Ginger Goat Farm

Why not? Grow your own.

Make your own ACV (for reals).

Well, like any self-respecting homesteader/farmer/living-simply kind of person, I am discovering the “magic” of ACV (or for those of you new to the game…Apple Cider Vinegar). If you read ANY blog from any PROFESSIONAL homesteading/farming/living-simply blogger, you already know the multitude of uses of this bewitching elixir (I used some *fancy* language there, didn’t I?).

ACV is THE answer for SO MANY things around the house, on your face, in your food, etc., etc. Here’s 50 reasons I found for ACV (and I am sure there are many more):

1. A hair rinse to fight dandruff
   
2. A facial cleanser to boost the pH of your skin
3. Add to bath water to relieve the redness and pain of sunburn
4. Reduces buildup on the scalp
5. Skin toner for blemishes
6. Reduces cellulite (really!?!?!!?)
   
7. Helps control bad breath (next time, offer that person with the nasty breath a teaspoon of ACV rather than a tic-tac)
   
8. Whitens teeth and kills mouth bacteria
9. Reduces swelling and fades bruising
10. Prevents flu and stomach illness
11. Use as a detox to cleanse the kidneys
12. A drink to prevent flu
13. Reduces inflammation from arthritis
14. Relieves sinus pressure and fights infection
15. Aids weight loss by decreasing appetite and increasing fat burn
16. Relieves allergies and asthma symptoms
17. Balances the body’s pH level
18. Lowers cholesterol
19. Reduces blood glucose level in diabetics
20. Removes nail fungus
21. Soothes bug bites and other minor skin irritations
22. Taken with warm water and honey before bedtime, ACV may help with sleep issues
23. Strengthens bones
24. Has anti-inflammatory properties
25. Relieves pain from jellyfish stings (better than pee!)
    
26. Aids in relieving chest congestion
27. Use as a natural disinfectant cleanser
28. Use it to wash windows and leave a streak free shine and clean scent
29. A natural deodorizer around the house
30. Removes lime deposits
31. Use it to deter cats
    
32. Promotes bowel movements and eases constipation
33. Relieves heartburn
34. Can help stop hiccups
35. Treats ear infections
36. Soothes rashes
37. Promotes growth of healthy flora
38. Helps control sugar cravings
39. Helps cure strep throat
40. Helps treat eczema
41. Increases energy and boosts metabolism
42. Relaxes sore muscles
43. Disinfects wounds
44. Boosts immunity
45. Conditions hair and detangles (but your hair smells like a pickle)
    
46. Gets rid of fingernail or toenail fungus (yuk)
    
47. Works well to clear up fungal and bacterial rashes
48. Deters pests in the garden
49. Gets rid of warts (put ACV on cotton ball, cover with Band-Aid, leave on over night for 1 week)
50. Balances pH in vagina, relieves yeast infection (douche with 1 tsp of ACV mixed with 2 cups water, I wouldn’t, but give it a try)

Well, sign me up!

Anyway, I’ve been using a generic ACV brand for awhile (because I’m cheap), but then I read that I HAVE to use an organic brand to reap the benefits of ACV. Well, the ONLY real organic ACV is Dr. Bragg’s…and that shit is expensive, especially when each 16 ounce bottle runs me around 5 bucks.

So, being the ever thrifty homesteader/farmer/living-simply kind of person I am, I Googled around and discovered I can make my own ACV for, like, next to nothing. Because I am all about sharing, my super easy recipe is below:

Super Easy ACV Recipe

Peel a bunch of apples…and keep the cores, too (if they’re a little bruised or rotten, that’s okay, just cut those parts away). You can make a super easy Apple Crisp with the good parts…or do whatever you want with them (apples are yummy. I like to put peanut butter on them…or brie…or cinnamon).

Take out a few empty and clean Mason jars (or if you’re like me, some spaghetti jars you’ve kept around to do stuff like this).

Put ~1 teaspoon of sugar in each jar.

Stuff each jar about ¾ full with apple peels and cores.

Pour water (out of the faucet is fine) over all of the apple parts (make sure you leave a little empty space in the top of the jar).

Cover each jar with a coffee filter (or a paper towel or napkin or toilet paper. Whatever. The goal is to keep the creepy-crawlies out and let your apple concoction “breathe”) and secure it with a rubber band (or, if you’re classy like me, use a hair band [I can never find a rubber band around here]).

Now comes the hard part…put the covered jars in a warm, dark place and forget about them.

For like a month.

Seriously.

Forget about them. I’d check them every week or so (and maybe scrape off the scum off of the top), but leave them alone.

In about a month (or so), those jars will start to smell like ACV, and when they do, take out the slimy, gross apple crap you’ve got going on in those jars. Now have some organic, homemade ACV. If you want to be REALLY fancy, you can pour your ACV (without the apple gunk) into a repurposed (AKA empty) wine bottle and cork it up.

You don’t need to refrigerate your ACV (duh, it’s vinegar). It’ll last forever.

Enjoy!

Seriously…

We have a new antagonist out here at Ginger Goat Farm…a coon!!!! And he won’t leave the chickens alone. I guess he’s better than the Diamondback rattlers or the wild hogs or the hawks or the alligators or the fire ants…but he still is a pain in the ass.

Ummm…yeah. Like wearing flip flops in the yard. Again.

Just thought I’d share our weather forecast for the rest of the week.

Have you ever touched something that smelled so heinous, so gruesome, so disgusting that even after you washed your hands with vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, dish soap, laundry soap, and a combination thereof, and then doused your hands with various essential oils, they still stink?

And then you smell that nasty funk all over your body so, you take a shower (and, of course, wash your hair because your hair stinks, too)?

And even after you do all of that you still smell the stench and it’s all over the house so you start lighting candles and incense in every room?

I sound like a crazy woman, don’t I?

Well, that was my day today AFTER I picked up–and what I later found out–a ROTTEN (and I wish there was an even more past tense form of the word “rotten”) duck egg. Unfortunately, when I picked it up, I didn’t realize that it was waaaaaay past it’s expiration date (at this point, I think one of the ducks laid it in early 2014).

I didn’t realize it was rotten until AFTER I brought it into the house (duh); I was rushing through my chores so, I really wasn’t paying any attention to (or, obviously, smelling) what I was doing (I tend, at times, to have a chronic case of H.U.B.–Head Up Butt).

OMG, that freaking egg was SO rancid that the yolk was BLUE…and I could SEE the blue (or maybe it was black…or purple) THROUGH the shell! Gross, right?

After I realized that stupid egg was the reason my house smelled like decaying armadillo guts splattered across a road on a hot Florida afternoon, I quickly threw it BACK into the middle of the pond (that would be just inhumane and cruel to put it into the garbage. I mean, I like our sanitation workers, they’re very nice people. Why would I subject them to that nasty smell, especially after it had fermented for a few more days in the garbage can?).

Anyway, after some frantic Googling (Keywords: how to get rid of nasty smells), I found out that putrid odors CAN get “imprinted” in your nose (seriously, check it out). Sometimes for quite awhile; like a few days!

It seems silly now (and like “duh”) that I didn’t even think of that smell being tethered in my nose and NOT all over me, my clothes, and the house (double “duh”).

So, please, learn from my stupidity, if anything like this happens to you, take a breath (I recommend through your mouth), and take care of that smell where it really is…up your nose.

I found that these methods work to get the stank out:

• Neti-pot (if a neti-pot wigs you out, skip this step)
• Baking soda right up your nose (wet your finger, dip it in the box, and then jam that finger right up both noseholes. It doesn’t burn. Promise.)
• Or you could rub some Vicks or Bengay or IcyHot right under your nose (but not UP it). It really isn’t the best option because it kinda burns (but it’s better than that smell). Oh, and don’t rub your eyes for a few hours, even after you wash your hands, or you’ll have another problem.
  

Well, as Bart Simpson says, “Smell ya later.”