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Show Thoughts From The Garden... by Tonya LeMone Don 't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. , . Robert Louis Stevenson At the end of a particular hard day at work, which usually means an exhausting mentally hard day because my work does not involve anything physical, other than the fact of physically enduring the day, I head to the garden to relieve my stress. There is a certain amount of reward that comes from the results of a hard few hours in the garden. I have yet to find another task quite so rewarding for me or as stress releasing as turning the soil in the herb garden or roto-tilling the vegetable garden in nice tidy straight rows. As I come in and begin to clean up, my body starts to feel the pain of the evening's work and then I get the ritual foot rub (good husband's are hard to find these days). I have never been a fan of pedicures or massage, but there is a great foot soak that can be done in your home with very little effort using herbal essential oils and it will make a difference in your recovery both mentally and physically. A good food soak is one our grandmothers use to use to remedy many an ailment. I thought it to be a total waste of time until I tried it. We don't realize how sensitive our feet are to essential oils. By soaking your feet in a mixture of essential oil and water mixed with Epsom salt, the properties of the oils enter through the pores in your feet and infuse your entire body, giving you the much needed calming effect of the oils. It is extremely important to use an essential oil that is 100 percent essential oil. These can often be found at the health food store or locally at our Herbs for Health store. When purchasing an essential oil, look for oils stored in dark-glass dark-glass bottles and stored in a dark and cool place, otherwise the oils will dissipate through the plastic. Here is an herbal recipe for your feet and not to eat! 1 . Use a small tub that will allow you to sit comfortably in a chair with both feet firmly planted and the tub should be deep enough to have warm water up to at least your ankles. 2. Add a couple of tablespoons of either sea salt or Epsom salt. Sea salt apparently contains healthy minerals and helps draw toxins away from the skin and will sooth sore feet and muscles. Epsom salt can be found at the local drug store or just ask your grandmother if she has some because more than likely she has been using this remedy for centuries. 3. Add six to ten drops of your essential oil into the warm water bath, use a combination of oils or just one, here are some ideas: Lavender-calming relaxing Peppermint-cooling, refreshing, energizing Tea tree-healing, stimulating Eucalyptus-cooling refreshing, purifying These essential oils are quite expensive but a little goes a long way and combinations of oils can be fun to experiment with. 4. Give yourself permission to sit and soak your feet for 10 minutes or longer, take a good book along and enjoy the journey. You deserve it! After your foot soak and an invigorating foot rub, reflect on the day and as Robert Louis Stevenson said, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you planted." What may have seemed like an absolutely failure of a day because of what you took home in reality was a "best-day" because of what you have just left behind in your foot bath. See you in the Garden. . .... |