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!

Summer Specials

I already have a lot of specials going on in my Etsy store to celebrate the abundance of some of my plants, and I will be posting them to Hyenacart and Indiemade soon.  I have great deals on all of my comfrey products including the hydrosol.  And all of the comfrey oil based products are double infused with fresh comfrey so they are really strong!  If you have been reading my blog and FaceBook page you know I'm also distilling peppermint like crazy.  Soon I'll have a big run on Lemon Balm hydrosol and I'll have special Summer pricing on that.

I will be doing some special distillations too as my flowers bloom, including some co-distillations.  I have buds on my helichrysum and lavender plants and I have had one bloom on my rugosa Roses.  These are supposed to put out tons of fragrant blooms so I will be able to distill my own good quality rosewater!  There will not be any special pricing on the rosewater though since my quantities will be limited and I will reserve some for personal use throughout the year and for use in my perfumery projects.

I have seen NO signs of any elder flowers as of yet but I think everything is happening later than usual this year so I hope to have more elderflower water done by mid-June.  I have very little of last years left so if you want to order some, go ahead.  It still has at least a year before it goes bad (if stored properly).  I am also thinking about a big distillation of catnip.  By big, I mean a quart.  I think it would make an awesome base for an insect repellant spray, and of course a treat for your kitty.  This may also be a good training tool if you have a cat clawing your furniture.  Buy your kitty a scratching post and spritz it with catnip hydrosol.

I am also thinking about making a version of Jeanne Rose's Bruise Juice, which is an all purpose medicated oil.  Helichrysum flowers will be amazing in there!  I have tons of blooms on these plants so I will be making some more oil with them (infused in fractionated coconut oil) and will probably have enough to put up for sale.  It makes a wonderful replacement for the very expensive essential oil and can be used as is, or in ointments.  Helichrysum and Lavender are 2 of the greatest and gentlest healing plants and Heli is my absolute favorite for healing bruises.

I dipped into the Florida Water a bit and it smells incredible already!  I may get another batch going this weekend along with some Orange Blossom cologne and Eau de Cologne.  I LOVE PERFUME!  Especially when they are natural and therapeutic.  I am going to offer these for sale-domestic ground shipping only.

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!

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. 

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.

More Floral Waxes

I also ordered some other floral waxes from another supplier and they arrived yesterday-Mimosa and Damask Rose.  They smell absolutely yummy and will make wonderful bases for somesolid perfumes.

Monday my Rose centifolia, Tuberose and Jasmine wil be here.  Along with some monoi butter, I'll be able to keep myself smelling of tropical flowers through the winter.  In Kentucky the winters have started to arrive early and been really brutal the last couple of years.  The mimosa will be really nice since it has a warm sunny scent and is said to be good for Seasonal Affective Disorder.  I think we all have some degree of SAD in the Fall and Wnter just becasue there's less sunlight.  For those of us who love our gardens and getting our hands dirty, it's a double whammy to have no sunshine and have all our plants hybernating :(

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!

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.

Aromatherapy Gear

A lady from my herbal group has designed some herbal/aromatherapy gear that's worth having a look at.  I may be more excited than most about it but I figure if you're reading this blog you may enjoy it.  I'm a little ashamed I didn't think of it myself.  Maybe I should work on some Glory Be Herbals gear.....hhhmmmmm....
http://www.zazzle.com/naomiball

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).

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

Echinacea Video

I have posted a new video-this time it's all about Echinacea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAvzYEO-w-4

Lemon Balm

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

Happy Thursday!

I am enjoying a peaceful lunch hour, inside where it's nice and cool. It has been very hot and humid in Kentucky already and it's not even Summer yet! However, it was like this last June then we had the COLDEST July I have ever seen in my life! It was really nice but the trade off seems to be big ice storms in January and I don't want that.

I have officially run out of St. John's Wort oil but I have several of the salves made up. Fear not-my plants have already started blooming so I have more oil going already. It should be ready in 2 weeks and I have until about mid-August to keep harvesting flowers.

I will probably do a video on this wonderful plant and post it this weekend. If you haven't looked at any of my videos you can check me out on youtube. I have a link under my favorites on this blog. Don't forget to subscribe-this is a BUSY BUSY time of the year for the herbalist! I generally don't make an appearance on the videos because I am filming on my cell phone early on Sunday mornings while my neighbors are asleep and I haven't gotten dressed or even brushed my hair yet. I am not used to this but they are getting better. I may also post about echinacea soon because my coneflowers are big and bushy and I am getting TONS of flowers!

I will talk to y'all on youtube on Sunday!

Arnica video

I have a new video on youtube-this time Arnica. I will have more coming over the Summer and Fall. Still to come goldenseal, ginseng, lemon balm, marshmallow, echinacea, roses, peppermint, spearmint, plantain, clary sage, helichrysum, St. john's wort, Yarrow. So stay tuned to learn more about herbs that you can easily grow in yourself and use for natural health and beauty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Yjxt4p0DE

Lavender Video

I have a video up about Lavender with a discussion about the essential oil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyscNZcKR1c