Barefoot'n

“My life is like a stroll on the beach… as near to the edge as I can go.”
~ Thoreau

What’s better than sinking your toes into warm sand, soft as velvet or the feeling of cool grass underfoot as you walk around your backyard or local park? When’s the last time you dangled your feet off the edge of a dock into fresh cool water? All together now! Ahhh… It’s time to kick off your shoes and do a little barefoot’n with the beach farmgirl and family!

My husband remembers vividly the sense of freedom he felt as a child of arriving at the beach shoeless for the summer and not putting on another pair of shoes until the always traumatic first day of school the following year. Imagine, three entire months where nothing touched his feet but mud flats warmed by the hot summer sun, rocks, sand, salt water, and wooden plank floors inside the cottage, lightly dusted with a constant layer of beach sand.

For us, a new season at the beach isn’t truly official until we’ve had a good look around the cottage inside and out, mentally clicked the refresh button on our revolving to-do list and taken our traditional first walk on the beach. It’s time to lose the flip flops! That list can wait! Let’s walk!

The blue ocean is like a magnet, pulling my husband and Max to the water’s edge for the first barefoot walk of the season.

Sand ferns sprout from the tops of some rocks while others appear to be wearing wigs of seaweed.

As we rounded the corner ahead we caught up with our daughter, one of her BFFLs, and Max. Look closely at their feet. They’re running in sync!

My beach sisters and I recently started a new annual tradition, too. We gather once a year at the end of summer to un-plug, re-charge and re-connect at the beach. We know just being together will work its magic on the “crabbiness factor” that comes with the mere thought of another summer coming to an end. Let’s not go there! Spring is the ideal time to get your feet in shape for going barefoot and pretty summer sandals, too!

After reading about MaryJane’s outdoor bathing ritual I was inspired to try an at-home FOOT BATH RECIPE at last year’s “Sea-weet Escape.” This UN-plugged version will work anywhere a farmgirl/beachgirl has a mind to sit still long enough and just soak. Inside or out!

~Farmgirl Foot Bath Fixins~

You’ll need:

  • One large tub/basin or bowl large enough for your feet and deep enough to soak above the ankles. (Try an antique porcelain bowl or galvanized tin). A large stainless steel bowl or a plastic bin will work in a pinch, too.
  • 1/3 cup rock sea salt
  • 1/4 cup dried lavender petals
  1. Boil water on the stove or use hot water from your tap.
  2. Add ingredients to your basin/tub.
  3. Sit and soak for 20 minutes minimum or until the water becomes cool. Use a natural sea sponge to slough off dry skin on the tops and bottoms of your feet. A pedi-file works wonders on rough heels.
  4. Towel dry and moisturize your feet, being careful not to get lotion or oil on the toenail itself because you’re going to paint your toenails!

That’s better!

Now you’re ready for anything that comes your way. Here are some additional foot and full body pampering ideas!

  • Try adding sliced citrus and rosemary for an energizing soak or sprinkle a few drops of your favorite essential oils into your soaking water to fit the mood.
  • For a touch of spa indulgence, heat small, round, flat rocks on the stove with water; then add them to your basin of hot water and ingredients.
  • You can find sea salt, dried herbs, and essential oils at your local Herb Shop and Health Food Store.
  • Shop your local dollar store for individual pedicure implements and nail polish.
  • If you’re soaking at night, light a few candles or a lantern or two and share a bottle of your favorite wine or another refreshing drink.

For more soothing and refreshing at-home beauty recipes and products visit Eden Organics online.

If you want to get earthy-crunchy about going barefoot, visit this link to learn more about Earthing.

I don’t need a Dr. or an expert to tell me it’s good for my health to kick off my shoes and set my doggies free from time to time. It’s just common sense!

We hope you enjoyed coming along for our “first frolic” on the beach!

Why don’t you share your favorite barefoot’n memories in the comments section below! C’mon, you know you want to!

Until our next shoreline visit~

Beach Blessings and Happy Barefoot’n!
Love,
Deb

  1. Rebekah says:

    I wish I was there!!!

  2. bonnie ellis says:

    Debbie: We don’t have the ocean here in Minnesota but I spent many hours at the beaches. You make me want to set out there soon. But we just had frost again last night and they say spring won’t come until the third week of May. Until then I really enjoyed your trip to the beach. Great pictures! Bonnie

  3. DeAnn says:

    Love your photos! Please, please do your beach cottage next. Some of us are living vicariously through you!

  4. Raynita says:

    Awwwwww, thanks, I could just feel the warm, wet sand between my toes. Love your blog:)……….Raynita

  5. CJ says:

    Oh, I’m SOOOOOOO jealous! I love to walk the beach, get sand between my toes and under my toenails and feel the surf on my legs!! I AM a Colorado Rocky Mountains girl, but I do love walking the beach. Your photo reminds me of one I took in September of the feet of my daughter and me on the Santa Barbara beach (you can see it on my "From a Celtic Heart" blogspot). Our toenails aren’t are pretty in pink as yours. Thanks for sharing!!!

  6. Julia says:

    Ahhh!I miss living close to the beach! Tomorrow I hit the road to take my daughter back to CA. I will definitly get my toes into that warm sand! Barefooting, ‘my one weakness’!

  7. Uncle Ed says:

    Hi Farmgirl . Good to see you folks on the beach again. I have to admit its the first time I have seen the Bos without the two white cheeks facing the lens. I’m not sure you can quote Thoreau to a Nevada teamroper(heeler). Did he write when Tony Hillerman wrote? We love you and your beach.

  8. Linda says:

    At spring break I got to pick up shells on a NC beach to bring back to KS to show preschoolers, who have never seen the ocean. The bag sat on my desk, leaked sand, and remains. Who could love the beach so much as to leave it beach sandy for months?
    Linda

  9. Brenda says:

    I live in Michigan which as you know is almost completely surrounded by water except for that southern state line that will take you to Indiana where I grew up and there is very little lake areas. My favorite day out in the summer includes a walk on the beach. I crave it but do not get to go as often since my daughters have all grown and started families of their own. My hubs is a home body and it is hard to drag him from our wooded acreage. Funny thing is I never learned to swim growing up on Indiana farmland. But to walk the beach is heaven. And to sit and watch the sun set on the beach is even better. Add a glass of wine…

  10. Oh, this came just at the right time! I am so excited, I can’t wait! We leave early, early tomorrow morning to go to Grayton Beach State Park in Florida where we will be camping and kayaking and spending lots of time walking on the beach. Your pictures are beautiful!

    Becky G.
    Farmgirl Sister #1941

  11. bonnie marie says:

    Newly married, first trip to the Oregon Coast…fresh crab legs, chosen squirming, hot brine baked, pliers to ‘catch’ the meat, sunny, chilly, wearing coat, alittle spirits to wash down, and then…..time to tip the toes into the Pacific…oh my, so cold I leaked alittle!!!! Wonderful memory for a new bride…don’t you think? Lots of Laughter that day…..

  12. KimberlyD says:

    I have always loved going barefoot! And I may not have an ocean near by but I do have the Great Lakes of Michigan, and boy I love walking them barefoot. I lived out west for a few years and though I loved the Rocky Mountains, I missed the great lakes, and when I moved back I went up to the nearest one and just walked it and let it soak in so to speak. "Guess you can take the girl out of the Great Lakes but you can’t take the Great Lakes out of the girl"….lol!

  13. Debbie says:

    Love your toes in the sand picture. I have my favorite "toes in the sand picture" too. Last year I was down for all the gray and rain of winter in te Northwest, unemployed, my son was unemployed and my daughter had moved out of state looking for work. For Mother’s Day my husband took me to Oahu for a few days so I could walk on the beach, soak up the sun, and of course walk barefoot in the sand.

  14. Karin says:

    Love your pictures. When my son married I acquired a wonderful new family, one of whom has a house on the ocean on the Outer Banks. This lovely lady always gives us the best guest room in the house, at the back, facing the ocean. What joy it is to fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing. I can’t wait to go back.

  15. Joan says:

    As I sit here – with a forecast of 3-4 days of cold,wet,white stuff – I am wondering is there really a BEACH out there? but then I shook my head and cleared the cobwebs of YEARS gone by when I 1st saw, smelled, felt an ocean – oh thank you Debbie for helping my memories come to the forefront and am going to get into the foot bath with all your great ideas – then maybe the dull, white days won’t seem so bad. Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you.

  16. Marcie says:

    Great photos of the ocean and your beach. We used to live in Rockport/Fulton TX (6 blocks from the Fulton Mansion) on the Texas coast and often took the ferry to Port A for our beach fix with long walks and shell gathering. We traded that in for our home in the TN mountains. I do miss the smell of the dunes and the beauty of the coastal birds and purchasing fresh shrimp from the local folks but not the beach tar in the sand. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and photos.

  17. Shery Jespersen says:

    Hi Deb, LOVE the photo of you and your Corgi walking on the beach! I can feel the sand between my toes! Yeppers, soon it will be time for painted tootsies for sandal weather. We’re not there yet here in WYO. My computer is dead, have a new one ordered. So, I’ve been down for a spell. Talk more soon. Hope you have some hyacinths to enjoy. Shery J

  18. BeachFarmgirl says:

    Hi everyone! So glad you popped by to say hello and share your barefoot’n times and beach memories with me. Your comments always bring a smile to my day!

    Beach Blessings,
    Deb

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