Years ago I got really into using essential oils and I made all sorts of concoctions and gave them out to my family and friends. With life getting too busy I forgot about using them, although I always have lavender, tea tree and peppermint in my pharmacy. I have healed more wounds with tea tree and lavender than I can count. I gave a friend some tea tree for a cut on her foot that wouldn’t heal, and overnight the wound started granulating and the infection receded. I’ve used lavendar for skin healing and for getting rid of scars, even old ones. In 2003 we bought about 100 small vials of essential oil blends from Michel Zayat and are still using many of them.
I recently got interested again while putting together a chest rub that’s good for coughing, and suddenly I was in a frenzy of making a face cleaner/toner, face moisturizer, digestion formula and liver tonic. I have a great book by Julia Lawless called “The Complete Illustrated Guide to Aromatherapy,” and it gives all kinds of suggestions for all kinds of physical ailments. I also have a half dozen other books of herbal recipes for creams, lotions, perfumes, shampoo and even making soap and candles. It’s a bit of work, but it’s really the only way to get products that don’t have a lot of chemical junk in them, unless you know someone who makes things from scratch. Even the cleanest products in the best health food store have some bad ingredients. So now I’m all fired up to improve my herb garden and start making infusions and extractions and all sorts of stuff from herbs that I grow myself. I’m actually a frustrated Earth Mother, and someday I’ll be a great gardener.
This is the time of year I have to think about starting some plants so that they are big enough to put in the garden in early June. It doesn’t get warm enough here to transplant to the outdoors much before that, and fall sets in the beginning of September, so the short growing season is a challenge. We’ve investigated greenhouses and might invest in one someday. Wish me luck this season!
~ Dooney