It’s Cold (Season) Out There!

By Lauren Johnson

The weather's been warming up a bit lately, but it’s still cold season, which means thinking twice about touching doors and grocery carts with bare hands. And with the cold air sucking the moisture out of every crevice of your body, like me, you may find yourself in moisturizer overdrive. My biggest winter issue is dry lips, but with colds coming and going, I’m always wary about germs collecting on my chapstick.

Fortunately, I found a product that kills two birds with one stone. Honey House Propolis Salve (.85 oz.) shares a dual purpose in that is can be used as a skin salve as well as a lip balm. The bonus is that propolis (which bees make by combining the resins of poplar and conifer trees, beeswax, and pollen) has an acidic pH, which causes it to possess anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties.

Not only does this product soothe the driest skin and lips, it has a delicious warm honey aroma that will make you want to put on the kettle for a cup of tea.

Honey House Propolis Salve
Ingredients: Olive oil, calendula*, plantain, comfrey root, raw honey, beeswax, propolis, and vitamin E *organic, honeygardens.com to order, or for store locations

Homemade Beauty, Part I: Sugar, Sugar

By Brianne Harrison

Many of us are in full-on recessionista mode, trying to trim spending wherever we can. Since I, like so many others, spend quite a bit of money supporting the multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry, I started to think that that might be an area I could save a little by rolling up my sleeves and making my own. As it turns out, I was right: you can make a startling number of beauty products yourself; in many cases, using ingredients you already have in your home!

I started simple with a sugar scrub that turned out to be luscious and quite effective. You can easily adapt this recipe to suit your tastes—take out the cocoa for a straight-up sugar scrub, add some lemon or orange zest, or the essential oil of your choice—the possibilities are endless!

Chocolate Sugar Scrub
1 c natural sugar (you can substitute white or brown as well, particularly if you have some brown sugar that’s dried up and can’t really be used for baking anymore)
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
A few drops of the essential oil of your choice (I recommend lavender, vanilla, orange, or peppermint)
Enough light olive oil or grapeseed oil to make a paste (about 4 T)

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly to combine. Store in a jar or Tupperware container (this doesn’t need to be refrigerated). Use liberally in the shower to slough off dead skin, especially on rough areas like elbows and knees.

Since this is made with all natural ingredients, you can also use it as a (delicious!) lip scrub.

On Every Street

By Judith Garfield

On almost every street in Manhattan you can buy fruit, vegetables, souvlaki, earrings, socks, batteries, and pashminas. On my street/dirt road, I can buy honey and eggs. Self service. Take your honey and leave your money in the coffee can. And although I know local honey has properties that will help my allergies, I miss those earrings.

How did I get here? Here are the facts.

1. I met my husband when we were 16 at the Jersey shore
2. He drove without a license. It should have raised a red flag
3. It didn’t
4. We’re still together
5. We raised two beautiful daughters in Manhattan and I never had any inclination to move
6. I live in New Jersey
7. On a horse farm
8. In a charming old farmhouse (so my husband tells me)
9. In a charming town (charm is highly overrated)
10. Where no one will deliver dinner to me

If I want to eat, I have to drive. It’s twenty minutes to a banana. I always buy too many and watch them languish on the windowsill. I really wanted to give you a recipe for honey banana bread, but there was just too much mixing and measuring involved for the loveless cook.

So instead here’s a great idea for a relaxing beauty treatment. An egg and honey mask. You will need
* 1 egg
* 1 tsp. honey
* 1 tsp. olive oil

Mix one egg yolk, one tsp of honey, and a tsp. of olive oil. Smooth on and leave for fifteen minutes. Rinse in lukewarm water and pat dry.


My skin is soft and glowing. I look radiant and youthful. S. is taking care of dinner tonight so I can relax. I make a pot of coffee and gaze out at my lovely farm/money pit.

I feel content.

Until I realize I’m out of half and half.