Natural Air Freshners on our Wood Stove

Our wood stove has been running all day long with temps outside hanging around 40 degrees. With that said, I decided to try a natural air freshner. I've read some online about different herbs being placed in water and slowly heated to release their aromatic properties.

I tried cinnamon and cloves, this lasted a couple days on top of the stove. It smelled nice.

I tried the lavender I picked this summer. It lasted a day. At first it was very aromatic, then it just stopped.

I plan to try out the rosemary from our plant growing in our cockpit, and in time I'll have all sorts of herbs to freshen the air in our musty old boat!

Herbs Growing in our Marina

I've been walking our dog everyday for the past two months in the marina admiring various gardens along the trail, never once picking anything. One day I threw the ball and it landed next to these big Purple bushes right in the middle of the gardens near the boat launch area. The smell over powered me, voila there in front of me were hundreds of plants full of purple blooms, it was Lavender. I picked some, then came home and read about what to do with them. At this point, I'm drying them out and saving the good smelling buds, thinking about what to do with them. What a wonderful surprise! 

The next day we were walking back from a trip to town and voila, there were more herbs in the gardens near the front of the marina. I'm not sure if I was just more aware after running into the Lavender that lead me to these ones or that everything is now blooming, either way I am glad I found them. I noticed they've also planted some strawberries, blueberries, and squash. It is fun walking about picking various herbs. I love to pick the basil and rosemary then cook with them. The fresh herbs taste the best!

Below is a picture of my fresh pickings of:

Lavender

Basil

Rosemary