Connecting with Nature

Have you ever used Essential Oils? I mean 100% pure essential oils? Not lotion that says it contains natural essential extracts or oils, but the REAL THING?

Essential Oils make me feel connected to nature, like nothing else does.   I take a deep breath; I really take it in, filling up all my senses and if I close my eyes it feels like.....

Cypress.... a walk in the forest on a crisp fall day
Lavender.....  I'm walking through a beautiful lavender field I recall we visited a Lavender farm in Maui years ago
Wild Orange......... I have a freshly squeezed glass of orange juice in my hand ready to devour
Citrus Bliss.........a reminder of the first Orange Julius I ever tasted - amazingly delicious

Taking in pure essential oils does this to us because the second we breath in the oils, our olifactory sensors are triggered.  The olifactory scensors then transmitt signals to the brain in different areas, but most important to note is that many are sent to the limbic system.  The limic system is connected to our memory and emotional behaviors.  THIS is why when we take scents in through our nose we REMEMBER positive or negative experiences.  I'm sure if you close your eyes you can think of at least one aroma that triggers a positive and negative response for you.   What is your most prominent memory that comes to your mind that is associated with a smell/aroma?
Mine is this:
Brand new crisp bills. Yes, money.  Why?  When I am handed a brand new bill from a bank teller or someone handing me change- I can tell from the feel of it that it's likely very new and then I am drawn to immediately take it to my nose and close my eyes! It's like a instant reaction and I'm looking for a smell because I've smelled it before and I know how good I feel when I get to take in that aroma again!  Again, WHY?  Because, when I was a little girl, no more than 5, my mother use to read to us at night and one day my mother brought out a brand new BOOK. The book was a large, thick, pretty book - Winnie-the-Pooh!  My sister and I were thrilled and we loved it when my mother would read to us out of this book.  Everyone loves to be read to when they are a child.  What I remember most is the SMELL of those brand new pages of printed paper; with the turn of each page I could smell that new paper smell.  Maybe it's the smell of fresh in on paper or it's the paper itself, I don't know.  I do know that the first time I smelled a brand new dollar bill as a adult somewhere, it triggered this memory and now I almost look for the opportunity to trigger this good feeling by smelling new paper!  When I take that in, close my eyes, I see the cover of that book; I see my mother reading to us and I love where it takes me!
Appreciate and enjoy those aromas when YOU take them in- savor it!

Homemade Granola

As far as I'm concerned, there is no lovelier aroma than any of about a 1/2 dozen of my favorite essential oils difussing in my home, with ONE exception; I love the smell in my kitchen when I'm making homemade granola!  I think it's even better than chocolate chip cookies!  I made some this morning and I'm getting ready to top my favorite yogurt with it right now!  

Homemade Granola

I am happy to share my granola recipe with you which I remember fondly coming from a Bed and Breakfast in California about 15 years ago when I visited there for a weekend. 

When I stayed there on a girls only trip with my very best friend, we just couldn't believe how amazing this granola was- served warm out of the oven with just a little milk over it.  The chef shared the recipe with us then and I'm so grateful because I've made it many, many times since and I still think it's the best I've ever eaten!  I'm sure a lot of granola recipes are similar, but this one really brings back the memory of that weekend many years ago. 

Here is the recipe:

GRANOLA:

Hand toss all these in a large bowl:

6 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking)

1 cup coconut (unsweetened or sweetened)

1/3 cup raw seasame seeds

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 cup raw chopped cashews

1 cup raw chopped pecans

MIX: 

In a small bowl, mix these liquid ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (canola, olive, whatever you like)

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup raw honey

1 1/2 T pure vanilla extract

BLEND:

Pour the blended liquid ingredients into the bowl of oats/nuts and stir well until everything is coated.

Spread mixture out in 2 13x9 pans or large sheet pans with 1" edge.  It shouldn't be too deep or it

will take longer to bake, about 1" deep in the pan you're baking in is good. 

Bake at 325 F for 20-30 minutes, checking every 10 minutes at the beginning to toss as it's browning

and check every 5 minutes towards the end so it doesn't burn.  Add dried fruit of your choice (optional); I like dried cranberries or dried cherries!  Cool completely before storing.  Freezes nicely for about 2 months. 

ENJOY!

The Benefits of Honey: A Remedy for Sore Throats, Wound Care and More

Here is a great article about HONEY! I love love love local honey and try
to purchase it and store for the winter every summer! I'll have to look
into this New Zealand’s Manuka honey now!

The Benefits of Honey: A Remedy for Sore Throats, Wound Care and More

Strawberries, Raspberries and Currants!

Aren't these beautiful?  I just picked them in my yard and I can't wait to JUICE!  I don't know if they will make it all the way to the juicer - I can't stop nibbling on them!  Everyone's gardens here this summer have been very slow (too much rain and it didn't get hot enough until about two weeks ago), but it didn't seem to affect my berries!
Any suggestions on what to do with the rest of my currants?  I was thinking of making scones!

Classes coming up in Woodland, CA - July 21st

Mark your calenders and take a peak at the classes offered in Northern Ca. in July!  I'm so excited to travel to the Sacramento area to share more about Essential Oils and what a great impact they have made in my life and the lives of so many others!  Join us and feel free to bring friends! We'll have some great take home/handouts and samples plus drawings at each event!  Just let us know you're coming by sending a rsvp to essentialoils4u@hotmail.com.

Here is the Flyer for the Classes on Thursday, July 21st and below it -the class on July 23rd:

Johnson's Baby Lotion - Some of the Bad

I purchased some Johnson's Baby Lotion a few months ago thinking it might be one of the mildest lotions on the market; afterall, it's in the baby product aisle in the markets.  My daughter's skin is a little sensitive the last few years so we've been searching for the perfect after-shower lotion.  We've tried the ones her pediatrician recommended, but were not that pleased, so I thought we'd go for simple.  I mean, this is suppose to be lotion for BABIES right? So, after using it a few times, we decided we didn't love it either, but in midst of using it one day, I looked at the labeling.  I was surprised and recently took to the internet again to check it out on the safecostmetics.org site to see how it rated.  Here are the results:

Not impressive at all.  In fact, a score of "6" sounds bad in light of the fact that I know this is a average of the individual ingredients found in the lotion, which means many ingredients are higher than a 6!
Garbage pail, here comes more toxins!!
This was about the time I started experimenting with making our own lotions with natural butters and oils.  See more about our experiments and what we use today under Handmade Lotions coming soon.

Neutrogena Body Oil - some of the bad

So, here again, I'm checking out the ingredients of one of my favorite shower products and saddened to see the results.

This was a product I would regularly use before I'd step out of the shower for added moisture and a silky feeling before towel drying my skin.
My favorite site for checking out ingredients is the http://safecosmetics.org/ site. 




What I found was that the Body Oil shown here rated a overall score of "4".  This is not too bad in my opinion,



However, there are individual ingredients that do trouble me, rating much higher. 

Here are the results of the ingredients IN the product that rate quite high.  The Sesame Seed Oil is lower on the chart, rating a -0- which is GREAT, but between the scores of these "bad" ingredients and the oil at -0-, it makes the average score of 4 seem not so bad, right? 

Tossing this one out.  I love the feel of the oil, but I'm headed out to buy pure sesame seed oil and maybe mix it with Fractionated Coconut Oil and a little of my own Essential oil and I'm betting it will be cheaper too! No synthetic fragrances, no chemicals needed in a simple after shower oil!