Definitely captivating to Fauna!

See the post below to view the new monsters in my Etsy shop.

You need:
1 tablespoon runny honey (warm honey that runs easily)
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons fine ground oatmeal
small bowl
towel

To make:
1. Add the egg yolk to the honey and mix with a fork until well blended.
2. Slowly stir in the oatmeal a little at a time to make a soft paste.
3. Use immediately.
4. Smooth the mask onto your skin using your fingertips in a circular motion- this is a little messy, make sure you have a towel close at hand.
5. Put your feet up for 15 minutes while the oatmeal, egg, and honey do their softening magic on your skin.
6. Rinse with lukewarm water and pat dry.

 Fauna LOVES this oatmeal mask too, but don’t let this sweet (?) face fool you……….

she prefers to threaten and chase her sister around the house instead of putting her feet up for 15 minutes.

Be good to your skin!

you need:
1/4 cup shelled, raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil

to do:
1. Grind the seeds and the oats in a food processor or coffee grinder. Grind until you have a consistency of whole-wheat flour.
2. Add the spices and vitamin E; mix well.
3. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. This makes about 4 ounces, which is enough for one bath. Pour the mixture into a warm bath. If you don’t want particles to clean up following the bath, you can place this in a muslin/cotton sachet to float in the water.
4. I like to use this as a scrub too when taking showers. Scrub this onto your skin like you would a salt or sugar scrub; then rinse with warm water.

Take time for yourselves mamas and remember to breath.

Recipe altered a bit from Janice Cox’s Natural Beauty from the Garden.

You need:
-long sleeve shirt with buttoned cuffs
-2 cups of herbs- we used evergreen needles and lavender but of course you could use any herb mixture for this sachet; I think fir needles, dried orange peel, and cloves will be our next mix
-thread
-needle or sewing machine

To do:
1. Cut a sleeve off  the shirt making it 15 inches long from the bottom of the buttoned cuff.
2. Leave the sleeve right-side out, sew a straight seam close to the cut, making a pocket for the herbs.

3. Turn the sleeve inside out and unbutton.

4. Stuff with about 2 cups of herbs.

4. Sew a straight seam to close up the herb pocket. This is a little tricky because the herbs will want to spill out, decrease the amount of herbs if need be.

5. Pull the cuff over the herb pillow so the right side of the cuff is showing, then button the cuff.

There you have it, a sachet for the gentlemen in your life. Now, Dave just laughed when I told him it was a gentleman’s sachet, and the little ladies took off with them and put them under their pillows. They were pretty sentimental about them because they were made from Dave’s old shirts.

Another idea using evergreen needles is Julia Daby’s balsam squirrel, directions at  the wonderful Rhythm of the Home online publication. Be sure to visit all the wonderful articles there! Enjoy!

What you need:
4 cups dried herb(s) of your choice
4 cups water
3-4 cups honey
cream of tartar
candy thermometer
large soup pot
jelly roll pan or candy molds
parchment paper or non-stick spray
confectioner’s sugar or arrow root powder

Directions:
1. Make a strong tea infusion by using 1 cup dried herbs to 1 cup water. Our herb combination was 3 1/2 cups dried peppermint, 1/4 cup sage, 1/4 cup beebalm and 4 tablespoons thyme. Put herbs directly into the water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for about an hour. Strain herbs from the tea. We were left with 2 1/2 cups of tea.

2. Put the tea back into a LARGE soup pot, add 1 1/2 cups honey for each cup of tea. I had 2 1/2 cups of tea so I added close to 4 cups of honey to the tea. Add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar for each cup of tea.

 3. Turn the stove on high and bring the mixture to a boil. You want the temperature of the honey/tea mixture to reach 300 degrees. This is where the challenge came for us. Once the mixture was boiling, the bubbles wanted to go over the edge of the pot; I would turn down the heat, then the temperature wouldn’t rise. So I would turn up the heat again, more boil over…..vicious cycle. I thought about quiting at one point, but all that honey down the drain would be wrong, so we persevered. We finally found a temperature where the temperature would climb and the bubbles wouldn’t reach the edge of the pan. It took us about 45 minutes to get to 300 degrees!

 4. Finally, after reaching 300 degrees,  pour the syrup onto a parchment lined jelly roll pan (or use a non-stick spray, you don’t want your candy to stick). There are special candy molds you can use as well, just make sure it can handle the 300 degree heat of the syrup! You could use a spoon and mix the bubble layer into the thicker bottom layer, but I preferred to keep the bubble on top to create a pretty layered look when the candy hardened.

5. The hardest part for the little ladies was waiting for the candy to cool and harden! I eventually put it in the freezer to quicken the process, and to keep the little ladies out of the syrup! Sticky fingers were all around!

6. Once the candy hardens, break it into pieces and coat in confectioner’s sugar or arrow root powder to keep the candies from sticking to each other. Our candy is soft and chewy when it reaches room temperature so I store it in the freezer. The candies should keep for at least 6 months stored in the freezer.

It turned out very tasty and we will make more in the future. I’ve always wanted to make horehound candy, but I don’t have any of the dried herb right now; I need to order some along with the elderberries! If you are a candy maker and have any advice in this process I would love to hear it! We did do some research on the science behind cooking candy and found this fantastic website- The Accidental Scientist- Science of Cooking. All kinds of good stuff there!