Ordering Aromatherapy Stuff

I treated myself to an hour of bliss a couple of weeks back. When I first started with aromatherapy, one of my greatest joys was going to a aromatherapy shop and picking out the oils I needed. That always involved lot of chatting, sniffing and information gathering. A totally pleasant and almost spiritual adventure. I loved spending an hour or two in a fragrant, calm oasis that exists wherever essential oils abound.

I can't do that anymore because the one and only place here that sells aromatherapy products, while perfectly delightful, is more of a gift shop is limited in their selection of oils. But I have found the next best thing, mail order. After trying a few places, I find the perfect website to suit my needs. Essential Aura Aromatherapy has a great selection and are offer many fair trade, organic products. Perfect. So once, may-be twice a year, I'll go through all my oils and see what I'm running low on and what I need. Then I'll grab my trusty aromatherapy books and look at profiles of oils I might want to try. With list in hand, I'll go to the website and poke around there for a while. It's just joy, looking and reading and learning. I've been doing aromatherapy for ten years and am still learning all the time. Then I'll make my order.

Within a week, it comes. A plain brown package all gussied up with tape, labels and a glaring red sticker proclaiming fragile contents, handle with care. I open it up and enjoy old familiar scents and delight in new aromas. The oasis has arrived.

Note: I am in no way associated with Essential Aura Aromatherapy, I just love their products.

Early Edibles

I had my teenage daughter, T, and her best bud rake out the herb garden, or at least the remains of it, last weekend. The herb garden is turning into a perennial patch of comfrey and various mints, if it's invasive, it stays to do its own battle with the weeds. Among the various mints was a patch of chives, a good 6 - 8 inches long. Whoot. I love chives, they're a great substitute for onions. I ran out of my own onions a couple of weeks back and had to buy them. Which was pretty depressing because store-bought onions are really inferior in both taste and looks to mine (she says matter-of-factly, with no snobbishness or pride). But now the the chives have sprung up, I can use them pretty much wherever I'd use onions. The picture many not look like much, but the chives were great in the pasta salad I made that night.

Chives aren't the only thing springing up around here. Clover, dandelions and plantain are also making an appearance, much to the rabbits delight. They love their fresh greens. As the season continues, they will eat more and more fresh and less pellets. I think its better for them and they certainly enjoy it more. I think they can smell the greens when I bring the laden bowl down to them. I'll fill up the pellet dish first, the rabbits may give it a disinterested sniff or two but the rabbits will look at me expectantly, ears erect, eyes bright, and sitting with their front paws in the air... they know what's coming! Then I'll dump the greens and the rabbits dive into that sea of fragrant, fresh goodness. It may not look like much in the picture but the rabbits think it's divine.

The compost is also giving up its bounty as well. As I turn it, the worms wiggle and squirm. Now that's a treat only the chickens could love, and they do. They sure make short work of them. I'm positive the worms don't even know what hit 'em. (No picture because not only doesn't it look like much, it positively looks gross.)

So the bounty begins and the gifts are well appreciated by everybody on the DaM Farm. And expectations of more fresh produce bloom (cue Carly Simon's "Anticipation" now).