, softened
3/4c honey
1 egg
Zest and juice of 1 organic lemon
1t vanilla
2c flour
2t aluminum free baking powder
1/2t salt
1c frozen blueberries

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
• Cream together butter and honey, then add egg, lemon zest and juice, and vanilla extract, blending well.
• Mix in dry ingredients.
• Fold in blueberries.
• Drop by rounded tablespoonful onto cookie sheet and bake 14 minutes.
• Devour and share with a friend!

I have no idea how many cookies this recipe makes because I ate way too much cookie dough. Sweet tooth satisfied!

And the Viv photo for the post. This is her today during tummy time! She's 12 weeks old!

Wet Your Plants

My dear friend shared with me this sign she saw at a garden center: "Spring is here. We're so excited we wet our plants!" I must say I concur! At the time of my last post, Clint had just built the frames for my raised beds. This past weekend, he filled them with a truckload of deliciously-rich-with-compost soil, and I finally got to plant my first garden!

I know you're going to be a little surprised about this, but I went a little overboard in my planting (all from seed). I planted, or have started inside, four varieties of heirloom tomatoes, heirloom lemon cucumber, a flower petal salad, four varieties of basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, lavender, heirloom summer squash, heirloom sweet pepper, heirloom okra, cardoon, heirloom purple carrots, spinach, red romaine, heirloom curly kale, borage, swiss chard, beets, broccoli, mesculun, beans, heirloom peas, milk thistle, calendula, chives, lemon balm, cilantro, dill, and echinacea. I promise I held back. The list of what I didn't plant but wanted to is just as long. Maybe we can add another bed or two next year.

Yes, I have a superman husband, and Vivian even helped too!

And, our CSA starts in two weeks, and the farmers market reopened this past Saturday! Yes, I'm definitely wetting my plants. Are you wetting yours? Have you planted anything this year?