Making Outdoor Products

By Sherry A Barker of Sherry’s Creations

author of Natural Care E-books & Spreadsheets 

 www.herbalsoap-healingcreams.com

This is my third article for Glenbrook Farm and the following recipes are from my

Natural Care E book 2 - Making Outdoor Products.   Most Ingredients in these

 recipes are sold by Glenbrook Farm and are highlighted in red.

First- a little about making herbal/botanical infusions.

To infuse herbs/botanicals into oils:

Generally one would use 1 part herb/botanicals to 3 parts oil.  The best place to purchase herbs/botanicals is right here at Glenbrook Farm.

Place a 3 qt pot on the stove and add your oil and herbs/botanicals and heat to just below boiling. Do not boil as this will “Fry” the herb and render it useless.  Immediately remove from heat and cover with a tight lid.  Let this rest for 30 minutes.  Strain oil into a sterile jar and cover tightly.

You can add Vitamin E or Wheat Germ Oil [high in Vit E] at .05 % if your going to store this oil for any length of time, in a dark, cool place until use.

For a stronger infusion, you would want to strain out the herb, squeezing to release all the oil, saving the oil to be reheated with a fresh batch of herbs.  Repeat this 3 times for a very strong infusion.  Some herbs are quite strong to begin with and do not need a repeat infusion, such as mints, or others that have a powerful odor.

The best way to strain out herbs is using a “jelly bag” found in canning section of department store or a cut off nylon hose, or a coffee filter.

To infuse in water:

Use 1 part herb to 2-3 parts water.  Place herb and distilled water in a large pot on the stove and heat till boiling.  Immediately remove from heat and cover with a tight lid so all the steam stays in the pot.  Leave this for 30 minutes and strain out herbs.  Again you can infuse again using fresh batch of herbs if you desire.  Save the infused water in a sterile jar and cover and refrigerate if not using immediately.  Add Germall Plus preservative to this if not using within a few days at .05% of total weight.

Sherry’s Bug Repellant

If your going outside during “bug” season, you would want to take along some all natural bug repellant.  This recipe really works well to keep all insects at bay and a little goes a long way.  Make insect repellant as a concentrate or ready to use spray bottle.  Repels misquotes and other insects, including fleas. This is generally safe for animals and children over 2 years of age if diluted by 4.

WARNING: tc "WARNING You Can NOT sell this product to the public.  ALL Insecticides are under the jurisdiction of the EPA and some of these ingredients in this recipe are not the “exempt list” so you would need to register this with the EPA in order to sell it.

Note:  I have used Olive oil here because it is best for your skin and this is a leave on product.

Directions

First:   Infuse Pennyroyal and Eucalyptus leaves in Olive oil.  1 part herb to 3 parts olive oil - see instructions above.

Ingredients:

4 oz pennyroyal infused olive oil           4 oz Eucalyptus infused olive oil          

2-4 drops Eucalyptus EO.  

Mix well and pour into a bottle when room temp and cap tightly.

Application Directions: MUST DILUTE ABOVE for USE 

Caution: This is potent, do not get near eyes and do NOT use on children under 2 years old.

For use as an Oil base leave-on product:   Dilute , 1 part above mixture with 1 part olive oil, mix well to combine, pour into a regular or spray bottle for use.

Water Dilution:  dilute base mixture with an equal amount of distilled warm water or better yet use strong Green Tea water and pour into spray bottle, and shake well before each use.

Variation: You can add 4 drops Citronella EO to the mixture for an extra potent insecticide.  Just wash off when you come inside.

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Insect-Rodent Potpourri   - for use in home or camp

This mixture is made to spread in cupboards, outside camp or home parameters, in tents, etc. to deter insects, rodents, and other pests.   A little bit of this goes a long way !  

Warning:  Again, you can not sell this product to the public unless it is registered with the EPA.

Caution:  Wear gloves to mix and to apply mixture, it can be very HOT to the touch.

Directions:

Mix together:

1 cup copped Eucalyptus leaves, 1 cup cedar chips, ½ cup Pennyroyal leaves,

½ c Peppermint leaves chopped,   ¼ cup ground Mace,  1 ts ground Ginger,  1 ts ground Cinnamon

2 Tb Hot peppers chopped,    10 drops each Eucalyptus and Citronella EO

Let EO’s  soak into the leaves before pouring into a bag.  Store in Air tight zip lock bag until needed.

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Fisherman-Kitchen Soap Exfoliate soap           

 Anise is Good for removing cooking odors from hands and body and is a natural fish attractor too! 

  This soap will get rid of human scent and the “Anise” will attract fish.

First make Infusions according to instructions above.

Infusion: Anise is a strong scented seed so less is needed for infusions. For ground anise, grind seeds in coffee grinder.

Infuse ground anise seed in olive oil using ½ c anise to 2 cups oil.  You could use Rice Bran oil if you desire, it is less expensive.

Infuse ground anise seed in distilled water using 2 Tb anise to 1 cup water

This recipe makes a 1 lb batch of soap.  Use a lye calculator if you increase this recipe.  There is a FREE lye calculator spreadsheet for both bar soap and liquid soap on my website. www.herbalsoap-healingcreams.com/free.html

Ingredients:

9 oz  infused anise olive oil       4 oz palm oil     3 oz coconut oil      1 oz cocoa butter

1 TS kelp powder [ optional ]    1  TB French clay          1 TB ground anise seed

 ½ TS Anise EO

½ to 1 TS powdered benzoin as preservative [optional]  

2.2-2.3 oz lye to 7 oz infused anise water.

NOTE:  Mix Anise EO, ground Anise seed, kelp and benzoin to the clay and add this at “trace”, blending in well

Make soap using cold or hot process.  Methods are explained in my Ebooks if you do not know how to make soap

NOTE: Leave out ground anise seed if you want a Non-exfoliate soap

Variation:  To make Melt and Pour soap you would add a mixture of  “½ ts Anise EO and 1 Tb clay, 1 ts kelp powder and 1 Tb ground anise seed” to the melted soap base, mixing in well then pour into molds.

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Body Scrub with De-Scenter

xe "Body Scrub with descenter"     

To scrub off grime from outdoor activities, or to deodorize and remove human scent, while moisturizing skin.

Ingredients:

2 oz Almond oil or quality olive oil   [mositurizer]

2 oz  Salt mixture  [2 parts ground up Dead Sea Salt, 2 parts Epson salt, 1 part sea salt]

1/4 Ts powdered benzoin [optional]

1 TB baking soda    ½ ts finely grated glycerin soap 

 1/8 Ts spirula or alfalfa [natural chlorophyl]

1 TB kelp powder

Directions:

Heat Oil until warm. Mix all ingredients together and blend well with wire whisk.

Pour into a bottles when cool

Application:

Use 1 TB body scrub on a washcloth and massage well into skin, then rise well with warm water.

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These,  and many more recipes can be found in my Natural Care Ebook 2. 

Table of contents for each E book on website.

And there are also some Free downloads too, so come check it out-

  www.herbalsoap-healingcreams.com

All recipes and content are Copyright to Sherry A Barker, Sherry’s Creations