How To Get Rid Of Aphids On Plants Naturally & Organically

July 15, 2015

You’ve spent countless hours tirelessly tending to your garden. As spring approaches and your hard work pays off in brilliant blooms and luscious fruit, you begin to notice something sinister. What was once thriving, healthy plants are now giving way to the damages of an unknown source. Leaves turn yellow and foliage begins to adopt a strange, sticky substance. In all likelihood, you’re dealing with an aphid infestation.

Every gardener, either casual or professional, must hold a solid understanding of aphids. If unchecked, these tiny insects can completely destroy a once thriving garden. Stop wasting time, and the health of your plants. Continue reading to uncover vital information about aphids and how to get rid of aphids without the use of toxic, chemically-charged pesticides.

What Are Aphids? An Overview of These Annoying Pests

Aphids are officially defined as being soft-bodied insects identified by their long slender mouths. Their mouths are specially designed to penetrate the most tender parts of plants, such as stems and leaves, and suck out its fluids. Unfortunately, almost every plant species is vulnerable to one or more aphid species. Although there are many different type of aphids, the methods used to get rid of aphids is relatively universal.

The Physical Appearance of Aphids

Looking closely at an aphid, you’d notice it features a pear-shaped body highlighted by an antennae and long legs. Its coloration can vary from red, black, brown, yellow or green. The coloration of an aphid is based upon its species and the type of plant it feeds on. Several aphid species feature a woolly or waxy appearance. This appearance is due to a unique substance it secretes over the surface of its body.

In general, adult aphids are wingless insects; however, there are some species that feature small wings. The winged variety are typically found during spring and fall months. While it’s possible find only one or two aphids, the majority of these insects travel in dense colonies. These gatherings of aphids are generally found on the leaves and stems of plants, which make identifying them much easier than single bugs. A great way to identify an aphid is to disturb the plant. Unlike other pests, such as leafhoppers, aphids tend to stay still when disturbed, which actually makes it easier to remove or kill the aphids.

Life cycle of an aphid

The Life Cycle of an Aphid

Aphids produce many generations throughout a single year. Female aphids give birth to live offspring. The average female aphid can produce up to 12 newborns each day – all without mating. This asexual reproduction can result in a massive colony in a relative short amount of time. Aphid nymps molt, or shed their skin, four times before reaching adulthood. Unlike other pests, there is no pupal stage. In some species, the aphids produce an egg after mating. This occurs during late fall. Its purpose is to ensure the species survives during the harsh winter months as the shell provides extra insulation. These eggs are generally laid on perennial plants to survive the winter.

During warmer months, the molting stages are swift. In general, a nymph can pass through the four molting phases within seven to eight days. Since each adult aphid can produce an average of 80 nymphs within a week or so, aphid populations can swiftly grow out-of-control. This can be a serious problem for gardens and farms.

Damage Caused by Aphids

If you have low to moderate aphid populations in your garden, the damage caused to plants will likely go unnoticed. However, when a population grows large, the damage can be widespread and serious. Because both nymphs and adults feed on the juices of plants, the entire plant can be damaged by their presence. The most notable damage will be on new growth.

If you’re trying to determine whether or not your plants are being attacked by these creatures, check for the following:

Misshapen, stunted or yellowing leaves. If you notice this in your garden, make sure to check on the underside of leaves. This is where the majority of aphids hide.
Check the surface of leaves. A common sign of an aphid infestation is a film of sticky residue. This is caused by aphids sucking sap out of the plant. The waste of aphids, known as honeydew, is a sugary liquid. This secretion often attracts other insects, such as ants. Therefore, check plants to see if there’s an unusual amount of insect activity on or around its stem and leaves.
Check the branches and leaves of plants for a fungal growth. This growth, known as sooty mold, is a byproduct of the aphid secretions. When present, the leaves and branches of plants will appear black or discolored.
Review the shape and size of fruits and flowers. As an aphid feeds on these portions of a plant, their presence can cause the flowers and fruits of plants to become distorted.

Aphid infestation

The Results of Aphid Infestations

Because of the wide array of aphids, the results of an infestation can vary from plant-to-plant. Regardless of what species is attacking your garden, their presence always results in deteroration of plant health and vitality. The following are the most common results of an active aphid infestation:

As an aphid sucks the juices out of a plant, they are doing more than stealing its vitality. These creatures can be carriers to any virus the host plant may currently have. Therefore, when an aphid moves onto another plant, these viruses may be transmitted. Unfortunately, it only takes one aphid to transmit plant viruses. The resulting damage from a plant virus can be far more damaging than the results of an aphid infestation. This is a major concern for many gardeners, as an entire crop can be ruined by disease due to aphids.
As an infestation continues, the entire plant can stop growing. This can occur on almost any plant, such as zucchini, tomatoes, and pumpkins. Once the plant stops growing, and its leaves turn yellow, the yield will be significantly diminished.
In the most serious cases, aphids can attack plant roots. When this occurs, the entire plant may shrivel up and die. New growth and young plants are especially vulnerable to an aphid infestation. Therefore, you must enhance your focus on these plants.

How To Get Rid of Aphids: 10 Organic, All-Natural Aphid Treatments

For years, gardeners and farmers turned to chemically-rich pesticides to control aphid infestations. While this may have killed off these pests, it also damages the environment and can even alter the health of your plants. Because of this, turning to all-natural aphid control options is the recommended choice.

The following 10 all-natural aphid control measures are some of the most effective ways to eliminate these pests without harming your plants or the environment. Use a combination of several methods to ensure your plants remain healthy and aphid-free. You may also want to check out our post on companion plants too.

Method #1 | Physically Removing Aphids By Hand

As mentioned earlier, aphids tend to remain in place when disturbed. Therefore, it’s quite easy to simply remove these pests by hand. Put on a pair of gardening gloves. Inspect the entire plant, specifically the underside of leaves. If you spot an aphid, simply pinch it with your fingers and place in a plastic bag. Continue each day to keep an aphid infestation under control without the use of pesticides.

Method #2 | Repel Aphids With Neem Oil

Dilute pure neem oil in water and pour into a spray bottle. Thoroughly spray each plant, making sure to focus on areas where aphids enjoy hiding. The compounds within neem oil act as natural aphid repellents. This oil also repels other pests, such as cabbage worms, beetles, caterpillars and ants. Another added bonus: neem oil can also ward off a variety of fungal strains known to infect plants.

Method #3 | Kill Aphids With This Herbal Pesticide Treatment

In a small spray bottle, pour equal amounts of rosemary oil, clove oil, peppermint oil and thyme essential oil. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake well. Thoroughly spray an entire plant that’s infested with aphids. The active compounds within these essential oils kill adult aphids, nymphs and eggs. It also acts as a general insect repellent without damaging the integrity of your plants. However, always dilute these oils before applying. Non-diluted essential oils can burn delicate plants.

Blast aphids with a hose

Method #4 | Blast Aphids WIth A Garden Hose

Perhaps one of the easiest – and most efficient – ways to eliminate aphids from your plants is by simply spraying them with water. With a standard garden hose, thoroughly spray each plant. Make sure to pay special attention to the underside of leaves and to its stalk. It’s important to note that this method can damage young plants and new growth. However, in adult plants, it’s a safe way to eliminate aphids without the use of pesticides. In order for this method to remain effective, you must repeat on a regular basis.

Method #5 | How To Kill Aphids With Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth is an effective natural remedy for aphids. Spray your plants with water, then follow this by dusting a light coating of diatomaceous earth directly to plants. Make sure to apply this powder on the underside of leaves and along the base of plants. The compounds in D.E. penetrate the shell of aphids and dehydrate the bugs from the inside-out. As many farmers and gardeners already know, this is perhaps one of the most effective all-natural aphid control methods.

Aphid control with Lacewings

Method #6 | Lacewing Insects Love Eating Aphids

If you’re looking for a unique way to control aphids, then you may want to fight insects with insects. Lacewings have a unique appetite for aphids. These helpful insects aren’t harmful to your plants, but can offer great relief. You may purchase lacewing insects from many gardening supply stores. Place these eggs around plants and watch the aphid population soon go extinct.

Method #7 | Grow Aphid-Resistant Plants

Growing plants, such as catnip, oregano or garlic can be an effective means of work warding off aphids. The scent these plants give off are offensive to aphids. Many gardeners find entire infestations are warded off by simply growing these plants near other plants. You can also plant other herbs, such as clover, mint, dill and fennel.

Method #8 | Plant Onions in Garden

Growing onions near your garden naturally repel aphids. These insects dislike organic compounds, such as those found by onions. By growing onions within your garden, you’ll effectively discourage aphids from growing in and around your plants.

Method #9 | How To Kill Aphids With This Homemade Aphid Spray

If you need a powerful way to eliminate an entire aphid infestation, but wish to avoid chemical pesticides, create the following homemade spray. Its compounds effectively kill aphids.

- Warm 1 liter of water and pour into a spray bottle.
- Add a 1/8 of a teaspoon of gelatin into the bottle.
- Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger.
- Thoroughly shake the bottle.
- Spray this mixture around the leave and stalks of plants.
- Repeat every other day until you see the aphids completely disappear.

Kill Aphids with garlic spray

Method #10 | Aphids Hate Garlic: Make This Garlic Spray

While planting garlic is a great way to ward off aphids, sometimes this isn’t enough. By making a homemade garlic spray, you can effectively thwart an aphid infestation. To make this spray, bring 5 cups of water to a rolling boil. Crush 5 cloves of garlic and add to the boiling water. Cover and allow the water to steep for 10 minutes. Remove the lead and allow the water to cool. Pour in a spray bottle, including the garlic cloves. Thoroughly spray each plant, making sure to pay attention to the underside of leaves and along the stalk. It’s best to do this in the evening before sunset.

(Images from: Alvesgaspar, Charlesjsharp, Pollinator & Lee Kindness )

5 Luxury Handmade Soap Recipes To Make Yourself

July 13, 2015

Making handmade soap is a simple, fun, and cost-effective process that will allow you to unleash your creativity whilst saving money – you’ll never need to buy another bar of soap again.

As well as saving you significant amounts of money each year, handmade soaps also make a great, quirky gift for friends and family. And, once you have mastered the art of soap making, the possibilities are truly endless!

Ready to venture into the world of soap making? Here are five handmade soap recipes to get you started…

Safety First!

You shouldn’t be scared of using lye to make handmade soap; after all, people have been using it for years. You should, however, take a number of precautions when using it, to ensure that the process is as safe as possible.

If it isn’t done correctly, handling lye can be dangerous. So it’s crucial that you follow all safety precautions and understand the process before you begin your soap making.

Store all hazardous substances in a safe place, out of reach of children.
Always ensure that you have a bottle of vinegar close to hand during the soap making process. If there’s any spillage of the lye, pour the vinegar over it straight away to neutralize it.
Label all of your equipment ‘For Soap Making Use Only’ so it does not cause contamination.
Make sure that you wear the appropriate protective clothing including rubber gloves, goggles, and thick outer clothing.
Because lye is an extremely caustic chemical, it is important that you do not let it touch you in any way.

Simple handmade soap for beginners

Easy Handmade soap for beginners

First off, here’s a super simple soap recipe that will ease you into soap making and get you familiar with how to make homemade soap.

You’ll need…

2 ½ Cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Cup Coconut Oil
2 Tablespoons Lavender Essential Oil
20 Ounces Lye
47 Ounces Water

How to make it…

Firstly, mix the lye into the water in a glass bowl or other heatproof container. It’s important that you mix the lye into the water and not the other way around!

To avoid filling your house with nasty fumes, it’s always advisable to do this part outdoors.

Once the lye is fully dissolved, leave the solution to cool in a safe area away from children and pets.

Whilst you’re waiting for the mixture to cool, weigh out the olive and coconut oils and mix them together in a large glass bowl. Ensure that your bowl is big enough to accommodate the rest of your ingredients.

When the lye mixture has cooled, pour it into the oil mix (you can bring it back inside to do this) and gently mix them together.

Once they’ve started to blend together, you can then move on to using a hand blender – just be careful not to spray the mixture everywhere!

Once your mixture has thickened to the consistency of mayonnaise, it has reached the stage called ‘trace’. At this point, add your essential oils into the mixture.

Pour the mixture into soap molds – if you’re using plastic containers, it’s advisable to oil them before hand to prevent sticking.

Cover the molds and set them aside for at least 24 hours.

Once 24 hours has passed, uncover the soap and see if you can easily remove it from the molds. If it’s too soft, simply re-cover and leave it for a few more hours before trying it again.

When you’re able to remove the soap from the molds, cut it into bars. Because it’s homemade soap, you’re free to cut it into any shape or size you like – the only limit is your creativity (and cutting skills!).

Once you have cut your soaps into the desired shape, leave the bars to set for approximately one month. Turn them everyday at first, and then reduce this to every week.

Zesty Lemon Handmade Soap Recipe

Once you’ve mastered the basic soap recipe, you can then move on to colorful and fragrant varieties. This homemade zesty lemon soap smells amazing and has a great texture too.

You’ll need…

1 ½ Cups Goats Milk Soap Base or Shea Butter Soap Base, cut into cubes
4-6 drops Lemon Essential Oil
The dried zest of 3 – 4 lemons

How to make it…

Cut the soap base into small cubes, place it in a large Pyrex measuring cup and microwave it for 30 second intervals for about one minute.

Once the soap cubes have turned to liquid, add a few drops of the lemon essential oil and the lemon zest. Stir the mixture well.

Pour the soap into moulds and allow it to harden for at least an hour.

Once the soap is fully hardened, press the mold to release it.

Homemade oatmeal soap

Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey Handmade Soap Recipe

This soft and soothing soap is perfect for young, elderly, or dry skin, as well as those suffering from sunburned or chapped skin – it also smells delicious!

You’ll need…

2/3 Cup Olive Oil
2/3 Cup Coconut Oil
2/3 Cup Combination of Sweet Almond Oil and Grape Seed Oil
¾ Cup Distilled Water
¼ Cup Lye
2 Teaspoons Ground, Old Fashioned Dry Oats
2 Teaspoons Honey
2 Tablespoons Dry Milk

How to make it…

Firstly, prepare the lye and water – adding the lye to the water (never the other way round), and mixing until dissolved. Once fully mixed, set aside, and leave to cool until it reaches around 100 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Next, combine all of the oils together and heat until the coconut oil begins to melt.

Slowly mix the lye/water solution into the oils, and stir gently for around five minutes.

After the initial five minutes, you can either continue stirring by hand or mix with a hand blender until it thickens to the trace stage.

5. Once your mixture has reached the optimum thickness, add the dry oats and the honey. It’s a good idea to heat the honey first so that it mixes better.

Once the oats and honey are well mixed in, add the dry milk and a little more oil if needed. Now mix well and don’t be alarmed if the mixture turns yellow or orange, this is just because of the milk and will lighten up later in the process!

Once everything is thoroughly combined, pour the mixture into molds of your choice and leave it to set for around 24 hours.

After 24 hours, remove the soaps from the molds and cut them into your desired shapes and sizes.

Leave your perfectly cut, handmade soaps to cure for 3-4 weeks, turning daily at first and then weekly as they begin to dry out.

Chamomile herbs for yellow chamomile handmade soap recipe

Yellow Chamomile Handmade Soap Recipe

This handmade soap recipe is bight, cheerful and, thanks to its chamomile content, it smells amazing!

You’ll need…

4” Silicone Loaf Mold
8 Ounces Coconut Oil
8 Ounces Palm Oil
1 Ounces Rice Bran Oil
1 Ounces Sweet Almond Oil
4 Ounces Cocoa Butter
9 Ounces Sodium Hydroxide Lye
6 Ounces. Distilled Water
Yellow Oxide
Titanium Dioxide
1 Ounce Chamomile Bergamot Fragrance Oil
1 Tablespoon Chamomile Extract
Chamomile Herbs

How to make it…

Slowly and carefully, add the lye to the water, gently stirring until it fully dissolves and the resulting mixture is clear.

Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Mix together the cocoa butter, coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil, sweet almond oil, and the palm oil.

Set aside to cool to room temperature (below 130 degrees)

Once both mixtures have cooled to the correct temperatures, add the lye water into the oils and blend carefully until it reaches the trace stage.

When you’re at trace stage, add 1 tablespoon of chamomile extract into the mixture and stir in using a whisk.

Split the batch into approximately half (it doesn’t need to be exact). Add 2 tsp. of dispersed yellow oxide into one of the halves, and stir in using a whisk.

Add 1 teaspoon of dispersed titanium dioxide into the other half of the mixture and whisk this in too.

Add 5 Oz. of Chamomile Bergamot Fragrance Oil into each container and mix thoroughly using a whisk.

Now, hold one color of mixture in each hand and pour into opposite sides of the mold. (By this point, it should be a medium trace, if it’s still a little on the thin side, mix with a handheld blender to thicken).

Insert a dowel (or chopstick) down to the bottom of the mold, and move it horizontally through the soap about four or five times. Then move it vertically through the soap, repeating the process twice.

Tap the soap mold firmly down onto the counter to release any bubbles, before sprinkling the chamomile herbs on the top of the mixture and gently pressing them down to secure them in place.

Spray the soap with 99% rubbing alcohol and leave it to rest for between 48 and 72 hours.

Remove the soap from the mold and cut it into slices. Remember to cut from the side as cutting from the top may result in drag marks from the herbs.

Kitchen Coffee Spice Bar Soap Recipe

This aromatic soap not only smells divine, but it also works to deodorize the hands whilst exfoliating and gently scrubbing all the dirt away. It also makes the perfect gift for those who love coffee!

This soap is made using the hot process method.

You’ll need…

Base oils

12 Ounces Olive Oil
10 Ounces Coconut Oil
6 Ounces Sustainable Palm Oil
2 Ounces Castor Oil
½ Ounce Jojoba oil

Lye Solution

30 Ounces Lye (6% excess fat)
10 Ounces Triple Strength Coffee, cooled

Exfoliant

2-3 Tablespoons Ground Coffee, wet or dry

Add-ins

1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
2 Ounces Essential Oils of your choice

How to make it…

Start by preparing the triple strength coffee, using distilled water and a coffee press.

Place the coffee in the refrigerator and allow to cool over night. This is a really important step – under no circumstances should you use hot coffee in this recipe!

Once the coffee has cooled, use a kitchen scale to measure the lye and the coffee in separate bowls.

Gently combine the lye and the coffee, pouring the lye into the coffee (never the other way round), and stir the mixture until the lye has completely dissolved. Once combined, set the mixture to one side and allow to cool.

Whilst the lye mixture is cooling, measure out each of the oils excluding the Jojoba oil, and melt on a low heat.

Once the oils have melted, add the lye and coffee mixture and stir gently to combine. Then use a hand blender to blend until they reach the trace stage.

After 1-2 minutes of blending, add the coffee grounds, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Continue blending for around 2-3 minutes more, until the mixture reaches a thick, pudding like consistency. Then cover the pot and heat the soap over a low heat, for approximately one hour.

Remove the soap from the heat and quickly add the essential oils and the Jojoba oil, stirring well until the mixture is fully combined.

Spoon the mixture out into the molds and allow it to cool and harden for at least 24 hours.

Next, remove the mixture from the mold, place it on a cutting board, and cut into bars (the size of the bars is completely up to you).

Place the bars on a tray with good airflow so that they can harden.

5 Moonshine Recipes You’ll Be Over-The-Moon About!

July 8, 2015

So you’re looking for some moonshine recipes? That’s quite understandable as there are few things as enjoyable as creating the perfect moonshine, particularly when you’ve waited for the mash to ripen into something truly delicious. What’s more, with so many moonshine recipes out there, you can be spoilt for choice as to what to create next. With this in mind, we’ve collated some of our favourite recipes. Happy mashing people!

Important note: Distilling alcohol is illegal in the US unless you have a fuel alcohol or a distilled spirit plant permit. Be sure to review your state/country laws on distilling alcohol.

Moonshine Recipes

Southern Whiskey Moonshine Recipe

This special moonshine has the distinct taste of the south and makes for a real kicker for those looking for something more potent.

Ingredients that you’ll need

¼ of Corn syrup (per 1 1/2 gallons of water)
Water
One cup of honey (per every ten gallon batch)
1 – 3 ozs yeast (per ten gallons of mash)

Equipment that you’ll need

Sauce pan
Hydrometer
Food safe fermentation bucket

Southern Whiskey moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Add between 1 and 3 ounces of yeast for every ten gallon batch

Step Two – Heat up around a quarter of your water and then stir in the corn syrup, followed by the honey

You’re aiming for heat of between 120 and 130 degrees (a temperature which will melt your corn syrup).

Step Three – Pour the mixture into the fermenter and finish with cool water, until it reaches 80 degrees.

Step Four – Take a hydrometer reading

To give you an idea about this, you should have had a reading of about 60 to 65, and you shouldn’t exceed a reading of 70.

Step Five – Add in your yeast (being sure to read the instructions on the packet)

Step Six – Leave for between 6 and 14 days for fermentation to take place – then you’re ready to serve.

How To Make Apple Pie Moonshine Recipe Infographic

How To Make Apple Pie Moonshine Recipe

This recipe has to be one of the most popular around and there are all sorts of variations on it; however, this seems to be one of the most common moonshine recipes (although you’re free to experiment as you wish with the various flavours).

Oh, and did we mention that this particular recipe is ready within 1 hour and 10 minutes? Making it perfect for those who get a little impatient awaiting fruit fermentation.

Ingredients that you’ll need

2 Cups of white sugar
2 Cups of brown sugar
1 Gallon of apple juice
4 Cinnamon sticks, or more to taste
1 Pinch apple pie spice
1 (750 ml) bottle 190 proof grain alcohol
1 Gallon apple cider
1 (750 ml) bottle vodka

Equipment that you’ll need

Large pot for the stove
Glass jars

Apple Pie moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Mix together the apple juice, apple cider, white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon sticks, placing them all into a large pot upon the stove. You should bring this almost to boiling point.

Then, cover the pot with a lid and allow the mixture to simmer for approximately 1 hour before removing it from the stove and leaving it to cooling completely down.

Step Two – Add the grain alcohol and vodka syrup to the mix and stir. At this point you can also remove the cinnamon sticks.

Step Three- Serve up!

That’s all there is to it, you can now serve this up into glass jars or bottles and enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to drink it. I think apple pie is the king of all moonshine recipes, but that’s my personal preference!

The best image I could find to represent the Black Beard’s moonshine recipe…

How To Make Black Beard’s Rum Moonshine Recipe

This is one of the best moonshine recipes for the rum lovers, although you do need to be a little patient with it as it can take up to 14 days to ferment.

Ingredients that you’ll need

2 Pounds of brown sugar (for each gallon of water)
1 Cup of honey (for every ten gallon batch of the mixture)
Water
1 – 3 ozs yeast (per ten gallons of match)

Equipment that you’ll need

Sauce pan
Hydrometer
Food safe fermentation bucket

Black Beard’s Rum moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Begin by heating up a quarter of your water to around 120 degrees

At this point it will be hot enough to melt the sugar, so add this in and stir. After the sugar, you can add the honey.

Step Two – Pour the mix into your fermenter

Add cool water, according to the measurements above, to cool the mixture to 80 degrees.

Step Three – Take a hydrometer reading and adjust if necessary

To give you an idea about this you should have had a reading of about 90, and you shouldn’t exceed a reading of 100.

Step Four – Add your yeast into the mix as per the packet instructions

Step Five – Leave for between 6 and 14 days to ferment, then serve.

Watermelon-peach moonshine brandy – oh yeah!

How To Make Watermelon-Peach Moonshine Brandy Recipe

Coming in at a five week fermentation time, this moonshine recipe is the longest of the moonshine recipes listed here. However, with the sweetness of a watermelon, the bitterness of the lime, and an alcohol punch to finish, this is one moonshine recipe that is well worth waiting for.

Ingredients that you’ll need

1 ¼ of a large watermelon
1 ¼ Cup chopped golden raisins
15 limes (you’ll need these to be juiced as we aren’t using the pulp or the zest)
25 Cups of sugar
Water (to make 5 gallons)
Either wine or distillers yeast
10 peaches

Equipment that you’ll need

Sauce pan
Hydrometer
Food safe fermentation bucket
Large bowl

Watermelon-peach moonshine brandy: Step by step

Step One – Juice the watermelons and peaches

You should save the leftover pulp in a sauce pan.

Step Two – Boil up the pulp with five quarts of water for around 30 minutes

Once boiled, strain off the pulp and then add water to the extracted juice.

Step Three – Cool your mixture down to around lukewarm temperature

You should then add in the water to make up a five gallon mix in total.

Step Four – Add in the remaining ingredients, asides from the yeast, to the fermentation bucket

Cover over the mix with a cloth and leave to stand for 24 hours.

Step Five – After 24 hours add in the yeast

Step Six – Stir the mixture daily over the course of a week and strain off the raisins

Step Seven – Add a fermenting trap and leave to rest for 4 weeks before serving.

How To Make Rye Whiskey Moonshine Recipe

Ingredients that you’ll need

7 pounds of Rye
2 Pounds of Barley
1 Pound of Malt
6 Gallons of water
1 oz of Yeast
1 gram of ammonium-floride

Equipment that you’ll need

Sauce pan
Food safe fermentation device
Large bowl
Pillowcase

Rye Whiskey moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Heat the water to 70 degrees, then mix in the malt and the grain

Step Two – Stir the mixture, slowly raising the temperature by approximately 5 degrees every 2 minutes, until it reaches 160 degrees

Step Three –Keeping the mixture at 160 degrees, stir it constantly for 2 to 3 hours. This will convert the starch into fermentable sugar and dextrin

Step Four – Filter off the liquid, place it into your fermentation device, and allow it to cool to between 70 and 80 degrees

Step Five – Once the mixture has cooled, add 3 grams of yeast followed by 1 gram of ammonium-floride to prevent secondary fermentation. Stir the liquid for 1 minute, then cover and seal with an airlock.

Step Six – Leave for 5 – 7 days to ferment, then pour in to a container, filtering through a pillowcase to remove any remaining solids.

You’re going to need lots of strawberries to make this strawberry moonshine recipe!

How To Make Strawberry Moonshine Recipe

Strawberries are one of the first fruits to ripen during the summer months, so it only seems right that there should be plenty of moonshine recipes made from them. So, here’s a quick and easy moonshine recipe that is deliciously sweet (you’ll need to pay attention to the instructions however, as otherwise you could just end up with one large mushy strawberry mess on your hands!).

Ingredients that you’ll need

1 to 3 pounds of Cane sugar
2 Packets of bread yeast
20 pounds of Strawberries
1.5 pounds of Raisins

Equipment that you’ll need

1 Airlock
Cutting Board and knife
Blender
Funnel
Large auto-siphon (this really needs to be a minimum 1/2″ tube)
Copper immersion chiller
Hotplate
Large stock pot
Large spoon or paddle
2 Fermentation buckets (obviously these need to be food safe)
Mesh strainer
Refractometer
Thermometer

Strawberry moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Rinse off all of your strawberries.

It’s advisable that you use a high pressure hose for this, as it can knock away wild yeast and bacteria which can otherwise taint the taste of the moonshine.

Step Two – Cut all of the tops off the strawberries and throw them away.

Be careful not to miss any of the leaves as these will make the moonshine taste bitter.

Step Three – Check your strawberry batches carefully for any mouldy or rotten fruit. If you find any, discard them straight away as they could contaminate the mash

Step Four – Use only the strawberries that are ripe and un-ruined.

Place them into a blender and create a puree by lightly blending them together. You should take care not to blend them too much however as you don’t want a consistency that is too thin and difficult to separate.

Step Five – Add in your raisins and blend them until they are within the mixture.

Step Six – Pour your mixture into a sanitized bucket (it makes things a lot easier if you use one with a scale on the side)

Step Seven – Once you’ve mixed all of your strawberries and have a total of 2.5 gallons of puree, you can transfer it over to a stainless steel boil kettle.

Step Eight – Mix in 3 gallons of water, making the mixture up to a total of 5.5 gallons.

Step Nine – Use your brix refractometer

To determine the alcohol content of the mixture, you should take a brix reading. To do this, use a small pipette to suck up some of the mixture, this is then placed on a glass plate on the Brix refractometer. You finally view the reading by looking into the contraption’s sight.

Step Ten – Knowing your ideal alcohol measurements

You should really look towards an 8% reading, going any higher than this can result in moonshine that tastes too yeasty. However as this leads to a relatively low gravity reading (where low is considered as less than 15 brix / 1.061 Gravity) cane sugar will need to be added to sweeten the mix.

Step Eleven – If necessary add the cane sugar

For this amount of mixture a measures of 4 pounds of cane sugar should sweeten the moonshine up.

Step Twelve – Stir the mixture once more and take a brix reading to ensure that the gravity has come down

You should now be aiming for a Brix reading of 14 and a gravity reading of 1.055.

Step Thirteen – Cover over and heat to 160 degrees Fahrenheit

Step Fourteen – Cool the mixture down in an immersion chiller

Step Fifteen – When waiting for the mixture to cool you can begin to make the yeast

Use the instructions on your yeast packet for guidance

Step Sixteen – Once cooled to 70 degree Fahrenheit move the mix to your fermentation bucket and add the yeast

Step Seventeen – Cover over and add an air lock.

The temperature where your bucket is stored should be around 70 degrees, leaving it for around a week.

Step Eighteen – Siphon off your mix and run it through a strainer

In doing so you can separate the pulp out and throw it away. You should then add only the strained juice to the still, ignoring any settled yeast that may have formed at the bottom of the barrel.

Step Nineteen – Undertake a spirit run

Distil the product from the stripping run, you should use a low heat for this and run the distiller at a slow rate (this should result in the mixture dripping rather flowing). To ensure this goes as it should you should create at minimum 200 ml fore shots cut, and healthy heads and tails cuts, being sure to save only the best part of the middle of the run for the hearts.

Step Twenty – Serve up!

Serve up your moonshine in glasses filled with fresh, chopped strawberries!

(Images from: Dominic Lockyer, Adam Barhan, Harsha K R & Pixabay)

Natural Tick Repellent Recipes & Tick Bite Prevention Tips

July 7, 2015

Tick before and after feeding

Before we discuss natural tick repellent recipes and tick bite prevention, let’s take a moment to learn a little more about ticks and their dangers.

Ticks. They’re rightly considered to be one of the most unpleasant pests of the insect world. However for those who love nature, or those who are even outside for any longer than a little while, the likelihood of getting a tick bite can be pretty high. Also, whilst the internet is full of blogs, guides and articles, it seems that many seem to conflict with one another as to how to avoid tick bites.

So let’s take a look everything you need to know about ticks, from the symptoms of a tick bite, right through to the natural tick repellents that actually work, and along the way, we’ll try to debunk the most common tick myths and misunderstandings.

Ticks – A little about our not-so-friendly critters

As far as insects go, it’s safe to say that ticks are very unpleasant. They’re ugly, difficult to spot, painful and their feeding habits are pretty disgusting.

What’s more, as they latch on and don’t let go until they’re filled with blood, you can be stuck with a tick for anything from a matter of days through to a number of weeks. And once full, they can reach the size of a marble, turning a green blue colour, before falling off.

Oh, and did we mention that when they fall off after they’ve been a right pain, they quite simply roll over and die. Pretty pointless, right?

And what happens if you do pull them off?

Well, without wanting to put anyone off their dinner, if you pull off a tick that is in full latch mode, you’ll likely end up with just the body, with the head remaining firmly underneath your skin. This can then lead to both a painful and potentially dangerous abscess that has the potential to turn sceptic.

The serious side of tick bites

Whilst we can laugh at the irony of the fate of the tick after they’ve had their meal from us, the serious side to tick bites is not quite as funny. Particularly as these little fellas can be responsible for spreading:

Lyme disease
Ehrlichiosis
Anaplasmosi
Tularemia
Babesiosis

Symptoms of a tick bite

Not sure whether you’ve been bitten by a tick? Well the following symptoms can all appear within a matter of the minutes after the bite.

A red, inflamed sport or a circular rash around the bite, that’s also know as the ‘halo’
Stiff neck and shoulders
Headaches, nausea or a ‘foggy’ head
Sudden weakness
Aching muscles, joint pain and overall wellness
Fever, a fluctuating temperature or chills
Swollen, painful lymph nodes

The truth behind the blood type myth

There’s been many a myth circulated in the past concerning whether ticks are attracted, or repelled, by certain blood types. But we can clear this up once and for all by assuring you that it is absolute nonsense. Ticks are creatures of opportunity and, if they see a nice bit of flesh that’s within reaching distance, they’ll latch on. It’s as simple as that.

So what about the unlucky ones who seem to get bitten ALL of the time?

Well it would seem that this is simply down to bad luck (as well as perhaps a poor choice of clothing and repellent). However, with all of the helpful tips and tricks that are stored within this blog article for you, your luck, when it comes to ticks, is about to get whole lot better.

Homemade Natural Tick Repellent Recipes

Neem leaves have great natural tick repellent properties

Recipe One: Natural Tick Repellent For your clothes

Ingredients that you’ll need

5 Cloves of Garlic (around one bulb)
2 Tablespoons of crushed Neem Leaves
1 and half Lemons (skin and all)
2 Cups of Water

Equipment that you’ll need

Stove
Sauce Pan
Strainer
Funnel
Spray Bottle
Measuring Cup
Measuring Spoons
Knife
Cutting Board

Natural tick repellent, a case note: The garlic ingredient in this recipe is an important element to add and has notably been found to reduce the chances of being bitten by a tick by as much as 21%. This may go some way to explaining why some of us are luckier than others, as for those with a high garlic content diet, the residual garlic within our sweat may serve as a natural repellent.

Natural tick repellent for your clothes: Step by Step

Step One – Heat up your water.

Step Two – Whilst the water is heating up dice up your lemon and garlic.

You needn’t be too careful with getting your chopping precise, or too finely cut, just cut them roughly.

Step Three – Measure out two tablespoons of dried neem leaves.

Step Four – Once your water is boiling you can add in your ingredients.

Step Five – Cover you sauce pan over and leave it to simmer on a low heat for between fifteen to twenty minutes.

Step Six – Remove the mixture and set aside, leaving it to cool down.

Step Seven – Place your funnel into the spray bottle that you have a carefully positioned over the top. You should then take care to slowly pour through your mixture through the strainer. The strainer will then catch all of the solids, with the liquid filling up the spray bottle below.

Step Eight – Screw the spray bottle top back on and that’s it… you’re all done and ready to go.

Step Nine – If you do end up with any leftover repellent then it can be stored; to keep it at its most effective however, you’ll need to get it refrigerated.

Tips for applying the natural tick repellent

Perhaps the most efficient way to use any repellent is to apply it to your skin, however given the garlic ingredient within this recipe it may be wise to avoid this if you don’t want to repel humans as well as ticks! Beyond misting your skin directly you can also use this mist to apply to clothes (just do so at a reasonable distance); it’s also suitable for pets too.

Recipe Two: Natural Tick Repellent For Your skin

ACV has natural tick repellent properties

If you want to go all out and mix up some natural tick repellent for your skin as well as your clothes then the following recipe is perfect.

Ingredients that you’ll need

2 oz of apple cider vinegar, witch hazel or vodka (each is relatively as effective as the next, so feel free to choose freely between these)
2 oz Water
20-40 Drops of geranium bourbon oil

One squirt of Castile soap to help distribute the oil better (this works out to be around a quarter of a tea spoon, however this is also an optional ingredient)

Equipment that you’ll need

A glass or PET plastic spray bottle
A sauce pan

Natural tick repellent for your skin: Step by step

Step One – Add your geranium oil to the apple cider vinegar, witch hazel or vodka.

Step Two – Mix the castile soap into the mixture if you’ve chosen to include castile soap.

Step Three – Wait for the mixture to sit for a few minutes, before you go on to mix further.

Step Four – Add in the water to the mixture

Step Five – Your mixture is now all done, so fill up your spray bottle.

Ideally your spray bottle should be made from either glass or a PET plastic, as oils can otherwise leach the chemicals from certain plastics, which essentially contaminates the repellent.

Tips for applying this tick repellent

This simple recipe is easy to use, and all you need to remember is to shake the mixture well before each use. Simply spray it on exposed skin. This repellent is also suitable for your clothes.

Geranium bourbon essential oil acts as a natural tick repellent

Recipe Three: A Homemade Tick Repellent Lotion For Your Skin

As another form of the recipe above you can choose to make this natural repellent in lotion form. This arguably may be a more effective natural tick repellent as the lotion will be naturally absorbed into the skin.

Ingredients that you’ll need

2 oz of your choice of natural lotion (you can either make your own, or use any shop brought lotion)
Between 20 and 40 drops of geranium bourbon essential oil

Equipment that you’ll need

A glass or PET plastic spray bottle
A container in which to mix your ingredients

Homemade tick repellent for your skin (lotion): Step by step

Step One – Mix your oil and essentials oils into a container

Step Two – Add the mixture to your spray bottle

Tips for storing your repellent

This lotion based tick repellent should be stored in a cool, dark place. If stored as such this is a repellent that should easily last for between two to three months.

Tick Bite Prevention Tips And Advice

So you are now armed with some natural tick repellent sprays and lotions, let’s natural tick repelling education with a few well-placed tips.

Wear clothes that are light in colour

This will give you a much better chance of spotting a tick before it has time to sink its teeth into your skin.

Wear long pants along with protective footwear such as solid sneakers or hiking boots.

You can also increase your protection by tucking your shirt or top into your pants and, in particularly tick abundant areas, by wrapping some duct tape around your ankles and over your socks. This may give you a rather odd style, but it’ll certain ensure that you avoid being bitten!

Remain on well-trodden trails

If possible, you should try to stay on well-trodden tracks where over hanging vegetation and planting is minimalized. Overgrown meadows are also to be avoided if at all possible, and what’s more, this tip not only helps you avoid ticks, but additionally allows you to leave a lesser impact upon the outdoor spaces that you love.

Remember to do a daily tick check

This tip is particularly important if you’re staying out for a number of days where the chances of a tick reaching you or your clothing is heighted. You should also get a friend to help you out and check the places where you can’t, such as your back.

Once you’re home remember to check the kids and the pets

Before you set even so much as one foot over your threshold, you should check over your children and pets, and if just two or three make it in you could find yourself with a fresh littler of ticks to contend with!

When coming home after a trip to potentially tick infested zones, you should bathe or shower as soon as is possible

Ideally this should be within two hours, as ticks can tend to hide away from even the most extensive of overall body checks.

Be sure to examine not only each other and your clothes

But also your equipment, including coats, tents and day packs.

Always tumble dry your clothes that has gone on the trip with you.

If ticks have happened to latch on or hide away within these then they will be killed off when the dryer is set to a high heat setting (it’s worth noting that more recent research seems to suggest that even shorter drying times may be effective, particularly when the clothing inside isn’t wet to begin with).

If you choose to use shop brought, chemically based repellents then you should opt for those that continue between 20% and 30% DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluidine), as this is most effective.

Bare in mind however that when choosing such repellents it’s particularly important that you avoid the hands, eyes and mouths (especially when applying to a child’s skin).

Always be prepared for being bitten, including within your packing finely pointed tweezers and bite lotion.

(Images from: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen & Phongnguyen1410)

How To Make Mead: Plus 5 Delicious Mead Recipes To Try

July 1, 2015

Mead makes for one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in history and, using a basic recipe that consists of just honey, water and yeast, it can also be considered as one of the simplest. That said, for the many that may have tried to make mead and suffered some form of misstep, this drink can also seem like a frustrating mix to get right. So with that in mind, here is a complete introduction to mead, and five solid recipes for the beginner to get to grips with what this wonderful home brew can offer. If you are interested in making mead, you may also be interested in our moonshie recipe post!

Mead: The world’s most varied drink

From being completely flat through to being super sparkling; from being crisp and dry through to seriously sweet and from straight up mead flavour through to being fruit flavoured, it seems that mead may very well be the world’s most varied drink. So, after you’ve gotten to grips with the five recipes within this article there is a whole world of other recipes to try out, so…. let’s get started!

Recipe One: Dry/Semi-Sweet Mead

This recipe produces a mead that strikes the balance between dry and sweetness just right, and makes for an excellent first timer recipe.

Ingredients that you’ll need

14.5 Pounds of Honey
4 Gallon soft water
10 Grams of Fermaid-K
14 Grams Diammonium phosphate (DAP)
Liquid yeast
5 Grams of calcium carbonate
¼ Teaspoon of potassium meta-bisulphite

Equipment that you’ll need

Primary food safe fermentation bucket
Hydrometer
Pure oxygenation system OR an air pump and a sterile air filter

Dry/Semi Sweet Mead: Step by step

Step One – Soak your honey in water for 15 minutes

This will help loosen the honey from its original thickened state.

Step Two – Add in one gallon of high quality soft water (this needs to be no more than 150ppm TH)

You should also use a sanitized fermenter.

Step Three – Add in the honey and stir until dissolved

Step Four – Add in a further 3 gallons of room temperature soft water

At this stage you should take a gravity reading with a hydrometer, writing it down in your logbook.

Step Five – Add your Mermaid-K and Ammonium phosphate (DAP) to the mix

Step Six – Add your liquid yeast to the must

Before undertaking this step be sure that the yeast has warmed to room temperature.

Step Seven – Add your calcium carbonate

Step Eight – Oxygenate the must

You do this by either splashing or shaking the mix (which, to be honest, if pretty ineffective) or through a professional pure oxygenation system (alternatively you may opt for an air pump and a sterile air filter).

Don’t oxygenate the mix for any longer than 60 seconds if you’re working with pure oxygen. If you go for the aquarium pump then you can leave it to run for around 30 minutes.

Step Nine – Place your lid on

Ideally you’ll be using a lid airlock, and you should fill the bucket with water or vodka to the airlock’s fill line. The fermentation should take place at between 55 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Ten – Stir each and every day

Once the must has used up around a 1/3 of its sugar add in about 5 grams of Fermaid-K and 7 grams of DAP.

Step Eleven –Keep an eye on your mix and somewhere between 7 and 20 days it’ll be ready for the next step

Your must is ready when the activity within it slows down to around 1 bubble every two minutes or less. Once this happens you should take a gravity reading, which should be 1.018 or below). Then go ahead and siphon your 5 gallon carboy and add into the mix ¼ teaspoon potassium meta-bisulphite (which should have been hydrated with a 1/8 of a cup of room temperature water).

Step Twelve – Allow to rest for 3 to 4 weeks and then rack one more time

Recipe Two: The fastest, most efficient way of making mead (kind of)

So the first recipe may seem a bit intimidating to some, so here is a simpler mead recipe for those who want to make mead fast! However whilst it’s super quick to mix together, the brewing time still takes a couple of months.

Ingredients that you’ll need

1 Gallon of Spring Water (room temperature)
3 Pounds of honey (this needs to be pure)
1 Pack of Yeast
1 Box of raisins
1 Orange

Equipment that you’ll need

Water jug
Rubber band
1 Balloon pack (these should be large enough to cover the mouth of the water jug)

The fastest, most efficient way of making mead: Step by step

Step One – Pour half of your water into a container

Step Two –Slice up your orange into 1/8’s

Then place the slices, honey, twenty-five raisins and the yeast into a jug. Pour a little water back into the jug so there’s around a couple of inches space at the top. Put the cap on and give it a good shake (ideally for around five minutes)

Step Three – Pinprick one of the tops of the balloons and remove the cap from the water jug

You should then place the balloon over the mouth of the jug; the idea behind this is that the gases from within will fill the balloon, so place a rubber band around the jug mouth to secure it.

Step Four – Leave to rest on the side and keep an eye on it

After around twenty four hours you’ll see the balling being to inflate, this then means that your yeast is busy working on transforming the contents of the jug into delicious mead wine! If it gets too large you should prick another hole into it… you want to avoid it bursting.

Step Five – After two weeks…

After around two weeks you should see that the balloon has gone limp, this will then mean that fermentation has finished.

Step Six – After 2 months…

Following two months you should notice that the mix has become a whole lot clearer and is now ready to serve!

Recipe Three: Super-fast mead (otherwise known as cheat mead!)

OK, so for those who really are impatient, here we have a recipe that takes just two weeks, rather than the months that the other recipes require.

Ingredients that you’ll need

½ Gallon of cheap white wine
1 Pound of honey
1-2 cloves
Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg

Equipment that you’ll need

Sauce pan
Jug
Corkscrew (for the wine)
Spatula

Super-fast mead (otherwise known as cheat mead!): Step by step

Step One – Empty the wine and honey into a large sauce pan

Heat this up gently being sure to stir the mix frequently until a scum forms on the top of the mixture.

Step Two – Scrape the scum off and chuck away

Step Three – Pour the liquid into your wine bottle

Step Four – Place the cap on and leave the mixture to rest in a cool, dark space for a minimum of two weeks

Step Five – After two weeks…

Your mix should be ready to drink after just two weeks, however the longer that you can manage to leave it, the stronger it will be!

Recipe Four: Metheglin (Flavoured mead)

Metheglin is the name for flavoured mead, and it’s this stuff that can date its roots back to a time before even wine existed. Unfortunately Metheglin fails to get much attention nowadays, so I wanted to include it here for those who want to mix up mead with a difference.

This drink hails from Wales in the United Kingdom, with the Welsh word ‘meodyglyn’ being translated over time, as such many of the recipes that are out there use traditionally English sourced herbs, with a lot of recipes being focused upon serving up as an excellent accompaniment to Lamb.

Possible Metheglin flavours

Metheglin can and very much has been created from all sorts of ingredients to create practically every flavour going. Documented in history are recipes that use the following flavourings: watercress, fennel, liverwort, marshmallow roots, scurvy grass, cloves, borage, marjoram, ferns and flowers.

Ingredients that you’ll need

3 Pounds of runny honey
1 Gallon of water
2 Tablespoons of chopped rosemary
1 Dessertspoon of thyme leaves
6 bay leaves
2 lemons – You want both the juice and zest
¼ Teaspoon – Grape tannin
Yeast nutrient (be sure to follow the instructions on the yeast packet)
White wine yeast (again, follow these instructions to the letter)

Equipment that you’ll need

Large sauce pan
Muslin cloth
Demi-john
Food safe fermentation pot

Metheglin (Flavoured mead): Step by step

Step One – Place the water in a large pan and heat up

Once boiling you should pour in the honey and wait until it’s dissolved; boil for ten minutes, skimming off any scum that may form on the surface.

Step Two – Turnoff the heat

Once the heat is off you can add in your herbs, grape tannin, lemon zest and lemon juice. Then you can leave the mixture to rest, being sure to cover it over – leave to cool.

Step Three – Pour the mixture into your sterilised fermenting bucket

Once in the bucket you can add in your yeast. Once well mixed allow to ferment for a period of around three days.

Step Four – After three days…

Pour your mix into a demi-john, being sure to filter the mix through a muslin cloth.

Step Five – Fit on a bubble trap/air lock and leave to rest for two months

Melomel mead

Recipe Five: Making Melomels (otherwise known as fruit filled mead!)

Recipe four is pretty flexible as far as flavourings and herbs go, but if you want a mead recipe designed specifically for fruit, then this is it. However rather than re-running through the steps of the other mead recipes, this instead provides guidance on how and when you should add fruit to any traditional mead recipe.

Melomels: Common fruits flavours

The official term for fruit flavoured mead is ‘Melomels’, and is commonly brewed with the following combinations (with each having a specific name for its flavour):

– Cyser-is: Honey and apple juice/apple cider

– Capsicumel: Chile peppers

– Morat-is: Honey and mulberries

– Omphacomel-is: Honey and verjuice (verjuice is the juice from unripe grapes)

– Perry-mead: Honey and pears

– Rhodomel-is: Honey and rose hips

– Other fruits that can be used: Other fruits that are used within this recipe can be anything of your choosing, and are simply named with the fruit placed before ‘Melomel’, so you can have apple melomel, cherry melomel, orange melomel or strawberry melomel.

Adding your fruit: Stage by Stage

Regardless of what fruit or flavouring you choose to use there are many stages at which the fruit can be added. Each will make for a different end taste of the fruit, so this really is a recipe that benefits from experimenting with. You may even wish to make up multiple batches so you can add the fruits at varying stages with one brew.

Stage One: Adding your fruits and flavourings during primary fermentation

Adding fruits at the primary stage of fermentation is a particularly common way of making melomel. This isn’t so surprising given that it provides for certain benefits, such as the early introduction of nutrients that the yeast can work with to create a mixture with a regulated ph. What’s more when adding fruit into the mead mix early on you’ll find that the mead ferments more quickly.

Lastly you’ll also find that this method still retrains the flavour of the fruit, as the majority of the volatile aromatics will be gassed off.

Stage Two: Adding your fruits and flavourings during secondary fermentation

When adding later on most will choose to mix in the fruit when the mead is almost fermented completely. This is, once more, something that benefits from experimentation as everyone has varying tastes.

The one drawback of adding at this stage however is that is the fruit will take a longer time to blend in, and may lengthen the overall brewing time. This can additionally make it a little more difficult to judge the exact right time to bottle up.

Stage Three: Adding your fruits and flavourings just before bottling

This latter option of adding in the fruit may be the most straight forward, although you will need to be absolutely sure that the yeast is dead (e.g. the must has stopped producing bubbles) before adding the fruit, as you otherwise could end up with exploding bottles!

You can be sure of this by sulphating the must, which requires the addition of potassium sorbate, followed by the addition of the various fruit juices or extracts to the bottling bucket.

A further way of avoiding exploding bottles is by bulk aligning the mead for a particularly long time, and then follow this with a couple of cycles of racking up. This may lengthen the process further, but it does mean that you can be sure that the must is safe to bottle.

Fruit: How much should you add to your mead mix?

The amount of fruit that you should ideally add differs fruit by fruit (which makes sense, given that fruits feature drastically differing strengths of flavour). So here’s my guide on how much fruit makes for the perfect mix.

– Cysers-Apples: 4 Gallons of apple juice or cider (primary stage).

– Cysers-Apples (strong): 3 cans of apple juice concentrate (16 oz.) (secondary stage).

– Blueberry Melomel: 7 to 10 pounds of blueberries (secondary stage).

– Blueberry Melomel (strong): 2.2 pounds per gallon (secondary stage).

– Cherry Melomel (strong): 7-8 lbs of cherries (secondary stage).

– Citrus Melomel (medium): 6-8 lbs (secondary stage 1.2-1.6 lbs/gal).

– Citrus Melomel (strong): 1.8 lbs/gal.

– Melon Mead (medium): 6-8 lbs of pulp (secondary stage).

– Melon Mead (strong): 1.8 lbs per gallon.

– Peach Melomel (medium): 8-12 lbs (secondary stage – 1.2-2.4 lbs/gal).

– Peach Melomel (strong): 2.5 lbs per gallon (secondary stage).

– Plum Melomel (medium) -Add 8-9 lbs to secondary (1.4-1.8 lbs/gal).

– Plum Melomel (strong): 2 lbs per gallon (secondary stage).

– Raspberry Melomel (medium): 5-7 lbs (secondary stage – 1-1.6 lbs/gal).

– Raspberry Melomel (very strong): 1.8 lbs/gal (secondary stage).

– Strawberry Melomel (medium): 8-10 lbs.

– Strawberry Melomel (strong): 2.2 lbs per gal (secondary stage).

(Image from: Ryan McDonough)

5 Incredible Uses for Diatomaceous Earth

May 9, 2015

In recent years, the topic of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) has increased in mainstream consciousness. This unique compound is derived from fossilized phytoplankton, and its uses range from killing parasites in chickens to promoting healthier teeth and bones. If you’re curious regarding the use of this ancient fossil for modern healing and health, then continue on to discover the 5 incredibly useful and innovative uses for this ancient compound.

Update: You could now say there are 6 uses for diatomaceous earth as our new post: 5 home remedies for fleas details how to use DE to combat fleas around the home

5 Incredible Uses for Diatomaceous Earth

#1 | Natural and Effective Toothpaste

Due to the unique composition of DE, it’s among one of the greatest all-natural products to strengthen, whiten and protect your teeth. While it does feature slight abrasive qualities, its gentle enough to safely scrape away plaque and food particles from between teeth without damaging its enamel. Simply sprinkle a little DE over your favorite toothpaste and experience a natural way to brighten your smile.

#2 | All Natural Deodorant

The list of negative studies regarding the use of commercially-produced deodorants as it blocks your body’s natural ability to sweat and release toxins. Because of this, many are turning to all-natural alternatives; however, those with sensitive skin may develop rashes or irritation after using such products. DE is an excellent alternative as it inhibits the formation of bacteria that causes body odor without hindering with your sweat glands.

#3 | Exfoliating Facial Scrub

Because DE features a slight abrasive nature, it makes the perfect natural alternative to an exfoliating facial scrub. Due to its mineral concentration, such as calcium, zinc, copper and selenium, your skin is treated on the cellular level while dirt and debris is thoroughly lifted away. To utilize this remedy, mix one tablespoon of diatomaceous earth with aloe vera juice or coconut oil until a thick paste is created. Simply rub this solution on your face for one to two minutes and rinse clean with warm water.

#4 | Nourishing Shampoo

DE features a high silica concentration, which makes it an excellent product to nourish and treat your hair. To utilize this remedy, simply add 1 to 2 tablespoons of DE powder with a quarter-size amount of shampoo and thoroughly scrub. The unique composition of DE treats your hair by removing dirt and debris while injecting a large amount of nourishing minerals directly into hair follicles.

#5 | Eliminate Bed Bugs

Should you be suffering from a bed bug infestation, the use of DE is just as powerful – if not more – than the leasing chemical pesticide. Did you know many bed bugs have mutated to become immune to the active compounds in popular pesticide products, which renders them useless against an infestation. DE is a powerful option as it is capable of penetrating through the shell of bed bugs and literally drying them out. Simply sprinkle DE powder along your mattress and anywhere else bed bugs may rest to effective eradicate these pests from your home.

Amazon has a great range of Diatomaceous Earth, here is the one we use.

#6 | Bonuses

For even more incredible uses for Diatomaceous Earth, check out our other posts: Spiders, Roaches, Ants & More; Get Them Out Of Your Home With A 100% Natural/Safe Product and 5 Home Remedies For Fleas & A Flea Trap That Really Work!