It All Began in a Garden: A Practical Guide to God's Gift of Essential Oils

By Dawn Camp

Natural Living Starts with God
 
Essential oils are rapidly growing in popularity due to their many physical and emotional health benefits. What the world has forgotten is these natural remedies have been around since the beginning and were given to us by God for our greater well-being.
 
This practical and informative guide featuring beautiful photography from Dawn Camp introduces you to 52 essential oils and their vast array of uses, including pain and stress relief, aiding in weight loss, increasing focus and memory, and much more! You will discover easy DIY recipes for homemade scrubs, balms, and lotions, and inspiration and encouragement from Dawn throughout.  
 
Rediscover the good things God created and nurture your physical and spiritual health with this one-of-a-kind resource.  
 
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780736979597

Dawn Camp

Dawn Camp is a camera-toting, homeschooling mother of eight children and the editor of The Heart of Marriage, The Gift of Friendship, and The Beauty of Grace. She writes for (in)courage and blogs about family, faith, and Photoshop at MyHomeSweetHomeOnline.net. She currently resides with her family in Atlanta, Georgia.

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BASIL

The Essentials: aromatic, topical, internal, hot; avoid during pregnancy

If you thought basil was only a cooking herb, you might be surprised by the many practical uses of this popular oil. Essential oils are more potent than fresh herbs and more convenient to stock. For some recipes, you’ll need very little: Simply swirl a toothpick in the oil to stir it into your recipe.

Wisdom from the Garden

Basil oil—steam distilled from the plant—makes a flavorful addition to pasta sauces, salads, or any recipe where you would use the herb. It has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties¹ and has been demonstrated to effectively inhibit common forms of multidrug-resistant bacteria.² Basil can increase mental alertness³ and is commonly diffused for that purpose and is included in roll-ons for focus. Basil supports your respiratory and immune systems, soothes insect bites, relieves head tension, and can be combined with a carrier oil to create a muscle massage. Nursing mothers swear by basil for increasing milk supply (dilute and rub topically on the breast, away from the nipple, or take internally); however, it should be avoided during pregnancy. Basil can be used in the treatment of acne.⁴ For menopausal women, it can increase estrogen levels and relieve hot flashes when mixed with a carrier oil and applied to the bottom of the feet or the back of the neck.⁵ Basil is a hot oil that can irritate sensitive skin, so dilute well for topical application.

The fresh, herbaceous aroma of basil blends well with bergamot, geranium, lavender, or lemongrass in a diffuser.

Refreshment for Body and Spirit

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to trade places with one of my great-grandmothers. I’ve raised eight children with modern conveniences: dishwasher, washing machine, air-conditioning, and a progression of vans from mini to maxi and now down to an SUV. My mother’s two great-grandmothers each mothered a brood of nine without the perks that technology affords me, but they did so in what seems at first glance to be a simpler time. Common sense tells me they lived with different pressures, but pressures just the same. I’ve never depended on the work of my family’s and my hands to feed us or gone without access to a modern grocery store. My great-great-grandmothers didn’t raise children under constant vigilance to protect them from online predators and stresses. I’ve never delivered a baby into a world where infant mortality was common and without access to modern medicine. They never stayed up well into the night, under a deadline, eyes and fingers glued to a computer, seeking words to encourage readers they may never