Well almost…. it is more a round tub!  I have been playing with making a solid hair conditioner that I can travel with – and I think we have nailed it!

Last week Chris and I went to China and Hong Kong on Moon Haven business and before we went I formulated a lovely solid hair conditioner with avocado oil and organic pink clay so I could travel with it in my hand luggage ( I travel light).

While I had chosen ingredients that were excellent conditioning agents for my scalp and hair I was at first sceptical about how effective and how easy it would be to use with my long hair. I shouldn’t have been concerned… the results were fantastic.

In fact, I am so pleased that I have now made another batch and have a merry band of testers with a variety of hair types trialing the conditioner.  I am awaiting the results with great interest.. and of course will keep you posted.

Charlotte just phoned me on instructions from her mother to order some Achy Breaky Rub for her arthritis.

Now this is not an unusual request…but the back story is amazing that I just had to tell you all.

You see Chralotte’s mum lives in England ( Charlotte lives in Western Australia) – and she was talking to a friend and complaining about how her arthritis was really beginning to be very bothersome and restrictive.

Well Charlotte’s mum’s friend said -

“why don’t you try this Achy Breaky Rub – its fantastic for my arthritis, in fact it is the only thing that has worked for me in all the years I have had arthritis.”

Now you have to realise that this is occurring in England and the gentleman friend had just visited Australia and had picked up a jar of Achy Breaky Rub when he was visitng Margaret River.

So Charlotte’s mum gets onto the phone to her daughter Charlotte in WA and asks her to hunt down Achy Breaky Rub…which after a quick internet search Cahrlotte does..and hence the phone call and this lovely story spanning the globe.

It just goes to show that the word is spreading far and wide about our products and somehow it all comes back to us here at the Moon Haven cottage in the far flung south west of Western Australia. Amazing…truly amazing.

Boys like Moon Haven too

We know that Moon Haven is considered kinda girly by most but here’s proof that Moon Haven is for guys too!

Over the Easter break it was not unusualy to find several males of various ages grouping together to discuss the merits of say Country Spice soap over Marrakesh for Men.  It certainly was a phenomena to behold..and one we are seeing more and more often.

You see the male of the species is finally starting to realise what all the fuss is about and want to start caring for themselves and their skin.

We are also seeing more and more men presenting with skin irritations. dermatitits, eczema and psoriasis – looking for ways to soothe their skin and ease their conditions.

Often they are sent in by wives, girfriends and mothers, but every day we see more guys  visiting us off their own bat. This is great to see.
Everyone is welcome at Moon Haven..even the guys!

ooops...Cooked legs anyone? talk about getting it totally wrong!

We all make mistakes… but this one has to be a pearler!

Read the label carefully on the bottle of Moon Haven’s  Foot Fetish – notice anything that you would say was unusual about the label?

To help you out a little – we have formulated a wonderful mint and aloe vera based gel to help calm and soothe tired legs especially those with varicose veins.

Needless to say we don’t want to promote the  COOKING of legs…but hopefully COOLING them instead.

Unfortunately this label slipped through the net of  numerous proof readers (read dedicated Moonies and crew) – as well as our printers.

So does anyone have a need for cooked leg lotion – well the labels at least – because the real Foot Fetish COOLING Leg Milk is amazing for cooling worn out and tired feet… something which cooking would definitely not help?

So much to see @ Moon Haven, Cowaramup

Easter in Margaret River is always an amazing experience.  It’s even more wonderful at the  Moon Haven cottage in Cowaramup (just 10 minutes north of Margaret River in Western Australia) because we have so much fun this time of year.

We are full to the brim with natural soaps, herbal healing salves,  skin care and of course our wonderful range of fairies, dragons and giftware.

We spend our time bustling about finding different products for different problems, looking at skin and dealing with all sorts.  We love talking to our visitors and helping to solve issues.

But this is not the main reason why we love Easter so much.

The main reason we love this time of year is that we get to catch up with many of our long established and very loyal clients who call in to the cottage to stock up on soaps and potions as well as grab a reading or two and a fossick through what’s new.

The main problem we experience though, is that as you can see from the photo – we often get very crowded and it is difficult to spend the time we would like to with each or our visitors.

I explained this to Margaret, who has been visiting the soap cottage, almost from the day it opened in December of 2002 and she just laughed and said …
“what a wonderful excuse to come visit again later in the year!”

I love her style!

Easter Bilby- a rare and endagered species

Happy Easter to everyone!

In Australia we have the Easter Bilby – rather than the Easter Rabbit- as a way of increasing awareness about this endangered species.

The Kayana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Gooseberry Hill Western Australia .  This 2009 Environment Award Winner helps native animals who are sick or  have been injured.  They also have breeding programs for the Bilby..and it is all rn by volunteers.

Instead of giving Easter Eggs this year we are supporting the Kayana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre through their adoption program.
Why not do the same?

Here is an excerpt from their website:

Wild animals across this country need your help

Your gift of $35, $50, $100 or more protects endangered animals, provides emergency relief to animals in crises, assists educational programmes, furthers crucial research, and saves wildlife from around Western Australia. With your help, we can continue to make a better world for both animals and people.

As Kanyana is a 100% volunteer organisation, every cent you donate supports wildlife care.

That last sentence makes it all the more worthwhile – don’t you think.  Volunteers make the world a better place..lets support their efforts and support the bilby and other injured wildlife…Moon Haven is!

As promised I will talk today about how we make a vital part of our healing salve – Universal Herbal Ointment at the Moon Haven cottage in Cowaramup,  Margaret River

For the Universal Herbal Ointment we use a potent combination of infused herb oil as one of the very vital components.  By infusing carrier oils with various herbs we are able to extract the fat soluble components of the herbs into the carrier oils…hence it becomes an ínfusion’. You can do the same with water, alcohol and glycerine…to name a few more solvents.

For our Universale Herbal Ointment herb infusion we take dried herbs such as Calendula, Plantain, Shepherds Purse, Yarrow, Chickweed, Gotu Kola and several others  and place them in a sterilised glass jar.  We then take our carrier oil of choice – often this is olive or sunflower oil – fill to the brim and cover.

What follows next is magical… we place the full herb jar in the garden in a lovely sunny place.  Over the days we watch the carrier oil gradually change colour as all the fat soluble components from the herbs are infused into the oils.  Each day we give the jars a stir and let the herbs settle again.

After two weeks or so we decant and filter  the now vibrant and enriched oil into clean jars -ready to make into a Moon Haven salve or lotion.

These infused oils are precious and potent and we treasure them for what they bring to our formulations.  Our Universal Herbal Ointment, Achy Breaky Rub and all our other formulations would not be as effective without the herbal oils.

The wooden Busselton Jetty juts out into the crystal clear waters of Geogrpahe Bay

When you visit ‘down south’ and come to the Margaret River Wine region – not only is a visit to Moon Haven a must do but so is a walk along the Busselton Jetty.

For some time now the Busselton Jetty has been closed beyond the first 200m due to a huge restoration project.  With pylons being replaced and new decking… everything is due to reopen in May of this year.

At 1841 metres the Busselton Jetty is the longest wooden pier in the southern hemisphere and I grew up  swimming around it.  From annual group  swimming lessons and daring each other to jump off the tower or the tallest diving board to walking to the end to go fishing – a lot of my life has been lived on and around the jetty.

What is fascinating is that for the years that I had been playing on the jetty I did not realise the wondrous ecology that surrounded the structure.  With the building of the Busselton Underwater Observatory at the end of the Jetty we all soon discovered that our playground was a haven of soft corals and amazing fish.

So if you are coming down south do call into the Busselton Jetty… while the first 200m is only accessible at the moment – come May you’ll be able to walk the whole length and book to see the wonders of life under the surface at the Underwater Observatory.  Believe me it’s well worth a look.

Using herbs for health is a huge topic but I want to talk today about a particular skin healing herb and how we use it in our Universal Herbal Ointment.

Our Universal Herbal Ointment combines twelve herbs and 8 essential oils to produce a truly healing salve for broken and distressed skin.  We have clients use this ointment on everything from broken skin, cuts, grazes and ulcers to cold sores, scabies, shingles, chicken pox and even mosquito bites.

They have even had great success using it in conjunction with our Chickweed & Plantain Salve on eczema, psoriaris and dermatitis.

So why is this so?

Well a lot has to do with the herbs we use.

One of the main herbs in this ointment is Calendula.

Calendula is a known anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and wound healer.  One of the main attributes of Calendula that we harness in  our Universal Herbal Ointment is the  fact that Calendula promotes wound healing through granulation of the wound.  Now to heal a wound the body first needs to make islands or outposts of new skin in the middle of the wound so that these can be connected together to make a covering of new skin.

This process is called granulation and Calendula is one of the best herbs to promote granulation around.  In fact it beats current wound care management techniques by a large margin.   This is not hearsay but established scientific fact.

Calendual - a healing herb great for eczema, psoriasis and wound healing

Scientific Research & Clinical Trials

the grnaulation effect for healing wounds through the use of calendula was exp;ored in a 2005 journal article which explained that applying a Calendula based ointment reduced the total surface area of venous leg ulcers in their subjects by 41.71% over a 3 week period.  This was compared with the control group who were treated with the accepted saline dressing regime.  This group experience a reduction in wound surface area of 14.52% over the same period.(see reference below).

This is a fantastic result for the humble Calendula… but not one we are surprised by.  In fact Calendula has so many more applications than wound healing… that is why we use it in many of our products… from skin care to muscle rubs this herb is truly universal. ..and of course it is why it is a fundamental part of our Universal Herbal Ointment.

[reference Duran V, Matic M, Jovanov? M, Mimica N, Gajinov Z, Poljacki M, Boza P.Results of the clinical examination of an ointment with marigold (Calendula officinalis) extract in the treatment of venous leg ulcers.  Int J Tissue React. 2005;27(3):101-6.]