Lavender Lemon Aid, Yum!

Nothing is better in the summertime than fresh, squeezed lemon aid. Everyone seems to have their spin on lemon aid and there are so many wonderful recipes. My all time favorite has to be, lavender lemon aid. 

I think lavender and lemons just go together. The flavor may not be for everyone. Many folks do not care for floral/herbal flavors in their drinks. I love all of the subtleties that floral herbs bring to a warm or cold drink. 

Years ago, I was introduced to lavender lemon aid while on vacation. I came right home and tried my hand to making it. The first few times that I made it, I over did it with the lavender and it was very strong. I have decided, a few teaspoons to a couple of tablespoons for me, adds plenty of flavor.

I made a bit today after doing a bit of housework. It was very refreshing. 

There are many ways of making it so, if you decide to try it, check out a few recipes on line. This is how I typically make it.

I start with the juice of several lemons. I will need about 1 ½ cups of juice.I add it to a sauce pan with about 2 cups of water and heat on medium to high heat. 

While that is warming, I add a couple tablespoons of lavender to a mesh teabag and toss into the pan.

Remove from heat and let it steep for 30 to 40 minutes, or longer if you really love lavender flavor.

 

Then I added some water and ice to a ½ gallon Ball jar, leaving enough room for the lemon/lavender mixture to be added. While the lemon/lavender mixture is still warm, add your sugar or sweetener and stir until dissolved. I used Agave sweeten my lemon aid. I do not use much sweeter of any type so, I only add a couple of teaspoons of Agave. Agave seems much sweeter than even honey so, it doesn’t take much. If you want to use regular sugar, a basic lemon aid recipe calls for about 2 cups of sugar for a half of a gallon of lemon aid. That just seems like a lot of sugar to me, for only a 1/2 of a gallon.

I poured the mixture over the ice and added more water to fill the jar to the top and stir. Remove the mesh teabag of lavender. If you really want more lavender flavor, you could let the bag rest in your lemon aid. The more lavender you use, the deeper pink to even purple color your lemon aid will be. 

Serve over ice and enjoy. I do think, the next time I make a jar of lavender lemon aid; I am going to add a few sprigs of fresh mint to it while it steeps. I have never had it that way but lavender and mint do work well together. 

I like to save my lemons rinds. I add them to a jar of white vinegar and sit in the window sill for a week or so. Then I strain the vinegar off and store in a jar. I use the vinegar as a citrus infused household cleaner. You can add a few more drops of lemon essential oil, if you would like. 

When I am ready to use it, I add ¼ cup of vinegar to a spray bottle, fill the rest of the way up with water and shake. It is great for cleaning in the kitchen or bathroom. I do not use it on the windows or mirrors. The oils from the lemons will leave oily streaks on glass surfaces. 

I just love how pretty and colorful the lemons mixture looks sitting in the window sill too. It just says, "summer." 

May there always be work for your hands to do.
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine upon your window pane.
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near to you and
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Until next time, many blessings!

A Bit of This and That...

The past couple of weeks have been relaxing. We finished up our homeschooling a couple of weeks ago. We really just took a break from it all for a couple of weeks. Doodlebug will be continuing on with math and reading throughout the summer. She also will continue her ice skating lessons. She just started taking horseback riding lessons with a young fellow from church. She is really excited about the riding lessons. So, we will be busy.

Now that our traditional school day is on hold for a few weeks this summer,  Papaw and I have been having a day or two to ourselves here and there. A few days ago, we pulled out our motorcycles and went for a ride. It was a beautiful day for it. I had forgotten how much I love riding. We went for lunch at a little BBQ place and then on into the park. We stopped for a while just to sit on a rock and watch the fish swim. It was so good just to relax for a bit in nature. The outing was just enough to get my mind reeling and working to plan a camping trip before the summer ends. 

               Papaw relaxing by the creek.

Our garden is doing really good. We have had some trouble with cabbage worms but I think that season is about behind us. Last night we had our first bits of squash from the garden, zucchini and yellow. I cubed them up with an onion and we grilled them, they were delicious.

We are so thrilled over our sugar snap peas. We love them so and our plants are loaded with them. Yum!

Hope you all are having a wonderful summer.

Many blessings!

Make Your Own Insect Repellent

What's the bug situation like where you live this year? Due to our very mild winter here this past year, the bugs are so bad already. We really do not like using the store bought brands of insect repellent. I never knew how simple it is to make your own but it is very easy. The absolute best part too, it has a very nice, fresh fragrance. I really hate those nose burning sensations that come after using aerosol insect repellent. You just know, those can't be good for us to put onto our skin.

I did a bit of searching around on the internet and decided to make my own concoction using essential oils. I love using essential oils but was skeptical about how well homemade repellent may work . I decided to give it a go and just see. Here’s what I used. 

Using the ½ pt. jar, I filled it almost to the top with Witch Hazel. Then I just added 15 to 20 drops of Citronella and Lemongrass. You could stop there and that would work just fine at repelling the insects but you can take it a step further, by adding 10 drops Lavender or Peppermint e/o. I really love peppermint because it has a nice cooling effect on your skin. It is great for cooling off and keeping the bugs away at the same time. I also added 10 drops of Tea Tree and Geranium oils, to help repel ticks. The ticks have been really bad around here too.

Papaw and I both were pleasantly surprised by the spray. He really hates insect spray of any type and heavy citronella fragrance makes him a bit nauseous. He liked this spray. We both misted ourselves good and even a bit on our clothes, before going out to work in the garden yesterday evening. We were really pleased by how well it worked.

I felt very good about repelling the insects this way. The spray has a light and refreshing fragrance and no heavy chemicals being absorbed  into your skin. I have sensitive skin and those store bought repellents seemed to leave my skin with a burning sensation. 

After adding the drops of essential oil, I just placed the lid on the jar and gave it a good shake. It will look cloudy after shaking. Then using a funnel, just add to a mister bottle. Make sure to label the bottle. I tried using a sharpie but the ink came right off the bottle so, I had to make a label for it. Oh, one other thing, the oils will settle to the top so, shake well before each use.

          

                                         Love and Blessings!

Tidbits...

It has been a while since my last blog post. It is my first post since eblogger has updated us all. I do not embrace change, when it comes to getting use to how certain things work on computers. I feel like we learn something just in time for the next change. I am going to give it my best try here and I hope, I figure out how to write, format and properly post a new entry.

Our garden is coming in quiet well. We were probably overly anxious this year about getting our garden going. We had many evenings that we were out tenting sheets over our plants to protect them from frost. Next year, we will pay attention to our neighbors around that have been growing gardens successfully for years and start when they do. Although I must say, it is nice to see our garden flourishing and we are getting things like kale, spinach and radishes already.   Papaw is thrilled with his garden so much so, he is already planning to enlarge it a bit next year. 

 

Our little hobo that came to us many weeks ago is doing so well. He has gained weight and appears to be healthy. We had a vet to stop by and see him to give him his shots and test for heart worms. He says he is is fine and is one lucky fellow. It seems it has taken him weeks to really get his body restored from the starvation that he went through. Where ever he came from, we just feel blessed he is our dog now. He is so lively. He loves playing with Doodlebug too. He is her shadow. He also follows Papaw to the hen house daily. He always wants to get in on a treat. Papaw has taken to keeping doggie treats in the barn. When he takes the treats out to the gal, he always takes a few doggie treats out for Buddy. Oh, Doodlebug decided to call him Buddy. Everyone would always call him by saying, "come here buddy." He is everyone's buddy here and we love him.

Hope you all are doing well. Until next time, blessings!