Tea Tree Essential Oil For Colds, Spring Garden Prep, Strawberries With Mascarpone, The Pineapple King

Tea Tree Essential Oil For Colds-

I started sneezing last night and noticed my glands were getting a little swollen. Not on a Friday night, with great spring weather forecast! So... I called my essential oil guru pal Christine and she fixed me up. Per her suggestion I went down the road and bought a bottle of organic tea tree essential oil (Melaleuca). I already had a "carrier" oil, sweet almond oil. I did as she directed- after I showered to go to bed I mixed together 1 TBL almond oil in a small bowl with 6 drops of tea tree oil. I rubbed it into the pads of both feet, between the toes, and a dab on each sore throat gland. Went to bed. I've used a lot of OTC, and homeopathic cold stuff. What was really interesting was that I DIDN'T get all stuffed up in the middle of the night. You know how it is- you lay down and the longer you sleep the more plugged up you get. I slept like a baby! I started sniffling around 9 a.m., so I blew my nose a few times and rolled over for another hour. I got up, felt rested, used it again. It's almost 4 p.m. and I really feel pretty good! A little minor stuffy, but glands are almost normal, and no sore throat. It was $7.00 for the oil I bought (above) a good, cheap healthy fix! 

 Spring Garden Prep-

Spring really is busting out all over! It's 62 right now with 68 forecast for Tuesday! What month is this? I think it's here to stay. I saw LOTS of Robins today, always a sign of spring here. Today Dave deep- cleaned the coop, with a little help from me. I scrubbed the coop windows, and helped rake out the used pine shavings into the garden. Dave turned all the main garden soil. We didn't do that last year and had less production on our veggies. Won't skip that again! The hens LOVED all the bugs they found after he tilled. I tried not to over-do it today, with my minor bug. I scrubbed my back windows too (living room) with my windex scrubber kit. When the sun came out it really showed all the winter storm dirt. Now all shiny and clean!!! I've got lots of fun things coming up and here's a peek at some-

More flowers up

Italian parsley is up too

Girls loving the tilled garden

Pine shavings added, rest to the compost pile and raised bed

Clean windows!!!

Raspberries new growth

Hard to tell the color here, but it's a rich DARK brown, and it's DRY! :)

Backyard's really greening up

Strawberries With Mascarpone-

I bought some Mascarpone cheese a while back and never used it. I bought some strawberries last week (had to!) and so I looked for a dessert recipe online and found this- Summer Berries w/Mascarpone I used just strawberries and it was great! Mascarpone, if you've never had it, it a really thick creamy cheese, best for desserts. Almost a cross between whipping cream and cream cheese. I made the mascarpone (no yogurt added) by adding a little sugar and vanilla, mixed well. Sliced the berries and added a little sugar. I bought a small bag of butter shortbread cookies at the grocery outlet. They are stars as they were holiday leftovers :) I made a a bed of the creamy stuff, topped with berries and crumbled the cookies on top. Added a few extra on the side! This is a really fast, simple, "something special" dessert.  More tonight! When we have our own berries in this summer it will be a extra big hit!

The Pineapple King-

I bought a fresh pineapple recently and had the core leftover. The hens loved the inner fleshy part on the skins. I knew the core would be too tough for them, so I threw it under the tree for the squirrels. This guy grabbed it, took it to the top of the compost pile and had a feast! He was so entranced he didn't noticed me creeping up taking shots. Later he dashed off leaving it behind for the next guy. Nice treat...