Since our friend was on vacation the past week, we were able to watch over their backyard chickens. M was in charge of feeding and caring for them - in exchange for fresh organic eggs! If you’ve never tried fresh organic backyard chicken eggs, you are missing out.

These hens are very friendly. But they do make lots of noise in the morning after they finish laying their eggs. I am surprised none of the neighbors have made complaints. I guess giving them free fresh eggs would change their mind.

Entrance to the hen house.

It seem most suburban cities in California allow backyard chickens, just no rooster. Roosters are super noisy and don’t just croak to greet the sunrise, but all day and whenever they feel like it.

We had a pet chicken once, her name was . By her 3rd year she was retired and couldn’t lay anymore eggs. She lived to be 7 years old and died of natural causes last summer.

Unlike our friend’s backyard chicken, she didn’t have a pretty chicken coup, but she had a sleeping perch. She would always follow us around, especially my mom. And she would come running if we called out her name. Who knew chickens had so much personality!

What Eliza enjoyed the most was roaming freely in the backyard and enjoying her life as a cage free chicken. She was a great addition to mom’s backyard garden because she would eat all the bugs like slugs and spiders. I truly miss having a pet chicken, but I don’t think I can have another one anytime soon.

According to Mother Earth News, compare to grocery store eggs, these backyard chicken eggs contain 2-3x’s more omega-3 fatty acids and 1/3 the cholesterol of factory-farmed eggs. I think that is great news for egg lovers.

Photos taken with iPhone, Campbell, California

Red lake near Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Here is a peaceful and calm lake located at the Eldorado National forest in California.  This photo was taken with my little Fuji camera. These roads (highway 88-89) are best traveled during autumn when the leaves turn red, orange and yellow. The beauty of autumn will amaze you.  Make sure to travel on Hwy 89 all the way to Emerald bay. Note: Click photo to enlarge.

From California Dept of Fish and Wildlife:

“The vegetation surrounding Red Lake is characteristic of red-fir and lodgepole-fir forest. Open slopes are dominated by sagebrush with bitterbrush and serviceberry. Forestdale Creek and the other drainages around Red Lake are lined with willows and aspen groves.

Common wildlife species include deer, coyote, jackrabbit, quail, flicker, warblers, red-tailed hawk, golden eagle, golden-mantled ground squirrel, marmot, and beaver.”

Access: The Wildlife Area can be accessed on both the north and east sides of Red Lake. The north entrance is located on State Highway 88, one mile east of Carson Pass. To enter on the east side, take Blue Lakes Road from Highway 88 to Red Vista Road.

Lina Hanson has recently launched the “Global Body Serum”. It’s 100% natural and made with some of the best oils for all skin type. Key ingredients include rice bran oil, avocado oil, Camellia seed oil, Grapefruit oil, Vanilla and Yuzu.

These combination of oils are full of skin nourishing vitamins that will keep your skin healthy and hydrated all day. And the scent is wonderful! Nothing overpowering or artificial here. I especially love the citrus scent of grapefruit and Yuzu, then mixed with sweet vanilla.

This is the sample I received and have been using for a few weeks. It soaks in nicely and my skin just loved it. Lina Hanson Global Body Serum comes in 100 ml (3.4 fl oz) dark glass pump bottle.

Another great thing about Lina Hanson is that the company uses ingredients that are harvested by women’s cooperatives and farmers worldwide. It’s one way the company is helping promote women’s economic growth and give them a sense of empowerment.

I just ran out of my last bottle of seabuckthorn facial cream made by Sibu Beauty. Not that there was anything wrong with Sibu’s cream, it’s just that I wanted to give a different brand a try. So I picked up a bottle of seabuckthorn facial cream made by Seabuck Wonders. To my surprise, Seabuck Wonders has been around for almost 20 years and I’ve barely heard of them.

This cream goes on smoothly and my skin just soaks it up. It’s lightly scented with orange essential oil and not overpowering at all. I normally use this facial cream at night because it doesn’t have much SPF protection, maybe SPF protection of 4-5. But if I were to use it in the daytime, I would normally apply mineral power with natural SPF.

Here’s a list of some of the benefits of the cream (as mentioned by SeabuckWonders):

Enhances skin tone and texture
Made with certified organic Sea Buckthorn
Vegan; Non-GMO
Paraben-free; Cruelty-free
Naturally scented with essential orange oil
For all skin types

Besides all the beauty benefits, the company also believes in sustainable farming. As noted by Seabuck Wonders;

“The berries are harvested once they have reached maturity and allowed to re-fruit the following year. Only the minimum number of branches and leaves necessary are removed, leaving the majority of the plant intact, to continue to grow for the next season’s harvest. These practices allow for healthy trees and a sustainable source of income for the farmers.” That’s what I call good farming and business practice.

At the moment Seabuck Wonders is having a sale on their berry oil, facial cream, and body lotion set at their website. Enter coupon code SUN50 fro 50% good until July 7, 2013.

Btw, I love seabuckthorn that much and even have my own plant, which is now 4 years old. It’s gotten a bit bigger now, but no seeds yet.

Since I always make my own lip balm, I really have no need to buy lip balm.  But sometimes a really good lip balm comes around and I just can resist.

Weleda’s Everon lip balm is one of those products. It’s really the best all natural lip balm out there. This little 1/8 oz or 4 gram stick last forever!

I love that it doesn’t feel too sticky or leave your lips too shiny. The ingredients are really the best part.  And the light scent of rose and vanilla is great too.

Ingredients: Jojoba Seed Oil, Beeswax, Shea Butter, Candelilla Wax, Rosa Damascena Flower Wax, Carnauba Wax, Vanilla Fruit Extract, Rosa Damascena Extract.

The company’s name “Weleda” is derived from the Celtic goddess of wisdom and healing. A bit of history:

“Weleda developed a personal approach to health care using natural ingredients that can holistically work with and support our own body’s healing tendencies.

They started by creating one of the world’s first Biodynamic® gardens to grow what they needed. Sound new agey? It’s actually old agey—what cultures around the world have done successfully for generations.”

I also love their company mission statement: “In harmony with nature and the human being”. If I had to choose between the Body Shop or Weleda, it’s always Weleda.

They also do not test on animals and abide by fair trade practices. What’s nice about Weleda is that they were already thinking about sustainability and being “green” long before it was trendy.

There are many places to find this lip balm, from health food stores to online vitamin stores.

The Dead Sea, which is located between Jordan and Israel, is nature’s perfect health resort. And it’s Dead Sea Mud and Dead Sea salt is nature’s perfect health and beauty product.

The Dead Sea is also referred to as “The Salt Sea” and has attracted visitors for thousands of years and is also the first health resort. People flock to this special place for it’s many healing properties.

It’s especially beneficial to those with skin disorders such as psoriasis, eczema or acne. Just being wrapped in the mud is also helpful for those suffering from arthritis.

The dead sea mud has a high concentration of salts and minerals. As it evaporates each year, the salt and minerals are absorbed into the bottom of the sea.

The mud contains minerals such as potassium, magnesium, sodium, bromine and calcium. And when applied to the skin it helps to detoxify and improve circulation.

I got this from Cleopatra’s Choice. I have used it as a face mask and really like it. It leaves my skin feeling fresh, clean and much softer. Instruction: leave on face for 15 minutes and rinse off with warm water.

I’ve seen lots of Dead Sea mud soap in the market now. Ahava, Adovia, and One With Nature all make Dead Sea mud soap. Now I think I’ll have to at least try making some myself. Just need to find the time!

Another interesting fact about the Dead Sea is that you can float in it. So no worry if you can’t swim, you’ll be just fine.

For further reading, check out Ruth’s Jordan Jubilee. This place looks like a dream vacation for me… if not for it being in the Middle East and all the chaos going on around there.

My latest handmade soap just off the curing rack is “Bergamot goat milk soap” which also includes Seabuckthorn oil and Himalayan salt. I especially like to use this as facial cleansing soap.

Bergamot is definitely one of my favorite scents. Bergamot is usually added to Earl Grey tea and gives it a natural citrus flavor & scent. I also like that the scent is very uplifting without being too overpowering.

The salt is what gives it the white speckles. The salt blended in well as it’s not at all scratchy on the skin.

The goat milk also makes it a very creamy and moisturizing bar of soap. So a perfect bar for winter dry skin. And I had to add Seabuckthorn oil, as it’s one of the best natural oils for skincare.

Ingredients: all veggie oil, including Seabuckthorn oil, goat milk, distilled water, lye, bergamont essential oil, Himalayan salt.

Note: This bar of soap didn’t come out perfectly on the sides… but it’s a larger bar than I normally make. It still makes a nice bar of soap.

I’ve been looking for LED bulbs to come to the market for some time now. No sign of them at regular retail outlets. Sometimes Costco has them and so does Amazon. But they are still expensive and not as bright compare to regular bulbs.

Then I finally came across “Foreva” LED light bulbs. They are truly nice and bright at 600 lumen. Best of all, they are suppose to last over 20 years!

I also got a great deal on them from Groupon ($10 plus free shipping). I’m normally hesitant about buying anything before actually reading reviews on them. Since Groupon has good customer service/return policy I figure it was worth a try. Only regret now is I wish I had got more of these LED bulbs!

CFL bulbs were suppose to be the next best thing in lighting. But they are extremely toxic and bad for our health. And this is even before they break too. Because when they break, you have to take extra care in handling them.

Now that I think about it, I can imagine CFL bulbs breaking all over America all the time. Especially with young kids in the house, knocking over lamps, etc. Therefore exposing the children and environment to the toxic fumes.

CFL bulbs aren’t just bad for the environment, they are also bad for our health. Health Canada issued a warning after UK Health Protection recommends you should not be more than 30 cm from the light bulb for more than 1 hour per day as it emits UV rays. Test are currently being done in Canada.

CFL bulbs also contribute to dirty electricity. Which can cause migraines, dizziness, nausea, confusion, fatigue, skin irritations, and eye strain.

It would be nice if LED light bulbs were made in the U.S.A. Maybe a better investment than Solyndra. Most of all, I hope the price of LED light bulbs come down so more people can benefit from them. And I really need to phase out of CFL bulbs for good!

Lately I haven’t had time to make new soaps. But if I do make more, it will be the Goat milk Himalayan salt bar. I always feel more energized after using it.

There’s something about these salt since they come from ancient rocks. For example, the salt lamp is believe to to emit negative ions, which help improve the feeling of a room.

So when I came upon this salt bar, I wanted to give it a try. It’s suppose to be used as a deodorant bar, but I found that it stings and scraps too much (for sensitive underarm skin).

This one size bar is very heavy and will probably last me all year!

Instead I used it to help exfoliate my skin about once a week. More often for those stubborn parts like elbows and knees. And it works great! Even when I had a cut on my knee it actually help the healing process.

But I would not recommend using this on the face. For that purpose I would stick with the more gentle goat milk soap.

Ever since mineral make-up was introduced, I’ve become a big fan. What’s nice about mineral make-up is that it offers natural sun protection without use of chemicals. So there’s no strange smell, no sticky residue.

The one I am reviewing is bareMinerals SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen. It’s a mineral powder sunscreen for the face and body. I’ve been using this product for years now and really like it.

It retails at Bare Essentuals and Sephora for $28. Contains 4 g/0.14 oz of mineral powder.

It comes in a portable, leak-proof container with twist up brush. They have 3 different shades of light, medium and tan.   I am using the tan one and it blends well for my summer skin.

Trying to apply this in the beginning was difficult because it was a bit messy. And the amount that came out in the beginning was not consistent. But after several applications I finally got the hang of it.

I also like that the bottom section for the powder has a twist off lid.  So when I ran out of powder, I just refilled it with another mineral powder and it works fine.  I give them credit for making a reusable container.

From the makers of bareMinerals:

” Bare Escentuals bareMinerals SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen has a weightless, breathable formula that won’t clog pores or cause breakouts.

The Micronized Titanium Dioxide mineral physically shields against UVA/UVB rays to help prevent premature skin aging and sun damage.

Plus, it’s infused with healthy vitamins, Aloe Vera Extract, and antioxidants to nourish and soothe sun-exposed skin.”

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Fragrance
- Synthetic Dye
- Petrochemicals
- Phthalates

Side Note: I especially love Costco’s Kirkland Signatureâ„¢ by Borghese sheer liquid mineral based foundation. But they are longer selling them. Yet it seem someone is selling them on Amazon for almost $60. So I hope Costco brings it back soon at $19.99.