DIY Life

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

I admit it -- Diane's Avant Yard post, 75 tricks to get your kids outdoors, inspired me. It's one thing to enjoy scents, to make scented products, and to use essential oils and herbs in your daily life. But have you shared your love of scents with your children?

Inadvertently, you just may have. I know my three-year-old wanders through my garden with me, picking leaves off the basil plant for nibbling (he knows which plants are the edible ones), admiring the hard-working bees at the lavender plants, and of course, stopping to smell the roses (stereotypical, yet true).

Kids catch on, through your modeling, to the things you love. If you feel like spicing it up a bit, though, how about creating a scent hunt for your kids?

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products, and other useful blends.

There's nothing like a cool drink to refresh on a hot summer day. Last week, we explored drinks made with fresh mint and essential oils. Now it's time to think beyond the mint.

Did you know that most citrus and herbal essential oils are sold to large food companies as flavoring? Hydrosols, which are the water left behind when plants are steam-distilled into essential oils, are also safe to ingest in small quantities when they're organic and top quality, according to Suzanne Catty, author of Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy.

Make sure your oils and hydrosols are organically grown and of good quality, then read on after the break for drink recipes -- citrus, herbal, and even some floral -- made with essential oils, herbs, and hydrosols.

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

The mint in my yard is running wild just about now, begging to be plucked and used. That sure is handy, since it's hot outside! I could really use some cooling fresh mint in my beverages, to combat this sweltering heat.

I'm sure you must also have some peppermint essential oil around the house, right? You've got to have some left over, after making your chocolate mint lip balm and ant repellent, so pull it out and add some cool to your summer drinks.

After the break, I'll share recipes for simple syrup with mint, which can be used for a number of summery delights, and other refreshing minty recipes to keep your beverages interesting -- as well as hydrating.

If I told you how many essential oils I have in my collection, you probably wouldn't believe me. Suffice it to say, I've got a bunch, and I couldn't live without any of them. Probably you don't need -- or want! -- as many as I have, but having a basic collection can be useful.

There are a few essential oils that every home should have, and one of these is sweet orange oil. I've written in the past about uses for peppermint essential oil; now you'll know what unique things you can do with your sweet orange oil as well.

Pest control
The d-limonene in sweet orange oil repels insects, so it is a good essential oil to spray on your plants to keep away mealybugs and white flies. Science backs this one up!

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals, to soap-making, body care products, and other useful blends.

Making your own bath and body products is good fun on so many levels. Not only do you get to concoct what you like using all-natural ingredients, but you can customize your products for the season.

Here we are, about to embark on the three-month stretch that we call summer. My three favorite products to make for the sweltering days: powder, body spritz, and skin soother (for after sun exposure). After the break, I'll share recipes and scent blends.

I've indulged, oh yes, I have indulged. Last Friday, I spent the day at the spa. Before you go getting all jealous and resentful, it was my tenth wedding anniversary and the only time that my husband and I have ever done something like this together.

Did we enjoy our day there? Indeed we did, but what struck me the most was my phytotherapy massage. This was basically a Swedish massage using essential oils. Yes, it was a simple concept, but they really targeted mind, body, and spirit naturally during this treatment:

• the massage itself was all about the body, relaxing the muscles
• the relaxing music created an atmosphere ripe for calm, stress release, even meditation; just plain mental quiet
• it was an all-natural treatment, using only essential oils (from plants, hence the phyto-)
• the essential oils could be focused on what you needed the most; I chose the relaxing blend to help me zone out for the hour

After the break I'll tell you how you can create a phytotherapy massage experience at home.

Working out in my yard this past week, I was taken with the fragrance of my lilac bush. It is so easy to forget from season to season how amazingly aromatic the lilac blossoms are.

I've written in the past about creating a fragrant herb garden, but how about those other flowering plants and bushes that scent your yard with their lush fragrance? You can create a garden alive with the scents of the season that satisfies your olfactory sense as well as the visual.

The Helpful Gardener has a comprehensive list of fragrant trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals for each of the blooming seasons: spring, summer, and autumn. They even list some winter plants that can emit some scent. Some of my favorites caught my eye: lilac, jasmine, lavender, lilies (choose Asian for the strongest fragrance). They even mention chocolate cosmos; everyone likes the scent of chocolate!

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals, to soap-making, body care products, and other useful blends.

When I first became interested in essential oils and hydrosols, I have to admit I thought of rose as an "old lady" scent. Sure, I suppose it was beautiful, but to me, nothing dramatic or daring enough for the younger sect.

Then I smelled a true rosa damascena; first, a rose otto, then a hydrosol. I realized that my negative association with rose had nothing to do with what actual distilled rose products smelled like, and that fake rose scent and rosewater is not, not, not the same beast.

You need to own something rose; it is that simple. The balancing effect on your mood alone is reason enough. Unfortunately, the price of a rose otto or even a good rose absolute can be prohibitive for many. A rose hydrosol, however, is affordable, versatile, has a long shelf life, and is resplendent with the heady rose scent.