Basil Oil

So guess what!

I found that last vile of attempted basil oil from oh.... last year? Lol. Pretty horribly spoiled. That's what happens when you try to hide the bottle away and then don't tell anyone where you put it. Anyway I am making some basil oil now again the way I made the lilac oil because its the best idea I could think of to help harvest some of the basil. This way I can get to work on candles sooner or later. Not that I can afford wax right now. Hopefully sometime soon I'll get some.

More New Additions

Yesterday was EPIC! I started out the day checking out my bank account to realize I had about 50 dollars more than I thought I did, so! I brought home some new additions to my store bought plant family. Its been an awful growing season so far, but its finally starting to look good rather than the bleak sadness that has been going on here.

To start out the happy day, I opened my windows and let in the morning air. The strange thing about that, though I live at a complex with little to know yard, there are outdoor plants that stand about as tall as my window and blew their smell right in. LILACS! It inspired me. So seconds after getting up I whooshed through the house to find a jar and filled it with lilacs to begin the oiling process for the essential oils. Its so cool. I've read that no one makes lilac oils, but I'm going to try and I'm going to succeed.

After that we went to do the laundry like we do every weekend. Between the loads we usually do something so mom took me to the dollar store where I found some more nice candle holders and we gathered some pots for mom since she thinks we should put some flowers in the Chris/Kelly garden and I think she's right. Next step was getting the flowers, of course! That's where we found Walmart, and holy cow, it was amazing. I found dwarf lavender! Something I can grow at home for only 2 dollars! Its amazing. Here it is!

Mom however did not fin the flowers she was looking for, so after changing over the laundry again, we headed to Menards. That was even more amazing because mom found the flowers she wanted and I found, you guessed it, ANOTHER lavender plant! This one was an herbal lavender, meant specifically for the fun stuff, and it was even cooler because they look so much different, I mean look at this!

Its been so very fun! Look at how beautiful. The day just went so amazing. I had this great day and it wasn't going to go unwasted. That wasn't the only thing huh!? We went to my cousin's/auntie's house so that I could hang with the fam. It was so nice to drop by and see my family enjoying the day. Check out what they've got in their front yard.

We were there until 8pm and my goodness it was just nice. I've missed you spring, so much.

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Today! Today is going to be something that resembles, though a home version. I'm going to be replanting today, the boxwood basils that I have been claiming to replant for a week, and after mom gets home I will gathering up some cheese cloth so that I can take care of step two of the dandelion oils. The full day to come, later!

Phase One

Alrighty! So I was afraid I was going to have to wait until tomorrow to begin the actual oil making process, but you know what, gosh darn it if I didn't get home in time to make it. It was grand to find that I don't need as many dandelions as I thought for the process, well I mean I'll need 4 times as much as I picked today over the course of a week, but that doesn't change how pleased I was to find that I didn't need an atrocious amount. Hopefully this will work out though.


I used olive oil because I couldn't find anything else inexpensive. I would like to try safflower oil but I can't find any on the shelves and as we are all aware I am broke that kind of makes it impossible for me to buy them. Anyway for this experiment that's what I used and I bruised the flower petals just like I was told. Now I have to buy a cheese cloth or something. For straining. If anyone's curious on my method, here's the places I used for aiding my progress:

http://make-fragrances.blogspot.com/2007/01/how-to-make-essential-oils.html
http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/oils/oils3.html

Its really kind of fun and I enjoyed myself a lot. Emma helped of course because what's better than a 5 year old picking flowers in the field next to our house right? Lack of field, but there's space, lol. Its just a strange thing, but you know it was good. I'm really interested to see how it turns out. I mean if this works out I can make basil candles once those get bigger out of my own materials. I'll let you know whats in the news about it tomorrow!