The holidays are here, and we're in full festive swing here at Escents. We've worked hard to bring you some great deals as you work through your shopping list and we're already looking ahead to 2012.

 

We're really excited to be partnering with Strut Wines this holiday season to bring you very special samples of our Sultry Shimmer Lotion. Earlier this month, more than 20,000 of these samples appeared on bottles of Strut Wines in select liquor stores in BC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, along with a fabulous money-saving coupon that can be used in our stores or online. We love Strut because it represents what we talk about all the time here at Escents; that we want our customers to be their best at anything they choose to do, and "strut their stuff" as they do.

 

The lotion is scented with Sultry, a woody, seductive, floral blend of Howood and Jasmine, and we think you'll agree that it's a beautiful fragrance to dress up any holiday outfit.

 

The shimmer in the lotion was carefully developed over the past year using the mineral mica for sparkle, with a blend of jojoba oil, shea butter, avocado oil, and aloe vera to create a seductive lotion we're sure you're going to love.

 

Next time you're preparing for date night with someone special or a fun evening with friends, reach for Strut and a sample of our new Sultry Shimmer Lotion before you strut your stuff! If you fall for the sample, we do have full-size bottles available in store or online, as well.

 

When the time comes to say goodbye to a beloved diffuser, customers usually wonder about the best way to dispose of this old friend. At Escents Aromatherapy, we are committed to environmental sustainable practices and invite our customers to join the ride!

 

On October 20, 2011, all eight of our stores introduced a new recycling program, the Unplugged Small Appliances Recycling Program.  This is a non-profit program to ensure that your old diffusers will not end up in landfills but go through a proper process that ensures the recyclable materials of the machine will be recycled in the most practical way possible.

 

This program is not only new to the province, but to the country. It is the only small appliances recycling program that is recognized by British Columbia.

 

The next time you visit Escents and purchase an electronic diffuser, you will notice a “diffuser fee” ranging from $0.25 to $2.25 (depending on the diffuser model) added to the purchase price of your machine. This fee is to fund the program and keep it running so it can serve its purpose of making sure we, as consumers, do our part in preserving the environment.

 

There are over 100 recycling drop-off locations across the province for your convenience. Please visit Unplugged Small Appliances Recycling Program for more information about this new initiative and where you can dispose your old diffuser.

 

-Hope (Escents Richmond Centre)

My Garden and what it means to me....... In 2004 I was diagnosed with a rare illness. The name of which is HSP (Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia) which is a fancy name for "my legs don't work".....It has other ramifications too. One is gardening. I haven't been able to garden in the years since diagnosis. Although I waited a long time for a 'stand up' style garden, so I could stand up to garden, and I was worried that the standing would be too much and I would suffer pain. That has Not been the case. I am thrilled to say that I have NEVER, ever experienced any pain whatsoever, while I am working in my garden. Further, gardening has brought a joy into my life, that I missed desperately having grown up on a wheat farm in Canada. The efforts that have to be made , the research to grow the most appropriate plants, all have lead to hours and hours of peace, contentment, fun and gleeful excitement and anticipation. I have grown beets (beet pickles), green beans (drunken sailor pickles), lettuce, garlic, parsley, mint, basil, potatoes, radishes, spinach, broccoli, cucumbers and even pumpkins. It is a small garden (about 3' x 12') so I am very judicious in the number of seeds I use and plants grown....It truly is amazing how much food you can grow from a small space. In this world today, it is important to me and to others that we utilize every opportunity we have to produce our own food. Because I don't have a picture from this year's garden, I'm attaching a number from last year's garden, although this years garden got off to a slow start in due to the weather, it has produced just as vigorously as in the past.

 

 

 

 

Here are a few more entries from our Way to Grow contest - we're posting a lot of them and announcing all the winners later this week - we promise!  Enjoy!

 

This is actually a photograph of my daughter with my favourite flower - a bleeding heart. The reason I’m picturing her instead of myself (aside from her being so cute), is that she was named after my great gramma and it’s memories of her that make a bleeding heart so special to me. One spring when I was a little girl, my gramma came to visit and she brought a bleeding heart to put into my family’s garden. After planting it, my gramma plucked a flower and sat us down with her in the yard. As she pulled apart the flower, she told us the tragic little love story that’s within a bleeding heart... It’s about a prince who fell deeply in love with a beautiful princess. The prince asks her hand in marriage and she denies him. He begins to bring her gifts to win her heart. The first is two magical pink bunnies, the second is a lovely pair of dangly earrings and the third is a pair of Oriental slippers (all the gifts are represented with pieces of the flower). After each gift, the princess denies him still. The prince was so heartbroken that he takes a sword (also represented by a piece of the flower) and drives it into his own heart. ...I remember being so enchanted by this story and the perfect little props that I wanted to keep plucking off the flowers so my gramma could tell it to me again and again. This spring I decided to pass on the story to my daughter and got a bleeding heart for our patio garden. Luckily I took this shot before sharing the story with her. Shortly after I did the majority of these flowers went missing as she attempted to retell the story again and again while my back was turned. The bleeding heart lived on higher ground for the remainder of the season.

 

 

 

I always thought that I didn't have a "green thumb" so I kept away from plants, flowers .. Gardening on the whole. This summer I really wanted my front yard to look colourful and there was only one way to achieve that. I had to plant some flowers. I went to my nearby nursery and picked up a few flowers of no special order. I just need to at least try and so I did. Surprisingly I grew a very colourful "garden" and I am very pleased at my first try.

-Moren Hinds

 

 

This summer I was staying at my mother's condo and with that my gardening was limited to cemeteries and potted plants. That didn't, however, stop me from pulling over my car, grabbing my camera and taking photos of other people's plant and flowers. This picture of a hibiscus was actually taken in the back parking lot of the condominium complex I was staying at. It was well hidden from view and was so perfect that I feel quite delighted at having found it. -Sandra Withrow Every year, I prune my grape vines. I only have three. And every summer, they take over the entire side yard & creep up across the fence to visit the neighbours. The yard can be sizzling hot but the size & amount of leaves keep the side yard nice and shady. They produce small wine grapes, but never enough for me to make any wine. So I eat them & they're delicious. Just to see them grow from a few canes to a lush green canopy every year is so rewarding.

 

 

Please find attached my picture of our first picking of zucchini from our garden.  This year has been particular trying compared to past years for various reasons.

The weather was not kind as it was either too hot, too dry or too wet.
We have simple tastes and don't change the variety of food we grow.
Luckily we do freeze, can, jam and bake then freeze to preserve the abundant harvest when we get it.

This year was also special as I had the run of the garden with minimal supervision.  I sowed, transplanted, weeded, tied up and harvested most of the garden by myself.  The fact that we had any basil, thyme, dill, parsley, summer savoury, romaine lettuce, spinach, gai lan (Chinese broccoli), beans, beets, sunflowers, zucchinis, pumpkins, strawberries and blueberries is a result of my learning and consulting with others.

It's unfortunate I also had more days and nights away in August than I usually do.  The garden suffered with little to no water or tending for many days and nights.

Despite the neglect, some plants flourish regardless.  The first pick of zucchinis in my attached picture is a testament to that.  We'll be sure to plant these again next year.