Frankincense

I have been making hydrosols in the background while I work on orders so today I am going to make a codistilled Frankincense and Myrrh.  Both are great for aging skin, especially frankincense but I prefer the aroma of Myrrh so I am throwing some in there.  This would be a great spritz for prayer and meditation.  I will spritz myself down with this before I pray my rosary and I would love to see how a Bible study group would do with this sprayed in the room!

Has It Been 4 Years Already?

April 23rd will be my 4th anniversary on etsy so starting next weekend I will be having sales and giveaways to last a month.  I have already received some Glory Be Herbals branded merchandise to giveaway and I'll also giveaway some merchandise so keep checking back often between March 23-April 23!

Spring-YES!

It was 80 degrees here today/  The forecast for the rest of the week is rain and mid-70's.  I think Hummerwatch will begin this weekend because I am going to hang a feeder out.  All winter we've been having nice weather during the week and crappy weather on the weekends so haven't been able to take care of much outside.  Sunday was nice so I finally raked some leaves.  It was some aromatic experience as I raked through thyme, sage, lemon balm, peppermint, spearmint and oregano.

I saw my coneflowers and comfrey starting to peek up through the ground and now they are about 4 inches tall-in 3 days.  I have vacation the first week of April and i should have some serious mints to work with by then-and lemon balm if the weather holds up.  That's the main plant I had on my mind when I bought the still!

I may distill some thyme when it flowers.  Good news with my St. John's Wort that I had to replace last year.  it was so mild this winter that it stayed green and has spread so I should have plenty of flowers to infuse for oil.  I may distill that one too.

I ordered some dried sandalwood-the real deal from India so I am going to distill that and hopefully get a good distillate from it.  I am so happy to be able to any hydrosol that I want, though I fear running out of space in the fridge.  As soon as I get some orders caught up I may start making creams with them.  So far the cucumber is our favorite and my daughter emerges from her morning shower, wrapped up in towels saying "cucumber" like a zombie as she walks to the fridge to spritz her face.

Cucumber Hydrosol

I bought some organic cucumbers while I was out yesterday and distilled them tonight.  Wow does it smell yummy.  I can't wait to put this in a spritzer bottle and start using it on my skin.  Gretchen talked about wanting to distill Hyacinths-I bought some of thise yesterday and planted them.  I may give it a try.  If it turns out well I may add some alcohol to preserve it and use it as a room spray in the fall when all is dark and dreary.

Still Playing With the Still

I did a distillation of some dried roses last night and wasn't really happy with it so I made a strong infusion from 3 different dried roses.  This morning I'm distilling last night's distillate with the strong infusion and some rose hips and it is coming out beautiful.  I may also do some elderflowers today too.

I know Spring appears to be early-we are going to be in the 70's all week.  Yet I'm still impatient and can't wait to have fresh plants to work with.  Just in my garden I will have tons of Lemon Balm, Spearmint, Peppermint, Basil, Rosemary, catnip, calendula and hopefully Helichrysum.  Lest we forget the various Roses I'll have to play with.  My husband will probably move out if I have the house reeking of flowers all summer. I want a Rosa Rugosa Rose bush from Horizon Herbs, for the flowers and the hips-I love the EO so it should make some awesome rosewater.  I am also going to buy seeds and/or plants of German Chamomile, Roman Chamomile, Ceremonial White Sage and Tulsi Basil.  i have some Lavender but not enough to do much hydrosol so I may have to stick with dried herb there-but that one came out fantastic and produced more essential oil than I ever dreamed!

I am going to start listing some of these this week so if you are interested in hydrosols and aromatherapy you should consider making a purchase. 

I made my first hydrosol

Isn't it beautiful?  Even my husband is impressed.  I distilled a mixture of dry herbs, my bath herbs to be specific.  It smells heavenly and I can't believe how much essential oil was floating on top!  I would have skimmed it off except for the fact that it waas a blend of herbs but am perfectly happy to have stay in the hydrosol.  Gretchen ( ADKaromatherapy) and I are going to have fun comparing notes-I stumbled across this beautiful piece of equipment thanks to her blogpost.  Next will be Lavender.

My Head Hurts

I have so many ideas I wish i could quit my job to develop them!  My head is absolutely spinning with ideas for distillations when I get my still.  Right now I am thinking about an anti-inflammatory blend of German chamomile, calendula petals and rose petals.  I may actually do this and see if my friend Kelly would be a guinea pig for me.  She has rosacea so I'm sure she'll love it.  I also have a little redness and thread veins so I will use it.  I am also thinking about what a wonderful pillow spray I could make from my bath herbs blend-or a fabulous skin spray.

I also found some fabulous rosewater and orange flower water at an international market last weekend.  They are made with extracts but smell wonderful.  So this morning I made an eau de cologne blend with my favorite blend of bergamot, petitgrain, orange, lemon, orange blossom absolute and added some cassie absolute and oakmoss absolute to anchor the scent and add some light green notes.  Can't wait for this to meld together.  I pulled a little out and mixed 50/50 with the orange flower water in a little perfume bottle so I can check it often.  If only the weather in Kentucky could support bitter orange trees-I would SO get one in the yard!