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As much as we would wish otherwise, the holidays end up being a stressful time for many of us. In many ways, it feels like it has gotten harder with the advent of social media and platforms such as Pinterest, where we all can feel like we are hopeless crafters together. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Pinterest and I have found many inspirations for projects, but it is so easy to get discouraged when my results aren’t anywhere close to picture perfect. (Enter, Etsy.) For me, once the result becomes more important than the experience, it is easy to lose the pleasure of the holiday.

We start school early in my part of the country, and my daughter is already in to her second week of school. It’s been a rough transition this year, with a longer school day and more expectations in second grade. Her biggest complaint each day when she gets off the bus, is how loud the other children in her classroom are. We did our best to get her on a realistic schedule prior to the start of school (while still cramming in as much fun as we could) and are still finding out a way to strike a balance between the responsibilities and letting her blow of steam and just be a kid for a bit.

As I’m sure most people know by now, my dad has sold his house and is making the move that both my brother and I have made to Ohio. I am very excited to have most of my family local to me once again, and thrilled that my kids get to grow up with a larger circle of family close by. Even with his scheduled move, we are committed to keeping Benedictine Healing Products open and located in Santa Cruz, and we have spent the better part of the last three months figuring out the best way to accomplish that. We understand that we have a base of very loyal customers who depend on and value our handcrafted products from our family run business and we’ve made these decisions with all of you in our minds.

As much as we would wish otherwise, the holidays end up being a stressful time for many of us. In many ways, it feels like it has gotten harder with the advent of social media and platforms such as Pinterest, where we all can feel like we are hopeless crafters together. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Pinterest and I have found many inspirations for projects, but it is so easy to get discouraged when my results aren’t anywhere close to picture perfect. (Enter, Etsy.) For me, once the result becomes more important than the experience, it is easy to lose the pleasure of the holiday.

If you are anything like us at BHP, the holidays seem to be filled up running to one special event after another. Invariably, the sweets are too tempting and many times they wreck havoc with how we feel. Our reactions are different for each of us, which is why we decided to put together a holiday special of our digestive products. Three of our best at an amazing price! They will take care of any of your tummy problems, from burping, to gas, to reflux.

Many of you may know that our wonderful co-worker Sue is currently on pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago and has been since early September. For anyone following her instagram feed @suegeorge322, you will be familiar with the beauty of her photos and her inspiring messages as she moves along her path.

I wanted to get back to our common herb posts. Each time I write one of these, I am amazed all over again at how many benefits the common herbs we find in our gardens have. This truly is a testament to eating fresh, varied, whole foods instead of packaged, processed, boxed crap.

Making your own simple tinctures is easy and relatively straightforward. It is a way to concentrate the healing properties of the herbs in question and make the finished product shelf stable. Alcoholic tinctures will last years if stored properly and all you need are a few simple pieces of equipment to complete the process.

I know there are people out there that take pleasure in the act of exercising, but I’m not one of them. I like the results, I feel better after I’m done, but when I exercise with no other reason than my health and knowing that I should, it’s not the most fun thing I’ve ever done. My mom had similar feelings about exercise. She knew it was a cornerstone to her health, but she didn’t love doing it. For her, when she was tired or busy, exercise was the easiest thing to push back. I think for many of us, exercise feels like a chore, rather than a genuine pleasure but there are ways to improve your experience.

Summer has screamed by once again and my daughter is all set to start first grade tomorrow. We met her teacher yesterday, dropped her school supplies off, and did a final round of school lunch supply shopping. We start early compared to most of the country, and have been madly trying to cram as much fun into our last few days as possible. In between the fun, there are a few things that we as parents can do to prep our kids and boost their immune systems prior to the first day of school. Here are a few suggestions that may help your child get ready for their first day of school.