herbal goodness :: a giveaway!

Recently I was given an opportunity to test some products that dear, sweet, immensely creative and inspiring Stephinie (of Gypsy Forest and now Sweetbrier Herbs!) crafted herself as she worked to create her own line of herbal goodies.  She has studied herbs extensively and now, along with being an art teacher and wonderful photographer, generally crafty, and knowing her way around many things homestead-y, she is also an herbalist.  And lucky us, she is offering some of her own custom blends for sale in her etsy shop.  I tried her Moonflower Women's Tea, and her Super Salve.

The tea was delightful~ a medicinal and mineral-rich yet still very tasty brew that I enjoyed both as a tea and as an infusion.  The rose petals and calendula added such nice color and flavor, I admit I'm a sucker for roses in tea..... it always makes it feel more special to me... almost like an 'event'.  And truly I welcome anything that gives me pause to stop and savor the moment, but especially if it's also something good for me, body and mind.

The Super Salve is great.  And this coming from a girl who has made my own salve, been gifted homemade salves by others, and purchased a fair amount of the balm as well.  What I like so much about her salve, this Super Salve, is that it seems to strike the 'just right' balance between 'balmy' and 'oily'.  Many salves I find a bit too greasy, feeling like they linger forever and don't quite absorb the way I'd like for them to, and certainly too slick to use as a lip balm.  This one has found a nice little home in my purse, where I dip into it often to soothe my chapped midway-through-autumn hands and to use as a lip balm as well.  I often find salves to have a bitterness that doesn't make them well suited, for me, as a lip balm, but Stephinie has used such a nice blend of herbs and oils that are very healing and soothing and also... well, tasty (know I'm not recommending you eat her salve, just that it feels and tastes good as a lip balm as well as a general purpose skin balm).

Stephinie has so very kindly offered to share an herbal gift with one of you as well!  Just leave a comment below letting me know which herbal tea of hers that you'd like to try (visit her shop to look over your options).  Be sure to leave a way for me to get in touch with you.  I will leave comments open until 10pm Saturday evening, when I will randomly select a winner.  Honestly, I don't know anything about the 'random comment generator' or whatever it's called that other folks sometime use- so you'll just have to trust me when I say it'll be random.  I'm gonna write out numbers corresponding to your comments and put them in a jar and let the little one dip her eager hand in to select one and ta-da! A winner!

Good luck, and happy salve-smearing and tea-drinking!