Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Repel insects with homemade potpourri
Potpourri sachets are, by tradition, placed in clothes drawers or cupboards to perfume their contents. Sachets are easy to make, even at home, and can be filled with a mixture of dried flowers and leaves, to which you can add herbs and spices. This resulting concoction is called potpourri. The simplest sachets are those that are made with pretty handkerchiefs and are tied up with ribbon or lace. Potpourri sachets are even useful in repelling moths, leaving behind a lovely fragrance to scent your storage areas. Here’s how you can concoct at least one such mixture…
A potpourri that says it with spice and flowers:
Ingredients
A portion of dried flower petals
Citrus peel, dried and grated
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp crushed bay leaves
10 drops of jasmine or rose oil
Method
Place the flower petals in a jar, and add the citrus peel, spices and herbs. Mix the contents of the jar together gently. Sprinkle the essential oils on top and close the jar tightly. Shake the container every few days for the next 2 or 3 weeks until the mix has mellowed. Now put the mixture in the centre of a colourful piece of cloth and tie up the ends with some nice ribbon.
Points to ponder
Sachet ingredients are easy to collect. If you have a garden, they can be gathered all through the flowering season, as the type of flower to go into your mixture is really your choice. For the best results, pick the flowers on a bright, clear day at around noon. Another good idea would be to save the petals from the flowers of the bouquets you might receive.
m To dry out your chosen blooms, lay each flower between two layers of paper (you can use absorbent paper for fleshy flowers and waxy paper for delicate ones). Weigh them down with a heavy book or even a brick and leave them in a warm, dry place for some time. While gathering the ingredients for your sachet, keep in the mind the scents of each flower.
m Before filling the sachets, crush the petals and add several drops of an essential oil in order to fix their fragrance.
A potpourri that says it with spice and flowers:
Ingredients
A portion of dried flower petals
Citrus peel, dried and grated
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp crushed bay leaves
10 drops of jasmine or rose oil
Method
Place the flower petals in a jar, and add the citrus peel, spices and herbs. Mix the contents of the jar together gently. Sprinkle the essential oils on top and close the jar tightly. Shake the container every few days for the next 2 or 3 weeks until the mix has mellowed. Now put the mixture in the centre of a colourful piece of cloth and tie up the ends with some nice ribbon.
Points to ponder
Sachet ingredients are easy to collect. If you have a garden, they can be gathered all through the flowering season, as the type of flower to go into your mixture is really your choice. For the best results, pick the flowers on a bright, clear day at around noon. Another good idea would be to save the petals from the flowers of the bouquets you might receive.
m To dry out your chosen blooms, lay each flower between two layers of paper (you can use absorbent paper for fleshy flowers and waxy paper for delicate ones). Weigh them down with a heavy book or even a brick and leave them in a warm, dry place for some time. While gathering the ingredients for your sachet, keep in the mind the scents of each flower.
m Before filling the sachets, crush the petals and add several drops of an essential oil in order to fix their fragrance.
# posted by mashup @ 11:10 PM 
