My Week - Wood Conditioner, New Tree, and Pumpkin Pound Cake

My wood conditioner! Isn't it lovely?

So, the other week I bought new cutting boards. My old, cheap bamboo ones were starting to get splintery and gross, so I finally bit the bullet and bought beautiful new maple hardwood boards. Coincidentally, at around the same time, I ran across this post on the Joybilee Farm blog. I decided to follow the simple recipe and make my own wood conditioner. This way, I'd know exactly what was in it, and be able to make more when I ran out.

Apparently, it is literally impossible to buy organic essential oils in this town. I see a lot of people recommending Mountain Rose Herbs, but when I went to order from them, the sweet orange essential oil I wanted turned out to be a restricted item, meaning they couldn't ship it to Canada. If you're in the States, though, they really do come highly recommended. Anyway, after going to several stores, I settled for regular 'natural' essential oil. The salesperson at the health foods store said that the reps from the company they sourced from had told her it was technically organic, but not certified. Well, if she says so. It was the best I could get, so I settled. My life, it is so hard.

The rest of the ingredients were easy to source. And let me tell you, the finished product smells freaking amazing. I used extra virgin coconut oil, so the scent is a very strong, tropical coconut and orange, with a trace of honeyed beeswax. And, since it's completely natural, when you're done pouring the conditioner into it's jar, you can rub the leftovers on your hands, since it works as a body-safe moisturizer as well. And then you, too, can smell like a tropical fruit salad, which is all a person can ask for, really.

Here's one of my boards, half-conditioned, to show you the difference:

For the life of me I could not get a picture that showed the lustre of the conditioned wood. It's the darker section, by the way. But I assure you that it looks marvelous. And smells incredible.

I also got a little Meyer Lemon tree! It came with over thirty blossoms, though none, for some reason, on one big branch. Anyway, the blossoms are gorgeous.

I'd never smelled a lemon blossom before. It was lovely, and not what I'd expected. Almost like a sweet, light jasmine. I'm hoping I might actually get some lemons. Heaven knows I'm tired of throwing tons of cash at bags of tiny organic lemons that go moldy after approximately two hours in the house.

Pumpkin-y.

Through my blog-browsing, I also came across a recipe for pumpkin pound cake, from Back To Our Roots. I did it as mini pound cakes and one loaf, instead of in a bundt pan. They were delicious, but turned out pretty heavy. I wonder if it's because I didn't mix enough? Next time I'll really cream the heck out of the butter and sugar etc.

And, my seedlings are surviving so far. I have four pepper sprouts, and nine tomatoes, as well as three types of basil and some flowers. I've been keeping them all under the plastic wrap, which seems to be working to keep them alive. I'll take some pictures once there's finally something to see.

Also, I had to put the mint plant outside, on account of discovering that it had a MASSIVE BUG INFESTATION. I was terrified that it would get my sprouts, so out the mint went. It's really thriving, though. People aren't kidding about keeping it in a pot, I feel like it would happily take over everything, like a peppermint Napoleon.

Of course, I can't leave without blessing you with a picture of the cat, trying to sleep while an irritating man takes close-up photos of her face:

You're welcome.