Five ways to use Lavender in Your Home this fall

No other herb is quite so prized for its fragrance and beauty, or more evocative of romance than lavender.  The season for harvesting lavender has just passed and I have a number of screens full of dried buds.  

Lavender has a laundry list of good-for-you properties.  It is antiseptic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsive, and anti-depressant. Lavender benefits stress, anxiety, exhaustion, irritability, headaches, migraines, insomnia, depression, colds, digestion, flatulence, upset stomach, liver and gallbladder problems, nervousness, and loss of appetite.  With this in mind, I glanced through just a few notes in my file drawer and came up with five great ways to put lavender to work for you.

Relaxing Lavender Bath
Make a strong infusion by adding a handful finely chopped lavender leaves and flowers to a cup of boiling water. Let it steep 10 minutes, strain and add to your bath.  Lavender will not only relax you with its scent but will reduce the stressful feelings with it essential components.

Drowsy Potpourri
Fill a bowl by your bedside with rose petals and dried lavender flowers. Add a drop or two of lavender essential oil. Finger the bowl before drifting to sleep.

Sleepy Sachets
Put lavender flowers and a few drops of essential oil in sachets to slip beneath pillow or inside the pillow case for a soothing release of scent if you wake or turn in the night. Or if you don’t have time pick up a few Lavender Sachets from the Backyard Patch to slip into Birthday cards and hostess gifts.

Lavender Moth BagsMix equal parts of the herbs from the following list. Place them inside muslin bags or if you are feeling especially crafty, sew squares of thin cotton or use heat seal tea bags to create sachets.  Lay them in with your blankets and towels or put them in between your clothes in the drawer.

Dried Herbs to use:

lavender flowers

lavender leaves

mint

rosemary

southernwood

santolina

marjoram

  

The Backyard Patch makes two different Moth Sachets as part of our Green Cleaning line and one has a recipe very similar to this one, using lavender to combat bugs in storage.

Lavender Room SprayAdd 5 drops lavender essential oil to 50 ml distilled water in an atomizer. You will need to shake the atomizer vigorously before each use. Do not make large quantities as the keeping time is relatively short.

Hope you enjoy this short list and remember to use your lavender for all the seasonal effects of shorter days and time changes.

Herbal Room Fresheners - Early Spring

In winter I long to throw open the doors and let the fresh air in, but when the temps are still giving us freezing rain, like they will be this week, I have to try something else to refresh my home.

I try these herbal room fresheners:

1. Hang sachets of aromatic potpourri from the door handles or sunny windows.
2. Push herb or spice sachets down the sides or back of couch cushions or inside cushion covers.
3. Place a container of potpourri in the living room or bedroom.  Remove lid and stir potpourri and let scent fill the room.
4. Keep a small porous pottery bottle filled with a favorite essential oil near a sunny window so that the heat will cause the oil to evaporate.
5. Dab a little essential oil on a light bulb before turning it on.
6. Put a couple drops of spicy essential oil on a cotton ball and wipe over your heater vent in winter time for a comforting fragrance.

Herbal Holiday Decorating Ocasional Series part 2 or 5

I enjoy using herbs for seasonal decorations.  I love certain herbs and how their scents enhance holiday and event experiences.  This season I wanted to share a few of my favorite herbie holiday ideas, which includes food and beverage recipes as well as decorating tips and gifts that use herbs.  This is Part 2 in an occasional Series of 5, to read part 1 on Herb Scented Dough, click here.

One of the downsides of living in Zone 5 is that certain plants are not capable of wintering over outside.  One of those is Rosemary.  Rosemary also does not do well in a dry environment.  So usually you bring in the plant and it dies in January because running the heat dries out the air and the lack of humidity kills the Rosemary.  My solution to this problem is water my rosemary every day from the bottom while the pot sits on a tray filled with pebbles.  If I plan to travel during the holiday and won’t be home to water daily, I cut the plant and use the sprigs to scent my Christmas cards.  In the language of flowers rosemary is for remembrance, so when I remember my family and friends with an annual holiday card rosemary is a perfect item to include and the pine-like scent makes it even better.

Christmas Gift Tags

Speaking of Christmas cards, one of my favorite things to do with those I received in years previous is to make scented gift tags for this year’s gifts.  I craft or purchase a potpourri, then trim the cards into playful shapes and seal the edges with craft glue or double stick tape, leaving one small opening for adding the potpourri.  Once the card is filled, I seal the opening.  When the glue is dry I punch a hole in a corner, thread it with ribbon and using a permanent marker, I write the names of gift recipient on the face.  Tied to the gift they make an additional gift themselves which can be slipped into a drawer or boot.

Garland of Mittens

I don’t know about you, but my hall closet seems to be populated with several seasons of unpaired mittens and gloves.  I kept trying to throw them away, but I would convince myself that might find the other half of a pair if I just waited.  Finally instead of delaying, I turned them into decorations.  I created a garland by pinning them to a red scarf to create a swag, then filled them with potpourri. I hung them across the front door so you brushed them as you entered the house everyday.  Here is a photograph of last year’s garland.  This year I am going to add a few colorful  thrift store mittens and encircle the door.

Scented items

Scented items are an easy way to enjoy the holiday.  Something I enjoy making, which is also rather easy, is a cinnamon stick hotplate.  It makes a great gift, especially when coupled with a tea pot or kettle.  Try making this for the upcoming season and see if you don’t get hooked too!

Cinnamon Stick Hotplate

Cut a 6” x 6” square of luan or plywood (about ¼” thick) using 3-inch cinnamon sticks, glue the sticks into a checkerboard pattern with white clear-drying craft glue or silicone glue (do not use hot glue.)  Felt feet on the bottom are nice too.  When used as a hot plate it releases a great cinnamon scent.

This is an occasional series, which means I will not be putting it up at the same time every week, but if you miss it, you can search for it under "Holiday" to find all five posts.  I still have more recipes and hand-crafted gift ideas, so stop back.

And for those who enjoy spiced cider, hot chocolate and spiced teas check out our holiday listings in our e-store:  www.backyardpatch.etsy.com

Harvesting Iris and Orris Root

September and October is the time to dig up and divide your Irises.  This would also be the time of year to harvest orris root.  If you grow Iris germanica this is the iris used to make Orris root, which chopped or powdered is used as a fixative in potpourri.  A fixative is that ingredient you add to perfumes and potpourri that helps the scent to last.  Orris root is the most popular fixative, although there are reports that some people can have an allergic reaction to it, so if you use it be clear in your labeling, even with gifts. 

To harvest this ingredient you need the root of the Iris germanica.  When you dig up the Iris plants, from the two or three roots making up each plant, save the largest rhizomes to use as a fixative and replant the smaller ones.  You can use this same technique with your regular Iris as well.  I remove the largest rhizome and use that to take to plant swaps, or mail to plant traders for new Iris.  My trick for this is to place a tongue depressor with the color of the Iris into the ground in the center of the roots during the blooming season, so I know what I am digging up in the fall.

To Prepare Orris Root

Clean and peel the root with a knife or potato peeler.  Chop into course pieces and allow to air dry for a few days before chopping them more finely in a food processor.  Dry completely before using.  Or try this method.  Scrub the freshly dug roots and slice with a potato chipper.  After the chips dry, they will be about the size of rose petals, curve a little and stay white and look very pretty in your potpourri.

Although the Backyard Patch does not market Potpourri, I do collect recipes for potpourri, so here is one to try with your newly preserved Orris Root:

Basic Flower Potpourri

Use 6 cups of partially dried petals such as roses, chamomile, honeysuckle, violets, lilac, lilies of the valley, carnations, white jasmine and nasturtium.

Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon herbs, cinnamon and rosemary.

Add 1/3 cup powdered fixative such as orrisroot and 3 drops of essential oil both available at craft stores.  Just be sure to use 100% essential oil, not perfume oil. Add some citrus peel too.

Mix everything together and place in airtight jars. Let the mixture stand for 4-6 weeks and shake the bottle to mix every week.

Potpourri is beautifully displayed in glass dishes or small decorative baskets. Tie 1-2 cups of potpourri into a sachet of tulle and tie with a cinnamon stick and bow for a sweet way to freshen up a lingerie drawer.

For a simple gift idea, my sister inserted a string of miniature Christmas lights into a small, decorative glass jar. Next poured the potpourri mixture around the lights. Put a crochet doily on top of the jar and secured it to the glass with a decorative ribbon allowing the end of the cord to come down the back of the glass jar. (I think she actually drilled a hole in the canning jar.) When you plug in the arrangement the warmth of the lights will warm the essential oils and release the fragrances. The jar will glow beautifully on a small end table or mantle display. Just remember this does not work with LED lights.

Years ago I added a colorful pine-based potpourri to clear glass Christmas tree ornaments and dressed them up with a fancy gold bow. Because they are stored year around in a dark, dry location the scent and color are still vibrant each year to enjoy.