{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Ritual courtesy of soulemama.

Plants for Trade

This morning, in the quiet early hours that are the signature of winter, I came up with an idea. Every year I always try to start enough seedlings so that I can sell a few as well. It never works out well for me. This year I'm going to try something a bit different and I hope that maybe you will join me and make it into a movement.

This  year, instead of selling my plants, I am going to offer them for trade. Not just any old trade, but a trade for a single vegetable from the plant that you took. I am going to set up a table in front of my house with plants and growing instructions and ask that the person who takes the plant bring me back a single vegetable when the plant begins to produce. Any vegetable that is brought back will be used to create a dish to give back to my neighbors. In doing so I can introduce my neighbors to gardening, help provide them with a bit of fresh food and in turn give back again when they bring me back a vegetable.

I am going to set up a page with some buttons to take if you'd like to participate and please feel free to pass this along as well so that we can get other folks involved too!

Healthy Me In 2013- Product Review- Olive Oil

So, I missed my product report on Tuesday, but better late than never, eh? Here you go!

Okay, this may be a duh one to some of you out there, but I only recently discovered the amazing effects of using olive oil on my face. I have fought and fought with my skin for years. I've used harsh cleansers and expensive moisturizers and all kinds of fancy things on my face. All it ever got me was more bumps around my hairline, yucky skin and sometimes even burning pain on my face due to the harshness of the chemicals.

Then one day, quite by accident, I found out how wonderful plain old olive oil can be. Truly, it was just one of those intuitive things that popped into my head. Maybe I'd read about it somewhere before, but I don't remember. However, after suffering from a particularly nasty dry red spot on my face, I picked up a bottle of olive oil and thought to myself, "Why not?" I got myself some olive oil and smeared it on the ouchie spot. It felt pretty darn good! So, I got some more and smeared it over the rest of my face and rubbed it in and that felt really good! I thought to myself, "Hey, there must be something to this!"

Upon doing a bit of research I found out that olive oil can be amazingly beneficial for the skin. So, now instead of piling on harsh cleansers and expensive products, twice a day I've been following the routine I'm going to share with you and my skin looks and feels better than ever!

It is important to remember to use the best, most pure olive oil you can! 

I've been using NOW Food olive oil and it seems to work well. 

First, I scrub my face down with warm water to get my pores warmed up and open. Then I rub about a teaspoonful of olive oil all over my face, let it sit for a minute or two. Then I wash it off again with a wash cloth. Once my face is scrubbed clean I then take a cotton ball with a dab of olive oil and some tea tree oil (More about this next week!) and smooth it on to my face and massage it in. Seriously, best skin I've had since I was a teenager!

Next week I will be discussing tea tree oil and all the wonderful things you can do with it. After that I am going to be looking for some natural make up products, which is a whole new territory for me, so if you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments and let me know!

Thursday Follow Up

It’s Thursday once again, which means it’s time to check in on my projects. I hate to say it, but they are moving at an abysmally slow pace. I’ve been working on the Radiant Goddess E-Course, which includes lots of raw foods, which means raw food detox, which means super sluggishness. Blah. Thankfully, I’m starting to see the other end of this journey where I have ALL KINDS OF ENERGY! YAY!

Check it out here if you're interested! I'm really loving Leonie Dawson's work!

So, despite spending most of this week resting, The Urban Agriculture course is written and now it just needs formatting. I’m still writing the Family Rhythm course, but it’s coming along at a nice pace. The 50 things freebie is coming along as well. The herbs course, well, I’m not so sure it’s going to make the deadline, but I’m still hopeful.

I’ve been really trying to work through the suggestions in the Business Goddess course to make sure I meet my deadlines and it really seems to be pushing things forward at a great clip.

I just have to keep focused (which I am notoriously bad about) and things will come together! I will keep it up and in a couple of weeks I will be announcing here that everything came together magically! Stay tuned!

Monday Rundown

Well, it's been an interesting weekend to say the least! I don't want to get into all the details cause frankly I don't have the energy, but let me suffice it to says many great business lessons were learned this weekend! Let me share them with you!

Chelsea's Business Lessons for the Week

1. Trust your intuition - If something seems like it's wrong or not a good fit, trust yourself and act accordingly. This, THIS is the most important lesson I learned this weekend. Had I done this, I wouldn't have had to even consider the next lessons!

2. Be willing to take your lumps - If it means giving up money because you did #1, that's okay. You will be better off for it in the long run.

3. Packing up your toys and going home is not the answer- While I considered doing that myself this weekend, a certain local restaurant owner who abruptly closed, leaving her employees in the dark, taught me that it's best to stick it out when the going gets tough.

4. Focus on the positive.

5. Don't let other folks steal your energy.

There were more, but I can't remember them all right now. So, there you have it. You've been schooled, as was I.

In other news, I spent a good part of the weekend cleaning out our seed starting supplies and will begin bagging up herbs from the drying rack and converting the drying rack over into the growing rack. I found a whole bunch of seeds that I'd forgotten I had and thankfully I hadn't put in my seed order yet, so it looks like I'll be saving a bit of money on seeds this year! Yay!

I also started the Radiant Goddess program today. Lots of raw food, meditation and movement! I'm thinking it's a great way to start off the new year. Although, I am feeling a bit headachy since I haven't had any caffeine. Might have to cheat a little and indulge my coffee tooth!

So, anyhow, that's been my week! Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Release Dates

As I come to the end of some projects and get ready to begin others, I think it's time to set some concrete dates. This is what you can expect to see from this blog and the Urban Agriculture Info website in the coming year!

February 2nd
Urban Agriculture E-Course
Family Rhythm E-Course
Free 50 Things To Do For The Resting Season E-Booklet
Free Herbs E-Course

February 26th
Free 50 Things To Do For The Planting Season E-Booklet

May 21st
Urban Agriculture Business E-Course

June 11th
Free 50 Things To Do For The Growing Season E-Booklet

July 30th
Free 50 Things To Do For The Preserving Season E-Booklet

October 28th
Free 50 Things To Do For The Handwork Season E-Booklet
Family Rhythm 2014 Planner and Workbook
Urban Agriculture 2014 Planner and Workbook

And the big super special hopeful project for the year is to create a membership community that will provide access to all these courses plus a forum to post in for one special low price! Hoping to have this part up and running by December. This is a pretty ambitious plan, but dream big, do big, ya know?

I'll be checking in with you on these goals every Thursday, so if you see me slipping, don't be afraid to shoot me an email and let me know!

WIP Wednesday

Today's work in progress is a bit different. Instead of knitting, I've been doing a bit of drawing. What for, you ask? Well, I'm just about ready to release the Urban Agriculture Basic E-Course and this is background for the lessons and worksheets. I'm so excited about releasing this e-course as it will be my first one! It is scheduled to be finished on January 31st, so stay tuned!

What are you working on this week? Post a link in the comments to your WIP!