Donna’s Blog « Cottage Hill Herb Farm

Fennel Seed Sugar Scrub

On November 7, 2014 / Natural Skincare and Beauty, Recipes / Comments Off

Fennel Seed Sugar Scrub 25gm Fennel Seed 160gm Raw Sugar 180ml Apricot Kernel Oil, Sweet Almond Oil or Sesame Cold Pressed Oil 5 drops Patchouli Pure Essential Oil 6 drops Ylang Ylang Pure Essential Oil 20 drops(1ml) Mandarin Pure Essential Oil Grind the fennel seeds lightly in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. Mix with the sugar in a bowl. Place the Apricot oil in a jug and add the essential oil combination to this. Stir through and add sugar, fennel mix. Place in suitable container. Use in bath or shower by massaging into the skin in circular motions. Rinse […]

Natural Cold Sore Remedy

On October 31, 2014 / Natural Skincare and Beauty, Recipes / Comments Off

Natural Cold Sore Remedy Antiseptic and healing essential oil blend: Melissa (Lemon Balm) Pure Essential Oil – 20 drops Geranium Bourbon Pure Essential Oil – 20 drops Lavender Pure Essential Oil – 20 drops Hyssop Pure Essential Oil – 5 drops Lemon Pure Essential Oil – 5 drops Combine the pure essential oils in 50mls of pure apple cider vinegar and shake well before use. Apply at the first sign of cold sore outbreak. This mixture is very effective to diminish outbreaks. A course of L-Lysine, B Vitamins and Vitamin C grreatly assists in reducing the viral load in the […]

FRAGRANT SUGARS FOR CULINARY DELIGHTS AND BODY CARE PRODUCTS

On October 22, 2014 / Featured Product, Natural Skincare and Beauty, Recipes / Comments Off

FRAGRANT SUGARS FOR CULINARY DELIGHTS AND BODY CARE PRODUCTS Limited only by your imagination, these divine sugars are so easy, cost effective and make unique gifts to delight the recipient this festive season. Method: Using a large glass jar, place your selected ingredient in the bottom of the jar and cover with sugar. I like to use generous amounts of herbs or spices to create a more intense flavour within the sugar. Place the jar in a warm place – such as a hot water cupboard, or other warm position away from sunlight. Shake occassionally and leave for 3 […]

The Grapefruit Seed Extract Controversy

On October 16, 2014 / Featured Product, Herbal Medicine and Health, Natural Skincare and Beauty / Comments Off

The Grapefruit Seed Extract Controversy Many of you will be familiar with controversial stories on the internet about chemicals found in Grapefruit Seed Extracts. Most extracts available commercially have been adulterated and diluted to the point that they don’t work, so these unscrupulous companies add parabens to the extract to make them viable. These are not the sort of additives that we want in our truly natural pure products! Here at Cottage Hill Herbs – we now have available Pure Organic Grapefruit Seed Extract Powder so that you may make your own pure extract, knowing exactly what it contains at […]

Natural Sunscreen

On September 26, 2014 / Recipes / Comments Off

Natural Sunscreen 50 gms Organic Moisturising Base Cream 10 – 15 gms Zinc Oxide Powder (not micronised) – may need a little more depending on users skin tone 15 Drops Red Raspberry Seed Oil 10 Drops Carrot Seed Oil 10 Drops Aloe Vera Oil 6 Drops Coconut Oil 6 Drops Sesame Seed Oil 3 Drops Sea Buckthorn Seed Oil 3 Drops Lemongrass Pure Essential Oil (or Lavender if preferred) 3 Drops Citricidal C (preservative) Firstly: Take a small amount of the moisturising base cream and add the Zinc Oxide Powder, blending until there are no lumps – or mix the Zinc […]

LAVENDER

On September 5, 2014 / Featured Herb, Herbal Medicine and Health, Natural Skincare and Beauty / Comments Off

Lavender Essential Oil Loved and cherished by many cultures for its valuable medicinal properties and its fine fragrance, Lavender has always been the most popular of all the essential oils. The pure essential oil is steam distilled from the fresh flowering tops of Lavendula officinalis (true Lavender) and others. There are many species of Lavender used commercially for essential oil production – not all of these are considered suitable for oil production with many NZ varieties distilled from Lavenders that give high yields of oil, but little in the therapeutic value of the essential oil. At Cottage Hill Herbs we […]

MAKE YOUR OWN HERBAL CAPSULES

On August 22, 2014 / Featured Product, Herbal Medicine and Health, Recipes / Comments Off

MAKE YOUR OWN HERBAL CAPSULES Grind the appropriate dried herb or herbs to a fine powder, using a coffee grinder. Take apart the empty vegetable based capsule and fill both sides with the herbal powder. Push both sides back together, wipe well and place in an air-tight jar. Approximately 50-60gms of dried herb will make 100 capsules. This is cost effective and easy, even children can make these. You will know exactly what is in your capsules and know they are made from pure natural ingredients, do not contain fillers and binders, and use only vegetable based capsule […]

Ginkgo

On August 22, 2014 / Featured Herb, Herbal Medicine and Health / Comments Off

Ginkgo Boosts Mental Abilities In The Elderly A recent study by researchers at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, gave cognitive function tests to 262 cognitively normal people over the age of 65 and then gave them either a placebo or Ginkgo. After 6 weeks, they rested the participants. The Ginkgo group showed significant improvement on several of the tests, including recall of recently learned information. The Liberty researchers submitted their study to JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Assoc.), but it was rejected. Although JAMA has published some studies showing the benefits of herbs – notable, a 1999 study showing […]

CAYENNE

On August 15, 2014 / Featured Herb, Herbal Medicine and Health / Comments Off

Cayenne Cayenne – yes, we are talking about our common kitchen spice cayenne in its dried form (not cooked). “Cayenne the wonder herb” – with a huge list of attributes and applications – so lets look at just a few of the things that cayenne can help with… Bleeding: Stops external bleeding in its tracks – simply sprinkle a light coating into and over cuts and wounds to stop bleeding and take the shock out of the wound. Heart Attack / Emergency Situations: Obviously one must seek medical help in these cases – but until help arrives – a pinch of cayenne […]

A WEIGHT LOSS MIRACLE

On August 7, 2014 / Featured Herb, Herbal Medicine and Health, Natural Skincare and Beauty / Comments Off

A WEIGHT LOSS MIRACLE! BRINDLEBERRY (GARCINIA CAMBOGIA) There is massive historical and scientific evidence regarding this herb’s amazing effects on weight loss and appetite suppression. Considered by researchers and many famous doctors such as DR OZ to be the newest and fastest fat burner. This incredible little fruit offers us the easiest and most effective fat burning properties seen to date, along with a host of other health promoting benefits. Human and animal studies have shown most impressive results in reducing cravings and increasing fat burning. The Hydroxy Citric Acid (HCA) in Brindleberry is the active ingredient that increases lipid […]

ADAPTOGENIC HERBS & STRESS

On August 1, 2014 / Herbal Medicine and Health / Comments Off

Adaptogenic Herbs & Stress According to medical researchers, who developed the stress scale ranking system – they found that the higher your total stress score in any particular year, the more likely you were to become ill. These ratings represent average stress levels. We each have different capacities to cope with stressful change. Stress is inherently an internal phenomenon. The link between our health and our ability to deal constructively with our lives is now strongly supported by a growing body of scientific literature. Most of us can benefit from improving the balance of our lives and our ability to […]

Delaying your skin’s aging process with natural ingredients

On July 25, 2014 / Natural Skincare and Beauty / Comments Off

Delaying your skin’s aging process with natural ingredients! Recent research shows that aging of the skin can be slowed, or even stopped with the use of anti-oxidant compounds derived from botanical products. Data indicates that possibly the richest source of these powerful anti-oxidant compounds are to be found in raw or organic Cacao Beans. Cacao has the highest ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of all anti-oxidants measured. Cacao contains many, many vitamins and minerals and is particularly high in Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc and Copper. These provide high skin levels of oxygen, with copper being a powerful anti wrinkle ingredient that […]

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