Review: Nature's Gift

Company: Nature's Gift

Website:  www.naturesgift.com

Notes:  Nature's Gift has a very wide variety of essential oils, carrier oils, and CO2s.  After learning more about CO2s from Ron Guba and Marge Clark at the AIA conference, I decided to order some.  Nature's Gift had a special eclipse sale on August 21, and this was the perfect opportunity to order some CO2s.  They were having a problem estimating shipping through the post office that day due to a problem on the USPS end, but they were phenomenal in handling the situation and making sure the customer got the shipping option which worked best for them,  kudos to customer service!

Shipping time:  I ordered on Monday and my package arrived on Thursday.  

What I ordered:  

Chia Seed CO2

Rose Hip Seed Total CO2

German Chamomile 10% CO2

Calendula 10% CO2

Rose Damascena 5% CO2

My order came quickly and very well packaged, including Teflon tape around all the caps to prevent leakage as well as bubble wrap and pretty tissue paper.  I also received a small sample pack which is delightful!!  The samples included spearmint EO, raspberry seed co2, vetiver EO, and 10% New Caledonia Sandalwood EO.  An information sheet was also included for the samples.

All the products have batch numbers, excellent labeling, and the Certificate of Analysis is available for each batch online for all to see.

Everything smells amazing and I can't wait to make some skin nourishing topical cream using my purchases.

  

AIA Conference - Part 1

Alliance of International Aromatherapists - 2017 Conference
New Brunswick, NJ

Overview

The Alliance of International Aromatherapists' 2017 Conference was entitled Out of the Bottle and Into the Garden. It was billed as "bringing together 300-400 of the world's top Aromatherapy leaders, practitioners, educators, research scientists, integrative health practitioners and entrepreneurs."  and did not fail in that effort.

Importance of Community

The aromatherapy community can, at times, feel very isolating and even combative to the lone aromatherapist.  However,  there are like-minded practitioners, who can come together for true fellowship and encouragement.  At this, my first aromatherapy conference, I found aromatherapy professionals, like myself, who had been engineers, mathematicians, and scientists before seeking education in aromatherapy.  There were former social workers, homeschool parents, massage therapists, and medical doctors who were deeply concerned with learning and teaching safe and effective usage of aromatherapy.  This community is highly concerned with sustainability and ethical practices in every step of the manufacture of essential oils and hydrosols.  We are highly interested in learning how to communicate better with kindness and understanding.  

On the first day of the conference, Nyssa Hanger. of Upward Spiral, gave a compelling talk on how to better communicate and listen with understanding -- this is a lecture I need to commit to memory and is the area I consider to be my biggest weakness.  It is easy to be discouraged when enthusiastic essential oil users are loudly promoting unsafe usage; but staying in contact with like-minded, educated individuals is a balm to the soul. 

Be Kind.  Be Effective. Be Safe.

References

Admin, M. (n.d.). Alliance of International Aromatherapists. Retrieved August 14, 2017, from https://aia.memberclicks.net/index.php

AIA - 2more days

As I mentally prepare for the upcoming AIA conference, I am reading up on hydrosol distillation.  I am carefully considering purchasing a copper still for making my own hydrosols and potentially essential oils from wild crafted plant materials.

HydroDistillation primer:

Plant matter is combined with water in the "pot" part of the still.  Heat is applied until steam travels through the hat and the condenser coil where it is cooled and becomes liquid water again.  Tiny drops of an oily substance float on top of this water.  The water part is the hydrosol.  The oily part is essential oil.  These can be separated with an essencier or separating funnel.

Hydrosols are not just plain distilled water, they contain a vast array of botanical molecules which are active and useful for skin care and general health.  Hydrosols are more gentle than essential oils, but they are no less powerful when used with respect.  Hydrosols have a limited shelf life due to possible "bloom" (contamination by bacteria or fungus), but they have a much higher yield and are generally safe for drinking and direct topical application compared to essential oils.

I am planning to purchase a few hard to find hydrosols at AIA, and am carefully considering a copper still to add to my botanical medicine making toolbox.