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

Physical Ailments

Sore Throats

Mild to severe pain in the throat can make you feel miserable. Sore throats can be caused from bacterial infections, viral infections or other irritation from chemicals or dust.

Finding something to relieve the pain and irritation is welcome by all. Including those around you.

Determining the cause often helps with treatment. If due to an infection many essential oils fight both viral and bacterial infections. (If you are prone to Strep throat - you will want to seek the aid of a Physician especially with children.)

Using the steam inhalation methods of diffusing essential oils is most helpful. The essential oils of Lavender, Eucalyptus and Thyme are very comforting. All will help whether the infection is caused from bacteria or viruses.

Gargling with a drop or two of Eucalyptus in the water will help, but adding a drop of Thyme, although hot feeling, will help fight the infection if it is due to virus or bacteria.

You can use any of the Eucalyptus species. Some people prefer the milder Eucalyptus Radiata and Eucalyptus Citriodora over the Eucalyptus Globulus.

If the sore throat is caused by chemical or dust irritations, gargle with water to which you have added a couple drops of Lemon oil. This is most refreshing and soothing.

If your sore throat is caused by a Candida infection then you will want to use Tea Tree , or Myrrh in your mouthwash. Both these oils are good for fungal infections.

When treating sore throats you will need to spray, steam or gargle every 2-3 hours as needed. Most sore throat treatment will give relief within a few minutes with sore throats disappearing within 24 hours.

Emotional Concerns

Jet Lag

Traveling can be very fun, but can be very stressful too. Disrupting your sleep patterns can turn what is supposed to be a fun vacation into nothing but misery. You're tired when you should be awake and awake when you want to be asleep.

Several essential oils can help you to relax and fall asleep more easily. Lavender will definitely be welcome when it comes to the time of day you want to drift off to sleep. Adding a few drops of Roman Chamomile or Geranium to a hot bath prior to retiring should also help.

But you might want to try Basil , Grapefruit , Juniper , Peppermint and Rosemary during the daytime to give you a boost of energy and mental alertness.

Any blend that has one or more of the above oils should help with the dragging feeling you might experience.

If you don't have time to find a blend you might want to Try some of our Revitalizing blend or Take Five blend to help rejuvenate you.

Try this Fatigue Relief massage blend in the morning to help get you moving. If possible have someone rub on your back, chest, legs, neck and shoulders.
Peppermint - 6 drops
Rosemary - 5 drops
Grapefruit - 4 drops
Sunflower oils - 1 tablespoon

Mix all ingredients in a small bottle.

Beauty and Skin Care

Itchy skin

Anytime of the year your skin can develop itchiness. The cause can be the obvious of dry skin. But there can be irritants from drying soaps, swimming pool water, insect bites, other skin injuries, or any type of fragranced product. When we talk about fragranced products we are meaning products made with 'fragrance oils' - these man made scents are made out of petroleum distillated products and can be very irritating to the skin.

Rarely, are people irritated by 100% pure essential oils when used properly in personal care base products. Essential oils known to help relieve itching include: Lavender, Roman Chamomile , Peppermint , Sandalwood, Cedarwood , Jasmine .

Lavender and Roman Chamomile gives the most relief. Simple add a few drops to your favorite lotion base or you can apply 1 drop of each directly to the affected area if it is a small area. Rub lightly and then leave the area alone.

Itching can propagate more itching so try to keep the area quite - Hands OFF!!

Around the House and Garden

Refreshing Summer Blends!

The house can become very stale with the house a shut up in the summer heat. There are summer blends that will help to freshen the air around you and at the same time help to kill the bacteria and molds that love the hot humid conditions. Even though you have air conditioning your home can still be very vulnerable to invasion by both these nasties!

Since all essential oils have antibacterial and anti fungal properties of varying degrees you have many to choose from. The Citrus oils are the most popular but you might want to try a blend of any of them with Lavender. One blend that can be very refreshing is Geranium , add a little of any other floral scent to this and you can feel as though your flower garden has entered your home.

Opening a window in the evening and letting a little fresh air into the home, diffusing the summery blend and you will have a newly refreshed home.

Our Refreshing blend or our new Geranium and Rose blend are both wonderful premixed blends.

Or try mixing your own blend for refreshing the air in the summertime.

Refreshing Mint Blend
Lime - 9 drops
Peppermint - 5 drops
Eucalyptus - 1 drop

Blend well in a amber bottle . Add to your diffuser - If you are using a fan type diffuser you will use all this on the pads. If you are using a tea light candle style diffuser you will use 3-5 drops per 1/2 ounce of water added to the bowl. The Scentball use about 3-5 drops and adjust according to the size of the room.

Recipes to try

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,

We got our Patio project finished the 4th of July weekend. Our sons do beautiful work. We are very happy they are so capable and talented. Click here to see the project and the finished work. The page will load slow as there are many large photos.

Minnesota is proving to us that it is not cold here year round. We have been having an extremely beautiful and HOT summer. It has been in the upper 80's and 90's for several days. This is not typical for us. We know that most of the southern half of the USA experiences and is having very hot weather. It is just that we are used to seeing hot weather only in the last week of July and first couple weeks of August. The rest of the time it is very comfortable here, in the summer that is!

Anyway, the reason for the Summer's Refreshing blends is because we are not used to having the house shut up for such long periods of time, using only the air conditioning. The blends have been wonderful. So please give them a try and smell some great summer time scents.

The new Lavender Sachets Scents are now available. We now have Mint, Citrus and Evergreen scents. They still are made with Lavender buds and Lavender oil but have Mint, Citrus or Evergreen blends added to them.

Another new product is our latest blend. Several customers have asked about Rose Geranium or Geranium Rose. This particular essential oil is nearly impossible to find and when you do it is usually a 'compound' cut with synthetics. At Birch Hill Happenings Aromatherapy,LLC we won't sell synthetics or man made fragrances on our website. ** So we decided since we could not find the essential oil of Rose Geranium we would create our own blend using Geranium Bourbon (Pelargonium graveolens) essential oil and pure Rose Otto - the essential oil of Rosa Damascena. We have created a very beautiful blend - Geranium and Rose blend . These two oils mixed together will have a synergistic effect of the properties from both these oils. Geranium is good for many health concerns both physically and mentally and the properties of Rose essential is unsurpassed in all aspects of health care.

We have the new blend available at very reasonable prices. Give it a try. For the Geranium and Rose blend - Click here to see pricing and to order.

Also since we needed to purchase the Rose Otto to make this blend we have Pure Rose Otto available again. Unfortunately it is not inexpensive. But for those of you that want 100% Pure Rose Otto we do have it available in a sample size. It is a very strong essential oil so you will only need a drop or so in just about any blend you make. Click here for more information and to order.

We hope your summer is turning out to be wonderful. Next issue we hope to announce our new all natural perfumes. They are just about ready. Perfumes take several weeks to develop the fragrance and ours are really close to being ready.

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