Hippy Dippy

If. If you would eat only raw food. If you would be 'protein only'. If you would believe in the power of chrystals. If you would... if you would... if you would.... Then you would be healthy. Then you would be happy. ''See, I am.'' They say. So. If you would only...then I am sure you too would have none if these problems. 

Sigh.

Well-meaning? Yes? No? Maybe? Self-centered? You bet. How come it is the people who are most vocal about their having found the higher, better, happier state of being who are usually also the most blind as to what is actually happening in the lives of other people and who actually seem to care the least about those same other people. Who tout their embracing of the universe and yet the only person they are really embracing is themselves. And that's one reason why I have been slightly reluctant to speak about the changes around our household that have been taking place. Because I am not preaching to anyone. I am most definitely not saying if-only-you-too-would. I am certainly not in any holier than thou attitude about this. This is just something that we have had to do.

Recently, I have become hyper sensitive to pretty much anything. I can not tolerate tight clothing as it leaves red rashes or welts on my skin. So, I only wear loose skirts and dresses. Of course the sun is still my nemesis, but also chemicals in toiletries, cleaning fluids etc. My dermatologist says I am not in actual fact allergic, but indeed, hyper-sensitive in that my body, because of the SLE, thinks I am allergic to these things and brings on the allergic reaction without the actual allergy. Fantastic, I say. Even though I am not allergic I get the allergic reaction because the signals in my body have are gone haywire. I mean, the major problem with SLE is that it attacks your own cells instead of the outer threats such as viruses etc. because it thinks that it is the body's own cells that are the threat. This can lead to major organ impairment, but also lesser problems like I'm having now. The body just no longer knows what is right and what is wrong. Like I said. An immune system gone seriously lunatic. Well. Some twenty years ago I got interested in using plants as medication and for various cosmetic needs. I wildcrafted plants, dried them, and used them for many, many years. Then, for some reason, probably due to moving to bigger and bigger cities until I was finally living in a city of millions of inhabitants and the toxicity that comes with that. Then I left. Moved across thousands of kilometres onto the other end of Europe to become a teacher in a tiny, tiny village in the middle of nowhere near the Russian border. There, my interest in medical plants started to grow again, but only to a very mild degree. 

Fast forward today.

Preparations for making

plantana salve for bug bites.

We no longer use any store bought chemical cleaning supplies in our household. I have made our own stuff for washing clothes, dishwashing liquid and powder to use in the dishwashing machine. For general cleaning, it is baking soda and vinegar with the addition of essential oils. For a while we tried the baking soda hair washing method, and while it worked fine for my husband, for me it was a nightmare. Because of my medications I sweat like a pig. Sorry for being so blunt but there is simply no better way of putting it, so my hair was already dirty a couple of hours from washing. So I made us some shampoo. Which we put into an old shampoo container and now use just like regular shampoo. Works fine, only I know exactly what went into it. I have made my own face cleanser, liquid soaps, toothpaste and mouth wash, face and body creams and different kinds of salves. I love carbonated water, and we got a soda stream machine as a christmas present, but the syrups are not only horribly expensive but also full of all sorts of weird things, so I've started experimenting making my own syrups. Lemon, orange, grapefruit, rhubarb, peppermint, lime, and even ginger ale. 

Making rhubarb syrup.

I have gone collecting yarrow, wild raspberry leaves and red clovers. The plantain leaf population in our yard has found its way to drying on my windowsill. The kitchen garden is not only growing carrots and potatos but also lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary, thyme and coriander that will be both dried and frozen to use in the winter. More wildcrafting is still to come. I need more yarrow, and need to find a good place to collect meadowsweet and angelica archangelica. I mean. Don't you just love even the name of that one. 

Yarrow ready to 

be hung to dry.

Roses collected from our

garden to make rose water.

We don't eat much pre-made food, now that I've been too tired to bake bread, we have bought it from a bakery factory shop, but as we recently purchased a crockpot I now plan on trying breadmaking in that. As well as making the liquid castille soap in it. 

If you feel like trying your hand

at making your own,

click HERE.

As for make up. Please. I who used to make a perfect no-make-up make up every morning now go totally without, my bright red lupus mask cheeks glowing and with practically no lashes. I was recommended to use mineral brands, to no avail. Horrible scratching and rashes as a result. Trust me. This has not been easy for me. Nooo freaking way. 

But as I have been forced to ''greenify'' these aspects in our life, I have also started contemplating others. We use no paper in the kitchen any more. I am making these instead.

And HERE is how.

I buy no cleaning wipes or anything of the like. Instead I stick squares cut from old t-shirts into a jar with some oil and lemon peels and use them. But alas. I have had this feeling that as I've told people about these changes around our household, I've gotten these yeah, yeah looks more than enough. I know people call us hippies. By all means. I find that funny. What does that even mean? We own three cars ( one of which though is a summer-only 1969 Buick) so that can hardly be called very ecological. Though when I entertained the idea of getting myself a child carrier for the bicycle that idea got a fast funeral as I realised I could barely bike anywhere on my own, let alone pulling along a cart. My husband drives a Harley motorcycle. Again, not very ecological, but to him, that is who he is so that is how it is. I use airplanes even though trains would be better for the environment. I know this. And still I use the planes. We hardly buy any clothes new for ourselves, but use flea markets and second hand shops, but many of the daughters clothes have come from both the cheaper and the more expensive end of the children's clothing chains. 

I was either contemplating one of these 

so called christiania versions 

or something like this which is more 

common around here...

But like I said,

either one is a no-go for now.

Recently we had a lovely, dear friend of both my husband and me visit overnight with her daughter, and looking around the kitchen she smiled and said to me that ''you really are a real deal hippie''. Like I said, I don't find that bad at all. I guess I am. Even though I am really not sure what that means. But it makes me smile. Ok. I guess we're slightly out of the ordinary then. On my more darker moments my husband keeps telling me that yes, I might be slightly weird. But its a good kind of weird. Yes, I might be slightly crazy. But a good kind of crazy. And that yes, I am unlike any woman he has ever met. And that, certainly, in a good kind of way. 

So now I have come to the conclusion that I am a grateful hippie. Ahemmm. Sounds a bit weird. Put like that. And besides, I am still not sure what a hippie actually is. But I am doing what my ''meds team'' is telling me to do. Figuring it all out. So ok. A grateful hippie. Lets see what I can come up with tomorrow. Now the kids need putting to bed, they are driving the poor kitty mad running after it around the house. And then I want to do some crocheting.  I am making this one for myself as I found out that even my cranky fingers can deal with a hook that large and thread that thick, and I am already halfway through. The pattern can be found on the Ravelry site for free.

It is going to be forest green, and I want some scandinavian flower embroidery on it. But now. This is all she wrote. Good night to you all. 

It might still be bad. But its never all bad. Remember that.