You Can Make Your Own Hair Care Products!

I finally have received and packaged up all the herbs necessary to create your own Herbal Vinegar Rinse or Herbal Hot Oil Treatment that is specifically targeted for your hair.

It is easy to create your own special blend of Herbal Vinegar Rinse and Herbal Conditioning Hot Oil Treatment All you will need is Apple Cider Vinegar from the grocery for your rinse. For your Herbal Conditioning Hot Oil you can use Olive Oil from your local grocer. If you want a lighter oil you can infuse your herbs into Apricot Kernal Oil or grapeseed oil if you want an even lighter oil. Usually you can find these oils in your local health food store. The only other thing you will need is a quart canning jar or a jar with a lid that has a rubber seal.

Each package of herbs has been carefully chosen for you. Now you can make your own Herbal Vinegar Rinse or Herbal Conditioning Hot Oil Treatment and save money. These packages include enough herbs to make 1 ½ gallons of Herbal Vinegar Rinse and/or Herbal Conditioning Hot Oil Treatment for less than the cost of 2-8 oz. bottles of already prepared Herbal Vinegar Rinse. You could also use the same blend of herbs to create a weekly conditioning hot oil treatment. Each order contains a brochure with the complete instructions on how to make your own Herbal Vinegar Rinse and Herbal Conditioning Hot Oil Treatment. Choose from these herbal packets:

Blonde Hair- contains chamomile, calendula, horsetail/shavegrass, nettles, lavender, lemon balm, comfrey, mullein and marshmallow root.

Brunette Hair- Rosemary, Sage, lavender, nettles, horsetail/shavegrass, Lemon Balm, peppermint, marshmallow root, calendula

Red Hair- nettles, horsetail/shavegrass, rose, hibiscus, lemon balm, peppermint, comfrey, plantain, ginger, sage & rosemary

Dandruff Blend-peppermint, arnica, cloves, juniper, lemongrass, nettles, horsetail/shavegrass, rosemary, comfrey, plantain, orange, licorice root, ginger, Dead Sea Salt and Tea Tree Essential Oil and Rosemary Essential Oil


You can order yours here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/46430563/packaged-herbs-for-creating-your-own

My Stolen Weeds

Some people, if they knew the truth about me, would probably try to have me committed to the nearest mental institution. Several years ago we moved from our huge 2 story Victorian home with its substantial yard. I had devoted years of work to my garden with all the perennial beds, herb garden, rose bed and my “natural” lawn with its treasure chest of common weeds that provided me with a bounty of herbal delights. My husband was responsible for the mowing and I took care of all other gardening which to me was not work but a joyful pastime. But as we got older and he became more disabled, the huge house with the large utility bills and upkeep and yard with its demands became too difficult to maintain and we decided we needed to downsize. We sold the house and moved into a lovely triplex with a beautiful lawn surrounding us on 3 sides and a tiny but manageable private backyard.


Like idiots we ended up moving in the middle of the snowiest February recorded in the past 50 years. After a couple of months to settle in I decided that I was pleased with the change. But then Spring arrived and I realized that I was going to make a major change in my life. I was no longer going to be able to step out my back door with my bucket in hand and stroll through my yard and pick the major portion of the herbs necessary to make many of my products. The dandelion, chickweed, boneset, red clover, milk thistle, stinging nettles, shepherd’s purse, coltsfoot, burdock, eyebright- had all been eradicated from our yard because someone’s idea of a lawn is a perfectly maintained green expanse of Ky. Bluegrass, not marred, nor broken by weeds. This was a disaster!

As that first Spring and Summer passed I would enviously look at some of the neighbor’s yards so blessedly full of the unruly drifts of puffy dandelions, noxious spreading chickweed and the spikes of plantain that reach up over the grass to let you know it is time to mow. Finally I knew what I had to do. I had to plant weeds! I would cagily take my dog out for walks in the evening as the light was fading and “borrow” the puffy seedpods of the neighbors dandelions and break off the seed producing spikes from their mature common plantain. Thankfully I don’t think anyone ever saw me while out on these hunting trips and no one ever asked me what I was doing. It would be difficult to explain. But this is my third summer in our triplex and I am happy to announce that I have a glorious yard full of carefully stolen weeds.

Apple Cider Vinegar, a Girl's Best Friend

Recently, one of my customers sent me an email letting me know that she had mentioned one of my favorite products in an article that she wrote for a fantastic blog, called Truth in Aging. It was a small mention at the end of the article but it felt GREAT having one of my products mentioned with some of the great hair cair companies such as Aubrey Organics and Nutri-Lift. Check out Kim's article and the Truth in Aging blog here: http://truthinaging.com/hair/kim-my-hair-journey/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeandanna/

Vinegar, most especially Apple Cider Vinegar, is one of nature's finest gifts to mankind. All alcoholic
beverages, whether made from apples, grapes, hops, wheat, or plain white sugar will turn naturally to vinegar, once it is exposed to air.  Bacteria in the air  converts the alcohol in cider, wine, and beer, into acetic acid, which gives vinegar its characteristic sharp sour taste.

As far back as 5000 BC the Babylonians used the fruit of the date palm to make wine and vinegar. They used it as a food and as a preserving or pickling agent. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates,  prescribed apple cider vinegar mixed with honey for a variety of ills including the common cold. Roman soldiers drank a drink of diluted vinegar (posca) as an tonic to energize them, just as modern atheletes now drink "power drinks".

Apple Cider Vinegar has a long history of use for many health benefits, including being used as one of the earliest recorded hair "conditioners".

Renoir

The outer layer of the hair, the cuticle, covers the hair shaft and protects it like bark on a tree trunk. The cuticle on the shaft of the hair is made of overlapping layers of scales that lie along the surface of the hair like shingles on a roof. It is the condition of the cuticle scales that determine whether you are going to have a bad hair day. When the cuticle is in good shape, your hair has a smooth appearance. When the layers of the cuticle are tightly knit together, the light reflects off the cuticle. This is what makes hair shine! The cuticle opens when we shampoo our hair. When the cuticle layers are open and not knit together, the hair will feel rough, coarse and brittle. The hair will absorb the light rather than reflect it, which gives the appearance of dull and lifeless hair.

The use of Apple cider vinegar (ACV) helps to create healthy hair. The acidity of ACV is very similar to  natural hair. It is a great cleaning agent. Rinsing with apple cider vinegar will help balance the pH of your hair and remove the buildup that can result from the use of styling products and inexpensive shampoos. Commercial shampoos contain conditioners that weigh your hair down.

The acids and enzymes in ACV kill the "bottle bacillus", a bacteria which is one of the main causes for  scalp and hair conditions such as dandruff, itchy scalp, hair loss and sometimes baldness.The bacteria clog the hair follicles which cause dry crusts to form that itch and flake.

For an easy treatment for dandruff and itchy scalp, apply about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of our Herbal Vinegar Rinse to your scalp, rub in, and leave on for a half hour to an hour BEFORE washing your hair.

We infuse all of our natural Vinegar Hair Rinses with nettles, plantain, calendula and horsetail for the benefits they give to your hair. Plantain has historically been used  for dry, irritated scalp, dandruff, and seborrhea. Horsetail or Shavegrass is loaded with silica to strengthen the hair shaft. Nettles contain
biologically active compounds that reduce inflammation. The astringent properties of nettles have been known for centuries and it is used for dandruff and overly oily hair and scalp.

Chamomile and Citrus is healing, soothing, and mildly antiseptic. Citrus will lighten hair, combat oiliness, promote microcirculation of the scalp and is great for blondes or light colored hair.


Rosemary & Lavender- Rosemary is stimulating and invigorating to the hair and scalp. It promotes healthy hair growth and shine. It is antiseptic, antibacterial, and antiviral. It is excellent for all hair types but especially good for brunettes. Lavender is a cleansing, balancing herb that has antibacterial properties.

Rose & Nettles- Rose is cooling and astringent, but very gentle and soothing. It has been used for centuries to treat skin wounds and inflammation. Nettles thickens hair texture, helps eliminate dandruff, aids in preventing hair loss and aids in restoring hair growth.

You can find these in our shop by themselves at this listing: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=2092732

Or if you want to order our special all natural shampoo and herbal vinegar Hair Pair here:http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=2044279

Everything You Want to Know About Natural Laundry Care

Pandorea

Maybe this should read as “Most Everything I learned from my grandmother about “Old Fashioned Laundry Care”. It amazes me that the older I became, the smarter my grandmother became. One of my very first memories of my grandmother is helping her push her old wheeled Maytag Model N 'Chieftan' out the basement door onto the concrete pad of the back porch. Every Monday, rain or shine, was laundry day. If it was raining, she would wash clothes inside in the basement and carry the baskets upstairs to the side porches on each side of the house where my grandfather had placed clotheslines. If the weather was good the laundry was hung on the 4 strands of clothesline that ran from one side of the yard to the other.

I can remember the wonderful clean scent of freshly washed and dried clothing as I undid the clothspins and grasped each garment to my chest to keep them from dragging on the ground. I couldn’t understand why my mothers laundry never smelled like my grandmothers’, but my mother was a “modern” housekeeper. Her washer was almost a twin of the one I use today, plus she had a wonderful time saving electric dryer. Our clothes never saw the light of day except when we wore them. Sunlight is part of the formula for wonderfully white clothes and linens. Bleach is great but often bleach can actually cause the “graying” of your white clothes or linens. If you have a medium to high manganese content in your city or well water the bleach will interact with it and turn your clothing grey.

                                                                        Mantas Ruzveltas
Laundry-The Natural, The Environmentally Conscious Method or How My Grandma Taught Me

Pre-Treat

Simply pre-soaking with your detergent or laundry soap for ½ hour will help clean heavily soiled clothing.

Wash

1. Add your laundry soap or http://www.etsy.com/listing/44411420/nature-clean-all-natural-powdered  in 1st- Let powders dissolve or liquids dilute before adding clothes.

2. Loosely load the washer with dry, unfolded clothes. Overloading can be the cause of poor cleaning, extra wear and tear on fabric, extra lint and overworking your washer.

3. Load larger items 1st, then small items and then the medium articles.

Solutions for Stains

Ink stains- a. Moisten with vinegar, then add paste made of vinegar & cornstarch. Let dry then wash as usual.

b. Place cream of tartar on stain, then squeeze a few drops of lemon juice on top. Rub into stain for 1 minute then rinse well.

Perspiration stains- a. Saturate with equal parts vinegar & water and let set for ½ hour. Wash as usual.

b. Add 4 T. salt to 1 quart very hot water. Saturate and let sit for ½ hour.

Perspiration Odor- Add ½ cup of vinegar to wash cycle.

Stained or stinky socks- Dissolve 1/3 cup baking soda with 1 gallon of warm water and let soak for 30-45 minutes.

I Forgot the clothes were in the dryer odor or mildew odor- Run the clothes through an extra rinse cycle with either 1-2 cups of vinegar.

                                                                           Playingwithbrushs
I Use Bleach but my Whites Are Not White!


How Do I Whiten my Laundry?

First you need to find out what makes your clothes dingy. Until you find out the cause the solution may escape you. Too much detergent or improper rinsing and/or hard water are often the main causes of dingy looking whites. Using less detergent is often a simple solution. Also I find that I overload my washer if I am not paying attention. Smaller loads with higher water levels will often help as well as simply adding a ½ cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle.

The absolute best method of whitening your whites is something many people are re-discovering, Laundry Bluing. I have only used one company’s which is Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing. It is the only one I have ever found and it was a difficult search. I had to go to four different groceries before I found it. Bluing is fantastic. It whitens whites and also brightens colors—Without harsh chemical! It is not only biodegradable and non-toxic, it also prolongs the life of your clothes.

What is Bluing and How does it Work?

Bluing is a simple, very concentrated liquid made of a fine blue iron powder mixed with water or a colloidal suspension. “Mrs. Stewart's Bluing is a simple, concentrated blue liquid that optically whitens white fabric. It does not remove stains, does not "clean", but adds a microscopic blue particle to white fabric.”

This is the explanation the Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing gives for why it works. “Because blue-white is the most intense white, most artists, when painting a snow scene, will use blue color to intensify the whiteness. As color experts would explain it, the proof comes when two pieces of fabric are placed under a spectrograph - the one with blue added will reflect more light, making the fabric appear its whitest.
Other great uses for Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing:

My absolute favorite use of bluing is one that I learned when I was 6 years old. My constant companion and very best friend was a parti colored Black and White Cocker Spaniel. Our “playground” was 120 acres of tilled earth that was planted with corn one year and soybeans the following year. It consisted mostly of a yellow clay that was impossible to wash out of my long haired dog. The solution for making “Tammy’s” white hair bright white and her black hair beautifully shine was a simple solution of ¼ teaspoon of bluing to 1 gallon of warm water.

According to MSB farmers use it in stock tanks and homeowners use it in bird baths, fish ponds and fountains to retard algae growth.

I have learned another great use for bluing. Are you tired of all your white flowers? Stick your freshly cut flowers in a container filled with a fairly strong bluing solution in warm water. Ever seen a blue rose?

                                                                       Bluenight72

No Admittance

It is now 8:07 p.m. and I have been sitting at my desk for the last three hours doing one of my very least favorite jobs, working on our yearly taxes. I had to take a break before my eyes literally crossed from looking at all those figures on the lines and tiny little boxes.

My husband is in his room working on a friends computer so the television in the great room is off. I have already listened to all of the day's news on NPR and the house is silent for a change. Usually it is not this quiet until after midnight but tonight I am doubly blessed. We are having an early spring this year so I have my window in the office open. Normally I hear one of my favorite sounds long into the wee morning hours. Across the road and midway across an open field the county built a lake on this property. The county owns, I would guess about 80-90 acres of land surrounding one of it's newest buildings built on the edge of town. I find myself, a long advocate of the "Early to bed, Early to rise theory, staying up later and later working in my office with the window open listening to the lonely, haunting calls of the Canadian Geese flying in and landing on the lake on the property. Tonight, I hear an owl for the first time since selling our house and moving to "the city".

Several days ago just before the sun dipped completely below the tree lined drive I happened to hear a sound that I was unfamiliar with. Similar, but different to the honking of the Canadian Geese. I looked out my window just in time to see a pair of huge white birds fly in below the tree line onto the lake. That was the last I had seen of them until yesterday morning. A pair of big white birds drifting across the end of the lake dwarfing the geese in size. A pair of Trumpeter Swan? A rare event anymore. Their nesting grounds have all disappeared and like many of America's natural beauties, an almost dying breed.

Strangely, I want to walk down this gently curving drive and follow it to the lake that seems to beacon to me with its water's that ripple and reflect the morning's light sending little pricks of sunlight that are there and then almost instantly vanish to be captured and sent in another ripple and off in an other direction. I want to stand and admire the raucous Canadian Geese who fly through the night honking and calling as if they were coming in from a boozy night on the town. I want to search to see if that is truly a pair of Trumpeter Swan that I have seen.

The land is gently contoured with a slope falling gradually to the edge of the water. There is an back entry drive that curves round about from the road beside my house and passes around the far edge of the lake and leads up to the building with a line of trees that obscures most of the lake. Across this drive is a barricade forbidding entry to this property save for those that have a pass and a valid reason for entry.

Still, I want to enter the property. I want to share in the beauty the county has provided with a small pocket of green grass and still waters with homes for the ubiquitous Canadian Geese, the lonely noctural owl and the rare Trumpeter Swans. But, I have no valid reason- unless I do walk down that drive to the lake. That would give me a valid reason! Yes, I could become a resident of that county building by walking onto the property since the property is the new City/County Jail.

With My Deepest Gratitude

Today I was very honored to have my products and myself mentioned by one of Etsy's most creative and inspired crafter/artists, Mikiye of Mikiye's Creations at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Mikiye  To give you an idea of the diverse skills and beautiful work she does here are some photos from her shop.

Be sure to check out her shop  (especially you brides to be) at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Mikiye

and take a peek at her blog (It is one of the prettiest I have ever seen) at http://mikiyecreations.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-favorite-bath-and-body-shops-joyful.html

I am in LOVE!

I was thumbing through Etsy again yesterday and I think I have fallen in love, that is if one can fall in love with inanimate objects. I have always admired the work of many potters. In fact, I have always had a secret desire to play with clay or mud but never had the funds nor room to own a kiln or the space to put one. I did take a class about a hundred years ago in my freshman year of college. All that did was whet my appetite for more but the opportunity never presented itself. Now all I can do is admire the work of others and I definately admire the work of Tara of AugustMoonArt. You can find her shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/augustmoonart

Her work is beautiful and unusual. I have been trying to pick my favorite piece to lead this this off this article but that is impossible. I will just take them in line as I find them.

Blue Sponge/Soap Holder

You can use this beauty in your bath or your kitchen to hold either your bath sponge or kitchen sponge plus a bar of soap. This sponge "cosy" is wheelthrown, then altered with slots on the side to hold the sponge. She also adds drainage holes on the bottom but she isn't satisfied with plain old circular drainage holes she adds lovely teardrops.

     Agate Butterfly Pump Soap/Lotion Dispenser

Of all of her Soap/Lotion Dispensers I love this the most. Probably because I am a butterfly nut. Of all of God's creatures on earth I think the butterfly from egg to caterpillar to butterfly are each miracles. As Tara's description reads, "This wheelthrown bottle is glazed in a wonderful Agate green glaze, and adorned with a leathery looking ring of butterflys. A natural bark top cork adds an organic element that holds this dispenser a head above the rest. "

White Crackle Teapot

Now I have to admit that I am an addict, teapot addict that is. I am only moderately addicted though, since I only own 6 of them. I inherited two of them and back during the time when I used to have money (pre-disability) I bought the other four. And before you ask, yes I do drink tea although my primary drink is coffee. This teapot is a beauty. I love the crackle finish on it. Here is Tara's description.

"This teapot is wheelthrown with Speckled Brownstone clay, and glazed white, with a white crackled accent glaze, and a deep dark chocolate brown interior. The handle is hand-pulled and has a comfortable feel. Enjoy your tea!

Approximate dimensions 10" wide x 5 1/2" tall.

Holds 5 cups or 40 oz.

Microwave, dishwasher, & food safe.

Pierced Agate Jar

The stoneware jar in the above pictures has a hundred potential uses besides just sitting and being beautiful. I grow elephant garlic and this would be a perfect vessel for it!

Wheeltrown and pierced with teardrop and round piercings, and glazed in a wonderful Agate with a dark rich Temmoku inside. This stoneware jar is no lighweight; it is quite substantial and weighty.

Useful in many ways.... I love it with a candle lit in it in the evening, wish I could capture a pic of that but I'm not so camera savy and can't turn off the flash! It can also be used in the kitchen as a garlic keeper, in the living room as decoration, to keep knick knacks in, or in the bathroom for cotton balls etc...
Approximate dimensions are 7" x 7".
Food safe.

Remember her shop is here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/augustmoonart  She has many more beautiful and different pieces. Check them out!