Lavender first aid oil

NOW! NEW on our Homestead Herbals etsy shop - a new certified organic Lavender First Aid Oil made with certified organic pure lavender essential oil!  Lavender oil is such an important, multi-purpose healer, and versatile oil, that every home remedy cabinet should not be without it.  If you are only going to have one essential oil in your first aid kit it would be lavender oil.

To use, dilute a few drops of the lavender essential oil in a carrier oil (e.g. a light oil that absorbs well into the skin such as apricot oil, sesame oil, almond oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil) and apply as needed.

Lavender is an excellent essential oil for children and babies, as well as adults.  It can make a beautiful aromatic massage oil that soothes a tired, fussing baby.  It can be sprinkled on a pillow at night to help ease congestion and coughs, as well as insomnia and restlessness.  In Ayurvedic tradition lavender oil is thought to be a balancing oil for all constitutions, and helps with congestion of all types (both physical and mental).

Here are just some of the many wonderful benefits of lavender oil (Lavandula angustifolia):

• soothes minor burns (both kitchen stove, or sun burns, or heat rashes)
• aids infections and inflammation
• disinfects and helps heal cuts and scrapes
• eases headaches and migraines
• soothes stress and anxiety
• aids sore tired feet
• helps insomnia, restlessness, sleeplessness
• takes itch out of mosquito bites
• massage for tired sore muscles
• gentle and soothing for infants and children
• eases congestion, coughs and bronchitis 
• eases cold and flu symptoms

(Lavender oil should only be used for external use only.  Information here is based on historical use and for your interest only.)

Lovely lavender

It's time for the first lavender harvest!  This is one of the herbs my daughter and I love most that we grow here in our gardens - it's such a pleasure to harvest as it's easy to snip off in large bunches and quick to tie up to dry.  We dry it in many different ways - laid out in wicker baskets, hanging in tied up bundles, woven into braids) and then there are the many wonderful uses it brings us later this fall and winter. 

We make this lavender oil to use for burns and scrapes, and when ready this medicinal oil is also added to many of our salves; we use dried lavender in calming bath blends; we put lavender bundles into drawers to protect our woolens from tiny wool moths; use lavender for cooking and baking (...lavender ice cream, lavender cookies); and of course give our lavender bunches away as sweet-smelling gifts.  Lavender is an effective and powerful herb, yet gentle for sensitive skin and babies, so it's one of the go-to-always-keep-in-the-herbal-medicine-chest herbs here at Little City Farm.

Loving lavender

All the lavender in our herb garden is at the peak of bloom right now, so I did the first harvest yesterday.  The flowers smell so fragrant, drying in bunches in our kitchen.  Some of the lavender will go into tea (as a calming, soothing, grounding herb); some has already been packed into mason jars of olive oil to steep into a rich lavender healing oil that is a must for any household herbal first aid cupboard.  Lavender oil can be added into salves (for burns, cuts, scrapes), used as topical oil (for easing migraines, as an antibiotic and antiseptic), or blended with pure essential oils for massage or other healing blends.  Lavender is so important, both for attracting pollinating insects, bees and butterflies, as well as versatile and beautiful as a healing plant that I can't imagine not always having some on hand. 

To make your lavender oil (the solar infused method):

Add large handful of fresh lavender flowers (dry, not damp) into clean dry glass mason jar.
Top up the jar with pure olive oil.   Tighten the lid.
Let oil steep in a sunny window for 4-6 weeks, shaking jar gently each day.
Then strain out lavender flowers and store remaining oil in a dark glass jar. 

New soaps - from the garden

New batches of soap have just come out of the molds - with freshly dried lavender and calendula just harvested from the garden sprinkled on top.  Both soaps are also made with a strong infusion (tea) of lavender and calendula as the base liquid to which the lye is added, so this gives medicinal healing value to the soap bars as well as sweet scent and beauty.  I had to take a short hiatus from soapmaking during the busy May-July garden months, but it's nice to get my hands back into this as I really do love the process of making soap from scratch.  More batches to come soon, as I am getting stocked up again for the fall.

Today's lavender harvest - and creating relationships with healing herbs

We grow many dozens of herbs here at Little City Farm, both medicinal and culinary (and many other wild plants we let come up where they may).  I love so many of these plants, each with their own story, their own gifts, their own histories.  If I only had the space to grow one herb...it would be a difficult decision.  Which one?

I love comfrey for it's deep healing properties of cuts, scrapes, burns, bruises, and it has been commonly called the "green bandage" for this reason.  Comfrey is also highly valued for the compost pile, and a respected plant by permaculture practitioners.

I love nettle for it's incredibly rich nutrient composition (calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, silicon, manganese, zinc, chromium, and more).  It is a plant so useful and health promoting in it's superior tonic value that it is commonly known as the "green goddess", and can well be considered one of the long-life promoting herbs.

I love calendula for it's beautiful sunny yellow flowers, and powerful skin healing properties.  It promotes healing by promoting cell repair, acting as an antiseptic and offering both external and internal healing.  Calendula is also safe for those with sensitive skin, and a wonderful herb for babies and children.

There are so many more...I love peppermint for it's aid as an digestive; I love lemon balm for easing stress and anxiety; I love sage for it's healing of coughs and it's place as a sacred herb;  I love horehound for it's amazing ability to stop a cold or flu from coming on; I love red raspberry as a women's tonic herb; I love rosehips for their wild nature and sweet vitamin C; I love red clover as a detoxifier; I love saint johns wort for burns; I love marshmallow root as a skin soother; I love dandelion as a liver cleanser; I love arnica as a familiar go-to healer for all manner of bumps and bruises; and I could go on and on.  There are strong relationships to be forged with all these wonderful herbs...I am fortunate to tend all of these healing herbs in our garden - they have much to teach us if we take the time to observe and learn.

But, if I had to choose just one, then perhaps (today) I would choose lavender.  Beautiful, fragrant, strong and hardy, and known commonly as "nature's pharmacy", lavender offers a wide variety of healing properties.  It can be used topically as an oil or salve, or internally as a tincture, glycerin,or tea, it offers the qualities of antiseptic, mild antidepressant, alleviating insect bites and burns, aiding with insomnia and stress, and is effective and safe for children.  Today I was thankful for the gorgeous lavender I had the opportunity to harvest from our garden.

Lavender-Infused Chocolate Cupcakes - Mother's Day Treats

To those of you who are local, we are offering *special baking* once again, for the upcoming Mother's Day next Sunday. This time it's delicious spring inspired lavender-infused chocolate vegan cupcakes with lavender buttercream icing (made by steeping lavender as tea, which is added to the icing for a sweet subtle flavour). Here's a photo to give you an idea...check our website for ordering details.

Lavender & Oatmeal Goatmilk Soap - Winter Helper

New batches of soap were also created this week! I am so pleased with the new Lavender & Oatmeal Goatmilk soap - it's beautiful, creamy, smells wonderful, and has the added benefits of organic goat milk. Goat milk has the same ph level as our own skin, so greatly can benefit our skin - it's gentle and extremely moisturizing. Lavender is healing, antiseptic and offers aromatherapeutic properties; and oatmeal has been renowned for thousands of years for it's skin soothing and moisturizing benefits. This is going to be my soap of choice for these cold and drying winter months!

100-Mile Desserts: Blueberry-Lavender Muffins

Blueberries and lavender - who would have known this made such a nice combination? This is a very versatile fruit/berry muffin recipe, which makes a dozen beautiful moist muffins! Here is my 100-Mile version, and as the season varies you can substitute raspberries, cherries, peach slices, apples, etc. I used fresh lavender from our garden, and blueberries that I still had in our freezer from last year (organic blueberries picked at a farm near London).

This recipe is adapted from two of my favourite vegan cookbooks - Simple Treats, and ExtraVeganza. I usually make these muffins vegan (using rice milk) but now to adapt to the 100 Mile Diet there is dairy included instead. They are still egg-free.

Blueberry-Lavender Muffins

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 cups milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup maple sugar (can be found at the farmer's market sometimes)
3 1/2 cups spelt flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups whole fresh (or frozen, unthawed) blueberries
1/4 cup fresh lavender flowers (or 1/8 cup dried lavender)

Note: if using frozen berries do not thaw before adding to the batter - unless you want completely blue muffin batter.

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Oil 12-cup muffin pan.
2) Mix oil, syrup, milk, vinegar in a small bowl.
3) In separate bowl place maple sugar, flour, baking soda & powder, and salt.
4) Whisk wet into dry ingredients. Do not overwork the batter or muffins will be dry.
5) Fold in 1/2 cups blueberries and lavender. Again do not overmix.
6) Finish mixing with spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.
7) Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Place 2-3 whole berries on top of each muffin.
8) Bake 20 minutes, rotate pan, and bake 5 minutes longer. The knife inserted in centre of muffin should come out clean when they are done.
9) Let cool for 15 minutes then remove from pan.

Substitute other berries or fruit as it comes into season. Rhubarb, mulberries, cherries, raspberries, peaches, apples, pears, and so on...