In this newsletter we will try to help you further your knowledge and use of essential oils.

Physical Ailments

Athlete's Foot

This common skin fungal infection can be easily remedied with essential oils.

Tinea pedis is the medical term for Athlete's foot.   Unfortunately, Athlete's foot is highly contagious.   It can be picked up easily - even when walking across anyone's floor, barefoot of course.  It is not uncommon for anyone to get a case of it every time you travel and stay in hotels. (Speaking from personal experience.) Or if you go to the gym or pool.

It is scaly, cracked skin, especially between the toes and it can be extremely itchy.   Left untreated you could develop a bacterial infection - this would be much more serious.

To begin - you need to bath your feel daily.   Use a soft cloth and wash between each and every toe.  Use a mild soap.   Rinse well and then dry them well too - make sure you dry between each toe!

Apply a drop of Tea Treeor Lavender between each toe.   I prefer using the Lavender as I don't care for the smell of Tea Tree.   You should apply this at least 3 times a day.   If you are uncomfortable applying Tea Tree or Lavender "neatly" (which means directly and not diluted) you can mix it with a little Sweet almond or Sunflower oils  Add several drops of the Tea Tree or Lavender to 1 teaspoon of the carrier oil.   Then apply between the toes.

My usual routine is bath feet at bedtime, dry and apply oils.   I put a clean pair of socks in case I need to get up and walk around. (I don't need essential oils on the floors.)   I apply oils upon rising before putting on my shoes. And then one more application around 4- 5 in the afternoon.   Do this for about 5-7 days and the Athlete's foot is normally all gone.

After you have applied the essential oils, you can either put some clean cotton socks on immediately or you can use Talc Powder, or other powder to help keep your feet dry during the day.   Wearing cotton socks and changing them often will speed the healing process.

Most cases of Athlete’s foot respond rather quickly to Tea Tree   If you are one of the few, rare people that do not respond to Tea Tree or Lavender there are other stronger blends of essential oils you can try.   (Please e-mail us if the Tea Tree, Lavender or other recipes we have included here don't work.

A simple foot powder to dust on your feet.
Rosemary - 5 drops
Tagetes - 2 drops
Thyme - 2 drops
Place in 5 oz (weight) Talc Powder,  
Shake well, let sit for 24 hours, shake again then use daily on your feet.   Dust on feet after showering, don't forget to spread your toes.

Emotional Concerns

Calming Blends

Everyone likes to have some peace and quiet.   When you can find a moment or two you want to have that wonderful feeling of calmness and to be calmed from within.

When we think of essential oils that produce calming affects we think of Lavender , but there are many other oils that will provide chemical changes and promoted calming feelings.   Several essential oils can slow brain wave patterns to produce sensations of relaxation.   This mode of action is similar to sedative type drugs (only milder and with out any of the bad side effects).

Roman Chamomile Clary Sage, Helichrysum , Lemon, Mandarin , Marjoram, Neroli , Ylang Ylang , Vetiver, Rose , Spikenard and Frankincense.

Creating a blend using up to 5 of these oils will help you feel calm and peaceful.   Several of these oils can help to produce a spiritual calmness. Vetiver, Roman Chamomile , Rose, Spikenard and Frankincense. Include these, especially if you wish to meditate.

A Calming Massage oil especially after a hard days work or work out at the gym.
Birch - 3 drops
Pine - 5 drops
Eucalyptus - 5 drops
Roman Chamomile - 3 drops
Sunflower oils - 2 ounces
Blend all together and shake well.   Massage into stiff tired muscles and simple enjoy and relax.

A Calming Diffuser Blend

Lavender - 18 drops
Rosewood- 15 drops
Roman Chamomile - 12 drops
Geranium - 12 drops
Clary Sage - 10 drops
Ylang Ylang - 10 drops
Marjoram - 8 drops

Blend into a small glass container and shake well.   Add to your favorite diffuser.   Enjoy.

Adapted from recipes in A complete Guide to Understanding and Using Aromatherapy by Robert Wilson

Beauty and Skin Care

Calluses and Corns

Hard, thickened skin on the surface of your hands, fingers and palms.   Signs of someone doing hard manual labor.   Some folks, due to poorly fitting shoes develop calluses (on the bottom of the feet) and corns (on the tops of the toe joints).

Calluses are normally painless but they can be painful on the feet.   Corns can be especially troublesome.   Keeping the skin on your hands and feet soft will help to treat these maladies.

An easy to make Corn and Callus blend
Benzoin - 4 drops
Lavender - 12 drops
Myrrh - 6 drops
Sweet almond - 2 ounces.
Mix in a bottle , shake well to mix.   Massage into the affected area to soften calluses and corns.   Apply daily.

Around the House and Garden

Fleas - How to keep them OFF your dog!

This time of year we get a lot of requests for using essential oils to help spare our pets of those nasty little pests - the fleas!   The recipes included here are for Dogs.   Essential oils should not be used on or near cats as they don't have the ability to process essential oils from their bodies.

A simple Flea collar for your dog.   Take a small cotton rope and place 4 drops of Eucalyptus and 4 drops of Pennyroyal on the rope.   Wrap the rope inside a bandanna and tie loosely on your dogs neck.   Not only will this help repel fleas, it will make a fashion statement for your pet!!

Never put essential oils directly on your pet.   Some can be very irritating to your dogs skin.

To make a simple bedding spray.   To 4 ounces of distilled water add 10 drops Cedarwood and 10 drops Lavender.   Shake well before each use and Spray on bedding every 2-3 days.   Let dry before allowing pet back on the bedding.

If your dog is infested you can give them a safe flea bath by mixing 1 teaspoon Orange, essential oil into 1/2 cup unscented shampoo .   Stir and mix well.   Shampoo your dog as you normally would.   Make sure you make a good lather.   Rinse your dog thoroughly as any shampoo left on the skin can be irritating.

This recipe will make enough for several shampooings.

Once your dog is dry,   use the Homemade flea collar.

What about the house??

We suggest you vacuum your house thoroughly and get rid of the vacuum cleaning bag.   Seal it up in another plastic bag.

Next sprinkle the following mixture of 1 cup table salt with 1 teaspoon Lavender Essential oil that has been mixed into the salt drop by drop - shake and mix well.   Let sit over night if possible.   Then sprinkle this mixture under the couch and around the perimeter of the rooms, and especially in the corner of the house your pet spends time in.   Work into the carpeting well.

We suggest you test this product first in a small area as some pets have a tendency to want to like the salt up.   We don't want your pet to get sick from licking too much salt or by ingesting the essential oils.

The salt and the essential oil are both deterrents for the flea’s life cycle.

Recipes to try

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,
Here it is Mid summer already. Hope your summer has been warm and wonderful.

We have been busy preparing to have our sons' redo (he does landscaping and hired his brother to help - brag time and has won 2 MN State awards and one National award for his projects) some retaining walls and put pavers down where we used to have an old worn concrete slab.

Al, needless to say has been working extra hard at that project and so I have been giving him quite a few back rubs. (He and another of our sons had to remove the old concrete slab that was 6 inches thick and very hard to break up!)

During the fourth of July weekend, all our family (3 sons and 1 daughter in law) will be together, as they get this landscape project finished. I'll try to take some photos of work in progress and the finished product!

I'm so very sick of sand coming in the house! (I'm lucky at least it isn't red clay!) I'll be glad when this is done!

As you may have noticed we are using a new service to send out the notifications for the Newsletters and Recipe Files. It will make it easier for you to sign up for our notices or unsubscribe if you so desire (we hope you won't, but understand if you do). We do encourage you to pass our newsletter on to others interested in learning more about aromatherapy.

Also new to our site is the Health and Beauty Index. This index will be expanded with subjects as time permits and as suggestions are made by our visitors and customers. Please visit this page and look through the subjects - ailments, concerns, etc., If you have a something you would like us to work on please let us know. We are currently working on those listed (some are not up yet) but we hope to have those listed updated ASAP! We hope the Health and Beauty Index will be a most helpful addition to those seeking information about using essential oils and aromatherapy.

We don't have any new products to announce this month but would like to remind you that we do have plenty of the Bug Away Spray and Bug Off! Oil . available. There are many months yet of the bug season.

We do hope to have some all natural perfumes available in July and Penny is still working on the variety scents of the Lavender Sachets . We will be announcing them either in the next newsletter or with a special e-mail notice for new Products. (You may want to sign up to receive the notifications by "updating" your information by clicking on the link at bottom of the email notice you received today).

Oh, the next Allergy season is just around the corner and now is the time to do preventive care. One simple method of preparing for allergy season is to start a daily routine of inhaling a little Roman Chamomile . Using either a Personal inhaler or a tissue, inhale Roman Chamomile a couple times a day. This will usually lessen the severity of your late summer/ early fall Hay fever symptoms.

In the mean time have a Safe, Fun Holiday and rest of the summer! Eat an extra slice of Watermelon for me!!

As always, if we can help you with any aromatherapy question please send us an E-mail at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

‘til next month,

Yours in Aromatherapy,
Alan and Penny
E-mail us at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com