Kombucha the Magical Drink

Kombucha is a fermented drink of sweetened black tea. It is produced by fermenting the tea using a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, or "SCOBY". It's very close cousins to the mother used to make vinegar. The scoby bacteria and yeast eat most of the sugar in the tea, the finished product is a refreshingly fizzy, slightly sour fermented  beverage that is relatively low in calories.

Why drink Kombucha?

1 — Detoxification
Detoxification produces healthy livers and aides cancer prevention. One of kombucha’s greatest health benefits is its ability to detox the body.

2 — Joint Care
Kombucha contains glucosamines, a strong preventive and treatment all forms of arthritis.

3 — Aids Digestion and Gut Health
Because it’s naturally fermented with a living colony of bacteria and yeast, Kombucha is a probiotic beverage.

Here are a few articles on the health benefits of kombucha:
http://www.kombu.de/val-gwf.htm
http://www.gaiaresearch.co.za/kombucha.html
http://www.acupuncture.com/herbs/kombucha1.htm

First Brew

You will need:

3 quarts water
1 cup white sugar
5 bags black tea (or 2 tablespoons loose tea)
2 cups starter tea from last batch of kombucha
1 scoby per fermentation jar


Equipment needed to start and have continuos brewing

Stock pot
1-gallon glass jar with spout
2 large mason Jars with plastic lids
Bottles: Six 16-oz glass bottles with plastic lids or swing-top bottles, or clean soda bottles
clean cotton cloth
string
Instructions

Note: Avoid prolonged contact between the kombucha and metal both during and after brewing it can affect the flavor of your kombucha and weaken the scoby over time.

1. Make the Tea Base: Boil water and add tea bags. Remove from heat, remove tea bags, and stir in the sugar. Then allow to reach room temperature.

2. Add brewed tea, started tea, and scabby to glass jar

3. Cover with cloth and tie off with string or large rubber band

4. let brew for 7 to 10 Days: Keep the jar at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, and safe from too much movement. Check the kombucha and the scoby periodically.

Second Brewing -

Pour the fermented kombucha into jars ( always leave a few cups left in your continual brewing, add any juice, herbs, or fruit you may want to use as flavoring, leaving about an inch of head room in each Jar I add 3 Tablespoons of organic sugar to promote more fizz like soda. Add lid and let sit in room temperature for 24hrs. Once 2nd brewing is over you can strain and add to bottles and refrigerate. Refrigerate to stop fermentation and carbonation, and then consume your kombucha within a month.


1.Remake the Tea Base to feed the mother: Boil water and add tea bags. Remove from heat, remove tea bags, and stir in the sugar. Then allow to reach room temperature.

2. You can now start doing the second brewing every other day. repeat steps 1 and 2.

To Your Health!!

Magical Monday Giveaway: Mosey's Mermaid Crown

Our Magical Giveaway is is so... well magical. It is the sweetest mermaid crown made of the softest wool and sweet woven ribbon. it is the perfect highlight for our tribute to mermaids. This crown come to you by way of Mosey.

Mosey, Waldorf inspired birthday crowns and toys, created by Steph & Jes who joined forces a little over a year ago. Steph and Jes have been friends for over 18 years, they used to write a zine together and now they make mosey magic!

They draw their inspiration from Waldorf education and the warmth of working with all-natural objects.  In the past year their Waldorf style birthday crowns have become their most loved and cherished things in the shop as well as one of our favorite things to make. We choose every detail carefully down to the fancy ribbons & shades of wool felt. Their crowns were crowns were featured in Mothering Magazine's ♥ Best Natural Toys ♥

Mosey's creators say, "We try to always keep in mind the children who will be holding or wearing our creations and we hope they receive as much magic from each object as we put in to making them!" To read more about this wonderful Artist head on over to the Naturalkids Team Blog!

Giveaway item: Mermaid Wool Crown by Mosey

Contest Date: Monday April 1st, 2013 - Friday April 5th, 2013. The winner will be picked on April 5th, 2013. Winner will be announced on my Facebook Page.

Who Can Enter: This Giveaway is for domestic and international ( International winners are responsible for all tax, custom, and duties applied by your country. This item will be marked Merchandise on the custom paperwork.)

How to enter:
Check out Mosey's shop and tell us what you think.

For Extra Entries:
Like Mosey Facebook and share this giveaway on your page.
Follow Mosey blog.
Heart Mosey shop on Etsy.

First Spring Walk

After dinner we went on our first spring walk living in our new town and this is what we saw...

Amazing Old Doors

Lovely Detail Work

Amazing Victorian

original brick road showing itself

home again, home again...

I just love my new town!
Make sure you check out my Magical Monday Giveaway post and enter to win this weeks giveaway!!

Magical Monday Giveaway: Underwater Stash

Spring is here even though it is very snowy outside right now. Spring always gets me in the mood to clean and organize. Over the next few weeks I will be working on my studio. I have now been in my space for over 6 months and feel I know how I need to work in it to be most productive.

During this process I will be sorting though my stash of Nature table items and getting this organized for my new project of story book making and stop motion videos. While cleaning and organizing I came across some extra little items that I thought would be fun for a giveaway.

This set of items makes for a great theme Nature Table set up, this collection is small enough that you can add it to a travel bag and take it with you. A few wooden toys and it would be complete for an underwater adventure.

Giveaway item:
11" Water Playsilk
A few water drop (glass)
A few pretty sea shells
A set of Sea Coral from The Enchanted Cupboard

Contest Date: Monday March 25th, 2013 - Friday March 29th, 2013. The winner will be picked on March 30th, 2013. Winner will be announced on my Facebook Page.

Who Can Enter: This Giveaway is for domestic and international ( International winners are responsible for all tax, custom, and duties applied by your country. This item will be marked Merchandise on the custom paperwork.)

How to enter:
Leave a comment about what you most look forward to for Spring.

For Extra Entries:
Follow me on Pinterest and pin this giveaway.
Like me Facebook and share this giveaway on your page.
Follow my blog.
Heart my shop on Etsy.
Follow me on Twitter.

Spring Arrival

We got a long awaited Spring surprise. 

Meet Galadriel, Gladdy for short, 1st born and named after the The 7th Queen Enthroned.

 

 Meet Gandalf The Grey, 2nd born named after the Wizard and Leader of The Fellowship of The Ring.

Meet Guinevere, nicknamed Gwen and named after The legendary Queen of Camelot.

This is my Max, the sweetest little boy, he does all the litter clean up and feeding of the cats. He has been pleading, since they were born, for us to keep them all. He does not care about the amount of work it will add for him. It has been hard for me to keep our Easter surprise for them but the surprise is we are going to keep them all!! SHHH!!! Don't tell them!

Hearty Skillet Rice Dinner

Here is another great quick dinner. This is also a great way to use up leftover rice. I like to do big cooking once a week and then keep precooked rice and pasta in the fridge for easy meal planning. The meat can be substituted with any ground meat,  diced up whole meat, or beans of your choose. I love to make this meal for our friends that eat gluten free.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil

3 cup Brown Rice, cooked

1 cups chicken stock

1 med onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 Red Pepper, Diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 med. zucchini, Diced

1 Lb of Ground Pork, pre-browned

1 Jar (homemade or Commercial) of Med. or Mild Salsa

1 cup precooked left over or frozen corn

Fresh - Sprig of Cilantro and Oregano

OR

Dry -1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 lime, juiced

Salt

2 cups shredded cheese - we use a Mexican Mix


 In a medium saucepan, heat 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook Sausage till browned. Add veggies and saute. Add rice and broth cook it and stir for a few minute. Once broth has absorbed add salsa and herbs. Turn the heat down to low and covered for a few minutes to raise the heat. Add cheese and cover again till melted.

The Enchanted Cupboard: Easter Sale 20% Off

Now is the time to stock up for holidays and birthdays! Lovely eco-friendly toys, a life time of joy to get to pass down for generations. Give a gift that is engaging and good for the Earth too! Our sale Ends 11PM EST on March 15th, so come shop now for a great savings and enchanting toys! Cotton colorful eggs can be found here!

Lazy Summer Days and Mermaids

When I was a girl living on Sunshine Mountain in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, we had a great watering hole under a bridge where we spent lazy summer days! My cousins and I would take our bikes, but mostly had to walk because the road had a very steep down hill and followed by a steep uphill. Pushing your bike in that midsummer sun would always make you question the logic of bringing the bike, but once you got to ride on the flat part on the way to the bridge you didn't think about it anymore!
The trees over hung on both sides of the creek, and it created this beautiful canopy of leaves that blocked the hot sun and made the light dance on the top of the water. It was pure magic! Most of it was shallow, but under the bridge, the bigger boys had dammed up the water so that they could dive off the bridge.
In the deepest area where we swam there were large rocks we would sit on and pretend we were mermaids. My cousin Christine and I became great swimmers that summer. A customer asked me if I could make some wooden mermaids like my fairies and it took me back to this wonderful memory.

Here is what I came up with...

These wonderful little girls are ready to swim and play. I love the magical feel they have and how the playsets are developing. All sisters and a mama at a size that is just right for little hands and nature table play.
Rhyme and Reason are twins with sisters Story and Verse being the youngest. The lovely mama is Song because she sings sweetly to her girls at night! The stories are developing in my head and over taking my dreams at night, I hope you like them as much as I do! You can find these toys and more at The Enchanted Cupboard.

If you like the little wooden seal check out Armadillos Dream .

Tuna Potato Salad

Tuna Potato Salad

This dish is full of flavor, color and a complete meal. It is packed full of veggies and health proteins just what a busy homeschooling family needs. This is a great meal for something quick before Chess Club or Boy Scouts!

Ingredients:
3 lbs small redskin potatoes
6 hard boiled eggs,  chopped
1 11 oz pack of Tuna, drained
1 onion, chopped (or use green onions)
3 stalk celery, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
2 cups mayonnaise
2 T. of Spicy Mustard
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add potatoes & cook  until tender, but firm.
• Chop veggies set a side.
• Chop eggs set a side
• Drain potatoes& set a side to cool.
• Once cool, chop with the skin on.
• Combine potatoes, eggs, and veggies.
• Mix together mayo, tuna, mustard, and salt & pepper.
• Add to other combined ingredients.
• Chill 1 hour before serving.

My Town, My Home: Spring Flowers

Signs of Spring

Sundays are a day of reflection for me and a time to be grateful. I am so grateful for my life, my home, my town. On this day I wish to showcase one photo to let you know why I feel so blessed by the beauty around me. I hope you enjoy and share!

Where is Monkey?

Just Hanging!

This is my daughters beloved monkey handmade by Woolies. He has some times been a she and his name has changed many times. His tummy is slightly worn where her arm holds him and I find him in the strangest places, or just hanging around.

I find monkey in the strangest places, or just hanging around. Follow us each week to see where he turns up next!

I Love Fairytale Stories

To tell the truth these dolls I made for me. I loved fairytale stories! When I was growing up I often recreated them in my playtime. I  did my chores while pretending to be Cinderella. These dolls and playsets are where your child's play can recreate old time fairytale stories and ad to the stories to make them their own.

 I've heard some people say that these stories were not good role models for girls. I feel this is not true and that it depends on how you tell the story. These were tales told in a time when woman were thought of as less, and had no rights. These stories were not really meant for children most were a way for women to talk politics, something they were not allowed to have an opinion about. They gave our fore-mothers the inspiration to bring change to each generation, and helped us get to where we are.

These girls had power in spite of the odds, certain doom, and personal tragedy they suffered. They changed their world in a time when women had no rights. These stories have a powerful message that is still of value to the girls of this and the next generation. These are not just silly stories; they are our past and our future.

These wooden toys and more can be found at http://www.theenchantedcupboard.etsy.com/

Creative Play

I love watching children play, to see their imagination grow. I love to see my daughter play house and create a nurturing environment for her dolls. Sweet Flower (the doll) is having some lunch! I fill my daughters world with natural toys, things that will do no harm to her or the earth.

All my children have great imaginations but I so delight in my daughter's play. She has started this lovely way of singing what she is doing, sometimes even in a wonderful Opera style. My enjoyment is not matched by her brother's who would prefer that she did not sing everything she does.

All my children are lively and wonderful. Our days are full of controlled chaos! No matter how crazy our homeschooling day becomes I would not trade it for another life. I truly feel blessed in my enchanted life with my creative and overwhelming children. Nothing is a greater reward then to see them happy to just be who they are!

To find Natural Toys like these check out The NaturalKids Team. They are a group of artisans from around the world who share a love for handcrafting eco friendly & all-natural toys, clothing, decor and more for kids, and kids at heart. Each sellers shop is wonderful and you are sure to find something to delight your wee ones.

Packaging: A Secret Love

It is true I love packaging. I love thinking about, shopping for supplies and also putting it together. I also love to get something in the mail that is put together in yummy packaging. Even though I know what is inside I still get excited!

I have tried different combinations but love this for my stackers. A simple brown bag sealed with a bit of washi tape, and a brown label with my shop name and web address. It is crisp, clean and gives and lovely presentation. It is fun but not over the top!

I love these simple brown paper stickers. I can add them to the packaging, add them to a card-stock label, or apply them to the outside of the package. Stickers are a great way to add a little something extra.

I add packing material between the layers of these I am shipping. I top it off with a crisp white tissue parer to give it a polished look. My last step is to add a handwritten thank you on the back of this fun thank you card and include a few business cards. Simple and lovely... it puts a smile on my face and greats the buyer with a lovely expression of of my joy in making these handmade item just for them!

Buy Local: Farmers Market wk 1

My treasures from Central Market! 

I have started living what I "preach" by shopping local. I am very blessed to live in a town with 3 year round farmers markets. Shopping them, I see as an investment in my family, our health, and our community.

I love shopping local, I love how it helps me see my town as an important part of our lives.  Buying from local farmers has made me fall in love with cooking and feeding my family. Week 1 I got some lovely fresh fish, produce, bread & baked goods from the Student Run Bakery, and plus a whole lot.

 I am working on buying local, budgeting and shopping with cash! I use My Weekly Budget app on my iphone to keep me on track! The app gives me one place to keep track of all that I spend no matter if it is cash or bank card. In a future post I will show you some of the yummy meals we make.

 Do you shop local?

Goals for this week:

• Don't plan, buy in budget and buy fresh! 
• Reduce the plastic, bring containers!
• Buy from new stand!

The Dollhouse, A New Style of Doll

Not to long ago I started selling in my Etsy shop (The Enchanted Cupboard) Family dolls of a different style, Bendy Dolls. I love getting to custom make them to look like the family members.

While I am creating I wonder about where will the live, what style of doll house they will have. I think about the sweet children who will soon own them, love them.

My new bendy style dolls are more customizable in size so this has made me have to re-look at my dollhouse furniture design. Here is a cozy bedroom. These 2 bendy dolls you will see in a lot of my photos, they are my parents.

here is the same bedroom set but with my peg doll style. As you can see the beds are made so that the dolls will not roll out of bed, important detail when designing for little ones!