28 Tips to sleeping better

These are all things I do to try to get a good nights sleep but was trying to formalize a list to hopefully help my parents. Here goes, mom and dad:

1. Find a good pillow
2. Find a good mattress (one that doesn't sag in the middle and you're comfortable on)
3. Avoid sleeping on the couch
4. Put fresh linens on bed regularly
5. No distracting noises (fan or white noise can help here). If you just need "noise" besides white noise or a fan, try very low frequency songs designed for falling to sleep.
6. Avoid blue light (like from phone or tv) an hour before bed. Don't sleep with tv on.
7. Take a warm bath just before bed with lavender scented bubble bath or bath salts
8. Spend at least an hour winding down for bed. Nothing too exciting. No alcohol. 
9. Do physical activity every day, even if in only small amounts but well before bed time. Late workouts can keep you up.
10. Avoid day time naps.
11. Get black out curtains.
12. Seal mattress with plastic sheets. Particularly if you tend to sneeze or have trouble breathing.
13. Run a fan even if not for white noise. Just makes for more breathable and fresh air. Crack a window if the temp is right. Keep the air as clean and fresh as possible in the house.
14. Try to go to bed at the same time every night.
15. Avoid caffeine for several hours before bed or during any time when you should be sleeping.
16. It's better to have a big lunch than big dinner. Don't eat within an hour of your normal bed time.
17. If you pee a lot, also avoid drinking much within 2 hours of bed time.
18. Regulate circadian rhythm. Get a good dose of bright light by day. Lower the lights in the house 2-3 hours before bed. 15 watts will trigger melatonin release (not blue lights from tv though). 
19. Nicotine is a stimulant so avoid smoking a couple hours before bed or during the time when you should be sleeping.
20. Do something relaxing an hour before bed like read a book (while taking a bath in 15 watt lighting) or meditate.
21. Ear plugs help with partner snoring.
22. Humidifiers help with ambient cigarette smoke.
23. Setup a proper mattress in another room if partner is still too disruptive to sleep soundly after trying other tips.
24. Keep it cool in the bedroom. 65 is recommended. Use a blanket as needed to keep body warm.
25. 200 mg magnesium and 600 mg calcium boost sleep.
26. Spritz lavender essential oil spray on pillows at night.
27. Melatonin is naturally produced but in much higher doses when young. It's probably the most effective supplement you can take for sleep.
28. Valerian is a natural supplement helping 90% of people sleep better if taken regularly ( the other 10 it makes worse). 200 - 800 mg is best.

Homemade Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut. So nutritious. So yummy. So cheap. Just do it. 

• Medium-Small Fresh Cabbage with loose outer leaves removed finely sliced (not chopped). Using a mandolin is best. 
• 1 Tbsp whole peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1.5 Tbsp sea salt (no iodine)
• Toss together in a large bowl. Tamp into mason jar in layers using a meat tenderizer mallet (it's hard to over tamp. give it a good effort)
• If cabbage is already covered in it's own brine, great, you're done. If not, wait a couple hours, come back, tamp some more if necessary. If it's still not covered, make up a brine that tastes about as salty as typical kraut. Pour it over the cabbage. 
• Now you just want to keep every single piece of cabbage under that brine. If you want, you can cut out a circular piece of thick green cabbage leaf to sit on top (it needs to stay submerged too). Then fill up a small glass or water (or some sort of weight) to sit on top and hold the cabbage down. 
• Lay a light cloth on top to keep out dust. Let ferment for 1-3 weeks (speed varies by temperature). Supposedly the best tasting is at slightly lower room temperatures over more time. The warmer it is, the faster it goes. 
• Keep tasting periodically to see if it tastes ready. It will stink in a less pleasant way the first few days, so don't worry about that yet. If you see mold / spots appear on top (because a bit of cabbage touched the air), just scoop out that piece of cabbage and the spots and wipe down the side of the glass. 
• Once it's ready, just keep it in the fridge. If you eat it fairly soon after sticking in the fridge, it will be a fair but crunchier than store bought kraut (much yummier, I think). I like cutting up just a bit of darker green leaves. Prettier that way. 

Note: homemade kraut has the beneficial bacteria in it where as store bought has been pasteurized and all bacteria (the good stuff) is killed. 

Pretty mommy song

Simple Healthy Food Time & Money Savers

Lately, I've been busier than usual. It's often tempting to get fast food or buy foods that are already made (which is very difficult to find if your criteria is inexpensive and healthy). So this is a small list of time saving healthy foodies, I've come across, that don't break the bank.

Simply cabbage and carrots and in the right quantity. A whole head of cabbage is always too much for me, and I like it better never frozen. I use this for stir fry, homemade ramen, soups, and actual slaw. Getting just cabbage/carrots is the cheapest. Then I can add my own tid bits of broccoli. 

I didn't realize how much more often I'd use ginger, until I bought this stuff on Amazon. Tastes just like freshly cut ginger.

Crushed garlic preserved with citric acid. I love trader joes!

Granted, this is an all in one meal (add rice), but a) they're as simple as it gets, b) they're really healthy, c) they're fabulously delicious, and d) they go on really big sales. When they do, I buy them out. Makes for a great easy week night meal (add some veggies and rice). I usually have a freezer full of chopped veggies to add. Easy-Peasy.

Mirpoix - Carrots, Celery and Onion. Granted, you do have to take time to chop it up, but you can freeze about a 6-month supply and just pull a little out as you go. I use this in about half the things I cook (roasted chicken, stir fry, beans and rice, soups, etc....)

Fully stocked freezer full of frozen veggies. No worries, it won't go bad. My staples are mirpoix (see above), corn, peas, limas, spinach, cauliflower, bell peppers (chopped myself) and broccoli. I'm not a huge fan of the store bought mixes. They always taste funny.

Chicken bone broth saved to ice cube trays for easy re-use. Granted this takes effort, sure, but if you make a big batch, later it's really easy to use (particularly if you have some of it in ice cube size quantities). That way you don't really have to "defrost". I hate that step. We cook a whole hen on the weekend, shred all the chicken for use throughout the week, then boil the bones overnight to make broth. You could simplify this even further but buying the sale rotisserie chickens and make the broth from the leftovers in that. This broth is way better (and healthier I think) than any store bought broth, plus it's leftovers, so it's free! Boiling those bones gives it that cloudy appearance which is collagen and some extra vitamins and enzymes. It's also good for inflammation reduction when sick (read more here)

I can't always find this stuff, but when I do, I buy a bunch. You can freeze it and it tastes exactly like fresh  lemon (unlike that other lemon juice stuff you buy) and no preservatives. So easy. And cheaper than buying lemons too. 

Tiny Home?

We bought a used tiny cabin from some nice folks in mountain brook for $800. Only 8x8. We'd been exploring options for a camping / weekend stay type solution for our property which is 90 minutes from our main home and think this will be perfect. Also we'd been wanting a place to store a few garden tools we'd prefer to keep dry and not stolen. Had the cabin moved 90 miles by a tow truck company for $400. It's a bit teensy and empty at the moment, but thinking about putting a tiny wood burning stove (like you see in boats) for heating and some cooking, a futon and hammocks for seating and sleeping,  some solar panels for power, the upper loft for storage, a canopy, picnic table, and grill (or Cobb stove?) for outdoor living space, an outhouse and potentially an outdoor shower for an outdoor bathroom. 

A friend of ours built his grill from scratch using river rocks and I think it's just beautiful (pictures to come of that).

These first two pictures are the before shots before we bought the place.

Moving day:

Cabin in its new home (little knocked up from the move but help together rather well). Note: always make sure grounds super dry before moving these things. Truck for stuck. Neighbor with tractor came to the rescue but it was a bit of a mess. "City people" mistake. 

My new chicken flock

Here are my babies as of 4/9. First round of them I bought on 3/21 from a farmer on one end of town. From him, I bought 2 Dominiques, 2 Ameracaunas, and 2 Buff Orpingtons (supposedly). 1 of the yellow chicks died 2 days after arrival. The other, suspiciously began developing dark feathers. Then one week later I bought 2 marans (ostensibly blue marans) from a farmer on the other end of town. 1 ended up being a black copper maran. I sure hope the one blue ends up a girl. She's my favorite!

Today, I finally bought a coop. Really thought I'd have more time, but they're already really good at flying and clearly ready for a larger home. Made a temporary pen outside, and they ran around very very excited. I think they're ready for their new home (with a heat light of course).

Anyone know what the yellow chick with dark feathers is?

Here's a picture of them when I first got them

Chickens for the urban backyard flock

I'm a little torn. These are my top contenders all available from breeders near Birmingham except Araucana which I can't find anywhere.  Incidentally all the eggs from these birds are either brown or blue except the hamburg which is white. White egg birds are usually smaller (and eat less). Leghorns have the highest egg ratio for feed cost of any egg layer but they're flighty and not usually as friendly as these listed below

Heres a good chart comparison: http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Blue Maran: has a really beautiful color and lays an unusual dark brown egg. Marans come in lots of colors but blue is my favorite and luckily there's breeder of just that color. They don't lay as many eggs as some of the others but if you tried to sell eggs, these would likely be popular. 

Buff Orpington: chunky little golden colored chicken that lays light brown pinkish looking eggs. Known for being friendly. 

Black Australorps: black obviously. Feathers get a pretty green irredescant color to them too. Broke records for most number of eggs (355 in a year or something).  Their eggs are pinkish brown.

Dominique: all the birds I've mentioned have been "heritage" breeds but this one has more heritage than most, I think. I see this chicken and think pilgrims. They're not as chunky and slightly more graceful than most the other chickens I've mentioned so far. Their eggs are a light brown but not pink. More of a yellowish brown.

Speckled hamburg: this little chicken is one of the prettiest but it's flighty too. That's good for free range birds that need to escape predators though. Their white eggs are small just like them. 

Amerecauna: they have cute feather puffs on their cheeks and lay blue eggs. Have had these before and they seemed super sweet, even the roosters 

Rhode Island Red:

That's the chicken in the back on the ameraucana picture. Their feathers are irredescant. Eggs are medium brown and they lay a lot! 

Deleware:

Fat white chicken with coloring under the wing

Aracaunas:

These are rumpless chickens with huge feather tuffs on their cheeks that lay blue eggs. They're really hard to find though in my parts. I've all but given up. They come in all colors

Free DIY Pallet Garden Shed

This man is amazing. He made this really pretty shed from pallets and oil drums, uses wooden dowels and dove tail joints instead of nails, and stains it with motor oil. It's a fairly long series of videos and the sound cuts in and out, but it's still relatively easy to follow along with what he's doing. I need to do this... We desperately need a garden shed, and how cool would it be to make one for free? I think I'd simplify with an actual purchased or scrapped door though, even though his door is lovely. His skills with wood working are quite a bit more advanced than mine, though.

I included some pictures of a few other pallet garden sheds that ranged from decent looking to amazing too.

Warre Bee Hive

This is a vertical top bar bee hive also known as the Peoples Bee Hive. It produces slightly less honey than the Langstroth hive, but requires far less maintenance as well. There are no frames with preformed cells like you see in the Langstroth hive, but rather top bars that the bees draw out their comb from. The bees will spend more time developing the comb thus the slightly reduced honey output. There's a sloped roof to draw off moisture/water and a quilt layer on top (made from shavings) for insulation.  Typically, the beekeeper only needs to enter this type hive twice per year (spring to increase hive body boxes up to three and fall for harvest and reducing hive body boxes down to two).  The bees in this style hive are typically less stressed and more docile. See picture below for the components of this hive.

Here are three online stores that sell these hives:

http://www.beethinking.com/collections/all/products/warre-hive?variant=441204841

http://www.thewarrestore.com/apps/webstore/products/show/1136749

http://handsoffbees.blogspot.com

Flow Bee Hive Prototype -- Honey On Tap

This is a bee hive prototype made by a father and son out of Australia that I think is just cool. The bee hive design has windows that make the activity within the hive highly visible without need of disturbing the bees. You can even harvest the honey without disturbing the bees. Plus, with a traditional hive, you'd normally only extract once per year, but with this hive design, you can harvest one frame at a time throughout the year (multiple times) so that you can try honey at different times throughout the season. No need for expensive safety gear, smokers, or extraction equipment in order to harvest (although you might still want it for inspecting). It's really a very pretty bee hive design. Since the bees are less upset during harvest, I think this would be a perfect hive for an apartment dwelling urban bee keeper (*cough*).

Seriously though, I'm considering buying this and sticking it in my apartment back yard. Always put off having a hive because our rural land is 90 minutes away and we live in an apartment in the city, so it just never seemed right to have a hive and keep a close eye on the bees, but this style hive is calling to me. Only draw back is no chance to extract bees wax, but I think it's a very fair trade-off. 

The complete 10-frame flow hive is available for $600 (but they have several other options). A similarly sized 8-frame traditional cypress hive with veil, gloves, smoker, brush and hive tool is about ($375) plus extraction equipment ($150). So that's $600 vs $525. Some might still want veil, gloves and smoker to do inspections, which might cost around $85. In that case, it makes it $685 vs $440 (plus potential shipping and bees) for start-up costs on one hive. 

Checkout this page for more info and to make donations to ramp up production on the prototype: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive and check out the video:

I suspect/hope that once production on this takes off (which I think it will), the price might drop some. It's not terribly complicated a design, really, to warrant a huge price difference b/w the two hives, I don't think, just a matter of mass producing them.