January Days

We grill year round, even at ten - twenty below. D says at thirty below the propane freezes and the gas grill won't work. We've grilled close to that temp and it has worked fine. We've also smoked salmon when it has been below zero, which must be something similar to cold smoking. Yesterday I cooked pork ribs from our pig. I put a rub on the ribs, then grilled them for a couple hours to get a nice smokey flavor. Then finished them in the oven, moping them and finally a homemade sauce. They were tasty. Fortunately we had some friends stop by, and between us we managed to devour them.

January does, plump and content for the most part. Just wish we were on that south facing hillside, soaking up the rays.

It has been a while since I took a picture of our eggs. The chickens are picking back up in production. We are back to having enough give to friends and family and occasionally sell to Home Grown Market.

Got motivated to make some body products the other day. Half the work is just pulling out all the supplies and narrowing it down to one recipe per product. Or in this case, I've been waiting for some containers. I made lip balm and put it in clear lip tubes, metal slide tins and small clear tubs. I also made a body balm bar and put it in push up tubes.

I've been low on lip balms and moisturizers, but having the ingredients to make some have been putting off buying anything. For the last couple months I've been using a tube of cocoa butter and a bottle of minimally processed coconut oil for everything, lips, face, hands and body. I really like carrying around the tube of cocoa butter as it is like a chap stick tube but a little bigger, but I use it like lotion. It is firm until I rub it between my hands and it melts and softens just enough. I wanted to make something like it but add some other moisturizers and some therapeutic essential oils. I followed a simple recipe, 1 part coconut oil, 1 part beeswax and 1 part cocoa butter. I added various essential oils to different tubes, some for dry skin, some for oily. Some with essential oils for sun baked skin and some with bug repellent oils for summer. My favorite essential oils combination's for myself are lavender peppermint, tangerine peppermint and lavender sandalwood.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this much lip balm and moisturizers. I'll save enough for myself to get through till next year at this time. I've put the majority in the fridge, as I haven't used any preservatives other than essential oils, I'm guessing they'll only keep 6 months or so at room temperature before going rancid.

I also made, mouthwash, deodorant and a refreshing facial spritzer. Next on the list is soap, which we are low on. I've got some comfrey root soaking in oil to make a healing balm with.

 Finished scarf. First time I've knitted something I was proud enough of to give as a gift. I'm knitting a miniature scarf for Avery with the rest of the yarn from her hat.

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It didn't occur to me to make sure the thermometer went low enough when I was shopping for thermometers this fall. Well, looks like it won't get colder than twenty below here this winter.

Happy dark winter days everyone!