Essential oils are described as the "life force" or "essence" of plants. The most wonderful thing about essential oils is that they are available to everyone, and they are simple to use once the basic concepts are understood and the appropriate methods and procedures are observed.

The best known way to use essential oils is through massage. In this comprehensive book there are many more ways to use the oils, for everything from arthritis and asthma to high blood pressure and constipation. Essential oils are now emerging as scientifically proven and accepted remedies for a variety of common conditions. The how and why certain oils heal still remains mysterious. Oils can help treat everyday ailments, whether it be strengthening the immune system, fighting bacteria and viruses, or lowering stress levels. They can be used to tone, relax and strengthen muscles. These oils help the body heal itself.

This book features 109 oils and 450 remedies. The recipes are easy to follow, do not take a long time to make, and are quite inexpensive … the biggest cost is the oils. The oils are organized alphabetically, and each entry features the botanical name, a full description of how and why the oil is extracted, and its therapeutic uses.

Angelica for example has a sweet, rich smell, is excellent in all skin care preparations both as a tonic and to soften and smooth rough, dry skin. It reduces inflammation and can be useful when applied to irritated skin. As a massage oil it purifies the body and acts as a lymphatic stimulator, draining the body of excess fluid, increasing energy and generally quickening the functioning of glands. It's also an excellent tonic for the entire digestive system as it strengthens the liver, stimulates appetite, aids digestion and generally boosts the whole digestive system.

Author Nerys Purchon was one of Australia's leading experts on herbs, aromatherapy and essential oils. Her books have sold more than 300,000 copies worldwide.

The Everything Giant Book of Juicing is packed with 300 recipes for fresh, delicious and easy juices for nutrition on the run.

The Everything Soapmaking Book, 3rd Edition is a comprehensive guide to making all kinds of soap, whether you want to decorate your home or pamper your skin or your family's skin. Homemade soap is not only an easy project for any level of craft lover, but it's beautiful, too!

A major outdoor survival book, The Extreme Survival Almanac is unlike anything else on the market. It’s written specifically for regular folks who may be suddenly forced to survive in the wilderness without assistance … and with no planning, specialized training nor equipment. This remote-area survival manual provides clear decision-making guidelines to walk you step-by-step from the first signs of trouble all the way through to rescue. It outlines specific courses of action for every type of survival scenario imaginable, including thousands of useful tips, directions and suggestions that can be understood and followed by the panicked and possibly injured layman stranded in the woods, in a vehicle or at sea.

Sections are devoted to topics like surviving in land-locked settings, including in the desert or in the tundra, as well as surviving at sea. Each section covers the basics for survival in detail, including how to create shelter and find water or food in each scenario. Also included are appendices with navigation tools and maps detailing unique information such as prevailing ocean current patterns, prevailing wind patterns and common commercial flight routs.

Delicious wild edible plants and mushrooms are abundant throughout North America, not only in the wilderness but in urban areas, too. Learn how to identify, harvest, and eat the tastiest plants in your backyard. Dandelion flowers become wine, Japanese knotweed becomes rhubarb-like compote and tangy sorbet, red clover blossoms give quick bread a delightfully spongy texture and hint of sweetness.

The Forgotten Pollinators explores the vital but little-appreciated relationship between plants and the animals they depend on for reproduction: bees, beetles, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, bats and countless other animals -- some widely recognized and other almost unknown.

In The Fungal Pharmacy, noted herbalist Robert Rogers introduces readers to more than 300 species of medicinal mushrooms and lichens found in North America. These fungi, Rogers explains, have the capacity to heal both the body and, through the process of mycoremediation, the planet itself. Throughout the book, he documents their success in optimizing the immune system and treating a wide range of acute and chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and liver problems, blood sugar disorders, cancer, and obesity.

More than just a warm and comforting drink, tea has medicinal properties that are widely underused in North America. Common herbs, spices, fruits, and barks have been scientifically proven to help relieve pain, menopause symptoms, high blood pressure, insomnia, stress, and digestive angst. The Good Living Guide to Medicinal Tea invites readers into a world of medicinal plants, instructs on the specific healing properties of each, matches them to ten 10 common North American health disorders, and provides simple tea recipes that readers can make in their own homes.

Country Living magazine knows that beautiful handcrafted accents are as essential a part of a home, sweet home as a comfy cushion to sink into at the end of a long day. Whether it's richly indulgent herbal soaps, vintage-inspired woven pillows, a keepsake family album, or beeswax tapers to illuminate a dinner party, the 75 projects in this varied collection will warm your heart … and give a personal touch to every room in the house.

Covering everything from cooking, canning and preserving to making your own nontoxic home and personal care products, this fresh take on modern homemaking will help you make the most of your time, effort and energy in the kitchen and beyond.

These areas include the creative power of the human spirit, food, water, fitness, sleep, nature, relationships and hands-on techniques.

This reference guide is organized by category, from apothecary essentials to eye health and sweet slumber to skin soothers. Within each section are articles and profiles of plant and herbs that help each specific area. The Herb Companion's Guide to Healing Herbs is filled with articles that are full of helpful tips, advice, recipes, photographs and more to help you fight back against flu-season.

The Herb Lover’s Spa Book shows how easy it is to grow and prepare therapeutic herbs for a custom spa experience in the comfort of your own home. It helps you unplug, relax and make the world go away. Since the days of Cleopatra, we have been in search of the "Spa Experience": a mystical place of white fluffy towels, populated by the finest of facial masks and lotions. But this vision of relaxation can come with a hefty price tag. That is about to change. In her new book, herb gardener, spa enthusiast and award-winning garden designer Sue Goetz shows us how to create the luxury spa experience in our own home, featuring fragrant, therapeutic herbs from the garden. With lavish photos throughout, this book gives the reader simple steps for growing and preparing herbs for the home spa: aromatherapy oils, lotions, tub teas, masks, scrubs, sachets, travel bath mixes and more. It has never been easier to enjoy the spa ambiance and let the stress of the day melt away.

Kitchen pharmacy meets green cleaning and natural beauty in this comprehensive handbook. Expert herbalist Pip Waller provides 501 recipes that harness the power of plants to enhance wellness and toxin-free living. Within these pages, you’ll find a wealth of information about growing, collecting, preserving and preparing herbs for a variety of purposes … from cleaning products to food and drink, medicines, beauty products, and more. Attractive and easy to use, The Herbal Handbook for Home and Health includes growing tips and profiles of herbs, guidelines for setting up an herbalist's kitchen, and techniques to make everything from tinctures to tonics. A valuable resource for anyone affected by allergies or sensitivities, this compendium is handsomely produced with two-color printing throughout and more than 300 striking illustrations.

The handbook includes contributions from herbalists from around the world and encompasses recipes that range from simple to complex. Seasoned herbalists as well as those just beginning to explore the world of herbs will find something to start their own nontoxic, nonallergenic domestic revolution.

The book includes:

• A history of herbal lore
• The herbalist's kitchen: equipment and procedures for harnessing the power of plants
• Green cleaning products (from floor wax to stain removers)
• Herbal pharmacy (from throat lozenges to hangover cures)
• Nutritional supplements and detoxes
• First aid (from anti-anxiety drops to bruise ointment)
• Travel companions (insect repellant to anti-nausea drops)
• Food and drink (breads, butters, wines, teas)
• Beauty and balms (toothpaste to shampoo to lip balm)
• Kitchen pharmacy
• Food and drink
• Personal care

With The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, it's possible and even convenient to create an inviting space for living and entertaining on a budget. From unique décor ideas to growing strawberries on your fire escape, Kate Payne shares fun, low-cost (and often free!) creative solutions that will make anyone feel more accomplished in minutes.

Inside this savvy motivational guide filled to the brim with small-scale creative home projects, Payne's tongue-in-cheek tone will keep you tuned in to her much-needed advice. In three easy sections, you'll learn how to create a comfortable space while being time- and budget-conscious. Section One, Home-ify Your Pad, features quick, convenient ways to make your place cozier with low-cost, special touches to help you tap into and show off your inner artist. Section Two, Impressive Acts of Domesticity, teaches how to impress others (and yourself) with the gratifying pleasures of self-sufficiency—a first-time guide to cleaning, sewing, repairing and other previously out-of-the-question tasks. Section Three, Life After Restaurants, frees you to release the take-out menu, avoid pricey bar tabs, and entertain others in the space you've so thoughtfully and gorgeously created.

User-friendly "how-to" sidebars, illustrations, and tips and tricks throughout the book offer easy-to-follow recipes and do-it-yourself craft suggestions for making your home hip, comfortable and inviting. Keep in mind that this is not your grandmother's handbook and it's not the kind of wisdom your mom knows how to impart. Modern women need a modern approach to domestic pleasures—a guide to doing household things on our own terms, because most of this stuff isn't as hard as we've been led to believe. Don't worry, she's not asking you to host Tupperware parties or iron your underwear. But as all beginning home keepers know, a surefire way to feel bad about ourselves is to consult Martha Stewart. So ditch that 2-inch thick handbook, dust off your pots and pans, and join Payne on this journey to incorporating creativity and self-sufficiency on the home front.

You can become a confident cook—even if the drawer with the take-out menus is the only part of your kitchen you currently use! Kate Payne shows you how to master basic cooking techniques—boiling, baking and sautéing—and simplifies the process of fancy ones, such as jamming and preserving, dehydrating, braising, roasting, infusing, and pickling. With this straightforward and fun guide, you can stock up your kitchen with the ingredients, tools and appliances you'll actually use. You'll also learn how to decode recipes and alter them to make them gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan.

Dig into the world of herbal medicine with this complete guide to cultivating and harvesting plants with healing properties. For thousands of years people have been utilizing herbs and cultivating weeds found to speed the healing of wounds, soothe skin irritations, calm uneasy stomachs, and ward off illnesses. Now you can plan and grow your own garden first aid kit.

From nourishing oat soap bars to impressive rosebud soap cakes and fun soaps for kids, this book will inspire you to make beautiful handmade soap without all the chemicals found in commercial products.

Sarah Harper shows you how to master the two key techniques of handmade soapmaking: the traditional Cold-Process method and the fast and fun Melt-and-Pour method. She then demonstrates how to use these techniques to make fabulous soaps, shampoo bars, homemade washing powder and even dishwasher soap bombs.

Step-by-step photography and the author's insightful advice from years of experience teaching soap-making makes every project achievable, guiding you effortlessly from start to finish.

Packed with handy tips and an easy, approachable style, this is a beautiful book filled with practical projects so that anyone, including children, can make a variety of soaps they will be proud to use, display and give away!