Beets, Cats and Plants

Thanksgiving was spent helping mom make 12 Pumpkin pies for the Roadhouse.
Then scrambled off, changed helped do some veggies and served up Dinner. A huge Turkey with Greenbeans, Beets, Potatoes, Sweet Carrots and Broccoli. And for dessert Apple and Pumpkin pie. Yumm! Apple pie was actually vegan--yay for me.
Before hand I took some photos of the beets--I love beets. And my cat. And plants.. which I got updated photos on how they are progressing and thought I would share with you my peeps. Enjoy, and please comment below--Much love and Happy Thanksgiving, and try not to trample people if you do the whole Black Friday thing.

Blessings.

Website coming soon!!

Yay! As much as I love my FB page and this blog It will be great to have a website to go along with it all and tie it in. And my dearest friend Kelsie and her beau are helping me, props to the Autonomite network!! Woot woot, check them out they are great graphic designers, and computer geniuses! And amazing people who hit the ground running and love to change the word for the better as much as I do and for that I LOVE you guys!!<3.
On a side note, I finally went to the Farmer's Market, and met up with the manager to see about setting up a booth, and it seems to be a little to sudden for me I need to get all my ducks in a row first, and think starting out slow here at the restaurant would be the way to go maybe even do a Saturday Craft fair thing, to be continued. Meanwhile, yesterday on our day off I : went shopping, did dishes, laundry, changed sheets, cooked 3 meals for TG, watered and planted, plus new planning for skincare stuff.
Phew!! I'm wiped out--but back to the restaurant this morning, need to make a new batch of lipbalms for the season and possibly order more.

More to come stay tuned and thanks for following!! Blessings and light!!

Me and mi lil buddy Charlie the cutest dog ever--not mine, but im her stepmom hahaha!

Heather.

Taxes, farmers market's and holiday madness

Hi everyone, hope y'all are having a great holiday season so far from Canadian Thanksgiving to Halloween, to American Thanksgiving to Xmas and Yule and then New Years and Valentines day and Bunny day. OMG.. so many.... hahahah no wonder people go cuckoo around the holidays there afraid there gonna go broke.
But do not despair for everyone at least once in there lifetime has to live on a budget like in college...although I didn't officially go to a brick and mortar college, I still know a thing or to about budgeting ;). 
But first a thing or two about taxes, when I was younger I remember hearing the saying : The only sure thing in this life is death and taxes. Man were they right. Up until 2 years ago I was in ignorant bliss and only knew a few things about business now I have 3 years of taxes experience and am STILL learning every year, especially since this last year they changed the Tax Reform and made it even harder to scam buy extra cash which is good for the government, but makes it a bit tough on business especially small business that just barely got there stuff together--ahem.  
But do not despair I got my ducks in a row... or at least I think I do, I usually do ALL the bookkeeping and tax filing but from time to time I do seek assistance from an accountant to point me in the right direction if I go astray--phew. And the last month was one of those moments, here I though I had everything figured out and it turns out I had to do even more extra steps and file more papers--sigh. I still filed everything though so I shouldn't be in trouble just need to get a handle on those extra steps before the end of the year which as of this writing is in.....less than 2 months, alright, challenge accepted gov. 
Enough of my tax ramblings though.... once I checked off the taxes monkey off  my to do list, I moved onto my next task, figuring out how I can get more local sales, to which people have been inquiring me If I`m going to be at this years Farmers Market?? To which I reply: Maybe :). I'm working on it. We shall see.

Above my fall kit perfect for the holidays!!Includes a scrub, butter and Spray.

Questions on Facebook.com/gmherbals or Etsy :)

1) I need someone to fill in for me at the market since I already have a full time job. And figure out how much of a cut they'll be getting for doing me a ginormous favor.
2) Need to figure out how much and what I need to setup
3) Meet up with corresponding people and talk.
4)Figure out how much I`m going to be selling, check inventory, etc, etc.
5) Go bananas!
I'm considering doing a "trunk show" at some cool boutiques I admire and maybe work consignment with some Spas in town y'all should be happy to hear that I have sold to a few spas now, so that's always good to have as a seller reference sheet.

Speaking of sheets I got some work I need to do in Google docs.

Aside from biz and tax ramblings and being excited about the new Farmers Market coming up soon... Im preparing myself for the madness of my day job as well--I run the family restaurant, a little burger, pizza joint. It gets preeeeettty crazy around Nov-March.

SO lots on my plate not to mention a few Indy film co-lab offers as well. Yep it feels good when people appreciate your work and want you for things, I feel like I finally have a purpose to try and better the world. Yay!

Oh before I forget..yes a few budgeting tips that I practice on a daily basis:

-Save at least 10-20% of what you make on a daily or weekly basis and stash it away in a coffee can or and envelope you won't be temped to get into much other wise what's the point?
-Prioritize everything!
-Make lists or get an agenda/datebook, it`s a life saver or if you have a smartypants phone then get an app or something what do I know -- I don't have a smart phone, but I used to :(.
-If you have a checking account or credit card, pay off everything you owe right away or square off your balance.
-Don´t let bills pile up, pay what you can when you can but try to pay them within a week, that way you got one monkey off your back and any left over cash, splurge of a cupcake or something.
-Ask friends and family for advice when in doubt or use the old Google.

Last but not least I read all these books in the last 3 weeks you should totally check them out if you love the vegan diet or just eating healthy and want to save the environment and be a better person and also save yourself from like cancer  or you want to open up a handmade biz on Etsy or in town Check those books out!! Peace and Love-- Heather

Book recommendations of the month.

World Peace Diet- Will Tuttle

No more dirty looks by Siobhan O'Connor, Alexandra Spunt

Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin

Some pictures :) and Time with friends

It`s been a super long time since I updated so much going on but I must say the dear Kari Chapin has reignited the spark in me, and even in times of dire straights I have found inspiration, so for that, TY Kari!!!
And below just a lil sneap peek of me and my obssession ---vegan CINNAMON BUNS omgwerrrdddd.
That`s me with the smiley face and drooling over the rolls, and below are my two besties from Austin Texas, who are soon leaving the nest to venture to South America somewhere--maybe Chile, maybe Columbia. Sounds exotic! I will miss you guys dearly, and love you so!.
Below from left to right is Kelsie, LeAndrew and me. Good times. Coming up next, some behind the scenes footage of my process, stay tuned, meanwhile here is a cat picture thrown in the mix, who doesn´t love cats right!!???.

My lil muffin!

Gingerbread Milk and Almond Parmesan Cheez

Oddly enough... I was in the mood to make another batch of homemade milk... so I decided let's venture a little different than the usual almond or coconut or occasional oat milk.. So I threw in a bunch of ingredients I had and came up with Gingerbread milk.

Take a handful of almonds
3/4 cup shredded coconut

Soak those 2 for about 2 hours atleast.

Once those are soaked pour of the excess water and throw it all in the blender.
Add 3-4 cups of fresh water depending on consistency.
Now this is where you can go crazy and add your own combo of spices or extras.
I added 2 tsp. molasses for color and sweetness, 2 tsp vanilla ext., and a pinch of cocoa powder.
If i had figs or dates i would add 1 or 2 instead of molasses but hey, I went with what I had.

So once you add all that good stuff to the blender, blend for about 1 to 2 minutes on Med.
Then strain and bottle or enjoy immediately.
You can take a left over mason jar or any other used glass jar will do the trick.
Now the only thing this reminds me of is a mix between, cocoa, coffee and gingerbread cookies, lol so I went with gingerbread Milk, give it a shot see if you like it :)
Also! You will probably have leftover pulp and stuff from the almond and coconuts, just squeeze out all the extra liquid, save and dry or microwave for a minute, add some nutritional yeast, some onion powder, maybe a lil cayenne, some aminos or soy sauce and you got yourself some raw smokey Parmesan cheez.
Not bad!

Diner back Open, and Beauty Boost!! plus plant babies!!

Hi everybody, it`s been a couple more away but with good reason.
Things have been crazy!!
Like I mentioned in my last post, we closed for a lil... brainstorming, and ended up remodelling the place, and so now it`s all nifty and nice, and anyone who is in Maz, def. come check us out!! (www.facebook.com/Roadhousegarageandgrill)
Now, about my Etsy store I added like 3 more items, and already have a small clientele base, yay!!
At the moment I'm sitting at work waiting for our first few customers to roll in, it's slow season now so that usually within the next 2-3 hours but it is Saturday after all and Capricorn moon ! which means down to the biz!
I had a lavishly awesome night out last night, with the coolest friends ever, Leandrew, Kelsie, Carlos, and my new friend Erik.
We went to two different restaurants ( Roots cafe) where they play life music and have a very rasta style place going on, but amazingly enough have a vegan salad, and a vast selection of non and alcoholic drinks, plus i knew the band! hehe always a plus :)
Then we jetted down the street to Social cafe ( Mike and Jen, www.facebook.com/Socialcafelounge ) are the best, known them for a few years now there place has really taken off, so kudos to them, and not to mention I ran into about everyone last night hahaah!!
Perk or curse ?? of a small city.
Then we all walked on the beach for a while and watched the stars and walked the mile back home.
What an awesome night!! I needed that!! So much!!
Thanks you guys I love y'all <3.

And I`m super excited about my body sprays being a hit, the Orange Blossom and Flowers in Paris, are the bomb :) .
And little by little the word is getting out. So yes, I must stay positive cause i hate to admit a lot of negative is going on so i`m always trying to balance it out...Some people know what i mean ;).
Also i finally got around to sowing my kitchen herb garden : basil, mint, rosemary, chives, lavender, sage, kale, and spinach, I've been watering them slightly every day, and they seem to be OK, but i will confess I'm a little worried about the heat and humidity, even though though there in the shade and get partial sun in the afternoon facing west.
Fingers crossed. Oh!! Also I picked up some french marigold and a new mint plant on Earth day from a friend who left them to go back north for the summer, and they are doing great!! She should be so pleased to hear that :) And anooother F. Marigold plant i have that took over the bottom of a tree, well let's just say it blooms flowers but then my lil iggy friend comes and nibbles them off... but in the last few days no activity.. hmmm oh well we were gonna fence it anyway.

Sooo.. that`s all i can think of stay tuned and here is my latest flyer so you guys can check out what I have been up to and pics coming soon, much love and light!!!

New Etsy shop, green smoothies and food biz..

Well, another month has past and gone.. seems like time flies when your busy, which i couldn't agree more.
The restaurant has been having it's ups and downs, but were on a small "vacay" right now to sort some stuff out, and dust ourselves off and pick ourselves back up and see where things go from here, more details later.
But for now! Good news! I finally opened up my Etsy shop, and YES I know it's still bare as bones, but bear with me..work in progress people. In fact as I write I am uploading more images for my products and crafting more recipes :)...so stay tuned .
In the meantime here is my link for those who don't know it yet.
www.etsy.com/shop/gypsymoonherbals
Enjoy and leave feedback, and ask if you want a custom made product ! :)
Moving on, to lift my spirits up today I made a green smoothie in honor of new beginnings and Spring, and all that good stuff plus to feel nourished why not!?
And here is a photo and the recipe for your enjoyment.

RECIPE 

--------------------

One green apple

half an avocao

2 small bananas

a handful of oats

and soy milk/almond milk/ whichever milk you enjoy

plus pinch of vanilla extract

Blend and pour into you fave cup for a quick and nutritious smoothie!

Enjoy and bon appetit.! 

Spring garden,body butter, and new friends!!

Well... my my...it's been 4 months of working my lil tush off, but in that time I have gathered several stories to tell.
And hopefully I haven't lost that many readers (If I ever had any to begin with ahahaha!), but as all good things in life it's worth the wait.
So... first things first, I ordered a bunch of seeds to start my veggie garden including two types of spinach and kale, sage, lavender , basil and chives, it will be such a delicious and beautiful garden ( btw i say beautiful like jamie oliver so feel free to copy me when your reading.)

So all those seed packets are on the way hopefully they will be here in a few weeks, I'm so excited, hurry up P.O.!!
Also the other day I started working on some more products, i made some witch hazel toner, and some body butter with lush coconut oil, rose water, lavender and calendula and a few other oils, it turned out pretty darn awesome but since it was the first batch of that thickness I did not get pictures. Speaking of I really need to work on my Etsy page, and some of my friends will be helping me : ) Shout out to K and L!! Love you guys!!! So my next goal is to do more creams, butters and lotions a few perfumes which i already made as well, a long with some body scrubs, but the next milestone after the lotions and perfumes, soap, tricky but not impossible.
Also on a side note I want to start brewing Kombucha I`ve met a few people who have brewed it, and joined groups on the web and such so I've been doing my homework! The flavor possibilities are endless!

Now about new friends I don't know what's in the air but I've met a few awesome people in the last few months, for started Kels and LeAndrew, from Austin ,TX.( totally RAD place ) there the coolest shit going on right now I love them to bits, and as a couple there even better <3, shoutout!! They are def. helping me get back on the saddle again there so insightful and deep and just plain cool, so for that I thank you guys for inspiring me to get inspired again!.

And the second person, if he checks out this blog is a shout out to Dustin, from Seattle, WA, basist, and barista, totally classic, totally cool, he`s taught me a few neat tricks about restaurants in the Northwest area, and ways to get around if I ever visit and kombucha! Hehe and for that your awesome Dustin and hope we get to chill again soon!

On a final note just wanted to say I also tried Hatha yoga and wow it kicked my ass, hahaha I will demote myself to more gentle yoga and build up.. either way though I love my yoga teacher Jorge! You rock man!!

Well that`s it for now much love and light to those reading, and the next post will be about my cooking night with Kels and LeAndrew we made Vegan Coconut Creme pie!!

Question of the week:
Do you do Yoga?? Which kind ?
Have you started a garden ??
Ever brew any Kombucha ?
What's your fave place to chill.