Welcome to the Nature on the shelf website
The rush and pressure of modern life, combined with shops crammed with everything, has led to the situation that we often do not even try making things by ourselves. Instead, we simply buy everything we need. As a result, much of our ancestors’ knowledge about handmade preparation of various products is almost forgotten. Industrial development and a growing demand for inexpensive products have replaced more expensive natural ingredients with cheaper (or even synthetic) ones in many commercial products. Today, artificial ingredients are used in industrial production on a regular basis, so they can be found in almost everything. Yet, a lot of people do not want to eat foods containing artificial ingredients or treat their skin with synthetic products. This is why the demand for natural and handmade products of superior quality has rapidly increased. Handmade/homemade natural products are highly valued today and reach high prices on the market. In the customer’s mind, a handmade product usually means good quality. Fortunately, with a little research and learning, any of us can make most of such products at their own home. As a bonus, such homemade-handmade products will be of top-quality, while the used ingredients will cost significantly less than the same products at the shops. Those people who enjoy making handmade products themselves see no reason for buying any commercial products.
If you organize your life in such a way that you make food and skin care products for your family by yourselves, you will be able to control the quality of ingredients and thus make sure to use the best and most luxurious products possible.
On this website we will be presenting various ingredients and products that can be made at home. The ingredients used are simple and probably already found on your kitchen shelves or grown in your garden. Most of the products are made entirely from natural or predominately natural ingredients which come straight from nature, or which are processed as little as possible.
We do not attempt to claim that either all handmade products are good or all industrially-made ones are bad, simply because – it is not true! Sometimes, the use of industrial or laboratory equipment is necessary for processing certain natural products in order to achieve good quality or meet the safety requirements. There are natural products which are impossible to make without special devices (e.g. imagine making an absolute or spray-dried extract in your kitchen!). However, many products of superior quality still can be made in your own kitchen by simple processing of natural ingredients. An extra bonus is if you can obtain them from your garden, because it means significant savings. It is exactly the natural products as described that are the subject of this website. So, the main goal of this website is to share ideas, techniques, recipes, tips and tricks on homemade products from your kitchen manufactured from ingredients grown in your garden.
Nature on the shelf website is dedicated to nature-loving people who are interested in natural products, plants and herbs, the ways of their processing at home and the possibilities to use them in handmade products. The articles on this website deal mainly with natural products, plants, botanicals, natural ingredients and plant-based homemade natural products. With the aim of providing thorough information, here you can also find details about certain products of animal origin and man-made products which are common ingredients of homemade products.
Our Natural ingredients category deals with various natural ingredients that are used in making handmade products, such as natural cosmetics (skin care, hair care), handmade soaps and similar products. Here you can also find tips for the preparation of simple homemade natural ingredients from affordable and easily obtainable materials (mostly plants) using equipment that can be found in almost every kitchen.
The Handmade cosmetics category offers information, recipes, and guidelines for making handmade personal care products. There are many cosmetic products that can be made at home using mainly natural, food-grade ingredients. Here you can find inspiration for making handmade skin care, hair care, bath & body products, and the like.
The Soap making category is dedicated to the stunning hobby and craft of making handmade soaps ‘from scratch’. It is focused mainly on cold process soap making, and the aim is to provide information that can help your better understanding of various soap-making methods, ingredients, and their interactions. Here you can find information about oils, butters, colorants, scents and various soap-making additives. Also, we will share our experiences, tests, successes, failures and personal observations in cold process soap making. Hopefully, inexperienced beginners will find useful information on these pages, and those who are already into soap making will find examples to compare with their own experiences.
Our Food and drinks category covers mainly various ways of homemade processing and preservation of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Here you can find various recipes for making homemade fruit and floral syrups, non-alcoholic cordials and fruit drink concentrates (also called squashes), liqueurs, preserves, fermented foods and drinks, and various methods for their processing and preserving.