Herb Lady Advice
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Dear Herb Lady: My hands are so dry during the winter months. How do I prevent cracks in my fingers. They are so painful.
Herb Lady Response to dry skin on hands: Use this simple sugar scrub to exfoliate your hands as you wash them. By removing the dead callused skin from your hands, it will be easier to moisturize the dry skin on your fingers. This treatment will leave your hands soft and smooth.
Chocolate Walnut Sugar Polish for Dry Hands
Exfoliate each time you wash your hands with this all natural scrub for healthy, glowing hands. Remove dead skin cells and moisturize your skin with this easy treatment.
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 Tablespoon finely chopped walnuts
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
Mix all dry ingredients together. All oil and mix well.
Directions for use:Use about one teaspoon of this mixture each time you wash your hands. Scrub over all callused and dry areas. Rinse and dry.
Herb Lady Response to cracks in fingers:
To treat cracks in the fingers: put a small amount of shea butter on the opening in the skin. Cover with a bandaid and leave overnight. Usually this will heal overnight. To treat painful openings in the skin try a few drops of lavender essential oil.
Dear Herb Lady: I have heard the scent of grapefruit makes you appear 6 years younger. How do I use grapefruit essential oil?
Herb Lady Response to Grapefruit: Yes, research has shown that the scent of grapefruit makes one appear younger. Villlage Herb shop carries pink grapefruit essential oil and this can be used in many ways: reed diffuser, room spray, bath salts. Here are some facts about grapefruit essential oil from EO who makes a grapefruit and mint shower gel.
Pure Grapefruit Essential Oil
While grapefruit is undoubtedly a popular food, grapefruit essential oil offers incredible health and well-being benefits. Grapefruit oil (Citrus Paradisi) is a refreshing and revitalizing essential oil that can help boost the body's feelings of energy and happiness.Grapefruit essential oil is extracted from the peel of the fruit using cold extraction.
Grapefruit Essential Oil Grapefruit is native to the tropical regions of Asia, and is said to have been brought to European regions by medieval Arab traders.
Grapefruit oil can promote skin clarity and support those suffering from acne and oily skin issues. With its powerful vitamin C and citrus components, grapefruit oil can help alleviate the skin's over-production of oil, helping to dry out greasy areas of both the face and the scalp.
Did you know many herbs contain essential oils that naturally discourage moths and insects? The herbs bay, thyme, lavender, rosemary, santolina, wormwood, southernwood, tansy, sage and cedar chase insects away. Use our simple hints below to remove moths from your home safely without chemicals or poisons.
Herb Lady Hint:
- Remove food, dog food or birdseed that contains the moths and larva.
- Clean all areas with herbal vinegar. In a glass jar mix one cup of moth chasing fresh herbs in 3 cups white vinegar. Steep for one week and strain.
- Use all natural moth traps to catch any remaining moths in areas where moths were seen (available at the Herb Shop)
- Put bags of closet mix in the area.
We create our own Village Herb Shop herbal moth chaser sachet mixes, closet sprays and matching refresher oils. We offer Lavender Cedar, Bayberry Balsam, Moth Chaser (spicy cinnamon/sandalwood scent) and Dream Pillow (light rose) scents for$2.95 per cup. Herbal closet mixes absorb odors and give a fresh scent to closets, trunks, drawers, lockers, cars, shoes, linens and blankets. Place 1/4 cup of mix in an old hanky or 12 inch square of fabric. Or purchase our muslin bags at 50 cents each to contain the mix. Hang the bags in rooms to dispel musty or unwanted odors. Use our closet sprays for instant scent and our refresher oil when fragrance fades.
What can I do to prevent dry, flaking skin in the winter?
Herb Lady Hint:
The low humidity in winter air depletes the moisture in your skin. This leaves the uppermost skin cells without enough moisture to keep them healthy. The result is itching, peeling and scaling of dead skin. First I suggest increasing the humidity in the air of your home. Simmering spices on the stove add moisture and freshen a room with delightful aromatherapy scents. Use a glycerin or olive oil base soap because they have fewer chemicals and are less drying. Next, remove dead skin cells by exfoliating with a textured soap or a salt scrub. Make your own salt scrub with my favorite recipe. Your skin will feel great and be soft and supple!
Exfoliating Salt Scrub Recipe:
Combine one cup fine grind sea salt and 1 cup almond oil with 30 drops lavender essential oil for stress relief and 30 drops lemongrass oil for invigorating the mind. Shake to mix.
Directions:
After bathing while skin is still wet and you are still in the tub, use one tablespoon to gently massage skin. Avoid sensitive areas. Rinse well. Pat dry and lock in moisture with your favorite body lotion. Lavender lotion will effectively heal and moisturize dry winter skin. (All supplies available at the Village Herb Shop)
Dear Sweet Cicley,
This cold has affected my brain, as I've looked in every pile I have to find your recipe for relieving the symptoms of congestion. I remember reading in a past newsletter about a mist to make using eucalyptus. Please help, so I can come visit the shop & smell the fall aromas!
Herb Lady Hint:
Dear Sue:
We are featuring our Anti-Viral Eucalyptus spray this month at the Village Herb Shop. Here is the recipe:
- 30 drops eucalyptus essential oil
- 4 ounces distilled water
Put both in a fine mist spray bottle and shake well before using. Eucalyptus oil kills airborne viruses and clears the sinus passages. Use the mist often when feeling congested or when exposed to colds and viruses. Keep a bottle handy to spray on pillow, hands, phone in the office or car.
I've just recently visited your shop and bought some lavender, which I'd like to use to bake some cookies with. Do you know of a simple recipe for cookies using butter and lavender? I'm always looking for new recipes!
Herb Lady Hint:
Here is a good lavender cookie recipe. Remember to always use the lavender flowers in cooking and not the foliage. The lavender flowers or buds should always be grown and harvested from your own garden or purchased as organic. Do not use lavender intended for potpourri.
We sell a large selection of lavender plants at the herb shop. When choosing lavender for cooking the angustifolia is the best: munsted, hidcote. The lavendins: provence are usually too floral and taste wrong in food.
Too much lavender in cooking makes food taste like soap. Use a light hand and a scant amount of lavender in cooking. Lavender tastes good with cakes and cookies, fruits especially peaches and lemons, lemonade, and light meats like chicken.
We sell organic lavender for cooking at the Herb Shop if you do not grow enough yourself.
Here is my favorite lavender cookie recipe: It is my mother's Boston drop cookie recipe and combines well with other herbs also.
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar and lavender until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat until fluffy and add vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and mix into creamed mixture. Drop by small teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6 to eight minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Do not over cook. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes and transfer to cake rack to cool. Cookies freeze well between layers of waxed paper.
We will serve lavender cookies at our Fairy Festival week in June. Lavender is one of the fairies favorite plants!
When should I plant my basil?
Basil plants need a soil temperature of 70 degrees to flourish. The soil temperature will be warm enough when the night temperature is over 50 degrees for one week. This usually happens after Memorial Day on Cleveland’s north coast. If the soil temperature is too cold basil is subject to stem rot and will mysteriously wilt and die.
Herb Lady Hint:
Plant six basil plants for enough basil for a family of four.
How can I get my basil to grow 3 to four feet tall as mentioned in the herb books?
Basil is a heavy ground feeder and prefers a basic soil. When preparing your soilfor basil plants add one cup of lime and one cup of bone meal. Mix in well. Continue to add one tablespoon of lime per basil plant each month throughout the growing season. Basil responds well to extra fertilizing especially when grown in containers. Every two weeks add one tablespoon of Plant Tone Organic fertilizer and mix in around each plant. Stand back and watch your basil grow!
Herb Lady Hint:
Most herbs do not require fertilizer and will actually have less flavor with too much fertilization.
When should I harvest my basil?
Basil is an annual herb and should be prevented from flowering. A flower will form on the basil after six leaf axis. Prevent flowering of basil by harvesting all growing tips just before the sixth leaf axis forms.
Herb Lady Hint:
Plant your basil close at hand and you will use it more and keep the flowers pinched more often.
How do I keep the slugs off the basil?
Did you ever plant your basil one day only to go to the garden the next day and find all of your basil gone? Usually this is due to slugs. Some remedies to try include: surround your basil plants with copper flashing or pennies, use copper markers in the garden. Copper causes a slight electrical shock when combined with the slime of the slugs so they stay away. Or: plant your basil in a soiless mix in pots and keep it on your deck away from the slugs.
Roses in December
How do you get such beautiful roses to bloom in December?
Herb Lady Hint:
Many customers enjoyed the gorgeous pink roses cascading over the porch railing through the whole month of December. Our roses enjoyed the mild fall this year and benefited from our organic rose care from early spring to late fall. The result was continuously blooming roses with disease free foliage.
If you meet the needs of roses you can achieve the same results in your garden. First, choose only disease resistant roses for your garden. Roses are heavy feeders and must be fed once a month from April to November. We use 1/4 cup of bonemeal in March and 1/2 cup per rose of organic Rosetone brand food per month. Both products are available at the Herb Shop. In the spring and fall the roses are mulched heavily with compost. We use no chemical sprays. We prune when new sprouts show in March or April. Light pruning of unruly branches can be done in the fall.
When will the Herb Plants Arrive?
Many customers ask when we will receive our herb plants and have them for sale? We will order, weather permitting, the hardier varieties such as lavender, rosemary, sage, santolina in early to mid-April. Since we do not have a green house, all of our plants are seasoned-off and ready to plant when we have them for sale. More tender varieties such as lemon balm and mint will be available in late April with the most tender varieties such as basil arriving in early May. New herbs are delivered every week. Our organic and unusual herb selections will be delivered weekly on Thursdays beginning in early May or late April. Look for our organic and unusual selections on their own disply located on the gravel patio in the herb garden. We will be happy to take your herb plant requests anytime and call you when your favorite plants arrive. Check your herb plant wish list now and give us a call!
Herb Lady Hint:
Herb seeds are more successful when planted directly in the ground or pots in late April when the soil is warm enough to till. Herbs really are not happy indoors! Basil must have a warm soil temperature to thrive. Plant basil plants or seeds when night temperatures are 50 degrees or warmer. Until then, keep basil in a pot outdoors during the day and bring indoors at night. Rosemary prefers cool, bright conditions indoors. Move the rosemary plants outdoors as soon as night temperatures are over 30 degrees and pot soil will not freeze. This is usually in late March in our area. Move rosemary indoors on the days we have snow or ice.
Ask for our Free Rosemary Care Sheet the next time you visit the Herb Shop!