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DIY Raised Bed Herb Garden

April 17, 2012 by   Justyn

When we bought our house four years ago, it had a “patio.” What I mean by that is that the previous owners thought that the house would sell better with a patio, so they bought the cheapest pavers they could and plopped them right down on the grass. They were so uneven that it looked like an earthquake had hit! We decided that no patio was better than THAT patio, so my hubby started moving the paving stones to the garage until we could properly prepare the ground.

Once he had about half of them hauled around to the garage, I took a look at the stacks he had made and suddenly had an idea. My ever-patient husband hauled the stones back to the back yard and helped me dig out a rectangle of sod right up against the house. We packed down the dirt and began building our raised bed herb garden!

This bed has been in constant use for the last four years and we love it so much that we plan to do the same thing in any other houses we live in!

Here’s why:

Why build a raised bed garden

  • It’s extremely durable. These stones aren’t going to rot or splinter like wood eventually will.
  • It’s non-toxic. Many woods are treated with chemicals that aren’t healthy. They, along with plastic, can leach toxins into your soil that ends up in your food!
  • It’s comfortable. If you have knee or back problems (or if you’re gardening when you’re 8 months pregnant, like I was!) you can just sit right down on the stones.
  • It’s pretty. Even these cheap red paving stones look cute like this!
  • It can be cheap. Obviously, if you have the stones just sitting around like we did, it’s almost free. If you don’t, look for clearance.
  • It is customizable. Not only can you buy stones that compliment your house and landscaping, but you can make different shapes. Curved stones will give you a round bed, straight-sided stones can give you a square, rectangle, L shape or even and X shape! Be creative!
  • It contains the plants. We have a few invasive herbs that are now safely contained in the raised bed, rather than trying to grow out of the garden and into the yard.
  • It keeps out the weeds. In these four years, we’ve had almost no weeds, and the ones that did pop up were easily pulled.

How to:

This is so amazingly easy!

  1. Dig out the sod and pack down the dirt. We just used one of the pavers to pack the dirt by dropping it from a foot or so high. Worked great!
  2. Set the first layer stones, making sure each one is level. This is really important, folks! If you find a stone isn’t level, remove it and add or remove dirt as needed.
  3. Once the first layer is level, do the next layer by centering your first stone over a seem between the two stones below it. This will give the stability. If you just set a stone right on top of one other stone, you’ll end up with a bunch of stacks that will fall over.
  4. Continue building the layers until you reach the height you want.
  5. Just like with a planter, put a layer of rocks or gravel in the bottom to help with drainage. It doesn’t have to be a deep layer, maybe 1 1/2 inches.
  6. Fill with soil and plant your herbs!

We filled our herb bed with our favorite perennials and there is almost no maintenance required, other than harvesting. In fact, last year I was so sick with morning sickness that I grossly neglected my herb bed and it’s still thriving! Our basement is full of huge bunches of organic dried herbs that would have cost a fortune at the store, but cost us next to nothing to grow ourselves.

Do you have a raised bed garden? What materials did you use to build it?

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Natural Remedies for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

March 31, 2012 by   Justyn

Image by Bruce Eric Anderson

A friend of mine is expecting her third baby very soon and she just discovered that one of her little ones has hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). Knowing that I have been learning about herbs for the last several years, she asked what natural (and pregnancy safe!) things she could do to help her son get better and help reduce the risk of her or the baby contracting it. Curious about what I’ve found?

What is Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease?

No, it’s not related to the animal disease called “Hoof and Mouth”. It is a virus (most often Coxsackie A) and it’s almost never dangerous. It is, however, highly contagious and very unpleasant. Incubation is three to seven days and is followed by mild fever, sore throat and can include appetite loss and diarrhea. A day or two later, little blisters form in the mouth and a rash develops, usually on the hands and feet, but it can be other places. The rash can be sore, but is not itchy. Symptoms last one to two weeks, but some sources say that an infected person can still spread the virus for a few weeks after they are recovered. There is no medical treatment and since this is a virus, please don’t ask your doctor for antibiotics. They won’t help and they will damage your immune system. Since a person is most contagious during the incubation period (before you even know they are sick!), it is important to treat the entire family. I don’t recommend trying to reduce the fever, since the fever is part of the immune system’s natural response to kill the virus.

Image of a little boy with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

 

Natural Remedies

One of the things I love about herbs is that there are often many options for treating problems and each herb often has many uses! HFMD is a virus, so antiviral herbs are what we want. Since HFMD almost always affects children, we need herbs that taste good!

Antiviral Teas

These can be warm or cold, depending on what is more soothing for your little one’s sore mouth.

  • Lemon Balm: This is sooo delicious! Dried lemon balm has a subtle lemony flavor that isn’t too strong for little ones (not fresh, though! It tastes like grass!). Brew a little and add a bit of raw honey once it’s cooled some. (Don’t use honey for babies under one year.)
  • Peppermint: We grow chocolate mint in our herb garden and I think it makes a tea so sweet that you don’t even need honey! Don’t make this too strong, though, or most young children won’t drink it.
  • Elderberry: Too much can cause diarrhea, but a few cups a day is delicious and wonderful for fighting viruses.
  • Rooibos Tea: This red tea from Africa is naturally sweet and so good that I drink it often, just because I like it! It is antiviral and pairs well with the elderberry tea.

Antiviral Broth

Your kiddos might not have much of an appetite, so broth/stock is a good option for nutrition.Use either chicken or beef broth/stock and add the ingredients below. When reheating broth, use the stove top, not the microwave!

  • Garlic: Don’t you just love garlic?! It’s antiviral, antibacterial and it tastes so good! Crush or mash the garlic and let it sit in a bowl for 15 minutes before adding it to the broth. This allows air to activate the best healing properties.
  • Thyme: Fresh or dried, thyme is excellent for any virus. Toss some in toward the end of the cooking time.
  • Sage: Along with being antiviral, sage helps to reduce inflammation, heal the sores in the mouth and sooth the upset tummy that sometimes comes with HFMD. DO NOT add sage to your own broth if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
  • Rosemary: It is antiviral and also antibacterial, which helps to prevent secondary infections in the sores.

Soothing Antiviral Oil

Virgin coconut oil is antiviral, too! It is naturally solid at room temperature, so it can be used as a salve, or you can even put a scoop in the bathtub as a bath oil! For an extra boost, infuse it with some lemon balm and calendula (learn how here!). Apply as often as desired.

Antiviral Hand Soap

To help prevent the virus from spreading, use a liquid hand soap and add 2 or 3 drops of tea tree oil to each bottle. If your kiddos don’t wash their hands well, you might want to temporarily use an all-natural foaming hand soap and tell them to wash their hands twice every time they use the bathroom. My four-year-old thinks the foaming soap is tons of fun, so she does a much better job than with bar or liquid soap. ;-)

Antiviral Surface and Air Cleaners

Plain ol’ white vinegar with several drops of tea tree oil will do a fantastic job of killing the virus on surfaces (toilets, doorknobs, light switches, etc.) and the vinegar smell goes away once it’s dry. Adding tea tree oil to a diffuser or in a pot of steaming (not boiling!) water will help kill germs and it’s good for the people who are already sick.

If one of your little ones brings home hand, foot and mouth disease, starting your entire family on these safe antiviral herbs may help to keep the rest of you from catching it and help your kiddos recover more quickly!

Have any of your children had HFMD? Did you use any natural remedies for comfort or to prevent spreading it?

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Our Children Are Our Reflections

January 17, 2012 by   Justyn

I didn’t like what I was seeing

I was starting to see attitudes and behaviors in my three-year-old that I wasn’t thrilled about. She was doing great with our new baby, but in other areas she was saying and doing things that I didn’t like to see… things that I was saying and doing. Uh-oh. Have you heard that quote about our children being mirrors? They reflect back our attitudes and behavior. Big “uh-oh”!

My “reflection” was:

  • emotional
  • impatient
  • distracted
  • stressed

I didn’t figure out where these things were coming from until she actually started quoting me. How embarrassing! Once it clicked, I knew I had to do something.

What I wanted to see

Things had to change. I started by asking myself what I wanted to see in my pint-sized “reflection”.

  • joy
  • peace
  • kindness
  • patience
  • love

These aren’t just things that I want to see now, they are attitudes I want to cultivate long-term. When my daughters are all grown up, I hope that list will describe them. I’m going to use this list to give myself some vision in my parenting.

Changing my “reflection”

When we parents see something in our children that we don’t like, we often react the wrong way. Have you ever heard a parent at the store whining at their children because they are tired of their children’s whining? How about the scowling parent saying, “Quit being cranky!”?  It looks an awful lot like the parents are making faces at a mirror, doesn’t it? ;-) We can’t scold and grouch our children into a happy mood.

If we want to change our reflections, we have to change ourselves. We can’t expect joy and kindness when all we’re showing them is stress and impatience. I have decided to make my vision for parenting to be the kind of person that I hope for my girls to become. Rather than getting frustrated when my daughter isn’t acting like she should, I’m trying to remember to stop and ask myself if she’s simply doing what she’s seeing. Of course, she doesn’t get a free pass to misbehave, so I’m still being consistent with consequences. As she notices my changed attitude, it will rub off on her. It’s only been a few days, but I’ve already noticed that my daughter has a better attitude and seems calmer. She’s still overly sensitive, but I think that has a lot to do with trying to find her place with a new baby in the house. I’m trying to focus on the little things. Smiling when I look at her, saying things in a positive way, slowing down, listening when she talks and making eye contact.

Thinking “happy” thoughts

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t about acting like the “perfect” mom. That would just add more stress. None of us are perfect mamas, least of all me, so I am giving myself plenty of grace. This isn’t about “acting” joyful and peaceful, it’s about choosing to think in a joyful and peaceful way. What we think changes who we are and how we act. The Bible calls it “renewing our minds”. If I’m busy thinking about how tired and stressed I am, that is how I act. If I’m choosing to think about how thankful I am to have this little baby girl (who keeps me up half the night ;-) ) my actions follow suit! My little girl will see a thankful and happy mama, and she will begin to mirror what she’s seeing.

What are you seeing in your “reflections”? Have you noticed your attitudes showing up in your children?

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Thirty Things About Me, On my 30th Birthday

November 30, 2011 by   Justyn

By Justyn Lang, Contributing Writer

Note from Kate: It’s not only Justyn’s birthday.  She had her little girl, Isabella, last Sunday night at home.  Congratulations on your new baby, Justyn!!

Do you remember when you were a teenager, and the thought of being thirty sounded so OLD?! Even in my early twenties, it seemed so far away that it was a bit of a shock when I realized how quickly it was coming. It no longer seems “old” to me, I’m just surprised at how fast my twenties went. I saw a quote the other day that said something like, “The days are long, but the years are short.” So true.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m not one of those people who is frantically clinging to youth. In fact, I’m actually a big proponent for aging gracefully. The most beautiful “older” women I know are not the ones who will pay any price to look young, they are the ones who live each day fully and are thankful for the years they’ve spent on this earth. They are the ones who joyfully celebrate being 50, rather than having their 29th birthday for the 22nd time.

So, in the spirit of celebrating my 30 years on this earth, here are 30 things about me…

  1. I spent all of my “growing-up” years in the Air Force.
  2. My last year of high school and first year of college were spent living in England.
  3. Hello, my name is Justyn and I am addicted to sticky notes… much to my hubby’s dismay!
  4. I have always loved arts and crafts (painting, drawing, ceramics, photography, decorating, etc.), with two exceptions: water colors and pottery. Well, I like them, but they don’t seem to like me…
  5. By the time you read this, I hope to have had my second baby. We’re planning a homebirth with a midwife!
  6. My hubby and I met on my 16th birthday and didn’t see each other again until I was 19.
  7. When I saw him for the second time, he was visiting me England for five days. On day five, he proposed!
  8. I am obsessed with lambskin slippers… please, no hate-mail from animal rights people. J
  9. Our daughter is three-year-old and we absolutely love being parents!
  10. My hubby and I dream of one day living on a homestead and having a huge garden, chickens, a cow or two… the whole nine yards!
  11. I have been in charge of decorating for two weddings in the last two years.
  12. One of those weddings I coordinated from Ohio. The wedding was in Iowa and the bride and groom were living in New York City.
  13. I was private-schooled, public-schooled and home-schooled, and we’re planning to home school our kiddos.
  14. My favorite town is Cambridge, England.
  15. I LOVE to learn. I even get kind of obsessive when I’m researching a topic… okay, maybe “a lot” obsessive!
  16. Herbs are one of my favorite research topics! I’ve been studying herbal and natural remedies for the last several years… pretty much whenever family or friends are ill or injured.
  17. I HATE public speaking. I’m sure that public speaking was invented just to torture people like me.
  18. I was terrified of big dogs until I got to snuggle with a Great Pyrenees at the North Texas Irish Festival… I was in my twenties!
  19. I spent 3 years in North Dakota… The accent still pops out when I’m around other northerners!
  20. I’m collaborating on my first e-book; coming soon!
  21. We don’t have cable or satellite, but we watch the Mentalist every week!
  22. My exercise of choice is T-Tapp.
  23. My chocolate addiction is currently focused on a salted caramel dark chocolate bar.
  24. I can belly dance, which I intend to use in my upcoming labor!
  25. I have been putting together my daughter’s doll house from last Christmas for a year, now.
  26. Camping with my hubby and daughter is one of my favorite family events ever!
  27. Although we moved from Texas to Ohio, I still want to move further North.
  28. I didn’t know the difference between Blues and Jazz until last Christmas… Love Jazz, hate the Blues.
  29. My hubby and I lived in 7 apartments during our five years in Dallas.
  30. I accidentally knocked my hubby out with a knee to his chin. He got me back by dropping me on my head in the car park (that’s what they call a “parking lot” in England… it stuck).

 

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“Real Food” Baby-steps for Your Kitchen and Your Budget

November 8, 2011 by   Justyn

 

By Justyn Lang, Contributing Writer

Our “real” foods journey started less than a year ago, but I can’t imagine going back to what we used to eat. I can clearly remember how overwhelmed and confused I was by all of the new terms and the information that went against what I’d always been taught. “Soaking grains?”, “butter is healthy?”, “raw milk?!” It was like a new language. What I really needed were some easy, basic baby-steps I could take. Although I wanted to immediately incorporate everything I was learning, it was just too much to do in one fell swoop.

For those of you who are now at the place I was in January, I’ve created a baby-steps guide. Find where you are in each category and see if you can move to the right the next time you shop. Your goal is to get to the underlined items for each food group. I know that most of us can’t afford to just trash all of the “bad” stuff, so I suggest that you finish up what you have and then replace it with something better. The only ones I strongly recommend just tossing are hydrogenated oils and vegetable oils, as well as artificial sweeteners. These are so detrimental to our health that it just isn’t worth saving a few bucks by using them. (By the way, I took back some unopened vegetable oil to Wal-mart without a receipt, so you might be able to get your money back!)  

  • Fats: hydrogenated oils and vegetable oils –> butter, coconut oil, lard, tallow   
  • Meats: processed and lean –> full fat –> no antibiotic –> no growth hormones –> free range/grass-fed 
  • Dairy: skim, homogenized, pasteurized –> full fat –> non-homogenized –> low-temp pasteurized –> organic/grass-fed –> raw
  • Produce: canned –> frozen –> fresh –> organic
  • Grains: white, highly processed –> whole grains –> organic –> sourdough –> soaked/sprouted
  • Sugar:  artificial sweeteners –> white –> organic –> raw honey, rapadura/sucanat, grade B maple syrup

When I first started switching things over, I thought that there was no way we could afford to eat like this! A bottle of vegetable oil is so much cheaper than grass-fed butter or organic coconut oil, right? I’ve found that when we quit buying all of the processed foods (chips, frozen pizza, ice cream, store-bought yogurt, etc.) we had plenty of money to cover the healthier items on my list. In fact, I recently learned that, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, we are in the “thrifty” category when it comes to our food budget.

If you’re able to buy in bulk, there are tons of wonderful places on-line to order enough of something to last you an entire year. Per ounce, the cost is often comparable to the bad stuff from the store (such as a bucket of coconut oil as opposed to 20 bottles of vegetable oil). You may also be able to find amazing deals on local items at www.localharvest.org where you can type in your zip code and see all kinds of farms, farmer’s markets, health food stores and co-ops in your area. Some things can even be ordered on-line, now. You can even search for a specific item, like local raw honey or grade B maple syrup and pick it up. Again, this is a wonderful way to buy in bulk, so carefully consider your food budget and see if you can buy one item in bulk each paycheck or month.

I know we’ve all heard it before, but try to buy in season. Our store just got some fresh organic cranberries in, so I bought several containers and plan to freeze them for the holidays. I know from last year that they will be gone long before Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I’ll have to pay quite a bit extra to buy the ones that aren’t even organic.

My last tip for shifting your budget to “real” food is to ask around about raw milk, free-range eggs and meat that you can buy directly from the farm. Every week we make a special trip to what we call “the farms” where we pick up our raw milk, chicken and duck eggs (only $2.50/dozen for organic, free-range eggs! Try to beat that at the grocery store!). The farm we get our eggs from also sells us a half a pig, whenever they butcher them, chickens, lamb and sometimes produce. We will be getting half a cow (to split with my parents) in a couple of weeks from another farm. It will be $4/pound, which is a steal for grass-fed beef around here!

Some of the categories may be quite a bit easier for you to switch to the next best thing than others, but just keep working on making forward progress. If you’re stumped about something, leave a comment here or ask us about it on Facebook.

Justyn and her hubby have been married almost ten years. She has an adorable three-year-old, and is planning a homebirth for her second baby in November. She recently began blogging to share what she’s learning about her passions, which include “real” foods, herbs, natural living, gardening, crafts, homeschooling and anything else that grabs her interest. She sees all of these things as ways God gave us to live creatively and would enjoy sharing her journey with you. Come on over for a visit at CreativeChristianMama.com or on Facebook.

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