Homemade Toothpaste

I've been playing around with making homemade toothpaste for a while now. I did a lot of blog reading and wasn't quite satisfied with any of the recipes that I found so I cobbled a few together, experimented with quantities, and came up with this.

I've noticed that the bentonite clay can cause a slightly drying mouth feel after using this toothpaste so you might need to rinse a couple of times after brushing. My kids don't seem to be bothered by this though. 

I didn't think to take photos until after I'd done the first couple of steps so you'll just have to use your imagination. :) 

100g xylitol

2.5g Himalayan (or other unrefined) salt 

130g boiling water 

120g calcium bentonite clay powder 

20g coconut oil, melted

2 drops food grade tea tree essential  oil 

10-15 drops food grade peppermint essential oil

10-15 drops food grade wild orange essential oil 

Dissolve xylitol and salt in water. 

Add bentonite clay to the water and beat until combined (I used an electric hand held mixer - make sure any metal you use is stainless steel and avoid prolonged contact with the clay). 

 

If required, adjust the consistency by beating in small amounts of water or clay. You're after thick whipped cream or mousse consistency.

Beat in the melted coconut oil. It should look nice and creamy now.

Beat in the tea tree essential oil.

Divide the mixture into 2 batches (it works out to just under 200g per batch for me).

Stir the wild orange essential oil into one batch; and the peppermint essential oil into the other. 15 drops of each makes for a fairly strong tasting toothpaste so adjust amounts to taste. You can use other essential oils too, just make sure they're safe to take internally (lavender, lemon, cinnamon, could all be nice I think). Make sure you use a reputable brand of food grade oils.

  

I put the finished product into BPA-free Malibu tubes but you could just use glass jars (do not use metal).

I place a snaplock bag into a glass, top of the bag folded down; then add the toothpaste into the bag. I then seal the bag, cut off a small section from one corner, and pipe the toothpaste into the tubes.

Recipe makes a bit under 400g, depending on how much clay and water you use to adjust the consistency. Adjust quantities for smaller families. 

Farewell, ECIS!

 

ECIS Christmas BBQ

This was Beanie's last year at ECIS. He has been attending since he was 20 months old. What a huge difference it has made! A big thank you to all the wonderful teachers and TAs. 

Coconut Milk Kefir

About a year ago I had a go at making milk kefir. It worked well but I just didn't like the taste of it.

Then I started hearing about coconut milk kefir made from milk kefir grains. I tried it out and we love it! It's so much more palatable than the cow's milk version.

I use Ayam brand coconut milk as the only thing added to it is water. And, like with any kefir, stick with using plastic, wooden, or stainless steel utensils; and glass jars to ferment in (I like Fido jars because they're anaerobic).



I put 3 tins of coconut milk in a large container of warm (blood temp, no hotter!) water. I only do this because I live in a cold climate and always get that solid layer of cream on top). After 5 minutes I take them out, give them a good shake, open them up and tip the contents into a 1L Fido jar.

I rinse the grains off with water only when changing mediums -  going from cow's milk to coconut milk or vice versa.

Check the coconut milk isn't too hot and plop in the grains (the jar pictured here is really too large but I've run out of 1L jars at the moment). I put it in the pantry, out of direct sunlight, for 24 hours, giving it a good swirl every now and then.

After 24 hours I strain the grains out and put the coconut milk kefir in an airtight container in the fridge. Sometimes the kefir is so thick that it won't go through the strainer so I need to fish through it for the grains with a spoon (or clean fingers). I rinse the grains off lightly and put them in some fresh cows milk (the grains feed off the lactose so need to be kept in cow's milk between coconut batches).

We've been having the coconut milk kefir in our probiotic smoothies. Yum!  

Tonsil Stones (Tonsilloliths) and Xylitol

It's not something that I'd expected but since I've been using xylitol regularly, I haven't been getting tonsil stones!

Tonsil stones are gross little calcifications of trapped food and bacteria in the tonsils. I've been getting them since I was a little kid.

It took maybe two months of regularly (4-6 time per day) rinsing with a homemade xylitol mouthwash before I noticed that I wasn't getting tonsil stones any more.

I wouldn't recommend using xylitol to substitute normal sugar in your diet but I'm now completely convinced that there are very real benefits to using xylitol in things like mouthwash and toothpaste.

The Helix - CSIRO Kids Mag

Lots of excitement from Shmoo and Loo today with the arrival of the latest Helix science magazine. Shmoo has even sent in an entry for the lava lamp competition. 

Beach Babies and Break-Up Parties

 

Lacto-Fermented Garlic

Garlic in a 2% Himalayan salt brine; 500ml Fido jar; Pickl-It lid and mini-airlock

My first go at lacto-fermented garlic! It's off to the pantry with it for the next month and then into the fridge for another month or 2 after that. Fermentation is a lesson in patience I think! (I may have slightly over-filled the jar - I just couldn't help but squeeze all of that 4th head garlic in. Hopefully it won't fizz over too much.)

Inspired by Delicious Obsessions. 

Guide Falls Alpaca and Animal Park, West Ridgley

We recently visited Guide Falls Alpaca and Animal Park to help celebrate a tiny friend's 1st birthday. What a fantastic, child and budget friendly outing (adults $7; children $3).

The main attractions are the alpacas (particularly the friendly Ally whom the children got to lead around), but there are also plenty of other animals including a llama, peacocks, turkeys, pheasants, chickens, geese, ducks, swans, aviary birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, emu, goats, pigs, deer and trout. The owner of the park gave us a leisurely tour of the place and the children got to feed all of the animals.

  

  

Afterwards we drove a minute up the road to Guide Falls waterfall for a lovely picnic lunch. The children had a blast climbing the rocks and wading into the creek so that the water filled their gumboots and soaked their pants. Then Baby Bear tumbled head over heels off the low bank and landed, on his back and dripping wet, in the shallow water. Shortly after, Loo Bear slipped over into the creek and it wasn't long before Beanie followed suit. But at least they had lots of fun.

Being the slack Mama that I am, the only spare clothing I had in the car was a long outgrown 000 sized growsuit, woefully small even for the tiny Baby Bear. So we drove home with 4 happy and exhausted but naked little ones, snuggled under the spare baby wraps and blankets that I did have in the car. :)



(I have now learnt my lesson and have spare clothes for all 4 boys packed into our car bag.) 

Mount Gnomon Farm - Restaurant Launch

At Mount Gnomon Farm's recent restaurant launch...

 

The lambs and piglets were a huge hit. There was also plenty of space, mud and cow poo for a toddler to run around in. Awesome burgers and pulled pork tacos as usual. And thankfully the weather cleared up and there was no hail this time! 

Medieval Festival - Wynyard, Tasmania

Some medieval fun...  

Garden Spectacular @ Highfield House - Stanley, Tasmania

Garden Spectacular at Highfield House in Stanley, Tasmania. 

The heirloom tomato seedlings sure were popular. We got 4 of the 'black from Tula' variety. 

 

 
Peter Rabbit(?) and Humpty Dumpty

Old Holdens in front of The Nut

We took the boys on a bumpy 'train' ride 

 
Teddy bears picnic?