Recently, I was informed that local honey has the potential to help you overcome seasonal allergies. As a sufferer of seasonal allergies for the past 10 years or so, I’ve tried a number of things to battle the regular onslaught of itchy eyes and nose, constant sneezing, eye watering and scratchy throat at the beginning and end of every summer. I’ve found the body has a tendency to acclimatize to over-the-counter drugs, rendering them far less effective the more you use them, and that they also tend to dry me out to a point of discomfort close to not having taken the pills at all. But as a fallback, every year, I turn to a combined attack of Aerius, and the Shoppers Drug Mart discount brand, Life Brand, moisturising nasal spray (to help with the dryness, more than clearing out the nasal passages) backed up by their basic nasal decongestant pill, when my nose is really stuffed up. But again, this all creates a very dry inner environment that I find myself chugging water constantly to clear out, and isn’t exactly optimal. Not to mention the probable taxation on the liver.

One year, I did go to a local Toronto homeopathic healer who did something called a BIE Allergy Removal on me. I gave her my cat’s hair which I was allergic to, and she detected other allergies I have, and used an electro-magnetic machine to re-align my energy. That year, I didn’t suffer from allergies. Whether it was the placebo effect or it actually did something, to me that was worth the $150 I paid her that year. However, the very next year they returned, and I simply couldn’t afford to continue such an expensive treatment.

So, it may be too late this year for me to try this, as it’s recommended to ingest the local honey daily up to 4 months before allergy season, but I’ll probably try it anyway – and definitely try it for next year. Here’s an article anecdotally explaining how it works. A quick search returns this link about the Toronto Bee Keepers Cooperative, so I think I’ll try emailing the people listed at the bottom of the page to see who’s producing honey in Toronto these days – since I need the most local honey possible, I’d imagine driving out of the city isn’t going to be a fruitful exercise.

The honey pictured here is from Mississauga. We bought it from Essence of Life in Kensington Market. It may or may not be what I need… but it’s there if you want to check it out.

If you’re out in Caledon / Brampton way though, I’d recommend checking out the honey at Heatherlea Farm Market (full disclosure: they were a web design client of mine back in the day, but I’ve used their products and I know they’re great).

Lastly, this article discusses 6 natural allergy remedies you may wish to try if you’ve not had any luck with the above methods.

I’m planning to make some much more elaborate ones, once school is done and I have my spare time back. For now, it’s good to practice with the basics and experiment with colour – something I used to never be very good at, but have come to appreciate much more since picking up thread-based activities.

My man needed a little cheering up, so I made these chewy coconut cookies last night, with a few “healthy” modifications (as per usual). They turned out delicious… so good, I downed four last night (maybe even five), and three more today. They certainly aren’t going to be around for long!

My version used the following substitutions:

• 1/2 cup of quinoa flour, 1/2 cup of amaranth flour and 1/4 cup spelt flour instead of 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup coconut oil instead of butter (I read somewhere that when you do this, it should be solidified coconut oil. I only had the melted sort, so I used that, and it was fine)
• 2/3 cup of agave nectar instead of 1/2 cup of brown sugar + 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1 chia egg (1/4 cup of water + 1 tbspn ground chia seed) instead of egg
• 1 1/3 cup organic, unsweetened coconut flakes (or at least, this is what I would have used had we had any – I’m pretty sure the stuff we have is sweetened, because woohey, these cookies are sweet! but delicious! then again, that could be the agave… I don’t really know)

Once the dough was portioned out on a baking sheet, I added a sprinkle of raw, unsweetened cocoa powder (using a small tea seive is a great way to accomplish a dusting over the top of the cookie) and a dash of nutmeg on each. I also decided to add a teaspoon’s worth of Crofter’s Superfruit Organic Spread with Wild Blueberries, Cranberries, Morello Cherries & Red Grapes (it’s the blue one on their site there) to the tops of some of the cookies. I love the way they turned out – the jam, spice and cocoa worked so well together with the soft chewy sweetness of the cookie.

The cooking instructions are the same. I think we left them in there for 13 minutes in total, rather than the 8-10 minutes, but that depends more on your stove than anything else. There probably is extra moisture than the original recipe would have, so that makes sense to leave it in a bit longer. Whatever you do, keep an eye on them so you make sure they’re not overcooked.

I came across one solution: this Bolero by Lene Holme Samsøe. I’ve seen a few completed projects where people used sport weight instead, and I suppose, adjusted their gauge to work. I think I might try that.

But I may have found my place to start: the Webby Sundress or Skirt doesn’t look too difficult, and I quite like the look of it (pictured, in my mind, in very difficult, far more harmonious colours, than those in the sample photo). I won’t embed the photo, as it’s got a Copyright symbol next to the person’s username on Ravelry, and that looks a little foreboding, for whatever reason. So, click over to the pattern to take a look at it.