Natural Gifts for the Holidays

We at The Natural Gait would like to wish you and yours a happy holiday season. Here is a free gift idea "Herbal Sea Salt Scrub".

Herbal Sea Salt Scrub.To make it you will need:1 large handful of a dried herb of your choice2-3 Tablespoons of sea salt½ teaspoon olive oilabout 4 Tablespoons of waterA note about choosing herbs:I chose chamomile. It is relaxing and astringent. Falconi also says it is great for “healing nervous and inflamed skin conditions.” You might also choose comfrey roots or leaves.Both are mucilaginous and so will be good for dry or irritated skin. Rose flowers would make a beautiful gift scrub and they are stringent and toning for the skin.Choosing a mint would create a refreshing, stimulating quality to your scrub. You get the idea. A little bit of research on the properties of the herb will help you choose the right one for each person on your gift list.To make the scrub, put one large handful of your herb of choice into a mortar and grind it into a powder with the pestle. Add the sea salt, and grind a bit more. Add the water and stir. Finally add the olive oil. This makes enough for one treatment. Use it by massaging it into the skin and allowing it to stay on for 10 minutes before rinsing. It will have a crumbly texture. If bits of herb fall off in the application, simply reapply.I imagine the shelf life of this scrub is fairly short, so you probably want to make it just before sending it off and include instructions to use it fairly soon.Another possibility is to make a basic salt clay scrub by mixing 3 tablespoons of clay with 2 tablespoons of sea salt. Include instructions to mix it with 4 tablespoons of water before massaging it into the skin. For this one, leave it on for 5 minutes or until the skin feels tight. Without the water, the shelf life will be longer.You might also leave the liquid out of the herbal combination and just include instructions with your gift if you would like to make it further in advance.Buying supplies...Of course you can get Sea Salt at the market, but Mountain Rose Herbs DOES carry salts carry herbs and they even have herbal gifts already made up. If you dont have the time to make your own you can purchase a gift there. You can also get containers there. Enjoy!

A Natural Healing

I want to share with you a particularly poignant story from one of the guests at The Natural Gait. We are always amazed and grateful at the wonderful things that happen when folks stay at The Natural Gait.
"I cannot begin to describe the peace and healing this beautiful place has provided for me finally. My personal life has been chaotic with the death of one child, my husband of 20 years, another child with CP, a 2nd marriage and divorce, lost job, bankruptcy, moving to a new town and my oldest son leaving for college. I used to have a deep and sustaining faith which was nurtured by nature, however much of that was lost during all the tragedies.
These past 2 days have brought much of that back - this is truly a piece of heaven and you two must be angels - I am so eternally grateful I thank you! Sue"

"This is my dream vacation home and I had a lot of fun. We made smores by the fire pit. It was also fun seeing the sites around here. But most of all I had fun because I was with my family. I hope you have fun too. Michael ( with CP)"

Friends of Jon Stravers, the Mississippi River and nature

,http://www.motormill.org/index.html/html/big_blue_sky_benefit.htmlThere's going to be a concert at The Elkader Opera House on Nov 24. The above link goes to the poster. It is a benefit for Motor Mill, but more importantly it is a tribute to Jon's son and grandson who were killed in a car accident this fall. John and his late son are well known along the Mississippi where they have provided wonderful environmental music that tells the stories about the great river.--
Howard Bright, PresidentIon Exchange, Inc
.http://www.ionxchange.com
800-291-2143
“Helping you create your own natural beauty”

The California Saga Continues...

Unafraid of the the killer snakes on the beach, Donna regains her positive
attitude toward me by displacing her anger on the snakes and drags them single handed upon the gravel beach. Thereafter, we were in a world of
magic as we watched the sun go down over the vast sea of beauty on the
California coast.

THE END...