Rose Hip Salve

Also at that same recent talk I gave, I demonstrated making a salve from rose hips.

You can find previous posts about salve making

  here

and 

additional notes here

This salve is ideal for the face but can of course be used anywhere.

I roughly chopped a big handful of fresh rose hips and then covered with cold pressed almond oil and gently infused over a very low heat till the oil had taken on the colour and smelled of the hips. I used my thermomix but some people use a slow cooker on low for a few hours making sure the oil doesn't get too warm as we are trying to preserve as much of the Vit C properties of the hips. The other method is to place the hips covered in oil in a jar and leave to infuse in the warmth of the sun over the month.

Strain the oil through a cloth lined sieve and extract as much as possible squeezing the pulp. 

Measure the resulting golden oil and add 10% in weight of bees wax. This is best grated and added to the oil to gently heat to dissolve. 

Once it is dissolved, you can also add a couple of drops of Vit E oil and pour into sterile jars and label.

It's best to use a container that is not clear and keep the salve in a cool place away from light. Always use a stick or clean finger and use within a few months.

If you prefer a scent, you can add a drop of essential oil but I like to keep the salve as simple as possible and enjoy the benefits of the almond oil and rose hip oil.

You can use any rose hips but I find wild rose hips in abundance around our road ways.

We also shared some rose hip cordial on the night and the recipe is found 

here

Home Foraging

This weekend it looked like the field and woodland fairies had visited my kitchen.

The calendula has started flowering its head off again and I find so many uses for this flower. It is wonderful for skin healing is the basis for many of my salves and soaps.

A friend visited and swapped some magnificent field mushrooms for some kombucha SCOBY and milk keffir grains.

I gently dug some more solomon seal roots/rhizome for another salve I am making for ligament, tendon and cartilage. 

I found some lush plantain, also good for skin salves.

And I am still collecting pocketfuls of delicious cape gooseberries.

Lots of the simple things that make me feel abundant.

Additional Salve Making Information

Last Thursday we had a salve making session at our Living Better With Less group.

I have a general instructional 

here

There were however some other questions and answers that came out of the session that I thought would be helpful to list here.

Our recipe on the night was calendula, rose hip, plantain and chamomile infused oil.

• It's a good idea to make a diary note when making something like a salve or any kind of preserve because you can go back and reference quantities, date, personal notes on effectiveness of infusion and ingredient preferences.
•  You can use fresh or dried herbs and plant material. If using fresh make sure they are free from dew or moisture before placing in the oil to avoid your batch going mouldy.
• We advised researching the efficacies of plants before using them and making your salve with conscious intent. For instance; comfrey is an amazing fast healer BUT you don't want to use it in cases of open wounds as it can heal SO quickly that it may heal infection within the wound and even may hamper the edges of a wound from effectively building a knitted skin repair by healing the edges rather than a knitted closed wound. It can also be liver toxic in large quantities and is not recommended for small children so we would not recommend it in a nappy cream for instance. By all means though, a comfrey salve for strained gardeners' backs or sprained ankles is marvellous and particularly helpful on broken bones. So choose your purpose and then pick your plants to tailor make your salve to suit. For another example; you could add essential oils of eucalyptus, cedar, mint for a vaporising chest rub for colds and congestion.
• A word on essential oils - go easy! Just because something is natural doesn't make it safe for everyone, for instance lavender is one of the most common sensitivities. The commercial world has convinced us that everything has to "smell nice" but not everything has to be perfumed. Give your nose a break. When you ditch a lot of the chemicals and scented products from your life you will find your nose has re-adjusted and become sensitive to nuances again. Only add essential oils for a specific purpose that meets your intent.
• Rosehips contain very fine fibrous irritating "hairs". They can be infused whole but I believe it is more effective to chop them. By hand this is a laborious job and I suggest a closed lidded food processor. Adding oil will also keep fibres contained so they don't become airborne.
• The beeswax will dissolve evenly and quickly into the oil at a low temperature if it is grated. You can source small pelleted beeswax from craft suppliers but I prefer to buy from local honey makers so it is usually in a chunk or a bar and needs to be grated. This is a bit laborious too and I've made just about all the mistakes for you. If you try chopping/grating in a food processor, the spinning blades create enough heat to melt the wax slightly so after a couple of seconds you have a small amount grated and a quantity stuck to the blades stopping them from any further cutting/grating. You could use your microplane but it will blunt the blades quite quickly. I find a grater used for cheese, carrots etc is the best method. Another in the group said she melts her beeswax and pours it into the oil which you would also need to have warmed so the two will mix and blend. Six of one and half a dozen as far as washing up mess goes so I may try the melt and mix method next time as I do make in a quantities that require grating 100g plus.
• Here in the north of Tasmania you can source your beeswax from The Honey Farm in Chudleigh or The Tasmanian Honey Co in Perth (Tas)
•  Speaking of washing up. A good rubber/silicon spatula will ensure you get the sides of pots etc really scraped down cleanly and then I advise wiping out the warm pot with a piece of paper towel to remove extra residue before washing up.

If you think of other questions let me know and I will edit and add. If you have anything other experiences you would like to share please add them in the comments below. Please also feel free to add a url in your comment if you would like to direct people to a relevant post you have made about slave making as shared experiences are learned experiences. (Note; any advertising and non-relevant material will be deleted)

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As always, none of my posts are intended as medical advice but merely a description of what we discussed and did. If you have any medical concerns you should always defer to your naturopath or doctor for their advice.

Home Made Nappy/Diaper Change Salve

This is a perfect salve for nappy change times and cradle cap and one you'll want to pin. It is made simply from the garden using the super healing properties of common plantain. Used with calendula, another wonderful skin healing herb also found commonly in most gardens and chamomile incorporating the anti-inflammatory properties, this salve will soothe, nourish, heal, cool and promote soft healthy skin.

Gather fresh leaves of plantain before the energy of the plant goes into seed head production. After dew has dried is the best time as the herbs need to be absolutely dry before they go into the oil or you risk rot in your infusion. 

The leaves can be simply bruised/crushed and placed straight onto bites, stings, rashes or sunburn as an immediate remedy making it an excellent first aid.

Place the leaves along with the calendula flower heads and chamomile flowers into a large glass jar and cover with olive oil. Place somewhere warm, my kitchen bench catching the last of the Indian summer warmth is perfect, and turn gently from time to time to make sure the oil is mixing through the herbs. Leave for a month to infuse.

After a month of infusion, strain well through filter paper or a cloth lined strainer.

Measure the amount of infused oil and grate 10% in beeswax.

For instance if you have 800ml of infused oil, grate 80g of beeswax. This gives a nice manageable set to the salve but it melts so readily when applied to warm skin.

On a very low heat gentle combine the oil and grated beeswax till melted. 

Remove from heat. At this point I also add a few drops of vitamin E oil to extend the preservation.

Pour into clean glass jars or pots and cover straight away and leave to set.

Label and date.

A great gift for new babies.

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Best practice is to use a clean stick or spatula every time but that is not entirely practical at nappy change time. We simply use our right hand for wiping and cleaning and then our left hand to take a single scoop from the pot thus keeping it from contamination. You wouldn't want to wipe a bottom and then transfer that back into the pot.

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28/06/14 - We had a salve making session at our Living Better With Less group this month and you can find additional information in the link here from some general Q&A that came up.