Enjoy lavender in FOUR different blends: Sweet Sandalwood/Ooh! Baby!/Sierra Sojourn/Cadeau du Jardin; (or your choice of any 4 lavender soaps) all uniquely distinct and all uni-sex!  Stacked and tied on a draining wooden soap dish, with an elegant lavender bow!   Lavender is nature's reknown herb for superior skincare, ALL skin types!  Aromatherapy benefits include being: calming & anti-depressant. 

$30.00

(Aromatherapy Tip: I sprinkle lavender essential oil on the tops of my ceiling fan blades for a constant "swish" circulation of calming aromatherapy in all the rooms of my house!  Hmm!  Works nicely sprinkled on pillow cases, too!)

A perfect aromatic gift, or treat for yourself! Pair a labeled lavender soap and it's matching 1/2 oz. solid scent!  

Any two lavender soap bars of your choice with a wooden draining soap dish, wrapped up with ribbon! 

Two of our especially-mild soaps, enriched with avocado oil: Bar None (unscented), and Ooh! Baby! (which contains lavender and chamomile, known to be nature's TWO BEST essential oils for gentle skincare) are wrapped-up like a baby in a 100% cotton, super-soft terrycloth, hand-crocheted washcloth!  The perfect bundle to bathe your new bundle!

Lavender is one of the best-known herbs, prized for its soft fragrance since days of antiquity and used extensively in perfumery. Lavender is a hardy & fragrant shrub that grows to an approximate height of three feet with grey-green leaves and stems with grey-blue/violet flowers and buds. While its aroma is found throughout the plant, it's essential oil is extracted from it's flowers.  Indigenously found in the mountainous areas of Mediterranean Europe, the plant is now cultivated the world over, growing best in well-drained soil.  Major producers of lavender essential oil are Bulgaria, France, Croatia and Russia.  Lavender farms are also springing up everywhere in the USA, and you'll notice annual lavender festivals that celebrate the bounty and uses of this herb. 

Numerous varieties of lavender are grown including spike lavender (Lavendula spica), French lavender (Lavendula stoechas(, and "true", or English lavender (Lavendula officinalis, also known as Lavendula augustifolia, and Lavendula vera).  Lavendin is one species bred for its particularly strong scent.  "True" lavender is the most widely used medicinally, while spike is was recorded as once being used to scent the bath waters of Ancient Romans. Spike, with it's higher concentrations of camphor and cineole, is used as an insent and moth repellent. The name "lavender" is derived from the Latin lavare, meaning "to wash".

NOTE:  Any skin applications of lavender essential oil (like all essential oils) requires dilution.  

The antiseptic qualities of lavender make it suitable for a wide-range of infections and it is also used to soothe mild burns and to treat inflammatory skin conditions such as dermatitis, psoriasis, and eczema.  It's balancing attributes make it an excellent essential oil in skincare products to help balance excessive oiliness or over-dryness--truly "the oil" for all skin types!

In aromatherapy, lavender helps induce a sense of calm and composure, releasing pent-up energy, frustration, irritability or trauma that can inhibit self-expression. Also used widely for babies and children (especially in combination with chamomile) in massage and aromatherapy to sooth colic and fussiness.

In lavender lore, its basic powers are reputed to be love, protection and purification!  Wearing lavender attracts love.  Found as a main staple in healing and aromatic bath brews, sachets, or potpourri blends, it's also burned as incense and aromatherapy candles to relieve stress and induce restful sleep with peaceful dreams.  At one time lavender was carried along with rosemary to preserve chastity.  Conversely, it is also widely used to attract the opposite sex.  The herb is also carried by those who wish to safely make contact with spirits on "the other side".

Favorite sachets are filled with just the pure simplicity of lavender buds!  

A popular sachet blend:

Lavender Sachet

Equal parts dried lavender buds, rose petals, and orange peel placed in a muslin bag or hand-sewn cotton fabric sachet bag.  Place in drawers, linen closets, in dream pillows, or use in your bath!

If you grow lavender yourself (grows easily in clay pots around your patio!), harvest long stems of it and tie in bundles to display or hang as fragrant bundles throughout your home!

Lavender is used extensively in cooking!  Here are a few of our favorite lavender recipes!

Lavender Cookie Recipe

3/4  cup butter 

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 T. lavender flowers

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Optional (for decorating):

1/2 cup colored sugar

1 T. lavender flowers

  Lavender Jelly

    Cheesecloth
    4 TB dried lavender
    4 TB powdered pectin
    3 C apple juice
    2 TB lemon juice
    3 C brown sugar
Line a small sieve with double thickness of cheesecloth. Cut a 5 inch
square  of cheesecloth, put lavender flowers in the center and tie up ends to form a small bag. In a 6 quart saucepan, combine pectin and apple juice, stirring until pectin is dissolved.
Set the pan over high and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Stir in the
lemon juice and sugar and drop in lavender bag. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring
constantly Remove bag. Strain through cheesecloth-lined sieve into
sterilized empty baby food jars. Makes 3-8oz jars

  Lavender Blossom Muffins

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter or margarine (1/4 cup)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cup flour (sifted)
1/3 cup lavender blossoms (fresh are best but dried work well
too)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter with sugar, add eggs, milk, salt, baking powder
      and flour. Beat well.  Fold in lavender blossoms.  Grease muffin tin or use cupcake papers.  Fill cups 1/2 full.  Bake 1 2-1 8 minutes depending on size. They are done when
     toothpick stuck in middle comes out clean.  While still hot, glaze with 1/2 cup powdered sugar mixed with juice of 1 lemon. Decorate with lavender blossoms. Let sit several
      hours before serving.  Makes 12 small muffins, 8 regular.

  Lavender Honey Bunches

3 cups quick oats
2 cups flaked coconut
1 cup unbleached flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon dried lavender

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine oats, coconut, and flour in a large mixing bowl. In a heavy sauce pan bring butter, honey, sugar and lavender to a boil. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well. Drop dough by the spoonful into muffin tins, making each one about 1-2 inches high. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden, being careful NOT to over-bake. Cool in the tins for 15 minutes before removing. These cookies store well and are excellent for care packages.

Lavender & Honey Salad Dressing

6 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
1 Crushed Garlic Clove
1 teaspoon Coarse Grain Mustard
2 tablespoons Honey
1 teaspoon Dried lavender Flowers

Whisk all ingredients together
Stand for 30mins to allow flavors to infuse
Whisk again and serve.
This dressing will store in a screw lid jar in the fridge for up to 1 week.

  Lavender Mint Tea Punch

6 teaspoons dried mint
6 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon dried lavender blossoms
1 liter ginger ale
1 cup purple grape juice
ice cubes with fresh mint leaf frozen in each

Brew the mint in the water in a teapot for ten minutes. Add the lavender blossoms to the pot. Allow tea to cool. Strain the tea and add the ginger ale, grape juice and ice cubes. If serving in a punch bowl, float lavender buds and mint sprigs on top.

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