It snowed all day yesterday. Not enough to amount to anything of significance, nor to cancel anything. But just enough to be annoying, I mean, very pretty! Mostly the trouble was with just how cold it was (is). After a good stretch in days prior of what was beginning to feel like spring, the snow and the cold was a harsh reminder that it's still only April. That sudden switch back in temperatures makes for challenging days inside when we have otherwise begun to shift out of doors in our play and work. And so we found ourselves yesterday searching this corner and that for something to do. I'm not sure who the leader was, but we were all definitely meandering and grasping for something new, fresh and exciting about the inside play we were facing for another day.
After we did some springtime still-life drawing by the fire (each of us selecting something that we found through the house, and Annabel a few things more), and everyone tired of crayons and colored pencils, we started to look toward other tools and toys, so to speak. The apothecary was what we all landed on, with quick and easy beeswax (plus coconut oil) candles up first. Since that took all of ten minutes (maybe twenty), we moved onto lotion making. Something about that double boiler makes me so happy - I feel like we're cooking up potions and we are, really. The kids love it too, and some of them are beginning to understand what it is we're actually doing "Ani, it's the beeswax that holds the oil and the water together!" Adelaide declared, while Harper was giddy with excitement at using one of his favorite tools, the "submersion blender." We made a simple shea butter, beeswax, and sweet almond oil lotion, with everyone choosing their own essential oil to add - lavender, clary sage, and peppermint it was. (There's a very simple and similar recipe for lotion found here.) And after that because there was still so much more of the day in front of us, we moved onto lip balm, using this recipe (minus the lipstick). And with the lip balm cooling, they had the brilliant idea to play one of their favorite games (mine too!), called "Spa" in Adelaide's room. Massage, guided meditation, yoga, and hair and nail care all offered at a very low cost. And with that, I don't think I saw any of them until dinner time...
Keeping those apothecary shelves stocked has become somewhat of a rhythm just like keeping the art supplies fresh, and I'm always glad for that on a day like this when running out to get shea butter, for example, is nearly impossible and definitely inconvenient. And should it be helfpul to you....some of our favorite body care potion-making books are: Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes, Earthly Bodies and Heavenly Hair, Organic Body Care Recipes, and Homemade Beauty. And the supplies that I can't get at our local coop, I purchase from Mountain Rose Herbs.
How we got from still life drawing to beeswax candles, I'll never know. But I do so love when a day allows us to follow those little tangents and trails of creativity. Certainly that's one gift of a snow day. Even if it has to come in April.
