Herbalism with a Rock Star Herbalist

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.

Making Stuff, Eating Stuff

Garlic scapes from our vegetable patch (top photo) - sauteed in a little butter with Red Russian Kale.

Sun tea, made with Barry's Irish Tea and lemon balm from the garden. Brewed for about four hours in the blazing Virginia sun. A satisfying way to harness solar energy during those heat advisory days!

Almond oil facial moisturizer with chamomile and roses (also from the garden). I covered the just-picked buds with sweet almond oil and a few capsules of vitamin E. Then, I covered the mason jar with muslin and will let it sit for a week or so, stirring every day.

A sweet friend, Sylvia (age 7/almost 8!), has been making us the most delicious botanical lotions. Willa and I have been fighting over the newest one - jasmine and coconut oil.

Not pictured - but my new go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies, from David Lebovitz.

I have been dreaming about lobster rolls lately and want to find this truck next time we are in NYC.

Purples and Blues

I am finally starting to have the perennial/cottage/flower garden I want. A bit more shade is definitely in need, but we are working on that.

Right now, my favorite spring blues are all around. Speedwell paired with rustic fencing; Love-In-A-Mist with an old plate birdbath; an Endless Wonder hydrangea; 'May Night' salvia; and my blue garden bench among the Japanese maples. The blues are going to be offset with roses, daylilies of all varying shades of pink and yellow, glossy abelia and rose coreopsis. Some daisies still need to be planted, as well as hollyhock and elderberry.

I keep visiting Circa - to find the perfect garden dining set and have been thinking of committing to one in particular. But, we'll see.

Also:

I just bought one of these pocket watch pendants. So nostalgic and useful - all-in-one. I feel a tad like a school marm, but what the hell. It isn't a stretch.

Strawberry-rhubarb crumble and rhubarb buckle. Anytime or all the time. {These recipes are from Allison Fishman's website - we went to school together and she has a new book out - You Can Trust A Skinny Cook!}

Homemade facial scrub. Infinitely better than anything I have bought at the store. I used sweet almond oil, sugar, raw honey and a few drops of chamomile essential oil for my more sensitive skin. This stuff is the bomb - my skin was exfoliated but I didn't need to use moisturizer afterward. So efficient!

Another thing I am coveting these days is the Headache Stick from Blue Ridge Gypsy Studio - made especially for Meadowbrook Pharmacy (in Charlottesville). It is made with essential oils - and it knocks out a headache when you put a bit on your temples or across your sinuses.

A Bit of Awesomeness : Repurposed Flatware

Must have!

From the top . . .

daisy chestnut
monkeysalwayslook (second and third photo)
RRDesign13
countryfolkheart

Life Outside of the Garden

Every-once-in-a-while I take a break from gardening. I do!

Lately, while the rain has been pattering away outside - making light of my garden chores, I have retreated to my sewing room/studio. My favorite thing right now is gathering up vintage pieces that I have collected and altering them in some way. I am also doing alterations to items from my closet that weren't being worn - and I adjusted them to increase their time in the rotation. Like taking long sleeved tunics and making them into gathered, cap sleeve tunics.

So these designs from YMC of England caught my eye - as I would love to add the details onto simple A-line skirt patterns for my next nighttime 1980's movie/sewing project. Buttons, pockets and pockets with trim. Not too much to tackle, right?

Not allowed to completely forget about the garden, last night I ended up having vivid dreams of our vegetable gardens being ransacked by pests that ate everything. Everything! Some people have nightmares about all of their teeth falling out or arriving to class naked. Me? I dream about garden disappointments and disasters. It could be worse.

New Prints in The Shop!

C'mon over and visit!

Gardener Gift Ideas

I'm blogging over at Virginia Living about the things I want for Christmas.

(And maybe you do, too!)

Window Shopping (Instead of Weeding)

My money diet has been (temporarily) lifted! Here are some things I am loving lately.

Cameo ring from walkonthemoon; Earrings from laralewis; Necklace from Peaches4Me and Dress Side Story from Modcloth.

Fun with Calendula :: A Salve and A Scrub

Calendula, calendula. Nature's answer for my fickle, fair skin. The herb garden is offering up a ton of these golden flowers as-of-late. So I am steeping them in olive oil to make the simple calendula salve. One mason jar for me and another for a friend.

I am going to make a little extra calendula oil to add to my homemade facial scrub. This recipe is The Stuff and has saved me the pretty penny that I used to drop on Kiehl's products. It really exfoliates, but the honey and the oil moisturize, too.

Here's the recipe:

Mix the following:

1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tblsp. calendula olive oil
1 tblsp. honey

Scrub gently into skin and leave on a few minutes. Rinse.

A Peek Into Garden Coaching

I had a truly delightful time visiting with Lotta this past weekend and walking through her gardens. Visit her blog post to learn a little more . . .

Her thoughts make me so happy.

And as if seeing her verdant, history-rich landscape wasn't enough, I had a chance to take my own peek at something :: her studio!

Here's something new that she has been creating as of late - wall art . . . swoon . . . . available at her shop, inleaf.

Get Your Mama Something Nice . . .

Sale over at the shop - visit, browse, what-ever!

A Wee Announcement

"Ethereal" - March 2009

I've been busy with my camera these days, too. And have opened a shop on Etsy - selling some of my photographs (see a glimpse on the Etsy Mini to the right). Some are new and some you will recognize from past posts on Life in Sugar Hollow. Fellow Etsy seller VintageEmbellishment included me in her dreamy Botanical Treasury yesterday - which is super cool.

This is all very exciting for me - I hope you can take a moment to visit my shop and let me know what you think . . . . I would be tickled if you did . . . and most appreciative.

I'll be back out in the garden this weekend. We had a soft, soaking rain yesterday, paired with cool weather. A good mix, I hope, for all my early spring crops and my sweet peas. The willow wattle fencing arrived and I am waiting on some daylilies that were shipped out yesterday . . . oh, the pace of spring . . .

Spring Dreaming :: Etsy Love

Some things that have been inspiring me as of late . . . with hints of flowers, green, nature, spring . . . I snagged the tunic for myself just this morn. To go with my new shoes.

Happy Weekend!! We'll be frolicking outside as much as possible and celebrating our baby's first birthday. And I have crafty-goodness night with girlfriends this evening . . . if I can make it up past 8 p.m. . . .

Cascade Wall Graphic from ellynelly
Blossom from PhotoVita
Stump Path from JoannBristol
Robin's Nest Ring from starrydesigns
Folkloric Deer Tunic with Pockets from maryink

The Perfect Blue Garden Bench :: The Quest

My present blue bench - painted several years ago.

It seems a little too electric for me. Hmmmm.

Blues that inspire me.

And make me ache for a repaint of my bench.

Top photo - Bachelor's button. Bottom photo - Porch railing from Cape May.

And eye-candy from Flickr.

leah_hautermans
susie
pandorea
karins-roses4ever

Mid-Winter in the Hollow

Books, music, seed catalogs, on-line garden visits, live curtains, knitting . . .

While chipping away at the New Classics Challenge, I took a break and gobbled up A Childhood in Scotland by Christian Miller. I wish that it lasted for another 200 pages. I kept the descriptions of the cold, drafty, intriguing life in a castle at arms length by reading in front of our wood stove.

New music from my brother is on constant play on my iPod. Of Montreal, Thievery Corporation and Girl Talk. Making driving to and from work in the wee hours and twilight just a little brighter and that much groovier.

My mom sent me a newspaper clipping on Blithewold - an estate and garden up in Bristol, Rhode Island. Take a visit, think summer, smell the salty air.

White Flower Farm and Johnny's Selected Seeds catalogs braved the January chill and landed in my mailbox last week. They break up the gray days nicely.

Birds!! Our feeders finally fell onto the radar of what seem like busloads of chickadees, titmice, red and gold finches, cardinals and juncos. They flutter around our window feeder - much to Willa's delight.

I am working on this knit hat from SouleMama. Yarn overs are new to me - there's been a bit of swearing and unraveling . . . but it is starting to look like something.

And on Friday, a peak at a live curtain I am cultivating in our kitchen area . . . I know! Y'all are on the edge of your seats!

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Iris illustration from the White Flower Farm online catalog.

Hints of Nature in Holiday Gift Ideas

A few favorites: Steph's verdant Boleyn earrings; Lotta's Viburnum clutch; autrefois' garden skirts; Alicia Bock's photography (I actually already own this one!). Support these lovely ladies and avoid the mall madness and mayhem.

Etsy Love :: Pinhole Photography From Sheila

Just for Life in Sugar Hollow readers - Buy *one* print from Sheila's Etsy shop, daisyjellybean, and get a *second* free. Please email her (sheilabocchine@gmail.com) and tell her you read about her photos on Life in Sugar Hollow and she'll send you a second print of your choice for nada! Sweet.

I'll let the ethereal photos and Sheila's explanation of how she captures these images speak for themselves. From Sheila:

"My pinhole camera is lenseless, uses medium format (120) film, is made from teak wood and produces square images. The exposures are longer to compensate for the pinhole, which is why you will see subtle blur and motion in all of my images. Since the world rarely stands still, my pinhole camera captures all the beautiful motion and energy onto the negative, thus resulting with dreamscape-like qualities".

Etsy Love :: Tinyhappy Baby Shoes

Tinyhappy's embroidered shoes are incredible. Made from recycled, vintage materials. Taking baby's feet back to another time and place . . . if only Willa's feet would stop growing at such a clip - so she could wear these for a year or so . . .