What are essential oils and how can they be useful to you around the farm?
“Essential oils” are highly concentrated oil extracts from certain species of flowers, grasses, fruits, leaves, roots and trees. They have been used for thousands of years for a number of purposes. Further, they are readily available at the health food store.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said that “the way to health is to have an aromatic bath and scented massage every day“. As far back as the fourth century BC, he recognized that burning certain aromatic substances offered protection against contagious diseases.
While my children love lavender back rubs when they are anxious about a thunderstorm, I had never given their use much consideration around my homestead. I’ve used essential oils for years, primarily for relaxation (by way of back and foot rubs), in diffusers to get my home schoolers focused, as well as to soothe my grumpy gallbladder.
I keep a little box of basic essential oils in my kitchen cabinet, plus a larger bottle of tea tree and lavender oil. Those two oils do so many things, it ridiculous.
It wasn’t until I was faced with a fly problem with our new miniature donkeys this year that I began to look for a natural way to deal with them. Sure enough, an overpriced “green” product was available at my feed store. ”What could be in this stuff?” I thought to myself as I read the label. Sure enough, it was laced with essential oils.
My next (cheap/frugal) thought was “I’m not paying this much, I can make this“. (Yeah, I’m known to be pretty cheap, just ask my kids!)
My focus today is how to use essential oils for domestic critters on the farm. So just what was in that “green” fly repellent spray? Here’s the list of essential oil ingredients…
Thyme
Cedar
Lemongrass
Rosemary
Citronella
Clove
Valerie Worwood, author of ”The Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy” adds the following to insect repellent essential oils:
Patchouli
Tea Tree
Lavender
Peppermint
Rodents are particularly repelled by:
Peppermint
Spearmint
Patchouli
Garlic
You don’t need all of oils listed to be effective, just a few will usually do. The wash/rinse that I made to clean out my tack room tonight contained just a few oils that I had on hand. After I cleaned the floor with a soapy mixture, I rinsed the floor and mopped the walls with my essential oil mixture with 4 gallons of water. Since I had a little leftover, I poured it around the perimeter of the barn. No flies for me for a while!
You can also make a natural flea collar with the above oils for your dog. Be cautious when using essential oils with your cats and educate yourself as to which ones are safe.
Essential oils work well with horses, dogs, goats, hamsters, rabbits, cows, bees and sheep! Once again, having a good aromatherapy book is the best bet to make sure you’re using essential oils correctly.
Have you used essential oils in and around your home? How so?
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About kmorris
We use an Aroma Pro diffuser and frequently have it running in our living area. In the morning I might have citrus oils in it, or lavender or jasmine in the evening. Sometimes we run tea tree and/or pine and/or eucalyptus for the disinfecting properties and scent. I also add essential oils to my mopping solution for a pleasant aroma (we use Basic H2 for much of our cleaning which really doesn’t have a scent of it’s own). The oil blend I mix to cleanse my face with each evening also contains a relaxing scent such as lavender or jasmine. I put tea tree and lavender in the cloth baby wipe solution, both for scent and for the disinfectant properties.
Almost forgot, I also love peppermint in our homemade toothpaste and lip balm. Various oils in our homemade soaps and lotions. I guess I use them more than I realized!
I use several essential oils regularly: tea tree for small cuts and cleaning (mixed with vinegar and water); rosemary for headaches (rubbed on temples or sprinkled around the room); lavender to relax and clean; grapefruit for cleaning. I used some others, but these are my staples/can’t live without. Oooh..and rosemary for mosquitoes!
I have very little experience, but it’s something I have ALWAYS wanted to get into. It can be intimidating trying to decide which oils are most important for my particular uses…it would be wonderful to win the book so I can have all that info right at my fingertips to get started! Thanks for the opportunity!
i use oils in homemade disinfectants & all purpose cleaner….i love the tea tree smell & so do the kids in my little preschool class. I use minty ones in the all purpose cleaner & the kids always comment
I have added lavender to my homemade detergent.
here’s a dumb question..can u ingest essential oils? like mint?
btw, i linked up this post on FB
you have a great blog, lots of teaching goes on here:)
I use Tea Tree Oil on all kinds of scrapes and boo boos!
Kelly,
I have never used essential oils, but would love to learn. I am moving my family to a more natural way of living-cleaning products, medicines, foods. So, this book would be excellent to educate myself!
Teresa in Ohio
I rub some Peppermint Oil on my temples, when I have a headache (don’t get too close to your eyes – it WILL burn!) – or for any sort of muscular ache. Smells wonderful, and works great (kind of like a natural “Icy Hot”)
Hi Kelly,
I have put citronella in fly spray for our goats. We also you tea tree for different things like sinus issues. Clove for tooth issues. Just to name a few.
Trudy
I am just starting to learn about essential oils and their uses in the home. Just this weekend I made up some cleaning supplies using tea tree, lavendar and sweet orange oil. I’d love to learn more about using them for health related reasons also. Thank you!
We’ve used herbs and essential oils in our home since I first learned about them. Now that I really think about it, it was almost 10 years ago. Gasp, where did the time go! We’ve used Tea Tree oil on our teeth. A friend recommends clove oil on a painful tooth. My son had nightmares really bad a few years ago. I made a mixture of lavender and water to mist over his bed or pillow at night to help him sleep. He loved it and it helped him sleep better.
I’m going to keep coming back to read your blog! Its wonderful.
I have only ever used lavender to help me relax/ fall asleep and citronella to repel mosquitoes. You have some great tips in this post that I am going to have to try!
I shared on facebook and on twitter. (twitter is – mommamiaof3).
I’ve already had you liked on facebook.
We use lavender, rose wood, tea tree, mint and myrrh in our cleaning products, tooth paste, lotions, and hair care. Tea Tree has helped me fight many a sinus issue. I have also used tea tree on my dogs’ years. She is prone to allergies at seasons change and her ears get raw and lose the hair. So far, with this change, she still has beautiful, furry ears. Since July we have been eliminating a lot of store bought and started making our own. This is a book I’m going to need to look into! Thank you!!
while we havent really got serious with aromatheraphy, ive used lavendar before for the kiddos and peppermint on my achy feet!
I added some essential oil to my unscented cleaner.
I love the smell of lavender to relax and calm you. I also use rosemary for it’s uplifting and awakening effects.
I subscribe via RSS!
I love using essential oils. I use lavendar and tea tree oil on bug bites. It helps relieve the itch. I like using jasmine and rose oils in my bath. Last year I made my own bath salts. This summer I made my own bug repellent. It worked really well.
I would love to learn about even more ways to use oils around the house.
I’m thinking this would be good on the back patio to keep bugs away from the back door. Maybe we wouldn’t get so many in the house!
Amy,
Citronella candles for the patio are readily available and probably the easiest remedy for skeeters.
Hi, I use essential oils a lot. I make my own spider repellent and bathroom spray with lavender. I use lemon when I make dish soap and potpourri. Lots of uses, I would love the book to learn more. Thanks for the great giveaway.
Tell about your spider repellant. WE are overtaken by them this year!
I love a peppermint scent to wake me up in the morning and a lavender one to put me to sleep. I am always looking for ways to repel mosquitoes and fleas.
Hey Kelly! I was just thinking of doing a post on this subject. We use if for scenting homemade cleaning solutions, using it in our bedrooms for sleep and respiratory wellness, as well as keeping our hamper and closets smelling fresh. It’s definitely something I’d like to learn more about!
I have very little knowledge of essential oils and have never purchased any or used any at all. But I would love to learn about them and put them to use in our house.
I haven’t really had much experience with essential oils. I have heard a lot of good things about them and would like to try them, but unfortunately, the cost has held me back.
tannis_z at excite dot com
shared on my twitter
http://twitter.com/#!/green_twiggy/status/115889327908728833
tannis_z at excite dot com
Just started to learn about this and am using peppermint for headaches. Love it. This book is on my amazon wish list!
I love the idea of making a natural flea repellant for my dog. Had not thought of that. Thanks!
I’ve posted a few times about how we use essential oils. They really do add so much to my homekeeping.
One of the favorite ways we use them is to put some in a bit of baking soda in a mason jar and leave it in closets.
I’m just starting to experiment with essential oils. Michele