Carrot Calendula Complexion Bar

I recently made this lovely yellow soap using fresh organic carrot juice and calendula flowers.  This is perfect for sensitive skin.  It is scented with rose geranium, carrot seed, and may chang essential oils. Calendula is my go to herb for healing so it make a wonderful additive to soap.

Mountain Goddess

Happy Summer! We've been busy in the Green Springs with the markets, gardening, and making new amazing products.  My latest soap is called Mountain Goddess in honor of the Cascade Siskiyou Mountains we live in and the Green Springs Community that is near and dear to our hearts.  

Mountain Goddess contains 100 % goat's milk, lovingly supplied by my daughter Brett who raises gentle Nubian Goats.  Nubian's milk has a high fat content which makes fabulous soap.  I used Aussie Beige Clay for color and skin soothing properties.  Scented with a combination of eucalyptus blue mallee, Peru Balsam, Pettigrain, clary sage and gingergrass essential oils it reminds me of the fresh mountain air, hence the name Mountain Goddess.  It needs to cure for a few more weeks so check back here or on Etsy in a few weeks.  This soap is sure to sell fast so don't miss out! 

I've also made a healing balm for cracked heals and cuticles.  I've named it Neem Crack Cream.  It works great!  I'm off to create a new Shaving Soap!   

Mother's Day

It seems like only yesterday I was a new mom.  This picture was taken in 1978 of me and my daughter Brett in the Grand Canyon.  I can still remember the strawberry hat she was wearing.  Brett now has 3 kids of her own,  two boys and a girl and my son has two boys the oldest is 17!
May is my favorite month because we celebrate May Day,  the wildflowers are blooming here in the Green Springs, we get to celebrate Mother's Day and then go camping Memorial Day Weekend.  Life is good!

I wish you all a wonderful Spring and Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there.  Cherish your time with your little ones because they will grow in the blink of an eye!!!

Green Springs Body Works has been very busy working on a new Spring scent with sage cedarwood,  oakmoss, bulgarian lavender and more!!  Check back soon for pics of my new soaps.  

I have been creating organic bath and body care products for 10 years. I am dedicated to using organic, sustainable, fair trade, environmentally friendly ingredients. Your skin will feel the difference!

Happy Valentine's Day

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59441976/minty-sweet-sugar-scrub-body-polish

In honor of Valentine's Day and Spring I added three new items to my shop.  Pink Sunset Goat's Milk Soap, Kilauea Volcano Soap, and Violets perfume.  To read more about them click on my Etsy Shop Link to the right. 

We have been very busy here in the Green Springs working on new creations for spring and summer.  Look for more Body Whips and Sweet Scrubs to be listed soon.  I am also working on a Neem Bar that works great on cracked heels.  My heels have been nice and smooth since I started using it last summer and all my testers have also had success healing their cracked or dry heels.

Every Valentine's Day I pamper my hubby.  Yesterday he twisted his ankle really bad and is limping,  so I have a massage planned for him using my infused arnica oil followed by this footbath:
Soothing Foot Bath
1/2 cup Epsom Salts
mix the following flowers and store in a glass container.  Place a handful of these herbs in a basin with epsom salt and warm water.  Enjoy!

1/4 Cup Calendula Flowers
1/4 Cup Rose Petals
1/4 cup Lavender Flowers
1/4 cup Comfrey Leaf

Follow with a foot scrub.  I like to use my Minty Sweet Sugar Scrub.   End with a foot massage.

Safeteam Challenge

SAFE Team's Christmas Carol Challenge

Is that favorite Christmas song running through your ahead already? Is it Silent Night? Deck the Halls? Santa Baby? Or, I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas?

This month, SAFE team members were given the challenge to create a soap based on their favorite holiday tune. You job is to pick a favorite. Vote by telling which one gets you humming in the comments section and you'll be entered to win the winning bar! Good luck, and Merry Christmas!

Below is my entry:



1. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - Goat's Milk Soap by greensprings0



I choose this song because every Christmas we watch our granddaughter perform the Nutcracker with her ballet school. This year is the first time she will dance on pointe. She has been waiting a long time for this moment.

Wanting a complex sweet scent, I choose lavender, rose, ylang ylang and pettigrain essential oils.

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving we put up or decorations, played in the snow and cross country skied today.

For your holiday shopping pleasure, the Green Springs Elves have been busy in the workshop creating lots of new soaps, individual bath scrubs and more!

 As as thank you to all my wonderful customers I am having a sale at www.greensprings0.etsy.com : ♥GREEN SPRINGS BLACK FRIDAY THROUGH CYBER MONDAY SALE♥ Free local delivery with  shipping refunded via paypal.
~ Nov. 26th through Midnight PST on Nov. 29th~
20 % off entire store and a free gift with every purchase. Use coupon code: GREEN4THEPLANETANDU at checkout.

Combined flat-rate shipping on up to 7 soaps is only $4.75 within the US, $11 for Canada and Mexico, and $13 for everywhere else. Shipping overages over $1.00 refunded.

THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY

Located along beautiful Ashland Creek the Ashland Recycling is truly the heart of the community.  Even though most residents (not us we live in the mountains) now have curbside recycling it’s still a happening spot.  Tim Church pictured below has worked here for the past 20 years.  On many occasions he has greeted me at my car and helped me unload my recycling.  Thanks Tim! Tim is also an excellent musician and plays at many different venues.  Tim also saves bubble wrap and packaging peanuts in the building to the left.    Thanks Tim you have saved me lots of $$$$!

Tim brings dogs from the animal shelter to work with him and my husband and I enjoy visiting with them.  Below is an article from the Mail Tribune.

ASHLAND — Christmas came early for Jaxon, a rescued three-legged canine waiting for a prosthetic limb since September.

After weeks of measurements, castings and temporary prosthetics, Jaxon's new leg was shipped just after Thanksgiving by Denver-based Orthopets, which specializes in pet orthotics.

And he's been running on all fours ever since.

The 1-year-old black Labrador-Great Dane mix was rescued from the Jackson County animal shelter in August by Tim Church, an employee at the Ashland Recycling Center, and his wife, Lucinda. Church has helped find homes for more than 200 animals since 1992 by fostering them at the center. Church decided to adopt Jaxon himself and help the dog get a new leg. 

Tim: As far as recycling, it's a good thing to do. It's hard to change the world, but if you work on your little corner of it, doing what you can, it all adds up. My wife and I are volunteers at the animal shelter, and members of FOTAS (Friends of the Animal Shelter). We have fostered and found homes for around two hundred dogs, and a few cats, in the past 15 years. We've recently stopped fostering, but I still take an adoptable dog from the Jackson County Animal Shelter to the recycling center almost every week. Dogs are good people. But please folks, get your pets spayed and neutered. The statistics say that one unspayed female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in six years!
Tim: We've had Huggy Bear for about eight years. I brought him from the shelter in the hopes he would get adopted. He was adopted one day and brought back the next because he was such a pain in the ass. So my wife and I adopted him. He was still a pain in the ass, but has mellowed over the years. His name is Huggy Bear because when we adopted him he looked like a bear and would stand on his hind legs and hug us.

Also located here is the world famous Ashland Free Box.  Here you can see homeless people along side socialites digging for treasures.   Because of Tim and some faithful volunteers this operation runs smoothly.  You will rarely find tattered or stained clothes.  I often find cashmere sweaters and new looking clothes for my five grandkids. 

Tim had this to say in an interview in 2007: I enjoy the freebox dynamics. It's actually kind of famous. I often hear comments like, "We're on our way from L.A. to Seattle, and had to stop and check out this awesome freebox we've heard about!" All kinds of people utilize the freebox: mothers and kids, homeless people, grandparents, people who drive expensive cars .

Right next door is the awesome state of the art Ashland Skate Park.  What a great idea to locate it here because there are always adults nearby to supervise.  I love to sit and watch the skaters especially Keenan my 11 year old grandson.  

Next we have the Backyard Compost Demonstration.  It is here that I learned all about composting 20 years ago.  I still have the free worm bin I was given when I completed the class.  

This plaque is in memory of the man who started it all:  Julian Henry was instrumental in setting up this center.  Unfortunately he died in his 30s and never got to see what a success it became.  Many days you will see a vase of fresh flowers on the chair below. 

If you ever get to Ashland be sure to check it out.  It’s located at Water Street and Van Ness.