New Year, New Soap, New Farm Season

Green Nettle Tea Soap

 Happy New Year to all of you!
It is always an exciting and transformative time for many of us. The stillness of winter allows us the capacity to churn our brains and get new ideas flowing through us. It's a time for rebranding ourselves, trying new things, letting go of the old and embracing the unknowns and possibilities of what is yet to come.
It is a little funny for me to think that we are actually capable of doing this at any time in our lives, and any point in the seasons, but we all reflectively find this to be the time to achieve a new healthy mindset and set our eye on some new goals. I know I fall into this as well, I almost need that visible and tangible marker of the year, to be like, ok, it is time to refresh and try anew.
Speaking of new, I would like to introduce you to my newest addition of an herbal soap!
Green Nettle Tea Soap, I have been really eager to work more with nettle in creative ways. I have become quite passionate about it this season, as I have grown a lot more of it, and have been truly reaping the benefits of this truly ancient herb. For me I started my path in herbal interest from farming and also being an obsessive naturalist observer/plant identifier in the wild. I didn't realize until recently just how many uses this, sometimes viewed negatively, herb has to offer. Yes I used stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, and while if you do rub against it without a barrier of protection, you might feel the sting of it applied to your body. It goes away rather quickly (usually less than 30 mins), and for many people they find it to be therapeutic and less stinging over time. 
However, for the rest of us that still get stung by this glorious weed, herb, however you want to describe it; cooking, steeping, and drying are all ways to naturally take the sting out and be able to use this herb for it's medicinal properties.
You can read more about some of the internal uses Here on my nettle loose leaf page.
The reason why I decided to give it a try in some herbal soap is because I have been doing a lot of research and trying methods applied to my son, who unfortunately has been blessed with a rather intense and serious form of eczema, that has been passed down in my family. Historically, specifically in a lot of Irish old remedies and tales that have been passed down, stinging nettle has been used to treat and help aid in skin conditions such as eczema. It has anti inflammatory properties, especially with the skin, which I believe is why it was used in this fashion.
I've been giving my son nettle tea on a regular basis, and tried a couple other more topical treatments. He eczema isn't gone, nor do I think it will ever fully go away, but I do notice a lot of the really inflamed sections and redness goes down quite a bit. It gives me a lot of hope.
Somehow, I am still a believer that we have everything we need on this earth and we just have to find ways to use what was given to us.
Anywho, the whole point of this is to say, that I decided it would be a fun idea to try my hand at a new addition to my line of soaps and test the nettle in a more cleansing fashion.
This soap is made with other organic essential oils, green tea and activated charcoal, as you will see listed in the description. Which gives it such a rich, earthy and herbal smell. I tend to enjoy the deeper more herbal sensations on my body. I find it to be really grounding and very centering to the earth, which is why I am claiming it has a very rooted feeling.
I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I have been.
As always, it is really fun when I get to explore the many and unlimited uses of herbs and medicine grown right here on our land or regional lands.

I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year, and that your resolutions feel manageable, exciting and uplifting to you. No matter what kind of year you had in this last one and years before, this can be your fresh start to try anew, regain a sense of self, or try a new version of yourself that you think the world needs and you need.
I personally started my new year by ordering all my seeds for this next and brand new farm season. I'm not going to lie, last season, I didn't know if I would be here farming again. But I think after allowing myself a much needed break, I am coming to find the love and passion again for what I do and what I grow. Can't wait for you all to join me through another season and enjoy the beautiful bounty that the earth provides.

Take care, Happy New Year!

Olivia aka Lilly

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