It's Official: We're Hippies.

Well, I'm sick and Jon just had a busy work week, which means this weekend was a low-key one. We have been talking about creating an indoor herb garden for about a month now, so figured we might as well get started! Since everything Hailey is so expensive, even buying a rudimentary shelving unit to store the pots was way too pricey. So, we got a little creative and came up with a pretty simple indoor garden.

First, we had to decide which plants could germinate and thrive in a winter climate. Sure, we are going to keep the heat at a certain level, but can't make it too hot. I checked out a book from the library called Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs, A Beginner's Guide. The book is full of information on various herbs and flowers that have medicinal properties. It even lists certain ones that are more hardy than others and can grow easier indoors during the winter. We chose to start out with Spinach, Echinacea, Basil, Lavender, St John's Wort, and Red Clover.

Here are some of their medicinal uses (I put them in their true colors):

Spinach: It tastes good in omelettes. 

Echinacea: Boosts the immune system, has antifungal and antibacterial properties,  and is "particularly effective against bronchial and respiratory infections, sore throat, and oral infections". Overall, it helps to fortify the immune system.

Basil: Eases gas and stomach cramps, helps in relieving nausea/vomiting, helpful in treating irritability, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and insomnia, and also has antibacterial properties.

Lavender: Helps relieve tension, stress, and insomnia, has calming effects, and is also proven to be affective in treating infections (i.e. staph, strep, colds, flus, yeast infections, ringworm, etc).

St John's Wort:  Effective in treating depression, stress, tension, nerve damage, and seasonal affect disorder. It is also promotes tissue repair and helps soothe and heal bruises, sprains, burns, etc (any injury to the skin). 

Red Clover: Is super rich in nutrients (beta-crotene, calcium, vitamin C, and many B vitamins) as well as minerals (magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, and selenium). It has been used to treat skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis. Can help menopausal women by diminishing hot flashes, mood swings, and night sweats.

Clearly, the basil and spinach can be used in cooking, but we like the fact that we can also make them into a tea, salve, or oil and use them for other purposes as well. We are obviously turning into dirty hippies...

The book describes in much more detail how these herbs have the effects that they do. I suggest anyone interested in natural remedies to check this book out, because it is an easy read with lots of pictures. Also, I personally like knowing why something has the effect I am being told it has. I like knowing the scientific/biological explanations of how the properties of these herbs interact with the properties of the human body in order to produce these desired effects. All of this is in the book, and squeezed into a nice little paragraph...not 3 pages.

So here is our dirty hippie indoor greenhouse that we created today:

Ingredients:

4 pots from the thrift store = $10

2 desk lights = free (already had them)

2 hand towels = free (already had them)

1 manila file folder = free (already had it)

1 thermometer = free (already had it...Thanks to Gram, Christmas 2012)

1 cardboard tubing system for heat = free (Jon's science project today)

4 bags of SEEDS = $10

As you can tell, we haven't started growing the St John's Wort or the Red Clover yet. We weren't able to find those seeds at our local stores, so we are ordering them online. I hope we have room for them once they arrive.

The hand towels were to place on the windowsill (southwest facing) for cleanliness, and the cardboard tube you see sticking up is to direct heat from the floor vents to the general direction of the plants. Obviously, the thermometer is so we can keep track of the temperature, which we are trying to keep at around 68-ish degrees Farenheit. If we notice that the temperature is not getting up high enough, we are considering putting clear plastic over the whole operation to trap in some of the heat during the day.

Here is a closer picture, and you can see the temperature right now (at night) is at 66F. Not bad! Now for the file folder, we decided to keep track of the daily temperature and height of the plants. We want to see how long it takes certain plants to germinate and which ones thrive better depending on the temperature (although, we hope it doesn't fluctuate too much). The info will hopefully help us next winter as well, to remember what conditions the plants grew in this year. Exhibit A:

Well, that's all for now! We probably won't be seeing any green popping up for another few weeks, since many of these plants take 10-20 days to germinate. What's cool is that a lot of these herbs are actually flowers, and it will be nice to see some color!

Climbing in January

Ian belaying Jon on a 5.12

So Sunday was a day of interesting things. One, we went rock climbing in the middle of winter (epic!). Two, our friends, Robyn and Ethan, introduced us to a magical place called WinCo...this is a grocery store with the biggest bulk food section you can imagine (minds blown, money well spent). Three, it was unexpectedly the day before I would quit my job in a crazy turn of events (but I got another one in less than 48 hours with better pay, so they can sit on it).  :) :)

So Ethan and Robyn invited us along with them to climb down in Twin Falls at a place called Dierkes. Despite the rock being cold, we learned some pretty neat winter climbing tricks to keep our feet and hands warm.

Tip #1: Keep hand warmers in your chalk bag
Tip #2: Keep your climbing shoes zipped inside your puffy while you aren't climbing

It was sort of annoying to be constantly changing from climbing shoes, to regular shoes, to climbing shoes again, but it was totally worth it. I felt really accomplished when I completed two 5.7s, which was a first for me :) I attempted a 5.8 but was pumped out at that point. I'm determined to climb it next time!

It was cool climbing with such talented people. Ethan, Robyn, and Jon were climbing 5.12s, which was very impressive. We also met up with another couple, Ian and Lindsay, and they were equally as talented. All of us were from Hailey, so it's nice to have found a solid group of climbers to meet at the climbing wall or take trips with.

Here are some pics:

At the top of my first 5.7

Taking a little tiger snooze on my second 5.7

Stupid sun spot on my camera sort of washed Jon out in this one, but here he is climbing a 5.10

Ethan climbing a 5.12d? I wish I remembered the names of these routes.

After we finished up with rope climbing, we headed over to do some bouldering (which I did not participate in--but at least I was there to take pictures!). There, we met up with some more people, and joined forces to tackle some problems. Check it out:

Bo attempting a problem

Ethan reaching the top

Ian flashing his problem

I wish I had taken pictures of WinCo, because it honestly is worthy of pictures. But instead, here are some miscellaneous pictures of the rest of the day:

Some pretty cool bright, green moss growing on the icy rock

Robyn and her new friend, Bagheera

The Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls. We missed seeing a base jumper jump off this thing by seconds.

The falls of Twin Falls?

Hello, Hailey!

Our house is in this picture somewhere! Here is a view of Hailey from about 3/4 the way up Carbonate mountain. I still have to kick myself sometimes to remind myself that I actually live here, where the mountains are literally in your backyard. Cool shit!

Jon and I took a hike last Saturday up Carbonate Mountain, since the skiing was meh and I took an unexpected 3 hour nap that afternoon. Oops. Carbonate Mountain gives some of the best views of the valley for being such an easy hike. It's not a long hike, but is super steep, so you gain a lot of elevation in a short amount of time.

I don't have too many profound things to say about this day, besides the fact that it was nice to get out in the middle of January and hike in a thin jacket. I've been more active this winter than the past few winters (which isn't saying much), BUT STILL!

Here are some more pictures from our hike:

Skin It To Win It

On Sunday, Jon entered the Skin It To Win It randonnee race for the second year in a row. Since he won last year, he signed up again in order to defend his title. Who knew that we would have to get up 45 minutes earlier than usual to schedule in a makeup session.

The Skin It To Win It race is sponsored by the Avalanche Center and can be entered by solo racers, teams of two, or teams of four. The objective is to skin up and ski down a pre-determined course as many times as possible in three hours. I acted as Jon's pit crew, helping him put his skins back on his skis once he arrived at the starting line again. I, obviously, was too slow so I became the logistics coordinator (i.e. "What some water?" "Want some M&Ms?" "Someone is on your ass by 1 minute and 30 seconds so kick it into gear") while West helped Jon with his skins.

It was a fun day, and at the end of the race Jon came out in first place again! So, he won another pair of skis (the same ones he won last year)...#toughlife. Fortunately, there are perks to dating Jon, and I get the skis since he already has three pairs...nbd.

There was supposed to be a prize given for best costume, hence the time and effort we put into tracking down face paint in the Sun Valley area, and scheduling 45 minutes of dress-up that morning. However, they forgot to announce that prize. In the end, it didn't matter. A lot of teams dressed up and it added a fun, low-key atmosphere to the competition. Jon dressed up as a member of The Misfits...and we have to thank Jackie for the tight black pants.

Check out some pictures below of the race!!

Spectators hanging out at the food tents. Free coffee, fruit, candy, and cookies!

Jon and Shane mapping out the course

View from the starting line

Taking off

Shane was the only snowboarder competing as a solo. Here he is disassembling his split-board.

Blase plowing in at the end of his run, part of team FourSkinners

This lady and her teammate kicked major ass as a team of two and crushed all the competition in their category

Some ladies happy to cross the finish line after the 3 hours

High fives for the winner, from fellow SVT peeps

Griffin Butte Ski Tour

A couple of weeks ago, Jon and I went on a ski tour to Griffin Butte, for some low angle skiing to get my legs used to all this powder. The day was beautiful, and I felt my endurance getting better as I acclimate to the elevation. We ended up skinning in just long sleeve shirts because the sun was out in full force that day. I wish my battery hadn't died before I could take pictures of Jon's tracks verse my tracks....it was quite funny. Based on the trail I left I looked like a total beginner. But I am seeing some progress and it was a really fun day. My next challenge is learning how to get up after lying down in deep snow...way more difficult than you think!!! Enjoy some pictures: