From Grandma's Desk:
We have been house bound for the past 4 days. It started snowing Tuesday did not let up until this morning early. We have about 20 to 24" of snow. We spent the last 2 days shoveling, snow blowing, and plowing with the tractor. My husband and I took turns just to keep it from accumulating to the point we might never get out! I was hoping for a bit of snow to keep the lavender plants cozy, and Mother Nature provided. I didn't really have anything important to do so we are staying close to home, and keeping warm.
In between clearing snow and keeping warm I began looking through some old magazine. I came across an article in The Herb Quarterly from the winter 2009, titled, "Wisdom from the Stillroom". I thought it would be fun to share the highlights with you. This article inspired my own "stillroom" last summer when I added an addition on our home to house my tropical plants and where I create my balms and salves, distill my essential oils, do my canning, and run my business. This article explains that a stillroom is where women made and stored their homemade remedies to keep their families healthy. Women of the 17th century did not always have a doctor or apothecary nearby so they had to rely on their own recipes handed down from generation to generation to keep their families healthy. The stillroom was named for a small still that the women used to create medicinal waters of all kinds.
My own stillroom is where I keep my medicinal herbs, tinctures, hydrosols, essential oils, flower infused oils, herbal vinegars, fruit cordials, and the ingredients to make my own herbal medicines. I also keep my home canned salsas, jams & jellies, fruit sauces, spaghetti sauce, and all my dried culinary herbs. We also store our dried fruit, wines, and liquors. It is a cool dry room much like a pantry but with more medicinal purposes. I also have pantry shelves to store jars, canner, still, herb and fruit drier. There is lots of room for empty jars, sieves, scales, mortar & pestle, and other tools I use when canning or making medicinal remedies. The sights and smells are wonderful. Sometimes I just go into my stillroom to fill my senses.
Along with a stillroom a record book or diary must be kept to hold medicinal and everyday recipes. This is an essential to every stillroom to record your ideas, recipes, and information to pass down to your own children and friends. My Stillroom Book started out in a small journal. I soon realized the amount of information could not be contained in one small journal. I now have a 3 ring binder to put this information in. I can easily record my own recipes and have plenty of room for tips, articles from favorite herb magazines. It also becomes a diary of what worked best for which ailment or feedback on my latest salve or balm. This way I keep a record of various things I have tried over the years. I keep a similar book for my garden. What a treasure to leave our children and future generations. Now we might ad a small computer to keep notes on. I like the old fashioned Stillroom Book though, it is easier and appeals to my senses. I can see and smell the unfolding of the stillroom in its pages.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Memory Blend Aromatherapy Recipe
From Grandma's Desk:
This is a blend I started making when I was trying to learn Spanish. I think it helped some and everyone in the class loved it, even our teacher loved using it. I have read studies that state that if you study in the same atmosphere as you take a test your more likely to score higher. Also our sense of smell is our strongest memory cue. It is difficult to always study in the same room as you will be tested. But if you use aromatherapy while you study you can wear a scent or use a personal diffuser to recreate that atmosphere and trigger our memory. So here is the recipe:
For Focus use equal parts Lavender and Rosemary, if putting them on your skin directly add 1 part focus blend to 2 parts jojoba oil. This is great when you are in class and need to be able to really focus on what your are doing.
Memory blend
4 drops lavender
3 drops geramium
3 drops rosewood
3 drops rosemary
2 drops tangerine
1 drop spearmint
use a dropper full of jojoba oil to the blend if you are using on your skin, if using in a diffuser keep it pure essential oil.
apply to temples, forehead, mastoids, brain stem area, also around the ears.
Use in a diffuser or on a tissue for studying then wear on pulse points when it comes time for test taking. It is a lovely blend.
If you feel tired or drousy and need to an easy pick me up use sweet orange essential oil for an easy energy boost. I use this in my personal diffuser when I am driving alternating with zen winter mist from H2O at Home. Both oils can be purchased on www.myh2oathome.com/karrie. Click on the "shop online" button and find the essential oils. There are also great natural cleaning products and other essential oils that are great for your health
This is a blend I started making when I was trying to learn Spanish. I think it helped some and everyone in the class loved it, even our teacher loved using it. I have read studies that state that if you study in the same atmosphere as you take a test your more likely to score higher. Also our sense of smell is our strongest memory cue. It is difficult to always study in the same room as you will be tested. But if you use aromatherapy while you study you can wear a scent or use a personal diffuser to recreate that atmosphere and trigger our memory. So here is the recipe:
For Focus use equal parts Lavender and Rosemary, if putting them on your skin directly add 1 part focus blend to 2 parts jojoba oil. This is great when you are in class and need to be able to really focus on what your are doing.
Memory blend
4 drops lavender
3 drops geramium
3 drops rosewood
3 drops rosemary
2 drops tangerine
1 drop spearmint
use a dropper full of jojoba oil to the blend if you are using on your skin, if using in a diffuser keep it pure essential oil.
apply to temples, forehead, mastoids, brain stem area, also around the ears.
Use in a diffuser or on a tissue for studying then wear on pulse points when it comes time for test taking. It is a lovely blend.
If you feel tired or drousy and need to an easy pick me up use sweet orange essential oil for an easy energy boost. I use this in my personal diffuser when I am driving alternating with zen winter mist from H2O at Home. Both oils can be purchased on www.myh2oathome.com/karrie. Click on the "shop online" button and find the essential oils. There are also great natural cleaning products and other essential oils that are great for your health
Monday, January 9, 2012
Winter Blues? Create a seed cooperative.
From Grandma's Desk:
Do you have loads of old seeds left over from years of gardening? It seems a shame to throw them out, but what should you do with them. In years past I would gather a group of neighbors and friends to have a seed exchange. Usually I have lots of seeds left over after I plant my squash, tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc. I will keep them in a drawer and reuse them every year until they quit sprouting. Occasionally I plant old seeds and nothing sprouts because they have lost their viability. It is fun to get friends together over a cup of tea or bowl of winter soup and plan your gardens together. Decide what seeds to order and share the expense. Make sure you choose from reliable catalogs or local garden stores. Beware of super deals in your Sunday insert magazine, offering trees, roses, or bushes that are so cheap it makes your head spin. I have never had good luck with this type of nursery. Two years ago my husband got an email for some blueberry bushes, the plants were cheap but they didn't tell you how much the shipping was until you had already put in your credit card. Those cheap plants went from $25 to almost $100. We ended up getting the plants in the dead of winter, we lost about 50% in the shipping, and out of the 100 plants only about 2 survived. We have yet to see any blueberries off these bargain bushes. So beware of to good a deal. My best luck has come from the local garden shop for seeds, fruit trees, and bushes. Another important aspect of gardening in Montana is to pay attention to the zones. If it doesn't list a zone it probably won't make it in Montana. It is a great time to gather with friends and neighbors over a warm cup of tea and share your gardening dreams. It will keep your winter blues to a minimum and make some life long friends.
Do you have loads of old seeds left over from years of gardening? It seems a shame to throw them out, but what should you do with them. In years past I would gather a group of neighbors and friends to have a seed exchange. Usually I have lots of seeds left over after I plant my squash, tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc. I will keep them in a drawer and reuse them every year until they quit sprouting. Occasionally I plant old seeds and nothing sprouts because they have lost their viability. It is fun to get friends together over a cup of tea or bowl of winter soup and plan your gardens together. Decide what seeds to order and share the expense. Make sure you choose from reliable catalogs or local garden stores. Beware of super deals in your Sunday insert magazine, offering trees, roses, or bushes that are so cheap it makes your head spin. I have never had good luck with this type of nursery. Two years ago my husband got an email for some blueberry bushes, the plants were cheap but they didn't tell you how much the shipping was until you had already put in your credit card. Those cheap plants went from $25 to almost $100. We ended up getting the plants in the dead of winter, we lost about 50% in the shipping, and out of the 100 plants only about 2 survived. We have yet to see any blueberries off these bargain bushes. So beware of to good a deal. My best luck has come from the local garden shop for seeds, fruit trees, and bushes. Another important aspect of gardening in Montana is to pay attention to the zones. If it doesn't list a zone it probably won't make it in Montana. It is a great time to gather with friends and neighbors over a warm cup of tea and share your gardening dreams. It will keep your winter blues to a minimum and make some life long friends.
Monday, January 2, 2012
From Grandma's Desk: Saturday brought a wonderful surprise. A box of fresh picked tangerines from my stepmother's garden. The greatest part about these tangerines is my son planted a seed over 15 years ago that turned into a tangerine tree. We kept that tree going in our house in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for 6 years then it started getting to tall for the living room. So on my next road trip to Arizona I put the tree in the car and headed south. My stepmother has a small fruit orchard in her back yard with pomegranites, oranges, grapefruit, and now tangerines. She planted the tree in her back yard and for the past 2 years has been getting a few tangerines. Last year I brought a few home to Adrian and put in his stocking. This year a whole box arrived with the most delicious fruit in it. Sweet juicy and easy to peal! Yum, I can hardly wait till he gets here this week so he can share the fruits of his labor. So this New Year I will plant seeds that are sweet, juicy and easy to peel! What a lovely thought as we enter the new year 2012. Keeping in mind it takes many years and sometimes many hands and hearts to make the sweet fruit of our lives.
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