How Essential Oils Can Help Your Family

The mass marketing of essential oils and their increased availability to the public has made all kinds of aroma therapy products available to us including bath soaps, bath gels, shampoos, body sprays, candles, candle burners and all kinds of creams, soaps and potions. You can even get incense that is made out of pure essential oils.

Aromatherapy works best if the molecules of the essential oil are dispersed through the air or water so that they can be absorbed through the skin. The molecules can also be dispersed through the air so that they trigger nasal receptors to send healing messages to the brain. The brain then responds to the change in chemistry so that your body can feel more relaxed, joyful or calm.

You can try putting oils in a base carrier oil such as olive or almond and applying them to your pulse points or temples. You can also disperse the oils through the air using a diffuser or candle oil warmer or add a few drops of the oil to eight ounces of distilled water and mist your surroundings. However if you use a diffuser, don't dilute the oils first in any way.

You can try taking a bath in diluted essential oils just before you go to bed or you can try spraying or applying the oils to your linens and pillows. A bath is very therapeutic as the warm water helps release the scent molecules in the oil.

Various essential oils many therapeutic uses including the curing of headaches, the relieving joint pain and helping an individual experience less stress. For instance peppermint or rosemary oil can help with a headache. Joint pain is relieved by pine, cinnamon, chili and juniper oils.

Certain oils such as lavender and marjoram are known to relieve insomnia. Other types such as sandalwood and patchouli are used for massage. Applying geranium oil to the wrists is thought to reduce symptoms of PMS and menopause in women.

Various aroma therapy products can also produce different types of psychological moods. For instance orange oil can produce a feeling of joy or elation. Peppermint oil can help an individual feel more alert. Rose oil and vanilla oil may actually put you in a romantic mood. If you have a racing brain or feel a bit angry, lime oil may help you chill out.

Some oils also have antibacterial and anti-viral properties. Good examples are pine and eucalyptus oils, which help stave off the propagation of germs in your environment. That is why we see so many essential oils added to natural cleaning products nowadays!

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Sugaring in Vermont With the Kids

Considering a great little holiday with the kids this winter? Why not take the kids 'sugaring 'in Vermont. Vermont maple sugar that is collected and bottled by hand is called 'sugaring.' Maple syrup producers in Vermont are also nicknamed 'sugar makers.'

The sugaring season starts in the spring when the weather is warm enough to make the sap flow. This is usually around the beginning of March. Sap is collected from Maple trees for about six weeks, during which it is ideal to visit a maple syrup production facility.
In Vermont the collecting of maple syrup sap is done the traditional way. The sap is collected from the trees, boiled to remove the water and then bottled. Nothing is added to Pure Maple Syrup. It is a completely natural.

Tree sap is collected by tapping small holes into a tree with a chisel and pick. These are called 'tapholes. ' These holes are small and only go about two inches deep. The tree must be more than forty inches in diameter to qualify as a source of maple sap. This means that only trees that are over forty years old can be tapped. The thawing sap running through the trees then drains through the spigot into the bucket. The sap is the freest flowing when the weather is alternating between freezing and warmer temperatures.

In Vermont there is everything from the small sugaring hobbyist who may only tap twenty trees to the large cottage industry that may tap as many as 40,000 trees. The buckets can be gathered by hand or they can be poured into some kind of tank on wheels or on a sleigh.

The sap is then taken to the sugarhouse. This can be a small hut or a big operation that almost resembles a factory. In Vermont you will find smaller, rustic cabins that don't have room for more than ten people and the evaporating equipment. Many of these sugarhouses also have a kitchen for making maple sugar, maple candy and maple fudge. A sure sign that a sugarmaker in Vermont is making syrup is the large quantities of steam that puff out of the chimneys of the sugaring cabins.

For the syrup to be of good quality it must be boiled as soon as possible. The evaporator can be as simple as a kettle on flames. The sap officially turns to syrup when the temperature in the boiling pot is seventy one degrees. The syrup is then filtered to remove any grit from the trees. Before it is bottled it is then graded to determine color and quality. In Vermont you can buy syrups that are graded Fancy, Medium Amber, Dark Amber or B.

One thing you can be certain of is that if the Maple Syrup you are buying is from Vermont is that it is probably a quality product!

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