Graham loves grapefruit juice. I love orange juice. We both like our juice best when it’s freshly squeezed.

 

When we’re able to, we spend a bit of our winter break in Southern California. We love the warm weather and for us, it is a nice treat after working so hard all season at home. One of the best things about southern California is having access to as many grapefruits and oranges as we could ever possibly want. And we want them!

 

 

A friend showed me her juicer; it was a Black and Decker electric model. She raved about how good it worked and how inexpensive it was. “Perfect”,  I thought and so I bought one from Amazon and we have just loved it!

 

 

 

We use it a lot and it just keeps going and going. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a sophisticated juicer, (don’t get me wrong, I would love to have this one!) I am really happy with this one. It’s super easy to take apart and clean – just slip the two strainers apart and give them a good rinsing under hot water.

 

 

There’s a sliding mechanism so you can choose how much pulp you want. You can just have a wee bit of pulp or as much pulp as possible. There’s a lot of fibre in citrus pulp so it’s really good for you.

 

After I finish juicing, I can just put the container straight into the fridge. I usually juice a container full every four days or so and after two years, this juicer is still going strong.

 

 

I showed my great nieces and nephews how to make freshly squeezed lemonade and we had such a great time. They loved it and each had a turn squeezing the lemons (and drinking the lemonade!)

 

June has been very rainy here this year. It’s actually been hard to get into the garden because the soil is so wet and I really don’t like walking on it when it’s like that.

A couple of days of sunshine and a bit of wind goes a long way to start drying it out enough.

I have to be out in the garden every minute I can, but we are being bombarded with bugs this year. Is it because it has been so wet?

So bugs and growing weeds are pretty much what I am dealing with here now.

 

 

I don’t know, but it does seem to me that the black flies and no see ums are simply awful this year.

Thank goodness they don’t stick around all summer. We hardly have any bugs come August and September, but now is the time I am needed to be outside weeding, thinning, planting and harvesting greens.

I really can’t stand to use bug spray. I find the idea of the repellant well….simply repelling!

Who wants to spray that all over their body?

 

Natural Insect Repellant – Cider Vinegar

I use Cider Vinegar and it really works.

I put the cider vinegar on a paper towel and wipe my whole face, back of my neck, ears and hands with it. Then I put it on the brim of my hat and head outside.

I haven’t been bitten since. I smell like a pickle, but I haven’t been bitten.

So give it a try as a natural insect repellant, especially if you have kids. It’s a great alternative to store bought bug sprays.