The Zen Hen and The Honey Bee Farm

The Zen Hen and The Honey Bee Farm I do not personally respond to DMs.

Biochemist Teaching Science Based Homesteading
- Gardening - Good Food - Homemade Beauty and Home Product Formulations - Healthy Food

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10/05/2026

Cilantro doesn’t need to taste like soap even if you have “The Soap Gene” OR6A2.

09/29/2026

Cilantro dip

✨I don’t ever measure this recipe…measure with your heart 💗

Cilantro 1 blender full
1 large Avocado or 2 small
1/2 Cups Avocado Oil (or other mild tasting oil)
1 cup water ✨I use more or less depending on how I’m using it. More water for salad dressing and less for dip
Juice of 3 limes or about 3-4 Tablespoons
4+ Garlic Cloves
Salt to taste

I eat this on salads, eggs, veggies, grilled meat, it’s super versatile! 💚

09/29/2026

Brahminy, the flower pot snake, the blind snake or Indotyphlops braminus. Whichever name you call her by, she's a beauty. I love finding them in my garden beds hunting for termite and ant larvae.

Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction eg. A single snake reproduces alone. Instead of the dna from an egg joining to a s***m, the egg reproduces its own dna alone and the embryo/clone develops from the unfertilized egg.

Being an all female species that reproduces via parthenogenesis just makes them more interesting!

09/28/2026

You either love or loathe cilantro, I love it. If you are purchasing cilantro seed to grow don't buy it in packets buy a bag of cilantro microgreen seeds instead. They are the same seeds and you'll get way more for your money.
At the end of the season leave the plants in place allowing them to go to seed. If you collect those seeds, you won’t need to buy them again.
Cilantro thrives in cool temps that are above freezing. If you have tried and failed growing cilantro in the past, you may have been growing it during too warm of temperatures.
During warm temperature and/or times of stress, cilantro reacts by releasing bitter compounds and going straight to seed instead of staying nice and leafy and tasty. So keep them regularly watered and grow them during cool weather in warm climates.

09/24/2026

Carrots do best in full sun with 6-8 hours of direct sun per day

Carrots are a cool season crop here in Florida so I plant mine August thru September in Tampa bay
North to Central Florida August thru September
South Florida September thru October is best

Seeds like to be planted in loose, well draining, well balanced soil. I plant mine in aged compost mixed with perlite or sand for drainage that has been adjusted to a 6-6.5 pH. A neutral soil of 7 is fine but slightly acidic soil is best.

Carrot seeds do not like to be planted deep. Only lightly cover your seeds with soil.

It’s vital that you keep your seeds and new seedlings damp. I do this by gently watering mine 1-2 times per day AND keeping the beds covered until the seeds sprout.

After my seedlings are 1+ inches tall, I reduce watering to 1-2 times per week.

I harvest my carrots as I need them thru the year and clear out and preserve any remaining carrots in my beds early to mid Summer. ✨If you leave your carrots in the ground thru the Florida Summer heat, they tend to get bitter.

14 Rainbow Carrot Varieties I’m growing this year

Purple
Black nebula purple (very dark purple)
Pusa Asita (black to purple)
Purple Sun (purple exterior to yellow)

Purple/Red
Dragon (purple red to orange with yellow center)
Cosmic Purple (purple red to orange to sometimes yellow)

Red
Atomic red
Malbec red
Kyoto red

Orange
Scarlet Nantes (orange)
Neptune (orange)
Lots of great orange varieties out there though!

Yellow
Mellow yellow
Solar yellow
Uzbeck Golden (thick yellow)

White
Lunar white (very sweet)

09/21/2026

Natural Liquid Soap can be made at home with pretty much any oil/lipid. Castile Soap is made with Olive oil. Different oils will give the soap different properties. Eg. Some oils make for sudsier soaps, some are stronger cleansers and some are gentler. My favorite recipe I’ve developed uses a combination of different oils. If there’s interest, I’m happy to share more of these recipies.
It’s important to note that in general oils cannot be substituted for each other in these soap recipes. Each oil has its own saponification value which means it requires a different amount of calculated KOH to balance it.

Beginner Friendly Olive Oil Castile Soap Recipe:

Olive Oil (or Avocado Oil -must be pure, not cut with other oils and no other oil substitutions should be made) 1000 grams

Potassium Hydroxide 210 grams
Distilled Water 250 grams
Glycerin 250 grams
Fragrance Oil up to 30 grams

09/12/2026

My favorite trap crops:

Mustard Greens for pests on your brassicas (kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and Bok Choy)

Mustard Greens also act a a fumigant to help with root knot nematodes. Some varieties are better than others for root knot nematodes. More on that later.

Radishes and mustard greens are both great at specifically trapping flea beetles which eat a wide variety of garden plants

Garden huckleberry as a trap crop for all pests that eat nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants,etc.)

Blue Hubbard Squash and Luffa for pests on your cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, melons)

Amaranth for armyworms and sap sucking insects like stink bugs and leaf footed bugs. Which are very common and can otherwise be devastating to food plants.

Hibiscus, milkweed and blue butterfly pea for aphids (please only plant milkweed appropriate for your zone to help protect monarchs). A strong hose drowns aphids.

Nasturtiums for leaf miners and other pests too.

Sunflowers attract leaf footed bugs, stink bugs and other sap sucking insects. Sorghum millet and buckwheat can also be good trap crop for these.

I plant my trap crops near but not touching the food plants they are protecting. 3-25ft ish. When pests find your trap crop they'll be attracted to them first where predatory insects will usually find them and take care of them for you.
This is one reason it’s beneficial to help wasps, spiders, lizards, frogs, toads and other predatory creatures to thrive in your garden. It’s also another reason why I don’t recommend spraying ANY indescriminant pesticides that kill every insect they touch. If you don’t have a decent predator population in your garden you can remove or treat pests yourself there on the trap crop before they damage your preferred food plants.

This often looks like manually removing affected leaves, eggs, and pests or spraying with BT thuricide for caterpillars specifically.

Tape is great for removing eggs and a hand vacuum is great for quickly collecting pests.

Depending on the severity and quantity, you might not need to do anything at all. On garden huckleberries, the pests only seem to want to eat the leaves saving the berries for eating.

Happy Gardening 💚

09/11/2026

Homemade Mustard Recipe

1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
1/4 cup purple or black mustard seeds
*for milder mustard use all yellow seeds
1/2 cup apple c***r vinegar
1/3 cups water or apple c***r or b**r of choice
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
Add all ingredients to a jar and refrigerate overnight 12-24 hours

Blend until it reaches your desired consistency. Blend less for more texture or blend until completely smooth if you desire.

This mustard is at its best after being refrigerated for at a minimum of 48 hours. It gets milder and considerably more mellow with time. I like mine best after at least 2+ weeks in the fridge.
This stays good for several months in the refrigerator.

09/10/2026

If you are growing cauliflower, broccoli, cabbages, brussels sprouts and other brassicas this season I highly recommend starting some mustard as a very beneficial and easy trap crop.
Trap crops are one of the main reasons I can grow so much abundant food without the use of toxins and pesticides.
You’ll want to grow your mustard near the plants they are protecting but not close enough that they touch. Monitor your mustard for pests thru the season as they will show up there first.
Mustard greens and seeds are also delicious and edible 💚

09/08/2026

If a natural shampoo, conditioner, body wash and air freshener had a baby and that baby was a plant it would be shampoo ginger 🪴🫚🌺

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