Skip to content

Menu

PORTFOLIO
RECENT SESSIONS
JESS
INFORMATION
MENTORSHIPS
CONNECT
- CONTACT
- INSTAGRAM
SHOP

INSTAGRAM

cedarhouseliving

This sweet girl has been down and out all week fig

This sweet girl has been down and out all week fighting a cold. All she wants is to go back to school but she’s stuck home with a terrible cough and feeling just awful. So we are keeping busy with homemade play dough, coloring pages from our favorite children’s book illustrators, lots of @phoebewahl books, and all the handicrafts.

What a week. Send wine.

What if I told you that you don’t need a greenho

Autumn is beginning to show herself. PS: Thanks

Autumn is beginning to show herself.

PS: Thanks for the beautiful inspiration, @themessyhomesteader.

Preserving the gifts from my garden. Did you know

Preserving the gifts from my garden.

Did you know that the time of day you harvest your herbs can greatly impact the amount of essential oils and medicinal properties in the plant? The best time to harvest your herbs is in the morning after the dew has evaporated but before the sun has hit the aerial parts of the plant for too long. This is when the largest percentage of beneficial properties (flavor and fragrance and oils, for example) are in the plant. As the heat from the sun sets in, those properties slowly drain back into the stem and roots of the plant.

For this same reason, I prefer to keep my aerial plant parts (leaves and flowers) in their whole form as much as possible while drying and storing. Beneficial properties are released when they are broken or crushed, so I do that right before using them.

Grateful for the continued guidance and education of @herbalacademy .

My garden is my sanctuary. It is a place where I g

My garden is my sanctuary. It is a place where I go to turn my thoughts. To breathe. To find solace. It is my dwelling place for creativity. I wanted to bottle that calming energy into a bath soak that would cleanse the mind and ease tired muscles and joints. So I created a Gardener’s Bath Soak.
I grew and dried all of these herbs myself and chose them for their detoxifying, stress-relieving and soothing properties to benefit the mind and body after a day of planting, cultivating or harvesting. I added the lemon peel for its antioxidant properties and the salts were chosen to help sooth aching muscles and give your skin a boost after being out in the sun all day.

The muslin bags are a great no-mess alternative to dropping the bath soak mixture directly into the water and can be tied to your bath faucet while drawing your bath. You’ve nurtured your garden all year. Now its time to let it return the favor.

You Will Need
2 cups Epsom salt
1 cup Himalayan pink rock salt
1 cup lavender buds
1 cup lemon balm
1 cup rose petals
1 cup calendula
1 cup eucalyptus
1 cup chamomile
1 cup dried lemon peel shavings
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
10 drops lavender essential oil
10 drops lemon essential oil
1 oz (2 tablespoons) sunflower oil
Reusable muslin bags (I packed 9 tightly for this batch)

To Make
In a large, clean, dry bowl, mix together the salts, herbs and lemon peel. In a separate small cup, combine the oils together mixing well and then drizzle them into the mixture, stirring the entire time and combining thoroughly. Scoop into muslin bags (fill to the brim), and tie them tightly.

Notes
✨To dry lemon peel, simply grate a clean, dry organic lemon and leave out on a drying screen or parchment-lined cookie sheet for a week.

✨Sunflower oil is used as the carrier oil in this recipe to fit the garden theme, however, any cold-pressed or virgin oil can be substituted. Coconut, sweet almond, grapeseed olive, and coconut are good alternatives. Carrier oils are important to dilute the essential oils that will touch your skin.

✨Use only organically cultivated dried herbs that are free of chemicals and pesticides.

I’m living my life more in-tuned with the land t

I’m living my life more in-tuned with the land these days. Growing plants. Harvesting their beauty. And saving their seeds so the cycle can begin again.

🌻 GIFTAWAY WINNER: @wildling_momma_bear 🌻 G

🌻 GIFTAWAY WINNER: @wildling_momma_bear 🌻

Good morning, friends. So, I’ve been thinking about this little crochet children’s sunflower crossbody I made Maddie. I shared it in stories a couple days ago and received many wonderful messages in response. Well, I made another and would like to gift it to one of you. The purse is made with Icelandic wool that we brought home from our 2019 trip to Iceland. It was not made with a fancy purse pattern, or any pattern at all for that matter. But the earthy tones are perfect for the coming season. It doesn’t currently have a liner but you could add one in pretty easily. Right now, the strap fits a little one age 5 or less, I would estimate, but you could certainly extend it if you so choose

If you have a little one who would love this, please leave a comment letting me know. If you know someone else who might appreciate it, perhaps you could tag them below. Or if you feel inspired, I would love it if you would share this post with your followers to help me find it a good home.

Goes without saying, but this is just me gifting a pretty handmade piece in the spirit of kindness, which I think we can all agree this world needs more of right now, and is in no way affiliated with Instagram. I’ll post an update here next week (and in stories) so be sure to bookmark this post.

My favorite dahlia of 2021. It’s called Sweet Lo

My favorite dahlia of 2021. It’s called Sweet Love.

Preserving the magic of our garden. This is summer

Preserving the magic of our garden. This is summer, pressed and dried.

During our visit to Bend this summer, Maddie and I

During our visit to Bend this summer, Maddie and I harvested juniper berries. They spent about a month air-drying on our big hanging rack and we almost forgot about them. Last week, we finished our first batch of juniper oil (Maddie helped me every step of the way and takes great pride in this oil too.) When I learned about all the beneficial properties of juniper, I knew it needed to become part of my apothecary. It is used to help sooth arthritis, heal skin infections, provide relief for heartburn and acid reflux, boost digestion, and relieve nervous tension, among many other uses.

Here’s how I made the oil:
1. Wash and let the berries dry for a month. (Did you know that the whitish coating on them is a naturally occurring yeast?)
2. Blend the berries into a powder with a food processor.
3. Place the powder into a dry clean jar and fill with your carrier oil of choice. For this recipe, I used three equal parts avocado, olive and grapeseed oil.
4. Close lid tightly and shake. Store in a cool dark place for 4-6 weeks, shaking daily, or whenever you remember.
5. Strain with a cheesecloth and strainer.

The smell of this oil alone is enough to ease your mind and body. I can’t wait to put it to work in my herbal recipes this fall.

Always inspired and learning from @herbalacademy 🤍

#juniper #juniperberries #juniperoil #herbalinfusion #makeityourself

Nearly two years later and this land is still shar

Nearly two years later and this land is still sharing its secrets with us.The Asian pear tree produced three times as many pears this year than last. It was hunched over nearly to the orchard floor, heavy with fruit. We picked all we could carry in two baskets and didn’t even put a dent in it. Happily accepting all your tried and true pear recipes!

Another seasonal shift is upon us. Creating new da

Another seasonal shift is upon us. Creating new daily routines, slowly putting the summer garden to bed, and planning for the next round of growing. This past year, I’ve enjoyed discovering my own path in herbalism. It’s something I’ve always been drawn to, and my new garden has given me the space to grow and learn at my own pace. I’ve found this new journey a wonderful way to weave together my love for gardening, baking, crafting, self-care, and photography. I have been using my harvests to create botanical recipes and am recording them all in this beautiful notebook from @paperblanks . (This is not a collaboration of any sort; simply a fellow gardener who found a beautiful resource I wanted to share with you.) Would you be interested in learning more about how I’m saving and using my summer herb harvests?

🎗September is pediatric cancer awareness month.

🎗September is pediatric cancer awareness month.🎗Today, 43 children will be diagnosed with cancer and sadly 7 children will die from this disease.⠀

💛The causes of childhood cancer are unknown and can not be prevented.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
💛Due to a lack of research, some pediatric cancers have a zero percent survival rate, either at diagnosis or recurrence. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
💛All 16 different childhood cancers receive 4% of the national cancer institute’s nearly $5 billion dollar budget while other cancers receive much more. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀⁠⠀
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the whole family is affected and we want them to know they are not alone in this journey.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
To show our love and support for the many families affected by childhood cancer we are turning Instagram GOLD this September with the support of many hubs, The Gold Hope Project, and the #teamup4goldkidsloop.

@TheGoldHopeProject is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of photographers who aim to provide free portrait sessions to families battling pediatric cancer while funding innovative pediatric cancer research.⁠⠀⁠⠀
⁠⠀⁠⠀
Join us by tagging your images #teamup4goldkids or to learn more please visit @thegoldhopeproject.

Is there any better way to feel connected to the e

Is there any better way to feel connected to the earth than by planting and caring for a garden? You give to it your time and patience. Your love and attention. And in return, it gives you food, flowers, herbs and a quiet place to turn your thoughts.

Pictured: Snapdragon Chantilly Light Salmon and Madame Butterfly Pink by @floretflower

One of my heart’s goals this year was to embrace

One of my heart’s goals this year was to embrace and be rooted in each season on our homestead. Right now is dahlia season. While I’m slowly beginning to thin and clear certain garden beds for the year, my dahlia beds are bursting at the seems. With so many unique and stunning varieties and colors, dahlias are, hands down, my favorite cut flowers I’ve ever grown.

Harvesting day with my little gardeners.

Harvesting day with my little gardeners.

I received a lot of questions after sharing these

I received a lot of questions after sharing these little guys from our garden in stories last week. They’re commonly called “cucumelons” but can be found on @bakercreekseeds website (direct link in my stories) as Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber. They are, hands down, the cutest fruit you’re ever going to grow. Vines upon vines of fairy watermelons, as my daughter would say, that taste like cucumbers with a hint of lemon. We eat them directly off the vine, add them to salads and dice them up and add them to our tzatziki sauce. They have a generous yield and everyone gets a kick out them. Do you grow them or will you next year?

In honor of the full sturgeon blue moon. My calend

In honor of the full sturgeon blue moon. My calendula harvest is beginning to dwindle but I’m thrilled with all the gorgeous blooms I’ve been able to preserve this year. And this weekend, I collected my first seeds too, bringing the plant’s cycle full circle. These harvests will keep me busy with projects during the winter months and seeds to sow next spring.

Bella and Aspen. The survivors. They are silly lit

Bella and Aspen. The survivors. They are silly little busy bodies and we love them dearly.

Strawflowers. The everlasting flower. Definitely r

Strawflowers. The everlasting flower. Definitely right up there with dahlias on my favorite flowers to grow list. I’m drying heaps of them for different projects this winter that I’ll work on once my garden is fast asleep. My mom helped me harvest several bundles of these while she was in town and she was so intrigued by their papery texture. I’ve loved how they’ve added interest and dimension to all my arrangements this year.

#strawflower #strawflowers #slowflowers #flowersfromthegarden #inseasonblooms #fieldtovase #ayearinflowers #blooooms

Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 Jessie B. Photography – OnePress theme by FameThemes