5 TO FORAGE IN OCTOBER We’ve been so lucky this October to have some bright sunny days making it great to be outdoors. While the number of fruits, flowers and leaves to gather is reducing, it’s a good time to prep for winter months by bringing a few herbs indoors to be cared for on…
August is the lazy peak of summer, a time when a little disarray seems to be order of the day. Lush growth is now either scorched or squashed, depending on whether you’ve had the searing heat or the overwhelming rain. This season of peak everything can also mean peak exhaustion if you’re a parent juggling…
Buddleja and butterflies Buddleja davidii is known as the ‘butterfly bush’ because butterflies so often flutter around it gathering nectar. It’s also attractive to bees and moths. It’s possible that the nectar is so good because its packed full of benefits from the buddleja – what is it that those insects instinctively know? Another name we…
The Essential Guide to making your own Rosewater Rosewater is a fundamental in skincare, as an ingredient it crops up in many blend it yourself recipes and it can be used on its own when cleansing, toning, bathing and refreshing. It’s even a calming and restorative cure for a headache. So rosewater is a staple…
5 TO FORAGE IN JUNE June is a fantastic month to forage for natural skincare ingredients. There are many flowers and leaves in both hedgerows and gardens. If you can, pick in full sun and then use fresh right away, or alternatively dry for later use. To dry your plant material, either hang in bunches…
Grab the opportunity of any sunny spells between the storms to explore locally and see which new skincare plants you can find. You might stumble upon a new favourite. All the sunshine and rain has encouraged luscious new growth so you may need to forage a bit deeper among the greens to spot these five…
Fresh skincare in April Make the most of any sunny days in April to go out for a walk and seek among the new shoots some fresh gatherings for Blend-it-Yourself skincare. Here five things to look out for and how you can use them. Daisy Daisy’s are one of those flowers that open up when…
This is an article published recently by Permaculture Magazine. ‘Weed’ is a controversial term. I feel slanderous using it. Every definition I can find references weeds as either unwanted or feeble. At best they are misplaced. (Curious that the same word can be used as a derogatory term for something that is either too vigorous,…
Hot Topics for natural skincare This week I was at the Natural & Organics Products Show at Excel in London. It felt quite different from my experience there two years ago. Here’s what I observed and what I learnt. Keeping it simple, I’ve focused on my Top 5 take-outs to share with you. My top…
We rely on our deodorant to keep us fresh and smelling good morning to night. So we gravitate towards the tried-and-tested formulas available in sticks and bottles on the shelf. We want something we can trust. These bottles that have been around for decades are getting a rethink. We’re now not so sure we can…
