Changes

     What a journey of learning and growing this has been!  The Herbal Hutch all started as a simple way to help my friends and family and share what I had learned with others.  As time went on a farmer friend Daniel at East West Farm asked if I would like to make items for his farmers market.  Then Anna from Suburban Fresh Farm generously offered to share her space with me at the Woodstock Farmers Market. 

                          My studies in herbs, natural body care, and essential oils continued and then branched into soap design with the completion of my certification in soap making through the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild. 


     There are many other facets to my life that are of great interest, and I enjoy sharing them with others. 

My family has started the slow venture into homesteading, which includes many different areas of interest.  I am also still working on my herbal studies.  If you have followed me on my Facebook page The Herbal Hutch then you have seen this evolving process through my posts, but in the last six months my natural soap and body care business has grown.  During this time, I have felt a tug of war on my Herbal Hutch Facebook page and name.  I have decided to divide the two due to growth and identity conflict.  The Herbal Hutch will continue as a source of education and possible future homesteading, herbal, and soaping classes. 

I am very excited about the new options that this separation will have, and hope you will continue to follow me in both. My new body care company name is  Linden Row Botanicals and I will be posting about my new products on its new page.  There will also be a new website and it will link to my Etsy page.  Thank you all for your support and the opportunity to share wonderful nourishing body products with you. 

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram!


Jill
The Herbal Hutch
& Linden Row Botanicals

Into the Woods We Go...

 

Twice a year my family goes camping at an event called Earthskills Rendezvous.  At this event there are several well trained healthcare providers in the holistic approach.  Even though, there are wonderful care givers at the event I always pack my own family first aid kit.  Every trip looks a little different and every trip I can better tweak my herbal bag, but for this trip I took:

Redmond Clay- I love this stuff, and one day I will do a post just on it.  We use it for upset stomach, burns, stings, diaper rash, and poison ivy

Elderberry Tincture- to fight off colds

Echinacea Tincture- for immune support and to clean wounds

 OnGuard Essential oil blend- immune support and cold fighting

 Essential oil travel set- has a collection of oils that have several uses

 Past Tense essential oil blend- for headaches

Emergen-C-immune support

Arnica salve- for sore muscles and bruises

Throat Coat tea by Traditional Medicinals

The trip went well for several days, and we only used the Echinacea to clean two small knife cuts and Past Tense for a sun/dehydration migraine.  On day three my husband came down with a cold, and he is very susceptible to it moving to his chest.  We weren’t very diligent and I didn’t have the syrups I usually treat him with so he went to the first aid.  They gave him some lovely tincture blends for immune system support and cold fighting. Great!  Well, with my husband’s tendencies it wasn’t enough.  Very quickly his cold went to his chest and was a very violent wet cough.  This gave him great discomfort and me great concern.  I decided to brainstorm and treat with what I did have.  A wonderful friend loaned me a pot to boil water in and I made a steam out of tea tree, lemon, peppermint and Breathe essential oil blend.  I rubbed his chest and neck with Onguard and Breathe, and also applied OnGuard to the soles of his feet.  Then I got him to take my Elderberry tincture along with the camp's First Aid tincture blend.  His coughing soon settled and he was able to sleep.  I was so thankful, because it was very violent, and he was having a hard time catching his breath.  About four hours later, he woke and started coughing again.  The treatment had worn off so I re-dosed him with everything and he settled back down.  This was the cycle for the rest of the night, but by morning he was MUCH better!  I was so thankful for my bag of herbs, but I missed my thyme treatment.  The next day there was a bizarre put on by the campers and one man brought his wildcrafted Mullein, so I bought a small sample amount to make a tea if my husband’s coughing got worse.  We are home now and I have him on my usual treatment for his chest colds http://theherbalhutch.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-first-herbal-remedy-i-make-each-fall.html.  This trip showed me one area that was lacking in my herb kit, so I will soon be making a thyme tincture to fill this need.  I know there are other herbs for chest congestion, but so far thyme has worked wonders for my husband so I plan to start there for now.

What Herbs would you take into the woods with you?

 

Jill, The Herbal Hutch

 

 

 

How Can You Resist This Hair?

       Well to be honest I couldn't, but I could do without the cradle cap that my little man occasionally gets.  Thankfully, there is an easy herbal fix for this problem!  In just a few steps his head is free of all those yucky flakes.  I use three ingredients that are all antifungal and antibacterial.  They also are moisturizing. 
This will make several treatments, but you can use it on other areas that you would use a fungal cream.  Also, other members of the family may also benefit from a deep scalp treatment if they have dandruff. 



 



  Ingredients:
  1/4 cup Virgin Coconut Oil
  2-4 drops Tea Tree essential oil (Melaleuca for my Doterra friends)
  2-4 drops Rosemary essential oil

Mix all of the ingredients together and rub it on the problem area of the scalp.  I mean saturate the area!  Let the oil soak for awhile, and then with a stiff bristle brush, a comb, or I prefer my finger nails you begin to scrub.  The flakes will peel off and they can be combed away.  Once the area is free of the flakes, you can give the child a bath, which includes many hair washings.  I usually have to give an additional bath just to get the remaining oil out, but it is worth it.  Now his head is flake free and he is still irresistible.


Jill, The Herbal Hutch

Syrup for Bronchitis

With a few ingredients, you probably already have in your kitchen, you can make a wonderful cough syrup.  The garlic flavor can be strong to some children, but I have mixed it successfully with an elderberry syrup dose and had great success.  This is another simple syrup that will do wonders for a cough.

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 large cloves of garlic minced
Dash of cayenne pepper

You mix everything together in a jar and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.  The next day you can strain off the garlic and ginger. 

Garlic Cough Syrup

Dosing: We take anywhere from a tablespoon to teaspoon dose according to age.


If you would like to watch a video on how to do this step by step follow this link.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKDVj865d9A


                 Jill, The Herbal Hutch

The First Herbal Remedy I Make Each Fall

 

      

Elderberry Syrup

This is a staple in my home when the fall and winter months come around.  I have made some changes to my first recipe from LearningHerbs.com, but this video by Mountain Rose Herbs is a great place to start.  After making my first few batches of elderberry syrup, I started making a thyme syrup for cough.  I did make these separately for awhile, and then it struck me to combine the recipes.  This is how my Elderberry Thyme Cough Syrup came about.  If you would like to follow the video above it's recipe will be a great asset to your home, but if your winter sickness seems to always come with a deep cough give this syrup a try.

Elderberry Thyme Syrup

3 1/4 cups water

1/2 cup dried elderberries

1/4 cup dried thyme

1Tbsp of grated ginger

1 cinnimon stick

5 cloves

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup  raw honey(more to taste)

First add everything but the lemon juice and honey to a boiler . 

Cover and bring to a boil. 

Once it is boiling turn the temperature down to simmer and let it reduce by half.  This should take 20-30 minutes. 

After it has reduced turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. 

Strain liquid into a bowl, and let it cool for a few minutes before you add the raw honey.(to protect the healing qualities in the honey)

Store in the refrigerator in a closed glass jar. for a few weeks.

Dosing:

In my house 12 and older take up to 2 Tbsp. every four hours.

4-11 yrs 1 Tbsp

2-3 yrs 1 tsp

For younger than 2 yrs you can make it with maple syrup instead of honey, or with no sweetner at all.

 

What is your favorite winter remedy?

Jill, The Herbal Hutch