Another summer enters the South Jersey Shore. Are your feet ready for the beach?
School will be out soon, people will be packing up and heading to the shore for the summer or at least a few weeks of shore house rentals.
Beach Tips to stay healthy this summer
1. Wear sunblock when outdoors. Make sure to apply sunblock liberally to young children and reapply often during the day even if you used waterproof sunblock. Keep babies covered, face, arms, head, feet, cheeks when out in the sun. I have seen too many babies with bad sunburns at the recent craft fairs in New Jersey. Not good for babies to have sunburn. Very painful and they can't tell you they need a drink because they feel dehydrated. At least an adult or older child can tell you they are thirsty.
2. Drink lots of water and use bathrooms frequently (too much water can make you sick, too).
3. Apply lotion to your skin (and to your children's) when you are out of the sun to keep you skin moisturized.
4. If you take your pets to the beach or just out in your backyard, PLEASE make sure they have access to some shade all day and a constant supply of fresh water (if you leave them outside all day - leave a hose running into their bowl).
5. If you do get sunburned skin, make sure to drink extra fluids, use lots of lotion, and keep the sunburned skin covered and out of sunlight until it heals. If you start peeling, protect the new layer of skin extremely well to prevent more severe sunburn. You can also try our Lavender Herb Vinegar Spray with Aloe Vera Gel on sunburned skin to stop the stinging pain and with the lavender herbs infused into the vinegar, aloe gel, and lavender essential oil help to promote the healing of your skin.
Beach Package *Special Price until July 15* Only $45.00
We have a new Beach Ready package just for your "Beach Feet" and sun-drenched skin that includes an 16 ounce Super Sugar Scrub, one 8 ounce Light & Lovely Lotion, an 8 ounce spray bottle of our Lavender Vinegar Herb Spray for sunburned skin, one bottle of non-toxic fingernail polish and one bottle of non-toxic polish remover. Special bonus: 2 ounce Vinegar Herb Spray Bottle for your beach tote.
Next month will be Chamomile Cottage's Nurse Appreciation Month
We will take nominations through this month and into July for your favorite nurse then choose one Nurse each week during July to be honored. We will hand-deliver (or ship if they do not live in the S Jersey/Philadelphia/DE area) a Chamomile Cottage Deluxe Gift Set to the winner with a framed Certificate of Appreciation. If there is a nurse at your doctor's office who really listens and is attentive to your needs or symptoms, if you couldn't have gotten through your father's surgery last month without the emotional support of his ICU nurse, if you were in labor six months ago for two days and the nurse kept feeding you ice chips so you wouldn't dehydrate and spoke encouraging words to you, please send us their first and last name, the hospital or doctor's office name and address where they work and we will include them in our Appreciation Month.
Aromatherapy History Part 2
The Greeks learned a great deal from the Egyptians, but Greek mythology apparently credits the gift and knowledge of perfumes to the gods. The Greeks also recognized the medicinal and aromatic benefits of plants. Hippocrates, commonly called the "father of medicine" practiced fumigations for both aromatic and medicinal benefit. A Greek perfumer by the name of Megallus created a perfume called megaleion. Megaleion included myrrh in a fatty-oil base and served several purposes: (1) for its aroma, (2) for its anti-inflammatory properties towards the skin and (3) to heal wounds.
The Roman Empire built upon the knowledge of the Egyptians and Greeks. Discorides wrote a book called De Materia Medica that described the properties of approximately 500 plants. It is also reported that Discorides studied distillation. Distillation during this period, however, focused on extracting aromatic floral waters and not essential oils.
A major event for the distillation of essential oils came with the invention of a coiled cooling pipe in the 11th century. Persian by birth, Avicenna invented a coiled pipe which allowed the plant vapor and steam to cool down more effectively than previous distillers that used a straight cooling pipe. Avicenna's contribution lead to more focus on essential oils and their benefits.
Within the 12th century, an Abbess of Germany named Hildegard grew and distilled lavender for its medicinal properties.
Within the 13th century, the pharmaceutical industry was born. This event encourages great distillation of essential oils.
During the 14th century, the Black Death hit and killed millions of people. Herbal preparations were used extensively to help fight this terrible killer. It is believed that some perfumers may have avoided the plague by their constant contact with the natural aromatics.
Within the 15th century, more plants were distilled to create essential oils including frankincense, juniper, rose, sage and rosemary. A growth in the amount of books on herbs and their properties also begins later in the century. Paracelcus, an alchemist, medical doctor and radical thinker is credited with coining the term Essence and his studies radically challenged the nature of alchemy and he focused upon using plants as medicines.
We will have a busy summer working to launch our business ideas and products. Thank goodness we have much support from our family and friends. August will be our Family/Friend Support Appreciation Month so start thinking about who you want to nominate for August's Special Award Gift Set.
Chamomile Cottage Family
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