Homemade Chamomile Oil

I was hoping to get around to making more herbal oils this year, but I haven't really had the time {although I suppose there is a little while yet!}. The one I did get around to making was chamomile oil.

Chamomile oil is great for putting in a bath or massaged in for sore muscles or to sooth dry and irritated skin; it also makes a great hair treatment oil by rubbing into the hair before washing, leaving the hair shiny and soft.

I used the good old fashioned cold method, which is good if you are using the oil for topical purposes only. So below is a little recipe on how to make your own chamomile herbal oil:

Chamomile Herbal Oil

Freshly harvested Chamomile flowers {for this batch I used Double Chamomile}
A good quality carrier oil, enough to cover all the flowers {for this I used olive oil, but almond, jojoba, or another longer lasting oil would do}
A clean glass jar with tight lid

Place oil and flowers in the jar, making sure that the lid is completely closed. Leave on a sunny window sill for about 30 days. Shake jar gently every day. Once ready, you can either filter the the flowers out with cheese cloth or leave them in, putting the oil into a clear dark jar/bottle. Store in a cool dry place. It should last a year or two.

Sláinte!

Laurel

LOLZ

This happened at a Tim Horton's right next door to me:

Donuts for dope

By Kate Adams
BayToday.ca
Thursday, August 27, 2009
North Bay Police Service
News Release

********************

On the 27th of Aug. shortly before 1 AM it is alleged that a patron went to the drive thru of a local coffee shop on Trout Lake Rd. and offered to trade some marijuana for donuts.

Check out the rest of the article here for a good giggle.

I guess this is a case where someone shouldn't use their own product. In all seriousness though, decriminalize it already!

Sláinte!

Laurel

Petition to the UN to Save Tara

TaraWatch has created a petition to urge the UN to step in and save the Hill of Tara. They are hoping to get 1 million signatures by December 31, 2009.

Please take a moment to sign the petition and spread the info amongst others who care about sacred and heritage sites of the Ancestors! You can find the petition here.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Interview with a Village Witch {and See Her at Work, Too!}

Over at the Cornish Traditional Witchcraft blog you can see a video of a great interview with Cassandra Latham, Village Witch of St. Buryan, Kernow. Throughout the video she also goes through the steps of collecting the ingredients and making a talisman for one of her clients.

Have a look here.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Folk Magic: A New Etsy Treasury!

I just made an Etsy Treasury entitled Folk Magic. Here are some screen shots of it:

And here is each individual listing:

Earth Medicine from My Grandmother's Hands

Spirit Box from FGBBackroom

Hearth Broom from Broomchick

Arilda & Edvard from The Well & Spindle

Raccoon Baculum Talisman from Beloved & Co.

Half Pound Scullcap from Vermorlian

Witch Bottle Print from The Hermitage

Graveyard Dirt from The Hoodoo Shop

Good Health Haindpainted Hex Medallion from Hex Kittens Designs

Large Lodestone from Ladysmantle & Lodestone

Small Ash Wand from mazedasastoat

Bottle of Bones from Orpheus Alchemy

Prosperity Beeswax Candles from Moonlit Herbals

St. John's Hand from Forest Grove Botanicals

Chamomile Flowers in Glass Vial from The Whimsical Witch

3 Magical Notebooks from celestefrittata

Until Wednesday August 26th you can see the Treasury here.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: 1800's Sleighbells from Prairie Antiques

1800's sleighbells from Prairie Antiques

Prairie Antiques is a delightful Etsy shop that sells "primitive goods & needful things". Here are a few more luverlies from the shop:

Barn wood peg rack

Antique wood spice cupboard

Vintage farm mixing bowl

Rusty coffee mill grinder

Flour sack towel with 'hard times' coffee recipe

Early 20th century wood egg carrier with paper mache eggs

The Birth of the Term 'Folklore'

Today is the anniversary of the term 'folklore'. Pretty exciting stuff for nerds like me! ;)

There is a great post over at Dark Dorset about the history of the word, as well as info about different types of folklore. Check it out here.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Another Photo Update from the Garden

Just another quick update of how things around the garden are looking. We have some more ripe nightshade toms (yay!), we had surprise chamomile show up in our poppy pot, the bush nasturtiums are blooming, and so are the peas, pole beans and bush beans. Enjoy!

Sláinte!

Laurel

A Fantastic Homesteading Article

The better half directed me to this fantastic article on homesteading called A Realistic Plan and Time Line for Your Survival Homestead by Todd Detzel over at the Oil Drum blog. It is a pretty comprehensive essay, and will likely burst the bubbles of dreamy types (like me!).

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: Sebright Chicken

Golden Sebright rooster from monkeywing

The Sebright is a British chicken that was developed in the early 19th century for ornamental purposes. They are bantams that come in either gold, buff or silver colours.

They are not much use for a meat chicken, and their eggs are pretty tiny, but they sure are pretty. Apparently they are quite friendly, flighty and a pretty hard to raise. They might be great to have around to scratch and fertilize the garden and help control insect pests for folks who are experienced with cluckers.

Silver Sebright hen from Mark Robinson

Down on the Farm....

Last week I went to visit Locavore producer Donna, to visit and help out a bit at her Nature Balance Farm.

Donna's farm is 156 acres and has been in her family for over 100 years. Her farm is gorgeous, as you will see in the photos below, and she likes to keep it that way by using only sustainable farming practices.

As soon as I got to the farm, I started taking photos, and this is the view that I was greeted with:

A beautiful old barn (!!!)

In this garden she grows broccoli, a slew of different greens, onions, beets, beans, and herbs

A detail of her interesting companion planting scheme

Not too long after I got to the farm, Jessie the 'guard dog' came to check me out...

The eyes of a killer puppy!

Me getting 'attacked' by Jessie

Being the hardy soul that I am, I recovered quickly from the barrage of licks and tail wags that I got from the vicious farm dog, and I was put to work harvesting garlic. Donna grows two hardnecked varieties of garlic (porcelain and Russian red giant).

You've gotta make sure that you do a good job with a vicious farm dog supervising you! ;)

Unfortuantely the day went by too quickly and I eventually had to get back into 'city slicker' mode. Jessie was sure to see me off and took it as an opportunity to further demonstrate how skeery she is as you can see from her aggressive body language...

Sláinte!

Laurel