The mosquito’s are a real problem to many this year but that problem brought me to remembering my Mother and the fact that she was a soap maker among all her many talents. Three times a year she would make her own lye from pouring spring water through wood ashes that began the soap making process. All of us would laugh when we talk about Mother’s soap. We credit her with the good skin we have though we laugh and tell everyone the reason we are the fairest skinned in all the family is that she bleached us out with her lye soap!
Every summer she would stock the bathrooms with a lovely smelling lemon soap that had creamy bubbles and left our skin feeling so soft. We loved her summer soap and it was many years before we figured out what she put in it. She had an extensive herb garden and grew her own herbs for teas and we were used to the house being filled with fragrance from one herb or the other. Lemon balm tea was a treat we always looked forward to and she would fix us a cup whenever we were feeling anxious and could not sleep. It always seemed to soothe the soul when you really needed it.
As young girls growing up we used to complain and gripe because she did not use or buy us any commercial products like moisturizers for our skin and when our friends came over of course there were the odd shaped bars of soap for my Mother never learned to cut her soap evenly. We did not know at the time that the fact she did not use commercial products was because she was of the earth and really valued it.
She would complain loudly that the big corporations were ruining the natural farmers way of life and she was way ahead of her time. The soap she would bring out in the spring was made with lemons and once again the herb Lemon Balm. It smelled lovely and we were always glad when we first started using it.
Her lemon balm soap I think saved us from many things one of them being mosquito bites. Mosquito’s and flying bugs just never bothered us when we were growing up. We never thought to realize it at the time of course but I now understand that one of the major attributes of Lemon Balm is that it keeps your kids from having to use pesticides on their skin to keep bugs away.
We all adopted the habit of using her summer soap and most of the family learned to make it after her passing. I brought my kids up using it every spring and summer also and drinking it to calm frazzled nerves.
She made a soothing moisturizer for skin overexposed to the sun by using cider vinegar and heated mayonnaise. Of course she made her own mayonnaise and vinegar also. We would complain and complain but as we all are in our senior years non of us have wrinkles in our skin and we never had one problem with Acne.
She was a marvel at “making do”. Most everyone would have considered us poor by the standards of the world around us but she fed us and provided for us in abundance. We always shared the bounty of the food she canned and prepared each year. Her garden was her pride and joy and it fed more than just our family.
I think the Lemon Balm soap came back to me so strongly as I was sitting here and watching the mosquito’s swarm this evening. I wanted everyone to know that since I feel the mosquito epidemic in the world is becoming critical and so many dangerous diseases are spread because of them that everyone should grow some Lemon Balm in their gardens. It is so easy to grow and can be used many ways. If you dry the leaves and flowers they are great to put in bathing water also.
I grow great patches of Lemon Balm in the front of the house and the back and the only place I don’t have a patch growing is the side porch area and that is where I could see the mosquito’s gathering in the morning light. I grow another mosquito repellent plant also that has a lot of citronella in it and it helps also but Lemon balm is what I rely on for protection on the skin. If you want to experience growing this lovely herb you can find it online at:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com. This is a great place to purchase seeds and I have also purchased through an organization called SeedSavers and it is terrific for old varieties of vegetables and herbs.
I wish you joy in your week to come and sweet scents to fill your kitchen. Try to grow some Lemon Balm and let me know if you love this lovely herb like we do.
Rosie
Tags: Summer Herbs Soap Mosquittoes
