THE HOME APOTHECARY Home Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils By Jacki Ritz I’m Jackie, a thirtysomething mother of two and wife of an Army Veteran. I’m the headmistress behind The Paleo Mama website and author of Everyday Natural: Living a Pure and Simple Life Is Not As Complicated As You Think 1.

My journey into crafting my own herbal recipes started when I was pregnant with my first child nearly 11 years ago. I remember reading the ingredients for the first time on my sunscreen bottle and then searching online for what “oxybenzone” could do to my unborn baby. Then I found out that my hair dye had lead in it, my body wash had known carcinogens in it, and in my deodorant was aluminum, which is a known hormone disruptor.

So I purged my drawers and dresser tops of these dangerous products and started making my own. Not only did I discover that it was fun to create homemade products for my health, my home, and my children, but it was also so much cheaper, and I was saving money!

This passion into getting my hands dirty with ingredients like , shea butter, cacao butter, bentonite clay, essential oils and herbs, led me to the desire to learn more about these beautiful gifts of the earth through having my own herbal garden, dabbling into permaculture principles, attending plant and mushroom walks, and, eventually, through attending herbal medicine school to become a trained herbalist.

I am confident that once you make your first batch of homemade body butter, or create a nightly ritual of sipping on my Golden Milk latte, you will fall in love with the art of herbal medicine making. There is something so cathartic about creating your own healing recipes and seeing your own apothecary overflowing with tinctures, infused honeys, body butters, home-crafted cleaning products, medicinal bone broth, and delightful tea blends.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and are able to create some beautiful gifts for yourself, your family and your friends. About In love and gratitude, Jacki Ritz the Author I’d love for you to stay in touch and subscribe to my email list

1 Jacqueline Ritz, Everyday Natural: Living a Pure and Simple Life Is Not as Complicated as You Think (Lake Mary, FL: Siloam, 2017). Recommended Herbs & Supplies to Start Your Apothecary

Essential Oils Body Car Suplies Hebs Lavender Oil Astragalus, sliced thin Lemon Arrowroot Calendula, whole flowers Peppermint Baking Soda German Chamomile flowers Wild Orange Beeswax pastilles You can find my recommended Cardamom, hulled brands on my Home Tea Tree Bentonite Clay Cinnamon chips or sticks Apothecary resource page. Frankincense Comfrey root or leaves Eucalyptus Coconut oil Echinacea Grapefruit Cocoa butter wafers Elderberry berries Vetiver Fractionated Coconut oil (liquid coconut oil) Fennel Seed MCT oil Ginger Hibiscus “roselle” calyxes Jojoba oil Lavender Shea butter Lemon balm Sugar (brown, white, raw, sucanat, etc) Lemon verbena Vitamin E Rose Stinging Nettles Valerian

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 9 All Purpose Healing Salve

Yields 1 - 1/4 cup “ When you have little ones in the house, there seems to be an endless supply of boo-boos, bug bites, and itchy skin. This all-purpose salve is good for so many things and is perfect to have on hand, throw in a diaper bag or purse, or keep in the car. The coconut Mateials Neded oil and olive oil bring nourishment to the skin, while • 1/2 cup of coconut oil • 1 cup of dried whole calendula flowers the beeswax is known to lock in moisture, foster • 1/2 cup of olive oil • 20 drops of tea tree essential oil cells, and protect skin from damaging environmental • 1/4 cup of beeswax pastilles • 20 drops of lavender essential oil factors.

This salve uses a calendula oil infusion. If you have Method the option, choose whole dried calendula flowers 1. Macerate the calendula flowers in your food processor with the 1/2 cup of olive oil and not just the dried petals. There is a lot of until it resembles a pesto-like consistency. medicine in the flower-part of the calendula. 2. Put the coconut oil, olive oil, beeswax and calendula flowers in a double boiler and bring to a simmer. Slowly heat for 30 minutes to 3 hours, making sure to not let the oil get hotter than 110 F (think bathwater temp). Keep an eye on the water in your double boiler. You do not want to let your herbs get too hot. 3. Strain the mixture into a bowl through a cheesecloth making sure to wring out all the oil, getting every last drop. 4. Let cool for a few minutes. 5. Add the essential oils and stir. Pour into a glass jar and store for up to a year at room temperature, twice as long if you refrigerate.

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 20 Grapefruit Sugar Scrub Yields 3 cups

Mateials Neded • 2 cups of white sugar • 1 tablespoon of squeezed grapefruit juice This is a wonderful scrub to use • 1 cup of coconut oil* • 10 drops orange or tangerine essential oil in the morning or give to a friend • zest of 1 grapefruit • 15 drops grapefruit essential oil who needs to practice some self care. It’s so energizing and smells Method “ so delicious that you might be 1. Mix the sugar and oil in a glass or stainless steel bowl. The oil should completely coat tempted to taste it. Go ahead, the sugar. If you use coconut oil, you may need to melt it first before mixing it in. give it a taste…it’s all natural! 2. Add your essential oils, grapefruit juice, and zest and mix thoroughly. 3. Store in a glass jar and remix ingredients before each use.

*If you want the coconut oil to remain liquid at room temperature, then use fractionated coconut oil or MCT oil.

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 28 Oil Cleansing Method

Blossom Facial Serum Yields 1 cup of serum

You are going to absolutely fall in love with this floral infusion serum! You can put this beautiful serum in a dropper bottle or a roll-on essential oil bottle and apply “ to your face, neck, and décolleté morning and night. It’s excellent for aging skin and helps to restore moisture.

Mateials Neded • 1/4 cup of dried whole calendula flowers Essential Oil Add-Ins: • 1/4 cup of dried rose petals or buds • Rose • Geranium • 1/2 cup of almond oil • 1/2 teaspoon of vitamin E oil (to preserve) • Lavender • Cedarwood • 10 drops each of lavender, geranium, yarrow and myrrh essential oils • Neroli • Frankincense • Blue Tansy • Tea Tree Method Method 1. Put the almond oil, calendula flowers, and rose petals in a double boiler and bring to a simmer. Slowly heat for 30 minutes, making sure to not let the oil 1. Mix equal parts of one of these carrier oils with castor oil depending on get hotter than 110 F (think bathwater temp). You can, alternatively, add the your skin type. Add a drop of essential oil to your oil cleansing mix. Be flowers and oil to a glass mason jar and set in a window for a few weeks, careful to not get essential oils in your eyes as it can burn. If you do, use or skip this step altogether and just use straight almond oil. milk or a liquid carrier oil (olive, almond, fractionated coconut oil) to rinse 2. Strain the mixture into a bowl through a cheesecloth making sure to wring it out. out all the oil, getting every last drop. 2. Rinse your face lightly with warm water. Pour the oil in the palm of your 3. Mix in the vitamin E oil and the essential oils. Add a few dried calendula and hand and gently apply to your face using circular motions for about two rose petals to your clear jars for a beautiful display. Pour the serum mixture into your jars. Essential oil roll-on bottles or glass dropper bottles are ideal minutes. for applying. The serum will last six months to a year. 3. Put a hot washcloth over your face and allow to sit for minute or two. Slowly wipe the oil off using the washcloth. Keep removing any makeup or dirt, making sure that all the oil is absorbed into your pores and your face is no longer oily. 4. Pat dry and add a few drops of my Blossom Facial Serum to the right.

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 38 Immune Boosting Detox Bath

A detox bath is where you sit in a bathtub of hot water and epsom salt for at least 20 minutes. Detox Mateials Neded baths are wonderful for helping your body to flush (Measurements vary depending on the person’s size) toxins, strengthen the immune system, relax sore and • epsom salt, magnesium flakes, or Dead Sea salt tired muscles, and promote a restful sleep. Epsom salt • Baking soda if water is unfiltered or Dead Sea salt is loaded with magnesium, which is • therapeutic-grade essential oils • coconut oil or olive oil an essential mineral to a worn-out body. Do not take a hot detox bath when you have a fever! Use lukewarm water if body temperatures are elevated over 98 A Few Tips: degrees. • Don’t wash your hair on detox bath night or get your head in the bath water. The coconut oil is very greasy if it gets in your hair. • Don’t wash your body with any soaps or harsh cleansers. Your pores are open, and you want them to absorb the magnesium and oils. I recommend using a bar of castile soap if you must wash. Otherwise skip the soap. • Try to stay in the bath for 20 minutes to get all the benefits of magnesium and to assist your body to sweat out toxins. • Drink lots of water before, during, and after!

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 55 Immunity Boosting Detox Bath Recipe Step 1 Step 3 Add the epsom salt, Dead Sea salt, or Mix the liquid coconut oil or olive oil and magnesium flakes to a tub of hot water. essential oils together (dosage below).

Epsom salt dosage: Look below for the correct coconut oil and • For children under 60 lbs, add 1/2 cup to a essential oil dosage. Add both ingredients to a standard bath. small cup and mix together. • For children 60 lbs to 100 lbs, add 1 cup to a standard bath. Coconut Oil Dosage: • For people 100 lbs and up, add 2 cups or • For children under 60 lbs, add 1 tablespoon more to a standard bath. to a standard bath. • For children 60 lbs to 100 lbs, add 2 tablespoons to a standard bath. Step 2 • For people 100 lbs and up, add 3 Add the baking soda (optional). tablespoons to a standard bath.

Adding baking soda to a detox bath helps to Essential Oil Dosage: neutralize the chemicals in the water, especially • For children under 60 lbs and over 2 years chlorine. If you have well water, you can skip this old, add 4 drops to a standard bath. step. But, if you are unsure about your water • For children 60 lbs to 100 lbs, add 6 drops purity, or if you know that it is not filtered, then to a standard bath. add in some baking soda. • For people 100 lbs and up, add 10 drops to a standard bath. Baking Soda Dosage: • For children under 60 lbs, add 1/4th cup to a Essential Oil Suggestions: standard bath. • Calming and Relaxing: lavender, ylang • For children 60 lbs to 100 lbs, add 1/2 cup to ylang, roman chamomile, or cedarwood a standard bath. • Immune Boosting: orange, frankincense, • For people 100 lbs and up, add 1 cup to a tea tree, or lemon standard bath. • Respiratory Support: eucalyptus, peppermint, or cardamom • Digestive Support: peppermint, cardamom, or lemon

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 56 The first time I tasted homemade vanilla extract was the last day I ever purchased store-bought. Homemade vanilla is so rich, delicious, and simple “ to make, plus it makes a perfect gift. Homemade vanilla extract requires some forethought, as do all good things in life.

Mateials Neded • 5 whole vanilla beans • 1 cups of bourbon, brandy, rum or vodka (I prefer bourbon for a robust flavor but if you want a more tasteless alcohol, use vodka) Method 1. Split your vanilla beans in half lengthwise and chop in small pieces (leave the pulp inside). I like to leave one of the vanilla beans whole for a beautiful presentation. 2. Place your vanilla beans in a glass jar, cover with your alcohol of choice, and cap tightly. 3. Allow to sit for 3 to 6 weeks, shaking your jar daily to fully extract the vanilla. 4. You have two options for bottling your extract. You can leave the vanilla beans in the jar or you can strain them out. Personally, I like to leave mine in my jar. It creates a stronger vanilla extract and allows Homemade me to top my extract off with plain alcohol when I see it getting low.

Your extract will last indefinitely, however if you are topping it off with Vanilla Extract alcohol when it gets low, you might want to replace the vanilla beans yearly with fresh ones. Yields 1 cup

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 76 Homemade Laundry Detergent

Yields nearly 1 galo

Once you make the switch to homemade detergent, you’ll wonder why you waited so long. This recipe costs Mateials Neded • 3 cups of borax only $0.02 a load and leaves your clothes smelling • 3 cups of washing soda fresh and soft. Since this recipe uses a grated bar of • 3 cups of baking soda soap, be sure to wash with warm water so the water • 2 bars of soap, grated can properly dissolve the soap. Also, this recipe is high • 15 drops of wild orange essential oil efficiency (HE) safe! • 15 drops of lemon essential oil Method Amont 1. Grate the soap with a cheese grater. Use 1 tablespoon of the detergent for smaller loads and 2 2. In a large bowl, mix the borax, washing soda, and baking soda. tablespoons for a larger load. Be sure to wash with warm 3. Toss the soap in a food processor, then add about 1 cup of the powdered water to dissolve the soap effectively. mixture from the bowl (this allows your food processor to process the soap into smaller pieces without sticking to the blades). 4. While the food processor is on, drop the essential oils into the mixture. 5. Take the grated soap out of the food processor and add it to the large bowl. 6. Store in a large container.

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 79 Aftewod

My life changed the day I said yes to what I had only dared to imagine — a simple and natural life that allowed me to eat wholesome foods and care for my family with the beautiful gifts of the earth. The first time I grew echinacea in my garden, I knew I was hooked. When I dropped that first drop of lavender essential oil on my palms and inhaled its soothing and calming scent — I knew that I had just tapped into the power of plant medicine.

My dear reader, you don’t have to know it all in order to take the first step into utilizing herbal medicine. You don’t have to be an aromatherapist or an herbalist to care for your family. You just have to be willing to learn, get your hands a little dirty (or oily), and allow nature to take care of you.

I don’t for one second believe that we as humans were left here on the earth medicine-less. Look around you — take a deep breath, and understand that even that breath was possible because the trees are doing their work.

Please stay in touch and join my email newsletter!

The Home Apothecary: Home-Crafted Recipes Using Herbs and Essential Oils | 82