Aloe vera & fresh rose petals make up this soothing aloe rose gel that’s useful for sunburn, bug bites, rashes, dry skin, and more! This week, I’ll be sharing a few project ideas using fresh roses and aloe. Today’s recipe is for a skin soothing gel, tomorrow we’ll use some of that gel in an…
Rose lotion bars are easy to make and are fantastic at healing damaged skin. They also make wonderful gifts! To use, rub a lotion bar over your skin wherever it feels dry. They’re especially helpful for spot treating rough feet, knees, and elbows. To make this recipe, you’ll first need to make rose infused oil….
Forsythia are those ornamental flowering bushes that you see blooming everywhere this time of year (at least around these parts.) What some don’t know though, is that forsythia is also considered an edible flower, which is the main qualification I look for when creating new soaps and such. I figure if it’s safe to eat, it’s usually…
These all natural, lavender dusting cloths are so simple to make and use. I love that I can hand them off to my kids at chore time and not worry about exposing them to potentially toxic chemicals. Lavender is well known for its soothing, calming properties. I like my home to feel like a safe,…
Many, though not all, of the plant-based herbal remedies that we use for humans can also be safely used to treat dogs and cats. The tricky part is getting them to take them! To encourage compliance, I make my pets an herbal tea of sorts, using broth instead of water. Before I detail how and…
This Ginger Lemon Honey Tonic is one of the easiest, tastiest cold and flu remedies around! Raw honey helps fight infection and soothes inflamed tissue; lemons are full of healthful vitamin C and antioxidants (plus, they taste great!); and fresh ginger root helps fight the sore throat, cough, lung congestion, chills and stomach-ache that often…
This tasty ginger honey syrup is made with just a few easy-to-find ingredients and is a snap to mix together! It’s superb for treating: It’s anti-viral so also great for taking as a preemptive measure if you’ve been exposed to a stomach flu or other particularly nasty bug. Some links on this site may be…
A ginger tincture is easy to make and is wonderful for treating: Because it’s concentrated, you only need a few drops at a time to be effective, making it much easier to dose to a person reluctant to swallow anything. I find that mixing a few drops into a glass of ginger ale, or a…
Lemon balm grows like crazy around my house (which is a good thing!), so, of course, I had to turn some of it into a soap! For further inspiration on ways to use this prolific plant, be sure to check out my article on 12+ Things to Do With Lemon Balm. This is a Cold…
This mint soap recipe is another personal favorite! The French green clay helps soothe skin irritations, while the peppermint essential oil energizes and refreshes the senses. I use fresh mint from my garden to make this, but you can also use dried. Any type of mint that you have on hand will work in this…
Honey & Dandelion Soap is probably the most popular soap I’ve ever made. It sells out as quickly as I can make it and happens to be a personal favorite, as well. It’s loaded with fresh dandelions from our fields, raw honey from our bee hives and organic tamanu oil – making it especially useful…
Today’s recipe is for Pumpkin Soap! For this batch, I added a vanilla spice swirl to give the bar just a hint of warm, fresh-baked scent. Because I have several sensitive family members, I usually leave bars unscented or very lightly scented with natural ingredients only. If you want your soap to have a more…
This small batch vegan lip balm is easy to make and perfect for smoothing over dry chapped lips. Sunflower wax (Helianthus Annuus seed wax) is a natural vegan wax sourced from sunflower seeds. It can be used to replace beeswax in lip balms and salves, only you don’t need as much sunflower wax as beeswax,…
I’ve been experimenting with pure aloe vera to create a homemade aloe mint lotion recipe perfect for the warm spring and summer days and finally found one that I absolutely love! I based it off of Rosemary Gladstar’s “Famous Face Cream” recipe found in her book, Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide, and then tweaked it…
Last week, I shared 12 ways to use up an abundance of Lemon Balm. Today, I’m going to highlight its equally prolific cousin: Mint. Though it attracts beneficial insects and has many practical uses for home and health, mint can quickly become unruly in the garden. Be sure to plant it in an out of…
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is an easy to grow herb that not only attracts bees and pollinators to the garden, but is also a great anti-viral with relaxing properties that are helpful for soothing frayed nerves and calming hyper children. Traditionally, it’s been used to gently treat colic and upset stomach in everyone from infants…
I so enjoy this time of year with all of its fresh fruits and vegetables! While we don’t eat a lot of corn in our house (my son was allergic for so many years that we mostly grew out of the habit), we never ever EVER turn down free food – especially when the grandparents…
This is a mild, unscented calendula soap bar that’s gentle enough to use on virtually all skin types. It’s made with calendula infused oil and calendula tea. This is a Cold Process Soap recipe. All measurements are by weight. You must have an accurate digital scale to make soap. Calendula Soap Recipe 21 oz (595 g)…
Today, we’re going to turn roses into lip balm! To make this, first you’ll need some rose petals. You can either go outside and gather these off of the roses growing around your home, or you can order dried, organic petals online from a place such as Mountain Rose Herbs. If using fresh roses, spread…
This delicious way to use dandelions was sent to me by a reader in Denmark! She was kind enough to translate and share a few traditional Scandinavian foraging recipes with me, including this one for Dandelion Syrup that she makes each summer. Thank you Tina! Below, you’ll find the recipe as translated. The only thing…
