Wahsega Valley Farm

My herbs are here - my herbs are here!

Look and see!

I got the herbs for my herbal class and tomorrow will start some hands-on work with them. I am enamored. Ha-ha. I've always loved what herbs offer in the way of tasty teas and bath and body preparations, but until this past month really didn't give a hoot about their medicinal properties. Suddenly I am awash with intrigue and like a sponge trying to absorb everything - and there is a lot to absorb.

Doors are always opening...

I also received the carrier oils for my face cream and a few other things, and some new and very exciting essential oils that I love the smell of and who possess interesting properties. I can't wait to try them out - in creams and butters - and perfume. And maybe my next batch of soap too - which I think might be a citrus one - for summer y'know!

There is too much to do to write more; I've got some arrangin' to do - and need to find some big glass jars for the lighter ones who have a lot of bulk.

Making fun things on a rainy vacation day

What a wonderful vacation day. It's overcast and raining and I'm at home. Ahhhh... I need more of this. We need the rain desperately and it feels as though the world is exhaling with a soothing sigh of relief.

I made a couple of recipes today from Rosemary Gladstar's book, Family Herbal. I really love playing around with natural skin care recipes and hope to do it more in the future. I made The Queen of Hungary's Water and Miracle Grains. Click on the links to see the recipes. Here are some pictures them being made:

Queen of Hungary's Water

The first thing I did was put the herbs into a big jar.

And then poured apple cider vinegar over to cover. I let it sit in a warm spot for three weeks on my deck.

It's not so pretty here, as I'm getting ready to strain it, but it doesn't smell bad at all. Just a bit vinegar-y.

Once strained, the herbs have to be squeezed with a cloth to extract the rest of the liquid. It came to about a third of the total amount.

I poured a cup of the herb/vinegar mix into a bottle and added a cup of rose hydrosol and five drops each of sandalwood, carrot seed and frankincense essential oils for my mix. I'm anxious to try it tonight. I need to get some pH strips to see what the acidity is. 

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Miracle Grains

This was much quicker to make since I didn't have to wait for herbs to steep. Here are the kaolin clay, ground oatmeal and ground almonds. I grind the oatmeal and almonds in a coffee grinder.

To that mixture, I added rose petals and lavender buds, which I ground to a fine powder (and which both smelled heavenly), and whole poppy seeds.

I mixed everything together, keeping some in the bowl to make a moist mix. One can keep it dry at the bathroom sink and add water each time you use it.

But I wanted to have a moist version ready, so added some honey and sandalwood hydrosol to make a paste.

Here are my goodies for today... the moist Miracle Grains, the dry version and the Queen of Hungary's water. I just need to get some pretty containers and make some labels.

For Rosemary's recipes, click on the links above or go my Bath and Body Recipes page.

Nice smelling mess

I had fun making lots of hair and body potions today and still have my eye on a coupla more recipes, but it's after 4:00 and time to wind down. Mike is on his way home and I need to clean up the kitchen, which is currently a muddled mess. There are essential oils everywhere, along with various carrier oils, herbs, clays and vinegar, measuring tools and... well just a lot of stuff.

For the interested, here is what I made today:

• My natural hair detangler/leave-in spray with some changes to test out
• My favorite body and massage oil
• Whole wheat flour face cleansing masque
• All-in-one face clay masque with honey
• Calendula and chamomile infused jojoba oil for my hair
• 2 jojoba based "perfumes" made with essential oils
• Oily face blend face oil

And that's it for today. Tomorrow I'm going to make more of the "Perfect Cream" and maybe some bath stuff. And some more hair things... or whatever moves me. I've been using my toothpaste since making it a few weeks ago and have come to rather like it. I think my second version will even be better.

I must go clean the kitchen! It looks a wreck, but it smells mighty nice in there.

Life force of the plant

I've been reading Aromatherapy - A Holistic Guide by Ann Berwick, and in the chapter called The Life Force of the Plant, I found the following description so interesting.

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According to Drs. Francomme and Penoel
(from Phytoguide No.1: Advanced Therapy for Infectious Illnesses):

Plant essences, in the physiological meaning of the term, are most certainly true life essences, elaborated by the secretory cells of the plants which have tapped the photo-electro-magnetic energy of the sun and have converted it, with the intervention of enzymes, into biochemical energy under the form of highly diversified aromatic molecules.

...

Essential oils are highly concentated forms of plant energy. ... One drop of rose oil contains the energy from 30 roses, and one drop of essential oil is said to have the theraputic value of 25 cups of herbal infusion.

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I never thought of essential oils as having energy per se. I knew they had "powers", but have never thought of them as being alive in the way described above. I thought once the essence had been extracted from the plant, the life sort of left them, but its seems that they evolve into a new form of life - as though the power/spirit of the plant was pulled out of its body. I guess the essential oils are the "souls" of the plants.

There is too much to learn in too little time.