Healing Salve...

I promised my "high-maintenance girlfriend" Marie (aka my therapist, tee-hee) that I would post my recipe for healing salve, aka "boo-boo salve" as well as the recipe for making anti-inflammatory oil (which will follow). I originally created this recipe for a good friend's kids & have been making it for 10 years now. It has become practically essential for every-day life with a growing child's scrapes & bug bites & I always make enough to give to friends. It really does make things heal faster & smells wonderful to boot...

To make this you'll need a small double-boiler of some sort. I use a tin cup in a pan of boiling water. You will also need containers for the salve. I have used little tin containers, glass containers, & plastic ones- all work just fine. You'll want a Sharpie pen to label the jars, whichever you choose. An adhesive paper label is more permanent than just writing on the jar, but I always put the date I made the salve on the bottom of the container for reference.

A word about asepsis... I was a lab technician in my pre-mom life & some habits, like aiming for asepsis, die very hard- luckily for my herbal preparations & beer-making :) Asepsis means making sure you keep things as clean as possible when making something medicinal (of for any cooking, for that matter). It means making sure you wash your hands before setting to work, making sure you've wiped the counter where you're working, & making sure all of your utensils are clean before using them. It's common sense, but I always keep asepsis in mind before setting to work, especially if I plan to share some of the salve with friends. I have made it a habit of only using brand-new containers for the salve, although I usually recycle the old ones for other purposes. This is a personal preferance, mostly because I'm never sure I can get them as clean once they've been used, as they were right from the supplier. The best way to sanitise used containers is in the dishwasher on "sani" cycle, or whatever you have that's similar. I use this for beer bottles (which I do re-use) & it's never failed yet... The metal salve jars tend to rust when I put them in the dishwasher, & the plastic ones sometimes warp, so that may be why I just get new ones...

The Recipe:

4 tbsp calendula infused oil*
3 tbsp comfrey infused oil*
1 tbsp St. John's Wort infused oil*
18 drops lavender essential oil**
9 drops chamomile essential oil***
11 grams of beeswax #

jars or tin(s) to hold 4 oz of salve

Place infused oils (not the essential oils!) & beeswax in inner pan of double-boiler, bring to a boil, & stir occasionally until the beeswax melts. Take off the heat, stir in the essential oils. Pour immediately into jar(s). Allow to cool until set. Label jars. The salve will last at least a year before losing it's "virtue" (as they used to say).

notes on ingredients:
* infused oils are oils that have had plant matter soaked in them. I make my own (except for the St. John's Wort) & will add the recipe for infused oils at the end of this. I always use organic oils, usually olive oil, to make infusions. Mt. Rose has them already made for you.

** don't use lavender essential oil labelled or described as "spike" lavender. It is very astringent & medicinal & not the lovely scent usually associated with lavender. I use Mt. Rose's 40-42 Blend, not labelled as organic, but in our house we go through lavender oil like candy, so I have bottles on each floor. It's the only essential oil that can be used undiluted on the skin & we use it for bug bites, itchy patches, burns, & to protect wool yarn & wooly clothing from moths.

*** chamomile oil is really expensive these days, but you don't need very much for this recipe. I use either Roman or Blue, which Mt. Rose has under "Precious Essential Oils", so you can get it by the 1/8th ounce without mortgaging the house...

# I use herbal-preparation-grade beesway purchased from Mt. Rose . It goes a long way & does not go bad...


Here's the recipe for infused oils-

Ingredients:
* dried herbs (preferably organic)
* organic olive oil
* clean quart mason jar or similar jar with well-fitting lid
* cheesecloth
* clean bottle for finished oil (to hold approximately 16 oz.)
Half-fill the mason jar with dried comfrey leaf. Add olive oil to within 2” of the neck of the jar. Cap, shake well, & allow to sit overnight. The next day, top-off the jar with more olive oil (the comfrey will absorb some, so the level will be lower) to within an inch of the top. Shake daily for the first 2-3 weeks. Place in a warm, dark place, if possible. Allow to macerate for at least 1 month, although the longer it sits, the better.

To decant, pour contents of mason jar into a large square of cheesecloth (I put it in a strainer over a quart measuring cup). When it stops dripping, gather the edges together, twist, & squeeze. The leftovers may be composted. Pour finished oil into bottle, label, & store in fridge. It will need to be warmed to room temp before using.

A couple final words...
As with many kids with autism, my son is extremely sensitive to scents. The fake, floral scent of most perfumes send him right through the roof (& usually out of the room...). Interestingly, & wonderfully, B does not react this way to any essential oils used for scent or in medicinals I've made. Over the years, I've discovered that lavender oil has a soothing effect on B & presently his bath soap, handwashing soap, & shampoo, plus all of the cleaning & laundry products used in our home, are lavender-based products. I get his soap from Indigo Wild, the shampoo in the natural foods section of the market, & my cleaning products from Mrs. Meyers. I haven't worn commercial perfumes for years & use only products from Indigo & Mt. Rose, which I love. At one point, we used Indigo's Lemon-Lavender spray to create safe space for B & he had a bottle at school as well as at home. I believe firmly that the calm & peace we have at home is enhanced by being aware of our aroma-surroundings.

Enjoy in good health!! If you have questions, please leave a comment...