The Home And Happiness Botanical Handbook: Plant-Based Recipes for a Clean and Healthy Home

Description

Infuse your home with herbal happiness using this book of ethical, empowering, and eco-friendly botanical recipes. 

Whether you live in a small apartment, in a boat or a van, or in a spacious family abode, a home is a sanctuary that provides us with the space to unwind, recuperate, and look after ourselves. This inspiring vegan and cruelty-free guide teaches you how you can nurture and take pride in your home and self-care routine by creating your own, botanical products, all while protecting the earth.

Recipes include eco-friendly laundry and home cleaning products, charms to cleanse the home of bad energy, and miscellaneous oddities such as boot cleaner, harm-free herbal mouse deterrent, and eco sudsy car soap.

By sourcing and mixing your own heavenly, herby lotions and potions, you enable yourself to become more present in everyday tasks, to put more love into what you are doing, and to make the process of looking after your home less onerous, and more mindful. So boost your mood, love our planet, and take pride in nourishing your home and soul with this beautiful book of botanical bounties.

From the Publisher

The Home And Happiness Botanical Handbook: Plant-Based Recipes for a Clean and Healthy Home

NATURAL CLEANING

Natural methods of cleaning are not new. Previous generations knew all about them: how to use plants high in natural saponins for their detergent properties; how to make soap from mixing alkaline lye (from wood ash) with oils from plants; how to make and use vinegar to cut through grease; how certain plants kill microbes and deter insects; how to use kitchen staples such as bicarbonate of soda and lemon as powerful cleaning agents; how to beautify the home with paints made from flour, plant oil and other natural pigments; how to colour fabrics using natural plant dyes; how to protect the home and create the desired atmosphere using ancient knowledge about the energetic properties of herbs. This book contains all this and more.

We are living in extraordinary times, when the plight of our planet is almost daily front-page news. Plastics fill the oceans, there are concerns about carbon footprints, and increasing allergies linked to overuse of strong disinfectant and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs as the World Health Organization calls them) are implicated in many serious and life-threatening diseases. These EDCs are found in an alarming array of household products, including cleaning sprays, washing and laundry products, paints, dyes in clothes and furniture, flame retardants and more – not to mention in plastics that then leach into our food and drink. It can be very disturbing to learn about the seriousness of the situation, but a great antidote to a problem is the finding of solutions. Fortunately, the natural world offers countless, ecologically sound and healthy alternatives for the needs of the modern household.

IMPROVING YOUR WELL-BEING WHILE HELPING THE PLANET

Making your own plant-based products for the home and garden provides many sources of satisfaction. Being outside in nature gathering plants or tending pot herbs on your windowsill, drying and preparing those you have grown, and measuring out dried herbs and oils bought in for making products are all wonderful activities that connect us to nature, bringing increased harmony and balance into our lives. Pottering around in your kitchen laboratory is great fun. You will embark on an empowering journey of exploration as you discover how easy it is to make your own cleaning and other household products super-charged with the power of herbs and plant oils. Knowing that you are part of the great movement to save the planet by reducing the amount of toxins and waste your home contributes, you will love using your plant-based, low- or zero-waste natural homecare products. In short, plants contribute to our happiness and well-being in so many different ways.

CONNECTING WITH THE NATURAL WORLD

This is a book for anyone with an interest in using plants in the home. Whether an expert in the field or a complete novice, you will find recipes to use as they are, or to adapt as you gain confidence. It’s a book for you if you’re looking to live a more natural life, to reduce your reliance on polluting man-made chemicals, to move towards becoming ‘zero waste’ in your home and to connect with the natural world – whether you live in a semi-rural location (as I do) or a block of flats in a city. The recipes in this book include offerings to use all over your home and garden, from laundry detergent to air freshener, from wall paint to garden sprays. Some are simple, requiring almost no equipment; others are complex, such as making soap or your own white vinegar from scratch. My hope is that as your confidence grows, you will begin to experiment and create your own variations.

Minty-fresh Toothbrush Cleaner

For deep cleaning your toothbrush.

INGREDIENTS

250ml/9fl oz White Vinegar (p.24)20g/1 handful of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped30 drops peppermint oil

MAKES & KEEPS

Makes about 250ml/9fl oz. Keeps 6 months.

METHOD

Use the vinegar and mint leaves to make an infused vinegar (p.18). When ready, add the peppermint essential oil to the infused vinegar and store in a dark bottle. To use, simply soak your toothbrush in the liquid for 30-60 minutes, then rinse well.

Lemon Furniture Cleaner

With a great smell, this cleans and polishes dirty wood.

INGREDIENTS

200ml/7fl oz olive or linseed oil20g/¾oz dried lemon balm or lemongrass (or 1 large handful of fresh)120ml/4fl oz lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)

MAKES & KEEPS

Makes 300ml/10fl oz. Keeps 1 month.

METHOD

Make an infused oil with the oil and herbs (p.18). Mix the infused oil with the lemon juice and bottle. Shake well before use. Rub well into wooden furniture or floors with a soft cloth. This mixture will also nourish your hands while you polish!

Psoriasis-calming Laundry Liquid

Uses oils that are helpful for calming psoriasis.

INGREDIENTS

250g/8¾oz washing soda4.5 litres/7¾ pints hot water250g/8¾oz bicarbonate of soda125ml/4½fl oz Castile-style Liquid Soap (p.65)100 drops/1 tsp lavender essential oil50 drops/½ tsp bergamot essential oil

MAKES & KEEPS

Makes 4.5 litres/7¾ pints. Keeps at least 1 year.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Leaping Hare Press (January 12, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0711256713
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0711256712
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.13 x 0.63 x 8.75 inches