Results of Summer Hair Growth Challenge. 

So the hair growth challenge by organicallyanna 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnAaB10uo3M

ran from June 1st through September 1st. It mostly consisted of weekly flax gel scalp and hair treatment - I slathered it on my scalp and hair and left it on about 30 minutes before shampooing and conditioning to wash out the gel, and a tea rinse which I did post shampoo and conditioner. The first month the weekly tea rinses I did were green tea, the second month they were nettle tea and the third month they were chamomile. I tried them various ways, such as leaving in at the end, rinsing them out well at the end, leaving them on longer or shorter, etc.  I thought chamomile was supposed to be good for my hair but I seemed to have a lot of hair fall with it which I didn't like seeing as my hair is fine and thin anyway.

As for supplements I used 10 drops of Jarrosil most days

 https://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-JarroSil-Beautifies-Nails/dp/B001PMERSS

a B complex vitamin (Jarrow B right)  in addition to a multivitamin/multimineral for women over 50, calcium and a vegan Omega 3 supplement. I have used a couple of those, currently using Ovega. I have been taking KAL Uric Acid  flush

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076P11WWD?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details 

because I had an attack of gout at the first of the year and don't ever want it to come back and I have moved to a mostly vegetarian diet because of that. Not sure if that has anything to do with hair growth though.

At the beginning of the challenge my hair measured 18 and 1/2 inches measuring from center part down the sides. I just had a 3" hair cut Sept 20th and forgot to measure it before but measured it after and it was 18 and 1/2 inches again so I got 3 inches of hair growth in 3 months and 3 weeks. I was kind of sad to lose 3" of growth but I had been gradually having bad layering cut off and I think that was the last of it. Layering is not good with fine thin hair when it gets longer. Get it layered, they said, It will look thicker, they said - wrong!

Summer hair growth challenge

 I remembered my old long forgotten blog and decided to write about following organicallyanna's 2021 summer hair growth challenge. She has a youtube channel where she shares about hair care. And she is worth following as she has gloriously beautiful long shiny healthy hair and a lot of good ideas which she shares generously and understandably. 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmIhoqOnptBsjQGS3vCPYbA

The summer growth challenge consists of once a week doing a flaxseed gel hair and scalp mask and a tea rinse once a week.  I don't know why but it seemed to take me a while to figure out how to incorporate it.  I think she means it to be flexible and adaptable. There is more to it but I am only going to address these two items just now.

I am doing each of the treatments as a pre shampoo treatment. I followed her flaxseed gel recipe which is 1/4 cup flaxseed to 2 1/2 cups of water, bring to boil, simmer 8 to 10 min uncovered, stirring often until it's the consistency of egg whites. Strain out seeds. Let cool. I put 1/2 cup of the gel on my head, gently massaged it into my scalp and squished it into my  hair for a few minutes then put a plastic shower cap on and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then I shampooed twice and used a hair mask as a conditioner. The first time I tried it I added about 1/4 tsp of grapeseed oil in with the flax gel. That made my hair too oily and I had to wash it again the next day. The next time I tried it - a week later, I used flaxseed gel without adding any oil (left over gel from the previous week, stored in jar in frig) then shampooed and conditioned with store bought mask (only left mask on 2 or 3 min) and it turned out very nice.

For the tea rinse, which I use for my second hair wash of the week, I used green tea.  I usually wash my hair every 3 to 4 days. Anna uses black tea but she has black hair. My hair is naturally light blond and I didn't want to stain it with black tea as she warns could happen. I put two green tea bags in a pint jar, filled with tap water and left it to steep overnight. I did not heat the water. In the morning I poured the tea over my head over the sink, massaged it into my scalp and squeezed it through my hair gently a few minutes, put on the plastic shower cap and left it for about 20 minutes. Then I shampooed and used commercial hair mask as conditioner. 

It seemed to turn out fine. I didn't really notice any problems and my hair was clean and acted normally. I was glad to see it didn't turn my hair green!

This is a long term project so we will see by September 1st. I measured my hair June 1st following Anna's instructions by parting hair in the middle and measuring from the top of the middle of the part down the side holding the hair. I got 18-1/2 inches on the right and 19 inches on the left. 

My hair is obviously not real long, a little past what they call armpit length I guess but it is the longest it has been for about 20 years and I don't expect to get hair as lush and beautiful as Anna's since I have daughters older than she is and my hair is naturally fine and thin. But I will be happy with healthy, happy hair and hope for a little thickening. 

I have a lot more to say but just wanted to write about how I am incorporating those parts of the challenge. 

If anyone else reads this and is following her challenge, feel free to share your experience!

Rich Hobson's trilogy begins our Canadian reading and watching

We have been watching Canadian tv shows this past year - fitting - since this is Canada's 150th birthday. It all started with reading Richmond P. "Rich" Hobson's books. In the 1950's and 1960's Rich Hobson wrote a trilogy of memoirs; "Grass Beyond the Mountains", "Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy" and "The Rancher Takes a Wife" about his and his partner "Pan" Panhandle Phillips experiences pioneering a frontier cattle ranch in the almost completely unexplored at the time interior of British Columbia in the 1930's and 1940's.

They developed the Frontier Cattle Company into the largest cattle ranch in the world - approximately 4 million acres, the most remote ranch in North America. That entity only lasted 9 years because WWII broke out and they became desperately short of manpower and cash as cattle prices were too low for too long. However they both continued ranching on their own on a smaller scale.

Rich was a wonderful author and makes one feel they are actually along for the ride, seeing things through his eyes,  as they battle the elements - 60-70 below temperatures, exploring beautiful, unusual country, the colorful characters who lived in the area, the dangers of illness and injury in an area so remote with no modern transportation or conveniences.

He includes lots of humor and there is romance too as the two cowboys pursue and eventually find wives.

Here is a link to his first book.

 Grass Beyond the Mountains

Crockpot lentil rice stuffed peppers

I am trying lentil rice stuffed peppers in my crockpot today. I had some red lentils I wanted to use up so I cooked them. So there were about 2 cups cooked lentils and I added 1 cup cooked rice, 1 small can tomato sauce, 1 egg, some leftover shredded cheese (somewhere between 1/2 and 1 cup - let's say 3/4), 2 TBSP minced onion flakes (dried), 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, about 1 TBSP homemade taco seasoning. Stuffed it into 5 peppers which had the tops cut off and the seeds removed. Put in crockpot for 6 hours on high.

cold soups

It has been in the 90;s and 100's lately, so early in the year. I am going to try something I've never done before - cold soups. My first try is Jade Garden Soup. It is simmering right now. I'll use chard instead of spinach since that is what I have. Hope we like it.

Jade Garden Soup

Rated: Submitted By: CORWYNN DARKHOLME Photo By: Soup Loving Nicole Prep Time: 25 Minutes Cook Time: 45 Minutes Ready In: 1 Day 1 Hour 10 Minutes Servings: 7

"A savory combination of spinach, lettuce, and parsley are pureed with rice, not cream, in this cool jade green soup. Garnish with sour cream, paprika, and dill."

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1 carrot, sliced 2 stalks celery, sliced 6 cups chicken stock 1/3 cup uncooked white rice 1 1/3 cups fresh spinach, washed

and chopped 1 1/3 cups butter lettuce - rinsed, and torn into small pieces 1 1/3 cups chopped fresh parsley salt to taste ground black pepper to taste 1 pinch cayenne pepper

Directions:

1.	Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in onion, carrot, and celery; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent and the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
2.	Pour in chicken stock and rice; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 35 minutes or until rice is soft.
3.	Stir in spinach, lettuce, and parsley; cook just until wilted. Season with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Use an immersion blender (or blend in batches in a blender) until smooth. The soup may be thinned with more broth, if desired. Refrigerate overnight before serving. Garnish as desired.

swiss chard

This morning I went to the Farmer's Market and bought some Swiss chard. It is one of my favorite vegetables to grow because it is so trouble free -it doesn't mind the heat, doesn't mind the cold, can take a bit of a freeze -  but I do not have any of my own yet. So I was pleased to find some locally grown. I made the following recipes from Marissa Macclellan's Food in jars blog (see link below). The green leafy parts are cut up and put into meat loaf and the stems are made into a quick refrigerator pickle. The stems of one bunch of chard made exactly one pint of pickled chard stems which I am looking forward to eating in a couple of days. The meat loaf was delicious though I would chop up the chard greens finer in my ninja next time and I used ground beef rather than ground turkey since I have wonderful ground beef in my freezer which my nephew raised for me. . Her recipe called for leeks but i used chopped chives and garlic chives because those I have growing in my yard. 

http://foodinjars.com/2015/05/csa-cooking-turkey-meatloaf-and-quick-pickled-chard-stems/

Fresh Mint Tea

My mint bed is pretty lush. I don't know what kind it is because it was already in place when we bought our house. It is growing through an area which is lined with groundcloth and covered with gravel. I think the former homeowner might have done that to suppress the mint but it happily grows right through it.

Making fresh mint tea today.

Sweet Mint Tea
Pack a quart jar with fresh, clean mint leaves. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Run hot water over outside of jar to prevent breakage, the pour in
Boiling water to fill
Agitate jar to dissolve sugar. Cover loosely and let stand several hours or overnight. Strain contents. use resulting concentrate by pouring into ice-filled tall glasses. May freeze concentrate.

Plain Mint Tea
Pack quart jar with fresh, clean mint leaves. Pour in boiling water. Let stand several hours or overnight. Strain contents. Use resulting concentrate by pouring into ice-filled tall glasses. May freeze.

This procedure may be used for any fresh herbal tea such as with lemon balm.