DIY Herbal Spring Cleaning Products

05/04/19 • 39 min

When it comes to chemical-free cleaning, there’s a lot of good stuff out there – but it can get pricey. And there’s a lot of “greenwashed” stuff, too – products that look “natural”, but really aren’t. But the good news is, you can make your own herbal spring cleaning products, and they’re not only effective, they’re inexpensive!

In our home, we don’t use any chemical cleaners. Most of our needs are met with water, vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils. This is one place we really do work with EOs regularly! They’re quite potent – they’ve even been shown to inhibit MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant microbes. So, they’re definitely good enough for wiping down the countertops and sinks. In this episode we share with you all the herb-powered cleaners we make for ourselves and use in our own home. You can do it too!

Natural cleaners require a little more elbow grease, but we don’t think that’s all bad. After all, chores count as movement! In the effort to break ourselves out of the “exercise is the only movement that counts for health” paradigm, an important step is recognizing the things we do that inherently require movement. That, and the ways in which our culture has chosen “convenience” at all costs – including costs to our health. Reframing your house-cleaning as movement or exercise is a great way to help yourself feel better about it. And of course, good old elbow grease is still the cheapest, most effective cleaner we know.

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We have a new mini-course, all about stinging nettles, available now! We produced this in honor of the upcoming Herbstalk event – it’s Boston’s home-grown herbal conference, and the Plant of the Year for 2019 is nettles. For only $10, you get a full rundown of nettles’ amazing medicinal powers, along with a virtual herb walk so you can positively identify it anytime in the growing season, along with some quick-guides, recipes for tasty nettle foods, and more! Check it out here: All About Nettles!

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

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Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Previous Episode

Urban Wildcrafting Ethics & Guidelines

It’s springtime! The plants are popping up everywhere in their colorful displays. This time of year, we always start to get more questions about wildcrafting and foraging, so we wanted to share some thoughts on the subject in this episode. Living in a city can make gathering your own plants seem more difficult, and there are indeed some special considerations to make if you’re going to harvest wild plants in a city environment. But more important than specific plant knowledge are the urban wildcrafting ethics you bring to the task – and these almost all apply no matter where you live.

We break down city foraging guidelines into three key areas: (1) know the plant, (2) know the land, and (3) know the community. With these principles in mind, you can apply them to whatever specific environment you’re working in.

It’s important for all of us, as herbalists, to be aware of our impact on the plant world. After all, if we don’t sustain and regenerate our plant populations, we’ll be out of herbs & out of luck! Whether our environnment is rural or urban, wildcrafting ethics help us stay present and attentive to what the plants and the earth need.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Wildcrafting for Beginners, Howie Brounstein
Invasive Plant Medicine, Timothy Lee Scott
Where Do Camels Belong?, Ken Thompson

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!

Next Episode

Motherwort for Mother's Day!

Mother’s day can mean different things for different people, but whatever your situation is, Motherwort can be a supportive friend. Physiologically its effects are to soothe and relax the heart and arteries, but this crosses over into mental and emotional effects too. Those are what we find most interesting in connection between the herb and its namesake.

Motherwort helps you establish and defend your boundaries and needs, gently but firmly. That’s important for a mother, because so often those boundaries get loosened or blurred between mother and child. Boundaries also change as kids grow, and sometimes the readjustment is difficult. Motherwort can help there, too! (If that’s feeling relevant to you, you may also be interested in our previous episode about Emotional Support for Mothers & Teens.)

This lion-hearted little herb also helps you become “bomb-proof” – able to put up a strong front when you may in fact be feeling a bit shaky inside, so that your kids (or other people who depend on you) can be reassured. In that way it’s helpful for anyone who does support or caretaking work, or upon whom others rely. It’s a great ally!

The audio in this podcast about Motherwort comes from our Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica course, which is part of the Family Herbalist program. The first step in becoming an herbalist is learning the herbs themselves, and how to make all the kinds of herbal medicines, so that you can take care of yourself and your family, and that’s just what this program provides. You’ll learn about 89+ herbs in their depth & complexity, plus more than two dozen methods of making your own herbal remedies. You’ll be ready to take care of everyone in your family!

And, just to be clear: you don’t have to be a mom, or even to have a biological family, to take the Family Herbalist program. Your “family” is not only made of blood relations, but also of heart bonds, so whether you’re looking to take care of your actual relatives or the family of your heart, you’re welcome in this program!

Learn more here: Family Herbalist

Support the show

You can find all of our online herbalism courses at online.commonwealthherbs.com!