- I'm Trace Barnett and welcome to "Garden Party," a show where we dive into my favorite family recipes, garden tips and tricks, and Alabama specialties, all with a swanky, Southern twist.

(trumpet tooting) I think it's time to freshen this place up a bit, and I've got some ideas to try around the whole house.

Let's start with a big one, cast iron.

I know they can be intimidating, but I've got you covered.

After that, I'll share some of my favorite spring cleaning tips, and finally, we'll have some fun with my artsy-crafty friend, Jennifer Wallace-Fields.

(soft music) Any good Southerner knows that the cast iron skillet is a sacred piece in the kitchen and it should be treated and maintained as such.

Let me show you how to refresh and revive even the rustiest and crustiest of cast irons so you can get back to cooking your favorite dishes in no time.

Today is Cast Iron Care 101, where I'm gonna show you how to restore, reseason, and maintain your cast iron so you can cook with it for generations to come.

Now, cast iron cookware is super durable, but also, there can be some maintenance problems.

Just ask my team around here.

All of these cast irons came from their kitchens and they have a plethora of problems.

A lot of these are just a simple storage problem, where there was something stored on this cast iron that was a little bit wet, had some moisture, and it's caused that to rust just in the middle.

And then you have this pan here that has just not been properly maintained.

It hasn't been stored well, it has not had that nice, little grease massaged into it after cooking.

It just needs a little cleaning.

And then of course, let's fast forward to this one here, and that's just crusty crust right there.

So no matter the level of neglect on your cast iron, there's still a lot of life left in it.

To bring your cast iron back to this mortal coil of life, (spring boinging) take a little bit of regular dish detergent, and I'm gonna put an ample amount of detergent here, and I know a lot of you people who use cast iron are just like, (gasps) "Dish detergent in your cast iron?"

Well, now's the time that you can just scrub away everything in that pan.

We just really want to loosen up any kind of debris (water whooshing) or any kind of set-on food there.

This is lukewarm water.

Ample amount of water, but you don't want a ton of water where your dish detergent is super diluted.

(water splashing) I'm gonna give that a good stir there, and I'm gonna put our cast iron directly in it.

And so we're gonna loop some water up there into the cast iron itself, just wash out.

You can already see that the color of the water's already discolored, so there was quite a lot of staining in there.

I'm actually gonna put quite a bit of dish detergent directly into this cast iron, too.

I am gonna use just a nice bristle brush here.

As you can see, this one's been used quite a few times, specifically for this purpose, and in slow, circular motion, (brush swishing) I'm just gonna start working around the cast iron.

Now, I'm gonna work on the inside first, really cover every inch of the cookware.

This is one of those times, too, where you don't want to leave any part of the cookware unbrushed, so we're gonna brush down the backside, the handle, the front.

I mean, just look at all of the debris we're lifting up off this pot already.

All right, I'm gonna switch our cast iron over, and I'm going to scrub the back, too.

(pan clanging) It's a little bit loud around here.

Periodically, every few years, even my good cast iron, I'll just go ahead and scrub it down and reseason it, because if you use cast iron for quite some time, it's gonna need to be reseasoned.

All right, so now, we are going to wash off our residual detergent here and rinse it well, so if you're over a sink, just give that a good rinse.

We're gonna wipe it off, too, before it goes into the oven.

There's no real set rules in stone until we've got it reseasoned.

Then you better not mess it up.

I would literally get a divorce over someone destroying my cast iron pan, no lie.

(bell clanging) All right, so, let's take a look at this one here.

So this one has this little bit of rust, and I've got a trick that's gonna help us out here for that.

I'm gonna wet it with our dish detergent, and I'm not leaving a ton of water in the bottom of the pan here.

And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cover this in some salt.

So this is a great option if you have a pan that's just really corroded and you've had stuff that's just really cooked on there.

The salt's gonna give us a nice, gentle abrasion.

Again, I'm gonna go for my little scrubber here, and I'm just gonna dip it ever so slightly in a little bit of water.

What that's gonna do is it's gonna make a little paste here, (scrubber scratching) and you can kind of see, I'm just gonna get wet, get all in it here.

You can kind of see it lifting that rust right up off the surface.

If you find yourself with a cast iron that's kind of built up a rust on the back of the pan, which is completely normal, this should help alleviate that, too.

All right, let's see where we are here in our cleaning.

I'm gonna just dip that.

As you can see, that little bit of salt trick's already removed quite a lot of that rust.

I actually see a little bit more there, so I'm gonna go back in.

And then I'm gonna dip that in there, and I'm just gonna follow the same steps and scrub all around this cast iron.

(clock ticking) So now that we've got our skillet adequately scrubbed and all of that rust and crust removed, I'm going to line a baking sheet with tin foil.

(foil crinkling) Now, comes the fun part.

You don't really need any special equipment, you don't need any special oil or wax, nothing for your cast iron skillets.

The key to reseasoning our cast iron is solid vegetable oil.

So old-fashioned, old-timey, but what I love about the kind of solid vegetable oil here is you can get that in any nook and cranny.

So I'm gonna use my fingers here, and I'm going to just start rubbing this whole skillet down in shortening.

Now, you can see that I'm putting a thin layer, and then I'm gonna take my paper towel and I'm gonna rub that down even further.

If you are using an oil that is just liquid, don't pool it up into your cast iron.

You just want that thin layer.

We don't want a mess all over our stove.

So that being said, too, vegetable oil, shortening, whatever you want to call it, it has a really high smoke point, so we don't want to use an oil that's gonna smoke up our kitchen.

So definitely no bacon grease, no lard, and I wouldn't waste the money on peanut oil.

You can see that the skillet's looking beautiful already.

It's kind of looking brand new.

My cuticles will, too.

(chimes ringing) Don't forget any part of the cast iron.

Every piece should be covered.

Now, if you see a place, for instance, that just has a little bit caked up, take your paper towel and just kind of rub that in.

I'm gonna leave almost like a transparent layer there where you can see my fingertips in it.

I'm gonna do the same for this one.

So now that we have our pans all nice and seasoned up, let's put them in our preheated 400-degree oven.

(Trace grunting) (forklift beeping) I need a mini forklift here.

I'll meet y'all over here.

(xylophone pinging) So place your cast iron skillets in the oven for one hour upside down so the oil doesn't sit in the skillet and it all uniformly melts and drips out of the skillet and into our tinfoil pan.

(image popping) (image crunching) So a lot of your jaws are gonna hit the ground here, but I do use a very diluted amount of detergent when I'm cleaning my cast iron.

Don't ever let your cast iron sit in the soapy water.

Be sure to wash it out, dry immediately, and absolutely never to the dishwasher, not even when we're reseasoning it.

(image popping) (image crunching) So the hour of spa time is over for our skillets in the stove and they look very much shiny and alive.

So what you want to do is just use a rag that's not gonna leave any debris in our skillets, and all I'm gonna do is just lightly just wipe off any extra so it doesn't drip down in our cabinet or anything, and plus, it reveals that beautiful, shiny pan.

Can you believe this was that rusty-crusty one earlier that someone had stored something on top of.

Be sure to wipe the entirety of the pan, that includes the bottom.

Now, after you've reseasoned your cast iron, let's talk a little bit about maintenance.

The best thing that you can do is wipe it out with a good cloth that may be just a bit damp, and then what I'll do is I pour just the tiniest amount of oil.

It can be any kind of oil that you have, it can even be the spray oil in a can, and then I'm just gonna use a rag.

It's probably good not to use a paper towel for this since we are just kind of maintaining it.

We don't want to leave any kind of debris on our surface here, but by just wiping out and wiping that little bit of oil on your skillets as you store them will keep them lustrous, bright, (harp ringing) beautiful, shiny, and ready to go whenever you need a good pan.

So with just a few simple steps, you'll be able to keep your cast iron around for generations to come.

(soft music) My cast irons are back to life, and now, I've got the spring cleaning bug.

I decided to whip up a few batches of homemade cleaners and tidy up more around here.

Meet me in the barn to see how you can make some of your very own.

I bet you'll have most of what you need already on hand.

Today, we're gonna make three of my favorite homemade, super cheap, super effective cleaners that you're gonna love in your house without all the harsh chemicals.

So this is our all-purpose and one of my absolute favorite cleaners of all.

It's a citrus and herb, and I'm using lemon peels today, but feel free to use orange peel, grapefruit, whatever you have on hand, and I'm just using a sharp peeler, and I'm just gonna remove the peels off of our lemons.

The citrus really helps cut grease, and the herbs really cut that vinegar smell.

We'll have carpal tunnel after this, but won't be choking on any fumes.

(bell clanging) Man, that one's hard as a rock.

So take all those peels, pour those into a mason jar, whatever jar you have on hand, and I'm going to (vinegar trickling) fill that halfway up with just white distilled vinegar.

That should be about right.

I'm gonna take three sprigs of rosemary, ample sprigs, because I'm gonna throw it down in there, and then I'm gonna give it a good stir.

So into the jar it goes.

I'm gonna use a long spoon here, and I'm just gonna kind of muddle that around our jar.

So I just wanted to release some of those oils from the rosemary.

Let's put our lid on.

I'm gonna give it a little bit of a shake, and the only catch, you need to let this marinate for 10 to 14 days.

(clock ticking) So our 10 days is up, and our citrus and herb cleaner really is smelling good and ready to go.

The citrus peels have imparted their color and all of those good citrus oils just right in this jar.

There's not many cleaners you can smell right out of the jar, without fainting, of course.

(bell clanging) So I've got a little mister here, and the dollar store has really upped their mister game.

I love the glass, I also love the fine mist.

That way, you're not putting a ton of this cleaner on any given surface, and I'm just taking a little handy-dandy funnel there.

If you have a fine sieve in one, feel free to use that, but I'm just gonna eyeball it and make sure nothing gets in there.

And voila, you have successfully just bottled up your own all-purpose cleaner.

For our next cleaner, we are gonna make an herbal glass and mirror spray.

So to get started, you're just gonna need a plain, never used or really clean spray bottle, and we're gonna put in one cup of distilled water.

We're just using distilled, because we don't want any chlorine or any of those additives in there.

We're gonna add in half a cup of white distilled vinegar.

And last but not least, you can add any essential oil of your choice, and today, I want to add lavender.

So you're gonna want 10 to 15 drops.

(xylophone pinging) (soft music) I went for 15, 'cause I really want that lavender smell to linger.

Simply put your spray bottle lid on, give it a little shake-shake, and a little spray-spray, and you're on your way to a clean.

(chimes ringing) You're gonna wanna spray yourself with it, too.

I'm getting so excited about it.

(chuckles) You're gonna want to spray yourself and all your glass surfaces with it.

Works great for glass-top tables, too.

Last but not least, and my floors are pretty dirty, I'm gonna show you a super simple botanical floor cleaner.

This cleaner is great on tile, vinyl floors, and sealed wood floors.

Of course, this is great for just, you know, casual messes, nothing like after you've murdered a body.

(bell clanging) So you're gonna need a gallon of hot water, and when I say hot, this is not boiling.

This is more like lukewarm, just as hot as your tap can get.

We don't wanna burn our hands while we're cleaning.

Cleaning's bad enough already.

(bell clanging) Half a cup of vinegar.

This is one of those cleaners, too, that you can expand upon if you need more.

Just kind of keep that one gallon to half cup ratio.

Right in.

Good, old, handy vinegar comes in all the time, and I'm just gonna take a few drops.

I like a really good scent in my house.

This is just some lemon essential oil.

Feel free to use eucalyptus, feel free to use any kind of great citrus herbal scent, and you'll be well on your way to some really good clean floors, and they'll smell good, too.

So there you have it, three cleaners.

You're gonna be so ready for a fresh start without all the harsh ingredients.

Now, go get busy.

(image popping) Now that we've spruced up the cast irons and tidied up a bit, I'm feeling inspired to brighten things up, too.

I've invited my friend, Jennifer Wallace Fields, to join me for pressing flowers and some candle crafts that I've always wanted to try.

Today, we're gonna be making our own candles with dried flowers just picked right outside the door.

Let's get started.

- Let's do it.

- So first things first, when you are getting ready to press flowers, which I'm sure you've done before?

- All the time.

- Some things to consider would be the plants themselves.

- Okay.

- And right now, one of my absolute favorites are, like, violas and pansies, but I really love violas because of the size.

And I also love ferns, which are really great, too, and just when they're starting to unfurl, so you have just that little bit of, like, frond on the end.

Some other really good ones are, like, nandina, dead nettle's really good, because I love the texture.

- Is that shamrock?

- Yeah, I love the shamrocks, too, and you know, they come in purple and green.

- Yeah.

- So the purple ones are really cool, too.

Also, just simple begonia.

So I mean, you can technically use weeds and flowers when you're pressing flowers.

- I love it.

- So let's get started.

If you would pull me off some of these violas?

- Okay.

- And when you pull them off, if you're pulling them directly off the stem, pull them off, like, right there.

- Okay.

- And if you want a little bit of stem on there, you can totally leave that, and we'll just arrange it as we fold them.

- Perfect.

- You can use any kind of papers.

You can use, like, a parchment paper, a wax paper.

I don't even own an air fryer, but I do have these air fryer papers because they're perfect, 'cause they're the exact size just to make almost like a pressed flower pocket.

- Yeah.

- And you don't need any kind of special equipment or anything to press flowers, you just need, like, a large book, stack of magazines, anything that's gonna really press down and put some weight onto our flowers.

- Okay.

- Or foliage.

So these are some that I've already been drying here, and the drying time typically is, like, two to three weeks.

- Oh wow.

- And as you can see, they still retain a lot of that really good color.

- [Jennifer] Yeah, they really do, look at the reds and the purples.

- And I love, like, the color combinations, too, that are varigated, and I love, like, that's just, I can't even remember the name of that weed.

I know that Cecil (text chiming) really loves to eat that, (Jennifer laughing) but I love the texture of that, too.

- Beautiful.

- So let's take our paper here, and I usually take mine and fold it directly in half there.

That way, I kind of have a gauge on, you know, where the paper itself is gonna land.

- Okay.

- And then the fun part, let's just start arranging them.

- All right, let's do it.

- Almost like a collage.

- Okay, I'm gonna take a fern.

Should I squish this down to make it- - Yeah, squish it down - Okay.

- Just a tad.

Just like that, I love that little bit of stem that you left there, too.

- Thank you.

- It's really perfect.

- It's my artistic touch.

- You got the good artistic touch, (Jennifer laughing) so you should host a art show.

- (laughs) I've been thinking about it.

- So if you have a little bit of a petal that's giving you a little bit of trouble, just use a pair of tweezers and just kind of, you know, after you've had it pressed, and just kind of level that out.

So that's always a good thing if you have some stubborn flowers.

- Pro tip.

- Love that little bit of dead nettle there, too, with those little bit of purple flowers coming out.

And then of course, a little bit of nandina.

You know, some other stuff to consider foliage-wise would just be rose foliage, rose petals are perfect.

And there we go, that almost looks like a work of art already.

Let's put a couple more violas in there, too.

- Would you ever do any, like, herbs?

- Totally, I love the herbs.

Now, when you are gonna dry herbs, though, stick with herbs that are not, like, completely full of water, like basil.

Dill's a perfect option, rosemary's a great option.

- Oh yeah.

- And now, let's just fold our little package over here, and just try and keep it kind of in place, but I really do like it sometimes when they pile on each other.

- Haphazard beauty.

- It is.

- Yes.

- All right, let's shut our book here and summon all your bicep strength.

You need something heavy to go directly on top of the book, so I just brought my handy-dandy dictionary.

- Okay, here we go.

- It's amazing I own one, I don't sound like it.

(both laughing) (bell clanging) I should probably read it instead of using it to press flowers.

So once you've got your heavy object on top of your book, I would leave these here.

I'd usually check them about two weeks later.

- Okay.

- And they can stay in there for a matter of months if you want them to.

- Sometimes I put then in books and then I totally forget about it, and it's a nice, little surprise when you open it.

- It's like a little bit like Christmas day when you open it up.

- It is, it is.

- Look at these pressed flowers.

I found some in, like, my grandparents' books, too, so that's nostalgia.

- Sweet.

- Maybe one day, when we're on an alien ship, (ship humming) someone will find ours.

(Jennifer laughing) Let's move on to our candles.

- Okay.

(chicken clucking) - So pressed flowers are absolutely perfect, and candles as well, but I also love to use dried flowers, which is one of the easiest ways to really preserve flowers that are in your garden, any kind of flower or herb.

And what you do is you just kind of make them into a bundle and you just tie that with a bit of jute and put that somewhere, you know, I hang them in my dining room, somewhere out of the full sun or out of a place that has a ton of wind and movement, and just kind of shut the lights down, let them hang out there, and you'll have dried flowers.

And one thing, especially with the process of eggs these days, it's like, why not use the entirety- - Don't wanna waste it.

- The entirety of the egg?

So I've reserved a dozen egg shells here, and they are the perfect, little tea light vessels.

- Those are beautiful.

- And look how perfect.

They're like, just the little bowl there.

And I saved the carton, too, because that's the perfect way to pour it.

- Okay.

- And then also, you can leave them in there, too.

I'm using an organic, soy-based, quick-melting candle wax here.

Now, you can melt this wax in the microwave, and what I would do is almost just like melting chocolate in 30-second intervals, but my favorite method is, you know, I love these enamelware pitchers.

- It's much more aesthetic than a microwave.

(chuckles) - Much more aesthetic, you know, and plus, it gives us that pourable spout, so great option- - Perfect.

- If you've got something that can go directly on the stove.

I'm gonna heat this over an odd.

If it's pourable and everything is melted in there, then it's perfectly ready to go.

Just don't leave it on there too long and let it burn.

- Okay.

- I'm removing this from the heat and be careful.

- Okay.

- Now's the time that you would add any kind of essential oil or scent that you want.

I'm foregoing that today with my little egg tea lights, just simply because I'm gonna be using them on a table and there's not that much wax in there.

- Okay.

- If you would, grab some of these little beeswax wicks here, which I love, and we are going to stick those just directly down into our eggshells there.

Now, you can always tack this down with just a little bit of hot glue, but the hot glue may turn loose, and you have a lot of manipulation time with the wax itself.

- Perfect.

- Some of these look a little wonky, but they'll straighten up later.

- Oh, that's part of the beauty of handmade.

That's a very specialized instrument.

- Yeah.

(Jennifer laughing) - This very specialized instrument here is a chopstick, and it's perfect when you're melting your wax to kind of break them apart.

So I'm going to pour this into the eggshell here.

So reserve shells that have a lot more room for wax versus those that may have just been, like, the top end.

If you really wanted to plan, when you're cracking the eggs, (both laughing) aesthetically crack them.

All right, so fill that up there, and depending on how much wax you put into your candles, is gonna also depend on how long it takes them to dry.

- Okay.

- So dry time for these will probably be half hour to 45 minutes, so it's almost like working with resin, so you have quite a bit of time to kind of play around.

Now, I know it's tempting right at the moment for us to just dive in and start sprinkling our dried flowers in, - It is.

- But I would wait about 10 minutes before we do that, just until there's a skin that kind of forms on top of the candle there.

That way, it don't all sink down into the bottom.

- That makes sense.

(clock ticking) - All right, so our candles are sufficiently sufficient, ready to go, and let's start making them pretty.

So I have some variety of dried flower petals here for us that I've just broke apart.

So we have some cornflour, rose petals, chamomile, any dried petals are perfect for this.

How they smell?

- Mm, good.

They smell really good.

- Let me smell yours.

Your smells better than mine.

- Of course.

Oh yeah, it stinky.

(Trace chuckling) - So just break those.

(Jennifer laughing) I break those just a little bit apart at first, and I do like a little bit of that rose petal, too, directly on there.

I like a color combination.

- Yeah, I do, too.

It adds a little more interest.

- And you know, if you're doing this for a special event, so for a dinner that has a theme or a certain time of year, it's a great way to like really make it personalized.

Plus, you can save some money, too.

It looks perfect.

So you're gonna wanna let these hang out, let them sufficiently dry.

If you're gonna do this for an event or a certain table, I would do this the day before just to make sure they're all ready to go.

Here you go.

- Thank you.

- If you would cut these wicks off for me?

So if you don't want to use the egg carton method here, you can simply just take those.

This is just a little craft bird's nest.

(Jennifer gasping) You can use bird's nests from just outside your house.

I'm a big bird nest person.

I love, like, the natural feel of them.

- That is so cute.

- This'll nestle, we love cute.

- We love cute.

- Ah, we need cute.

So just nestle that on your table, and I've just taken a little bit of moss here and there, and just add your little bit of moss for a little bit of feel there.

- That's amazing.

- You can always stick a little fern frond in there (image popping) if you really wanted (Jennifer laughing) to go crazy.

So now, let's utilize those pressed flowers just using a store-bought tapered candle.

As you know, tapered candles are hard to make, because you have to dip and dip, and you dip, we dip.

(both laughing) - I actually like to buy mine at the thrift store.

- Thrift store's a good idea.

You just gotta find 'em in the right spot.

- That's right.

(laughs) - Usually over at the garden section.

So grab a pair of tweezers over there.

I tried to hide yours so yours won't be better than mine.

(bell clanging) So find some foliage here that just screams like it needs to be on the candles.

I'm gonna go for something that has some really good texture and that I can kind of almost, like, wrap here.

So I'm gonna take my brush, dip it into the wax that we already had melted, and then I'm gonna gonna brush on our foliage here.

I'm gonna do this one.

Look, Jennifer's already done with hers and I'm the host over here.

(Jennifer chuckling) - No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

- Not even done mine.

- Don't look too closely.

- That's the fun part, though, is the experimentation.

- It is.

- It's gonna melt down anyway.

So I'm gonna use a tea light here, and you just kind of dab that.

I'm gonna go along the edges here just to kind of smooth it and hold this in place.

And again, you can simply take your fingers, if it's something like a fern frond that you want to wrap around the candle.

You can easily just wrap that and hold it in place with just a tiny bit of wax, and we're getting somewhere.

(Jennifer laughing) I finally got one to stick.

- That looks great.

- Maybe the tea candle's the best way to go?

I sabotaged yours.

(Jennifer laughing) - Was that on purpose?

(chuckles) - All right, let's light our little candles here.

- Let's do it.

(flame whooshing) - You know what I love about this craft?

Whoa, burning.

Other than the cost of our wax, a little bit of time, and some wicks, it's all essentially free.

- That's true.

- So for 20 bucks, you can have unlimited candles that are personalized to fit your space, your event, whatever you're doing.

- [Jennifer] And they're gorgeous.

- Not as gorgeous as us, but- - Well.

(both chuckling) (soft piano music) - We've got the cast irons cleaned and reseasoned, my house sparkling clean, and the cozy candles going.

I'm ready to host my next dinner party.

I just need to figure out what we're gonna munch on.

Thanks for joining us today.

We'll see you next time on "Garden Party."

(soft music continues) - Do you wanna learn how to press your own flowers?

I do.

- So do I.

(both laughing) (both chuckling) How do they look so good on camera?

(both laughing) It's rigged, people.

Look, they're just leaving me in the lurch.

(everyone chuckling) - I got you.

(laughs) - Glad someone's on my side.

(Jennifer laughing) I really went big or going home on that one.

I feel like shooting a "Garden Party" is very, like, Julia Child-esque, chaotic.

We need, like, a huge flashcard for the middle one.

(crew chuckling) Reseason.

Reseason.

So you can either use shortening, which is just... What is shortening?

The one hour is up and our skillets have just been in their little spa oven time, and they look like they've been rejuvenized, well-rested, shiny, glossy.

Now, I just need to find somebody to hit in the head with this.

I don't know, so how should we end it?

(crew laughing) You can find all of our recipes, how-tos, helpful blogs, and a whole mess of fun over on our website.

Scan the QR code below or visit aptv.org/gardenparty.