Amber's Organics Newsletter.

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be".

News this month: My shop is coming along as the shelves are stacked with an exciting range of exclusive products and also the new line of spices, herbs, teas and botanicals sold by the ounce. I am hoping that local restaurants and business will use these freshly dried products and that this will increase overall sales to keep the rest of the business happily sustained. My charges are low and I aim to keep them that way so all can benefit from good quality organics.

I have high hopes and plenty of faith that the shop will soon expand. There is so much to organize and of course health and strength limited, I have to pace myself which I have proven to be not very good at due to my drive of abundant enthusiasm. I am very exited to be working out plans for the very first shop and how this will benefit the local community.

Each month we shall be having talks from various speakers, it will be fun afternoon out and there will be freshly baked herbal goodies and teas to test. If you or anyone you know wishes to be a speaker please feel free to contact me at my email address. I would like to have speakers on health, organics, environment, herbs, gardening and the like, but please offer your needed suggestions.

All in all things are looking hopeful thanks to you my wonderful customers that keep encouraging and supporting my cause. Please read my glorious feedback to see how much Amber's Organics is appreciated. It makes me happy to serve.

Your own suggestions are always appreciated so do not hesitate to write to me at my email address. ambersorganics@yahoo.com

Gardeners who like the idea of growing vegetables flavoured with the goodness of the rich earth, seasoned with a little ancient mysticism, and governed by the moon may find a great deal of enjoyment from biodynamic farming. I have a new selection of seeds in stock this fall and a follow up variety in the next month, so please take a look and let me know what you think and how I can improve this selection, your input is what makes this happen.

More new products this month: Oh the joy of the jars! I have a such a super new selection of lotions, toners, creams, oils. These are all listed and one will be featured each month.

New organic spices such as Cayenne pepper, Curry Powder, Pumpkin pie spices, Turmeric powder, also Natural Sea Salts with or without a fascinating and nutritionally rich herb blends included: Each are freshly crafted in small batches using only the most herbal medicinally precise recipes to created a perfected healthful product. These taste exceptional, unsurpassable flavours and the aroma is unbelievable, you really will be impressed especially if you have been only using the shop brought mixes. Each mixture is bursting out of it's jar with body boosting benefits which added to food will sustain and strengthen your whole body in the most delicious way. I will be adding an article on the full readable benefits as soon possible.

I have also been working hard on new medicinal teas and have a larger selection as each month goes by. The teas are exclusive to Amber's Organics and cannot be found in other stores. These are my own creations and have been successfully used by my Family and customers worldwide. I use the freshest herbs, that I buy from an organically certified company in small batches to retain goodness and extreme freshness, you will surely taste this great difference. My new Herb Shoppe sell them in one ounce amounts if you care to drop by and test a tea. If you wish to buy them in that quantity or in larger amounts bulk buy, please feel free to write to me about your requirements.

New in this last month was also the new and exciting "Baby Boo" collection for the little ones. New gentle shampoo which is mild and yet cleansing enough for the whole family, thick, soothing, creamy lotion and bathing flowers delights to sooth and cool your Baby's ailments. These products I hope will bring a new joy to Mommy knowing that the purer the product used the better her Baby's health and well-being will be.

As ever, soaps are a big favourite so last month was added some exciting new varieties such as bursting with blueberry muffin, rain forest rose array, fruits on fire pomegranate & Acia, Sandalwood Vanilla Bean, Patchouli, Hemp & French Vanilla and Long Lingering Lemongrass Daze, these I must admit are somewhat exceptional. The scent is enough to entice you alone but on top of that these are bursting with rich butters and natural olive oils or Aloe to sooth and restore your skins perfect balance.

2 Easy Compost Recipes to Get Your Organic Garden Growing

A healthy vibrant garden requires organic nutrients like carbon and nitrogen. Compost is a natural recycling technique used by organic gardeners to put nutrients back into depleted soil. It can be made at home by reusing leftover scraps from the kitchen and organic matter from the yard. Check out our article on the benefits of compost for your garden.

Making compost is like baking a cake or making soup. When you make it the first time or two, you use a recipe. The recipe contains a list of ingredients and an explanation of how to combine them. If an ingredient is missing or isn't added according to the recipe the cake or soup might fail.

This also applies to compost, there is a recipe. There are specific ingredients that require specific measurements. Furthermore, like your cake recipe the ingredients must be combined in a certain way for the recipe to succeed.

Below is a recipe for two different types of compost piles. One is high maintenance and will produce compost quickly in four to six weeks. The other is a low maintenance recipe and who knows when you will have compost. It could be one month, two months or even a year before you have usable compost.

Spring and fall are great times to start composting as there are plenty of ingredients available from your own garden and kitchen waste. So clean up the yard, follow the recipe below and start composting!

Note: You will need nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) at a ratio of one part (N)itrogen to three parts (C)arbon.

Ashes from coal or charcoal, cat litter or droppings, dog waste, fish scraps, ashes from untreated wood, meat, fat, grease, oils, bones, milk, cheese, yogurt, potatoes, sawdust and wood shavings from chemically treated wood.

If you want compost quickly and you aren't afraid of a few quick chores then this recipe is for you.

Compost can be made in a pile in the back yard or a bin according to the compost chef's preferences. Keep in mind that if you mix your compost in a pile, it needs to be protected from varmints. You can easily do this by surrounding the pile with chicken wire or by building a wood enclosure. Make sure that any large ingredients, like paper bags or garden waste, are broken down into small pieces so that they will quickly decompose.

For maximum production of your compost pile, combine all of your ingredients at once. Don't keep adding ingredients to the bin. Every time a new ingredient is added to the pile, the decomposition process starts over. That's why it is a good idea to have two piles going at the same time. Use one pile to collect the ingredients and a second pile that is engaged in the composting process.

To build your compost pile, first put a pile of twigs and sticks at the bottom so your pile will circulate air and breathe. Next, layer the (C)arbon and (N)itrogen ingredients on top of the twigs, starting with the (C)arbon ingredients. Continue with the (N)itrogen and then the (C)arbon, next the (N)itrogen and finishing with the (C)arbon.

Next add water. Add just enough so that the ingredients feel like a damp sponge that has been wrung out. To test for dampness pick up a handful of the ingredients and wring them out. If a few drops of water come out, it's perfect. However if a stream of water comes out, your pile is too wet. If the pile is too wet, add more dry ingredients and let the pile dry out. To help the pile quickly dry while keeping it oxygenated, turn it often using a shovel or a pitch fork, about once every day or two.

If you mixed one part (N)itrogen with three parts (C)arbon and your compost pile is damp like a wrung out sponge, it should heat to a temperature between 104°-160°, even in cold northern climates. Stir the pile about every four to seven days. Mix thoroughly. Stirring will move the cold ingredients into the warm center of the pile. Stirring replenishes foods and oxygen for the microorganisms that are hard at work breaking down the ingredients. Heat helps the ingredients quickly decompose and keeps the pile operating at its peak. Moreover, at 131° most disease causing pathogens die as well as pests, seeds and weeds.

You will know when your compost is finished when it smells earthy, contains small uniform particles and the color resembles dark brown soil and is light and fluffy.

If you don't care how long it takes to make compost, one month, six months, or even one year and you don't have time for weekly chores, then this recipe is for you.

Follow the above recipe. The exception, the ingredients of this low maintenance pile do not need to be combined at the same time. You can start your pile with a few ingredients and add ingredients as they become available. Furthermore, you don't need to stir this pile as often, just when you think of it. In this low maintenance recipe, do not add weeds or diseased plants because the compost won't get hot enough to destroy pathogens.

Our earth is in trouble, and we've got to save it!

If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste more energy than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) of the world's poorest people use a day.
Making a new can from scratch uses the energy equal to half a can of gasoline.
About one third of what an average American throws out is packaging.
More than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) trees are used to make disposable diapers every year.
In one minute, 50 acres of rainforest are destroyed.
Some rain has a pH of 3 or 4. (which is pretty acidic, considering 7 is neutral, not acidic, and battery acid has a pH of 1). Some fish, such as lake trout and smallmouth bass, have trouble reproducing at a pH of 6, which is only slightly acidic. Some clams and snails can't survive at all. Most crayfish are dead at a pH of 5. You can see how bad this is for the environment.
On average, a person in the US uses energy two times more than a person in Japan or West Germany does, and 50 times more than a person in India.
About 90% of the energy used in lighting a standard (incandescent) light bulb is lost as heat.
Air conditioning uses 10 times more energy than a fan, therefore, it creates 10 times the pollutants.
It takes half the output of the Alaskan pipeline to heat the air that escapes from all the homes in the US during a year.
Cars and pick-up trucks are responsible for about 20% of the carbon dioxide released into the air.
There are about 500 million automobiles on the planet, burning an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day. Each gallon releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
About 80% of our trash goes to landfills, 10% is incinerated, and 10% is recycled.
Since there is little oxygen underground, where we bury our garbage, to help bacteria eat the garbage, almost nothing happens to it. Scientists have dug into landfills and found ears of corn still intact after 20 years, and newspapers still readable after 30.
The average American makes about 3.5 pounds of trash a day.
In a year, the average American uses as much wood in the form of paper as the average resident of the developing world burns as fuel.

26 things we can do to help:

1. Turn off lights.
2. Turn off other electric things, like TVs, stereos, and radios when not in use.
3. Use rechargable batteries.
4. Do things manually instead of electrically, like open cans by hand.
5. Use fans instead of air conditioners.
6. In winter, wear a sweater instead of turning up your thermostat.
7. Insulate your home so you won't be cold in winter.
8. Use less hot water.
9. Whenever possible, use a bus or subway, or ride your bike or walk.
10. Try to buy organic fruits and vegetables if you're concerned about pesticides. (Organic food is grown without man-made fertilizers and/or pesticides).
11. Don't waste products made from forest materials.
12. Use recycled paper and/or recycle it. Reuse old papers.
13. Don't buy products that may have been made at the expense of the rainforest.
14. Support products that are harvested from the rainforest but have not cut down trees to get it.
15. Plant trees, espessially if you have cut one down.
16. Get other people to help you in your cause. Make and/or join an organization.
17. Avoid products that are used once, then thrown away.
18. Buy products with little or no packaging.
19. Encourage your grocery store sell environmentally friendly cloth bags for people to use when they shop, or bring your own.
20. REDUCE, REUSE, & RECYCLE.
21. Compost.
22. Buy recycled products.
23. Don't buy pets taken from the wild.
24. If you have a good zoo nearby, (if the animals are healthy and the zoo takes care of them), support it! Especially if they help breed endangered animals.
25. Don't buy products if animals were killed to make it.
26. Cut up your six-pack rings before throwing them out.

The English Environmentalist Nanny say's: Add interesting projects to teaching your children about joyful garden.

1. Grow a Playhouse: Imagine being three years old and surrounded by gigantic sunflowers towering above you, or crawling into a teepee made of sticks and overgrown with pea pods, or engulfed in a square of moonflowers that open up when the crickets start to sing. Flowering playhouses are easily built (by a parent) out of wooden poles and string. Plant the seeds around the poles, then gently train the flowers to wind around and through them.

2. Grow Something to Wear: Let your children play dress-up with their flowers. Turn colorful blossoms into necklaces, leis, or bracelets. Tuck flowers behind ears, into hair, or thread a blossom through a shirt button. Save pretty petals to make jewelry.

3. Plant a Rainbow: Find flower seeds in the colors of the rainbow, then help your child plant them in a rainbow shape. Try to find flowers that are roughly the same size and make sure they are all appropriate for the same season.

5. Create a Scratch & Sniff Garden: Please your child’s nose with an assortment of smells: plant mint that smells (and tastes!) like chocolate peppermint, ginger, lemon, orange, and apple, and geraniums that smell like roses, lemon, mint, chocolate, pine, nutmeg, and more.

6. Grow Plants that are Nice to Touch or Fun to Hear: Your toddler will love “tickle me” plants; the leaves curl up when touched. Lamb’s Ears have a fuzzy silvery fur that kids like to touch. If you garden indoors, aloe vera plants are a good tactile choice for small children. You can also try bunny tails and cotton to satisfy a child’s sense of touch.
On windy days, your toddler will love to listen to the sounds made by ornamental grass, the Chinese lantern plant, or the Money plant.¹

7. Grow a Craft Project: Grow gourds that you can turn into birdhouses or musical instruments. Grow flowers and berries that you can use for their natural dyes, which your child can use for artwork and other crafts. There are even certain plants with beads that can be used in jewelry.

8. Garden in Unusual Containers: Who says you have to plant seeds in the ground? Give your child a fun container (also a great way to garden inside). You can use an old shoe, a discarded toy, or a plain pot with a face drawn on. Or trap a cucumber in a glass jar.

9. Attract Butterflies and Hummingbirds: Create beauty on and above the ground by planting flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.²

10. Eat Your Vegetables and Your Flowers: Ground cherries are hidden in pods that look like little lanterns. Grow a pizza patch garden full of tomatoes, peppers, basil, garlic, and other veggies and herbs that can be baked into homemade pizza. Apartment dwellers: did you know you can grow peanuts inside?
For a completely new level of edible fun, try growing flowers you can eat: nasturtium, clover, and lavender are just a few tasty varieties.

A Few Guidelines to Gardening with Children
Here are some simple tips to help keep gardening with kids fun and easy.

2. Let your child have some control over what he grows. Choose a few ideas/varieties that are doable, then let your child pick his favorite to try.

3. Relax! Let her do her own thing. Don’t worry if she spends more time playing with the dirt or worms than she does pulling weeds.

4. Consider planting a mixture of seeds, seedlings, and full-grown plants. It can be hard for little ones to wait for those first sprouts to pop out of the ground.³

Dandelion Jelly

Rose Hip Jelly

2 Easy Compost Recipes to Get Your Organic Garden Growing

Lazy Person's Compost