All Natural Lip Balm

Although it took me a while to get the recipe exact, Brookvalley Farm's all natural lip balm is not a complicated product to make. For anyone who might be interested in the process, I've detailed it below. Of course, I didn't include my recipe (I can't give it all away), but if you are interested in trying it for yourself, conducting a quick web search will yield you a lot of information and places to get started. I'd be more than happy to help you out as well, just drop me an email: laura@brookvalleyfarmpa.com.

Here we go...

The equipment: A scale that measures in pounds and ounces (very important that you can measure ounces precisely), lip balm tubes and caps (this recipe will yield 10-12 tubes), a spoon for measuring out the olive oil (at room temperature it's solid), a small measuring cup for flavoring oil, a Pyrex measuring cup for melting and blending (this needs to be heat resistant because it will also act as the top of a double boiler), something to stir the mixture with (I like to use one of my glass coffee stirrers), and a small pot.

The ingredients: Olive oil, beeswax, castor oil, flavor oil.

Mix all but the flavor oil in the Pyrex measuring cup and melt double boiler style over low heat, stirring constantly. 

The coconut oil will melt first, but keep stirring until the beeswax is melted and well combined.

Remove the oil/beeswax mixture from the heat, and stir a few more minutes to cool it down a bit.

Add the flavoring oil if using, and mix well to combine.

Now for the tricky part - pouring it into those little tubes. I crafted a quick jig using a scrap piece of wood. This recipe makes 10-12 tubes (usually 11), so I always have at least that many ready to go. The mixture sets up fairly quickly, so you don't want to waste much time during this step. Of course, if it does get too thick too quickly, you can always return it to the water and re-melt it.

After the tubes are all filled, cap them, and put them in the refrigerator to firmly set.

Add labels and shrink wrap to protect your product, and voila! Your own, homemade, all natural lip balm!

Enjoy! Or, if you're not up to taking on the task yourself, stop over at the Brookvalley Farm Store and let us do it for you.

Today's Lens (07/16/14)

Sometimes it feels like months go by, when in reality it's only been a few days. There's not much content in today's Today's Lens, but some of these have been on my camera for a while so I figured it was time to upload them and share. There's a bit of a lyrical theme today. Sing along with me.

As always, if you'd like to comment on individual photos, please visit Today's Lens (07/16/14) Photo Library.

"And we all shine on, Like the moon and the stars and the sun..." Late night after grading and the moon in the fog in the trees looked so good that I went back inside, grabbed my camera, and headed back out. 

(07/09/14 - 11:33 PM)

Saturday's Super Moon had me singing CCR. "There's a bad moon on the rise..." 

(07/12/14 - 08:40 PM)

Still singing: "I see a bad moon arisin', I see trouble on the way..."

(07/12/14 - 8:43 PM)

Our little baby Ivy B (named by my little cousins (Ruby and Zinnia: Ivy) and my nephew (Cole: Butterfly) is doing really well. She's been out playing in the pasture, taking in the scenery, and telling everyone, 

"I'm gonna soak up the sun

Before it goes out on me..."

(07/12/14 - 8:30 AM)

"Come on Mom! 

I want to be the one to walk in the sun

Oh, girls they want to have fun..."

(07/15/14) - 1:13 PM)

Neche enjoying the "Green, green grass of home."

(07/15/14 - 4:07 PM)

This isn't actually a Morning Glory, but it's in the family. Come on, sing it with me:

"Glory days, well they'll pass you by

Glory days; in the wink of a young girl's eye.."

(07/16/14 - 7:26 AM)

"Good morning Moon, love, how you doin'?"

If you haven't heard it, check it out here; it's kind of cute:  Good Morning Moon

(07/16/14 - 8:10 AM)

I hope you enjoyed our journey. Please, join me again next time for more Today's Lens.

Thanks for viewing!

Laura

Today's Lens (07/09/14)

As usual, things have been pretty busy on the farm lately--and I'm not complaining! This past Saturday, we had the honor of joining a bride and groom at the Montdale Country Club for a ride around the grounds and photos. What a great venue for summertime wedding photos, or the whole wedding and reception too! That's where we'll begin Today's Lens, but follow along and see where else we go too. As always, if you'd like to comment on individual photos, please visit Today's Lens (07/09/14) Photo Library.

April and Molly (Molly in foreground) were the apple of every camera's eye!

I could never say enough about how gorgeous these two animals are! 

"Hi, Mom!"

Such a pretty setting--the gazebo, the lake, the lush green grass...ahhh.

And let's not forget our driver! He has done such a great job training all of our horses.

"Mom, are we almost done?" 

"Really...are we done?"

One last shot of our pretties!

And on to some sparkler fun! 

This cloud didn't come out as nicely as I'd hoped, but it's still kind of neat (at least I think so).

Dinner time! Tomatoes; fresh mozzarella; garlic, onion, and basil pesto; and a honey balsamic reduction.  Ummmm.

What's better on a hot summer day than a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade with honey and fresh mint?

Nothing, I say, absolutely nothing!

Looks like there's going to be a decent apple crop again this year. Can anyone say applesauce? Hopefully, we can find a cider press this year too.

Now, do these two not define cuteness? That's our Anabelle Rose (Belle) on the left and Amelia Fawn (Mia) on the right. Our darling little dairy goats!

And we'll end today's journey with a shot of Brookvalley's Baby (BB), and most of Ginger in the background. She is a little spit fire, and such a pretty girl. We don't get to use her as much as we'd like so she's definitely a little green. If anyone knows of any kids looking to work on training, let us know. I'm a little too big for her, but she'd make a great pony for someone her size. Watching her move in the pasture, I bet she'd make a great little jumper or barrel racer.

I hope you enjoyed our journey! Please, join me again next time for more "Today's Lens."

Thanks for viewing!

Laura

Today's Lens (07/02/14)

Not much time to write today, but I had some photos that I wanted to share. Click here to view/comment on them individually, or scroll through below:

 

Thanks for viewing! Join me again next time for more of "Today's Lens." 

Today's Lens (07/02/14) Photo Library

Laura

Today's Lens (06/26/14)

Today, we'll take our usual trip down to the barn, but then we'll also take a quick swing by Merli Sarnoski Park to check out the scene. Thanks for joining me (click here to view images individually and post comments).

It almost looks as though someone posed these three! Not only are they in order by size, but they're also perfectly spaced and staggered. I couldn't have gotten them to do this if I tried!

Island hopping. This great blue heron decided that he wasn't happy on one island at Powell Pond, and took a quick flight over to the second one. I didn't have a clear view of the landing, but rest assured, he stopped by for a bit before taking off again for the pond behind the barn.

I'm not sure if this little fatty reminded me of Punxsutawney Phil, the real one, or Phil the spokes'chuck for the PA Lottery. Of course, even though it's not a gopher, I also had the phrase "...greasy, grimy, gopher guts" running through my head too - thanks Bill Murray (Caddyshack). 

It caught sight of the dog approaching, and ducked down for cover, but I still saw it peeking!

And, here we have Curious and Curiouser, also known as Muffin (foreground) and Rocky (background). While Ann is back in the barn tending to her new baby (a week old yesterday), these two are out roaming around and seeing what trouble they can get into.

It really does look like he's contemplating trouble, doesn't it?

Next stop: The boat launch at Merli Sarnoski Park. I never fail to catch a glimpse of a heron in the boggy end of the lake. I stuck around for a while to see if this guy would go fishing, but he never really moved from this place. In fact, I walked all the way down to the handicap dock, and he was still pretty much in the same position. 

I had to run to catch up to this little fellow. Even though they say turtles are slow, this one was on a mission to get across the road quick! I waited until he was just on the edge and out of harms way should a car come along before I got close enough for it to stop moving. I'm guessing, from the very brief research that I've done to identify this guy, that by the length of his claws, this is a male Eastern Painted Turtle. One other way to identify gender was to look at the length of the tail, but that's not clearly visible in any of the shots I got.

This Red-eyed Vireo flitted around in the brush near the handicap fishing dock. He was quite a playful little fellow, and kept stopping to pose for me. You can see his red eyes a little more clearly in the next shot.

He was quite a pretty little fellow, but the red eyes are kind of scary looking when the light hits them just right.

I saw the orange of this little guy, and instantly thought, oooh, Baltimore Oriole. Wrong. After I got home and pulled the photo up on the computer, I could clearly see that it wasn't. This is an American Redstart. I'm always amazed at the different types of birds I see at the Park vs. what I see at home, which is only "over the river and through the woods" away - as the crow flies, it's only about 0.6 mile to the main parking lot, but driving it's 1.1 miles.

Peek-A-Boo. This chipmunk thought it might be fun to play peek-a-boo for while. Naturally, I indulged

.

We'll end with the uglier side of man. Throughout the Park, there are numerous, and I mean you don't have to walk far to find one, garbage cans and recycle bins. Why? Why, why, why do people have to be so lazy and inconsiderate? These items were just out of reach, and at the bottom of a not so friendly looking drop-off, and I couldn't do my part to help clean it up (at least not without fear of falling in, and I didn't think the Canon would take too kindly to that. Although I did fall in the fountain at Nay Aug in the middle of the winter a few years ago and tested the Canon's swimming ability - it survived, and I'm still using the same camera today - but that's another story).

This one, I did pick up and carry through the woods with me until I got to the next nearest can - a whopping 300' or so - boy was I exhausted from carrying a plastic water bottle (which according to the International Bottled Water Association weighs approximately 12.7 grams - less than 1/10 of a pound) that far. No wonder the previous owner just dropped it along the side of the lake where it can do far more harm than good. I really don't understand people! 

Aside from the litter bugs and their sloppy laziness, I hope you enjoyed today's journey.  As always, if you would like to comment on individual photos, please use this link:  Today's Lens (06/26/14) Photo Library.

Join me again next time for more "Today's Lens."

Thanks for joining me!

Laura