Usually in Minnesota we still have snow right now so I am savoring every 50+ degree day that we have had the last few weeks.  Everyday we are outside.  We don’t even care if it is raining.  We just want to be outside either running around, playing with the chickens or doing yard work.  It just feels so good to be outside.

Yesterday while shopping we encountered a teenager who was totally red from the sun.  I felt so bad for her.  Us Minnesotans are not use to using sunscreen this early in the year so I guess that I couldn’t blame her for not thinking of bringing sunscreen to her track meet earlier in the day.  She did tell me that she learned her lesson and was telling others to start wearing sunblock and to protect their skin.  She is a wise teenager.

I haven’t yet found or created a sunscreen recipe that I feel works great, but I do have a summer face wash recipe that includes Carrot Seed oil which is by nature, a sun barer.  I like things to be easy so adding oils that help my skin into my face soap just makes sense to me.  Here is the recipe so that you can try it at home too.

1 Foaming Pump bottle (you can reuse the one that you were just about to throw out because it ran out of soap)

2 TBSP of Dr. Bronner’s Mild Castile Liquid Soap (an additional TBSP can be added if you like a thicker foam, but it is not necessary to cleanse your face)

3 Drops of Youngliving Carrot Seed Oil

5 Drops of Youngliving Melacueca Oil

3 Drops of Youngliving Frankincense Oil

2 Drops of Youngliving Lavender Oil

And there you have it.  This recipe is easier and faster than running to the store to buy a container of face soap.  The whole recipe comes together in less than 3 minutes.  You gotta love that!

Years ago I realized that I had failed to teach my children what carrots actually looked like.  They could tell you were to get baby carrots at the grocery store and would gobble an entire bag of them in one sitting, but they didn’t know that carrots grew with green tops out of nutrient rich soil.

One day N told me that he wanted to be a farmer for Halloween.   I was so excited to buy him overalls and a handkerchief for the outfit. Then he decided that he wanted to pass out fresh vegetables to houses instead of getting candy. I personally loved the idea so I set out to find farm fresh carrots in our town. I checked the usual locations, the 2 grocery stores, Walmart and Target. None and I repeat, NONE of them had any carrots with green tops. Right there and then I decided that we would grow carrots in a garden the following summer. We did just that.

The next summer we planted a small garden in the back of our yard on top of the hill. It was the perfect size for us to learn on. We were able to plant a few rows of carrots, some green beans and 2 rows of corn.

The kids and I were excited everyday to weed the garden and to see what plants had grown over night. The food didn’t’ last long that year. Most of our garden was consumed for “snacks” that summer. The kids loved being able to walk into the garden, pick a vegetable and to eat it a few minutes later.

The best part about creating a garden for our family is that it gave us another activity to do together and it helped us discover how much better fresh heirloom vegetables taste compared to the items we were buying at the store.