DIY Cucumber Spa Water

My good friend April, who also happens to be the most nurturing doula around (She helped me through an all natural childbirth with my son, Ben), knew I needed to pause and take time to care for myself after having a really rough year and a half. For Christmas she blessed me with a gift certificate to a.r.t. massage body spa. The certificate sat folded up on my desk reminding me daily I should take advantage of this gift, but I just kept putting it off. Until I hurt my back a couple weeks ago and the pain lingered on.

April, in another act of generosity, watched Ben for me yesterday so I could go. Let me tell you, as overstressed as this gal's body is I could have been worked over all day and still had kinks. I had the gal working on me concentrate on the most painful spot - my lower back. Wow, no pain after I left! I did long to take a nap for the rest of the day, but considering my appointment was at ten in the morning that was unfortunately not an option.

Anyway, when I first walked in the spa I was handed this delicious, cooling glass of cucumber water. Of course, before I left I had to find out how to recreate this tasty beverage. Turns out it is very simple. I made some today. Ideally I'd like to get a glass drink dispenser and keep it loaded in the refrigerator, hoping I will drink more water and stay away from less healthy beverages.

I infused my cucumber water in a quart size glass pitcher. To the water I added about a third of a sliced cucumber, half a lime cut into four wedges, and two sprigs of mint. Then, simply cover and place in the refrigerator for a couple hours to allow the flavors to infuse into the water. If you'd prefer, replace the lime with lemon. That is what the spa used in their water. Either way, it is quite refreshing and zero calories.

Milk, A Garden Miracle Against Powdery Mildew

I get excited about little things, mainly because they turn out to be big things, like this organic gardening tip I discovered on a New Zealand web site after doing a search to find out what the white spots were on my cucumber and squash plants. Turns out it is powdery mildew and it seems New Zealand grape growers are particularly menaced by this common plant disease. Evidently powdery mildew is lactose intolerant! They found that mixing one part milk to nine parts water to spray on the leaves of the plant effectively got rid of the disease. I didn't have milk on hand because I have been trying to cut back on dairy products in a restructuring of more healthy eating habits (let me tell you, that is a tough one for this dairy girl), but I had my little pint of organic half and half. Since it is a little bit heavier than straight milk, I diluted my mixture ten to one and immediately went out to treat my plants.

A bit of a cautionary tale here. Don't do this in front of your pets! I gave the cucumber a good coating and then turned my back to go spray down the squash plants, which are in a different garden bed. I glance back toward the cucumber, probably catching the motion of our dog, Duke, moving past. He is standing in the garden. This is something Duke and I fight over all the time, so it took me a moment to realize he is licking the milk off the cucumber leaves and not in the process of digging a hole to lay in. Silly dog.

 Here are the results of my using the milk spray just after two days. The leaves even look healthier. Take a look for yourself:

Before:

 After two applications:

There are still some spots of mildew, but the difference in just two days is amazing! I will probably keep applying the milk mixture for another 3-4 days to make sure the downy mildew is all gone. One down side I noticed was that it seems to attract flies, but my mixture could still be a little strong since I used half and half instead of milk.