Cardinal in My Front Yard

Yesterday I was very lucky to get this shot of a cardinal in my front yard.  It appears there is a pair nesting in this tree.  Cardinals are always my favorites.

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Mother's Day is coming right up and we have a few special offerings in limited quantity.  These "I Heart MOM" soaps are scented with  Bulgarian Rose wax, and essential oils of Rose Geranium,  Lavender , and Blood cedarwood.  

 Purchase these soaps singly or in a boxed gift set together with a cedar soap deck to extend the life of your soap and a 4 oz after bath Lavender Massage oil.  

Our hot or cold therapy neck pillows are available year round but we have many new fabrics in stock for Mother's day as these are popular gift items.  This blue and white floral flaxseed pillow reminds me of my grandmother and mother's Blue Willow China.  Find more pillows to choose from in the Neck pillow section.

We also have many new Facial Pillows in stock.  These pillows are designed to cover the eyes, forehead, and TMJ area.  They can be used hot out of the microwave or cold out of the freezer and come with a matching washable pillow cover.  The gold leaves fabric used in the pillow pictured above was designed by Daytona Beach area illustrator BJ Lantz.  Shop for more facial pillows here.

Aquarian Bath's Detox and Clarifying Soap Set in May Vogue

Aquarian Bath's Detox and Clarifying Soap set is featured in the British Vogue's May 2013 issue's Natural Selection section.  

This soap set contains 2 of our most popular soaps, the Black Charcoal Clarifying Soap and the Lavender Spearmint Sea Salt Soap.  This soaps help to smooth, polish and clarify the skin.  This soap set is currently available boxed for gift giving with 2 cedar soap decks.   It makes a great gift for people with oily or acne skin types. 

Orangutans – victims of "sustainable" palm oil

Photo by Adrian Van Leen 

Once again another "sustainable palm" oil company, Butmitama Gunajaya Agro, has been caught deforesting endangered Orangutan habitat.  

Orangutans – victims of "sustainable" palm oil
"Perched atop the remains of the last tree, an orangutan looks helplessly on what was until recently the forest he was living in but is now only ruins. Armed with chainsaws and bulldozers, workers of Bumitama Gunajaya Agro (BGA), a palm oil company, have completely destroyed the rainforest for miles....This may seem hard to believe, but the palm oil producer BGA has been a member of the RSPO, the label for sustainable palm oil, since 2007. "

Please help spread the word, "sustainable palm" is not sustainable.  Palm oil is a common ingredient in baked goods and handmade soaps.  You will never find this ingredient in Aquarian Bath products.  It is possible to make bath and body products with out palm oil.  You can follow this link to ask governments and big industry to put an end to rainforest deforestation and palm oil imports.  

Chickens Love Peppergrass

May, our Barred Rock hen

Most everyone knows that chickens eat chickweed.  Yesterday I found out that my
birds prefer Peppergrass.  Lepidium virginicum is the official name for this weedy annual.  The chickens seemed to prefer the maturing seed pods the best.  These seed pods can also be used as a pepper substitute in salads.  Some people have found this plant beneficial for some types of Asthma, but I have no experience using it this way.  This plant is sometimes confused with Shepherd's purse. 

Free Herb Fairies Chickweed Activity Pack for Kids

Kids can learn about Chickweed or Stellaria media in this free activity pack from Learning Herbs.  My girls love feeding this plant to our chickens.  

Today and tomorrow kids can also check out the Herb Fairies Film Festival. This showcases videos that kids submitted who took the Herb Fairies course at Learning Herbs last year. It also features a free coloring page and poster download of Viola, the Violet Fairy.

Here's a little fairy dancing on a Violet leaf from my fairy blog post a couple years back.