really old style living?

Gigervamp

NualaBuala wrote: »

Great site Annie, thanks for the link.

I know some of you have made your own skin/bath stuff and I was wondering you if you could help me out. I've been asked if there are any "natural" ingredients that can be used as antimicrobials. And what is the legislation on it? I know teatree oil has activity but not sure of the concentrations needed. The situation is this: someone wants to sell their homemade organic skincare stuff at a market and says the antimicrobial is derived from a natural ingredient. The organic aspect is very important to the people who run the market and they want to make sure the ingredient is indeed natural and organic and that it's all legit from an EU regs point of view. So I'd be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction.

Edit: I'm not the one making the stuff ... just said I'd look into it

To add to what Mardatha said, if she's making things like body lotions, she'll have to have the lotions challenge tested too. This involves sending it off to a lab where they put it under various stress tests, such as letting it sit in a warm environment like it would get sitting in a car glove box etc and see how well the preservative holds up over time. This isn't cheap either.

Also, from what I've read in various places, including peer reviewed scientific studies, the *natural* preservatives aren't that effective, which is why I steer clear of *all natural* cosmetics. I'd rather use something with 0.5% of a safe synthetic preservative that works than risk smothering my face with pathogens!

stitching_witch

We have a very simple Christmas, which stems from my Austrian heritage.

Christmas starts on Christmas Eve when we go to the woods to collect holly and ivy. We don't do "decorations" as such, but I make a swag for the fireplace whilst DH puts up the tree - yes, on 24th December and NEVER before! (When the children were little, Father Christmas brought the tree along with the presents once the children went to bed and their faces the next morning were a picture!)

The remaining greenery decorates the top of the pictures etc. It all comes down on Twelfth Night. I'm not into the commercialism of Christmas so 12 days is plenty enough for me!

The food is all simple, home made fare with some traditional Austrian biscuits on the tree, others waiting to be munched in tins. We have chutneys and fruit bottled in brandy, all of which we prepared earlier this year, along with countless bottles of home-made wine.

Many people do not understand our Christmasses, but my children are grown up now and still do the same with their families. They wouldn't change it for the world!

ceridwen - I've just noticed your signature. I can't believe anyone could be horrible to you, you are my idol on this site.

ceridwen

Awwww! Slightly sick feeling one at this moment - just tried a recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes as part of dinner tonight. Put it this way - BOY OH BOY I wonder if American tastebuds are different to British ones.....saltY:eek: I won't be trying that recipe again in a hurry.....will have to find some other way to use up green tomatoes next year - because it CERTAINLY wont be THAT one again - yuk!!!!:rotfl:

HariboJunkie

stitching_witch wrote: »

We have a very simple Christmas, which stems from my Austrian heritage.

Christmas starts on Christmas Eve when we go to the woods to collect holly and ivy. We don't do "decorations" as such, but I make a swag for the fireplace whilst DH puts up the tree - yes, on 24th December and NEVER before! (When the children were little, Father Christmas brought the tree along with the presents once the children went to bed and their faces the next morning were a picture!)

The remaining greenery decorates the top of the pictures etc. It all comes down on Twelfth Night. I'm not into the commercialism of Christmas so 12 days is plenty enough for me!

The food is all simple, home made fare with some traditional Austrian biscuits on the tree, others waiting to be munched in tins. We have chutneys and fruit bottled in brandy, all of which we prepared earlier this year, along with countless bottles of home-made wine.

Many people do not understand our Christmasses, but my children are grown up now and still do the same with their families. They wouldn't change it for the world!

.

That sounds lovely. :T
I believe in making our own traditions at Christmas (and during other seasons). I like to decorate my home according to the seasons so just now I have bowls of pine cones, apples and chestnuts and the kitchen is filled with chutneys and jams from home grown and foraged fruit and veg. At Christmas we all gather moss, holly, ivy, fir branches and pine cones from the forest and make our own garlands, wreaths and centre pieces. The children and I make orange pomanders ad felt decorations for the tree and Christmas sweets and cookies.
We are not a religous family but we do celebrate the seasons and especially Christmas and love bringing the abundance of nature into our home to reflect this. I do try to offset the abdundance of commercialised stuff that makes it's way into Father Christmas's stockings every year.:o

Gigervamp

Those pansies are very pretty but easy enough to make yourself. I used to make flowers out of salt dough (remember that craze?)

Just roll out little balls, (in this case use sugar paste that you can buy in kitchen type shops or online) and flatten them between your thumb and forefinger, putting a little more pressure on two sides. Then just press them together in a flower shape. For the detailing, you can get little tubes of icing in different colours in the supermarkets.

annie123

sorry for the delay Mardatha, been one of those days, but never mind.

Some links for you:

http://www.biblicalquality.com/Christmas8.html
and it has more sections at the bottom of the page

http://www.victoriaspast.com

http://19thcentury.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/victorian-christmas-44/

http://thecompletevictorian.com/Links.html

http://www.mrsbeeton.com/

should keep you going for a while;)

NualaBuala

Gigervamp wrote: »

To add to what Mardatha said, if she's making things like body lotions, she'll have to have the lotions challenge tested too. This involves sending it off to a lab where they put it under various stress tests, such as letting it sit in a warm environment like it would get sitting in a car glove box etc and see how well the preservative holds up over time. This isn't cheap either.

Also, from what I've read in various places, including peer reviewed scientific studies, the *natural* preservatives aren't that effective, which is why I steer clear of *all natural* cosmetics. I'd rather use something with 0.5% of a safe synthetic preservative that works than risk smothering my face with pathogens!

Thanks a mill Gigervamp, great to get info from folks in the know. I'm not surprised really, I will tell them what you've said.

Stitching witch, your Christmas sounds wonderful! And I love the idea of celebrating the seasons HariboJunkie, I have a bowl with pine cones, pebbles from the beach and other bits of nature that remind me of nice walks I've been in. I might expand on that...

I used to be big into Christmas but after years of being a lapsed Catholic I realised I wasn't a Christian any more so last year I didn't really celebrate Christmas. I wanted to figure out what I thought about it. I think I'm happy enough to celebrate it (since my family all do) but for me it's more a winter festival of light - bringing a bit of cheer and goodwill. And selection boxes, don't want to miss out on those!

HariboJunkie

NualaBuala wrote: »

HariboJunkie, I have a bowl with pine cones, pebbles from the beach and other bits of nature that remind me of nice walks I've been in. I might expand on that...

Another idea to try is fillng a kilner jar with things you have collected on a day out and tying a parcel/luggage tag with the date and location to the lid. I have some in my bathroom filled with shells and pebbles from various beaches and they look really effective as well as bringing back lovely memories when I look at them.

NualaBuala

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Another idea to try is fillng a kilner jar with things you have collected on a day out and tying a parcel tag with the date and location to the lid. I have some in my bathroom filled with shells and pebbles from various beaches and they look really effective as well as bringing back lovely memories when I look at them.

Oh that's a lovely idea HJ, I will borrow that one! Thank you!

maryb

DD1's birthday is a week before Christmas (she was actually due on Christmas Day but, thankfully, arrived early) so we have always tried to keep some separation betwen her birthday and Christmas. For a long time we held off putting up the tree until Christmas Eve, partly to mark the difference from her birthday and also because if you are celebrating Christmas as a religious festival, then Advent is a fairly sombre time and celebrations should not actually start until Christmas Eve. We always had an Advent Wreath with four candles together with a big candle in the middle and each Sunday in Advent we would light one more candle. The girls loved that tradition.

However as she got older she actually wanted to have the tree up from about mid December - and she doesn't mind if people give her a joint birthday and Christmas present