Herbs Archives - Page 2 of 2

Everybody loves lavender, don’t they? Do you know anyone who doesn’t?

Last month I wrote an article about the gifts my granddaughter and I made for her teachers. You can find that article here.

Bundle of lavender — A bundle of lavender and wheat. Picture courtesy of
Prairie Lavender Farm.

In that article I told you I would go over the herbs we used in those gifts.

I thought I’d start by telling you some of the awesome benefits of lavender, a very old and well loved flower/herb.

Here’s just a few of the benefits everybody should know about this beautiful flower.

Everybody knows lavender for its beautiful scent and relaxing qualities. It’s said to relieve stress, lift moods and relieve the agitation that comes with dementia. I wish I had known that years ago.

Germany actually has patented a product called Silean that’s been shown to be as effective as Ativan in helping adults diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorders.

A drying rack full of lavender — Drying lavender. You can only imagine how lovely that lavender smells. Picture courtesy of
Prairie Lavender Farm.

Another study showed when the essential oils were used in nursing homes and was shown to decrease falls. Now that’s pretty cool, says the old lady writing the article.

All these things have long been Lavender’s claim to fame.

But did you know, there’s a lot more uses for lavender and some you might not have thought or heard of before.

It’s good when it’s used as an antiseptic and antimicrobial. Both of which help prevent infections and decrease pain.

I’ve used the essential oil to relieve a minor burn I got from pulling something out of the oven. I read about that somewhere and decided to give it a try and was shocked at how well it worked.

A few days later I read a little more on the subject and found out it promotes tissue healing too.

Lavender with a bee. — A bee and his lavender flowers. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Then I found this study that showed that kids who had their tonsils taken out took less Tylenol (or its equivalent) when they inhaled lavender essential oils after surgery. That’s pretty awesome, cause I know how bad that hurts.
**(“Evaluation of the Effect of Aromatherapy with Lavender Essential Oil on Post-tonsillectomy Pain in Pediatric Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology 77, no. 9 (2013): doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.07.014 )

Rows of lavender — Beautiful rows of lavender. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Lavender’s considered a warming herb which means it makes a great tea when you’re a little under the weather and have a bit of a chill.

And on top of everything else it can help promote digestion. Who knew!!

And here’s a little history.

Did you know Cleopatra was said to have used lavender as one of her secret weapons for seduction? It seemed to have worked on Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar.

Lavender with a butterfly — Looks like a sweet meal. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

And at one time, the sprigs were hung in doorways to protect against evil spirits. And added to baths to drive evil spirits and demons away from cranky kids, then used to rejuvenate adults (probably after giving those cranky kids a bath and putting them to bed).

There’s one more thing it’s good for.

Lavender is an edible flower and there are a ton of recipes out there, which is great since it’s so good for digestion.

Dried lavender flowers — Dried lavender. Great for teas and cooking.

What I love most and make regularly, is my most favorite way of using lavender and that’s in a loose leaf tea.

I use it together with a lot of different herbs but what I mix it with most is lemon balm tea. 3 parts lemon balm and 2 parts lavender is the best.

It doesn’t only smell divine but it tastes great.

So, the next time you need to kick back and relax, grab a cup of lavender tea. Enjoy the warm feeling it gives you and its lovely scent.

Enjoy these small things a little more.

Chairs in the shade under a tree — A lovely place to relax. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Remember to use organic UNSPRAYED herbs or flowers of any kind for whatever your using. You want to put the best quality products in and on your body that you can afford.

If you’ve tried anything lavender, let me know how it worked out for you and what you loved about it. I’d really like to know.

I want to thank Prairie Lavender Farms for letting me use the beautiful pictures taken on their farm. Please visit them online here and if you live nearby, I hope you can get by to see them in person.

Until next time…

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

My grand-daughter is in kindergarten this year and she LOVES school!! Makes me so happy. I know it probably won’t last, but a grandma can wish, can’t she? Anyway, I thought it would be kinda cool if she could make presents for her teachers.

I have to admit, as easy as it was to put this together, it is kinda girly. She also has 2 male teachers. I haven’t yet come up with what to get or make for them, but I’m working on it and I’ll let you know what I come up with.

So this year, we made sachets and bath tea bags for the lady teachers. Just guessing the guys may not enjoys these so much. I bought pretty bags for the sachets and I have small muslin bags I bought several months back for a “just in case I need them” kinda thing.

So I went to our local organic store and bought several different herbs. I bought lavender, catnip, orange peel, rose petals, chamomile and red clover.

I’ll tell you how we combined the herbs and in the coming weeks, I’ll go over each herb and tell you the reasons why I chose each one.

Sachets

I found these bags in the wedding craft section of Wal Mart and had way more than I needed. That’ll leave me some for another project some time. I like that kind of excess.

For the Sachets, I used lavender, rose petals and orange peel. I loved the colors, the combination of the smell and the different types of textures each showed through the bags.

First I poured the herbs in red plastic cups so my grand-daughter could spoon the different herbs from them easier.

I held the bags for her and had her use a plastic teaspoon, putting 3 spoonfuls of each of the herbs lavender, orange peal and rose petals into each bag. That didn’t fill up them completely but made it a nice each size.

Now you have to realize some spoonfuls were way bigger than others. I tried to keep it pretty even, but sometimes, it was “just good enough”.

Every time we finished one, she was very proud. She couldn’t believe how good it smelled. I was a little shocked myself. I wasn’t sure if I would need to add essential oils or not, but truly it wasn’t necessary.

I put each one in a plastic baggie to help contain the scent, for one because it’s so long until Christmas/Yule and for another, it’s just so strong!! I think they turned out great.

Bath Tea Bags

Next we did this bath tea bags. These are made to put into your tub to steep, just like tea, and then soak in them.

Did you know you can soak in the goodness of the herbs through your skin and get good out of it just like drinking the tea? Well, it’s true. You can drop these tea bags into your bath and get the same goodness as if you drank it.

For these I used chamomile, red clover and catnip. These herbs help support relaxation and are good “for what ails you”.

These were just a little smaller than the other bags and a little harder for a 5 year old to get the spoon in, so I actually did most of these.

I have to admit by this time she’s had enough too. They can only sit still for so long. We made 10 of the sachets and 10 of these.

Now she’s worried we’ll forget her guy teachers. I’ve assured her we won’t. Now I just have to come up with something just as cleaver for them as we did for the ladies.

I bought some of these bags at Mountain Rose Herb and I’ve also gotten some of these from Bramble Berry. Both places have great things for different purposes.

When buying herbs, make sure you are buying from a place you trust, whether that’s a brick and mortar or an online store. I have sources for both and trust them, using them over and over.

So let me know what you think. Have you done something similar? If so, let me know what you did different. Leave pictures and links in the comments so we can see your creations too. I know I’d love to see them.

Keep a watch out for future posts on each of the herbs used in this project. I’ll explain why I chose them and how they can support you.

Until next time….

Health Wealth & Blessings ~Tracey~

Tag: Herbs

For The Love of Lavender