5 Orange Potatoes » herbs

cinnamon spice doll ornament how to

5 Orange Potatoes — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:42:54 +0000

This spicy doll is hanging off our bookshelf so the morning sun’s rays hit her, warm her up, and put off a wonderfully smelling aroma. I used my favorite seasonal spices for her- cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel.

You need:
small cinnamon broom ($.99 from Trader Joes)
cloves
dried citrus peel
cinnamon stick
muslin (about 7″x9″)
twine
wool or yarn
little bit of stuffing or wool

Steps:
1. Place the cloves, peel, and a the wool stuffing in the center of the muslin.
2. Place muslin around the top of the broom and tie tightly to form the neck.
3. Tie the cinnamon stick by making an x form with the twine.
4. Cut 2 very small holes in the head and place a clove in each for the eyes.
5. Draw a simple smile.
6. Glue on the wool or yarn for the hair and tie twine to make pigtails.

Then hang your cinnamon spice girl in a sunny spot to spice up the room.

“That’s all,”
Lisa

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how to make a dream pillow- moon phases free pattern

5 Orange Potatoes — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:28:14 +0000

I like to give my little ladies new dream pillows every year on the night of the winter solstice. I started this tutorial back in July of 2009, but never got around to finishing it. Seriously, this post has been sitting, partially finished, in my dashboard for over a year! I felt now was a great time to share the pattern and how to.

What you need:
gray felt
yellow felt
black cotton emb. floss
yellow cotton emb. floss

silver shiny emb. floss
straight pins
scissors

dry herbs

wool or polyfill stuffing

dream pillow patterns

Step 1- Cutting out the moon shapes

You should have 3 pieces: 2 full moons and one crescent moon. Pin the crescent moon onto one of the gray circles. Leave the other gray circle as is, this will be your full moon piece.

Step 2: The detailing **Click on the orange links for “stitch how to”

I used the split stitch for the details in the moon. Split stitch the eye and craters on the crescent moon side of the pillow.

Now split stitch the eyes and craters on the full moon piece.

Whip stitch the crescent moon to it’s gray backing.

Step 3: Stitching the moons together

Put right sides together of both moons now. Blanket stitch or whip stitch the moons together, leaving a small opening for stuffing and the herbs. I did a blanket stitch here.

Step 4: Add dried herbs and filling. Stitch closed.

I like to add dried lavender buds or rosemary to their pillows because we grow it organically in our garden. Here’s a little list to work with, you can mix and match but make sure the odor is pleasant and not over bearing.

Herbs for the pillow-

angelica : prophetic dreams and visions
anise: use a little to repel nightmares
bay laurel: inspiration; repels negativity
cedar: repel bad dreams
cloves: retrieves buried memories; use sparingly
hops: restful sleep and healing
lavender: calming and helps to fall asleep
marjoram: relieves depression
mugwort: visions and prophetic dreams
mullein: repels bad dreams
rosemary: avoid nightmares and headaches; great for memory; use sparingly
st. johns wort: banishes spirits

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Little Etsy shop update- I have a new kitty design, there is still free shipping and the 15% off total purchase sale will go on through the week until Sunday evening (for 5orangepotatoes blog readers only). Type in SNOW15 at checkout to get the 15% off the total purchase. I will ship daily until the 19Th- there is still time to order and receive before Christmas. If you don’t see something in my shop that you had your eye on or want a different color let me know, I can possibly take custom orders through Friday (hit the contact button under my fox picture at the shop). Thank you all who have made my shop so successful through this giving time of the year! I really appreciate your business and have loved getting to know a lot of you!

“That’s all.”

blissful domesticity- herbs and a granola recipe

5 Orange Potatoes — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:43:54 +0000

My Friday’s flowers bouquet- lime mint, peppermint, rosemary, and feverfew. I laugh every time my little ladies mistake feverfew flowers for chamomile, the bitter expressions are so funny! If you ever get a chance to nibble a feverfew flower, nibble with caution!

Fauna and I did a little thrifting today and found these lovely vintage sheets (my newest addiction), which we put in the washer as soon as we got home, then hung them on the line to dry.

I will be sewing them into drawstring bags for my Etsy shop this weekend.

Granola Recipe

I made this granola yesterday (adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe I found in an old magazine) and we have been snacking on it all day. This recipe makes a lot of granola- about 12 cups.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup water
4 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup bran
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup pecans
2/3 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup golden raisins
2/3 cup dried apricots sliced into small pieces
or use your favorite dried fruit and nuts

-Preheat oven to 250.
-Melt butter in saucepan over medium low heat, add brown sugar and stir until sugar melts. Take pan off the heat.
-Stir in honey, vanilla, water, and salt. Stir until well blended.
-Add remaining ingredients in a large bowl, stir until well blended then drizzle the liquid mixture over the top of the dry ingredient mixture while stirring and coating everything evenly.
-Place granola on two rimmed baking sheets, spread evenly.
-Bake, stirring occasionally until golden brown (about 1 1/2 hours). Cool on baking sheets, put in an airtight container and it will keep for 3 weeks.

Mix with yogurt, sprinkle on fruit, or eat it plain as a yummy, healthy snack.

Have a great weekend!

“That’s all.”

our days this week

5 Orange Potatoes — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:32:52 +0000

The warmth of summer is upon us and the herbs are very happy about that. I am always torn when the lavender is ready for harvest because it is always full of honeybees and bumblebees working so hard for the nectar. They just buzz at me in disgust as I chop, chop, chop away feeling guilty; but I always leave some behind for them.

We have been outdoors everyday, I find the heat and humidity to be a bit painful, but Fauna is finding creative and unique ways to stay cool- today a towel drenched in cold water did the trick.

We did a science experiment involving a sock and seeds. The specifics on that is to come.

Araina got out the permanent markers and dressed up my clothespins to make me smile while I hung the clothes to dry.

Fauna has been very busy making a new set of pet rocks.

Lots of foam painting going on too.

And the garden is blooming merrily. Here’s my bouquet for Friday’s Flowers- lavender, fairy roses, lime mint, and yarrow placed in an old shaving mug.

Have a great weekend!

“That’s all.”

herbs and hildegard hedgehog

5 Orange Potatoes — Mon, 17 May 2010 01:27:05 +0000

I haven’t been in the blog-sphere for the last few days because I’ve been busy buying out the nurseries and finishing up Hildegard. Curious to know what herbs I bought? Hildegard here is sitting among oregano, rosemary (lots), tarragon, thyme, chamomile, sage, marjoram, lavender (lots), parsley, basil, echinacea, and yarrow. Shoo, that’s a lot of herbs. Then my friend Stephanie (Ordinary Life Magic) mentioned that she bought lemon verbena and I’m horrified that I didn’t find any this weekend. It’s one of our favorites too and darn it my calendula didn’t reseed as well as last year so I am lacking calendula……will have to make a trip out of town to pick up those two (oh, and comfrey as well, so that’s 3 and knowing me there will be more)!

Here are some more pics of my garden, you will discover quickly that my favorite plant colors are purple and green with white here and there!

I love a cat mint border (not cat nip, but cat mint, there is a difference). This is Araina’s favorite plant to suck nectar from; it’s even better than honeysuckle! We love this plant for the spring purple color it provides, but it can take over a garden and must be divided by the third year. It does transplant easily though and most of the cat mint I now have are transplants from our first house that Dave and I bought together.

I leave a wild patch for the red clover to go crazy. Red clover is so medicinal as a tea and a salve or infused in an oil for your skin.

A last pic of Hildegard hiding under the lavender and munching on a chive blossom. She is an herbal hedgehog that takes after her namesake (Hildegard Von Bingen).

Am I missing any good herbs? I don’t include cilantro in my herb garden because I am one of those people that really don’t like the taste, the little ladies don’t seem to care for it as well. Oh, I love this time of year and planting the garden hoping for a great harvest of goodies!

“That’s all.”