Crunchy Betty
Food on Your Face
One of the first real blogs I ever read was a running commentary on what it was like to do the Master Cleanse.
Horrifying, I would say. Words like "explosive diarrhea" and "want to stab the postman in the eye" and "if I …
Every so often, you have an opportunity to glimpse a time shift. You stand on the precipice between to very distinct eras and watch as they meld seamlessly together in the middle of your own city.
The old traditions - the …
Autumn.
If I had my choice, it would be my name. Autumn Sumner, in fact. I've thought a lot about this.
The energy is palpable, and every morning is exciting. It's the air. The air is magic right now.
There's been …
Every once in a while, I receive a question from a reader that I'm not sure I can thoroughly answer. When that happens, I want to turn to you - you with your wit and wisdom, to help out the reader, the crowd, and …
Water kefir is, in fact, a bacterial yeast culture (that looks like little odd-shaped jelly-pearls) that converts sugar into fructose and imparts incredible probiotic goodness into the water you keep it in.
Think of it as …
THE BOOK IS READY!
Today is the day everything changes - for you and for me and for us.
I've written an incredibly detailed page RIGHT HERE all about the book - you can peek inside, you can watch a video of me making …
A few days ago, Tikva asked a question in the Crunchy Community that I see a lot.
In a nutshell: What do we do with that cabinet full of icky products we no longer want to use on our bodies or in our homes?
This is a …
As loyal Crunchy Betty readers, you're more aware than most people about what products you put on your body and what they contain. So you know from experience that you can create handmade products that are just as good, or …
Have you ever wanted to do something so new and exciting, you could hardly sit still? You know what I mean; that thought, that idealistic concept that seems perfect, if you can execute it correctly?
A concept, an …
For months, I've been slowly chewing on Jeanne Rose's Herbal Body Book, published in 1976.
It's so lovely and just overflowing with excellent bath and body recipes for every skin type and issue known to man. If I may, …
One of my biggest pet peeves since starting this journey into making household products is putting deliciously nontoxic cleaners into empty plastic spray bottles.
It just seems so wrong on so many levels. If we're trying …
I just asked Skip to help me with inspiration to introduce this homemade all-purpose cleaner, because it's refreshingly effective and so easy to make. It zips away grease and stuck-on grime like a magician disappearing a …
Lord help me, people. I've spent the last two days trying to write a concise, easy guide to essential oils and their safety, and it ended up being just an enormous dump of information that no would want to ingest in a single …
Who noticed? The distress ink in the picture tile tutorial? I didn’t say a word about it. Today, though, I’m going to. Say several words about it. (And at the bottom you’ll find a whole heap o’ photos …
Lately I've been having this huge urge to decorate the house. This is big news. I do not decorate.
Arguably, one of the reasons why is because I. absolutely. hate. to. buy. mass. produced. decor. (Also, I can't ever …
Guest Post by Sarah O’Leary, Wellness The Natural Way
Ah, romance. It’s everywhere – from the inane romantic comedies that Hollywood subjects us to each year, to entire publishing companies devoted to churning out …
Not one single natural ingredient has me quite as verklempt as borax.
Nearly every "green cleaning" site lists it as a wonder cleaner. Natural beauty books are rife with suggesting it as a hair softener. People put it in …
My grandmother would hum while she swept.
"You are my *swish*shine ... my only *swish*shine ..."
Her fragile alto voice would tremble a little at the high notes, but she always managed to cover it perfectly with a …
Forgive me, internet, for I have sinned.
Today I was going to talk about the merits of making your own dishwasher detergent. Instead, I did that. That up there. That stuff that looks like homemade coconut butter.
And …
Ahh! Will the honey madness ever stop? (Yes. Yes it will. After Friday. So bear with me.)
So washing your face with honey is pretty perfect already? But what about those of you who are still having little breakouts? Still …
Remember yesterday when I was all, "You crazy kids. Don't you ever use baking soda and vinegar together in cleaning. It's just silly. Blah blah blah." Won't she ever stop being so dadgum bossy omigosh?
Well, here's a …
Today we learn.
For our benefit, and for the benefit of all those crunchy goddesses (and men) who come after us. We learn so we can share. We also learn because if we stop learning we die. (Tom Clancy wrote something to …
The name should've tipped me off.
Xylitol.
It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like "meadowlark" or "chamomile" or "cottonwood." Not particularly authentic-sounding, that xylitol.
But my box of xylitol sweetener …
I'm on my way home soon! Wednesday!
Back to making sense.
Back to making crunchy things (as time and new-baby schedules never allowed for the making of many things here).
As I prepare to leave Kansas City, though, I …
