Essential Oils are so trendy..or they were..maybe I’m behind the times. Are they still trendy?

Essential Oils – amazing little bottles of scent for so many tasks around the homestead!

They are the distilled heart of the herbs and flowers we interact with everyday. And they’re great for cleaning!

I like dropping some lemongrass in with my Murphy’s Oil Soap and hot water then wiping down all the wood in my house until it gleams.

Or mixing baking soda and Lavender oil in with a little water to make a paste that scrubs away the soot and mildew stains after a long winter. (Yurts tend to have some condensation issues when snowy winter cold on the outside competes with wood-stove warmth on the inside.)

I love mixing lemon oil in with vinegar to spritz on our windows, and wipe them clean before laying them out in the sun to brighten up. I don’t have lemon right now though, so I’ve been using orange instead.

And in the winter when I deep-clean and the whole house feels a bit tired, I put quite a lot of drops of bergamot and lavender and yarrow essential oils in the big iron dragon on the wood-stove. I fill him up with water and let the scented steam come pouring our to make all things fresh again.

Essential oils all have different properties. Some, like tea tree and lavender destroy mildew, others, like coffee, are better added to a counter/cutting board wood balm and rubbed into the wood. The coffee oil gives wood an extra sheen and moisture, and it smells amazing!