To Everything There is a Season

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. "

~Ecclesiastes 3:1&2~



 This past weekend and the beginning of this week I was able to finally get outside and get some work done. I got the rest of my herb garden tilled up, weeded and my garlic planted. I have widened my garden considerably and since the weather has been so warm, my herbs from last year are coming back with a vegence...here are just a few pics:

All of my plants from last year (all of these were on the edges of my old garden
so you can tell how much we've widened it just by looking at these plants.

This is my applemint and if you look at the picture above it you
can tell that is it sending out several more runners, so this plant
will be pretty big by summer (you can also see that it has sent
runners under the lavender, if you look closely).

My oregeno, it has actually grown a LOT since it started warming up
I hope it continues, I love grabbing a handful to chop up and put on
a homemade (or store bought) pizza.

Lambs Ear, I love this plant it is one of my favs. All I have to do
if I hurt myself is grab one of these leaves and wrap it around
whatever I have hurt and whalla, a natural band aid.

Wild Lavender...this is by far better than any hybrid lavender
I have found, the smell is so intense.
...see the little applemint creeping under it.

Although you can't see much green this is my Lemon Balm...
I love the smell and it will probably get a lot bigger once the sun
starts staying out longer ;)

Lemon Thyme, I love the smell of this plant...I could rub it all day.

Echinacea Leaves...hopefully they will bloom this year!!!
Being very hopeful!!!

My veregated oregeno...I may move this to my smaller garden
since it is so small and it really is in an inconvient spot.

Bee Balm, I thought it was dead...but apparently not.
It definately isn't as big as I would like, but I am just
glad it's alive!

Another view of my garden...the wet spot is where I just planted
my garlic...hopefully I will have some sprouts to show you soon!

Juniper, I haven't planted it yet but I am hoping to get it in the
ground by tonight...we'll see what happens with that!
It will be my edging on one side ;)

Plantain...need I say more?

Yarrow...isn't it just purty ;)

My lil garden...the garden that got me interested in herbs.

Another oregeno plant that I planted from seed 2 or 3 years ago.

I thought that this wasn't going to do anything and that it would
certainly die through the rough winter since it was puny in the
first place...just goes to show you that weathering the storm makes
 you stronger....the leaves are three times as wide as they were last year.
I am really proud of my Chives!!!

I also decided to go ahead and try to mark off and plan what I wanted my garden to look like, instead of waiting 'til last minute and just throwing everything in there wherever it would go. So I drew out a plan and marked off a few things for those plans...now I am just waiting on April 9th when I go herb shopping with my Best Friend...I have bought a few seed packs and I took a few pics so here are those:

Ok, so there was more than just a few :P

The Garlic I planted today ;)



Plans for the 'lil herb garden



Plans for the big herb garden!

I hope you enjoyed all the pics, cause I certainly enjoy looking out my back door to see all of these medicinal herbs growing there. May God Bless!!!

Masks, Discovery, Books, and Other Things...

Healing Mask

Ok, so yea, that looks a little gross...But, it works. Of course we looked like little green monsters:

you could feel it sucking out the bad stuff ;) it actually felt very invigorating!!! You can find this particaular mask here.

I got another herb book in yesterday that I ordered off of Amazon, if it looks familiar that's because it is a sister book to one I ordered before:


Herbal Remedy Gardens By Dorie Byers.
Sister book to Herbal Tea Gardens.


I was so excited today because I found out what a certain "weed" in our yard is. At first when I saw it coming up, I thought is was my pinapple mint coming back with a vengence, but upon closer inspection (rubbing, smelling and looking a bit closer at the leaves) I cam to the conclusion that it was not, but that it probably was a mint of some sort. So, I picked one of the flowering heads and brought it in and searched through pictures of mint, until I found it, here is what it looks like:

This is called "Henbit" or "Purple Nettle or sometimes combined as "Henbit Nettle", or if you are looking for it's latin name: Lamium amplexicaule L.
 It is supposedly good on salads or if you want something to chew while out in the wild it's good for that;) If you feel like cooking throw a few in with your greens.
I of course had to find out if there was any medicinal value to it, so to the search engine again. Does it? Oh yeah, it is antirheumatic, excitant, fever-reducing, laxative, stimulant, and has agents that induce sweating. So will I let anyone mow or dig this weed *Clears throat* excuse me, Herb up...NO WAY!!!


I have also been mothering several aloe plants and rooting my spicy globe basil from last year, here are two that are out enjoying the sun:



Lookin good, huh?

I had to take a few picks of my up and coming plantain, as you know it is one of my favorite plants and I personally use it for a cure-all ;) So here are the plants that are coming up right now (hopefully they will get really big this Summer):

this is a nice little patch that got into my garden, most people would weed it,
Not me, I was so happy to see it had made it's home in a welcome place.



You can actually see a bit of henbit in there

Well I have plenty of house work that needs to be done, so I must say good bye. Lord willin I'll see ya'll again sometime soon!!!!

Herbs in the Medicine Cabinet, Herbs on the Floor

Well once again I am back on my beloved subject ;) HERBS!!!

Well I cleaned out our medicine cabinet and here is what's left:

Yep, all  herbs, vitamin, and homeopathic medicine...it was so nice to get my herbs out of the pantry, now we actually have room to put the macaroni up there ;)  it is so very nice!!! I had a lot of fun doing it and then I made a paper to put up in the medicine cabinet so everyone would know what to do (in the event that I am not at home to tell them).

I also found a few herbs at Ingles the other day, I don't usually do my "herb" shopping this early or while I am in the grocery store, but I happened to be passing the gourmet section of Ingles and saw the plants and I just couldn't keep away, so I went over and found these three darlings:

front to back: Mountain Mint, Thyme, Rosemary

Mountain Mint (My Favorite!!!)

I am so excited about these three new baby's, I don't know about my family though...lol...I already have about six baby aloe plants on the floor waiting to be sold at the Farmer's Market in the spring. I wonder sometimes if they are going to make it to the spring time, they get tripped over, knocked over, etc. I know that they are probably somewhat in the way, but I don't have a green house or a place to just set them in the window. Well I guess they (my family) will be happy in the spring when I get all my plants out of the house!!! But I am just so glad to have those plants.
 I was even more excited when I found the Mountain Mint, it is very useful medicinally and I am already in love with it!!! Here are a few things that it is good for:
- laundry freshner (put in a muslin bag and throw in the dryer with wet clothes)
- safe bug repellent
- kills pain of a tooth ache
- fevers
- coughs and colds
- sooths irritated skin (as a bath additive)
- carpet freshner
- and much much more

I couldn't believe how much it could be used for, I LOVE IT SOOO MUCH!!!! I hope that you have enjoyed this as much as I have. Hope to see you again soon!

How to Have Naturally Beautiful Hair

Many people wash their hair everyday, and others once or twice a week. I am a once or twice a week girl, but then again I don't have really oily hair like my family does. My skin is dry skin, but I am alone in my family in this area considering that they all have oily skin. What do skin and hair have to do with each other? Well the type of skin you have is going to have a lot to do with how often you have to wash your hair, of course you have to add in other factors such as work, gardening, etc. But most of us (especially us women) take showers when our hair begins to get oily, and that is a good start to being natural.
God gives us a natural conditioner for our hair, our own oils. I know that most people think that oily hair is not a bit fun and most of us try to keep our hair from getting oily, by taking several showers during the week. Sometimes for those who have extra-oily hair and skin this is okay, but for those of us who have dry skin, this can be pretty detrimental to your hair and scalp.
Using your own oils is essential to trying to keep your hair routine as natural as possible. What I would like to do is show you how to do this with your own oils and other herbal hair products.

Using Your Own Oils
What you want to start out with is just let your hair go as much as possible, now I know that if you have worked and sweated all day you are going to want to take a shower. But, if all you have is bad BO then I suggest that you just put a shower cap on and just wash your body.

What Shampoo Should I Use?
When you start out with your shampoo I would suggest buying one that does not have a lot of sulfates in it or that has none at all, I suggest for oily hair using Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Oil Soap and for less oily hair Dr. Bronner's Mild Baby Liquid* if you are going to use a sulfate soap, I would use Root Awakening by John Freida. This is still sulfate based but has several herbs that are good for the hair in it.

Shampooing Without Stripping Your Hair
Start out with a small amount of shampoo or soap (about the size of a nickel in the palm of your hand). What you want to do is rub your hands together to soaponify the soap, then start at the hair line (where most of your oil will have formed) and with the fingerpad (never use the finger tip or nail), gently rub into the scalp moving toward the crown and around the edges of the hair line even under the hair, but always moving towards the crown, never downward. Rinse immediately (do not let your shampoo stand in your hair for more than a minute, it strips your natural oils).

Rinsing With Herbs
Rinsing with herbal rinses are to take out the soap that the water didn't get out and it leaves your hair with a lustrous shine. By using the right herbs and infusing them in water with either apple cider vinegar or lemon juice you can achieve a good hair shine and returning oily and dry hair and scalp to normal. Sometimes when using rinses there is no need to even us a commercial conditioner.

What Herbs are Right For My Hair Color and Type
Dry hair or scalp: acacia, chamomile, clover, comfrey root, elder, oat straw.

Oily hair and/or scalp: bergamot, cassia/cinnamon chip, lemongrass, lemon peel, nettle, peppermint, rosebuds, white willow bark, witch hazel bark.

Dandruff: aloe, bergamot, birch bark, burdock, cassia/cinnamon chip, cloves, juniper leaves, lemongrass, nettle leaf and root, orange peel, peppermint, rosemary, willow.

Brunettes- rosemary, thyme, apple cider vinegar
Blondes & Red Heads- chammomile, lemon, orange


To Condition or Not to Condition?
After you have used an herbal rinse for the first time you will probably feel the need to condition it, especially if you have never used an herbal rinse. But after time your hair will start to condition itself and it will be better if you used no conditioner at all or at least limited it to once every third or fourth time you shower.

Using Commercial Conditioner (if needs be)
When you do condition with commercial conditioner place the largest amount of conditioner at the ends of your hair (since this is the area that gets all the damage, and the least moisture from your natural oils) and work your way up to the nap of neck, never go farther up than that**. Always think of your conditioner as a topical lotion that is going onto skin just to protect it, which means that you don't rub it in. Place the conditioner on your hair, not in it. Let it sit for up to three minutes (more if your hair is extremely dry, but the max is five minutes), this allows the conditioner time to soak through and hydrate your hair. I usually use this time to wash my body and shave, of course this only takes me about three to five minutes (if that much) so it works out really well.

Going All Natural
If are going to all herbal I would suggest, especially if you have dry hair to use pre-conditioner that will add extra oil to your natural oils, olive oil and coconut oil are the best. After you have pre-conditioned you can just use the herbal rinse as your shampoo, the herbs have a cleansing effect on your hair, so you really have no need to use soap. But, if you would like to use soap just for the sake of the soaponification feel you get from soap I would again suggest using something like Dr. Bronner's or any other herbal non-sulfate soap.


What do you think of going All-Natural in hair care?
Please leave me some feed back about through comment or the contact us page on my website


* disclaimer - Dr. Bronner's soaps are very good, but he expresses his beliefs on his bottles and they do not concur with mine.

**if you feel that your hair will be really really dry on the top part of your head, when you are through putting on the conditioner, just rub the flat of your hand on the top and sides of your head, the leftover conditioner should be enough to hydrate your sufficiently.

The Creation of Lip Balm

If you were wondering what in the world I was going to do with this:

beeswax

Well here is your answer:

melted oils, shea butter & beeswax

carefully pouring it into the tube

it's very tedious work

and of course I either over-filled or under-filled, never just right

perfect

setting out to dry

95 drying balms

all finished and capped, now to clean the outside,
 just about as tedious as filling the tubes

all cleaned and ready to sell
Check them out over at my website

And that my dear friends is how you make what I call The Trinity Balm, it's great for lip balm, acne (as a spot treatment) and skin abrasions. Hope you liked it. I had a lot of fun doing it and I couldn't believe how many that small bowl made...God is so GOOD to me.

 These make great gifts, I gave them as Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers!!!! What do you think of them?