Spring. One word, and you’ve called to mind a host of sensations: birdsong, warm sun, fragrant wildflowers. Unfortunately, as much as we would like to ramble down White Dot trail or paint up on Mount Monadnock, we’re often constrained to “wasting the golden hours indoors, washing windows and scrubbing floors,” as Claude McKay once wrote in his aptly named poem, “Spring in New Hampshire.”
But spring cleaning can also become a chance to showcase our artistic talents and our love of nature if we incorporate homemade essential oils into the mix. Look into the best essential oils for spring.
DIY Essential Oil Blends
Since most people buy premade essential oils, we don’t usually think of it as a DIY activity. But a set of essential oils can become artist tools when you decide to make essential oil blends. These blends combine multiple oils to create new and exciting scents that compound the benefits of the different oils. To make a blend, just add two drops of two or more oil types into your diffuser at once.
Pro Tip: Make Your Own Oils
You can extract your own essential oils with distillation or ethanol extraction equipment. Both methods will allow you to extract a variety of oils, but distillation won’t work on some varieties of plants. That’s why many essential oil aficionados prefer ethanol extraction. All you need to do is start an aromatherapy garden to grow the plants you want to smell.
The Best Spring Essential Oils
If essential oil blends are a painting, your individual oils are your paints. When you know your oils well, you can create a masterpiece that will bring springtime into your home. Here are a few options:
Lavender
Lavender isn’t just an essential oil—it’s the quintessential oil that everyone uses, and for good reason. This floral, springy scent can help relax the mind and soothe the senses, aiding with sleep, stress relief, and even nausea and menstrual cramps. It also possesses anti-inflammatory and antihistamine properties, making it a good choice for those battling seasonal allergies.
Geranium
Beautiful pink and red geranium blossoms are a welcome sight in our gardens, and they have plenty to offer inside the home, too. Geranium offers benefits just like lavender, including stress relief. But it also acts as an antibacterial, helping boost your spring cleaning regimen.
Cedarwood
If you want to channel the woods beyond your garden, cedarwood is the perfect scent to add to your springtime essential oil blend. Cedarwood is a grounding scent that helps relax those who smell it and can help prevent bacterial infection. Additionally, it may help repel moths, fleas, and ticks.
Lemon
Even though people associate lemons with summer more than spring, the fresh, clean scent makes a good complement to other spring scents, especially in a blend. Lemon essential oils can boost your mood and help purify the air.
Many of the wellness practitioners in the Monadnock Region sell or can point you in the direction of quality essential oils. Enjoy the uplifting benefit of essential oils in all aspects of your daily life!
