Sustainability: looking at what's around you...

So much about sustainability is meeting your needs with what is available naturally around you. The state plant for New Mexico is the Yucca plant. We are in the northeast, where it is too cool to grow it without  greenhouse, but it is easily available from other areas of the state and can be bought in farmers markets.

I have just read these amazing instructions on how to make soap and shampoo from the Yucca root. Just HAD to share these links!

How to make soap from Yucca roots

Yucca root powder shampoo

The Healing Scents of Nature

Without repeating the same information that anyone can find on the Internet regarding the dangers of  artificial fragrances, we have eliminated such things from our home and lives maashaa Allah. This paragraph provides a brief summary of why.

"Synthetic musks, for instance -- widely used in perfumes, deodorants, and detergents -- have been linked to cancer. They can bioaccumulate, or store themselves in the body, and have been found in breast milk, which means that nursing infants ingest them. Research indicates that these musks don't biodegrade; they've been found polluting watersheds and the plants and animals that live there. Another worrisome class of chemicals, phthalates, are often used in fragrance because they allow the smell to last longer. They have been linked to changes in the reproductive and endocrine systems as well as in the liver, kidneys, and adrenal glands."

( http://www.wholeliving.com/133573/replacing-your-artificial-fragrances)

So for laundry we use ground soap nuts, which smell rather like pineapple, and grated Castille soap, which has only natural essential oil and plant extract fragrances. We wash with Castille soap, unscented or scented with essential oils. We make our own shampoo, boiling herbs suitable for our specific hair type, color, and condition, and using complimentary essential oils. We make all our own dishwashing liquid and household cleansers, using essentials oils of lemon, orange, or lime for grease-cutting properties and fresh scent. We also make our own toothpaste using essential oils.

Have you noticed a common ingredient in most of those things listed above? Yes, essential oils! So, when it came to finding a healthy and beneficial replacement for personal fragrances, we automatically started looking at natural essential oil blends. To start off, I ordered this set for hubby.

We have since seen this lovely set as well:

  

These blends were the perfect way to transition to natural scents without going through a lot of trial and error coming up with our own concoctions. The blends can be chosen on any given day or occasion for their therapeutic properties. For example, when hubby wants to feel energized, he puts on Energy and when he has a potentially stressful day ahead, he puts on Tranquility or Relax. Once these blends proved themselves to be a wonderful replacement for the synthetic fragrances, it gave me confidence to start making my own blends with similar base notes. I ordered a wider range of organic essential oils from Mountain Rose Herbs and the Amber and Aphrodite oil blends for hubby for Eid.

Of course, in the long run, once we grow our own herbs, plants, and trees, we plan to distill our own essential oils, inshaa Allah. It is actually an easy process with fairly simple equipment maashaa Allah. In the meantime, we will make flower waters and infusions, inshaa Allah.

Homemade Salves

Bism Illah.

For the past few months we have been making our own salves. It takes about 10 minutes to melt the oils with the beeswax and pour it into the jars. It is child's play; after one try you may well wonder why you didn't do it before...and feel like you want to make salve for all your loved ones!

In general, you will find that the Camp Wander website is a good resource for learning about essential oils for your daily needs. There are many other wonderful recipes on there for homemade personal care, however for now I am just giving links to the salves that I made.

- Homemade All-Purpose Healing Salve
We use this for everything from moisturizing to first aid for cuts and scrapes to rashes to hair pomade! You name it, we slap some on and call it "Mother's Love!"

- Anti-Aging and Eye-Health Salve
This has the same ingredients recommended to stroke around your eyes for better eye health and anti aging properties for your skin. Smells great and makes great gifts if put into nice little pots. Inshaa Allah, I will take a photo of my salve in jars and in little gift pots and add it to this post.

Oatmeal Skin Scrub....

Bism Illah.

A dear friend made some orange, almond, and oatmeal skin scrub while house sitting for us one summer, maashaa Allah. The recipe is below.

Orange peels, Almonds & Oatmeal scrub

A fresh smelling and skin rejuvenating scrub

What do you need:

• 1 cup dried Orange peels
• 1 cup Oatmeal
• 2 tablespoon finely ground Almonds
• 1 teaspoon sweet Orange essential oil

How to do it:

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and mix them well Take some of this mix in your hand and add some warm water to make a paste

Rub it onto your clean skin and gently massage to exfoliate in circular motions. Then wash it off with alternately cold and warm water and end with a splash of cold; pat your skin dry with a clean towel. 

[http://www.natural-homeremedies-for-life.com/oatmeal-scrub.html]

That scrub is very soothing and moisturizing for the skin, but I found a few other uses for it.

As it is simply ground orange peel, oatmeal, and almonds - all perfectly good food - I threw some into muffins one morning. When asked what kind of muffins they were, I said, "Face scrub muffins." That really turned heads, LOL.A few months later I was on a soda bread making binge and thought to myself, "Oooh, an orange, almond, and oat soda bread might be lovely with a bit of butter and cream!" So out came the face scrub again...and as the children were tasting the fragrant, warm soda bread they asked, "What did you put in this soda bread, Mummy?" to which I answered, "Face scrub!"


Well, it just so happens that their father was not present on these occasions. However, this morning when I had the idea to make some orange spice oatmeal for breakfast, hubby ventured to try some and looked rather discomfited when I told him that I used face scrub to flavor it.

That's the beauty of natural living; you can eat your beauty products! That's why I didn't panic when my then 9 month old baby bit into the honey and orange lotion bars I recently made...