I am so lucky to have some awesome neighbors. One of whom is S, age 7, and she knows her herbs. As in, I have a ton to learn from her.
She came over last weekend for a few hours. We harvested things from my garden - including lavender, chamomile, sage, lemon balm, yarrow, echinacea, sassafras, rose petals, plantain leaves and mint. She brought over her essential oils and ingredients to make soap.
We had three hours of whirling, unbridled time making things. Things like an herbal foot soak, sassafras and chamomile/lavender soaps, aromatherapy sprays, a yarrow tincture, liquid soaps, bath bags and boo-boo balm. All of the recipes and ideas, except the boo-boo balm, came from S.
Spilling over with infectious enthusiasm, some of my favorite quotes from S - "I feel like a queen when I do this!" and "Sometimes, this is *all* I can think about!"
I know. I know!!
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I have three recipes to share from our morning together:
Herbal bath bags. (These smell insanely wonderful - they were S's idea.)
Calming Bath Bag (Place all of the ingredients in cheese cloth bags. You are done.)
1/2 cup chamomile flowers
1/3 cup lavender buds
3 drops of lavender oil
Refreshing Bath Bag
1\3 cup mint leaves
1\7 cup lemon rind
1 drop lemongrass oil
2 drops tangerine oil
Boo-Boo Balm (From The Herb Quarterly.)
Pick 10 juicy plantain leaves.
Allow them to dry for a few days.
Place them in a glass jar with one cup of olive oil, with a (breathable) cheese cloth lid, for a week. Stir every day.
Remove leaves and put oil, with 1-2 oz. grated beeswax, into a saucepan. Wait until all is melted and place in clean, glass jars. Use on any skin irritations, cuts, bug bites, diaper rash, etc.
3 comments:
what an amazing 7 year old!
Isn't it wonderful when we open ourselves to the wisdom of the young? Your young friend sounds like a very gifted herbalist and a great person to know!
So cool! Can we have a playdate and she teach Edie how to make soap? It's her new goal of the summer - to learn to make soap.
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