It's been so long..............

I have been waiting to have fresh St. John's Wort flowers again for 2 years.  Two years ago all my plants died so I replanted.  Last year the plants got really big but hardly any flowers so I think I got 4 ounces of oil from them.  Hardly enough to keep an herbal business running for a year.  This year they are in early and back with a passion!  I had already started an 8 ounce jar last week but here is what I pulled today:

And we have only just begun!  I filled a QUART jar and topped it off with the small jar I already started.

This should be ready after 2 weeks in the Kentucky sun.  If I get another quart (which I think I easily will) I will be set up well for the year!  And I saw this while I was gathering my flowers:

A ladybug napping on my clary sage, surrounded by yarrow flowers.  I will be distilling clary sage this weekend.  Probably right before I go to bed. 

And I need to gather elder flowers this week and run the lemon balm.  I am going to be busy!

I'm freezing but My House Smells good

This has been a kinda weird weekend.  I was supposed to meet up with EtsyLex friends for lunch but got some horrendous tummy troubles at 9 AM so I spent most of the day in bed and in the bathroom.

This morning I got up early, feeling much better (thank goodness) to take my daughter's best friend to a class at Locust Trace.  That place is very interesting-the only negative plus in the country for energy use.  They not only are self-sustaining on energy they actually SELL energy to the electric company.  Anyway, she took a class to get certified as an animal rescuer.  It's near our largest park in town so I took a look around there to see if they had any of the elusive white cedar trees and, sure enough, they did.  So when I went to pick her up this afternoon I went back out there armed with clippers and a shopping bag and loaded up.  Now I don't have to use the stuff I got from Gretchen so sparingly.

I also trimmed our overloaded double knock-out rose bush.  I do love that plant but the canes are not strong enough to support the weight of all the leaves and flowers it produces.  Needless to say, I am on my second rose distillation.  I still can't believe the mild, sweet smell from knock out roses.  I need cold cream soon so it will be made with some homemade rosewater.

This still was SO TOTALLY worth the money!  It so satisfying to be able to make my own hydrosols.  It helps me get better use out of my garden and has inspired me to explore native plants more than ever.  Not to mention the money I save!

Ginger Root

I ran a distillation of fresh organic ginger root this morning.  This is yummy!!!!!  The fragrance is straight up ginger and there were little beads of essential oil floating on top.  The flavor has all the zing of ginger root and is warming and leaves a mild sweetness on the lips.  This would have been wonderful to have on the cooler days to stimulate circulation and warm my blood.  I may give some of this to my Dad to rub on his sore joints-he loves the essential oil so he should love this!  So far the PH is 5.8 but I'll keep checking it so i can get a final reading after it "settles".

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.

Cyber Monday Sale

I have extended my sale through today-use Coupon code TURKEY to get 20% off 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.

Specials, New Stuff, Perfume Updates

I have lots of new stuff going on.  I ordered pretty new business cards and a few magnets and they arrived this week so my best customers will receive a magnet with their next orders to put on their fridge.  i have a limited quantity of these for now but I may order more soon just because they're really cool!

I will also be sending out coupon codes for some of my customers.  My top shoppers will be able to get 10% off all their orders for the rest of the year.  Second tier shoppers can get 5% and I may promote some of you who shop with me a lot for the Holidays! These discount codes will also be valid on custom orders.   I will also be offering special gift bags that you can customize.  I have 2 sizes of nice vinyl travel bags so you can customize a gift package for loved ones (or yourself).  I will have a listing for the gift bag and you can set up a custom order with me to fill it!  Or you can just buy the bag and fill it yourself but what's the fun in that?

I am working on aromatherapy oils in 15ml dropper bottles.  These are strong dilutions (10%) of essential oils in fractionated coconut oil.  The base oil has an indefinite shelf life and since you won't use much and you will not have to put your fingers in it, they will last for a very long time!  I will be replacing my Sleep Easy roll on with this type of oil.  I have also been using one myself for hormonal balance with pretty impressive results!  I also have a formula for emotional release with some pretty amazing oils from Australia.

I did my perfume blends.  One is an amber blend with Rose Absolute, which smells nice but not quite balanced so it needs more work, I think.  The other is the Chypre type with cistus, oakmoss, citrus oils, petitgrain, lemon petitgrain and Jasmine.  I am really pleased with this one and I am very partial to this perfume type anyway. 

A customer placed an order with me for a surprise package last night and we did some emailing back and forth so she is going to be an official tester for these!  The listing does say that you can preview new products and I tend to be overly generous....

I have also done a cologne version of my JOY aromatherapy perfume which I will probably just put in my consigned stores.  It is still my greatest masterpiece!