MyWellnessBlog

My Favorite Natural Health Alternative

Scary to think that government agencies want to be in our business the way they do. It's ridiculous that things that work to help the body to help heal itself should come under the domain of the government but there 'ya are.

Can't have everyone using natural health alternatives after all -- how ever would the drug companies make their millions??

My all time favorite natural health alternative has got to be lemon oil from Young Living Essential Oils (sorry, as of this writing, I don't have a referral number to share with you).

Since 1997, I've used this antibacterial essential oil as a natural health alternative to combat what used to be a repeating case of strep throat -- I'm talking I used to get it like 4x/year!

My first order was an Essential 7 kit, which includes lemon eo.

I tried it that very first day on what was a developing case of strep -- it knocked me flat on my back. Come to find out, it was my body detoxing with the help of the lemon oil.

I curled up in a ball and went to sleep -- I wasn't in any pain, but I could 'feel' something working or healing; like my body was busy getting better and sleep was really necessary.

The next morning, I felt great!

The lemon eo had apparently chased away the oncoming strep -- or helped my body to do that for itself anyway.

It's been 10 years now that I've been strep free -- and I give all the credit to Young Living's Lemon essential oil. It's one natural health alternative I will never be without.

Thank goodness for essential oils!

Revisiting Natural Soap

Several years ago, when we were living in Montana, I decided to try my hand at soapmaking.

I loved it!

Lye, water, goats milk, fat, an interesting natural colorant, a little fragrance perhaps -- some elbow grease (okay maybe more than *some* for stirring) ...

Cover and let it do it's thing and voila a lovely big block of natural soap.

But like everything else I do, it got overwhelming -- the batches got bigger and bigger, my back started acting up, the storage for curing (because it has to be a constant warmish temperature and that ain't Montana) became first cramped and then non-existent. We were being swallowed up by natural soap bars!

But it did sell and I did enjoy it so ...

Here are some links I recently came across that stirred this recurring wild hair on:

• Featured DIYer - Delores Harris, natural soapmaker (she's got it bad as I ever did)
• Soapwire - a way to distribute soap articles and gain some traffic
• And this link with pictures of wild looking CP soap made in Thailand - sure does get the 'ol creative juices flowing!

This month we're planning a move to Florida and guess what ... making natural soap is on my mind again.

Even better??

Our new house has an outdoor workshop space with a sink!

All I need now are some shelves and a campstove and I'll be back in business.

Oh yeah, and some sort of handy pot on a pivot point for pouring so I don't take out my back again. But that's what handy hubbies are for, eh?

I'm excited to be getting back into the business of natural soapmaking.

Anyone else got the bug?

Make it a great day!

So many organic topics ...

So many organic and green topics to cover ... so little time.

Well, might as well dive right in :)

Having 3 kids (their ages range from 8mos to 13 years), I'm always interested in keeping our home as chemical free as possible. One of the first things I wanted to replace was my commercial household cleansers.

Now we don't have anyone here with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity as Diana describes over on her blog -- what a nightmare, but I do want to have the very best environment for our kids that we can have and that means replacing many common household cleaners with more natural and organic cleaning supplies.

I have a favorite organic disinfectant that's made by a company out in Utah, but many ways to clean naturally can be found right in your kitchen.

Here are a few examples -

• Homemade glass cleaner
  1 quart of water + 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• Carpet freshener
  3/4 Cup baking soda, 2 tablespoons corn starch and several drops essential oil of choice. Sprinkle onto dry rugs wait 10 minutes and then vaccuum
• Rust Stain/Hard Water Deposit Removal
  Use full strength vinegar or lemon juice on spot until spot dissappears then rinse. Repeat as needed.

Of course there are many other combinations of naturally occurring common household items that can be used for cleaning. The Cleaning Biz Blog has a great list. I'm big on using essential oils for mold and killing germs.

www.Momsorganichouse.com has bunches of info on organic cleaning (in this case lemon, baking soda and vinegar tips) too -- you might want to check for other ideas there :)

Have any favorite natural or organic cleaning solutions to share?

Make it a great day!