Canning summer squash and zucchini

I have never had summer squash. And to my knowledge I don't  like zucchini. But I was at a family reunion and my uncle gave me a basket filled with both. And now I will love them. This will be my first things that I canned that I didn't pay for since I didn't have a garden this summer . I am mega excited because so far canning has been expensive. Buying a pressure cooker and a water bath canner  and many jars has cost a pretty penny . Plus I have purchased every ingredient for each recipe that I found and was excited to try. The purist in me who wants healthy food for my family likes. The trying-to-be-a-homesteader does not.
So I jumped on Google while I was in the city and had internet and searched for canning summer squash. I choose to follow Canning Granny's recipe. There seems to be a little bit of controversy over canning summer squash and zucchini. Like every blogger out there... I am NOT making any recommendations or suggesting anything is safe. I am simply telling you what I chose to do and I trust Canning Granny's recipes.
There are a few blogs out there with a few techniques for doing this. Each one is followed by a panicked post from a reader saying that its not smart to can these items.
Canning Granny also included a few recipes to try which I am going to do this winter. And I will be making zucchini bread. I imagine we will love it since it came from my uncles garden and was canned at home.

Summer Squash (left) and zucchini (right) 

making infused oils from herbs at home

Infused oils are so easy to make and are great for homemade lotions. You can use mason jars or cleaned and sterilized food jars. Olive oil is the most commonly used base and works nicely in the lotions I have experimented with this year. Pick your clean dandelions or white/pink clover. Allow them to wilt over night spread out on a papertowel. This gets eccess water out and prevents mold in the oil. Pick your flowers from carefully thought out places. Parts of your yard that don't get chemical sprays or have animals urinating make for cleaner flowers : )
Put your wilted flowers in your jar. Fill with olive oil till flowers are covered.  Place the jar in a pan of water and heat on stovetop till the jar is very warm but not scalding hot. Put lid on and cool to room temp. Then place it on window sill. Shake once or twice a day. I recommend letting it infuse for at the very least one week... preferably two. And there you go! You can make Body Butter and tons of other great things with your infused oil.

Homemade lotion with coconut oil

I have been making lotions for the first time ever this summer. "Have been making" means I have done it twice before. But I love that it fits in with my new homesteady ways and also really love that it is natural and I can moisturize without chemicals.
So far I have made lip lotion and dandelion lotion.
BUT I wanted a smoother and more creamy lotion so I played around with my ingredients and came up with something that I really like.
I smathered it on my face, neck, hands, elbows all last night and couldn't be happier so I am sharing what I did.

Home made lotion with Coconut oil, Emu oil, Tamanu Oil, and white clover olive oil.

 Here are the ingredients I used. In a 1 cup measuring cup I  added about 1/2 inch of Emu oil, 1/4 inch Tamanu oil and topped the cup off with white clover infused olive oil that I have been "steeping" for about 3 weeks.

Tamanu Oil, Emu Oil, Coconut Oil, White clover infused Olive Oil, beeswax pastilles.

White Clover infused olive oil. 3 weeks old.

 I put this cup of combined oils into a pint sized canning jar. To this I added 1/2 cup coconut oil and 1/2 cup beeswax pastilles. It goes into a pan of WARM water on the stove. (if you put it into already boiling water, you may explode your jar). Bring the water to a boil while stirring the oil mixture.

Once the oil mixtures gets hot enough, you get that magical moment when the beeswax starts melting and everything combines together.

Stir until you can no longer see the pastilles and then remove from heat. Let the mixture cool to room temperature and stir with a fork while it cools to make it creamier. I had used the rest of my coconut oil for this batch so I chose to pour the lotion into the empty coconut oil container. I also set the new container in a pan with cool water to rush the cooling process along. I have the patience of a flea for cooling stuff down and didn't want to walk away before it cooled and realize I didn't stir and it got too hard.

While it was still super watery, I added some mango flavoring to give it a nice smell. This would also be the point for you to add up to 3/4 teaspoon of any of your favorite essential oils or even some vitamin E oil. No more than 3/4 teaspoon combined oils, though.