Trunk Show at the TLA on South Street

Lilith's Apothecary Facial Mask Kit

There’s going to be a City Paper Trunk Show on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) this week. It’s going to be held at the TLA (Theatre of the Living Arts) on South Street in Philadelphia between 3rd and 4th. Check out http://www.citypaper.net/trunkshow for more info about this awesome event, of which Lilith’s Apothecary will be a part!

“The Greatest Trunk Show on Earth”
featuring 50 local boutiques and artisans
November 28 :: 10-3pm

Back from CA ~ ready for more!

Whew, holiday season has HIT but most of my orders on etsy still seem very personal, rather than gifts for family or friends. I love helping people craft custom formulas, and it’s so rewarding to get feedback that my creations are really working. What’s really amazing is how simple, pure ingredients are so much better for the skin than these expensive commercial foaming creamy whaznits! Love the feedback, guys! I am especially delighted that the Cleansing elixirs and Clarifying Facial Serums are having such success against acne.

Maeve and I went out to California last week to visit some LA cousins ~ we had a great time, enjoyed the fantabulous weather and also learned a lot about a product called Xango, a natural supplement that harnesses the power of mangosteen, a southeast asian fruit that has been used as a tea, a topical salve, and a medicinal remedy for many common complaints, including inflammation, pain, skin conditions, and infections. Xango is a *tasty* supplement and I’d love to start using it myself. I found that I was looking forward to having a little xango ‘shot’ every day, just knowing I was gifting myself with all that antioxidant, anti-inflammatory goodness. Yeah, mangosteen!

Indie Craft Market TOMORROW!

Tomorrow I will have a table at the Indie Craft Market in Philadelphia. It’s a great marketplace of indie artisans of all kinds ~ a great place to start picking up things for the holidays! It would be great to see some of my beloved customers, friends, and family there.
There will be food, music, and “cool peddlers”, as they say:

11-6pm
@ Backseat Conceptions 941 Theater:
941 N. Front Street Philadelphia, PA (Northern Liberties)

http://randomsquirrellab.com/

Phew – what a week!

Maeve & Mommy at Solebury Orchard

Maeve at Morris Arboretum’s fall festival

Halloween Party! Sarah & Tony

I have to say that working full time, parenting a toddler, dealing with regular household crises AND trying to get an herbal bath and body business underway is soooo tiring. Some nights I am just desperate to put my feet up. But on one hand, I remember reading about people starting their own businesses who would be up until 4 am every morning trying to get things accomplished. Still, when you are advocating for balance, it is hard not to crave some in your own life!

So this is what I try to sneak in as mini-moments of me time:
* blog entries!
* reading Herbal Quarterly and Herbal Gram, to great herb-based magazines/journals
* etsy surfing
* a glance at Mothering magazine or natural toys catalogues (with my toddler in mind!)
* a nice cup of tea in the afternoon ~ maybe even with a treat if I’m lucky.
* True Blood or Dexter (though now I’m trying to watch Bleakhouse, a BBC Masterpiece theatre production
* movies with my huspea! (that’s hubby to you)

Still, i am feeling pretty out of balance these days but it’s the holiday season so I don’t think I have much choice in the matter! Tough luck

Herbal Infusions – part II

Chamomile Dill Tummy Soother

Dream Journey Herbal Infusion

Mama’s Milk Herbal Infusion

So we all know that herbs can benefit us by way of a ‘tea’ or, more accurately, infusion. “Tea” is actually meant to refer to the use of the tea leaf (camellia sinensis), which has wonderful anti-oxident benefits. An “Infusion” (or tisane) is a hot-water infusion of other plant material (herbs or fruits) and can refer to all sorts of wonderful combinations and blends.

An infusion of delicate flower material, such as chamomile, need only be done for a relatively brief amount of time in order to reap the rewards. Medicinal infusions of hardier herbs should really be done with a LOT of herb (1 oz) for a long time (4-8 hours or overnight). A little tea bag with nettle leaf in it, steeped for a few minutes is nice, and it certainly will impart some of its nutritional goodness to you, but to really have an effective, therapeutic result, you need to steep a lot of it (1 oz equates to about 5-7 Tbsp) in a quart of water (a mason jar will do).

Again, it’s kind of a question of what you’re aiming to do with the herb! But nourishing, green infusions steeped for 8 hours are such a boon to your systems and can do transformative work over time when taken consistently and persistently. My personal favorite daily tonic is one with red raspberry leaf, oatstraw, spearmint. Red Raspberry is high in tannins, has lots of vitamin and mineral content, and is tonifying to the uterus (which preceeding or following childbirth is a very good thing); oatstraw is nourishing to the nervous system (help!); and spearmint is helpful for digestion and also tastes good! Simple infusions of nettle, oatstraw, red clover leaf & flower, or alfalfa are all nutritious and highly beneficial.

Herbalist Susun Weed has a great article for making herbal infusions found in her resources. She includes detailed information on what to do with various types of herbal matter, including barks, roots, berries, leaves, and flowers. I hope it is a great resource for you!

Herbal Infusions

Herbal Nourishment Daily Infusion

Wild Mint Rooibos Tea

Tisane Waterlily

I’m really happy that I got some new photos up today on my etsy site for some of my visually beautiful herbal tea blends. It’s hard to know, sometimes, what attracts people to a blend, but I always feel that some of these are too visually stunning to resist (let alone tasty).

It’s great to get comments and suggestions about herbal teas, though. One of my etsy customers, Waterlilysage, commissioned one of her favorites, and so I added a new spin off of that one. I drink thyme tea as a matter of course, so this jazzed up version is even more delightful and a new favorite for me too!