Toothpaste, Kombucha, and a new herb garden.

[Florezian]

So the Ada's in my town reopened and I found some of the Kombucha you all talk so much about

It's raw and I got the citrus flavour...I think it tastes wonderful! I want to see about making my own now, so next time I'll see about getting the plain kind. It had a gunky looking thing in the bottom so I'm assuming thats the mother. It is quite a terrifying looking beast.

Anyway, mine looked solid and then slowly seemed to disintegrate. Now it is scattered in bits and pieces. Would that have anything to do with the fact I got a citrus flavour? Many places say that if you want to grow it into a new batch.. that you should get the plain kind. Any traits I should look for in a good clump? My SO was teasing me all day asking if I was enjoying my placenta juice. I can't really blame him though..... It is sort of creepy looking.

I also made toothpaste. Which tastes very ...errrr.. strong. I only made a small batch, but the baking soda taste is definately different. (The recipe was in a thread.. 50/50 baking soda/coconut oil... stevia and EO to taste.) Is that normal? Should I add more coconut oil or will the taste diffuse as it chills?

It said to pick any EO.. I wated wintergreen, but that was out. I thought the peppermint was just too funky for toothpaste, and we settled on.. lemon.

YIKES.
Im just remembering as I was mixing that lemon is bad for teeth. I only made enough to fill a baby food jar, and used about 12 drops. Just how bad is it?

Also started a herb garden with lime basil, sweet basil, mugwort, rosemary,spearmint, thyme and others. We had catnip too (I wanted to use it to make an all natural bug repellant). I walked out yesterday to find that all of the catnip was gone down to the stem. :/ It seems so odd, but I guess a cat found it! It really looks like a rabbit or grazer cam and mowed it down, but nothing else was touched and not a leaf was left behind!

I've been basically stalking the forum, but then I had too many questions and just had to join

 

[Neko-chan]

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[big brown horse]

My kitty will devour any catnip I plant AND pull up the root ball!

I tried to start kombucha from plain raw bottled kombucha that I got from the health food store. It didn't work. I had to get a scoby with some mother tea from another person who home brewed kombucha. Sounds like you did have a mother in that tea, but you also need a scoby. I have grown scobys from some of my own homemade mother tea, but had no success with store bought tea with a mother in it.

My toothpaste is coconut oil, baking soda and some peppermint essential oil. Then I rinse with peroxide. Neko is right, you don't need flavor really. I don't use sweetners, but I love minty breath. I even drop a bit of peppermint oil on my tongue after the peroxide rinse. Sure wakes you up!

 

[freemotion]

Anyway, mine looked solid and then slowly seemed to disintegrate. Now it is scattered in bits and pieces.

That is not a scoby in your tea, it is what I like to call "tentacles!" A scoby will form on the top and will look at first like spots of whitish mold, but not fuzzy. The spots will grow into a sheet that takes the shape of the container (surface of the tea in the container) and will thicken to form the "mushroom," or scoby....symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. It will be very tough and will be difficult to cut should you ever want to. I heard recently that you can dry them and use them to make shoe soles in a survival situation! So a scoby wouldn't be disintegrating. I suspect that is dying bits of the colony, in a solution that does not have enough sugar in it anymore to support colony growth. I strain that out because it gives me the willies, but it won't hurt you one bit.

To get a scoby from purchased kombucha can be tricky because you don't know if the right balance still exists in the bottle you purchased. It is easier to get a scoby...or a piece of one...from someone who makes it regularly. They produce a new one every time, every one to two weeks. They ship well until the weather gets hot and a stay in a hot cargo hold of a plane in Atlanta can kill it.

 

[miss_thenorth]

As far as your toothpaste is concerned, once it hardens, the baking soda will blend with the coconut oil. if ou use more coconut oil, it will be on the top and the bs on the bottom unless you stir frequently while it cools. i do this anyways.

 

[calendula]

We actually ended up having to make a cage to protect our catnip from getting shredded.

I just take the cage off when I harvest.

Also, I use peppermint EO in my toothpaste, and it is pretty good. Maybe give it a try.

 

[Florezian]

Ahh, so I probably won't be getting a scoby anytime soon then. :/ It would boil down here (FL) I'll have to wait until it gets cooler. I saw your other thread on making sodas... I might attempt that instead

I'll strain it next time... those tentacles are intense!

I think it may be too hot for the toothpaste. It's a bit less together than pudding. I will definately try the peppermint next time. I only made a baby jar full, so it shouldn't last too long. The SO wanted peppermint... he shouldn't have backed down so easy

Your cage looks awesome. I'm guessing that is the route I will have to go. So you think I could grow it in a pot inside? I don't see why not...

 

[calendula]

If you pinched it off regularly, you could probably do it in a container. It does get fairly tall if you just let it go. I will usually get 2-3 harvests per growing season from my outside catnip. I cut it back to about 6", and it shoots right back up.

I do believe that direct sun makes a "stronger" catnip, so if it's grown inside it may not be quite as potent, but it would still be usable. And it's always convenient having some herbs growing inside.

 

[ORChick]

Trick I learned from a lady at the farmers' market who sold herbs: get one of those wire hanging baskets that you normally line with peat moss, turn it upside down (without peat moss ) over the catnip, and make some wire U-shaped staples to hold it down (wire coat hanger). The catnip will grow up and through the basket, the cats will nibble and rub themselves on it, but can't get to the roots to destroy the plant. When I did this in my garden in California the plant got so lush, even with numerous cats enjoying themselves, that you couldn't see the basket anymore.
The lady at the farmers' market did this for the potted herbs she sold - just got a basket to fit the pot; it actually looked quite attractive. I do it in the garden proper.

 

[Neko-chan]

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