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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Lavender Potpourri

1 cup lavender blossoms

2 cups lemon verbena leaves

2 teaspoons orrisroot powder (a natural preservative)

1 cup pink rose petals

1 cup white carnation petals

Dry petals in dehydrator at 95F until crisp.

Lightly mix flowers in a bowl and sprinkle with orrisroot powder.

Store in glass jars for 1 month in a cool, dark place.

Then place in decorator jars ready for a beautiful gift made with love!

Orange Potpourri

1 orange
1 lemon
1-2 cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves
3 Cups water
Cut lemon and orange into wedges. In saucepan add 3 Cups water, orange, lemon, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves. Allow to cook on low on the back burner. Add water if the water level gets too low.

Apple Potpourri

1 Cup dried organic apple slices
2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 Cup whole allspice berries
10 cinnamon sticks
2 Tablespoon whole cloves
10 small Pinecones
7 drops cinnamon oil

Combine all ingredients and place in a tight jar or tin. Shake every few days. Cinnamon oil has an extremely strong scent that intensifies as it is absorbed. Add additional oil if needed. The red sumac berries that grow wild can be used dried as a stablizer for potpourri (in other recipes it takes the place of orris root which is very expensive).

Dried Apple Wreath

Ripe red Organic apples
1/4 Cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice + 2 Cup cold water
Wooden embroidery hoop or use twigs from garden
Cinnamon sticks
Ribbon for bow

Do not peel apples. Core and cut (slice) 1/8 inch thick. Slice crosswise so you will be able to see the hole in each apple slice. Place in water and lemon juice mixture. Drain thoroughly. Spread out on cookie sheet and put in 140 degree oven. Turn over to other side after 30 minutes. Dry until fairly firm. Choose size of wooden embroidery hoop desired and glue apple slices to edge of hoop using hot glue gun or tacky craft glue. Arrange a bow or other decoration and glue on. Garnish with cinnamon sticks as desired.

Lavender Bags

Get the children to help take dried lavender from the stems

Cut fabric into squares, place lavender and tie with a ribbon.

Lavender Wands

Lavender favours, or faggots, were originally used to scent linen and other stored fabric and clothes. They were often used to mark the dozens, and the half-dozens, in piles of linen in a bride's dowry chest, and it was usually the children who were set to work to make them. Nowadays, they make nice small gifts, either individually or in a "bunch" to put in a vase.

Freshly gathered lavender stems, about 30cm. (12") long and 1 metre of narrow ribbo

Take an uneven number of stems of lavender, 15 is about right. Tie these together tightly, with the end of the ribbon, just below the flower heads. Turn the bunch upside down and carefully bend the stems back over the flower heads, one by one. Start to weave the long end of the ribbon in and out of the stems, as there is an odd number it will have a basket effect. Shape the head as you go, pulling the weaving tight as you get to the bottom of the flower heads. Wind the ribbon round a couple of times, and slip knot the end. Use any remaining ribbon to make a bow. Trim the ends of the stems level. You can bind these with the ribbon too, and make a loop to hang up the "favour".

Lavender Wreath

6 bundles of lavender

1 willow or grapevine wreath base or use twigs from the garden

1 elastics

dozen skeins of raffia for wrapping bundles

Pretty ribbon for a decorative bow

(optional) Extra sprigs of fresh Statice or Babies Breath to create a lacy "halo" on Lavender Wreath

Each fresh bundle of Lavender needs to be wrapped into aprox 10 mini-bundles. Place elastic close to the flower head & trim stems very short. Approx 3-4 inches. You will need aprox 60-72 mini-bundles total.
Lay wreath base flat, attach your ribbon or raffia to the base securely.

Lay 3 mini-bundles at a time in a row across the base to lay 1st layer of Lavender. Bundles need to all face the same direction.
Pull raffia over the mini-bundles just above the elastic area. Tighten as you wrap around the girth of the base.
 
Lay the next layer of mini-bundles overlapping the previous layer covering the ends up to the raffia area.

Proceed around the base layering each successive layer of mini-bundles until you meet the original wrap.

Leave the raffia in one long continuous length, tightening at each layer to keep an even tension. Wrap snugly as the bundles

shrink as they dry & it can leave the raffia loose…and bundles can "escape"!

Tuck the ends of the wrap under the tips of the first wrap tidily as possible. Make an off center loop for hanging on the

 reverss side or backside of wreath.

Tuck in wisps of decorative statice or babies breath around outer edge like a "halo". Add a ribbon bow.

Lay flat to dry or wreath will sag as it dries. Freshen with organic Lavender essential oil as needed. Lasts 2-3 years!