Yea! It's a white Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone.  We are very lucky here in Saltillo, as we still have electricity.  I know a lot of the people around us don't have any.  I pray they will get it on again very quickly.  I have been in the house all day ordering supplies for our Time to Thyme store.  I am trying to get those bangle skirts so that we can wear them when we work in Canton.  Not for any particular reason.  We just want to wear them.  They are so cute and jangelly. 

The soap has been waiting at T3 for me to go and cut all day, but I couldn't bring myself to leave the house today.  I am going to work tomorrow and make some more soap.  Anyone have any ideas of any flavors of soap you would like me to work on?  Any particular colors or designs?  I really like making two tone soaps by putting curls or small blocks of colors inside the mold, then pouring colored and flavored melted soap on top to harden.

I have been experimenting with different essential oils, colors and fragrances.  I make some for men, women, and have even made some for kids with little gingerbread toys inside! So much fun.  It sure does make a mess, though.  My favorite thing in the world to do is spend the day with my sister and work on making medicines, soaps, sprays, etc.
Our Aroma Sprays are for you, your space, your environment and all around you.  I carry a bottle in my car, put one in each room of the house, and set one by my chair so I can spray anytime I want an uplifiting or calming scent.  I can't wait for you all to visit our store in Canton on Canton weekend to experience some of our products for yourselves.
Thyme to go watch some soap making videos,
Vannoy

Crazy, Crazy months

Hi everyone,

Things have been so crazy the last few months with the opening of our new store, our distribution center and our website.  It is amazing to think how far we have come in just 8 months.  Having the Time to Thyme business has been a lifelong dream of ours.  I love herbs, essential oils and everything you can do with them.  I do have to admit, I have a new love in my life.....Soapmaking.  I am crazy for making soaps.  Yesterday I went to T3 to cuts some loaves of soap up that I had made the day before with Chele.  That soap was our "Angel Wings" soap (see above photo).  While I was there, I got an idea, and before I knew it pots and pans were flying everywhere and I had made a huge loaf of "Rain Forest" soap.  I love the smells, textures, and craziness involved in soapmaking.  It is a fun process and very time limited and it is just run, run, run for two hours until it is all ready.

We have opened our store in Canton, Tx on the "Mountain".  We love our store. We have been so busy making products to sell in our store and on our website.  Our newest love is Aroma Sprays.  These bottles of spray are so powerful in many ways.  We use essential oils and fragrances to help with energy, purification, stress, sleep, headaches and the uses for them are limitless.  We have "Angel Wings", "Monkey Farts", "Energizer", "Sensual Man", "Sensual Woman", "Purification", and many, many more. We are Certified Aroma Specialists and working with essential oils, fragrances and clinical grade essential oils is so gratifying to our souls.  I hope you get to come by and just spray some of our testers and you will see what I mean.

This is some of what we made last weekend at T3. I love working at T3 with Lin and Chele.  My life has been so blessed.  I get to do what I love to do while helping other people get what they need.  Can it get any better??? YES it CAN.  My girls are doing superb in their lives as well.  My youngest daughter, Colleen Hoover, just published her 3rd book on Amazon, "Hopeless".  It is currently #4 in books on Amazon.  WOW.  Her first two books, Slammed and Point of Retreat were NYT Bestsellers and it looks like this one is on the way. She is very, very happy and thinking about her next book.

My oldest daughter, Lin Reynolds, called me today on her way to San Jose and Costa Rica to do a Volcano tour, Zip Lining, White water rafting, tons of excursions and Lazy days on the beach.  She is taking a 2 week vacation and having the time of her life with her husband.  She teaches at a College and is happier with this career choice and her life than she has ever been.

Who says praying doesn't work?????  I love my life and it is a joy to live it.  I put all my love into each and every product I make, and it is worth it when I get such great feedback from customers.  Thanks to all of you who have supported our efforts.  And if you ever need us to make something for you and your particular needs....just let us know, we will get out the books and work on it!  Have a very Merry Christmas, so something special for someone else, and then for yourself. Do Yoga.
Thyme to go cut the soap,
Vannoy

Soap Day at T3

Me and Chele working at T3 today.  Having fun and making more Soap!  Wish you were here, Lin.  Having fun and experimenting.  If you're in Saltillo...drop by!
Thyme to make soap,
vannoy and chele

T3 is up!

Welcome fellow Herbalists,
We have had a very productive few days....and it is on-going and never ceasing....here at Time To Thyme.  We have set up our distribution center.  It is homey, comfortable and most of all...HERBAL HEAVEN!  We have been busy making soaps with essential oils, decanting tinctures, bagging up lovely herb teas and many other fun projects.  We are getting ready for our debut day in Canton in November.  We are very excited and hope you all stop by our booth. 

My favorite thing this weekend, besides spending grueling, hardworking hours with my family, was to make some Calendula Oil.  This is what I will use in my never ending battle with Eczema.  I have been trying to get around to making some forever.  So this was my week to do it.  I can't wait for decanting day.  I will soak myself in that oil.  I will bathe in that oil.  That oil will be me!

If you are ever around Saltillo, and know where Colleen's old home was, then call/text me and I will meet you at T3 and give you a tour!  We have accomplished so much in just 2 weeks it's incredible.  You have to see the mala beads that Chele has spent so much time making.  They are so adorable...and they WORK!  (I know this because we wouldn't have our distribution center without many prayers said with these same beads!)

We have made numerous little bottles of tincture to help with everything from depression to poison ivy!  These are the same tincture recipies that people have used for thousands of years all over the world.  So we have a LOT of history that says YES they do work.  I am my biggest experimentor of tinctures and teas.  I love to use them on myself for every little thing (and every big thing too!)

We also worked (and tasted many times) several different tea blends to come up with some really great teas that not only taste good, but are good for you.  Some of the teas are for health, some are for healing, some are for calming and some are just cause they taste so good. You just can't beat that with a stick!

I found out that I have a great passion for soap making.  I love cooking it, choosing the molds, essential oils and colorings to add to the soaps.  I love watching them cure and looking at how pretty they are....but most of all I love USING them.  They make my skin feel so good, and they make me smell so good :)

Well, now that we have our center set up, our website updated (thank you LIN!) and are through spending all of our nights after work cleaning and arranging, it sure is fun to finally use the place and make some great products to share with you all.  Just visit our website and you can see all of the items we have developed here at Time to thyme.
Thyme to play,
vannoy

BIRTHDAY BLOG

Yea! Today is my birthday....so happy to have a ME day.  My sister got me a beautiful silver OM neclace.  I love it.  Today is all about ME.  I went out by the chicken coop this morning with my yoga mat and did my yoga with the chicken audience.  It was nice, breezy, and uplifiting.  I am watching the VERIA channell to fill my mind with herbal and yogic knowledge.  Reading some herb magazines, playing a wildcrafting game with my sister, making some mala beads, meditating, and drinking herbal iced tea.  What a perfect day.  Much love to you all....
Thyme to eat some birthday cheesecake,
vannoy

Natural Awakenings

Hello all!  We are so excited as we have an article published in Natural Awakenings magazine this month.  It is an article about our Time to Thyme kit and business.  We also have an ad in there.  It'so exciting to be on this new venture in our lives.  We hope to help everyone see how they can use herbs and green products to help with transitioning to a happier, safer, healthier life.

I have been canning and putting up herbs and veggies for the past few months.  Even though it is hot, hard work, it is so nice to see all those shiny jars full of yumminess when I go to the dining room each day.  I really am going to miss it.

More exciting things on the Horizon!  We will keep you posted.
Thyme to tend to the chickens,
vannoy

!What??????

So we are so in love with our website.  It is so pretty and useful.  We are going to incorporate a lot of educational information into it about growing, using and playing with herbs.  The amount of information out there about herbs is mind boggeling.  I hope to have a concise, informative and learning section on our website and anyone can go to if they have any questions about how an herb can be used.  The timetothyme.com website will be available to anyone to go into at anytime to not just buy kits to make their own home, health and beauty products...but to learn as much as anyone could ever want to learn about them. 

If anyone out there has any ideas about how to make our website better, just let us know and we will be happy to incorporate any useful ideas.  Lin called earlier today and a magazine contacted her and would like to do a feature article about our herbal products for their July issue.  I am keeping it a secret about which magazine it is until it is official.  But...... what the Butterfly????  So happy!

                                                            happy little garden visitor
thyme to drink some Hibiscus tea (thanks Susan!),
vannoy

TTT day has ARRIVED!

Today is one of the happiest days of my life.  I am writing to you with tears streaming down my face as it has been only minutes since the launch of a 25 year dream of mine....www.timetothyme.com/  my new business with my daughter and my sister.  We are developing kits using environmentally friendly, organic, and sustainable products to help people learn how easy it is to make herbal remedies, cleaning products, tinctures, teas, shampoos, decoctions, infusions, and the list is endless.

                                                                    Lamb's Ear

 Each month we will have a new kit and new products including the essential oils, herbs, jars, bottles, beeswax, etc needed to make your own products at home.  We have just had so many of our friends and family come to us through the years wanting to know how to make different remedies, products, and teas that we have used in our family for years and years.  So with a lot of thought, we came up with the first kit and now have it for sale on our website. 

Hopefully our kits will help others learn to make their own products and see just how easy it really is.  It is fun, educational and somehow just feels right when you are using products from the land to help out a family member or a friend.  I hope you give it a try and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Thyme to go to my website and smile,
vannoy
www.timetothyme.com/

Bex's legs

I just have to say how much I LOVE that homemade laundry detergent.  It is easy to make and smells so good.  I have made some with Orange essential oil, Lavendar essential oil, Rose essential oil and Pine essential oil (for Vance).  The possiblities are limitless.  I also noticed that I haven't had to bleach my wash cloths (all white) since I began using this stuff!  Now that is a true test of its strength.  Yet, it is made with very few chemicals and mostly natural ingrediants.  I just love it.  I am on my last gallon now, so next weekend I will be making 4 more gallons (and giving 1/2 of them away).  If you haven't tried making any yet, you really should.

Sundays are sad when it hits that 4pm mark.  Time to start getting ready for the next day.  And that is so hard to do since I can't bring myself to come into the house when it starts getting cool outside.  The herbs are all flowering and it's just a joy to walk around outside.  The boys were over so we had a great game of baseball tonight.  I think Levi cheats...I'm just saying!

I made such a good veggie meal tonight.  I bought some of those Steam In bags.  They are great.  All weekend when I made salads or anything using veggies, I would just get my steam in bag out of the fridge and add a handful of onion, bell peppers, squash, whatever I had to the bag and put it back in the fridge.  Then tonight when I was ready to fry up some green tomatoes for Vance, I just threw the steam in bag in the microwave for 5 minutes, went outside and picked some Thyme and Lemon Balm and chopped them up and added to the steamed veggies...pure heaven.  I think those bags are the best things since microwave ovens.

My grandson came over last night, and apparently he got into a fire ant mound.  He had these huge bites on his legs that look infected.  You know how some kids just react so badly to ant bites? He is one of those.  So I put some salve on his bites that I had made last month, and it looks SO much better today.  He kept showing me, so I guess it feels better too.  Poor little thing.
Thyme to get ready for Monday,
vannoy

Good to be Home

We went to the mountains for our family reunion...and WHAT A GOOD TIME was had by all.  We ate tons of food, drank good wine, and hiked everywhere.  My sister and I went hiking and found us some Mullein growing by a river.  We don't have any mullein growing around us, so it was a nice surprise.  Lots of wild herbs that we spied just growing along the river.  We had taken our "wild flower Identification" books with us.  We found many wild herbs and plants that we don't have here in Northeast Tx.  Such a great memorable time. 

A great time was had by all and we can't wait to go back next year.
Thyme to unpack,
vannoy

We have CHICKENS!

We have been working here at the farm to build a chicken coop for about 6 months.  We finally got it done.  I went to my neighbors house and tried to buy some chicks, but he gave me four little banties.  Great Guy!  I love him forever for my little babies.  The chicks did get out and we had to reinforce the pen, but now they are happy and have their little routines.

I have been working on a few things out of the Herb Garden this weekend.  First, after going on our family reunion, 1/2 of the family has come down with bad cases of Poison Ivy.  I have put lots of chopped up Sage into jars and covered with Apple Cider Vinegar.  This, I will shake daily and after 2 weeks I will give each family a jar of this to use in the future for their itch and pain relief. 

                                                                             Sage
The other thing I am working on is an Echinacea Tincture.  I love tinctures and use them for everything.  The other night I ran into a screen door (my body was running into the house, but the door tried to stop me!) I split my eyebrow open, blood, bruising, swelling and pain.  I almost knocked myself unconcious.  I put some tincture on my eye that night and the next morning I went to work and no one even noticed that I had almost killed myself the night before! There was only one tiny little spot where the brow had split open...the bruising, swelling and pain were completely gone.  I just can't get enough of tinctures.  So I am harvestng my Echinacea for allergy season coming up in a couple of months.  Love the tinctures.

                                                                         Echinacea
I hope you're all having a good time with your herbs, but right now it's
Thyme to chicken,
vannoy

Surprises...YES

I am very excited about the coming month of June.  There are surprises and huge ventures on the horizon.  It is an Herbalists dream come true.  I can't wait to share the excited news with everyone.  Today has started out such a beautiful day here in Northeast Tx.  It has been cool and breezy.  I tried watering all of my herbs today with the sprinkler and that water was blowing everywhere.  I have been drenched several times. 

                                                              Curley Parsley
The basil has so many flowers on all of the different plants.  I have been cutting the flowers back to encourage growth.  The Marigolds are reseeding and little tiny plants are coming up.  It has been so nice seeing such prolific growth on everything.  I did have to fight a giant wolf spider for the water bucket, but I won!

I made an herb salad this weekend.  It was very tasty.  I put some fresh zucchini, onions, tomatoes and lettuce from my garden, then added finely chopped basil, oregano, garlic chives, balms, mints, and everything else that looked good in it.  It was like a different salad with every bite.

My daughter wrote a couple of books this year..Slammed and Point of Retreat.  If you haven't read them, go to Amazon and look them up.  She has over a hundred 5 star reviews and is doing very well with them.  They are awsome books.  Her family lives next door to me, so I am waiting on my Grandsons to show up (like they do most days), and begin their Lego adventures in the play room.  I can't tell you how many Star Wars Lego constructions I have to admire on a daily basis.

                                                    Having fun at Nannie's
My fish are looking at me........they are hungry!

Well, I am taking many classes to become an Homeopathic Practitioner.  There are so many good schools to choose from when taking Herbal classes.  I encourage everyone to find classes that strike a passion in you and go ahead and sign up and go.  Just think of where you will be 5 years from now if you could get certified in something you love to do!

Time to study,
remember to remember today,
vannoy

Thyme to Tincture

Hey!  I have been having the best time.  I made up a bunch of tinctures a month or two ago, and was in the mood this weekend to decant them and put them in those cute little tincture bottles with medicince droppers.  I had the cutest labels made for the bottles.  The ingrediants are what has me really excited.  I am making a medicine cabinet for my family that is going to have tinctures for EVERYTHING in it.  So much better than store bought meds, and works so well and is so good for you.
My first tincture was simply Red Clover.  My husband loves red clover tea, he loves the taste of red clover and also the benefits.  It grows wild around here so me and the grandsons spent a few mornings gathering the flowers when I decided to make him some tinctures.  It turned out the prettiest blush color.  He was very happy about this gift.

My next tincture was called "nannie's brew".  It has Lemon Balm, Bee Balm and Thyme.  They all help reduce stress and promote relaxation....which I NEED.  I grow the Balms as they do what their name implies....... they are a balm to my soul.  The tincture looked like gold. It was so clear and beautiful, like champagne.  I think I'll have 1/2 a dropper full tonight in my tea.

                                                                  My Bee Balm
My next tincture is called "crazy stuff".  It is for crazy, insane, hectic, anxiety ridden days.  It has St. John's wort, Chamomile, and Valerian.  Now who could be anxious after taking a dropper of crazy stuff like that???  That is definitely a tincture to take at bedtime.

                                      My Lemon Balm and Bee Balm on the drying rack
So now that I have some of my tinctures decanted, it's time to make some more.  I am going to make some for the fall, like for colds, flue, hayfever, sore throats, ear aches, etc.  I will be ready when the family starts asking for medicine.  I will also throw a few in for viruses, stomach aches, arthritis and cramps.  I can't wait to go out to the garden tomorrow to see whats ready for me.  I saw that the Echinachea is beginning to flower as is the chamomile.  The yellow roses are abunant along with the Thyme.  I can't wait to throw a few things together and get 'em going. 

So it's Thyme to go now,
Remember to remember this Memorial Day,
vannoy

Sunday...Funday!

I am having a lot of fun today with my herbs.  Actually, I have been having fun all weekend.  The first thing I did was to make a homemade "Solar Powered Beeswax Filterer".  It looks like it is going to work out great.  I can't wait till the end of the day to look at the results.

I have chosen my herb of the day (maybe WEEK in this case) and it is Garlic.  We have been doing the mowing, weedeating and other landscaping activities in our yard and have mown around a LOT of garlic.  My husband's grandmother planted it here at the old homestead many, many years ago and we just inherited it.

Garlic has been widely known for centuries as an antiseptic, lowers blood pressure, and good for all respiratory ailments.  Garlic is used in cooking for its sweet, spicy, oniony flavor.  These flowers first appear inside thin paper, pointed coverings.  My daughters used to refer to them as "hats" when they were younger.  The garlic is actually under the ground and we dig it up in the summer.  We leave plenty of garlic in the ground so it can spread and give us more garlic the next year. 


Yesterday I made a tincture out of St. John's Wort, Chamomile and Valerian.  I had some of the herbs leftover so I made some tea and I had a cupful last night and slept like a BABY....it was great.  It tasted good too.  I really didn't expect it to taste that good due to the bitter taste of Chamomile, but it did.  Then this morning I woke up so energetic and have been running every since.

I plan on repackaging my dried herbs today to put them in glass containers outside of the light.  I am really getting a lot of dried herbs now and want to be sure to store them safely.  I love my herbs.  I hope you love your herbs too.  Today I am also going to research and make a linimint for my achey wrist.  I'll let you know how it turns out.
It's Thyme to cook lunch,
vannoy

Happy Mother's Day!  It has been a good one.  I had a relaxing and calming day and visited with my mother.  I got some really good presents from my daughters, one of them is a secret and I can't tell you about it yet and the other is an autographed book from E.L. James (Shades of Grey)!  I am lucky most of all to have two very wonderful daughters who make me very proud.

After I visited with my mom, I organized my herbal preperation space and then took two tests for my Homeopathic Practitioner Certification (90 and 95! dang Ginsing!)

I have been working and experimenting on Tinctures.  So has my daughter.  I have one that is for stomach pains, one that is for upper respiratory, one that is for calmness, one that is for energy and one that is "nannie's brew" and several others for different needs of our family.  The tinctures are in various stages of their processes.  I have most of them steeping in vodka, which is drawing the essential oils out of the herbs for about 6 weeks (some people leave them steeping in the agent for up to a year).

You can also use Apple Cider Vinegar or Vegetable glycerin as a drawing agent for herbs.  Those would work better for children or persons with a religious aversion to the alcohol.  But once they are steeped, strained and bottled, you would only take them by the eye dropper full when needed, so there would be no getting drunk!

Pic shows Thyme on the left.  I will get another better pic when it flowers.

My herb of the day is THYME.  Yes, I love and adore Thyme.  My favorite is Lemon Thyme.  Thyme has so many medicinal and culinary uses and even uses for beauty.  Thyme is delicious on salads, sandwiches, fish, chicken, pork, vegetable dishes and sometimes I just go out to the garden and graze on a piece or two of thyme.

Thyme when used in cooking aids in digestion.  When used in a tea or tincture, Thyme will soothe a sore throat and cure a hangover!  Thyme is so pretty with its delicate little leaves and tiny clusters of flowers.  It grows so easily and needs no other care than an occasional watering. 

Well, I will write about another favorite herb of mine tomorrow....until then...
it's thyme to cook,
vannoy

My first day as a blogger

Hi everyone,
This is my new blog about Herbs.  I have been an herb lover for over 25 years.  I love to use herbs in cooking, cleaning products, cosmetics and medicine.  I have had some huge successes with herbs, especially with my family and friends.  I love herb gardening and every aspect of herbs from seed to connsumption.  I will try to keep you posted with the recipies of some of my fav's.  Since it is midnight here, I think I will sleep on it and say a few malas about what herb I will talk about first.  Can you guess what it will be?
See you tomorrow with an herb update!
Thyme to sleep,
vannoy