What's the point?

I’m often asked what’s the point of buying organic foods and making your own products?  I’m told “I don’t have time for that” or “I don’t have sensitive skin” or “it doesn’t bother me.” I get it.  We all only have so many hours in the day and if I’m not breaking out from a product or food, I’m probably going to think it is safe. I know that was how I always felt.  Until they did start bothering me.  Until I was in pain, bedridden and started researching causes for my health issues. It didn’t take long to pick up a product – say lotion or sauces or deodorant or even tissues! and find ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce or understand. 

When I started researching some of these ingredients and realized how toxic they are I was shocked to say the least.  The food I was eating, the products I used and my cleaning supplies were all slowly harming me and my family. So I started small.  I changed my diet slowly but surely and it is still a work in progress.  Now I’ve added in the product component and it still is a work in progress. I don’t always get it right but I’m still working towards the goal of getting it right.

I also find it satisfying to figure something out for myself and teach myself a new skill like soap making. Small steps, simple steps to change my life and my health. That is the point for me.

Yesterday I was doing laundry and ran out of my Seventh Generation detergent.  That stuff is expensive so I researched online checked my "recipes" and made my own detergent rather than running out and buying more. Because I was in the middle of laundry, I didn’t have time to make liquid soap like I normally use so I made powdered instead. Because I have a front loading washer, I add the detergent to the tub and not through the dispenser.

The detergent is super easy to make and only takes 3 ingredients. I added Lavender essential oil but not required to clean! If you are very sensitive, wear a mask and gloves because although Borax is a naturally occurring ingredient, it is still toxic to some.  Better to not inhale.

Powdered Laundry Detergent

2 bars ivory soap or organic soap bar shredded fine (I used Dr.  Bronner’s castile bar soap and grated with a cheese grater)

2 cups Washing Soda

2 cups Borax

20 drops of lavender essential oil (optional but smells awesome!)

Mix together thoroughly and use 1 TBSP per load.

That’s right, 1 TBSP per load!  My clothes came out really clean and this took about 10 minutes to make.  I give it 4 out of 5 simply because I want to find an alternative to Borax.  It works extremely well but I’m concerned about long term impacts.  Still, it beats all the sulfates and other chemicals in regular detergents! And it is certainly cheaper than Seventh Generation or other natural products.

Another thing I did yesterday afternoon was to clean my make-up brushes. Make-up brushes are expensive and get clogged with make-up affecting how well they work not to mention, if you have oily skin or acne it can cause contamination of your skin. Cleaning them takes care of them and helps eliminate contamination. It was overdue for me and I tend to put it off because it is usually kind of a pain as I always wash my brushes one brush at a time under running water with shampoo.  This time I decided to try something I read about on Pinterest. http://www.pincookie.com/how-to-properly-clean-your-makeup-brushes/ I filled a glass with 1 TBSP of white vinegar and hot water and then let the brushes soak for 20 minutes.  I rinsed with hot then cold water then shaped the brushes and let dry on a towel with the ferrule pointing slightly down to drain. 

This worked far better than the shampoo has ever worked and was super easy. I give it 5 out of 5 for this task. Love when things work as advertised!  J

Like I said before my journey is a work in progress and I certainly haven’t eliminated all toxic chemicals yet. One area I need to really focus on is at work.  At work I use the soap dispensers which aren’t organic or natural by any stretch of the imagination. They are, however, I’m sure pretty cheap.  J  I’m going to bring in my own hand soap and lotion for there but I’m sure if I put it on the bathroom counter, it will get used by everyone before the chemical stuff.  Lol. That's okay as maybe I can help someone else on their journeys too.

Take care of yourself and your families!

~chelle

Fibro, Sinus and Hand Soap

What a week!  I have been battling something (aka the crud and fibro flare up) all week.  You see this week a major front rolled through and that caused the fibro flare up since I am weather sensitive and them some sort of upper respiratory kept trying to join the fun.  So here is how I’ve treated myself this week.

First the fibro flare up.  The best thing I can do when my fibro acts up is to rest.  I know, really high tech right? It helps though.  Unfortunately since I work full time and go to school full time it is hard to find time to rest but I tried to go to bed early as possible this week. When my muscles starting hurting to the point I couldn’t rest then I pulled out my essential oils and this will work on other things like neuralgia and arthritis pain as well.

Remember, I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on television so discuss your treatment (including home remedies) with your doctor.  I’m lucky that my family physician is on board with alternative treatments for my fibro and helps me with my care. I like to use doTerra Deep Blue drops essential oil blends for muscle pain (http://doterra-essential-oils.com/doterra). I add it to carrier oil (grape seed oil) and massage onto my aching muscles. On days I'm in extreme pain, I use it without carrier oil. It contains wintergreen, camphor, peppermint, blue tansy, blue chamomile, helichrysum and osmanthus that work together to ease achy joints and sore muscles and provide amazing relief! My massage therapist first recommended Deep Blue and I’m forever grateful. The camphor part smells a little funky but it works.  :) You can buy doTERRA oils at health food stores and online. I don’t sell it but I do recommend this particular blend.

Next, I use soaking baths.  There is nothing like a hot bath for muscle and nerve pain and I like to add a few ingredients to the bath to make it even better. The main ingredient I add is Epsom Salt.  It’s old fashioned but it works.  I usually add about a cup and a half or two of Epsom Salt. Next, I add a cup of baking soda, I added lemongrass essential oil (about 10 drops), lavender essential oil (about 20 drops), rosemary essential oil (about 10 drops) and about 5 drops of tea tree oil.  I soak in this mixture with the water about as hot as I can stand while drinking water while soaking and afterwards as well.  Feels wonderful and really helps me.

As to the sinus mess and sore throat I’ve had going this week, I’ve been treating with several tools and I’m feeling pretty good so they seem to have worked.  I used a pan of water with tea tree oil in it an inhale the stem when it boils.  This has no side effects (except that it will destroy your mascara and you look like a creature from the Black Lagoon lol!) and really helps to break up the congestion.  I like Thayer’s brand Slippery Elm cough drops (sold at health food stores, Whole Foods, etc.)  and for a headache white willow bark tea will do the trick.  Steep white willow bark chips in boiling water and let steep for about 30 minutes, strain and drink.  It does have a bitter taste so add lemon and honey to cover it up. 

The active ingredient in white willow bark is salicin which is a chemical similar to aspirin and works like aspirin does. It has the similar interactions with other drugs as well so be aware and be careful.  You can make a tincture using white willow bark chips and alcohol or vinegar but the tincture has to brew for a couple of weeks and I had a headache now. :) I may make a tincture and have that on hand for the future. I understand that you can buy white willow bark capsules to replace the low dosage aspirin so many take. You can buy white willow bark at health food stores. Make sure to buy the chipped not powdered for tea.

I also drank copious amounts of water. Water is one of the best things for sinus congestion. Water helps thin out mucous and your body needs water to take care of itself.

For the tickling in my throat I drank Traditional Medicinals Brand Organic Throat Coat Tea.  It contains all the herbs I would have made my own tea with and was already made up for me.  Convenience and organic – it’s a win-win for me.  If you want to make your own Throat Coat tea here is the recipe I would recommend.

Organic Throat Coat Tea

Licorice Root

Slippery Elm Bark

Marshmallow Root

Wild Cherry Bark

Bitter Fennel

Cinnamon

Sweet Orange Peel

Steep together in boiling water for at least 30 minutes and strain. Drink 4 – 6 cups a day.

And yes, this tea contains Marshmallow root not marshmallows and licorice root not licorice.  :)  You don’t need the sugar of those as sugar helps bacteria grow. I do sweeten this tea with a bit of Stevia. Really has a good taste too.

At work this week, they were giving the free flu shots.  Once again I declined.  I haven’t had much luck with flu shots.  When I have taken them, I still get the flu because I get a different strain than the shot protects you from. I’m not sure how I feel about flu shots to be honest.  One of those things I really need to research more in my spare time.  If I can find any spare time. I think that for some people the flu shot makes a lot of sense - think elderly and those with severely compromised immune systems.  I just have bad reactions it seems to anything I take that is not natural and so wherever possible I avoid it. It's one of those things that you have to decide for yourself what is your best course of action.

Hope you all felt better than I did this week and I’ll leave you with one last recipe that prevents all kinds of illness.  Foaming Hand Soap. I love foaming hand soap but I hate the price and not thrilled with all the extra chemicals added.  My theory is that if I can’t pronounce it I don’t need to eat it or rub it on my skin.  Lol. So here is my version of a “recipe” for Foaming Hand Soap from http://mymerrymessylife.com This website has lots of good recipes and free printable labels for them as well. As usual, I changed the recipe a bit for my tastes and you can do the same.

Foaming Hand Soap 

First, you have to have an empty foaming hand soap bottle.  Buy a cheap store brand and dump out the contents.  Believe me you don’t want all the sodium lauryl sulfate.

Fill your bottle 1/3 full of liquid Castile soap.  I like Dr. Bronner’s Lavender (of course!)

Add 10 drops of Tea Tree Oil (antibacterial properties)

Add 10 drops of Lavender Oil (antibacterial and scent)

Fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water and use. 

Pretty simple, takes 5 minutes to make and works!

Have a lovely day!

~michelle

Cleaning binge and more cleaning products

Hello all you lavender lovelies.  J

This weekend has been so busy. I’ve been reclaiming my house.  You see, my youngest daughter recently left home and I’ve been going through every room, every closet, every drawer and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.  I have a pile of things to give away and I’ve repurposed some other items.  It is tiring but feels so good to accomplish.

During this process, I’ve been testing some of my homemade cleaning goodies and will share my findings.  First, I made homemade dishwasher detergent replacing my very pricey Cascade.  Here is the recipe I used:

Dishwasher Detergent

1 c. Borax

1 c. Washing Soda

¼ c. citric acid or 2 pkgs. Unsweetened lemonade Kool-aid

Mix together and use 1 TBSP per load.  I didn’t have citric acid so I used the Kool-Aid which has a great lemony smell. I love how this works and my dishes are now squeaky clean.  I think it works better than Cascade and it cost me pennies to make.  The washing soda is tricky to find but I located it at my local Publix next to the Borax and if you can’t find it, you can make your own from baking soda. I love this detergent and give it a 5 out of 5 for ease of creation and use. I used my existing Cascade box and that made a great container.

Next, I spent some time on my cabinets.  What a mess! I bought inexpensive containers from Wal-mart and labels and repackaged dry goods.  I also found some baskets on the clearance aisle of Wal-mart and put smaller items in them. I also used my All-Purpose Cleaner and Disinfectant.  Here is the recipe I used:

All-Purpose Cleaner and Disinfectant

A spray bottle filled with 50/50 water and vinegar plus 5 drops of lavender essential oil.  Shake and use.  Warning! Don't use on marble or granite as the acid in the vinegar will etch the stone.

Finally, since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and since a suspected causes of breast cancer is aluminum and parabens from antiperspirants I decided to make my own deodorant. Please see http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/AP-Deo and http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/24/parabens-on-risk-of-breast-cancer.aspx for further information and decide for yourself the risk and whether you want to change products.

Here is the recipe I used:

Deodorant

1/3 c. solid coconut oil

¼ c. baking soda (aluminum free)

¼ c. arrowroot or cornstarch

Essential oils

Mix baking soda and arrowroot or cornstarch together.  Add the coconut oil and use a fork or pastry blender to thoroughly incorporate the dry ingredients. Add 5 – 10 drops essential oils and blend completely together. Add more arrowroot or cornstarch until the consistency and texture is about the same as commercial deodorant.  Store in a jar at room temperature (refrigeration may be needed in summer months since coconut oil melts at 76 degrees). Apply a pea sized amount with fingers or cotton ball.

For my essential oils, I used 5 drops tea tree oil which acts as a natural anti-bacterial fighting ingredient and 5 drops of lavender (of course!) which in addition to a lovely smell has anti-bacterial properties.  I’ve been using this for a week now and have to say I really like it.  I’ve been doing a lot of heavy, sweaty cleaning this weekend and it has worked well.  Keep in mind that this is a deodorant not an antiperspirant.  The only thing that will stop sweating is aluminum and the more I personally research the less thrilled I am about rubbing it on my body.  As a result, I’m pleased with this deodorant. My only complaint is that this batch is a bit more “liquidy” than I prefer so with my next batch I will add more arrowroot and make it more solid.  I’ve been using a cotton ball to apply and it works great.  I used a pastry cutter to blend and it took less than 10 minutes to make and I still have a lot of deodorant left so it lasts a long time.  I give this particular batch a 4 out of 5 due to consistency issues and I think I can rectify those next time.

Take care of yourselves all!

~Michelle

Smelling Good and Saving a Baking Sheet

This past evening while cleaning my kitchen I noticed a baking sheet I have been ignoring for quite some time in the back of the cabinet.  It is a great size sheet but when the girls lived at home (and I didn't know any better!) they used it to bake frozen pizzas on with Pam cooking spray.  (Yikes! I REALLY didn't know any better!) The end result is this terrible looking baking sheet.

I had pinned a possible solution on my Pinterest board (Neat & Tidy) and it involved two of my all time favorite cleaners baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. I love them because they don't have any nasty fumes or bad chemicals to hurt you. I really like baking soda and hydrogen peroxide for tile grout, it still requires a light scrubbing but works well.

The pin came from this link:  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/05/new-life-for-old-cookie-sheets-again.html
and the blogger, Jill, stated that using this cleaner allowed her to clean her baking sheet without any scrubbing.  SOLD!  I hate scrubbing. (Inherently lazy, party of one! Lol.)  Her solution was to allow the solution to sit and then the sheet was clean.

The baking sheet did come clean but (and it's a big one) I had to scrub fairly hard for quite a while.  I let the solution sit for all evening and still ended up scrubbing so my rating for this cleaning solution on a baking sheet is a 3 out of 5.  It worked. It just didn't work as easily as promised. 

I also created a Room Spray and I really love it! I took no time at all to create and smells wonderful. My rating is 5 out of 5 for an easy creation and amazing scent.  You can customize the scent but here is my recipe:

Lavender Room Spray

1.5 oz distilled water
1.5 oz vodka
12 drops Rosemary essential oil
8 drops Lemon essential oil
20 drops Lavender essential oil

6 - 8 oz spray bottle

Add water and vodka and then add essential oils.  Shake prior to use and do not use on fabric furniture.

I found a funnel made the job easy and mixed the mixture in a 2 cup measuring cup for ease of pouring through the funnel into the spray bottle.  I wish I could give you all a whiff but trust me it smells great.

Please comment below any requests you have for recipes to be tested. I'm happy to be the guinea pig for us all.

~michelle

A New Beginning...

So here I am at the beginning of a blog and the big question is what will this blog be about?  Mostly, it will be about my adventures in trying to go back to basics with food, cleaning products and beauty products to improve my health and lifestyle. 

I’ll let you know all about my journey to simplifying my life and removing unnecessary chemicals.  I’ll list recipes for product creation and I’ll let you know if they worked or not (and any horrible disasters I may have along the way – yikes!) and any tweaks I make to them.

Finally, I hope to encourage you to stop and slow down and think.  Think about what you are eating, what products you are using and how they impact your health.

You may be wondering why I chose the name "Lavender at the Gate" and the answer is simple.  I love the scent of lavender and I love what lavender stands for throughout history.  When given as a gift, lavender flowers represent purity, silence and luck. Lavender flowers also convey a message of devotion. Lavender essence oil can be used to convey a sense of calm.

One of my favorite lines regarding lavender is from author Alice Hoffman:

There are some things, after all, Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.

~Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic

What can be better than luck and love?

It’s a new beginning for the blog and for each of us. I like to think of a blog as a conversation between writer and reader.  A conversation is a two way street so please comment and let me know your thoughts. Won’t you join me on my journey and join the conversation?

~michelle