Why Essential Oils Aren't Just for Your Crunchy Auntie

If you haven't heard about oils yet, you probably live in a cave.  But I think even cave dwellers are rootsy enough to have heard of Essential Oils, so maybe a cave in Siberia.  Or  the most northern ice caves of the world.  Needless to say, they are everywhere, and moreso as of late.

A few years ago when I was pregnant with my first I was trying to figure out who I wanted to be present at the birth.  I was a little hesitant about the "full exposure" aspect of birth and wanted, preferably, no one I knew too well there besides my husband, but someone who could help my husband that wasn't on hospital staff.  Basically a midwife or doula.  I decided to go with a student doula.  I had a list of some students I received from a local instructor, and like a stalker went on their FB pages first to see if I liked their FB "vibe"-- yeah, I know.  But admit it, you'd probably do it too.  

Then I called the one who it seemed like in real life we could be friends.  We met up, and sure enough I liked her.  Our meeting made it clear that I feel comfortable with her, and we had one more meeting prior to the birth just to go over my plan & other details.  While this blog is not about doulas, I do highly recommend one.  Or a midwife.  They are like water in a desert, and my husband was so grateful to have the help during my 36 hr natural (hellish) labor.

Now mind you, I'm working on changing this - and slowly making progress here - but I tend to put people into boxes.  At the time, I was a few steps back from where I am now (still progressing - hopefully always progressing) and she said one thing that caused me to immediately place her in one of my categorical mind boxes.  She said "I'm into essential oils, so if you are interested in that, it's something I offer with my doula services."  

Insta-crunchy.  In my mind I put her into the doula-east-side-flower-child-tree-hugging category.  Not that I have anything against this, but since she said that I really "understood" her better - since I so accurately categorized her. *note sarcasm here*  Regardless of my category placing, she did an amazing job as my doula, gave me lower back massage in the contraction phase, brought a massive bottle of coconut water, made the best soup I ever had, and had a few tricks up her sleeve that enhanced her awesomeness and made our birth epic.  But when she offered oils I was like "oils? Oh, no thanks I'm not a hippie".  

Oh how the tides have turned.  You see, you just don't know what you don't know 'til you know it.  And you know, even though I use oils now, I'm still not like a hardcore beatnik - all things considered - although I guess how granola one is is subjective.  I've had a number of my sister's friends reference me as her "hippie sister."  What. Ever.

Now I am part of groups with names like Oily Life and Oils baby! - dedicated to the sharing of EO information between oil lovers.  You know, it definitely is a "latest thing," however, it's a thing that has wild amounts of history, science and studies (and controversy) behind it's name.  It's been used since the Egyptians (or longer) for health, beauty, cleaning and the small & great pleasures in life (smelling fresh, pleasing home aromas, relaxation, the list goes on).  

I want to share with you why the EO craze is not just for the crunchy, but also for normal people across the globe.  There are legitimate reasons why so many are obsessed about them, and a few reasons why it has spread like wildfire as of late, to half the women you know.  

The Basics

1. Health Benefits

If we think of these little beauties as what they are - a plant with vitamins & minerals & other beneficial properties created by God, distilled and condensed into a super potent version of the original plant - the qualities that you would normally get from such plant are now packed into powerful little droplets.  It takes something ridiculous like 22 pounds of rose petals to get 5 mL of Rose oil (hence it's crazy price!)  So imagine, knowing the obvious health benefits of herbs like oregano, clove, thyme, rosemary, lavender, frankincense, lemon, tea tree, etc...and responsibly using them for all manner of ails via diffusion, topical application & in some cases taking internally, you are getting a mega-dose of the properties of the plant in each drop.  

EOs used in these ways have been used in studies like this and this and this shown to cause significant decreases of blood pressure, heart rate, and skin temperature.  They can help those suffering from behavioral disorders like ADHD, enhancing positive emotions and decreasing negative ones.  And this is the tip of the iceberg.  Here's some more health benefits:

• anti-viral, antibacterial, anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, and antiseptic.
• activates the immune system
• a system of delivery for nutrients directly to cells.
• is absorbed into the body under a half hour, without any extra garbage (additives).
• enhances wellness on all levels: physical, emotional and spiritual.
• increase your frequency

There is a wealth of information out there on the health benefits of essential oils - and one of my favorite facts is how hard big pharma is attacking the EO movement.  I'll give you one guess as to why, and it's not because they are ineffective. 

2. Beauty

EOs were buried with the kings and queens of Egypt, and while we know they are of benefit to our health, unfortunately they won't keep you alive forever.  But knowing how and who used them in the past shows just how valuable they have been throughout history.  Frankincense and Myrrh were gifts among gold for baby Yeshua (Jesus).  It's one of a few "fads" that keeps on keeping on.  I've used them on minor cuts and burns, moles, wrinkles, sore muscles, my armpits, canker sores, head & sinus pressure, yeast, rash, and even as an oil-pulling mouthwash (diluted with coconut oil)... to name a few.  


The floral scents are often used in candles, perfumes, lotions, creams, natural deodorants, powders, face washes, hair treatments...the list goes on.  I don't have to link you up to anything, just search "essential oil beauty treatments" on pinterest and your search will be complete.  Don't believe me, look for yourself.  Personally I love me some jojoba mix/frankincense/lavender on my face right before bed.  Relaxing and great for my skin.  

People buy such expensive creams and lotions full of additives and unnecessary preservatives when all you need is a couple bottles of these babies and maybe some shea butter/coco oil or carrier oil of choice and you can make like-creams for a portion of the price over and over and over.  Like honey, a good quality essential oil does not have an expiration date.  

3. Quality

Speaking of quality, not all essential oils are made the same.  Companies that sell EOs for dirt cheap are not selling you pure essential oils.  In fact, all they need to have to be labeled "100% pure" is 30% EO.  Yowzers!  The rest can be additives.  This is a topic I did more than my fair share of research on, but with all the information out there, I finally went with two (or 3) companies that I found had responsible and transparent preparation practices.  This blog has a wealth of information on this topic.  

What it comes down to is choose your own, but remember that you are putting a very concentrated product into your air and on your skin (and possibly internally - although I don't suggest this with any company besides Young Living, as they now have a line labeled safe for consumption - again, responsibly - there is a lot of debate here too, but I have used some internally and I'm still alive).
  

My allergy recipe: Lavender, Lemon & Peppermint with a spoonful of local honey.

If a brand of oil got it's plant from a farm grown with pesticides, those are now very concentrated on and in you.  If there are chemicals used to distill the plant, those are now very concentrated on and in you.  I use and trust these brands:  Young Living and Rocky Mountain Oils.  Although I don't use it, I would consider doTerra a solid competitor in quality to the aforementioned.


4. Cleaning

While it does make a difference, using any ol' brand of EO for cleaning purposes is probably "ok".  Not great, but ok.  I have a problem using my most expensive oils to clean a dirty bathroom floor.  If I can find a cheaper lemon - lets be real - I'll use that over the spendy one for cleaning purposes (I don't feel the same about my skin though).  


With the antiseptic, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties of a great majority of oils, turns out they make great cleaning tools.  Plus they smell fresh, are effective, and they are not toxic - which I care about, having two finger-sucking little people sprawling around on the floor all the time.

Well, I'm exhausted.  So I'm going to end this here.  But my point is this: You don't have to be a hippie to use essential oils.  If you like the idea of clean living, chemical-free beauty, enhanced health, fresh air & the like...then oils may be for you, too.

Do you love oils?  Tell me your favorite!

Shaloha!

Permaculture: I Love You So Mulch!

Lets talk about mulch, ba-by.
Let’s talk a-bout de-bris,
Let’s talk about all the green leaves, and grass clippings,
Mulch can be…
Lets talk a-bout...Mulch.  

It’s much more provocative than it seems.  It’s like the “plain jane” you know that has a wild and crazy side once you get to know her.  

In case you were worried I was just writing about things for moms, I'm here to tell you no! That's not it.  My purpose of starting this blog is to share about my many - sometimes unconventional - interests, which span a wide spectrum -  in the hopes that maybe you'll learn something new (because I LOVE learning new things).  So we’re heading into the topic of permaculture: a topic we have not breached yet.  We’ve done oils, we’ve done mama, we’ve done parties, music, chanukah...we're on this journey together.  But now it’s time to talk about how to change the world, and how mulch is going to help do that, and make your life more exotic at the same time.

If you don’t know about permaculture, go look it up.  Or if you’re too lazy to do that we will get into detail on what it is some other time (it’s like the universe of all things “sustainable gardening-ecosystem-building” - an expanse of unexplored information constantly burgeoning).  I’m going to start with something more simple, an important element in permaculture.  Mulch.

Think:  Water retention.  Soil protection.  Organic resurrection.  

If I can rhyme to make it more alluring, I will.

Can I just say something, before I start?  I hate hearing people say “I have a black thumb”.  Because it’s a straight up lie.  It really is one of two things.  

1. You have not mulched. 

or 

2. You just don’t care to really learn about growing things.  

Sorry not sorry.  I used to have a “black thumb”.  But actually I was just a laggard who thought I could shove a seed in the ground and it should grow.  Plants have preferences too, you know.  They like water, some like sun, some like alkaline soil, some like acid - if your soil sucks, they need nutrients to grow just like anything else.  So don’t tell me you have a black thumb.  Just say you’re not interested in learning about what plants need.  You want your tree to give you fruit?  Lets learn to give your tree what it needs to give you fruit.  It will return the love a hundred fold.  You’ll be swimming in fruit.

Whew.  Needed to get that off my chest.  So mulch.  Let me tell you how I personally feel about mulch.  I have a friend who is a tree trimmer.  He has mulch coming out of his ears, and I haven’t told him yet, but I literally dream about the day our house is done so that if he needs to unload some mulch he can dump it all over our yard.

Another friend of mine used to trim trees with my tree trimmer friend.  He made connections with some county tree trimmers and now they come drop piles…magnificent piles of mulch in his yard on a regular basis.  Want to know how I feel about that?  Totally jealous.  I want mulch.  I want it all over, everywhere.  You might think “well that’s a little quirky” - but that’s because you don’t know mulch yet.  The pictures in this blog are credited to our friend with the mulched garden.  It is certainly paying off...look at those kabocha squashes!  I admire what his diligent work & creativity and a ton of mulch is resulting in for him and his beautiful family.  He's doing some awesome permaculture work here on kauai on the west side.  Check him out @westkauaifarms

So you want to know:  Why do I need mulch?  

Here you go:

1.  N(C)+3-6”M= -W  (I made that up - don’t you miss math class?)  In other words: Newspaper (or cardboard) + 3-6 inches of mulch = organic weed eliminator.  Ciao, Round-up! I don’t even need you, vinegar.  Im’ma mulch these weeds to death.  Mulch makes for a nice garden path material as well.  

2.  Hey, did you know after you throw down that newspaper/cardboard and the thick mulch layer, you’re also naturally attracting beneficial wormies into your garden?  These guys LOVE to enrich your soil and convert the paper/board into garden gold (worm compost).  

3.  THEN, get this.  If you sheet mulch an area, the mulch breaks down over time and becomes SUPER EPIC soil for your plants.  It’s EASY and it’s called “no-till gardening” or "sheet mulching" and it’s amazing.  It takes more time if you’re in a dry climate, but you are literally enriching the quality of soil just by topping it off with an organic mulch that has tons of other useful qualities.  Adding some organic manure before putting down your cardboard in the beginning process helps with fertility.

4.   Mulch RESERVES moisture.  When you have a solid top layer of mulch, you need as little as 10 percent of the water that other gardens do.  Some also acts the opposite in super wet situations - it absorbs excess moisture in flood, saving your plants from an anaerobic situation.  Sign. me. up.

5.  Mulch comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  Some organic material options:  spoiled hay (make sure no seed!), grass clippings, wood chips, rocks, dead leaves, garden clippings, living mulch…etc.

If you want to fall in love with mulch, watch this vimeo sensation: Back to Eden

I promise you, plain jane is gonna take off her shoes and show you her dance moves.

Shaloha!

http://permaculturenews.org/2016/01/22/mulching-with-purpose-and-precision/

http://permaculturenews.org/2015/07/31/the-oft-forgotten-art-of-growing-mulch/

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/9-easy-steps-sheet-mulching