Homemade Perfume from Flowers and Herbs from my Garden

Have you ever wanted to create your own perfumes or stylized scents?

 I have. And I've always loved the aromas of flowers cut fresh from my garden.  Hyacinths in the spring are hard to beat. With their sweet and spicy scents that are overpoweringly pungent - you'll have to love or hate them.

And the wild hyacinths grow like weeds around here. I just love the pretty blue bells. But lilacs are my favorite with their sweet floral notes and soft hints of vanilla. So of course, I have  them all in my garden. And, I thought why not make my own liquid floral scents?

Here's how to do it:

1.  Picking blossoms for perfume is just like picking grapes for wine or berries for jam, pick them early in the morning when the oils, flavors and juices are at their peak of perfection. Blooms just getting ready to open hold  the richest most powerful fragrance. Blossoms that have already bloomed are already losing their aroma.
2. Pick the petals from the flowers and put them in a zip-lock storage bag then lightly tamp the petals with a rubber mallet to stimulate the petals, which will make them release their oils.
3.  Put the petals in a mason  jar and cover with oil. You can use any oil (including olive) but you might prefer the sweet nutty aroma of almond oil mixing with the floral scents. Shake the jar to mix the oil around.
4.  Put the jar in a sunny spot to give the petals plenty of time to soak in the oil--24 hours is best. Then shake  the contents gently and strain the petals with cheesecloth. Toss the old petals, unless you want to let them dryout in a cool, dark location.
5. Pick  new petals and follow the  procedures above--only cover the petals with the previously used oil. Repeat  this procedure for 3-5 days or until you've achieved the fragrance you enjoy.
6. Keep your mason jar filled with  oil in a  cool, dry location. Feel free to use your freshly created fragrance as a perfume.

And, if you make  some perfume of your own, please tell me about it. I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading.  Kim

Sustainability - Top 50 Green Cities in the USA

Blogging conferences aren't the only reason to come to Portland. And though Portland might not be perfect, it's definitely great and it's green. If you don't take my word for it, read it here. We are #1 in the country for living green. And, if you want to read more, click

here

.

TOP 50 GREEN CITIES IN THE COUNTRY:

The 2008 SustainLane U.S. City Rankings (2006 Rankings in Parentheses):
1) Portland (1)
2) San Francisco (2)
3) Seattle (3)
4) Chicago (4)
5) New York (6)
6) Boston (7)
7) Minneapolis (10)
8) Philadelphia (8)
9) Oakland (5)
10) Baltimore (11)
11) Denver (9)
12) Milwaukee (16)
13) Austin (14)
14) Sacramento (13)
15) Washington (12)
16) Cleveland (28)
17) Honolulu (15)
18) Albuquerque (19)
19) Atlanta (38)
20) Kansas City (18)
21) San Jose (23)
22) Tucson (20)
23) Jacksonville (36)
24) Dallas (24)
25) Omaha (37)
26) San Diego (17)
27) New Orleans (32)
28) Los Angeles (25)
29) Louisville (35)
30) Columbus (50)
31) Detroit (43)
32) Phoenix (22)
33) San Antonio (21)
34) Miami (29)
35) Charlotte (34)
36) Houston (39)
37) Fresno (37)
38) El Paso (31)
39) Fort Worth (46)
40) Nashville (42)
41) Arlington (41)
42) Long Beach (30)
43) Colorado Springs (26)
44) Indianapolis (45)
45) Virginia Beach (48)
46) Memphis (43)
47) Las Vegas (27)
48) Tulsa (40)
49) Oklahoma City (49)
50) Mesa (47)

I had to share this good news.

Earth-Friendly Friday!!! Green Roof Gardens

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S BLOG QUESTION: Because there are more ducks in that line.

Okay, that was cheap - but it's funny. And tomorrow I'm hoping to post some pictures and maybe even a podcast of the blogging conference here in Portland, Oregon to make it up to you writer friends. Check it out here.



So you say you want to be sustainable...Try a "Green" roof garden.

My friend, Diane Cooper, is a certified master gardener. This is what she has to say:

"My new roof will hold rainwater and let it evaporate back into the sky. The water it can’t hold will be clean when it hits the gutter and our streams. The roof will keep my building 20 degrees cooler in the summer; will lower sound inside by 8 decibels, and will attract living creatures. It will erase the building’s footprint. Most of all, it will last three times longer than a conventional roof. We know all of this because homes in Europe have had beautiful green roofs for decades."

Earth-Friendly Friday!!! Yeah - Captain Planet

I rode to work and back home on my bike today (10 miles)!!! I’m just trying to save the world, one ride at a time.

And, just in case you’re worried about toxins leeching into your body (or your little ones) from poisonous plastic water bottles - who needs dioxins - or if you’re interested in saving the planet by limiting plastic wrap for sandwiches and bags, and useless utensil waste, check out this environmentally friendly option for an eco-healthy lunchbox from the Oregon Environmental Council. Click here.

T-Mobile Isn't the Only One With a Fav-Five

Top Five Energy-Saving Tips

1. Turn thermostats down by 3 to 5 degrees on your furnace and water heater. Yes, this may mean wearing more clothes in the house. That's one of things they're for. And if you can't hold your hand under the hot water, it's too hot!

2. Turn the heat down further when you leave the house for the day, and turn it down when you sleep at night. If you have a programmable thermostat, even better - you can program it to do this for you, and set it to bring the heat up before you get home and before you get up.

3. Get your furnace tuned and cleaned every other year; replace the air filters at least annually if not seasonally. Make sure heating units or registers are free and clear. There's no sense in heating the back of the couch.

4. Next to space heating, water heating uses the most energy. Wrap your water heater with insulation. Wash your clothes in cold water. Consider whether it's necessary to shower every day (Heresy!), especially in the winter. Take shorter showers when you take them.

5. Turn off the lights when you leave the room, even if it's just for a moment. In rooms with track or recessed lighting, where multiple bulbs go on and off from a single switch, consider removing some bulbs or lowering wattage.

Freaky Frogs - There are a lot of Strange Things

There are a lot of strange things in the world but one of them shouldn't be the frogs. I grew up camping. In a family with nine kids, that's the way we spent our vacations. Of course looking back, now, I realize it might have been relaxing for Dad but Mom was working her tail-end off. Just think of packing for eleven people. And campsites weren't well-equipped back when I was growing up. We even had to haul in our own water.

But back to my point. We used to spend hours catching frogs. It was our own catch and release program - before I'd ever heard of such a thing. But I never found one freaky frog. According to National Geographic Freaky Frogs are the norm.

It sounds like a scary movie to me: Freaky Frogs.

You can read all about it here.

NOT A LOT OF HOT AIR

Here's another great link where you can read all about the windmills coming to Oregon.

It's a great way to utilize natural energy. Read it here.

Rebuilding and Renewing America

Rebuilding and renewing America. You can read about it here

Reinstating the Superfund tax - I think that's a good idea.

Plastic Bags Are On Their Way Out in Portland, OR

If you'd like to read another article about cutting down on plastic bags, it looks like Portland, Oregon may be going the way of Boston and San Francisco:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1217048156300160.xml&coll=7