Herbal Giveaway from Mountain Rose Herbs

http://mountainroseblog.com/recipes-year-giveaway/

Have you made any recipes from the Antique Remedies Blog? Make your own herbal goodness? Mountain Rose Herbs is where I get a lot of my ingredients. They not only have excellent products and great diversity but they have a well written blog with a lot of recipes and ideas. 


Mountain Rose Herbs is having a great herbal giveaway. Check out the link above and sign up. If you won this great prize package you'd be on your way to making some fabulous products. 

Here’s what the lucky winner will receive…

4oz Mango Butter, CWC

4oz Organic Cocoa Butter

16oz Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

16oz Organic Sunflower Oil

32oz Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

16oz Organic Avocado Oil

1lb Beeswax Pastilles

2oz Vitamin E Oil 

1/2oz Organic Lime Peel Essential Oil

1/2oz Organic Mandarin Essential Oil

1/2oz Organic Nutmeg Essential Oil

1/2oz Organic Peppermint Essential Oil

20 x Clear Lip Balm Tubes

6 x 1/2oz Tins 

If you win, make sure you leave a comment here and let me know what you plan on making! And when you're signing up to win - let them know Antique Remedies sent you :)

And I know I haven't written a post in a long time (sorry!) but as 2011 comes to an end, I'm thinking about New Year's resolutions and one of them will be that I write more posts (and make more products)! 

Sunburn Home Remedy

The Sun - He's not trying to burn you, or is he?

Thanks to my parents and my heritage, I'm blessed with pale skin. Even though I got teased for in as a child in grade school, and once in college (can you believe it?), I've always fully embraced my paleness and take necessary precautions to keep it healthy. I've never been to tanning salons and I don't lay out to tan in the sun (though I love me some Vitamin D and sometimes just sit in the sun to feel it on my face). I pick moisturizers with sunscreen in them and make sure I have some with me on long car trips so I don't get a classy window-arm burn. I even invested in a white button up shirt that has UVA UVB protections in it. Even with all that protection - I still get sunburned! And no one likes a sunburn. They can be just pesky pink burns that go away fast or really severe burns that can leave scars or precancerous moles. Regardless of the kind of burn, they need to be treated.

Aloe is the most common sunburn home remedy. Many people have aloe plants in their homes but if they don't, you can easily buy a tub of it at the store. There is also a product called Solarcaine that people love because it has lidocaine in which makes your skin feel all tingly and cool. I must admit I used to use this all the time, growing up, when I used to go to the city pool everyday during the summer. For a German-Irish girl, I worked up quite the tan - for a 12 year old. But when I look at it these days, I see it has plenty of un-pronounceable ingredients and dyes. So what is a sunburn home remedy that can not only soothe the sunburn but also give it that tingly and calming effect?

Ingredients:
Aloe
Vitamin E oil
Lavender essential oil
Peppermint essential oil

I can't for the life of me find where I got this recipe from! I know I didn't make it up on my own. I thought it was from my absolute favorite home remedy/herb book - but it's not. I will continue searching for it but for now, I promise that when I write recipes down in my notebook I will always notate where the recipe came from! Seeing as how it is the season where women wear sundresses and tank tops and men forget hats and generally forget sunscreen altogether (*I admit to this glaring generalization of men and I apologize to any avid sunscreen users who are male!) -  I can't keep this recipe or product to myself any more.

Get yourself a spray bottle (a smaller 'mister' would be better - see link for example). Fill it about 3/4 of the way full with aloe vera gel (make sure it's pure). Then add just a bit of vitamin e oil. I have a bottle of vitamin e oil with a dropper. I put about two droppers in but if it's easier for you, you can use vitamin e capsules that you can get at any drugstore. Put a hole in it and squeeze out the good part! I'd use about 3 or 4 capsules. Then add your oils. Peppermint is what's going to make your skin feel cool and tingly but it's very strong. Make sure to avoid getting the sunburn remedy in your eyes (ouch!).

Peppermint makes it feel tingly, lavender soothes the sunburn and the aloe treats it. I took this to Florida with me on my vacation and thank goodness I did! My nose is always the first to get burnt, no matter what. And my poor mom burned her legs in a very funky pattern (which we had to laugh at). Lucky for her, I brought this homemade remedy along.

Homemade Insect Repellent

I've heard people say that they must be made out of sugar and that's why biting insects like them so much. And the same with people who never seem to be bitten happen to have vinegar coursing through their veins (what a strange notion!). I'm not exactly sure why some people seem to be more immune to bugs bites than others, but either way, there is always a time and place for insect repellent. But haven't we all heard the scary stories about insect repellent filled with DEET - it causes cancer, it's bad for children, even causing memory dysfunction! Like everything that is presumably unsafe for us but is widely used - there is much debate on both sides. I'm a big proponent of simplifying things if you can, especially when it comes to homemade, natural products. So why not make some homemade insect repellent?

This is my very own recipe. I learned from HerbMentor that Yarrow is an herb that helps repel insects. I happen to have learned this while I was in my excited tincture making phase (phase? What am I talking about? I love making tinctures and I know that I will always have jars of herbs brewing in my house!). I decided to make a yarrow tincture to use as insect repellent. I filled a glass jar half way up with 100 proof vodka (the higher the proof the better, but see this article to help you understand tincture making). I let mine brew for 2 months - but the longer it brews the better.

After I decanted the yarrow tincture I decided I would add some essential oils to it - one, to make it smell less like alcohol and two, many essential oils actually have properties themselves to deter winged insects. I happened to choose citronella, lavender, clove, eucalyptus and a bit of geranium.

If you don't have yarrow or don't have time to mess around with the tincture making process, you may want to try an easier recipe such as this one HERE.

So, does it work? I spent 2 hours in a friend's garden over the weekend (visit the AR Facebook page for pics of what I got from the garden!). We even sat on the ground and talked for at least a half an hour. Luckily we sprayed ourselves as soon as I got there. No bites, on either one of us!

Now, then I got to my house and sat on my front porch as I replanted the herb starts. Apparently I have mutant mosquitoes that live in my bushes on my front lawn. I woke up with 2 pinkish dots - but with no itch! Lesson? Re-apply this spray as often as necessary. It's natural so it won't hurt you and it's not as strong as the store bought DEET infused stuff.

Be sure to check out my Etsy store soon (I'll announce it on a blog post when it is up and running) to load up on products.


Have a safe and fun bug-filled season!