Homemade Overnight Hand Cream Tutorial

Just a quick video I made on how I make my overnight hand cream

Super Simple Homemade Deodorant Tutorial

I've been making Youtube videos again, I'm finding it can be a lot easier to explain a technique by speaking than typing and a lot of pictures at time.

This time it's how I make my super simple homemade deodorant.

Women's Daily Herbal Tea Recipe and Video Tutorial

I was needing to make up a fresh batch of  my everyday tea this week so thought I would quickly set up the camera and film a demo video, nothing polished but it shows just how easy creating your own blend can be.

This is my usual daily health mix with no added extras for any symptoms or illnesses I may be having, so hope you enjoy and find useful :)

           

Four Winds Herbal Tea Video Tutorial

Today I am sharing a video I created to show to make a herbal tea called Four Winds Tea which is great for trapped wind and bloatedness.

 It comes From a book by James Wong and can be found here: http://goo.gl/ltXpfo on amazon. I hope you enjoy the video and the Tea.

        

How to Easily Make Comfrey Ointment

With the Comfrey plants almost reaching tree like proportions, it is well past time for me to be harvesting it. Usually before now I have been harvesting the first cut for making comfrey infusion for the greenhouse but I have been a little lax this year so now I have a huge first harvest instead.

Most of the leaves harvested will be used to make comfrey infusion, which basically involved steeping the leaves in a huge bucket of water to make a horrid smelly liquid which the tomatoes love. But comfrey ointment for this years stock will be made with some of the leaves first.

Comfrey has long been used traditionally as a healing plant, and scientific studies show that the plant contains a small molecule called 'allantion' which repairs cells and decreases inflammation making it excellent for skin wounds.

Making comfrey ointment is really easy and one of the quickest I find to make.

How to Make Comfrey Ointment

Ingredients:

Fresh picked comfrey leaves

Either.... Olive oil (or another preferred oil such as almond/sunflower etc) and Beeswax

OR …... Coconut oil

Labelled jars or pots to store

* Roughly chop comfrey leaves and place in a saucepan

* Cover with oil (if you are using coconut oil you may need to melt it first)

* Heat very very gently just so that you are getting the oil not quite hot, you do not want to Fry your comfrey (although I have been know to accidentally do this myself).

* Turn off the heat and allow to comfrey to infuse in the warm oil for around an hour in a warm place.

* Strain your oil through a sieve into a measuring jug squeezing the leaves with the back of a spoon to keep as much of the oil as you can, then allow to stand for another hour in a warm place.

* If you are using coconut you are now finished and can carefully pour your ointment into jars or pots leaving any sediment behind in the jug and store in a cool place.

* If you are using beeswax you need to measure how much oil you have before carefully pouring back into your wiped out comfrey pan leaving the sediment behind in the jug.

* Add beeswax to your pan using roughly 10grams (½ oz) of beeswax for every 100ml (3 ½ fl oz) of oil,  heat gently to melt and mix, then pour into pots or jars.

And that's it, easy done in a morning.

Top Tips for Harvesting Dandelion Flowers

I've been harvesting dandelion flowers for various uses for several years now, and there are a few tricks I have learnt along the way, so whether you are collecting them for remedies, dying yarn, brewing wine or just to add to a salad, here are a few tips for you :)

Before You Pick Your Flower Petals

• Picking dandelions will stain your finger tips and nails and although this will be removed from your skin within a couple of washes, the nails can take a bit longer. One way of reducing this is to dig your nails into a bar of soap and wipe off the excess before going to harvest your dandelions.

• If you intend to use your dandelions for food, remedies, brewing etc avoid harvesting them from the roadside where they will have absorbed excess amounts of heavy metals from car fumes. Also avoid the main parts of your lawn unless you know they haven't been trampled on or peed on by pet dogs, and from the corners of garden walls where they may have been sprayed on by the local tom cat.

• If you are using your dandelions to dye yarn, fleece etc the above point is not important so use the possibly contaminated ones for this purpose.

• Choose a dry sunny day to harvest your flowers, the sun will encourage more flowers to open, and being dry before harvesting means less chance of spoiling your recipe, especially if infusing in oil for remedies. Also it is best to finish harvesting before mid afternoon as the flowers will begin to close up for the day making them harder to pick.

Harvesting Your Dandelion Flowers

It used to take me ages to harvest enough petals for a batch of wine, as I would pull a load of flower heads off before sitting down in the sun and one by one pick all the green backs off the petals to go in the compost, it took twice as long as the way I do it now, plus my hands would be a mess for days.

• First grab your dandelion flower head by the green part at the back tightly, pinch together all of the petals in the fingers in the other hand, then firmly pull out the yellow petals, if a few bits of green sneak in it wont matter. When you have done this a couple of times you can work really quickly filling your measuring jug.

• If there is any little bugs or flies on the flower head, just gently bend over the stalk and tap them out.

• When measuring your flower petals for a recipe, firmly press them down in your jug, but not so hard that the are tightly rammed in.

I hope you find these tips helpful :) 

So tell me what is your favorite use is for the humble dandelion?

Living our Childhood Dreams (or Life Lessons from Xena Warrior Princess)

Making our Childhood Dreams a Reality

When I was a child I used to daydream about what life would be like as an adult. I would picture myself riding my Clydesdale horse to the nearest village to pick up supplies, long hair flowing, full-length woolen dress and cloak, basket on my arm.

I imagined friends and neighbors coming to me for help with their ailments, a herbal remedies and ointment for aches, a charm or talisman for the home, a cup of tea and a slice of chocolate cake to offload, all conducted in my cosy cottage by candle light, the smell of incense in the air.

A romantic fairytale image perhaps.

I used to imagine what it would be like to live in a huge house like Misselthwaite Manor from The Secret Garden, but mostly I imagined the secret passageways and rooms, and of course the secret garden itself.

I would devour books which had the wise woman character in them, ones that would touch some inner spark in me, guiding me gently towards my passions in life.

I have a great love of mathematics and science, logic brained am I, and had other fantasies of being some sort of scientist.

How can Xena Warrior Princess give us career advice?

Sometimes we look back on our childhood dreams with nostalgia, or scorn or perhaps bitterness, but I believe our childhood dreams give us insights as to the person or life we are truly meant to be.

I don't necessarily mean we are supposed to be modern day Xena Warrior Princesses, but certain elements of our fantasies show us our true soul needs.

For example, if I had big dreams of growing up like Xena, I would mull that over and pick apart what it was about being Xena that I loved so much. 

Was it the kicking ass part? Perhaps I would be in my element being a martial arts expert or a cage fighter.

Was it the saving the day part? Perhaps I would be better as a police officer or working for womens refuge.

Perhaps that is putting it a bit too simplistic, perhaps I am so off the mark, but perhaps it may help someone?

How I made my dreams into my reality

Looking back on my own childhood dreams shows me a lot about the person I was always meant to grow up to be.

I was destined to be a country girl, the city was never meant to be a happy place for me, a simple quiet life is what I crave and where I am most in my element even if I no longer have the urge to ride across the hills in my tartan dress like Lorna Doone.

Studying natural remedies and the craft was also where my heart lay, and is still where I am at my most confident, but I also have a need to back up the reasoning for why a remedy works with science too, not to the point of dismissing something which I know works, but it makes me want to do a happy dance when I can back up with science something I already know to work.

And as for The Secret Garden and Misselthwaite Manor with its mysteries, well John built me a secret bookcase door, I know I can't believe it, it makes me so happy, childhood dreams made into reality !!!!

The Great Dandelion Harvest of 2013

With a final break in the weather on Sundays it was time for the great dandelion harvest of 2013. 

I had already set away two demijons of dandelion wine last week as I do annually, but decided i couldnt let such a huge crop go to waste. Although I still have dandelion stain under my nails I was able to pick enough blossoms to create infused oil, dandilion tincture and some liqueur, before john went mad with the mower.

I haven't yet decided whether to turn the oil in to ointment or leave as a liquid when it is ready, but I will add it to my marigold tincture and comfrey ointment in the home remedies kit.

Making herbal remedies is one of the things I love doing, I am not sure why I haven't done many since moving here, time mostly I think, but I am now back on form.