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Homemade Pine Cleaning Spray
I love all things natural, and the fresh scent of wild pine is one of my favorites. In an effort to capture that wonderful fragrance in a household product, I created a pine cleaning spray made with wild foraged pine needles. This easy recipe is great for your home as well as a seasonal host/ess gift.
This simple pine cleaning recipe relies on the natural antibacterial, antiviral properties of pine for its amazing ability to clean up messes.
October is such a beautiful time in the natural world. Betwixt mid-fall and wintertime, the colorful slendor of a New England fall day converges with cool nights that have the chill of winter in the air. The days fluctuate between warm and sunny one day and grey and rainy the next.
It’s usually during this time of year that I find myself wanting to surround myself with the cozy scents of fall and winter. It’s also the time of year that I look forward to doing some nesting within the home. This means some deep cleaning that I put off during the busy gardening and harvesting months. For me, this is a time for bringing lots of nature into my home. The flowers have faded, so I turn to our evergreen allies.
Pine trees, along with other evergreen trees such as fir, cedar, spruce and juniper, are some of the only plants that thrive throughout the year. These varieties can be foraged at any time of year, so they make an excellent ally when the seasons change. Pine also offers amazing antimicrobial properties – perfect for making homemade natural cleaning products like the pine cleaning spray recipe below.
Pine Cleaning Spray
Ingredients
3-4 handfuls of wild pine needles (I am using white pine since that is what grows wild on my property)
1 ½ cups of distilled white vinegar
1 ¼ cups water
¼ cup rubbing alcohol
16 oz. spray bottle (I love these glass amber spray bottles)
Instructions
Harvest 3 -4 handfuls of wild pine needles.
Gather only the needles from the branches of a pine tree and pack them tightly into a large glass jar.
Fill the jar with vinegar and place the jar in a sunny window for 7 days. After this time it will be infused with pine scent and anti-microbial properties.
After 7 days strain the vinegar from the plant material using a cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer.
Fill a 16-ounce spray bottle halfway with the wild pine vinegar extraction solution.
Add ¼ cup rubbing alcohol into the spray bottle and fill the rest of it with water. Shake well before using.
For more intense scent, you can add 10-15 drops of pine essential oil.
*If you substitute olive oil for the rubbing alcohol, this same recipe can be used to clean and polish wood. OR, if you’d like this to cut through oil and grease, add a couple drops of dish soap and give it a good shake before using.
So there you have it, this cleaning solution is so easy and simple to mix up, and it smells great too. So before you run out to the store and start throwing chemicals into your cart, give this cleaner a try and see how you like it.
FREE Printable Labels
FREE PRINTABLE CLEANING LABELS
These printable cleaning labels are made to be printed on full sheet label paper and then cut out. To print them, you will need to download or print the PDF version of the Cleaning Labels HERE!
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