Homemade Shampoo that works!

I read about this a couple places. At first I was doubtful, and used it planning to have to rewash my hair, but it really does work. I would use this shampoo all the time, but I can't get my husband convinced, and I don't like a bunch of bottles all over the bath.

In an empty shampoo bottle, pour 1 Tablespoon of Baking Soda. Fill the bottle with water and shake. The soda will form a solid cake in the bottom, but it is also in the water. I just shake the bottle a little before each shampoo, and pour it over my head. There are no suds but it washes your hair clean. I condition with regular Conditioner (Suave of course).

The homemade recipes called for straight Apple Cider Vinegar, and I'm sorry, but it smells. It does not come out like they say, it doesn't make a wonderful tingle with the Baking Soda, either. Suave is just over $1.50 and worth it. Honestly, I buy that for shampoo, too. But if you are ever out of shampoo, just mix this up and you can keep adding water to the bottle till the Baking Soda is all gone then start over.

Homemade Detergent: Not so good

In  a previous blog, I spotlighted recipes for dishwasher detergent, Laundry detergent etc etc. After several months of using these recipes, here are the results:

                              the glass on the left is clean after using two wash loads of Cascade Platinum. The glass on the right is one of our worst examples of the homemade detergent, but all of our glasses have been feeling chalky for a long time now, and the Cascade has everything feeling clean and salvaged.



I have to go ahead and endorse the Tide Pods, too. I really prefer using the Pods to the soapnuts that I was so crazy about. I love the artificial smell. I'm just going to go with that clean scent.

My Little Paw Paw Tree

 

This is year number three for my pair of Paw Paws. Year one, blooms, but not enough between the two trees to really pollinate.

Year two, a couple paw paws which fell off during a big storm.

Year three, this cluster of four paw paws, whose only flaw was a spittle bug leaving some white at the base of one of them. I was hopeful. They were almost ripe.

Last week I went to check on them, and they were gone. I spotted it from a long way away. Just gone. Then, I noticed that not only had something eaten my fruit, but threw it up next to the tree!
After scouring the ground, I found a couple remains and was able to smell and feel the fruit. Pretty sure that the size of the gigantic bite marks were raccoon. It smelled really yummy. Soft to the touch. The rind is still green but the fruit was yellow inside. I had been feeling them and waiting for them to turn yellow.
In the Bible it tells us to wait until the third year and the harvest is ours, so I assume next year is the year!

Planting Cotton in Indiana

I have plants! I did quite a bit of research on planting cotton in Indiana. These plants were started inside (but not as soon as next year), and have been fertilized twice (which I almost never do to my plants, explaining the low yield in my vegetable garden). I planted the cotton in a pattern between tomatoes and okra, not realizing that okra and cotton are related so the pattern wasn't as pretty as I hoped.





 Then I surrounded each plant with basil and cilantro to ward off bugs. It's too early to tell if I'll actually get any cotton puffs, but look at the bolls:

 

 

Cotton plant. I don't think it is nearly as big as they grow in Cotton Country.

 

Below is an Okra plant. The leaves are very different, but the flowers are similar. Okra has the dark center, cotton is pure yellow, then when it is fertilized the flower turns pink. They are also related to Hibiscus, which grows well in Indiana.

 

As the weather cools, the bolls are getting dark spots on them, and turning pink at the base. I know nothing about what will happen. The bolls are heavy, and I had to stake the plants after the last rain because they all tipped over. Somehow I can't see cotton farmers messing with that, and the dried cotton always looks so straight in the field.

 

I have cotton!!!

 

For this year, my sister (from Tennessee) is scavenging some more so that I can make a project, but I will have quite a bit. I plan to make face scrubbies unless it really makes a lot.