Saturday, August 24, 2013

In a Radioactive World Substitute Zeolite for Almond in your Bath & Body Recipes - modified Miracle Grains Recipe included



Since the triple meltdown and subsequent China Syndrome event at Fukushima Daiichi, we must be very careful as to choosing foods and bath and body product ingredients which have tendencies to bioaccumulate radionuclides.  Essentially, these are foods that have a chemical affinity for certain radioactive particles in the air, water, or soil, and will tend to accumulate these particles.  Generally speaking, the higher up the food chain you eat, the more radioactivity you will be exposed to internally through your food, but there are notable exceptions.



California strawberries, pistachios, almonds, and a range of other products have all shown elevated levels of Cesium-137, one of the aerosolized radionulides released en masse during the failure and immediate aftermath of the Daiichi reactor failures.  Further, the flow of contamination into the ocean and atmosphere from the failed reactors continues, with the accident remaining uncontained, and the infrastructure which maintains cooling to the spent fuel losing structural integrity.  Practically, this means that contaminated food is
not limited to 2011 harvests, as the source of the contamination continues to spread it across N. America.  The disaster is far from over.



The contamination being released into the atmosphere in an ongoing fashion begins a continual circuit around the pole, riding a weather pattern known as the tropopause.  Evidence of this contamination is abundant, as one need only watch the cold fronts sweeping south across N. America carrying contaminated air, and correlate that data with Geiger counter readings from publicly available monitoring networks.

California is a major producer of Almonds, and is also one of the areas hard hit by radioactive fallout. Radioactive fallout concentrations are predicted to become increasingly more toxic on the west coast of North America according to scientific models.  For this reason, Almonds is an food and body product ingredient that we have decided to avoid in our diet and in our formulas.  No raw almonds, Almond milk, Almond oil, Almond butter, or Almond Kernel meal.  Although I have not seen results published regarding Apricot Kernel meal published, we are reticent to use this ingredient, because Almonds and Apricots are both in the Prunus genus. I would be happy to learn if there is evidence that Apricot kernels do not accumulate Cesium similar to Almonds.   For body products requiring mild abrasive scrubbiness of Almond or Apricot kernel meal, we are now using powdered Zeolite as a substitute.



Zeolite is a microporous mineral, meaning it has regular patterns of holes in its molecular structure, and has the characteristic ability to chealate, or bond with and hold, radionuclides. It has been used in water purification, remediation of soil, and most commonly in laundry detergent and as horse stall freshener.

One very famous body product recipe which includes Almond Meal is Rosemary Gladstar's Miracle Grains Recipe.  It is often used as a gentle soap alternative, and  it can be modified with other herbs.  We found that coarse Zeolite powder is similar in texture to coarsely ground Almonds and makes a great 1:1 substitute in Rosemary's recipe. 

Modified Miracle Grains Recipe with Zeolite




This also makes a nice scrub which can be used as a natural microdermabrasion, when you modify this recipe to use a high concentration of Zeolite and a lower concentration of clay,




Thursday, August 22, 2013

New Flaxseed Pillows Beach & Garden Theme always with Organic Herbs


At long last we have new flax pillow fabric in stock.  We have three new fabrics, the first is this lovely sea shell print.  These pillows are made with 100% cotton sturdy decor fabric, and can be used as a hot or cold pack.  We sew up the pillow sleeves ahead of time, and when orders come in we fill the sleeves with Organic herbs of your choice, stitch, and ship.  You can have your pillow unscented or scented with various scented herbs.  The most popular are Lavender, Lavender-Spearmint-Chamomile, and Lavender-Rose.  

For the garden lover we also have these two new prints.  It is the same style of fabric.  The first is tans and cream.  The second one has a bit of blue-green and gold included.  Each have fun sayings "my garden grows," "Le Jardin," "in the breeze."


The all tan print seems to photograph better, but I prefer the one with the blue-green and gold.  



It felt great to get sewing again!  I hope you like the new pillows.  

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Wool Dryer Ball Giveaway from Bog Berry Dryer Balls



Aquarian Bath is pleased to host a giveaway from one of our favorite handmade shops Bog Berry Dryer Balls.  Two winners will receive a set of 6 dryer balls in the color set of their choice.  These needle and wet felted dryer balls come packed in a cotton bag.  The balls are handmade in Pennsylvania by Brooke who is an herbalist and mom.


I love the soft colors available in her line of dryer balls.  She even has undyed dryer balls.  We use Bog Berry Dryer Balls here to soften up laundry after it has nearly dried completely on the line.  You can add essential oils to the dryer balls to freshen up the laundry, or just use the balls alone.  They help reduce static and wrinkles in the laundry and are a great alternative to unhealthy chemically fragrance laden dryer sheets.  For more tips on natural laundering please visit our blog post from earlier this year. 


You can enter this giveaway sweepstakes below using the Rafflecopter form.  If the form is not visible to you right away, try reloading your browser, or try from a different web browser.  This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and over.  Winners will be contacted by email and will have 2 weeks to provide their address to claim their prize.  You may enter now through 08/23/2013 at 12 a.m.



Friday, August 2, 2013

Soap Giveaway from Aquarian Bath


This week we are starting to think about stocking up on soaps for Holiday gift sets.  As we were clearing out room and making more space for holiday soaps, I found a a few nice end bars for giveaway prizes.  These are bars that a slightly smaller than our usual bars.   We will choose 2 winners to receive 1 Evergreen Woodland Soap and 1 Mint Lavender & Patchouli Hemp oil soap.  These soaps are vegan and made with pure essential oils.  


US residents 18 and older may enter to win below using the rafflecopter widget.  Contest ends 8/10/13 at 12 A.M.

a Rafflecopter giveaway