Sea buckthorn sounds more like a sea creature. But it’s really a beneficial plant originating from the mountainous regions of Russia and China.  It is a winter hardy, deciduous shrub with bright orange berries.  The plant is mature for harvesting purposes at 4-5 years.

This branch is brimming with berries.  Photo from Z Natural Foods.

Sea buckthorn oil and powder is commonly used in skincare and soaps. It can also be taken internally as herbal medicine. The oil is full of are vitamins A (derived from -carotene), vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and vitamin E (-tocopherol). If taken internally, it is full of antioxidants and is good for your intestinal tract too.

Sea buckthorn oil is mainly used to promote the healing of skin such as burns and eczema. It also helps improve skin condition, especially with dryness and wrinkles. Sea buckthorn oil reminds me of other good oils such as Rose hip and carrot seed oil.

Last summer I saw real sea buckthorn bush at the International Fruit Orchard. I don’t remember if there was any fruit at all. Next time I visit, I will have to take a photo of it and try sampling some of the berries.

ln Europe the fruit is made into sauces or jellies and as a base of liqueurs. The juice is sour and has an orange passionfruit like flavor when sweetened. Blended with other fruits, or by itself, it makes a delicious juice. It is also used widely in Europe and Asia as a healing oil and for other medicinal purposes. - Raintree Nursery

They are suppose to grow well on fairly bad  or sandy soil. If possible, I would like to grow some of these at my mom’s backyard garden too. Across much of northern China, and in other countries, it is grown to prevent soil erosion. And it is also used in food and medical preparations. 

Sasktchewan, Canada also has cultivated sea buckthorn that was originally brought over from from Siberia in the 1930s. Sea buckthorn oil from Saskatchewan yields a high quality product.

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This is the best eye cream I’ve made so far. The others I’ve made previously with carrot seed oil did not turn out so well. You can read more about the benefits of rosehip for skincare here.

The eye cream goes on nice and smooth.  I’ve been using this for about 1 month and find it’s great for the delicate area of the eye. And this one even has extra virgin coconut oil, so it smells like real coconut too.

It’s a nice natural product with no preservatives or chemicals. And all the plant oils nourishes and protects your skin. The shea butter and beeswax is what holds it all together - naturally! 

I used an old container from another cosmetic company. I never finished their cream as the texture and smell was just too odd.  At least I got to re-use the container.

If you would like to make this eye cream, the recipe is listed below:

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These pretty little flowers are call vygie (sounds like jiggy).  It’s a blooming kind of succulent plant without thorns - unlike cactus. In California, I’ve seen them grown in rock gardens and also used as ground cover in parking lots.

These were my vygies from last summer.  They have survived the cold weather, but no blossoms yet. Probably in spring or summer. They are completely easy to grow and propagate too.  And best of all they are drought tolerant plants so require very little water.  The bright colorful flowers are the best part of this plant.

There are 1700 species of this plant and a large percentage of them are found in South Africa.  I like the colorful type with bright flowers.

Oscularia species The plant flowers en masse in Fall & the blooms nearly obscure the foliage! Grows in less than perfect soil with minimal water & always looks great! - Annie’s

Annie’s Annuals and Perrenials, a seed and plant nursery in Richmond, California has many type of vygie available for sale.  Many of them look like ice plants with  many bright blossoms.

I love the little description they give of the plants too.  If I am ever in the area, I will have to stop by and pick out some nice plants - especially the vygies!

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The Japanese have been using buckwheat pillow for centuries.  Buckwheat hull pillow provide firm and even support for your neck and back.   It has the ability to perfectly conform to the contours of our head.  Thus resulting in better and sound sleep.

Buckwheat pillows can be expensive.  So I decided to make my own using buckwheat hull and some linen fabrics.  Having a zipper is also helpful as you can adjust the amount of hull for personal comfort.  And with zipper openings, you can remove all the hulls before washing the pillow case.

The list of benefits for using buckwheat hull as pillow filling includes:

grown without pesticides as they are naturally pest resistant

biodegradable (can be composted and even used as mulch)

naturally hypoallergenic (for those allergic to feathers)

odorless, pest and fungus resistant

I used 100 % linen fabric and filled it with 1 lb of buckwheat hull.  The hull is very light but feels substantial once stuffed inside the pillow. It may be a small pillow for most, but it works fine for me.  Maybe it’s more of a travel pillow.

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I was sent a few products from Surya Brazil to review. My favorite is the hair mask made with organic Brazilian nuts and Preciosa tree Essential oils.

The Amazon Forest is fill with interesting and beneficial plants. So it would seem natural that a beauty company could come up with many great products. But doing so means being aware of the biodiversity of the forest.

Surya Brazil is able to do that and more with it’s organic products that are harvested in an ethical and sustainable manner. They are also a very Eco- conscious company that uses all recycled materials for it’s packaging. The products are all free from sulfates, parabens, silicones, artificial color and fragrance.

Lately the dry indoor air has left my hair and scalp less then healthy. I’ve used conditioner, but my hair is still left feeling dragged down. So I decided to apply the Amazonia Preciosa hair mask to my scalp and hair then wrapped with a towel.

It was advised to leave on for 15 minutes, it’s a gentle product that I wouldn’t mind leaving on much longer. The smell is very pleasant and light. Scent is a very personal thing and I always think going on the light side is safer than the strong overpowering scents.

After I rinsed off with my Aloe Vera based shampoo. The mask was not greasy at all. Everything washed off nice and clean. My scalp was back to normal and hair was left super soft and shiny.

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It has been really cold lately in northern California. A few weeks ago I went outside after the sun went down, and it was freezing cold. The kind of weather that required gloves, hat and scarf. I then came inside ready to drink some hot ginger root tea. But my head and chest was still feeling achy and stuffy.

Then I remember, I have a sample of Gaia Herb “Quick Defense: Quick Response at ONSET” amongst my other shelf of supplements. The Quick Defense is made mainly of echinacea roots, which are common herbs used to fight colds.

Here is a photo of blooming Echinacea (part of the daisy family) grown in North Carolina. These flowers are sometimes referred to as Purple Coneflower. The root is harvested as medicinal herbs. Image source.

Gaia Herb Farm is one of the largest and most productive commercial medicinal herb farms in the U.S. They are located in the pristine mountain valley in the southwestern Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina.

Gaia Herb cultivates over 50 crops of organic herbs on 250 acres. They also cultivate organic passionflower, holy basil, and echinacea in the tropics of Costa Rica.

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As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been brushing my teeth with my handmade soaps for a while now.

It all started when I read about Dr. Gerard F. Judd, a professor, chemist and researcher. Dr. Judd is not a fan of fluoride in water or commercial toothpaste. Especially since toothpaste contains addition glycerine and other abrasive additives.

Dr. Judd also states that glycerine does not come off your teeth easily, it leaves a film.  With handmade bar soap, there is naturally occurring glycerine and it rinses off clean and easy.  If you brush before bedtime, it would allow your teeth to re-enamelize while you are sleeping.

If you search online you will find many tooth soaps in the market. The basic ingredients are the same as handmade soap. Except some companies charge so much for it!

Pictured here is the “tooth savior”.  Photo from Olive Barn $18 at 1 oz.

Ingredients: saponified organic extra virgin olive, organic coconut, and organic palm oils, organic aloe, wild white oak bark, french green clay, sea salt, peppermint, spearmint & tea tree essential oils, chlorella, vanilla, stevia.

With the soap shreds, you simply place one little soap shred on the back molars, bite down, and then brush thoroughly. The shred will dissolve while brushing with a wet toothbrush.

“Contains no toxic fluoride, harsh abrasives, added glycerin, petroleum dyes, refined sweeteners, sodium lauryl sulfate, unsafe preservatives, or other harmful ingredients found in most commercial toothpastes that actually damage your teeth, your health, and the health of our planet!” - the makers of tooth savior.

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A few years back I used to have a few magazines subscriptions, mostly the health and beauty ones.

And I always felt like I was killing trees and ruining the environment while turning each glossy page. So I cut down my subscription to almost none.

But now that the new year is coming up, I decided that I miss getting magazines in the mail. Plus I would always “recycle” them. I usually save my favorite issues (or articles) and the rest would either be given away or donated to the local libraries. Some schools even request magazine donations as art project for the kids. So it’s not really that bad. I think 3 magazines per household is a good number.

So a nice gift to myself this holiday would be a few new magazines subscriptions. Including Real Simple, Country Living and Sunset.

SUNSET - A great magazine for outdoor enthusiast.  Ideas for local daytrips, neat recipes and gardening information are always nice here.

These photos from Sunset of pretty amaryllis are some of my favorite winter flowers.

Julie Chai of Sunset noted, “but with the right care, these stunning beauties can re-bloom in your garden long after the holidays have passed.”  I know my mom did this with Easter lilies and they still continue to bloom every spring.

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When I think of cinnamon, I usually think of cinnamon rolls rather then the actual spice. But this winter, I’m starting to think of cinnamon with much more appreciation. As cinnamon is not only tasty, but very beneficial for your health too.

Cinnamon cassia also known as Chinese cinnamon. Image source.

Cinnamon is native to India. The three commercially cultivated cinnamon include Ceylon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), Indonesian (Cinnamomum burmanii), and Chinese cassia (Cinnamomum cassia). Many of the commercial cultivation of cinnamon are cassia. Countries that process cinnamon include India, China, Vietnam, Madagascar and Sri Lanka.

This is what a Ceylon cinnamon tree looks like: it can grow up to 15 meters high.  Photo from Pukka Herbs.

The harvesting of cinnamon is an interesting process. Cinnamon barks are harvested by cutting back two year old trees.  When the tree stems are chopped, new stem start to sprout around it. The process is call coppicing.  Then new stems can be harvested and the inner bark extracted for use.  That is what you see as the curled cinnamon sticks.

Cinnamon is usually sold in powder form or as cinnamon sticks (quills). The cinnamon commonly found in the market is cassia, which is Chinese cinnamon.  It’s difficult to tell between true cinnamon.

The sweet aroma is really what makes cinnamon special. It just reminds you of the holiday and can warm you up from the inside out. This special aroma comes from the cinnamon barks, which has volatile essential oils.

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This is my first goat milk based soap. I’ve always wanted to make goat milk soap and finally had the chance.  What stands out is the scent of Diptyque Fig.  I discovered this lovely scent after using the goat milk soap by Moon Maiden.

Ingredients: Goat milk, rice bran oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and palm oil.  Rice bran oil is one of my favorite oils for soapmaking. I also added sunflower oil as it has Vitamin E used as natural preservative.

I find the orange color is also common with my other milk based soaps. And also the “sweet candy” smell too.  And it is just as nice and creamy as my other milk based soaps.

Ripe figs are some of nature’s sweetest treat.  But there is no fig in this soap. Photo from wikipedia by Kurt Stueber. 

The French perfume makers, Diptyque, uses a green scent made from the crushed leaves of fig trees. It is best described as, “the aroma is green floral with orange blossom, jasmine, gardenia, Italian bergamot and exotic musk.” I find it has a fresh and slightly fruity scent, which makes it perfect for any season.

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