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Summer Goodness Skin Balm
Announcing a new skin balm, made with all the goodness of Summer! I’m calling it “Flower & Root”. Roses and Carrots, plus Calendula, Elderflower, and Marshmallow in a blend of Watermelon seed oil, Virgin Coconut oil, and Mango butter. Scented with Geranium, Frankincense, Lime, Lavender, and Amyris essential oils. Been working on this blend for awhile, and it came out really nice. I’m excited! Deeply moisturizes dry skin. Gentle, creamy, and soothing. Also useful for everyday nicks and scrapes. { On sale now in our online store }
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The Solstice Tide
Summer Solstice is on June 20th this year, but you can already feel it in the air! The sky is still light at 9:00 at night and the garden is overflowing with roses. Heirloom roses are better than gold to me– they smell incredible (seriously, better than any rose scent you’ve ever smelled) and are really useful in herbal medicine. (yes, yes, you can eat them too) Today I’m using rose petals to make a richly moisturizing skin salve for my dry, cracked, achy gardening hands. Combined with red clover, violet, marshmallow, and meadowsweet, this salve will be exactly what my summertime skin needs. Happy Solstice! And remember, it’s always a good idea to salve up…
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Digging in, Sprouting up
The bulk of our planting is done and everyone is digging in and sprouting up. It looks like a garden out there again! I’ve started harvesting heirloom roses, but don’t have a plan for them yet. Maybe a glycerite? A perfume? Definitely some infused oil! Rose petals help smooth and soften dry, wrinkled skin, so I like to use the infused oil in face and eye creams. It also makes a great addition to an all-purpose healing salve for its antiseptic and irritation-soothing properties. I once made an incredible batch of incense with roses– I think it had myrrh and orange peel in it too. Wonder if I’d ever be able to find…
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Elderflower has arrived
Debuting my new Elderflower Skin Creme and Elderflower Toner at the Florence Farmers Market today. Made with elderflower, rose, and chamomile, herbal legend says it will even skin tone and smooth wrinkles. I’m diggin’ it 🙂
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November Special: Save 15% on Eye Creme
This creme is a customer favorite. Light-textured, smooth and creamy, it moisturizes and protects the delicate skin around your eyes. Handmade with organic rose petals, my garden violets, and fresh cucumber, as well as organic rosehip seed oil, mango butter, aloe vera and organic rose hydrosol. With a gentle rose aroma. Also available unscented (no essential oils). Now in a new (and can I say, more stylish) jar. I’m so excited my glass distributor has started carrying these little beauties! Packaged in a 1 oz. glass jar with recyclable silver aluminum cap, Regular Price= $13.50, On Sale= $11.48 Compliments given to me when I had an in-store demo recently:…
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Too Many Roses (a good problem to have)
Who cares about Roses? With a reputation for being fussy and needy in the garden, I sure didn’t. The tough, hardy ones that take care of themselves (you know, the weeds) are more my style. But you almost can’t pick up an herbal medicine book and certainly won’t find an herbal cosmetic book that doesn’t include Rose, so a few years back I made a token planting of 1 sprout each of 3 old-fashioned varieties: Apothecary’s Rose (Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’), Rosa Mundi (Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’), and Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa ‘Alba’). These sweet shrubs turned out to be anything but fussy! Almost a little too robust, the Gallicas throw seed and are having a go at becoming…
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D.I.Y. Herbal Spa Meetup
“The way to health is to have an aromatic bath and scented massage every day.” -Hippocrates BIG THANKS to Jennifer Goodheart at Acadia Herbals, Brittany Wood Nickerson of Thyme Herbal, and everyone at the “D.I.Y. Herbal Spa Meetup” on Sunday! SO much fun to relax and swap tips and recipes with other bathtub goddesses while sipping Jennifer’s delightful Jasmine-Lemongrass tea 🙂 (Join our herbal group at Meetup.com if you’d like to catch the next meetup!) Brittany advocates using salt scrubs to keep skin exfoliated and moisturized for its optimal health, and explained how this also supports our lymph and nerves. She demonstrated an easy-to-make recipe that I know will leave you feeling just sparkling: 1 cup…
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Bathtub Therapy
Stressful day? Try some “Bathtub Therapy” (or, when the going gets tough, the tough get into the tub)! Baths can be so soothing, both for body and mind. When I’m feeling fritzed, there’s nothing better than sinking into a big tub with a cup of tea and good book. I like to soak in herbal teas as well as drink them! San Franciscan herbalist and aromatherapist Jeanne Rose calls herbal baths “the organic antidote to impure air and harsh water conditions”. She recommends taking a herbal bath 2-3 times a week to smooth and hydrate the skin, and keep it healthy and young looking. I tend to have lots of…
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Catch Me, I’m Swooning!
Never one to swoon over roses before, I’ve suddenly become a devotee. It could be my age, I will admit. Roses are said to have a special pull for (ahem) “mature” women, and I’m now 43. But I lean towards the idea that it’s more to do with familiarity. Getting to know the antique Roses I brought into the garden a few years back has been such a joy! Roses have been used throughout history not only for perfumes and cosmetics, but also for food and medicine. Though indispensable in my bodycare, somehow I haven’t gotten around to actually incorporating them into my diet, with the exception of vitamin…
