After a bit of trial and error, I’ve finally narrowed in on an all-nature, DIY face wash that I’m loving. It contains honey + a number of other ingredients that combine to create a gentle exfoliation for your skin without a sticky mess. Seriously!
For how easy it is to do, I don’t make homemade ice cream enough. I’m blaming it on all of the good ice cream shops in town… and the forethought required to put the ice cream maker in the freezer. Continue reading
It’s flower season!
Edible flowers are such a beautiful and tasty ingredient. Below is a roundup of past posts that highlighted the use of flowers in the kitchen.
Chive Blossom Fritters (look at that bee bum!)
Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing & Rose Petals
As soon as we picked eggs as our ingredient of the season, I knew that I wanted to try out a few cocktails that include egg whites. These are recipes that I’ve seen all over the web, on fancy bar menus, and well-curated Instagram photos, but, there was no way that I could bring myself to taste one. Until now. Continue reading
Have you tried aromatherapy? Aromatherapy is the process of using plant parts or aromatic plant oils (think essential oils) to improve psychological or physical well-being.
There’s a growing body of evidence that some uses of aromatherapy have measurable success rates. In this post, we are particularly interested in using aromatherapy to improve sleep, and we’ll share a super simple potion with you below.
It’s been almost two years since we shared a room spray, which is surprising because these are so easy to make and do a fantastic job of freshening up a room without any of the overbearing artificial fragrances found in many store-bought sprays.
Whereas the rosemary and peppermint created an energizing combination, the lavender and vanilla combination in this spray provides a calming aroma. I added some fir balsam to this spray because I wanted something a little more complex. The fir balsam essential oil does a great job of bringing some of the outdoors in when it’s still a touch too cold to have the windows open here in the mountains.
To further enhance the vanilla aroma of the spray, I used our vanilla-infused vodka for the alcohol.
Pour everything into the bottle, give it a good shake, and spray away! You will have to shake it before every use. Really, it’s that simple!
And as we mentioned in the previous room spray post:
I have to admit, it wasn’t my idea to create a floral-scented lip balm, as I often shy away from flowery smells in favor of something spicy. Our sister Kristin suggested it, and then I smelled the rose essential oil, and well, now I’m hooked. And what perfect timing, because this is yet another way (in addition to our rose tea, cake, and jam) to give someone flowers for Valentine’s Day without actually buying the bouquet.
Since this is the first lip balm recipe that we’re sharing on the blog, it’s a little long-winded as I provide some general information about both the ingredients and tools needed to make lip balm at home.
We’re celebrating Pollinator Week around here with a series of pollinator-related posts. When you grab a bottle of bug spray, I’m guessing that “pollinator” is not the first word that you think of, instead, it’s likely “mosquito” “f-ing mosquitos”. Am I right? But guess, what?! Mosquitos are pollinators!
Pollination aside, we will never grow to love the pesky mosquitos, ticks, and fleas. Today we’re sharing a natural, non-toxic bug spray. I find that this works well when the mosquito populations aren’t too high, but I admit, there are still times, particularly in the swampy waters at the shore, that I have to use something containing DEET. What this spray lacks in DEET, it makes up for in its beautiful scent, and in the ability to personalize (there are so many mixing options below!).
