Some pictures of my display from the science fair.  Thanks, Defne!

cream ingredients

The science fair was a great success!  Here are some cream preparation pictures.  Recipes and images to follow.

grinding up the herbs and flowers

brewing the infusion

adding finely powdered herbs and flowers to the warm base mixture

after much mixing, voila!

Evening friends!  Desolee for the long delay, holidaze, family in town and what not but its back to the grind, literally.  I’ve assembled the majority of ingredients for my cream.  Tomorrow, I will be purchasing a mortar and pestle, beeswax and rose petals.  I think that I will also have enough time to make my wash too, so I will be purchasing the ingredients for that.  Its crunch time, so expect a lot more posts over the coming days!

Geranium californicum, California Geranium

Hello people.  So some updates.  In the interest of time and quality, I’ve decided to focus on making the cream first.  If all goes well, I will follow with the wash.  I’ve also had to make some adjustments to the initial ingredients based on availability.  So far, I’ve assembled just about all of what I need to make the cream.  I’m still waiting on some stuff that I had to order.   Once everything arrives, I will do a wonderful photo shoot of all the assembled ingredients, provide descriptions for each one plus post the final recipe.  Sketches for the package design are coming soon as well!

Monardella odoratissima pallida, Mountain Coyote Mint

Ello!  Yesterday evening Joey and I went to the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park for the 4th Annual San Francisco Native Plant Sale!  It was a joyous occasion albeit a bit crowded.  I managed to pick up a few plants and I also talked to some interesting plant fanatics.  Joey didn’t have much fun but he was amused by how “San Francisco” the crowd was.  I have pictures that I will share a bit later.  We are about to head up to Marin to do some hiking and plant identification so I will report on that, too.  Later!

Salvia Pachyphylla, Rose Sage

Happy Halloween!  So,  I want to answer one of the big questions surrounding beauty products.  The whole issue of “organic vs. natural.”  Very basically, “organic” products are regulated by the government and “natural” products are not.  “Natural” can mean just about anything.  At its best, “natural” does refer to products that are created from botanical sources, without additives and preservatives.  But, since “natural” products are not regulated by the government, they can contain synthetic ingredients and perhaps botanicals that were grown with pesticides.  “Organic” refers to plants and botanicals that are grown without the use of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides.  There are three categories for products, “100% organic,” “organic (contains 95% organic ingredients)” and “made with organic ingredients (contains at least 70% organic ingredients.)”  Really good to keep this in mind when checking out products.  For the record, the products that I make will be 100% organic especially since I am making such a small batch.  But, I’m going to to do a further investigation into the real costs associated with the “organic” vs. “natural debate.”  How much does it cost to run an organic farm vs. a farm that uses pesticides?  How much does it cost to create a large batch organic product vs. one with synthetic ingredients.  These are all questions that I plan on answering in the coming days and weeks.  I will also be posting the recipes for the products I am making very soon, along with information about where I am sourcing the ingredients.  But for now, I sleep.