Andy's Idea Factory

Getting back to this blog, after a couple years off... because I didn't have the bandwidth while we were building our house, but between living off grid, and a long year of herbalism training, I have some good MacGuyver tips and home remedy lessons to share!   The first of which is what I've learned from "sister" (poison) ivy / oak / sumac for you: I was exposed to either poison ivy or oak before leaving town last week -- not sure which because we have both, and the rash from both looks the same because it comes from the Urushiol oil from the plants. I didn't realize the rash wasn't a bug bite until I was gone. Mistake #1: check yourself carefully after making fairy gardens in the woods. I didn't have my primary remedy - jewelweed salve - with me, sadly, mistake #2, but did have rhus tox homeopathy (poison ivy), which I started taking immediately and frequently. The homeopathy doesn't help the rash much, just your body's reaction. If you don'...

For those of you who follow this blog , our socials (links below), or our YouTube , I've been slacking on posting some of our big ideas for the year because, well honestly, there's kind of a lot going on, to say the least! In a perfect world, with an excess of free time, great sleep, and the modern conveniences, we'd keep you updated here... but it's not a perfect world, and none of those things have been in excess for us right now!  So creating a new blog post or YouTube for all the fun things we've learned, tested, built, tried, failed, and rebooted this year... just hasn't been possible. Instead... I'm going to summarize, like the video above, and if you want me to elaborate on one of the projects, message me or comment below and I'll start there! It'll help me with the motivation if you do! Because I'd LOVE to be documenting this journey better, it's just for lack of time that I don't!  For background... what we're building is the...

Hey gardeners, if you spend your days dragging around hoses to make sure every beloved plant gets watered, then this PSA tidbit is for you. That was me, for 7 years  –  moving hoses like a mule. We moved into our house in Steamboat II in 2013, promptly put in a new perennial bed along our front walk with the cardboard-lasagna method , and began taking divided plants from friends and the You Dig It program to fill it in. It’s a long bed, the length of our 40-50’ walkway, and about 5’ wide, so yes, that meant I was dragging around hoses to water it because the water pressure in our older home isn't strong enough to push water through more than one 3/4" hose. Mondays it was the front of the bed, Tuesdays it was the back of the bed, and so on. We even put in 2 berms at the edge of the yard, to reduce our grass acreage, but because of our lack of a watering system, those fill-dirt piles sat there for 4 years without water or plants, an eyesore to the neighbors, I'm sure. Ov...

Looking for last minute gifts for a good price from a retailer you know will deliver in time? Here's my Top Five Favorite Holiday Picks plus a few bonuses! Happy holidays! #1 Sleep Innovations Currently marked down to $370 from $650 for king size* We've had a Sleep Innovations mattress for 13 years and loved it. Every time we came home from travels my husband and I would both say how we'd missed our bed the most. So it came time for us to buy a new one and were pleased to find this mattress at a fraction of the cost of both traditional mattress and memory foam as well. Is a quality brand, and a firm yet relenting and supportive mattress. It comes compressed in a 3x4x2 box that's easily delivered, and easy enough for one person to set-up and let expand. We let it expend and air out for two nights. By the second night, it was ready, and as before, the best night sleep! The box it comes in is compact and manageable Cutting off the plastic on our new bed! ...

For Christmas this year, I got a Kombucha making kit from my husband that he purchased through an awesome resource - The Kombucha Shop . I didn't get cranking right away, but once I did, I couldn't stop! And as those of you know that have gone before me in this, the scoby invasion is a big reason why! Kombucha starts with the Scoby, a symbiotic culture of healthy bacteria and yeast, a gelatinous, cellulous biofilm that is also known as a "mushroom" as it resembles the top of a mushroom. Many other products start with a culture like this - vinegar, ginger beer, keifer, and my other most recent experiment, sourdough . Cultures are good for the gut, the immune system, brain health, and the overall health of the body - 3/4 of our immune system resides in the gut, and a healthy gut means a healthy body. As you know from my many other experiments, research, and tinkerings, I love a good science project. So this was the ideal present for me! The full kit comes wit...

I'm super excited!!! 2019 marks 10 years with Andy's Idea Factory! Am I supposed to feel old or accomplished or a mix of both! That warrants a new template  –  so hopefully this new style is both easier to read and find what you're looking for! What started as a fun way to share my quirky ideas and findings (oh boy, I love to research!), has now become a great resource for thousands of people, and that brings me such joy! Some years were more creative than others  –  or rather, some years of creativity were better documented! The most posts were written in 2010 when I was really focusing on blogging . I launched 5 blogs between 2007 and 2012! Some years, I was really busy doing other things - I only found time to write 4 posts in 2011, but I was helping to run a really important training project for Amtrak on handling customers with disabilities. So that's ok! The following year, 2012, I posted 19 blogs  –  that was the year I was really int...