by Tessa | Homemaking
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not believe our government is purposely trying to poison us or that our schools are trying to brainwash our children or that our doctors are purposely trying to make us sick (though I do believe some decisions they make have that side effect but that’s a whole different story!). I do wonder about dentists sometimes though.
While I was growing up I was meticulous about my teeth. I brushed at least twice a day and flossed a few times a week. I thought all my hard work was paying off when my siblings and I went to the dentist and only my sister had cavities. I figured it was because she ate too many candies. Because candies cause cavities, right? My brother didn’t have any in spite of the fact that he was not as meticulous about his dental hygiene as I was. I figured he just got lucky (he figured it was because he chewed a lot of gum).
A few years later, with no change in my dental routine, I came home from the dentist with about 3-4 new fillings. So much for my perfect dental routine! I have since learned that cavities are caused by bacteria, not sugar. Bad bacteria plants itself on your teeth and feeds off sugar to multiply so leaving sugar (natural or artificial) on your teeth certainly isn’t a good thing, but sugar in itself doesn’t cause cavities. With my dental routine I had been fighting the sugar, not the bacteria.
Interesting fact: we are not born with this bacteria. It is given to us through someone else’s spit, usually before our second birthday. Usually by our mother. Not on purpose but through loving actions such as sharing utensils or food or spit cleaning a pacifier. (I can’t remember where I read that but I believe it was in one of Dr. Sear’s books)
So, back to the dentists. I have a theory:
- Toothpaste is supposed to help prevent cavities.
- Dentists promote certain brands of toothpaste.
- Dentists make more money when people have cavities than when their teeth are healthy.
- It would make no logical sense for a dentist to promote something that would put him/her out of business.
- Therefore those toothpastes probably don’t do what the advertisements and packaging claims. In fact, they may be part of the problem.
Is it a conspiracy? Maybe not. But it certainly seems like a conflict of interests.
I have eliminated chemicals in a lot of areas of my life so it would make sense that the toothpaste had to go. I haven’t brushed with toothpaste in almost a year. My cavities haven’t magically healed themselves (darn!) but they haven’t gotten any worse either. The good news: my teeth feel great! They seem to stay clean longer and my breath is still fresh. I also don’t have to coax my son to spit out his yummy bubblegum or fruit burst flavoured toothpaste because it is too dangerous to swallow.
Here’s what I use:
- Coconut Oil: antifungal, antibacterial, and helps stop tooth decay
- Peppermint Essential Oil: antiseptic and minty fresh
- Bentonite Clay
(a recent addition and not neccesary): mild abrasive, detoxing agent, and has been said to help remineralize teeth
I have found many different recipes online but a lot of them are way to complicated for me. I know people use plain baking soda but, to be perfectly honest, it tastes really gross. It’s also quite abrasive and it is not usually recommended for daily use so I certainly don’t want to use it for my little men.
So I have just been using coconut oil with peppermint essential oil. Simple. I like simple. If this is all you have then it will work perfectly fine. Just mix together and dip your toothbrush in to brush. The hardest part is realizing that it is still cleaning, even if it’s not foaming. I also found that I didn’t have to rinse after brushing (helpful when you have little people that want to splash as soon as you turn on the tap!) so you can brush without water.
My recent addition of the Bentonite Clay is because I’m going to try my hand at remineralizing my teeth. I’m taking cell salts (Calc Fluor
and Calc Phos
), in addition to brushing with clay and coconut oil, and I’m hoping it helps. I brushed with it for the first time today and I can’t even explain how good my teeth feel right now. More than just clean. They feel soft actually. The toothpaste felt strange while brushing but I think it is just a new texture to get used too.
So there is a very simple toothpaste recipe that is safe and gentle enough for a child! C will be very happy to brush his teeth tonight because he was looking forward to being done our baking soda mix too.
Linked up at: Frugally Sustainable
Edit: People have been asking me about the quantities of each: I use about two parts oil to 1 part clay. Then essential oil to taste (my jar took about 10 drops). But you can experiment and mix it until it is a consistency that you like.
Also, for the first photo my house was too hot for my coconut oil to be solid. By the time I had mixed it up and moved it to my bathroom the cool night air solidified it again. But because the clay was mixed it I still find that, even at solid state, it is the perfect consistency to use.
Hope that clears some things up!
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by Tessa | Homemaking
I would venture to say that the majority of people who know me know about my love-affair wtih vanilla. Whether it is in food, or body care products, or candles, I just can’t help myself. It is delicious and beautiful all at the same time! I used to wear vanilla perfume every day and apparently it was seen as “my” scent. Other people would wear it and people who knew me would tell them they smelled like me. My sister’s friend even found a bottle of vanilla perfume while they were in the drugstore and told me sister, “it’s Tessa in a bottle!” So it would make sense that, after seeing all the wonderful vanilla recipes floating around on Pinterest, that I felt compelled to try one.
So today my biggest boy and I made some vanilla extract.
Helping Hands
The ingredients were very simple:
- Vanilla beans (I purchased mind from Real Raw Food in BC, Alberta). I have had the beans for a few months and have been waiting for jsut the right recipe to use them in. They are very precious to me so I didn’t want to waste any.
- Vodka (recipes called for 35%-40% alcohol, I got 40%). I had the pleasure of supporting a local business for this purchase. Chateau Wine and Spirits in Lacombe, Alberta, is a fabulous place to deal with. They offer everything from cheap to specialty beers and wines and vodka and every other kind of alcoholic beverage that tickels your fancy. As I never (read: only once in my entire life other than this time) purchase alcohol, the customer service was great to a newbie like myself. I bought almost the cheapest kind of vodka. (The only reason I didn’t get the cheapest is because I decided to spend the extra couple of bucks to get a glass bottle. Plus it is Alberta-made so I can support local two-fold.) They also do regular wine tasting evenings, bulk orders for weddings or other catered events and can order in special requests! I should also mention that Chateau Wine and Spirits is owned and operated by my sister-in-law and her husband.
So here are my directions:
1. Use about 6-8 beans per cup of vodka. Some recipes called for whole beans, some for split beans, and some for chopped. The most in depth recipe I read called for splitting the beans, scraping out the seeds and then chopping the pods. I figured I’d go halfway and split the bean and then chopp into about half to 3/4 inch lengths. Tip I found while reading comments of the aforementioned recipe: use scissors. It only took me a few minutes to cut my little bundle of beans.
2. Put them in the vodka. (Kids can be a great help if you have a lot of pieces and a very small bottle opening to put them into) Be careful not to overflow your bottle. I poured a bit out of the bottle and put into a glass jar so I have two containers of extract in my cupboard. If you bought a plastic bottle of vodka then use a glass jar or bottle to make it in because you don’t want plastic yuckies leaching into your vanilla over the next months.
3. Shake it up and let it sit. Shake it up every day or so for a week. Then just give it a shake whenever you remember it. Another tip: label your jar/bottle. I used a black Sharpie to write the date on it so it is easy to see how old it is.
Homemade vanilla extract with seeds floating around
You can use it as early as 2-3 weeks but it is best if you let it sit for about 6 (or more) months. I know that I can’t wait that long though so I’m going to try it in a few weeks. In the meantime, I’m going to use up the vanilla that my sister brought back from her Mexico vacation. And then I’ll use my Costco stuff up. And then, finally, I’ll be able to dive into my homemade vanilla extract! Coffee creamer, cake, muffins… I can smell them already! Actually, I can still smell the vanilla on my hands. Have I mentioned how much I love vanilla?
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by Tessa | Homemaking
My mint plant started to look like it was feeling a bit crowded so I trimmed a few sprigs off the top with a plan to dry it and put it into one of my new (to me) glass canning jars. I was already picturing it in my pantry as I gently washed and dried my mint. Caleb had different ideas.
“Mom, we need to bake something with these.”
“Like what? I don’t think that the chicken thawing for supper will taste good with mint.”
“No, we should bake cookies. It has been a while since we baked cookies and mint cookies would be so yummy.”
So I went off to my trusty laptop to find a recipe for mint cookies. Chocolate and mint just go hand in hand so we found a great recipe for mint chocolate chip cookies. There were a ton for mint extract but that was the only one I found to use with fresh mint.
We started mixing the ingredients and I soon realized that I didn’t have an egg. So I called the neighbour (aka my mom) to ask if she had one (she pretty much always does!). I sent Caleb over and he walked back very carefully cradling our missing ingredient.
Mint chopped, dough mixed, beater licked and we waited. My kitchen started to smell better and better!
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fresh out of the oven and garden!
The cookies have now passed the official taste test and it’s all I can do not to eat them all right now. I’ve already had two of them. Or maybe it was three?
I made a few subsititions to the recipe because I try to make cookies a little more healthy for my family: I used about 2/3 of the sugar (looking back I should have also substituted the my organic raw sugar for the white refined stuff); I used organic whole wheat pastry flour; I only put in half the chocolate and part of that was raw cacao nibs. So now I feel a little bit better about the fact that I’ve eaten a few extra cookies.
Things Caleb learned: measuring/counting ingredients, we talked about why we chop the mint (more surface area to infuse the mint flavour), and we counted the total number of cookies made (2 dozen, though it would have been one more except I ate the extra dough!). He also learned about how to harvest mint and the purpose of pruning. We talked about how we are going to dry it to save it for another day. Lastly, we ate some of the fruits of our labour.
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by Tessa | Faith
Snow White was as good as dead. Her friends had all given up hope. Then along comes Prince Charming and her whole reality changes. One kiss and she goes from the coffin to the castle.
It often seems that people think “happily ever afters” only happen in fairy tales. Perhaps that is why there is a recent influx of movies and TV shows that revolve around a fresh approach to many traditional fairy tales. I have seen countless previews for movies about Snow White, Cinderella, and Red Riding Hood.
I like movies that are easy on the mind. Movies with happy endings. The girl gets the guy, the cop gets the villain, and the orphan gets his family. Maybe it is sappy. Or maybe I’m realistic.
Another thing I love is reading and listening to the Psalms. They are full of happy endings. There is a lot of talk about how God will punish the wicked and raise up His people. I don’t so much like to think about the wicked being punished (most of the time anyway; to be perfectly honest, sometimes I can’t wait for people to get what’s coming to them) but it is more the reminder that good will win. God will win.
Everything in Scripture points to the fact that God triumphs over all.
David was in the wilderness running from King Saul when he wrote:
I am in the midst of lions;
I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.
(Psalm 57:4)
I don’t know about you but I can totally relate! So often I have felt like people and circumstances around me were poised and waiting to attack me. If I make one wrong move, or word something wrong, the enemy takes the opportunity to attempt to tear me to shreds.
Yet David sings on. The Psalm continues and David ends with:
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
David knew that there would be a happy ending. He would become king because God said so. And I sing on too. Even though my faithfulness to Him is imperfect, His faithfulness to me is infinite and perfect. He never falters.
So I’m going to continue enjoying movies and stories with happy endings. Not just because they give me warm fuzzies, but because it reminds me that good always wins. God always wins.
