My mother used to tie dried lavender flowers into squares of cloth to make little lavender pouches and then she tucked them into her shoes. Not only did this freshen her footwear, it also meant that every time anyone opened her closet door, the lovely, calming scent of lavender drifted out into the room. This botanical shoe-freshening method was a charming fix for her professional office shoes, but wouldn’t have been enough for the boots and shoes I wear to work in my yard or to go hiking in. At the end of a long winter day outside in the Western Oregon rain and mud, my rubber homestead boots and hearty hiking boots need more than a freshener; they need a deodorizer. That’s where this time-tested, natural boot and shoe deodorizer is a godsend. It works on the same principle as the lovely lavender packets my mother used, but brings the deodorizing power of baking soda, rosemary, and sage to the task.
You can absolutely make your own cloth bags for this deodorizing powder—just cut a square or a round of cloth at least six inches in diameter so that you have excess fabric. Put the herbal powder material in the middle, pull all the edges of the cloth up together, and then loop a string or ribbon firmly around the bunched cloth several times to bind it together and close the opening. Make sure to tie the string securely so it doesn’t open in your boots. Voilà, one shoe deodorizer pouch. However, reusable cotton muslin bags make the process even easier!
Makes enough for 6 shoe deodorizer bags.
Ingredients
Directions
Pro Tip: If you are concerned about baking powder working its way through the cloth and dusting your shoes, you can double up on the muslin bag or cloth. Fill bag and tie securely, then put into a second bag and tie securely before putting into your footwear.
You may also enjoy:
Topics: Aromatherapy, Herbal Gift Ideas, Recipes, Green Living
Heidi is a native Oregonian and an award winning freelance writer with a passion for urban homesteading. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing, and has been honored to receive a number of literary prizes including the esteemed Pushcart Prize, and an Individual Artists Award in Creative Writing from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. When she isn’t working in the garden, cleaning the henhouse, preserving food for winter, pruning the fruit trees, or writing and editing content for really fantastic small businesses, you’ll find her in her quilting room, or somewhere with her nose in a book, or up in the mountains alongside her husband and her terrier pup, Gracie Cakes.
My mother used to tie dried lavender flowers into squares of cloth to make little lavender pouches and then she tucked them into her shoes. Not only did this freshen her footwear, it also meant that every time anyone opened her closet door, the lovely, calming scent of lavender drifted out into the room. This botanical shoe-freshening method was a charming fix for her professional office shoes, but wouldn’t have been enough for the boots and shoes I wear to work in my yard or to go hiking in. At the end of a long winter day outside in the Western Oregon rain and mud, my rubber homestead boots and hearty hiking boots need more than a freshener; they need a deodorizer. That’s where this time-tested, natural boot and shoe deodorizer is a godsend. It works on the same principle as the lovely lavender packets my mother used, but brings the deodorizing power of baking soda, rosemary, and sage to the task.
You can absolutely make your own cloth bags for this deodorizing powder—just cut a square or a round of cloth at least six inches in diameter so that you have excess fabric. Put the herbal powder material in the middle, pull all the edges of the cloth up together, and then loop a string or ribbon firmly around the bunched cloth several times to bind it together and close the opening. Make sure to tie the string securely so it doesn’t open in your boots. Voilà, one shoe deodorizer pouch. However, reusable cotton muslin bags make the process even easier!
Makes enough for 6 shoe deodorizer bags.
Ingredients
Directions
Pro Tip: If you are concerned about baking powder working its way through the cloth and dusting your shoes, you can double up on the muslin bag or cloth. Fill bag and tie securely, then put into a second bag and tie securely before putting into your footwear.
You may also enjoy:
Topics: Aromatherapy, Herbal Gift Ideas, Recipes, Green Living
Heidi is a native Oregonian and an award winning freelance writer with a passion for urban homesteading. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing, and has been honored to receive a number of literary prizes including the esteemed Pushcart Prize, and an Individual Artists Award in Creative Writing from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. When she isn’t working in the garden, cleaning the henhouse, preserving food for winter, pruning the fruit trees, or writing and editing content for really fantastic small businesses, you’ll find her in her quilting room, or somewhere with her nose in a book, or up in the mountains alongside her husband and her terrier pup, Gracie Cakes.
