Roses and Specials

My anniversary specials are still going on.  I'm starting to feel unloved :(  I have gotten lots of orders but no one has used a coupon code yet.  That's more money for me but I do like to give deals too!  And there are several chances to win some free stuff so go check it out here.


I have just started a distillation of roses.  I gathered up all the roses I could find in my garden and crammed the still with petals.  I won't be selling this-not expecting it to be particularly fragrant.  And when my aromatherapy roses bloom this summer i will have a limited quantity of that so I will be hoarding rosewater unless my rosa rugosa bushes produce lots of roses the first year.  I need to go outside and work on my garden but it looks like rain and the forecast says scattered storms. 

Tomorrow I will be pulling up thyme and making a distillation from that.  I think that would make a pretty good household cleaner.  maybe a small spritzer bottle of the hydrosol in my purse to disinfect toilet seats at least.

Hydrosols and PH

I purchased a good PH meter to test my hydrosols to make sure they are good quality.  I am slowly testing all of my finished ones and testing new ones as they are produced.  I made a distilled version of the famous Queen of Hungary Water today and when all was said and done the PH was 4.7.   Everything I have tested so far falls within the proper range so, I guess, I'm doing this right.  I have loved them on my skin so I would have been devastated if the PH was wrong.  Here are my findings so far:

Calendula-6.0
Sandalwood-5.8
Queen's Water-4.7
Witch Hazel-4.2
Cucumber-4.7
Lemon Balm-4.8

I'll keep adding to the list as I test but so far, so good.  I now feel more comfortable listing these for sale-most will go on Hyena Cart and Artfire where I can offer a variety of sizes.

I will attempt to harvest Lemon Balm tomorrow and do it, I have an organic ginger root in the fridge waiting to become fabulous water, and I have roses on the verge of blooming (no this in NOT and April Fool's Day joke!).

December Sales Incentive

Rather than having a normal sale I have decided to do a lottery of sorts for the month of December.  On the 31st I will draw names from everyone who has placed an order between Nov 30th through Dec 30th.  The lucky winner will have the cost of their order refunded back to them via paypal.

Also, I am nearing 500 sales so I will have an extra special gift for my 500th customer!

And here's a special coupon code for my blog readers.  GBHBLOG for 20% off your orders until December 23rd.  This coupon will be good in all of my stores.

HerbalCandy

I made my first batch of herbal candy yesterday-elderberry.  I really can't believe I never thought of this before.  I think I thought it would be more complicated than it really is, but I am going to keep doing this.  I made the elderberry with my Dad in mind.  I usually keep him stocked up with elderberry extract because he loves it.  It is pretty tasty and it protects you againt flu viruses, but it also helps heart health and strengthens blood vessels-like all berries.  I used a 2 cup sugar recipe so it was just sticky enough that I dusted the candies with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking together.  We have all sampled it (and some of my daughters friends) and everyone loves them.

Now I have an infusion of Swedish Bitters herbs on the stove and I am trying a recipe with less sugar and corn syrup.

What a great way to take medicine-even kids will take medicine like this, or even picky husbands.  I will also make some with Hawthorne berries and some with German Chamomile.  Just for fun I may also do Lipton Tea and Dunkin Donuts coffee. 

For now I have tons of orders to do and I have to get items together for the big November giveaway from Teambluegrass!

Any other herbal candies you might be interested in?  Just leave me a comment below.

Comfrey Special

I just finished a special batch of comfrey salve for a friend and I had extra so I will give a free 1/2 tin to my next 6 customers.  This is olive oil infused with fresh comfrey leaf, dried lavender buds and loaded with Bulgarian Lavender oil.  I use comfrey all the time for my eczema outbreaks, rashes and for wound healing.  I have also used it in the past for tendonitis.  The docotrs told me I would have it for life but since I starting using comfrey on it, I can't remember the last time I had a problem with it.  And my tendonitis was in my wrist and I work with my hands all day.

Comfrey contains allantoin-a known cell regenerator.  It speeds healing and strengthens tissues.  Comfrey has even been used to speed the healing of broken bones.  I also have a client who buys tons of it from me for her psoriasis because it's the only thing that has ever helped her.  She is also buying it for her daughter who is starting to develop patches of it.

Comfrey also heals bruises and sore muscles and reduces swelling.

New Giveaway

I haven't had a giveaway for a while so I decided it's time.  I want to give away a big prize to one lucky winner on August 1st so you can celebrate my birthday with me!  I am giving away a free consultation (value of $50) that may include herbal, aromatherapy or flower remedy treatment for what ever you need.  I'm really excited about this and I want all my readers to be excited so I am making this available worldwide and I'm going to give you tons of chances to enter.

Leave a comment and tell me what you want out of the consultation (1 entry).

Follow my blog (1 entry)-I have lots of other opportunities coming in the near future so you may want to keep up!

Follow me on twitter (1 entry)-the link is to the right of the page...........

Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment telling me you did.

Post this giveaway to your Facebook page and leave a comment telling me you did.

Make a purchase from any of my stores and leave 3 comments with the transaction ID.

That's up to 8 entries!  I'll choose the winner whenever I roll out of bed on my Birthday (August 1st) and my family is done showering me with love and gifts (yeah, right).  Good Luck and I look forward to working with the winner.

Did I mention that you'll receive free stuff as part of the consult?  Yup!

Comfrey Flower Essence

Today I have added Comfrey Flower Essence in my stores. This is one of my favorite plants and it was created using the fertile European comfrey and not the sterile Russian comfrey. It is one of the most healing plants I have ever used and the flower essence will be wonderful too. If you use homeopathic symphytum you may consider using this as a less expensive alternative!