MAKING YOUR OWN SAFE COSMETICS

HERBALS  FROM YOUR GARDEN... Borage Calendula Chamomile Comfrey Fennel Lavender Rosemary Rose Strawberries Sea Buckthorn Tomatoes Violets FROM THE WOODS... Birch Cedar Cottonwood Elderberries Fireweed Mountain Ash Oregan Grape Self Heal Stinging Nettle Witch Hazel KIND WEEDS... Burdock Chickweed Clover Field Horsetail Mullein Yarrow	THE UNCOMMON MARIGOLD    The cheerful and versatile marigold is so prolific and so easy to grow that it is sometimes treated like a weed. Don't underestimate it, because it does lovely things for your body, both inside and out. Those common little calendula flowers contain uncommon properties I won't attempt to list them all. but for my purposes they contain terpene alkaloids and flavones that kill microbes. This is of great value in a skin cream or lotion.    An extract made from marigold petals also helps to regenerate damaged tissue and to soothe roughened skin. For medicinal purposes, be sure to plant the 'common' marigold (calendula officinalus) rather than the more exotic South African variety, which has different properties.    Making an extract from marigold petals is a simple matter. Pick the flowers in the morning when the dew has dried, and spread out on paper or cardboard, in a shady spot, to dry. When sufficiently dried, remove the yellow petals and store in a glass container.    Take a half cup of grapeseed oil, add about two tablespoons of dried petals, and store in a covered jar in a dark cupboard for two to three weeks. Shake gently every couple of days. When time is up, strain off the petals and add to your compost. Use the infused oil as it is or add it to creams or lotions.    Marigold has been used for hundreds of years as a 'pot' herb. The addition of flowers to a broth is said to 'strengthen and comfort the hart' (Fuller's Anthologie, 1655). In Holland during the Middle Ages, merchants kept barrels of dried marigold flowers in their stores, as they were considered a staple ingredient for soups and stews. The petals were widely used to give a yellow colour to cheese as well.    Tea made from marigolds is good for sore and swollen eyes. Soak cotton pads in the liquid and cover your eyes while lying down. Later, use the rest of the liquid to splash and bathe your eyes - wonderfully refreshing. I have also read that fresh marigold flowers rubbed on a bee or wasp sting will take away the pain, but I have not actually tried this.    Boiling marigold flowers in water yields a yellow liquid that can serve as a final rinse for blonde hair. It conditions the hair as well as giving it highlights. In the book, Olde English Herbals, by E.S. Rhodes, we read this: 'Of marygolde we learn that Summe use to make theyr here yellow with the floure of this herbe, not beying contente with the natural colore which God hath given they.' Obviously the writer was not to happy about the lassies making their own hair dye, but it is certainly one of the safest I have heard about, as well as one of the cheapest!    All things considered, the bright-eyed marigold is a bonus for your garden and for your person. The gift is yours to use.
ALLIGATOR PEARS    Avocados were cultivated and cherished by the Incas. We know this because seeds were found buried with Inca mummies, dating back to 750 B.C.    Because of their distinctive shape, they were called 'ahuacatl', the Inca word for testicles, but the word was corrupted by the Spanish and then by the English to 'alligator', so the became known as alligator pears or avocados.    California is our main supplier of avocados, and the orchards supply health benefits as well as fruit. For instance, two trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four (520 pounds per year). A one-acre orchard absorbs and converts about two and a half tons of carbon dioxide per year as well as up to ninety pound of nitroenous pollutants. Finally, the trees lower the surrounding air temperature by evaporation from their leaves. Probably the healthiest place in California would be in the middle of an avocado orchard.    The trees are extremely frost-tender, so we can't hope to grow them in our climate, but avocados are such a valuable addition to our diet and to our skin-care routines that it is worth paying import prices for them.    The fruit is salt and cholesterol-free and. in spite of its rich taste, has only five grams of fat per serving, most of it mono-unsaturated (the best kind - it actually helps to lower cholesterol). The Incas considered it to be an aphrodisiac, but maybe it just made their ladies irresitibly gorgeous. Avocados contain the powerful antioxidant, glutathione,as well as a good balance of magnesium and potassium for relaxation, more fibre than apples, the essential B-complex vitamins, niacin and pantothenic acid, plus Vitamins A, C and E. Good stuff!    As well as being a healthy and delicious food, avocados do lovely things for your skin, inside and out. Choose fruit that is ripe. Hold it in your hand and press gently - if it gives a little, it is ready to use. You can make a plethora of masks, cleansers and hair therapies from the mashed fruit, but here is the really good part. DON'T put the skin in your garbage. Peel it off carefully and seal it in plastic wrap to keep the air out - otherwise the enzymes will turn it brown - and pop into the fridge. It will keep for a couple of days.    When you are ready, apply the soft side of the skins to your face or to any areas of skin (heels, elbows, hands, etc.) that need attention. Leave on for at least fifteen minutes while you relax.. Depending on your skin texture, either rinse off gently with warm water or just leave the film of oil and nutrients on your skin. This is great for a bedtime moisturiser.    If you have been wearing sandals and have sun-dried feet, avocado skins work wonders on hardened heels and soles. In fact I usually buy a couple extra just for those clever peels.    Hair is dry and a bit frazzled from sun, wind and water? Mash an over-ripe avocado and an elderly banana together with a teaspoon of castor oil. Heat to bath temperature in the microwave  and rub into damp hair. Cover with a hot towel and let it penetrate for half an hour or so. Wash gently, rinse and pH balance as usual.. The oil, enzymes and minerals in the fruit will revitalise your hair, while the castor oil strengthens it.    Most of you have probably tried slices of cucumber on tired, puffy eyes, so will know how effective that treatment is. Avocado is even better. Cut the fruit in half (after peeling) andtake a couple of crescent-shaped slices. Close your eyes and cover the lids and the soft skin under your eyes with the slices. Relax and put your feet up for half an hour before rinsing off. it will drastically reduce puffiness and at the same time will gently moisturize the delicate skin in this area.    For troubled skin, a gentle scrub with your fresh avocado peel (remember it contains that antioxidant to help neutralize infection) cleans without damaging. The skins make a handy massage medium for very dry skin as well, leaving a bonus of soothing oil. After gardening, a rub with the wonderful peels will help to get your hand back in shape again.    So remember, next time you slice an avocado into your salad, that what was good for the Incas will be good for us too. Save those skins!
JOHNNY-JUMP-UPS: A Self-contained Cosmetic Kit     My Dad and I shared a passion for western novels when I was growing up in rural New Zealand. We especially loved Zane Grey - what could be more romantic for a down-under kid living on a dairy farm than 'Riders of the Purple Sage' or 'Wild Horse Mesa'? My pony was transformed into a glorious mustang, our gentle Ayrshire cows into wild loghorns, and the farm dogs into noble wolves. The cow paddocks and hay fields became rippling prairie grass with patches of wild sage, indian paintbrush, shooting stars and johnny-jump-ups.    I longed to see the wild west, and I think Dad did too, although he never made it. So when I finally came to North America, it was the wild things and places that I wanted to explore. The plants that Zane Grey had described were waiting to be tracked down, and over the years I have found them all, but my favourites are johnny-jump-ups.    These are cheerful little mini-pansies, with pussy-cat faces. They belong to the viola family and have many evocative names: Heartsease, Love-in-idleness, Call Me to You, Three Faces in a Hood, Heart of Trinity, Herb Constancy, Jack Jump-up-and-kiss-me, Kit-run-in-the-fields, Stepfathers and Stepmothers, Butterfly Flower, Herb Trinatus... obviously they have caught the imagination of many different people. I brought a few plants with me when we moved to Crescent Valley, and they have thrived and moved into many unexpected corners of the garden.    Not only are they happy plants, they have several practical uses. They are edible and the flowers make an attractive addition to salads. For cosmetic and healing purposes, they are versatile. Significant ingredients in their chemical make-up are salicytates (aspirin is derived from salicylic acid), saponins (cleansing), and the rutin violaquerticen (healing and soothing).    They are effective for: Promotion of wound healing Prevention of inflammation Useful for eczema Healing micro-crust Healing spots, pimples and sores Relieving acne and skin itching Soothing external pain A natural sunscreen    These little plants are a self-contained cosmetic kit. Here is a good way to use them: Heartsease Ointment    Make a maceration of of dried flowers and leaves in grapeseed oil. When the process is completed, melt approximately one tablespoon of beeswax for every half cup of macerated oil, slightly warmed. The oil may have a blue tinge from the violanine in the flowers. Blend beeswax into warm oil, pour into pots and allow it to set. For a thicker ointment, use slightly more beeswax. Use on baby rashes and for any skin problems.
HAZ-NI-HU    The Winnebago Indian tribes called it haz-ni-hu, which means water-fruit bush. Our name for it is sumac, and it was often mentioned in the Zane Grey westerns that my dad and I shared when I was growing up. Zane’s glorious wild horses, his cowboys (tough but tender) and his Indian braves (noble) galloped through gulches lined with sumac, ‘blazing up the hillsides’. The scene that stays in my mind must have been in the fall, because that is the time when sumac leaves look as though they are on fire, a riot of scarlet and orange.      So sumac was one of the plants I needed to find when I came to this continent. It was more beautiful than I had expected. Mountain sumac is as graceful as it is useful, with dense clusters of red flowers that look like flames in a candelabra.   All of this plant is useful, and some of it is edible. In spring, the young shoots are nutritious for nibbling, and in the fall, berries may be dried, cooked or made into a drink that tastes like lemonade, or the prolific roots may be peeled and cooked. Feeling thirsty on a hot day? Lick on one of the scarlet flower cones for an instant thirst-quencher.         It was considered a sacred plant by some native tribes. The flexible stems were used by the Dakota indians for basketry – they called the plant chan-zi (yellow wood). Dried leaves were smoked by the Kiowas, who named them maw-kho-la (tobacco mixture). The leaves were used, as well, for tanning leather. (If a sumac leaf is punctured by a small insect, it forms a little bubble, or gall, of tannic acid).   A tonic made from an infusion of the bark or roots is used for treatment of colds, fevers, sore throats and bladder inflammation. It also increases the flow of breast milk and can be used externally for burns or skin eruptions. Powdered bark makes a powerful antiseptic salve, or a poultice of the leaves can be used to treat skin rashes. Leaves may also be chewed for sore gums or lips. An infusion of the blossoms makes an eye wash for sore or infected eyes, and the milky sap can be applied directly to pimples – it has drying and healing properties.      Oil extracted from the seeds is used in making candles. Brown, red or black dyes can be obtained from the berries. For all of you crafters, the dried berries make lovely arrangements that hold their shape and colour for years. Is this a useful plant or what?      We liked it so well that we planted a sumac for two of our grandsons. The bushes have now become groves, and the boys are thriving as well. Mathew in Edmonton and Sam in Sydney are as versatile and refreshing as their adopted trees.   Next time you see the distinctive stag-horn branches and scarlet flower panicles of the sumac growing on the roadside, be aware that this tree is a grocery store and drug-store combo. Beautiful as well!      Here is a recipe for sumac ‘lemonade’.In late summer, put a handful of berries in a couple of cups of cold water. Let sit overnight in a cool place. Strain and sweeten to taste. Do not heat or it will taste medicinal. This makes a tangy, lemony thirst-quencher. Kids love it.