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 At trace: add up…
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…
Here’s how to make a tasty sweet and sour herbal remedy (oxymel) using rose petals, apple cider vinegar, and honey. Roses are not only edible, but are traditionally used for the following health benefits as well. They’re: In the past, I’ve written about how you can make Rose Glycerite and Whiskey Rose Cough Remedy, but…
I recently went to a foraging class and learned a lot of new things! Near the end of the class, we were served dandelion cupcakes with little violets on top. They were so cute, I duplicated them at home. It’s not really a recipe per se, but just general directions. Pick a handful or two…
I started off this past weekend trying to tame an antique climbing rose that had been long neglected and was overtaking my porch. Not that I mind roses overtaking my porch usually, but this one has lethally large thorns and was making it where we couldn’t use our porch swing. I’ve never tried to catch…
I’ve decided that I’ve reached my tolerance level for the winter grunge that has accumulated in my house and hereby designate this coming week as Spring Cleaning Time! I plan to declutter and/or scrub everything in my path with a vengeance. Of course, shortly after I made that plan, I heard that we’re possibly going…
I know I say it about all of my soap recipes – but this hollyhock soap truly is another favorite of mine! Hollyhocks have soothing properties similar to their herbal cousin, marshmallow, and the drawing power of the rose clay makes this soap another one helpful for itchy or inflamed skin. Looking for more ways…
This carrot and honey soap is one of my most popular bars! Most people like to use it as a gentle facial cleanser, but it can be used as a body bar as well. I loaded it up with anti-aging and moisturizing ingredients, so it’s especially suitable for dry, mature skin. Though, having said that,…
Cucumber soaps are one of my all-time favorites! The soothing properties of the cucumber and the drawing power of the French green clay makes this soap recipe especially helpful for acne, bug bites, and other itchy, inflamed skin conditions. Never made soap before? Read through my Soap Making 101 post to find out how to get started….
This skin soothing oatmeal & honey soap bar is filled with gluten free oats & fresh honey. It’s perfect for those with itchy irritated skin! Not long after my children went gluten free for celiac disease, they came down with chicken pox. It sounds silly, but I couldn’t stop dwelling on the sad fact that…
Quite possibly my favorite part of the year is that time around May when all of my roses start blooming at once. When that happens, I gather together large amounts of rose petals and make all sorts of things from them, such as salve, lotion bars, rose vinegar, and this homemade rose petal soap. Related…
This is a follow-up to the post, Soap Making 101. Today, I’d like to show you how I took one simple, plain recipe and doctored it up to create a variety of custom soaps. The point I’d like for you to take away from this, is not that you have to follow my recipes exactly (though…
My foray into homemade herbal shampoo began last summer. Up until that time, I just used whatever cheap shampoo I could get my hands on. Times were tight and my beloved salon shampoos were most certainly not in the budget. However, I was pretty uncomfortable with the thought of us being exposed to all of…
