Bringing Spring Indoors

With A Little Herbal Green Cleaning

March commemorates the beginning of spring.  Ah, spring with thoughts of getting the garden started and playing in the dirt at last.  And then it’s more rain, so let’s think about some spring cleaning while we wait for the sun to show up.  We’ve been pretty much indoors for several months and the house is beginning to look and feel like the dog who just spent the last two hours in the pasture – a little smelly and not really clean.  Sure we’ve vacuumed a few times, kept up with the toilet scrub brush but spring is about beginning anew and fresh scents of the outdoors.  Let’s do a little more thorough cleaning, bring spring indoors before we get outdoors to enjoy it.

To really get that spring fresh scent, we encourage everyone to use simple fresher herbal cleaners and avoid those harsh store bought chemicals.  The ingredients are products you probably already have around the kitchen such as baking soda and apple cider vinegar and they are safe for the people and pets in your home.

Herbs for Cleaning
Here are some of our favorite herbs we use for cleaning around the house along with their properties for use around the home:

•  Lavender - antibacterial, repels insects, aromatherapy
• Rosemary -antiseptic, antioxidant (preservative)
• Sage - antibacterial, antioxidant, antiseptic
• Thyme - strongest herb antibacterial, strong disinfectant, antifungal
• Lemon Balm - antiviral, aromatherapy
• Peppermint - antibacterial, antiviral, repels insects and mice

You may even be able to get a bit of rosemary, sage and thyme fresh from your garden but dried herbs will work just fine. 

Mint plants

Here are a couple of suggestions for making your own spring cleaning products.  We have used both of these and can attest to their usefulness.

Carpet Freshener (Garden Delights Recipe)

• 1 cup baking soda
  
• 1/2 cup finely ground dried herbs of your choice
  

Suggested herbs: lavender, rose petals, thyme, rosemary, lemon balm, sage

Scouring Powder (adapted from the Nerdy Farm Wife) – porcelain tubs, tiles and sinks, glass dishware (not recommended stainless steel or ceramic)

• 1/2 cup baking soda
  
• 1 T sea salt
• 1 T ground herbs

Herbs we like – rosemary, thyme, mints
Note - for stainless steel or ceramic, we take out the sea salt and add enough liquid Castile soap to make a paste.  Then wipe it down with a damp cloth. 

For both these recipes, its best to grind your herbs finely - coffee grinders work well, but you can also use a mortar and pestle, or a bag with a rolling pin. 

Here are a few other tasks or spring home rituals we do that involve herbs:

• clean all bed comforters & pack away clean winter bedding with herbal sachets in the closet (lavender, rosemary, thyme)
  
• open up the windows and clean them with herbally infused vinegar mixture
  
• scrub down kitchen counters & stove top with the scouring powder above (we both have old style stove tops)
  
• spritz the house with hydrosol smudges - since we don't have any dried herb bundles left for smudge sticks  :)
  

The rain will be gone soon enough and we’ll all be outdoors cleaning our gardens.  So for now take a little time to refresh and clean indoors.