Saving Face: Recipes for the Perfect Face Cream

Let's face it, we live in NYC and we are going to be getting old fast, or at least our skin will be. These luscious cream recipes are worth ruining your blender over. And using oils infused with healing herbs doubles the nutrients to your skin- You'll truly be feeding face. Here's what you need:

A whole night to mess up your apartment without interruptions
A blender
A grater
A double boiler (or wing it with a pot and a metal bowl)
Jars to fill
Extra bowl
Measuring cups

Face Cream
Use a ratio of 50:50 oil to water. Warm up your oils to mix them together in a double boiler on low heat. Blend your waters in the blender (this will especially help if you are using fresh Aloe Vera which we really recommend). Then with your blender on medium speed drop the oil in until you get the consistency you want, you may need slightly more oil so keep some nearby. Once you get the basic idea of creams you can improvise easily. Here's the recipe we loved:

Waters:
2/3 cup rose water
1/3 cup fresh aloe vera, skinned and blended
2 vitamin E capsules
15 drops each Geranium and Rose Essential 0ils

Oils:
1 cup combine Calendula infused olive oil, Almond Oil, Rosehip Seed Oil, and Coconut Oil

Super Nettle Cream

For this oil we used a small amount of bees wax, you can add this to the other oils in the double boiler, make sure to keep it warm before adding it to the waters. We liked this so much we made a double batch. Keep in the fridge if you don't use it up right away, especially if you are using the fresh aloe.





Waters:
1 1/3 cup rose water
2/3 cup fresh aloe vera blended
3 vitamin E capsules
30 drops each Lavender and Bergamot Essential 0ils

Oils:
3/4 c combine infused oil of Calendula, St Johns Wort, Plantain, Comfrey
1/3 c cocoa butter and coconut oil combine
1/4 c lanolin
1/2-1 oz beeswax

Both recipes are adapted from Rosemary Galdstar's Perfect Cream Recipe, you'll find more info in her book "Family Herbal, A Guide to Living Life with Energy, Health, and Vitality."

Try it.

Love it.

Let us know what think.

-The Nettle Patch

What to drink at the "What's Organic About Organic?" Film Opening

Shelley Rogers, director of What's Organic About Organic?, invited The Nettle Patch to design beverages for the film's NYC premiere. This Monday, June 21st, which also happens to be the Summer Solstice, we'll be serving Lacto-fermented Ginger and Root Beers, as well as herbal Iced Teas for the film's debute in NYC.

We used this recipe for making our own starter culture to ferment the sodas. The culture

converts the sugar and gives off bubbles that make the soda naturally effervescent and good for digestion!

Starter Culture

In a Quart size mason jar add:

3 cups of water

1 Tbsp chopped organic ginger

2 Tbsp sugar

Each day for the next 7 days, feed the culture an additional 2 Tbsp sugar. Keep the mixture out on the counter at room temperature and cover it. Watch for mold on the top surface; if you see any skim it off.

After 7 days our culture looked bubbly and smelled sweet with a slight fermented whiff.

Ginger Beer

Once our starter was ready, we made a strong ginger syrup by boiling 1 gallon water with 3 cups chopped ginger. We let it simmer for 20 min and then strained it off into a gallon jar and added 1 1/2 cups cane sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice.

The boiling brew will sterilize the jar. Let cool to about body temperature before adding 1 cup of the culture. Cover and let sit 4-10 days. We found ours tasted just right at around 1 week, but it will depend on the temperature and time of year. In general the longer it ferments the less sweet it is.

Root Beer

Our root beer has an earthy flavor and is a great liver tonic. We made it

with fresh Burdock root from the Farmer's Market in Union Square, Dandelion root and leaf which we foraged from local green spaces, and Ginger root for good taste.

We boiled equal parts of all the roots (about 1 cup each) and let them sit over night before straining. The Dandelion leaves were added once the stove was off and allowed to sit overnight as well.

Again we added 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup lemon, and 1 cup starter per gallon once the brew was cooled and let it sit covered for 4-10 days.

Bottling

When you are ready to bottle your beer, add a small amount of sugar to the bottles (1/4 tsp per 8oz) to ensure effervescence. Sterilize bottles with boiling water before filling. Seal tight and let sit on the counter another 3-5 days. Then transfer to cold storage until serving. Your beer will keep 6-8 weeks or more.

We'll see you at the movies!

The Nettle Patch

The Vision Sprouts.

The Nettle patch began in a car driving from NYC to Massachusetts in the summer of 2009. Strangers at first, two girls from the big apple agreed to car pool to the International Herbal Symposium, and quickly became friends. Several hours into the drive Katinka turned to Kelly and said "I have this vision. . . . "

That vision was to bring together city herbalists and form a group that would learn, create, support each other, and share experiences, but more importantly to find ways of reaching out to the greater community to teach and bring herbal healing to them as well. Before long they had made that vision real, and now we are a thriving group trying to get our fingers into the dirt of New York and let something really wonderful grow.