NEW BLOG

Hello lovers and all my trusted readers!!!

I recently decided to switch over to wordpress and have let my blogspot go.. I really love the setup at wordpress. It's allowing me to be more organized and do things that I couldn't do with my blogger. Please check out and follow my wordpress blog and let me know what you think!

http://regrowroots.wordpress.com/

Thank you and good night. :)

Symbiosis.. is that a word?

I have been thinking about the symbiotic relationship between all things...

The Dalai Lama says that I should not look at one thing as just THAT thing. For example a door is not just a door. There is a hole in the wall in front of me, strategically placed so that if I go through it I will end up in the hallway that leads to the bathroom, my parents room, the living room, and beyond that... the outside world! So in this hole in the wall stands a door that fits just perfectly and is held up with hinges on the top and bottom to swing in and out... etc etc etc. So the door is not just a door. It exists as a door because of all the other factors.

This is like everything in the universe. It all exists because everything else exists. When one thing disappears, other things disappear. This allows new things to grow. There is no emptiness, only opportunity.

Emptying my mind allows creativity in. It is not empty, but an opportunity for brand new thoughts to swim, fly, hop... skip sing paint frollick dance yell laugh squeek.



I started school yesterday. It's an online Naturopathy course and I LOVE it. Sandy Hill Institute of Natural Sciences
It's free. And today I learned this -

There is a book that most universities use in their doctor courses, to teach the doctors of our future. This leading medical book is called "Principles of Internal Medicine". This book has 7 authors, 6 of which graduated from Harvard Medical School. One of the primary donors of money to Harvard Medical School is the Rockefeller family. This family also controls the pharmaceutical industry... which sponsors Harvard Medical School. Sounds to me like a monopoly on the health of our country and it's all invested in drugs. Let's leave it at that.

thank you notes :)

Whenever I get an order on etsy, I always make sure to include a little thank you note. Until recently, I pretty much just grabbed my memo pad, wrote a little note, and threw it in the box with the order... I decided it would be way nicer to create a nice little handmade card and envelope and have a bunch of them premade so when I get an order all I have to do is grab the card, write a little line with an individual message for that person and it's done. /// So I made a stack of these great little cards yesterday ///

Perhaps one day I will keep a stock of them available in my shop, but until then they are for my special customers only! :)

I used a german song book for the envelopes and the pages turned out to be the perfect size to hold my cards. I have a stack of blank greeting cards that I cut into 4 smaller ones to make these mini notes. Then I just decorated them with markers, some leaf cut outs in each corner, and my signature tree stamp on the back. Lovely! I think I should write my shop name - Re-Grow Roots somewhere on it, probably the back.

Thanks for checking out my thank you notes! I would love it if you left a comment about your own thank you notes or what you think of mine... or just tell me how you're doing today! I love hearing from my readers. :) It's been raining all night and morning, a perfect light drizzle and I love it.

Learning how to Breathe / My fears

Last night Carlos went out to a local pub, the Black Horse Pub in Hollister. My dad works at the restaurant owned by the same man, Dr. Mike, and he told us about an open mic night they have every monday at 7. I haven't been into playing music with anyone other than myself and the trees lately. Carlos, however, loves playing as much as ever and rarely has the opportunity to play with other folks.. so we went.

I was already feeling very self conscious before we went because when my dad was telling us about it, he said that Carlos should play there and that it's a place for practiced musicians to play, that I wouldn't be able to just sit around and beat on a drum... So I felt like I wasn't good enough.

In most tasks in my life, I am very self confident. I know that I'm a great gardener, a wonderful artist, an interesting story teller, a good driver, a great cook ... so none of these things make me nervous. As soon as I even think about singing in front of people, I feel like I swallowed a whole melon. My throat swells, my heart races, I get totally anxious and nervous. Needless to say, I did not perform last night. Carlos performed wonderfully with many different musicians and was asked to record music with them and jam with them again. I am very happy for him, but I also felt very distant - especially when he started singing House of the Rising Sun, a song I love to sing but never want to sing in public. My anxiousness made me sad because I want to be free and do whatever I feel like doing every moment of my life. I wanted to sing and share my voice with everyone, but I don't want to for fear of criticism from myself and others.

The people there were so wonderful. We met incredibly kind and warm hearted folks that go there every Monday night. It's like a home for them, it's like family. I told stories and shared my passions, but the most valuable part of the night was near the end.

Teddy is a beautiful lady who played the bass the entire night, with every single musician that went up. She has incredible energy about her. I told her that I loved her music and her energy. She spoke to me saying that she could feel my beautiful energy too. Come to find out, she contacted us 5 months ago when Carlos and I were trying to get a band together. We already had some other guys playing with us, and soon after that I went into my holed up fear of singing again, and this I told her.

She told me the trick to singing is to breathe. That it is all about the breath. She noticed that my breathing is completely wrong for singing and put my hand on her belly to show me how she does it. I have always been breathing into my chest, not into my belly. I don't completely fill up my lungs. Everything makes so much sense to me now! The main thing that bothers me when I listen to my singing recorded is that I sound tense. Carlos doesn't hear, but it's all I hear in my music. An incredible tenseness that makes me feel totally uncomfortable just listening to it. If my breath was deep and easy, my singing would be easy and less tense. I told her I think a lot about the people watching me, the microphones, the amplification... she said not to think about anything - only think about my breath.

Since then I have been practicing my breath pretty constantly! :) I think this will save my life. One day I will be fearless.

NEW crochet addiction...

I've become a little obsessed with making crochet bangle bracelets...

They're funky, kinda retro, comfy as all get out... and super easy to make!

Step one - chain 6 and join together with slip stitch to form circle
Step two - go around and around til it gets long enough
Step three - join both ends together with a tapestry needle by sewing through the loops

Love em? I do! I offer them in my etsy shop for $5 each if you dig em but don't want to make your own... I make them in wool or cotton. :) Check it out - regrowroots.etsy.com

I take custom orders!

LoOove and LoOoOops!!! Thanks for supporting me and supporting handmade! :)

Oh My Garden!

Life is good. The garden is growing and flowers are in bloom. Bees are busy buzzing around, pollinating our squash blossoms and pollinating themselves. It's so funny to watch those big butted bumble bees fly out of a blossom totally covered in pollen. On their face, their feet, their butts. Silly bees! I have a frog that lives right outside my bedroom window and it just sits there all day and all night. It's a little one, maybe a few inches long. Sort of a pastel green color. There are beans growing up our window wall outside and the frog loves it there. So do the grasshoppers... they love eating the bean leaves.

Bountiful Mexican Beans cover our window and it's a jungle!

Those are squash in the front there. One of our 4 zucchini plants! There's a sidewalk at the front of the bed, so we are training the zucchini to crawl over to the side. It's amazing how quickly a plant takes the hint. It was going straight for the sidewalk and after three days of shoving the vines the other way, it caught on. We also have some delectable white patty pan squash plants. Buttery and delicious... Okay more pictures!

Reisentraube Tomatoes - they're extremely bountiful heirloom grape tomatoes

Tomatoes. Zucchini. Patty Pan. Morning Glory. Marigold. Pumpkin. Carrots. Basil. Okra. Eggplant.

Those tiny sprouts are tomatillos that Carlos just planted. Need to thin them soon.

Gourd growing up the wall. Morning glories up the patio. Pepper in front.

And a fun one from the beginnings of our gardening adventures...

Whoa. Big difference!

Most of our plants were started from seeds, many of them our own saved seeds. It's amazing to look at it and think it once fit in the palm of my hand!

2012 National Rainbow Gathering

At the end of June, Carlos and myself took off on a journey to the rainbow gathering in the Cherokee National Forest of Tennessee. I heard of rainbow gatherings a few years ago and have met many people who are "rainbow family" throughout my travels. When we heard the 2012 gathering was going to be held pretty close to Missouri and in a state we had not yet ventured to, we had to go!

A little background on the rainbow concept... Many in the rainbow family study and apply a native american or tribal way of life. They live lightly on the planet and try to be as self sufficient as possible. They people don't need a government, that we should all help eachother. They don't believe in capital, but that we should share what we have and barter for what we need. The gathering is totally free - free camping, free food, free water, tons of things being traded and given away.

I am in awe of the ones who set up the gatherings. They set up a filtered spring water system that gets fresh, clean water to thousands of folks during the gathering. This year it came from the top of one of the Appalachian mountains in the national forest and the water was amazing! It made me feel incredibly energized. Every year between 7000 and 20000 people show up to the gathering. The main part of it is from July 1 - July 7, but people arrive a month in advance to set everything up and they are there for about a month after the 7th to clean the place up and make it look like no one was ever there. An amazing feat. During the main part of the gathering, the place is like a festival. There are drum circles and fire spinning every night, people set up on the main trail bartering all kinds of stuff, hallucinogenic drugs are everywhere, people are walking around naked, there are bon fires... it's wild.

And then most of those people leave before the 7th and leave tons of garbage, clothes, tents, sleeping bags, etc. etc. etc. behind in the forest... for others to clean up. We stayed until the 13th spending the last 5 days cleaning up as much as we could. We walked the trails bagging up moldy clothes, pillows, blankets, and all sorts of trash and we carried it down the mountain time and time again to the main road - to TRASH MOUNTAIN. A mountain of trash. A big one. We helped dig through the trash bags to sort out glass, cans, plastic. It's so ironic to me that the foundation of these gatherings is to be self sufficient without a government entity regulating our every move, and then at the end there's hundreds and hundreds of bags of trash from all these folks that came out just to party... and of course from all the food waste that happens when there are 7000 people hanging out in the woods.

I met some amazing people there. Teepee Dave brings his teepee to every gathering and he shared his gratitude with us for helping clean up the woods. He had us over to enjoy fresh hot coffee and gentle conversation. He played his dulcimer that he made himself and we sang songs. We helped kitchens with dishes and helped them cook meals. The most amazing part for me was lending a hand wherever I could to create a harmonious space.

While there, I realized that traveling around makes it very difficult to be self sufficient in these times. Unless I become a hunter/gatherer which is really difficult in a country where the land is bought and sold, I feel like the most simple and harmless way of life is a stationary one. If I stay in one place with a bit of land I can grow all my food, build a little house, and live in harmony with the land off the grid and with minimal government.

The police were totally crazy. Every day there were cops rolling up and down the road where people park, where "A Camp" was set up, the anarchist camp that tries to keep cops out of the woods. They would ride into woods on the trails with their ATVs and give people fines for anything. They searched cars without warrants. They yelled and played threatening music from their megaphones. "Let the bodies hit the floor" was one song I heard when we first arrived in the woods.

The people who stay behind to clean up the woods are incredible.

 And the journey there was a hot one! Hitch hiking in the southern Summer heat was very trying at times. We drank tons of water and sat in the shade every chance we got. Nashville, Tennessee was my favorite city that we stopped in. We saw a jazz show at a local coffee shop and drank an amazing latte. Then we met Sweet Annie, a beautiful jazz singer, who let us camp in her backyard. We talked for hours, she made us breakfast, and sang us a song. She says the 1990 rainbow gathering changed her life forever and shaped who she is today. :)

Plastic Takes Over the World!

I got an email from change.org today about signing a petition that I really want to pass onto my readers. In a nut shell, the plastic industry is lobbying to make it illegal for individual towns and cities of Illinois to ban the use of plastic bags. Banning plastic will be impossible if this bill gets passed! Of course there are parts of this bill that are good, like having more plastic bag recycling locations... but recycling plastic bags is almost an oxymoron. We need to get rid of it! In the end it's up to each individual person, but when an entire city makes the decision to ban them it's a really big deal!

Here's the petition:

Change.org|Free Online Petitions

the tale of two tomatoes

< the facts >

Two tomato plants are growing outside on our patio. They are in smallish handmade clay pots and they quite like it on the patio because it is south facing but gets ample shade from the ceiling above them so they are protected from the harsh sun. We filled the pots with aged donkey shit, mushroom compost, and a layer of banana peels for potassium plus egg shells for calcium and other minerals. Once a week I fertilize them with Mendocino County sea weed tea. For stakes we used sticks from the forest.

playing with carlos' new instagram app

< the residents >

Carlos and me, Desiree, who will be leaving this Sunday for the gathering and to travel a bit.
My mom and dad, who will be leaving in a couple weeks for their anniversary.
Many plants in the garden and on the patio.

< the dilemma >

Our tomato plants grew way tall, super fast and one day I noticed that our Chocolate Cherry tomato was very wilty and losing many leaves. As it turns out, it outgrew the stakes, leaned over our railing, and cracked open on its stem. Also, everyone on the patio will need to be watered while the family is away. Carlos and I moved a tomato to the garden bed that gets watered with the sprinklers but the sun was killing it... so we moved it back onto the patio.

< the climax >

DIY How to mend a cracked tomato stem:

gauze + cotton yarn = tomato cast

a happy, loved tomato is a healthy, delicious tomato

AND...
I came up with a way to water while everyone is vacationing!

DIY self watering container

inspired by "aqua globes" but free.. and "shabby chic"!

raw milk is so delicious

Today I'm going to share my experience with raw milk! :)

Growing up, I didn't care much for milk from the store. Store bought milk contains blood, pus, and fecal matter from cows which are kept in extreme confinement. They are overloaded with hormones and antibiotics. Milk is a massive industry controlled by a few large dairies so it's hard for them to pay much attention to hygiene and the well being of their animals. And all they care about is money.

A couple years ago I tried some raw milk, unpasteurized and unhomogenized and since then I have been a milk addict and drink 3 or 4 glasses of it every day! My milk comes from a local dairy where the cows eat green grass, relax in the shade of the trees, and they aren't given any hormones or antibiotics because they don't need them. From the milk we make butter, ice cream, cheese, and wonderful smoothies.Thank you Jersey cows!!!

Occupy the World

This video depicts the hypocrisy of our US government vividly.

Not for the Burn Pile - an etsy treasury

my day + etsy

I had a wonderful day today! This morning I spent time with my parents and my boyfriend Carlos, chatting, had a lovely breakfast of bacon and eggs - the usual.. Carlos and I took a walk down the road to our neighborhood farm and produce stand to pick up some veggies and ground beef. They had banana peppers and bell peppers today! So yummy. $11 got us 2 pounds of beef, 2 bell peppers, 3 banana peppers, and 2 fat cucumbers. All organic and local. They were out of eggs, gotta get there earlier next time.

It's my wonderful sister's birthday today - Happy Birthday wonderful sister! She had to go to work - bleh.

And I added some new handmade envelopes to my etsy account today, super geeky superhero Animal Man!

upcycled envelopes in my etsy shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/ReGrowRoots?section_id=7622554

Headband Giveaway

I am having a FREE GIVEAWAY!!! My friend Melanie has the giveaway and a wonderful review featured on her blog. Check it out and enter to win a free men or womens headband! The winner gets the choice of any headband in my etsy shop. They are all made from cotton, organic cotton, wool, and/or upcycled fabric.

Here is the giveaway:
http://melanieski.blogspot.com/2012/06/regrow-roots-review-giveaway.html

The Latest on Etsy

I just added SIX NEW ITEMS to my etsy. Now I have 66 items, getting closer to the critical number...

I made three sets of scrubbie sponges last night in these beautiful colors and when I was photographing them today on the funky textured concrete outside, I decided to set them all up together in this retro square. Super cool, huh? It inspired me to sell a made to order set of 9 sponges, in custom colors.

It was an inspirational moment.

 Here are some uses for these wonderful eco friendly sponges:
 - cleaning dishes
 - pot scrubbers
 - makeup remover
 - cleaning counters
 - exfoliating

Can you think of any others?

Love and loops,
Desiree

Caretakers Update

We were supposed to go to the 16 acre farm where we were offered the caretaker positions, to take a look at the place and do some weeding this morning. We got up and ate breakfast at 8 and around 8:15 we got a call from Catherine. What I gathered from the short conversation with her is that she used to have a caretaker who no longer wanted to do it so she asked us, but then the guy changed his mind and wants to continue being the caretaker. So Carlos is back on the hunt for land. 

My parents are looking to buy a house somewhere near Branson, because my dad works in town. Their ideal is that they find a piece of land (5+ acres) so Carlos and I can grow veggies, raise chicken for eggs and meat, and raise some dairy goats. It's mine and Carlos' dream to have land so we can live a self sufficient life and share it with others. My family has been interested in the idea for about a year, but we still haven't found anything. Actually we have found a few places, but none have worked out so far. My parents lease is up this month so we have to find something real soon so Carlos has been a busy bee, looking all the time. He found a real nice one today, but I don't want to say too much about it. :)

 I was feeling real down this morning. A caretaker position would have been so wonderful and I was looking very forward to it. It made me wonder what I should do and it made me feel like I'm waiting for something to happen instead of making it happen. I feel better now. My parents are starting to support Carlos in his search more and become more active themselves. AND I got a lot of work done this morning. I finished some new dish cloths and face scrubbers. Crocheting is such a mellow out activity. It calmed my mind to sit on the patio bench and zone out. Wish us luck with the land endeavor! :)

 Thanks for stopping by.
 Lots of love, Desiree

A Farm and A Concert

Wonderful things in my future.
Wonderful feelings in the present.
Wonderful tunes in my ears.

A Farm...
It started with a Craigslist ad that I posted for Carlos a few months ago offering music lessons for anyone interested. A lady named Catherine called to schedule violin lessons for her little niece, an adorable shy little girl who picks up dead moths and thinks turtle shells are cool. She started coming once a week and like most kids she picked it up pretty quickly. Personally, the violin is not for me. The crazy posture involved in holding a curvy, fancy block of wood and plastic between my chin and collar bone or shoulder....not for me. Anyway, the two of them hadn't been around in a couple of weeks and we didn't know what happened. Then, out of the beautiful blue, Catherine called Carlos to share a proposition with him. Turns out she has this farm on 16 acres of land with a geodesic dome house sitting on it in Omaha, AR which is right across the border of Missouri maybe 20 miles away from here. She's also got this place in Springfield, MO and she travels between the two which is a trek and she is getting tired of it...

Here is the kicker -
She wants us to be caretakers on her farm!!! WHOA I know. She has food growing there so I'm sure the beds are all prepped for lots more goodies to be planted aaand she has chickens. Chickens. I think about them during the day and I dream about them at night, chickens. We are going over there to look at the place on Tuesday so I'll try to remember and take a few pictures of the place. I'm very interested to see what this geodesic dome looks like. She said it has 1 bedroom plus 2 lofts and it's 1200 sq. feet I think... that's a big dome. It's a dream come true and I love it here.

A Concert...
Tomorrow Liberty and Justice will be playing their biggest show yet! That's my band with my boyfriend Carlos, for those of you who aren't too familiar with my life. We decided to call ourselves Liberty and Justice because our songs are about freedom, community, nature, and self empowerment... and we also mock the government a little bit, here and there. So it's a literal take on the ever popular slogan "liberty and justice for all". We take it pretty seriously and try to bring honesty into a very jaded world. We started our little duo on the road during our hitch hiking adventures last May. Me on harmonica and Carlos on banjo and we played all over the country to unsuspecting pedestrians. I now play the ukulele and Carlos also jams out on the guitar and mandolin every now and again. Since moving to Missouri we have played a show at the Farmers Market of the Ozarks and got paid with delicious local food and we also had a gig at the Springfield ArtsFest with a total of maybe 8 folks in our audience. One lovely lady gave us a $20 tip at that one! Tomorrow is day one of the Summer Concert Series that the mayor of Forsyth, Missouri is putting on as a fundraiser to feed hungry kids. Liberty and Justice will be kicking off the series at 5PM tomorrow evening and we are playing for a full TWO HOURS. Whoa. A two hour set. We've been practicing a dang awful lot the past couple of days.

There's a kicker to this story too -
A boy named Adam broke Carlos' banjo about a week and a half ago, so Carlos had to buy another banjo on ebay and it hasn't gotten here yet. The banjo and my voice are the centerpiece in our 2-piece band. Luckily we have a friend named Jim who plays the upright bass and practices with us sometimes, who just bought himself a banjo a little while ago. He said he'd meet us at the show so Carlos could borrow it. Either way, the show is going to rule!

Check out some of our music on our totally hip facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liberty-and-Justice/206637086113219

Have a wonderful night everyone. 'Tis almost a full moon again. :)

Interview by SimplyCherise

I was featured in another lovely blog!! Thank you so much, Cherise, for doing an interview with me and featuring me in your lovely blog. You are a doll!

Check out the interview here:
http://simplycherise.net/2012/06/01/featured-amazing-artist-desiree-fleck-from-re-grow-roots/

Anything Can Be Furnishing - etsy treasury

Patio Container Garden

As some of you know, I'm currently living in an apartment. At one time, my family was given the okay to plant whatever we want in the garden bed next to our apartment as long as we maintain so last year we grew lots of cucumbers, some tomatoes that didn't do well because of the hot, dry weather.. lettuce, mint, wheat, and flowers. This year we wanted to plant more stuff so we made the bed bigger and started lots of seeds really early. Things were looking good until the management hired an outside landscaper who had no idea what anything was so he hoed up many of our plants. Goodbye lettuce and elderberry bush! A few lovely plants made it through the ransacking, but this made me think twice about planting veggies in the bed. I have resorted to primarily using containers on the patio...

And it's a struggle.

Please excuse my nighttime iPhone photography (no flash). These tomato plants are doing GREAT. On the right we have Chocolate Cherry and the left is a Goliath.

Besides the tomatoes though, most things are having a hard time. I'm very new to container gardening and I definitely did not use the right mix of soil. To start, I used straight COW MANURE and nothing else... it seems I was a little off my rocker that day. Since then I have amended many things with sand so they are 50/50 sand/cow manure. Yet most plants still look a little down. The only fertilizers I like to use are those that come from real sources like bone meal, kelp, etc. I haven't invested in any yet, but I have inquired at my local feed store. Should check back in with them. I have made one revelation and it is seaweed :

Above you will see my jar of seaweed! At night I put a handful of seaweed in the jar, let it steep like a tea overnight and in the morning I have nutrient dense seaweed water to feed my plants with! I feel like this is definitely helping, but I still need to amend the soil a bit.

Anyone have experience with container gardening and want to share some tips??

Love - Desiree

Screaming Sardine - support a blogger!

I have been featured in a super cool blog dedicated to supporting handmade artists! The motto "Buy Handmade! Support a person, not a corporation."

Check out her blog at:
www.screamingsardine.net

Thanks Tracy!!!

ReGrow Roots - my etsy shop

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Since being here in Branson, Missouri and living with my parents, I have been able to craft my heart out. Before this, I was traveling from state to state with my boyfriend, no money, and a backpack. It was incredible. We saw amazing places like Multnomah Falls, hitch hiked the Columbia River Gorge, spent time in artsy towns like Olympia Washington, Eugene Oregon, and Sebastapol California. We lived at communes and in forests, took part in a tree sit, and played music everywhere west of the Mississippi. Now we are here, taking a break and spending time with family. Missouri is beautiful and we are keeping busy. This is where etsy comes in...

https://www.etsy.com/listing/100149523/crochet-hood-hat-elf-hood-unisex-ooak?ref=v1_other_1

I call it Re-Grow Roots, my small business. The name describes my mission in life and the reason for all the random crafts that I do. My mission is to become self sufficient and learn how to create a life for myself in harmony with the earth and without the government. Walking this path has taught me to grow food, catch rainwater, make my clothes, process squirrel meat, preserve food, recycle materials into improved items, and  always spend time creating, painting, inventing. Another mission is to share my work with folks that are interested!

I just made tons of crafts for a recent craft show, the first show I've done around here. Plumb Nellie Days, they call it, and it didn't go so well. It was very expensive for a booth and as far as I heard, many people didn't even make enough money to cover their expenses. BUT I gained some new clients and filled custom orders, met fellow artists and heard about some really cool local stuff that goes on in Branson. It was super nice to just get out and meet the locals, since I'm still pretty new in this place. Plus I got loads of positive feedback! :)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/99501017/funky-owl-painting-on-raw-wood-bright

The owl was a favorite amongst passerby, no one bought it, but no one seemed to be buying much at the craft fair. So I need to reach the right potential clients that have the desire to purchase my products... I'll get started on that today. Maybe reach out on other blogs that are "earth friendly" or something like that. Promoting is not my strongest asset, but I'm working on it!

Have a beautiful day!

Pickled Green Tomatoes

A couple weeks ago, Carlos and I played our first show at the new Farmers Market of the Ozarks in Springfield. It was a very rainy day amongst many new farmer friends. After the show, we got a big basket of donations from many generous farmers. In the basket was 5 juicy, slightly sour green tomatoes. We fried one, baked one into a casserole, and the rest I decided to pickle this morning. :) 

 

Supplies & Ingredients

two green tomatoes

two cloves garlic

three parsley stems

four chive leaves

1/4 onion (last minute decision, not pictured above)

freshly ground pepper

heaping tablespoon sea salt

apple cider vinegar

olive oil

water

knife, cutting board, quart mason jar

Slice and chop the ingredients. Since the jar will sit and maturate for a couple of weeks, it's not necessary to chop things very small. The ingredients will all absorb one another. Many people even like keeping their tomatoes whole.

 

When I pickle things, I always like to do it in layers. This is how I did it - tomatoes, pepper, herbs, tomatoes, pepper, herbs. It's like a pickle casserole in a jar! 

After all the ingredients are layered in the jar, I mix my pickling juice. I normally abstain from using specific measurements, but instead use a general method. In this case, here is my method:

A heaping tablespoon (ish) of sea salt per quart jar of pickles.

I fill my jars with 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water leaving room at the top.

 Since I still had loads of room after adding my pickling juice, I decided to add onions! Yuuuummy. :) I threw them in the jar and shook it up. Shake SHAKE Shake

To ensure that unwanted bacterias don't penetrate the jar, I top it off with olive oil and make sure everything is completely submerged. 

... And that's all there is to it!!!

You can use this recipe to pickle many vegetables, even fruits!