Made with Love in Colorado

$30

Rice Bags

Warming rice bags are wonderful! Once you have one of your own, you won’t remember what you did without it. They are beautiful, simple, and endlessly comforting.

I make all my rice bags with removable covers. My children sleep with theirs nightly and–especially during cold season–it seems only natural to want to toss them in with sheets and blanket for regular laundering.

I begin by sewing a sturdy, 100% cotton liner, filling it with rice, then double stitching it closed. I will occasionally add organic roses or lavender from my garden when available, but essential oil benefits fade with time so I more often use plain rice.

Covers are made with sturdy, soft 100% cotton flannel and fit snugly, but are easily removed. Patterns and colors vary.

Rice bags are great on sore backs, shoulders, cold feet, arthritic hands, bellies, and more. Toss one under your covers on chilly nights before crawling into bed. They’re wonderful for soothing menstrual cramps and soothe bellyaches, too. Kids love to snuggle with them on cold nights and mornings. I often give these as children’s birthday gifts and, more than once, siblings have demanded one of her or his own!

I use rice bags regularly in my massage practice as a therapeutic tool. Applying heat softens tissues, increases circulation, and invites medicine, (e.g. topically applied arnica oil) deeper into the body. Heat feels comforting and adds a nice touch to any massage session, especially if you are one of my many clients whose feet get chilly on the table.

TO USE: microwave rice bag (with cover on) for about 3 minutes. Experiment with the time. Usually 2 – 4 minutes is sufficient. Do not overheat. Place it anywhere you want moist, long lasting heat. Your rice bag will remain hot/warm for close to one hour. I’ve noticed that by the end of a massage my rice bag is usually still warm enough to be comforting.

$30 • 2 ounces

Desert Sage “Perfect” Face Creme

This is my absolute favorite face cream! I have used Rosemary Gladstar’s much beloved Perfect Face Creme recipe as my starting point, and adjusted it to my own liking and scent. This blend is especially suited to our extreme Colorado dryness, high altitude, sun and wind.

This lotion is the perfect 50/50 blend of oil and water, expertly combined to give it a very rich, but quickly absorbed quality. Its ingredient list is full of good-for-you waters and oils (aloe vera, vitamin E, rose water, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, beeswax and a balancing essential oil to name a few.) It is truly nourshing for your face, and affordable enough to use on your entire body. Cream has an oily feel at first, but it settles quickly into the epidermal layer of your skin, deeply nourishing and protecting the dermal layer from moisture loss. Your skin will feel smoother, be more supple and hydrated and the goodness lasts all day.

The only “rule” about this cream, writes Rosemary, is that it cannot be used with any negative thoughts about the body it’s being used on. This, she says, is part of the cream’s magic (Well, then. Amen!)

Oh! The new label! “Desert Sage” feels like the perfect name for my homemade goods. For one, I have a long standing love affair with the common plant, artemisia tridentata (commonly called desert sage, or big sage brush) and I love the play on words. Wise, earthy, simple and effective. These are the qualities I hope these gifts and goods convey. 

Thank you God, thank you life, thank you land, thank you kids, thank you Ben (who incidentally bundled long stalks of big sage brush with me within weeks of living here!) thank you River, thank you daughters Phoebe and Willoree, and thank you friends old and new.