Thoughts to Ponder . . .
from Bill Varney, URBANherbal

December 2006

Your source for herbal advice about plants, recipes using herbs, personal care products and much much more . . .

Dear Herb Farm Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and Happy Hanukkah!

We hope and pray that each and everyone of you have a Joyous Christmas no matter what your walk of life is now or in the future.

Our recipes for this month are sure to win you over to family and close friends . . . Savory Blue Cheesecake and Heart Beet Salad.

I have decided to talk about perfumes this month and hope you will enjoy.

The ancient Egyptians were expert perfume makers and the guilds of ointment of Israel and other Near East Nations were the precursors of the current day apothecaries. The Greeks were great lovers of perfumes, which they began to use on a grand scale after Alexander's conquest of Egypt around 330 B.C.

Explorers that came to the New World centuries ago often were suffering from lack of nutrition and when they began eating things like limes, oranges, avocados and other healthy foods they may have mistaken the energy boost for lust.

Thus, many of the most unlikely plants became known as aphrodisiacs.

In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Shakespeare wrote a white and purple flower whose juice placed on "sleeping eyelids," will make a "man or woman madly dote upon the live creature that it sees."

The use of essential oils for health care is more than 4,000 years old. There are numerous biblical references to medicinal balms and holy anointing oils.

The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, recognized the therapeutic value of plant oils and prescribed numerous fragrant oils for their soothing and stimulating properties.

For Proust, it was the scent of lime / flower tea. For Walt Whitman it was the tang of a working man's sweat and for Luca Turin it was from rotten grapes, dirty sheets and molded cheese.

Many modern perfumers and aromatherapists use over 40 essential oils, such as geranium, jasmine, patchouli, rose and citrus. Most of these highly concentrated oils are carefully measured in drops and diluted in a base of olive oil, vegetable oil or alcohol.

Whether you kissed a cop on 34th and Vine and broke your Love Potion Number 9 or just love the simplicity of Rosemary, Lemon or Thyme, we hope you will take the time (or thyme) to enjoy the scents of this season from the garden to the kitchen and everywhere in between. We have some wonderful scents awaiting you.

For more on unraveling the sense of smell go to www.chandlerburr.com, author of The Emperor of Scent, A Separate Creation and The Search of Biological Origins to name a few . . .

Guitarist and composer Kevin McCormick will be performing during dinner Saturday evening, December 16th. Check back soon for news about our Annual News Dinner!

Don't miss Victoria's December Book Review. - Hotel Pastis, Peter Mayle (Vintage 1994).

The Herb Farm is all decked out for the holidays and we have a wonderful selection of perfumes, colognes, essential oils, scented candles and more to make your holidays full of fragrance.

Get together with family and friends and enjoy the holiday season.

Blessings,
William Varney
Founder, Herb Farm

"There is only one success — to be able to spend your life in your own way"
   ~ Christopher Morley

...and that's Life at the Herb Farm - December 2006