February 2019 - Simply Me DIY

February 26, 2019February 25, 2019

Making A Corn Dolly

What is a corn dolly? It’s been several years since I first heard of a corn dolly.

After I started seeing them I looking into them because I thought they were cute. I also thought it might be a good teaching moment for my grandkids and a fun afternoon making one.

A Quick History of the Corn Dolly

In olden days, and I mean very olden days, like the 4th century, give or take a few centuries, when the farmers harvested their grain, they thought the spirit of the grain had no where to go.

Therefore, Corn dollies were made to give that spirit a place to reside after the harvest. The following spring when the farmer would again sew his grain, the spirits could then go back out into the fields where they would stay during the growing season.

In those days corn was more of a catch all term for grain and the word for “dollie” loosely meant spirit. Therefore, a corn dolly was equated to a Spirit of the Grain.

Since the farmers wanted the grain spirit to be happy, to ensure a successful crop for the next year, the corn dolly was well tended during the cold and dark months of the year.

In some clans or tribes the oldest woman of the clan would make the corn dolly. In others it was the youngest woman of the clan. Either way the dolly was always well cared for and placed in a safe and honored place until the following planting season.

Not all dollies looked like dolls. They were made in all shapes and sizes and configurations. They were, as a general rule, made from corn husks, wheat stalks or combinations thereof.

Today, corn dollies are made mostly for fun. Some still make them as a tribute to a specific season. Some make them for spring and others for the end of fall.

Whatever your reason, they are fun and easy to make with the kiddos and even funner to decorate. The creativity that can go into making these dollies is endless.

Here’s what you need

The supplies you need to make your corn dolly are simple.

4-6 dried corn husks. How many you use depends on how full of a skirt you would like. I bought my husks in the ethnic section as the grocery store. I originally bought these for making corn tamales, but never used them all.
Spray bottle with water. Some people soak them in water, but that seemed like it would be really messy to me. It would probably be okay if you’re working outside. But for inside, I prefer a spray bottle.
String or twine of some sort.
Scissors
Ribbons and other embellishments of your choice.

First, spray the corn husks with water and massage it in a bit to make them pliable so they don’t tear or rip while your working with them.

Spray your husks so they don’t tear or rip while you work with them.

Next, you’ll want to stack them so the small edges are together at the top and tie them with string.

Begin by tying the top of your bundle with string or twine.

After you tie the bundle a the top, find somewhere close to the middle and fold them over the knot. Then you’ll tie a string around that to make the head.

Fold them over the knot you just made at the top of your bundle.

Then tie around that bundle to make a head.

There are several ways to make the arms. I’ve seen some people who tear the husks into smaller strips, then braid the strips to make the arms.

I like the puffy sleeve look, because I think it goes well with the full skirt. So, I sprayed down a few more corn husks and set them opposite on top of each other and rolled them together. Then I tied strings at each end creating a ruffled effect where the hands would be.

Sitting the husks on top of each other in opposite directions for a full puffy sleeve look.

Then you’ll want to find the middle of your husks again and put your arms in the middle and up towards the head.

Now you can tie a string around what is her waist. Now your skirt starts just below the arms.

At this point you can decorate her any way you want. You can make an apron around her waist or a tunic that slides over he head and ties at the waist, or tie a favorite colored ribbon around her waist, like I did.

The green ribbon seemed appropriate to me.

I also made the knots at her wrists into bows to look a bit more finished. You can do this with all kinds of different twines or ribbons, adding all kinds of color and textures.

I’ve seen people use wheat heads added to the head to make a head dress of sorts. I think these look really cool, but I didn’t have any when I made mine.

My granddaughter used dry erase markers to make her’s beautiful.

Be creative, embellish her and make her your own. Post her picture in the comments for all of us to see. I’d love to see what you came up with.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed your stay.

Next week I’ll be making homemade shampoo. it’s way more inexpensive and great for your hair. I look forward to seeing you next week.

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

Until next time – Health, Wealth & Blessing ~ Tracey

February 19, 2019February 24, 2019

Homemade Vanilla Extract

I love using homemade vanilla extract when I cook. The flavor and aroma of homemade vanilla is incredible.

I’ll take homemade vanilla over chocolate any day of the week.

Vanilla

A vanilla bean is actually a fruit from an orchid. And it’s the second most expensive spice after saffron.

This recipe only takes 2 ingredients. It just can’t get any easier than this.

I try to always use organic beans.

Jars

Since you get to choose, choose jars that you like. I don’t know about you but I have a collection of jars of all shapes and sizes. I liked these.

I had 5 beans left, so I divided them evenly. I’ll just let it sit longer than I usually do before I begin to use it.

I generally like to use 4 beans per bottle. But I’ve used 2 to 3 before too.

You can use bottom shelf vodka for this, but use the highest proof you can get. I think this was 80 proof. I would have preferred 90, but…

Make sure you fill to cover your beans. Then put in a dark place and let it sit for at least 6 weeks.

This is my current bottle. You can pull your beans when it gets to the flavor you like. But I leave them because I don’t think you can ever have too much vanilla.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Ingredients

2-4 Vanilla Beans
1 1/2 to 2 cups (about a pint) of vodka

Instructions

Add beans to a glass jar
Fill the jar with vodka, enough to cover the beans
Sit in a dark place for at least 6 weeks.

I think the longer it sits the better it is.

Try using your new vanilla extract in a batch of lavender cookies from last week

I really hope you’ll give it a try. If you do, let me know how it turns out. If you have a different recipe, feel free to share in the comments below.

I hope you all had a fabulous Valentine’s Day.

Next week I’ll show you how to make a corn dollie. A fun craft for you and your kids or grandkids.

Until next time – Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

February 12, 2019February 21, 2019

Easy Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Talking about lavender a few weeks back made me want to try something new. I buy dried lavender by the pound and just got my order in a few weeks ago as well. Something I’ve always wanted to try but hadn’t yet was cooking with dried lavender flowers.

The one thing that I’ve seen regularly when looking for lavender recipes, is cookies.

I had to give it a try. I read over many different recipes (a lot of which I had saved already, I’ve wanted to make these for a long time).

And, this is what I finally came up with.

These cookies use butter, sugar, honey, vanilla, flour, salt and lavender flowers. Pretty easy really.

Mix together the butter sugar, honey and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and combine well.

Roll your dough into a log using wax paper. You can shape it to a square or rectangular shape if you like.
Then place the log in the freezer for about 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for more than an hour until good and stiff.

Using a very sharp knife cut the dough in about 1/4 inch slices.

Put the cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet about 1-2 inches apart. These are a lot further apart than that, but this was my first batch and i didn’t know how they would act yet.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes. Cook until lightly golden brown. Be careful not to overcook or once they cool completely they will become really crunchy.

Now if you want to dip them in coffee, this might not be a perfect idea.

Make a nice cup of lavender and lemon balm tea and sit back and enjoy your cookies. It’s an awesome pairing.

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 Tablespoons raw local honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
small pinch of salt
1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers

Instructions

Cream together the butter, sugar, honey and vanilla.
Combine the flour, salt and lavender flowers and mix well.
Pour the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until well combined.
Roll out onto a sheet of wax paper and roll into an approximately 1″ to 1.5″ log.
If you want, flatten into a more square or rectangle shape.
Put in the freezer for about 20-30 min or in the refrigerator for an hour or more. You want the dough to be firm.
Cut the dough in about 1/4″ slices. You could probably roll it out and cut it into shapes if you wanted to.
Put on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet at about 1-2″ apart.
Cook in a preheated oven at 325 deg. for 15-20 min. Then cook until they turn a light golden brown.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.

I actually made a small amount of lavender tea and then used that to make a glaze.

Glaze

Mix together 3 – 4 Tablespoons of powdered sugar with 3 teaspoons of lavender tea. You can adjust that as necessary for the thickness you prefer.

You could use a mixer to cream the butter-sugar mixture and then to mix in the flour. This recipe is really small enough, it was easy enough to use a short wooden spoon.

These things were really awesome. An amazing test for anything like this that I make is if my husband likes them. He’s a chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies and milk kind of guy.

And…he really liked them!!! For me that makes this a recipe card recipe that will stay on the side of my fridge for later use.

I hope you’ll give this a try or make your own version of it. If you do, please come back and let me know how it turned out.

I plan on making some different versions of this one in the future. One with lemon and one with slivered or chopped almonds. If you get there first, I hope you’ll come back and let me know what you did and how it turned out. I really want to hear how it worked.

Until next time — Health, Wealth & Blessings!!! ~Tracey

February 5, 2019August 8, 2020

DIY Myrrh and Cinnamon Tooth Powder

Have you ever read the label of a tube of toothpaste? I have and, no thanks. If you do, it might make you look at an alternative like tooth powder too.

Luckily I inherited my dad’s teeth. I rarely had too much problems beyond cavities when I was a kid. Which I will attribute to my lack of brushing well.

While, I’ve always been pretty good about brushing my teeth, as an adult I was terrible about going to the dentist. I’ve always been scared to death of them.

As a kid you don’t have much choice where you go, but as an adult I found out you just really need to pick your dentist carefully. There are good ones out there.

But I have to confess, I still don’t like going and they still scare me to death, although I admit my current dentist is a great guy. He told me once, “You’ll never feel any pain in my office.” He neglected to say, “the pain will come later after you’ve left my office”, but I knew that already.

Anyway, a year or so ago I discovered this recipe for tooth powder. Seemed weird at the time, but I’ve since discovered, my teeth are in better shape and my bi-annual cleanings are much easier and they don’t take as long.

I’ve talked to my hygienist and she said my teeth and gums are doing good , so I’ll stick with it.

This tooth powder only has 3 ingredients. You can add a 4th one if you really want to. But either way it’s super simple to put together.

The Ingredients

First lets look at the individual ingredients so you can understand why this is actually good for your teeth.

Myrrh

Myrrh is a sap like substance that comes from the commiphora species of trees. It’s been used in Asia as a traditional medicine for inflammatory diseases.

It’s been used as an antiseptic for the mouth and an analgesic for toothaches.

The myrrh I used was in its original gum form. So I had to grind it up. There’s several methods you can use for this, but I prefer a mortar pestle.

You’ll recognize myrrh as one of the gifts from the wise men to the baby Jesus when he was born as it was a highly valued item back in the day.

It’s been used as an analgesic for toothaches and can assist with inflammation.

Myrrh is also good known to be good for gums.

Cinnamon

We’ve talked about cinnamon before here where I talked about spicing your coffee.

Cinnamon adds benefits to this tooth powder in that it’s an astringent and an antimicrobial which provides support for oral health and can help prevent bad breath.

Cinnamon diluted essential oil is also great for relieving tooth pain.

And most important, cinnamon adds a nice taste to the powder.

Licorice Root

Licorice root is another one of those things that adds a nice flavor to this powder since it’s actually 50 times sweeter than sugar. Because of how sweet it is though, you only need a small amount.

It also soothes mucos membranes which can ease sore throats, and it’s good for healthy gums.

Cinnamon and Myrrh Tooth Powder Recipe

If your ingredients are not already ground, you’ll want to grind them to a fine powder. Then mix them

2 Tablespoons of cinnamon

1 Tablespoon of myrrh

2 teaspoons of licorice root

The first time I used this recipe I didn’t use the licorice root it was still good. I’m now on my second batch and I used the licorice root this time and it was even better.

Tooth Powder, a healthy alternative to tooth paste. — All of your powdered ingredients. Ready to mix your tooth powder.

If you decide to add the baking soda I recommend only about 1 teaspoon mixed with the entire batch. I probably didn’t use that much in my recipe, but that is entirely up to you.

You can purchase all these ingredients in powder form, saving you lots of time. Be sure you buy from a reputable company to ensure you are getting the best product for your money.

That much mixture will last me several to 6 months. I actually will put coconut oil on my toothbrush, then dip it in the powder.

And there you have it. A simple, effective tooth powder that I’ve been using for more than a year with no issues whatsoever. My dentist and hygienist are both happy with my teeth. My dental visits are easy and pain free, and that makes me happy.

Do you use something other than store bought toothpaste? If so, let me know what you use. Maybe you’d like to share your recipe. Please feel free to share in the comments below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time – Health, Wealth and Blessings to you. ~ Tracey