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!

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.

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!).

Anniversary Specials

Better late than never, right?  I have finally decided on my anniversary specials as follows:

My blog readers can use coupon code 4YEARS to get 15% off all orders now through April 30th.  This is good in my Etsy store only!

I will be giving away some Glory Be Herbals branded gear to 2 lucky readers.  Leave a comment below and tell me what products you love the most and what products you would like to see.  Two winners will be drawn April 28th.  The first winner will receive a tote bag and the second will receive a coffee mug.

I will have another lottery drawing for my customers who purchase between now and April 30th.  One winner will have the full price of an order refunded through paypal.  One winner will receive a set of 4 one dram vials of some beginning essential oils (french lavender, clary sage, rosemary, and double distilled peppermint) plus a 2 ounce spray bottle of the hydrosol of their choice.

Keep checking back as I will be posting info about distillations, especially since my plants are shooting up like crazy!  I should have tons of hydrosols available by the time the party is over!

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.

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!

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.

Hummer Watch and Other Projects......

Good Morning!  I am outside on the patio having my coffee and hoping to have a hummer sighting.  I always see one on Memorial Day, though last year my husband and I saw our first one in early May.  It hasn't been unbearably hot yet, but we are supposed to be in the 90's today and tomorrow.  I hung my feeders yesterday and added a couple drops of blue food coloring to the nectar so my hummers are going to be having purple nectar

I am going to be finishing my gardening work early this morning before it gets hot.  I have some helichrysum and St. John's Wort to plant.  All my St. John's plants perished for some reason.  Two of them may have been simply from old age but the other 2-I don't know.  The only St. J's that I have in the ground look like seedlings that were sown from last year's plants.  So I suspect I may have a shortage of oil this year.  I also bought a stevia plant.  Not sure where I'm going to put it.  We have run very late getting our mulch in so I am going to cut the comfrey and lemon balm plants to the ground to make it easier to put out mulch.

I am still working on some perfumes.  I want to build a musk accord tonight with ambrette seed extract, cistus absolute, patchouli, myrrh, angelica root and maybe some jasmine.  Since we are having plenty of sun I am also going to make some more flower essences today and tomorrow-but I need some brandy first!  I am going to do valerian, lavender, roses, and arnica.

I am also going to be working on some natural pest control.  I have a bad case of little red spider mites on the patio so I am going to make insecticidal soap with neem CO2 and castille soap and water.  I may also make a brew of Neem CO2, rubbing alcohol and water to spray directly on the little bastards so they'll die.  We also have ants invading our dining room.  This is a room where we only eat when we invite the whole family over for special occasions like Thanksgiving so there's no food in there.  I have no idea why they are there but I will fix it.  I am also going to come up with a chili pepper CO2 mix of some kind to put around the flower pots for the Hibiscus.  The squirrels are actually climbing the hibiscus and sitting in them while they eat the leaves.  Last year we had rabbits chewing off branches.  Apparently hibiscus leaves are a rodent delicacy.  I am also attempting to grow Calendula again this year and the squirrels always chew those to the ground-so we are going to have a chili pepper barrier..............

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!

Hyacinth-Flower Essences

I made my first flower essence of the year yesterday.  For those of you who are not familiar with them they are similar to homeopathic remedies.  The flowers are floated on Spring water and infused in the sun for a few hours and then preserved with Brandy.  A dose is a few drops in water and you can dose pretty much as often as you feel you need to.

Some people believe there is a transfer of vibrational energy from the flower to the water.  Since we are still talking about an actual infusion with plant material I believe there is a more scientific, physical explanation for the action.  Science just doesn't know how to see it.  I believe the action is related to cellular memories-maybe it's just a different wording for the same phenomena, I don't know.  I believe essential oils operate this way too, at least partially.  Anyhow, they work.  The reason I believe in them is that they work with animals so there is no placebo effect there could be with humans.  I know my dog trusts me implicitly with my plant medecines-because she knows she will feel better.  That's all I need to know!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71340429/hyacinth-flower-essence.  There is the new listing and I also have Borage available and I will be adding many more as plant material becomes available.

I am considering some other experiments like combining flower essences and essential oils in sprays and possibly some homeopathic doses of essential oils.  Watch for further posts as I may seek out volunteers for these.  If you think you might be interested in being a test subject for me go ahead and leave a comment and I will contact you.

Clearance Specials

 It's Spring-sort of- so it's time to start clearing out last season's inventory so I can make room for my fresh oils this summer.  I will be offering free domestic shipping on some of my infused herbal oils-Arnica, White Sage, St. John's Wort.  I am also going to attempt to grow my own calendula flowers again.  If I can keep the squirrels from eating them I will have a Calendula Supreme oil-infused with freshly harvested flowers.

October Giveaway

For October I will be giving away TWO one ounce tins of sage ointment.  This isn't regular garden sage but Ceremonial White Sage.  The smell is absolutely heavenly, and this herb has a long use as a natural incense for ritual, meditation and purificatrion cermonies.

Sages are cooling, deodorant, anti-inflammatory, purifying and anti-infectious.  Try this on wounds, on sweaty feet to reduce perspiration, rub a little on your chest to break up congestion or even to alleviate hot flashes.  One customer who bought this oil from me described it as a garden in a bottle.  I LOVE it!

Leave a comment for one entry.  I am also going to allow extra entries-leave 3 comments if you make a purchase from ANY of my stores-leave 3 comments and tell us what you bought.  Leave an extra entry if you follow me on twitter, youtube, or follow this blog.  This contest will end on October 31st at midnight (eastern time).  You can have lots of entries if you purchase from me more than one time.  I am going to be starting to stock for the Holidays so keep checking my stores for special offers!

Lobelia is My New Best Friend

Have you ever coughed so much that you actually sprained an ovary? That's how my night went last night. I have been sick since Thursday. I slept, used all kinds of herbs and essential oils, ate only chicken soup and toast. By Saturday I was SICK OF BEING SICK! I put some tea tree oil in the salts for nasal rinses, took some ravensara essential oil in honey, added some hyssop decumbens to my vapor rub and started taking some osha root extract. Sunday morning I felt much better and even managed to make it to the team meeting. I don't know what went wrong last night-maybe it was from eating a piece of cheese on my sandwich at the meeting. I went into horrible hacking spells-and for no apparent reason other than my body decided to torture itself. So I found my lobelia extract and took a few drops in water and finally the coughing stopped and I managed to sleep for 5 hours. Why didn't I think of it sooner.

Lobelia is a fabulous LOW DOSE medicinal. Seriously, you don't want to take too much-it's also known as pukeweed for a reason. In low doses, it helps to relieve pain, is an expectorant and antispasmodic. I highly recommend it for congestion (including for asthma) but you MUST follow the dosing on the label.

Why is it so easy to treat other people and so hard to treat yourself?

Giveaway from Wishing Penny

Here's a link to a really cool giveaway from Wishing Penny's blog. They are giving away some awesome sounding herbal ointments. I am entering-it ends on August 22nd.
http://wishingpenny.blogspot.com/2010/08/mjs-herbals-herbal-healing-salves.html

Birthday Giveaway

On August 1st I will be turning 35-Again! I should be in a bad mood since I know how old I REALLY am but I'm not. This is the bag that will be loaded with goodies for the July giveaway, to be given away on my birthday. It doesn't look like much now but by the time I'm done with it it will have deocorative stitching and be loaded up with stuff made by me! I will have at least $20 worth of stuff in it.

To make it more exciting, I will not be posting it to etsy giveaways and I want to include more chances to win. If you look to right you will see links to my stores, etc. Here's how you can get multiple entries........
1) Visit my stores and tell me what you would like to see in the bag if you win. Who knows-it may just show up in there.
2) Follow me on twitter and make a post here telling me you did.
3) Subscribe to my youtube channel-again leave a comment to tell me you did.
4) Make a purchase from any of my stores for 3 entries. Leave 3 comments.
5) Post this giveaway to your blog for an entry and post a link in your comments.

So you can have up to 7 entries! Also, I am nearing 150 sales in my etsy store so lucky customer 150 will also receive a free gift. Good Luck! The contest ends at midnight July 31st and the winner will be chosen and notified while I am having my birthday coffee (Dunkin Donuts).

Marshmallow

I have uploaded a new herbal video about Marshmallow. I love this plant, the leaves are soft and fuzzy and the whole plant contains a soothing mucilage. this mucilage coats and soothes wounds and inflammations both internally and externally. It loves soil that is NOT well drained, however, as you can see from the photos, it can adjust even to Kentucky clay if you keep a watchful eye on watering. My Marshmallow is planted in front of a 6 foot fence so you can see it's quite happy in my garden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbFM5q1iOR4

New video

I managed to get my St. John's Wort video uploaded. Check it out-this plant is amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKqpGVI80_8

Lemon Balm

I have a video up about Lemon Balm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRzC29mtC8g