photo by Sister72, flickr.com

It’s February, the month of LOVE. To celebrate the opening of Soothing Herbals Apothecary, we’d like to offer our first class in the Apothecary: Create Your Own Herbal Valentines.  Come and get in the spirit of LOVE and learn how to create your very own gifts for your friends and loved ones this Valentine’s Day.  We are excited to offer our supplies and ingredients from the Apothecary and Aromatherapy Bar for you to make your own Herbal Tea Blends, Aroma Bath Salts, Perfumes, Aroma Spritzers, Body Oils, Eye Pillows and so much more!

Children are welcome to participate as well. Bring your kids and make some Valentine goodies for the whole family to enjoy. Tea and chocolate will be served.

We are offering 2 scheduled classes:

Friday, February 10, 10am-noon

Saturday, February 11, 2-4pm

Cost: $25 per person, Kids 17 and under $10 each

Location: Soothing Herbals Apothecary, 205 S. Main St, Lexington, VA 24450

You will get to take home 2 items you make with the option to make more or shop in our Apothecary.

To sign up, call or email Chin at 540-460-2722 or chin@soothingherbals.com

Questions? Contact me.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

So, remember our baby chick who hatched out of it’s eggshell in August last summer? Well, we found out a few weeks ago that he’s a rooster. My husband was the first one to notice. One morning, before dawn, at around 5:30 am was when he discovered it.  He heard the crow, but it was not your standard “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” kind of crow. It was more like, ” Cock-a-doo!” Only it sounded like, “Ru-Ru-ROOOOOO!” A couple syllables short, and he was just getting started. That first day when we discovered this, we’d hear his crow every 10 minutes. Even in the middle of the day at noon.  And then my husband started fantasizing about killing him.

“But we can’t kill him, we gave him LIFE, remember? He was BORN here”, I said. We had to give him a chance. And now we have a rooster to fertilize our eggs so if Broody Hen or any of the others go broody again this year, maybe we’ll get more chicks. So he’s being given a chance here with the ladies. He’s already mounted all of them, picked a few fights and definitely shows his dominance. And he still crows ALL THE TIME, no matter what time of day it is. Though his crow is improving now, he still won’t shut up.

He’s even been given a name…Rufus. So he’s here to stay. And he’s quite pretty too, don’t you think? Look how much he’s grown. Here he is with his Mama this past summer…

]]> http://www.soothingherbals.com/2012/01/chicken-report-meet-rufus/feed/ 2 http://www.soothingherbals.com/2012/01/the-apothecary/ http://www.soothingherbals.com/2012/01/the-apothecary/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:23:39 +0000 Soothing Herbals http://www.soothingherbals.com/?p=1301

I’m sitting at my desk in the new space which is now Soothing Herbals Apothecary. It’s a rainy day, and I’m looking out the window onto Main Street, watching the cars go by and waiting for my next appointment to show up.  It feels good in here. It’s quiet, calm and the scents of Sandalwood, Rose Geranium and Lavender are diffusing in the air. This is my first day with a client in this new location, and all is good.

The “Soft Opening” went well  this past Saturday. Thank you to all who showed their support by coming over, buying products and bringing flowers. It means a lot to me.  I have not yet planned an official “Grand Opening” because there are some loose ends that need tying up before that happens, and the next few weeks will give me time to tend to those matters. Stay tuned though, and I will keep you posted on the new developments.

I am thrilled to finally be in a space that feels like me. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I once saw 20 years ago when in college. It said: “Do Your Dream!” I’ve held onto this vision for a long time, and now I can happily say, “Yes, I did!” The dream has come alive, and the new chapters are about to begin…

Thank you to all of you who have helped make this a reality. You know who you are! Blessings and Gratitude.

photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Happy Solstice! Today marks the first day of winter, the shortest, darkest day of the year. It also means the returning of the light. Tomorrow the days will be longer and brighter. Then Saturday, Christmas Eve, we have a New Moon to mark New Beginnings.

Speaking of New Beginnings, we have some exciting news to share with you this winter…

Last month I completed my training in the Clinical Program of Herbalism with Kathleen Maier and the staff of herbalists of Sacred Plant Traditions. For the past 2 years, I have been commuting up to Charlottesville, VA every week to study and work in the Sacred Plant Traditions Free Clinic. It was an incredible program focused on using holistic principles from TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Ayurveda, and Herbal Energetics to assess an individual and create a holistic health plan using herbal teas, powders and/or tinctures to support one’s health and well-being.  My class received our certificates of completion at our graduation on November 17th. It was a great day.

So with this training, I am setting out to start a Holistic Healing Practice as a Clinical Herbalist, Aromatherapist and Reiki Practitioner. I intend to use and combine these skills in creating a holistic service to my local community (and beyond). I believe that integrating these 3 modalities with essential oils and the products that I make will yield an exceptional healing experience to individuals.

And with that, here’s more exciting news…

Soothing Herbals LLC will be starting out the New Year with our new Apothecary and Holistic Healing Practice opening up. Yes, we are excited to tell you that we found space to rent in downtown Lexington, VA for this new venture.  I have been busy these past two weeks setting up the new Apothecary and office. This space will have by appointment hours for Holistic Herbal Health Consultation, Reiki sessions, Classes and the Apothecary shop.

We are located at 205 S. Main St, Lexington, VA

Come to our Soft Opening 

Saturday, January 7, 2012 from 12noon-4pm

See what’s new with Soothing Herbals!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

The Holidays are here! We survived Black Friday and Cyber Monday and would like to tell you about our Holiday Specials…

We’d like to show our gratitude to you by offering $6 Flat Rate Shipping on ALL orders now through December 25th. Also any order of $175 or more will receive FREE SHIPPING.

We have fresh cremes made and ready to go– Sweet Orange Blossom Special creme has all 3 essential oils from the Orange tree: Neroli is the orange blossom, Petitgrain is the orange leaf, and Sweet Orange is the fruit. These essential oils blended together with our natural oils, butters waxes make a delicious and fragrant aromatherapy creme to moisturize your face, hands and body. Order here and try some!

Divine Face Creme is still our best seller and is made fresh every week, so be sure not to miss out on a jar. Find it here…

There are lots of other wonderful gifts available on our site… Bath Salts, Pocket Perfumes, or make your own gift basket. Browse around and you’ll be sure to find something you like. Please feel free to contact me via email or phone with any special requests.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Holiday season!

We are happy to announce that our products are featured and for sale on CleverBean.com, a small, independently-owned company that sells eco-friendly products that are healthy for people and the planet. There are so many “green” products out in the marketplace. If you read some of the labels, some still have junk in them. So Grace Reynolds, the brain behind the business has launched CleverBean as a way to help consumers sift through all the “green” labels. The company does extensive research on green products and then puts them to the test, so you don’t have to. Everything on their website they have tried themselves first, and marked their stamp of approval before offering it to you.  I am so pleased that Soothing Herbals products have the thumbs up from CleverBean, and wanted to share the good news with you!

So if you are so inclined, please check them out and browse their products. You can rest assured that the items available are top quality. They also have a blog and have featured Soothing Herbals on their latest blog post. Very exciting!

Thank you Grace, and all at CleverBean.com. It is an honor to be working with you.

Just finished making fresh cremes of Soothing Rose and Sweet Orange Blossom Special, both smelling luxurious and divine. Come get some tomorrow morning at my last Staunton Farmer’s market of the season. 7am-noon. November CSA deliveries will be ready for pick up as well. Hope to see you there. Thanks for all your support at the Staunton market this season. 

Jessie is a published author. Her first book was just published and printed this past spring. It is a canning cookbook called Tart and Sweet: 101 Canning and Pickling Recipes for the Modern Kitchen and it is a beautiful book. It’s got great photography and delicious recipes and is a must have for any avid canners out there. I’ve only tried a few recipes, and they were all tasty. Just want to mention it because it ‘s very cool and deserves some attention.

Her next book, an autobiography, will be out in April 2012. It’s called Rurally Screwed: My Life Off the Grid With a Cowboy and I can’t wait to read it! It’s about how she met and married her husband Jake, and how they came to live in the rural countryside of Rockbridge county, Virginia.

She’s also my pilates teacher and man, this woman is strong. Her class is always full, and yesterday when I went, I arrived 5 minutes late and had to squeeze in the back corner. She’ll keep the whole class engaged in a 100 crunches, where I usually tire out after 75 and have to take a break. Even though I can’t keep up with the regimen sometimes, I always leave there feeling energized and strong.

Her daughter June is an easy going, smooth flowing, sweet little girl too. We recently took a road trip together to West Virginia for a Wild Foods conference. It was 5 hour drive and June never cried or fussed, she just looked out the window, sucked her thumb, ate snacks and took naps. She’s always been one to roll with it. And she’s sleeps through the night no problem. Another blessing in Jessie’s life.

Me, Jessie and June

This summer she wrote a blog post that gives you a glimpse into my life and my home. You can read it by clicking here. It was an honor to be featured on Rurally Screwed, because I love that blog. I even got a bunch of orders that week from all her readers. Being somewhat new to blogging, I’ve learned a lot from Jessie and her blog. I’ve laughed, cried and smiled reading her posts. So Jessie, if you’re reading this, kudos to you, my friend, for all that you do and all that you are.

After the big loss of our treasured Aruca hen, we discovered that not one, but two of our black speckled hens, the Cuckoo Marans, went broody. A hen is described as “broody” when she feels she has laid her clutch and is ready to start incubating them. This means they stopped laying eggs and started staying in the laying boxes all day, sitting on the eggs that the Arucas were laying! When a hen gets broody, all she wants to do is sit there  all day. When you try to reach under her to get the other hen’s eggs, she’ll peck at you and/or ruffle her feathers. She does not move, hardly ever.  So this was a problem for us, because we only have 2 laying boxes, so where were the laying hens going to lay their eggs?

After doing some research and talking to Pat Foreman, a Rockbridge County local and author of City Chicks: Keeping Micro-flocks of Chickens as Garden Helpers, Compost Makers, Bio-recyclers and Local Food Producers, and Chicken Tractor, she suggested we get a hold of some fertile eggs and place them under one of the broody hens to hatch some new chicks. Now since we don’t have a rooster, none of our eggs are fertile– they won’t make baby chicks.

So the next time I was at the Farmer’s market, I bought some fertile eggs from our fellow friend and farmer Mitch Wapner, of Paradox Farm. We brought them home and over to the chicken coop. My husband had to isolate one of the broody hens in a dog carrier and made a cozy little nest for her in there. He put 4 eggs in her nest, and she happily sat on them all day and night, only getting up once a day, for 3-5 minutes, to eat, drink water and poop. Then she’d go back to sitting on her eggs. Needless to say, the other broody hen was jealous, but apparently only one broody hen should sit on eggs at a time. Exactly 21 days later… the miracle happened…

She hatched a baby chick! We hoped for 4, but 2 broke and the other one was a dud. So we now have a baby chick!!

A happy ending to our story. Here’s Mama hen with her baby chick.

Celebrate the season! In collaboration with Boxerwood Gardens in Lexington, VA we are offering a fun class this holiday season… Healing GIfts for the Holidays

Come join us at Boxerwood and learn how to create your own handmade herbal healing gifts for friends and loved ones.  Chin Velasquez, Herbalist and founder of Soothing Herbals LLC will share how to make herbal teas, tinctures, syrups and an assortment of aromatherapy and skin care products. We will smell, taste, demonstrate and experience the wonders of Herbs and Aromatherapy blends. You will leave inspired with an abundance of tried and true recipes and healing gifts of your own creations.

Fee for the class is $35 per person, or $25 each for groups of 2 or more

30% of the proceeds will be donated to Boxerwood.

Don’t miss this event! It will be a lot of fun and you’ll take home some great creations.

To sign up, call Jess at Boxerwood at 540-463-2697 or email: info@soothingherbals or call Chin at 540-460-2722