Coconut Sugar Cookie Cut Out Recipe

We love making sugar cookies this time of year, but we don't cook or bake with butter or food coloring. Here is an easy and dye-free sugar cookie recipe that you can make. The best cutters to use are those that go well with white, so we use angels, snow flakes, and trees. 

Coconut Sugar Cookie Cutouts

2/3 Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

2 cups all purpose flour

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup Organic granular sugar

1 Tablespoon Coconut milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla

pinch of salt

Mix together Coconut oil with half the flour, egg, sugar, coconut milk, baking powder, vanilla and salt.Then mix in the remaining flour. Divide the dough into 2 round ball and refrigerate for 1 hour. After 1 hour roll out one of the dough balls onto the lightly floured counter. The dough should be about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your cookies and put them onto an ungreased cookie sheet into your 375 degree F oven for about 7 minutes, or until the edges start to turn brown. Let the cookies cool before frosting. 

Frosting and Sprinkles

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla

coconut milk - start with 1 Tablespoon

The frosting needs to be kind of thin so that you can dip the cookies into it and then into the coconut flakes. Mix together powdered sugar, Vanilla and Coconut milk in shallow dish until frosting is the right texture to dip the cookies in. Also cover a small plate with a layer of unsweetened Coconut flakes for dipping frosted cookie in. You can find unsweetened Coconut flakes at Mountain Rose Herbs.

 

 

Black Snake outside my Sewing Window

I was sewing Flaxseed Pillow orders this morning and saw my cat Ginger chasing something from out my window. Then I watched this black snake slither up my tall cork screw ginger plant. Ginger sat and stared at it and I went out to snap a few photos.  Look how long it is! Hope you like the photos.  We keep the back area very natural for wild life. 

 

Free Holiday Soap Offer

New Design: Microwavable Heating Mat for Hips, Lower or Upper Back

We have a new microwavable heating pad design. I needed a pillow that was semi-flat to put under my hips and lower back to help relax muscles chronically tight from sewing. This new microwavable flaxseed pillow design has helped a lot.  It is a semi-flat mat with 3 sections. It is specialized to be comfortable when laying on top of it. It works well for the hip area, lower back or upper back. It is also nice to drape over the knees, abdomen, or hips. The weight of it reminds me of the heavy aprons that are draped over you during an X-ray. The actual weight is approximately 2.25 pounds.  Dimensions are approximately 13 x 10 inch. The fabric is Organic cotton barkcloth by Cloud9 Fabrics.

If you are like me and have issues with hip or Iliotibial band tightness from sewing or something else, I also highly recommend you check out 2 Hanna Somatics youtube videos. The videos teach simple exercises to eliminate chronic muscle tightness for hips and IT band.

New: Organic Cotton Fabrics for Sale

Ripple Bark Cloth Blue 2 yards

We have added Organic Cottons to the supplies section of our Etsy store.  We currently have 3 types, decor width barkcloth, flannel, and quilting weight cotton.  They are all Global Organic Textile Standard certified Cloud9 Fabrics. 

Time Warp Pink Barkcloth 2 yards

Time Warp Blue Barkcloth

Citron Flannel by the yard

Pink Vine Flannel  by the yard

Turquoise Forest Flannel 2 yards minimum

Pink Mushroom Print Poplin by the yard

Garden Secrets Strawberry Print Poplin by the yard

Straw Hat Broadcloth by the yard

Serape Poplin by the yard

Growing Hemp to Become Legal In Florida?

via the Orlando Sentinel by Susan Jacobson

Bill would make hemp legal for research in Florida

Cory Trusty sells hemp-oil soap and shampoo bars, hemp-fiber pillows and hemp-and-cotton washcloths through her Internet business based near Daytona Beach.

She'd like to buy the hemp and finished products locally for AquarianBath.com, but Trusty must rely on China and Canada to fulfill her orders. That's because growing hemp is illegal in Florida.

A proposed law would change the status of the plant in the state, opening the door to a potential multimillion-dollar industry.....  continued here

Beach Clean up In Ormond Saturday for International Coastal Clean up Day

Saturday is international Beach Clean up Day. We are hosting a beach clean up in Ormond Beach at the Neptune Beach approach from 5-6:30 pm. Hope you can join us. There is overflow parking at the church. If you can't come in the morning, Volusia county is also hosting morning clean up events that you can find on the Ocean Conservancy website. Bring gardening gloves and buckets if you have them. The above photo is from the last beach clean up that we hosted for Plastic Free July earlier this year. 

Blueberry Bran Muffin Recipe

Here's a yummy breakfast bran muffin recipe for your weekend.  This recipe that I have modified from my uncle, Chuck Trusty. 

Oat Bran Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

3/4 c coconut milk

2 eggs

2 T coconut oil

1/3 c honey

2 1/2 c oat bran

2 t baking powder

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1 c blueberries

Directions, mix together wet ingredients, followed by dry ingredients. Then mix in blueberries. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Scoop batter into 12 muffin lined tins and bake approximately 15 minutes until they smell yummy (15 minutes was using frozen not fresh berries).  Allow muffins to cool completely before serving so that the cupcake wrappers don't stick to the muffin.

Five Excerpts in Celebration of International Literacy Day 2015

Frederick Douglass, circa 1860s

In honor of International Literacy Day today, here are five passages from valuable books that I have read over the past summer. You can follow our "Books Worth Reading" board on our pinterest page.

"Plenty of people had watched and recorded the disaster of eliminating a predator from a system. They were watching it here in her own beloved mountains, where North America's richest biological home was losing its richness to one extinction after another, of plants and birds, fish, mammals, moths and stonefliers, and especially the river creatures whose names she collected like beads: sugar-spoon, forkshell, acornshell, leafshell." Barbara Kingslover, Prodigal Summer.

"Like countless others, he'd simply grown more cautious-- afraid to say the wrong thing, afraid to listen to forbidden radio stations that would tell you what was happening in the world. It was always possible that you might be picked up: at your place of work, in the streetcar, in a restaurant, in your own house. He had though it was enough not to participate in the Partei, to stay away from marches and speeches. Now he wondered how much damage he'd done with his silence. Maybe if he'd officially protested when the boys had stoned little Fienchen Blomberg outside the Weiler's grocer store seven years before... Or if he'd fought the treatment that the Abramowitzs and his other Jewish patients had suffered..." Ursula Hegi, Stones from the River

"When northerners go to the south to reside, they prove very apt scholars. They soon imbibe the sentiments and dispositions of their neighbors, and generally go beyond their teachers. Of the two, they are proverbially the hardest masters" Linda Brant, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

"Were I to be again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should regard being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that could befall me. For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the most cruel and cowardly, of all others." Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass


"There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet: human unconsciousness." Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

Would you like to share a memorable passage from a book you've read? Feel free to leave a comment below.

 

Flourless Carrot Cake Recipe: Made WIth Juiced Carrot Pulp

Do you like juicing carrots? Have you ever wondered if there was something you could do with the leftover carrot pulp to keep it zero waste? I have a good solution for you, a tasty flourless carrot cake. Our carrot shampoo bars are made with freshly juiced Organic carrots. I end up with a lot of carrot pulp from making our Carrot Shampoo bars and freeze the pulp for baking with later.

Flourless Carrot Cake by Aquarian Bath

2 cups cooked garbonzo beans

3 cups carrot pulp

5 eggs (try "flax egg" to make it vegan)

1 T molasses

3/4 c sugar

1/4 cup Organic Extra Virgin Olive oil

2/3 t pink salt

2 t Organic ginger powder

4 t Organic cinnamon powder

2 t baking soda

1 t Organic Stevia powder (green)

First mix the garbanzo beans in a food processor with olive oil until smooth.  Mix together with carrot pulp, eggs, sugar and molasses followed by the additional ingredients.  Bake in an oiled pan at 350 degrees F until the top becomes firm.  Test the inside of the cake with a tooth pick  or knife before pulling out of the oven. 

You can find Organic spice ingredients for this recipe at Mountain Rose Herbs. 

Carrot Shampoo bar with Lemon, Bay Rum and Cedarwood essential oils.

Flourless Black Bean Brownie Recipe

I have had more time to try various recipes this summer. Here is a 100% flourless Black Bean Brownie recipe that we are enjoying. I modified this 3 times from another recipe, and this batch came out the best. Hope you like it. 

Cake-like Black Bean Brownies 

• 3 cups of strained and cooked black beans (equals 2 cans of cooked black beans) 
• 3 eggs (you can double the flax egg substitute below for vegan) 
• 3 T of ground flaxseed gelled with 7.5 T of filtered water 
• 1/2 c Organic Cocoa Powder 
• 2 t Vanilla extract 
• 1 t baking powder (corn free baking powder recipe) 
• 2 pinches pink salt 
• 1 c Organic sugar 
• 1/2 t Organic Stevia powder 
• 6 T Organic Extra Virgin Olive oil or Virgin Coconut oil

Mash the black beans in a food processor with oil, Vanilla extract, gelled flax seed, and egg.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.  Pour into a rectangular greased pan and bake in the oven a 350 degrees F until the surface of the brownie begins to crack, approximately 30-35 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely before serving. The black bean taste can be strong when they are fresh out of the oven. The bean taste will mellow even further if you refrigerate the brownies.

We get our Organic Cocoa Powder, Vanilla for making Vanilla extract, and Organic Stevia at Mountain Rose Herbs.

Plastic Free July Giveaway: Win 2 Vanilla Lavender Shampoo Bars from Aquarian Bath

Aquarian Bath is giving away 2 Vanilla Lavender Shampoo bars to one winner in honor of Plastic Free July.  You can use the easy rafflecopter form below to enter.  Enter through the end of the month. The winner will be announced August 1st. Can't wait to try one of our bars? Use the coupon code "plasticfreejuly" at AquarianBath.com through the end of the month for 15% off your purchase.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tom Renick Park Plastic Free July Beach Clean Up Photos

Thank you from Aquarian Bath to everyone who came out to our Plastic Free July, Two Hands 30 minutes beach clean  up at Tom Renick Park yesterday.  We were almost rained out, and the skies were very dark but we just had a light splattering of rain for about 10 minutes and then it cleared up nicely.  I heard from at least 10 people who said they didn't join, because the weather looked threatening, so we are thinking to host another event like this before the end of the month, either in Ormond Beach or Daytona Beach. Please post and leave a comment if you would like to join with time and place suggestions.  The week of July 20 has been suggested so far.  I will post back with a comment if we come up with a time and place. 

Looking really dark before the event. Photo by Scott Johnson

Two of the Burley guys picking up along the beach.  There was so much fireworks waste!  I didn't realize that so any of theme were made with plastic components. Photo by Marianne Burley 

We brought re-usable gloves instead of disposables.

The results from our pick up!  Some of it was beer bottles and beer cans. What I picked up the most of was was bits of plastic wrappers, bottles, cigarette butts, and fireworks.

Moira using the long arm trash picker above the dunes. 

Starting the raffle!  Five winners received various plastic free prize packs, some of which included shampoo bars, deodorant, lotion bars, lip balms,  bamboo tooth brushes, and tooth powder.  As I told the group, the clear bags we used to package the items are made from Cellophane which is an easily compostable and biodegradable wood product. Maybe someday they will be made from hemp!  The cellophane bags come from a specialty supplier in Oregon called PakSel.  I accidentally stated SKS here, which is a bottle supplier.  Photo by Brooks "The Wooden Bee" Busby.

Relearn Walking and Sitting for a Healthy Spine

My friend shared Esther Gokhale's work with me recently. She is teaching people in this video how to walk by looking at young children, ancient art, and people from non westernized cultures. Her work is well-researched and easy to try. I love her suggestions, because it feels like a more natural way to sit and walk. I have always not felt right about advise along the lines of 'sit up straight,' 'pull your shoulders back,' and 'tuck in your pelvis.' Esther explains why that doesn't work, and she shows you a better way. This video also helped me understand why I hate the bucket seats in sedans so much also.

Plastic Free July Beach Clean Up at Tom Renick Park July 6th

Aquarian Bath will run a “Two Hands” clean up at Tom Renick Park, A1A Ormond by the Sea, Ormond Beach, Florida 32176 on Monday July 6, 2015 at 5:30 P.M. for Plastic Free July 2015. To join the clean up, arrive at Tom Renick Park by 5:30 PM. All you need are some gardening gloves. Get a raffle ticket when you start at 5:30. After the beach clean up we will have a look at what we found, take a photo, talk about what the Plastic Free July event is all about, and plastic alternatives. The raffle drawing will be at 6:30 for one $50 prize and five $10 prizes from AquarianBath.com. Participants can get an extra raffle ticket by bringing a bag of trash they picked up from the roadside on the way to this beach event. You can RSVP to the facebook event page if you like.

Plastic Free July is aimed at raising awareness of the amount of single-use plastic in our everyday lives. You would be amazed how much tiny plastic material can be found along the edge of the beach, and it is not healthy for birds and ocean health.

A “Two Hands” clean up takes the spirit of huge national and international clean up days and brings it back to the individual. The concept is using your two hands for thirty minutes to clean up your world.

Around 20,000 people across the world have completed a two hands clean up which initiated in Fremantle, Western Australia.

To join the Plastic Free July challenge visit www.plasticfreejuly.org.

Do Salt Hair Sprays Work With Shampoo Bars?

Vanilla Lavender Shampoo Bar Soap by Aquarian Bath

Sea Salt Sprays are a trendy product for adding texture without volume to the hair. Similar to ocean swimming they dehydrate the hair somewhat and make it clump together slightly. Do salt hair sprays work with shampoo bars? It depends of the type of shampoo bar. There are two types of shampoo bars. The first is a natural shampoo bar soap, such as Aquarian Bath shampoo bars. These bars contain saponified oils such as coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil, etc. The second type of shampoo bar is made with surfactants such as SLS. Aquarian Bath does not make this type of shampoo bar. In this blog post you will learn which bars will and will not work with salt hair sprays and why.

Aquarian Bath's hard-water friendly shampoo bar soaps are formulated with saponified oils of Organic coconut, Organic olive oil, shea butter, and castor oil. Usually people with natural hair have very good results with our shampoo bar soaps, so a while back when a customer said their hair was feeling gummy, dull, and lifeless, we suspected that another product was interfering. Usually our natural shampoo bars give hair lots of bounce, volume, and shine. I asked about other other products, and our customer told me that the only other product she used with her hair was a Dead Sea Salt Spray. Ah ha! I knew immediately what the problem was. Dead Sea Salt is mineral rich. Some of these minerals are what is filtered out by using expensive specialty shower filters. These filters prevent soap scum build up in the tub, or ring around the tub, which is a product of natural soaps mixing with hard water. Technically that means Calcium or Magnesium ions mixing with Fatty Acids. The majority of our shampoo bars are formulated carefully to work well with hard water, but adding salt spray to hair freshly washed with natural shampoo bars will gum up the works, so to speak. Soap scum is the last thing you want in your hair! We suggested to the customer who was having problems to try instead to use a diluted vinegar rinse after washing with one of our shampoo bars, or to use a standard surfactant shampoo to clear the salt-soap build up, and to then avoid using salt spray with our shampoo bars for future washes. These were her results: Yay! I mixed up an Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)/lavender rinse and sprayed it on my hair after using the neem bar and my hair is finally happy! The bar cured my lifetime scalp itch and the ACV keeps my curls shiny and soft! I will never use synthetic products again!  Great idea!

Some shampoo bars from other companies are not shampoo bar soaps, because they contain a very high concentration (as much as 90%) of surfactants such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) instead of saponified oils. Those shampoo bars will work with salt hair sprays because their chemistry is more like a regular shampoo. However, there are two other concerning drawbacks about SLS. First, SLS is often a product of Palm Kernel Oil. This Palm oil is produced in countries where corporations are recklessly destroying rainforest at the expense of endangered species and the climate. The rate of forest destruction is alarming, and it needs to stop. Second, research has shown that people with skin sensitivities may have their skin problems exacerbated from using SLS products. One customer told us that their scalp changed from oily to dry and irritated after using a SLS-based shampoo bars. Another customer with normal scalp said that their scalp itched from the SLS shampoo bar after only one use.

NASA satellite image, Malayasia

In summary, natural shampoo bars made with saponified oils do not work well with salt sprays due to their particular chemistry while surfactant shampoo bars will. Despite not working well with salt sprays, Aquarian Bath shampoo bars have an advantage over shampoo bars made with SLS. Unlike SLS bars, our bars are made from a high concentration of Organic oils, instead of from rainforest decimating palm oil. Second we have a number of dedicated customers who have switched over to our products, because of their sensitive scalps. We think is a good sign that our products do not worsen the problems of those with skin sensitivities. Check out our website to shop for one of our shampoo bars.

Spearmint Ingredient Spotlight

Spearmint, Mentha spicata, is a herbaceous perennial herb. The name 'spear' gives a clue to its pointed leave tips. It grows by spreading rhizomally. It can spread rapidly when it has plenty of water and sunshine.  For this reason, it and other mints are best grown in containers. Because it is a water-loving herb, be sure to have a catch pan for water underneath the pot. Did you know peppermint is actually a hybrid of spearmint? Spearmint crossed with Mentha aquarica, gives the hybrid Mentha x spicata, or peppermint. Keep spearmint growing in your garden for the flowers which are attractive to beneficial insects.

Spearmint makes a refreshing herbal tea.  It is an ingredient in Mint Julep and Mojitos. The tea can help settle upset stomachs. Mint tea is an herb suggested by Juliette Levy for digestive distress in her Herbal books for Dogs and Cats. Try this mint yogurt dip by Jamie Oliver here.  Chew on fresh spearmint for freshening your breath.

Spearmint essential oil is extracted by steam distillation of the leaves and stems. The scent is uplifting, stimulating and refreshing. It is somewhat more delicate in scent compared to peppermint essential oil, which has a higher menthol content.  We like using Spearmint essential oil in many of our soaps, shampoo bars, and our Spearmint deodorant. We also have spearmint as a scent option in our herbal pillows. 

Feinstein's Cosmetic Bill Jeopardizes Small Businesses, Joba and Entreprenurial Opportunites

Broadview Heights, Ohio; April 21, 2015 - The Handmade Cosmetic Alliance (HCA) representing more than 300,000 small handmade cosmetic companies throughout the U.S., opposes the Personal Care Products Safety Act, S. 1014, introduced by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and co-sponsored by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME).

The proposed legislation, negotiated by large industry and a single consumer group and affiliate members, imposes burdensome fees, registration requirements and reporting mandates that will jeopardize more than 300,000 small handmade cosmetic companies in the U.S.

“The HCA along with other handmade cosmetic organizations support efforts to make meaningful policy changes to enhance cosmetic safety. However, subjecting small handmade cosmetic companies which operate with less than a handful of employees to onerous regulation is not only unfair and unprecedented, but creates regulatory requirements that will force businesses to close their doors, “ said Debbie May, Executive Director of the HCA.

The handmade cosmetic industry, comprised of largely women-owned and operated businesses, typically manufactures products in batches of 25-100 using largely food grade ingredients that can be found in any grocery store. In the U.S., handmade cosmetic products constitute less than a fraction of one percent of all products in the marketplace yet the quality of these products with food grade oils and ingredients are among the safest in the nation.

Senator Feinstein’s proposed legislation sets unprecedented burdens on small businesses, far exceeding current requirements food manufacturers and small farmers. As drafted, the Personal Care Products Safety Act would subject handmade cosmetic companies to “user fees” that are nearly ten times their market share and require each small handmade cosmetic business to file product registrations on several hundred soap, lotion, scrub batches produced in a given month.

The Handmade Cosmetic Alliance and its members will continue to support efforts to enhance cosmetic safety while ensuring that requirements are fair to small handmade cosmetic companies that create main street jobs and economic benefits to communities across the nation. 

Seaside Herb Society Fair Saturday April 11th in Ormond Beach

Seaside Herb Society 
20th Annual Faire

Come and celebrate everything herbs!  

There will be speakers, herb plants, baked goods, soaps, and more!
Saturday, April 11, 2015 - 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Bailey Riverbridge Meeting House
1 North Beach Street, Ormond Beach, FL 

Directions: Travel east on SR40/Granada Boulevard to the Granada Bridge in Ormond Beach, turn left onto Beach Street. Bailey Riverbridge Meeting House will be on your immediate right. 

Pillow Care, Directions, and Precautions for Heat Therapy Pillows

Organic Cotton Flannel Flaxseed Pillow in Citron

Attention all microwave pillow owners! We have new detailed pillow instructions that ship with our pillows. You can download a copy here. Why are these new pillow directions important? One customer reported that the outer pillow cover of one of our double layer pillows caught on fire in their microwave. We did a forensic analysis and determined that there was a soiled spot of lotion or body cream on the outer portion of the pillow. The pillow was folded over in the microwave such that the soiled spot was covered causing a hot spot to create a burn.  Please check out the new directions below about how to keep your pillows clean and safe:

Pillow Care: Store your pillow in a cool dry place away from animals. If you are using your pillow as a cold pack and storing it in the freezer, be sure that it warms up to room temperature and is completely dry before switching to use it as a heat pack in the microwave. For single layer pillows, spot clean with damp towel soap and water or oxygen cleaner. Allow to dry completely before using again. For double layer pillows with washable cover, hand wash with cold or warm water and lay flat or hang to dry. Washable covers are 100% Organic cotton and will shrink. 

Warming your pillow: Microwaves have different power levels ranging from 500 - 1650 Watts, or higher in commercial units. 1-2 minutes of heating is a guideline, but consider heating for a lower time period if you have a very powerful microwave (see cautions). When warming your pillow place it in the center of the microwave so that it does not touch the microwave wall and it can rotate during warming. If your microwave does not have a rotating tray, then stop half way through microwaving, shake the pillow, reposition and continue heating. This is to avoid scorching from hot spots in the microwave. The microwave must be clean, because food and oil may also create hot spots.

Cautions: Flaxseed and herbs are natural materials that can burn when overheated. If you overheat a flaxseed pillow, it could result in burned flax seeds, damage to the fabric, or fire. Use less microwave time when reheating already warm pillows. Staying near the microwave during heating is recommended. Keep your pillow clean from oil to avoid creating hot spots that could lead to burning in the microwave. Keep your pillow clean from metal debris; a tiny iron filing or metal shard stuck to the pillow or inside the pillow cover could create a fire in your microwave.

Beautiful Backyard Bee Swarm

This is a swarm of wild bees that we discovered a couple of weeks ago in one of our trees. We were lucky that Moira noticed it. Scott had a chance to take these photos. The bees found a new home and were gone within 24 hours of this photo. We wish them well. Happy Spring!

Speaking of bees, we have new beeswax lotion bars coming soon, scented with Lavender and Peppermint. Check back soon!

New Bamboo Tooth Brushes

Aquarian Bath is now offering Bamboo Tooth brushes.  When you purchase a bamboo toothbrush you are reducing plastic consumption and making an environmentally conscious choice for your household. This toothbrush has a biodegradable handle made from 100% bamboo. The soft bristles are verified BPA-Free Soft Nylon (recyclable, not biodegradable). The company that makes the tooth brushes, Brush with Bamboo, is working on a plastic-free bristle option for it's next generation of tooth brushes. The bamboo toothbrush comes in a biodegradable box made from paper. The inside wrapper is made from plants and is compostable in city and commercial facilities. These bamboo toothbrushes can be used for just as long as plastic toothbrushes. Pick up one, or a set of four with your next Aquarian Bath order. 

New Organic Flannel Flaxseed Pillows

We have some really special new pillows in stock. These are Organic cotton flannel fabrics which are GOTS certified and made by Cloud 9. Theses are the softest most cozy pillows I have ever made. We have them in blue and white polka dot, pink and white polka dot and white with pink birds.  Hope you like them. 

Uses for Myrrh Resin in Body Care

Myrrh is a dried resin from Commiphora trees. Myrrh trees are native to arid and semi arid areas of North East Africa and the Arabian peninsula. The exotic resin was famously mentioned in the Bible as a gift from the Magi together with Frankincense and gold. The name Myrrha comes from Greek mythology. Myrrha, the daughter of Cinyrus was transformed into the tree and her tears, the resin droplets. The resin is used medicinally as well as in perfumery, and incense. Egyptians used it for embalming.

Myrrh resin photo by Sjschen

Frankincense and Myrrh are also commonly paired together in Chinese Traditional Medicine most often for trauma due to sports injury with bruising. The Chinese name for Myrrh is “Mo Yao.” Myrrh has opiate properties for pain relief. Also, it is beneficial for circulation and useful in reducing swelling. Myrrh resin is decocted in water for at least an hour at a dosage of 3-12 grams for adults in Chinese Herbal formulas. The herb is for short term internal use.  I used it recently both internally and externally to help with my recovery from a sprained elbow with severe swelling and bruising.  5:1 Myrrh extract powder is also used in lower doses in Chinese medicine. This type of extract powder is made from dried tincture of Myrrh resin. The Myrrh dosages used in Chinese medicine described above are not appropriate for people who are taking blood thinners or who are pregnant. 

For pain from toothache or mouth sores myrrh can be applied externally. For example, 1 ml of Myrrh tincture can be added to 4 oz of water to make a mouth wash. Good quality myrrh tincture is made with very high proof alcohol in order to extract the resin.  

Myrrh essential oil is beneficial for reducing inflammation, as an expectorant, for slow healing wounds, and even for improving digestion. Myrrh oil is considered one of the safest essential oils, because it has been in use for thousands of years.

In conclusion Myrrh resin has a long history of use for many purposes including pain relief, wound healing, perfuming and improving circulation. It can be used both internally or externally, but high therapeutic doses are for short term use only, and should be avoided for those on blood thinners or who are pregnant.

SolarNetOne Advanced Solar Battery Backup System for Home or Business

This is a video I made with my husband Scott last week. He is giving a tour of a new solar powered battery backup system that he designed, the latest technology from our other company SolarNetOne. The system allows the home owner to power the house, sell excess power back to the grid, and have days of emergency back up power during power outages, for example from hurricane. We are currently planning a similar install for outside the US this year.



Are you interested in a system like this for your home or business? Let us know, and we will contact you when more will be available later in the year.

Cory Trusty
president @ Aquarian Bath
VP @ SolarNetOne