3 Ways To Use Lovely Lavender
We love Lavender here at So Close Studio - we use it to scent our soy wax candles, so the studio is often filled with the scent. We also include it as a seed option in our “grow your own” plant pot gifts and seed bag gifts, and of course there’s a few pots in our courtyard garden.
Recently, we visited a lavender grower and learned a little more about the properties of this lovely plant, which our ancestors have used medicinally, around the home and in cosmetics for years. With this garden favourite in full flower at the moment, we thought you’d enjoy a few uses for lavender around the home, so we’ve compiled our top 3.
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Great for animals big and small
If you love home fragrance and also love your pets, it’s worth checking which are pet safe, and friendly to sensitive animal noses. Lavender is one of the essential oils that’s suitable to burn around dogs, and a few drops diluted into dog shampoo is one of the few things that can help get rid of the all too familiar scent of fox poo! Lots of pet owners also report that the scent of lavender calms their animals and helps with stress - just like it does for humans.
As well as helping our pets, lavender can help wildlife too. Many pollinating insects - Bees in particular - love lavender, so it’s a great choice for your garden if you want to support biodiversity.
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Digestive support
Lots of people know about using ginger and peppermint to treat nausea and digestive discomfort, but did you know lavender is also effective? You don’t even have to eat it to get the benefits - one study showed that smelling lavender improved nausea in 82.6% of patients suffering from sickness whilst in recovery from surgery.
Including lavender in food or drink is particularly good for reducing bloating. You can take it as a tea, or use lavender food essence or dried lavender buds to flavour foods and drinks - just make sure you are using lavender that hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides.
We particularly like lavender lemonade, so thought we’d share the recipe with you:
Lavender lemonade
Ingredients:
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A small handful of fresh lavender flowers or buds, or 1 tablespoon of dried lavender.
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200 grams of sugar
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500 ml of boiling water
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350 ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice
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500 ml cold water
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Ice
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Optional: Thinly sliced lemons and a few lavender sprigs to garnish
Method
If you’re using fresh flowers, take them off the stems. Put the lavender into a large heatproof bowl or jug.
Pour the sugar over the flowers, and gently rub the flowers into the sugar.
Pour over the boiling water and stir until all the sugar has dissolved, and then cover and steep for 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how strong you’d like the lavender flavour to be.
Strain the resulting syrup into a large jug.
Stir in the lemon juice and cold water.
Leave to cool and then add the ice and garnish before serving.
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Clean and fresh
Lavender derives its name from the Latin 'lavare' meaning 'to wash”, and our ancestors used it in soaps and as a treatment for wounds because of it’s antifungal and antibacterial properties. Adding lavender flowers to your bath is not only very relaxing, it can also help to sooth skin irritations and protect from infection - it’s even rumoured to soothe sunburn, useful in the current heatwave!
Lavender sachets in drawers and airing cupboards help to deter moths, and the smell of lavender has been proven to aid sleep and relaxation. Our soy wax lavender candles can bring the fresh and soothing qualities of lavender to your home, scenting the air and helping you relax.
However you choose to enjoy lavender this summer, we hope you get as much pleasure from it as we have.
Xxx
Claire and the team