blog 6 Smudge sticks
Making Smudge Sticks
As many of you know by now, we have a rather large garden (at least by Dutch standards). It’s not just filled with dye plants and fruit trees, but also with a whole variety of herbs.
Every year, a few of those herbs get a little carried away and grow into something worthy of Jack’s beanstalk. Rosemary, mint, lemon balm, and sage are the main culprits here.
Of course, you can simply harvest the herbs and use them in the kitchen, or make a tisane (herbal tea). But sometimes there’s just too much. So much that I often give bunches away — with five of us, we just can’t use it all!
What I also like to do is make smudge sticks from them. These are little bundles of different herbs that you burn like natural incense. And they’re very easy to make yourself! All you need is a handful of fresh herbs, a piece of cotton string, and maybe some pruning scissors.
I always pick the herbs on a sunny, dry day. After harvesting, I lay the sprigs outside in the sun for a little while so any insects can crawl away. While the herbs are still fresh, I tie them tightly together with the string to form a small bundle. I make sure the string is snug and leave a bit at the end so I can hang the bundle up to dry. After a few weeks, the herbs are nicely dried, and the smudge stick is ready to use.
You can burn them to cleanse a room, repel mosquitoes, or simply to fill your home with a lovely scent.
Each herb has its own properties:
• Lavender is calming.
• Sage purifies and cleanses spaces.
• Rosemary is uplifting and energising.
A quick internet search will tell you more about the specific qualities of different herbs.
When burning a smudge stick indoors, always ventilate the space well and hold a small dish (or better yet, a seashell) underneath to catch the ash — that way you’ll avoid ash falling on your floor or furniture.
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Happy autumn! 🍂
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