Art in My World

Lemon Balm. I have grown this plant for years, but not until recently did I know how many various uses this plant provided us. In the herbal medical community it is known as a carminative, a nervine, an antidepressant, and antimicrobial. This means it can calm the digestive tract, calm our anxieties, relieve tension in our bodies; it has a tonic effect on the heart and circulatory system; and when added to lotions, the extract has some antiviral activity when applied to the skin. So I harvested some today and created a few items: For a Lemon Cleansing Cream I made a lemon balm hydrosol. Hydrosols are wonderful, especially rose hydrosol. One day I will write a blog entry on how to make a hydrosol, but in the meantime, look this up on the internet. There are some nice videos on how to do this. So after making my hydrosol I created my cleansing cream: Lemony Cleansing Cream 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons of apricot kernal base oil. You can even make an infused lemon balm oil to use ...

    When I lived in the country, my husband built me a large pantry full of shelves, particularly to store the many canning jars accumulated over the summer season. There was a great sense of accomplishment, when during the fall months I could look upon the hours of labor, knowing there were months of food ready for eating! It was also a pretty site, all the colored jars lined up sparkling with goodness.   I couldn't resist doing a little bit of canning this week, so I chose some easy jam recipes to get my feet wet again. Here are the two I tried. One turned out bright red (no added food coloring needed), and the other: a pretty orange.   Orange Plum Jam 5 cups     finely chopped pitted plums 2 tbsp      grated orange zest 1              package regular powerdered fruit pectin 5 1/2        granula...

  Chamomile is a pretty fernlike plant with small daisy-like flowers. Who knew that in this little package so many good things await. In a world full of stress and sleeplessness a good cup of chamomile tea is a great remedy. Fresh flowers are always best, but dried will work just as well. This tea not only helps with anxiety, but it will settle a sour stomache.   Chamomile Tea 2 tsp of dried flowers 1 cup of boiling water Pour water over flowers and steep for 15 minutes. Strain and sweeten to taste with honey or sugar.   Lately, after my children have struggled with ulcers and colitis, I have been on a long journey to learn more about herbal medicine. When I first began learning herbal medicine way back when my children were first born, there were not many opportunities for learning, but with the advent of the internet, access to knowledge and online classes have been a great help. Many companies have been birthed selling the hard to grow herbs too...

A Welcomed Guest While harvesting some dill weed to dry and the seeds of the flowers, I came across one of the caterpillars who love this plant: the swallowtail butterfly. Way back when the children were little, and I was new to gardening I found these black little, little caterpillars all over my dill and fennel plants. I thought what a fun project for the children! So, I cut off some of the branches and put them in a large gallon glass jar along with plenty of the plants they seemed to love. We were in for a wonderful adventure full of amazing surprises. We carried that jar with us where ever we were...out to the barn, on the table while eating and doing school, into the livingroom during devotions. The caterpillar kept eating and growing. It shed its black coat for a pretty striped one, and it still kept growing and eating. We kept filling the jar with more food, and then one day we were rewarded with an amazing and strange sight. That caterpillar turned into a chrysalis and I...