Give yourself—and your feet—some pampering. Take the time to prepare a soothing and restorative herbal foot bath that will relax tired feet within minutes, gently stimulate blood circulation, and help recharge the spirit after a demanding and stressful day.

To make 2 (1-pint) bottles of bath salts:

1. With your fingers, carefully remove delicate petals, one by one, from fresh roses.

2. Gently remove rosemary leaves and lavender blossoms from sprigs.

3. Place Epsom salts in nonmetallic bowl. Top with rose petals, rosemary, and lavender.

4. Using a glass or plastic dropper, slowly drip lavender oil over Epsom salts, leaves and blossoms.

5. Using a spoon, carefully mix together ingredients in bowl. Then, thoroughly stir in a rapid motion to distribute evenly.

6. Pour bath salts into attractively shaped glass bottles and seal with tight-fitting lid or stopper.

7. For one foot bath, pour 3 tablespoons of bath salts into 1 quart of very hot water. Let the mixture cool to the temperature you desire.


Variation
Instead of rosemary, mix the same quantity of small thyme leaves into the salts. You can also replace the lavender with lemon verbena. To give bath salts as a gift, choose an interestingly shaped bottle and decorate it with a gift card or label that gives directions for use. Add a soft, plush washcloth, and top with colored ribbon or raffia.

Tips

• You’ll find both fresh and dried lavender and rosemary as well as lavender oil at many health food stores and at shops that sell herbs and spices. Epsom salts are readily available at any pharmacy.
• Mix all the components together rapidly, but gently, to avoid crushing the blossoms. Do not use a wooden spoon; it will absorb the lavender oil.
• To store the bath salts, pour into a large dark-glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid.