[BusyMommy]

I hear it's great for skin care, esp. eczema flare ups.

I would imagine it's just chickweed simmered in olive oil and added to a beeswax base. But, I'm pretty clueless about this yet. So, I'd love any ideas or experiences.

Thanks

And, Lord knows...our garden has plenty of chickweed to spare.

 

[mountain mom]

I make a chickweed, comfrey leaf salve for such things.

You are correct in saying that you simmer the herbs in olive oil (which is called a maceration) strain and add melted beeswax to thicken. You may also want to add tincture of calendula and essential oils of roman and german chamomile as well.

Rosemary Gladstar had a few books out about salve making....The Family Herbal is especially helpful.

 

[BusyMommy]

Thank you!!!

I will check out her books! But, for the short term, about how long would you simmer? I'm assuming the whole plant but w/o roots?

What is tincture of calendula? Liquid cal? And, how would you strain the beeswax?
Sorry I'm dumb. :LOL I'm hoping to do this this weekend!

 

[mountain mom]

Tincture of calendula is just that...calendula tincture...it is a liquid extract of the herbal matter usually in alcohol.

Follow these steps.

To make the maceration take about 1 cup herbal matter to 2 cups olive oil and simmer for a good hour to two hours. If you have a slow cooker or crock pot even better simmer for a full day. If the herb matter is freshly picked you could suninfuse in olive oil for 14 days. I really like the last method.

Strain the maceration well and bottle and label.

To make a salve follow these steps.

In a glass measuring cup that is set in a pan of water on the stove add:

2 tablespoons of grated beeswax
2 tablespoons of your maceration
2 tablespoons of a carrier oil such as grapeseed or almond

Turn on the element and allow the water in the pan to boil. The mixture in the measuring cup will slowly meld and combine together. Once it is liquid take about 1/2 a teaspoon on the back of a saucer and put in the freezer. Keep your mixture in the measuring cup liquid while the little bit in the freezer sets. This is your tester. Be sure that it sets. If it is to hard add a bit more oil, add in small additions such as 1/2 a teaspoon. IF it is too soft add more beeswax.

Once the proper stiffness is achieved pour the liquid into a 100 ml container (which I think is about 6 ounces).

To this container add
15 drops of calendula tincture
15 drops of roman cham.
15 drops of german cham
15 drops of lavender
15 drops of rosewood

Swirl gently (I use a chopstick)

Put on the lid of the container and let it set.

I always have another container handy in case there is extra liquid from the measuring cup.

Also write down all your steps as you are crafting the salve, this will help when you go to make it again!

Hope this helps
Colleen

 

[BusyMommy]

Thank you so much, Colleen, I am really and truly excited by this!

I'm going to try it all tomorrow. I'll crockpot the chickweed in the am and head to the health store after that.

Thank you!!

Holly

 

[mountain mom]

Keep the heat low in the crockpot. Mine only has two settings..lo and hi so I choose lo!

Have fun...the experiment has just begun!

I wanted to add that some eczemas work well with salve such as dry rough raised skin...but weepy works better with an astringent natured spray.

I have a recipe for that too that I can share if its applicable to your situation!

 

[BusyMommy]

Thanks no, he just looks all red, crusty and blistery. No problems at ALL in the winter when it's never above 10', but then the temp gets over 60' and he's out in the dirt all day and he looks horrific.

Very cool--it's so nice to learn something new at my advanced age. :LOL Thanks for sharing. It'll be fun to do some experimenting.

 

[BusyMommy]

Okay, one more Q...
You wrote

Quote:

I make a chickweed, comfrey leaf salve for such things.

Would you recommend the recipe you wrote over the comfrey?
I'm just writing down a list of what to pick up and noticed that.

Thanks

 

[mountain mom]

I make both a comfrey leaf/root maceration and chickweed maceration. I use both in the recipe. Comfrey is super healing to the skin...so is plaintain leaf. Any or all are great!

 

[BusyMommy]

Ah ha, I'll add comfrey next time!

I had a great time making it tonight and I think it turned out just fine. Feels great. Smells great. BUt...I did end up adding peppermint. Asked dh to hand me the lavendar on the counter and didn't doublecheck him. Whoops

But, now for the questions...

So, you would make a separate maceration of comfrey? Then, would you add 1T of each maceration?

When making the maceration, is it 1c. of fresh herbs? I pressed down a c. of fresh ch.weed.
So, then, I crockpotted all day long and poured the olive oil & herb mix into a jar.
I was supposed to strain the herbs out, right?

I can do that tomorrow. Now, if I have extra oil leftover, how long will that store? (not in the frig, right?)

I couldn't find ANY chamomile at the store so used clary sage & geranium instead. What do you think?

And...
a friend many states away would love to try this but has no chickweek. (wow!) Would it be okay to dry some and mail it to her in a ziploc? How to dry; ie. on low in the oven? I suppose I could pick the stems off, wash/dry, and then dry 1 cup and she'd just add that amount to the crockpot?

So, even though it still has the chickweed in it

it seems wonderful. Now, I'll just make another batch to use during the day.

THANK YOU

--Just ocurred to me...do you mean plantain as in the weed that loves to grow in sidewalk cracks? I read your note quickly and thought of the banana type plant, but then realized we have wild plantain here. Would you suggest mixing comfrey & plantain leaves?

 

[mountain mom]

Hi, I am glad your salve is turning out!

So here are your answers:

I make seperate macerations but you can macerate the comfrey with the chickweed too. It is totally up to you. In the recipe there is a quantity for the total amount of maceration, adjust accordingly. I make the macerations seperate just because I may have a client looking for a single maceration.

Yes it is fresh herb you use. It no big deal that the herb was left in the oil for a while, straining later is okay. The left over oil, bottle it and label it and it should last for at least 6 months. You could add a few drops of vitamin e oil and the shelf life will increase to about a year.

Clary Sage is very hormonal in nature, geranium is great for a bug repellent. Your salve just become very multi purpose!!

I think that a maceration is most effective when using fresh herbs, particulairly chickweed. Chickweed loses alot of its healing energy when dried. Its best used fresh. Perhaps you could send your friend a small bottle of the maceration?

If you do dry an herb dehrydrating at a very low setting is best. Secondly you can dry the herb by handing it from it stem in a dark cool room. Light really affect the drying of the herb.

And yes I mean Plaintain that grows in the cracks of sidewalks! Just be aware of where you wildcraft it from, making sure that the area is free from alot of chemical influence!

I hope that helps!

 

[BusyMommy]

Awesome! We'll go on a plantain hunt today. :LOL

So, clary sage I'm not familiar with at all. When you say hormonal, that's still appropriate for toddlers?

Thanks--you've given such incredible advice & I really appreciate it!

 

[mountain mom]

I think at the level of concentration that you put in the salve it should be fine. But I think that salve would be good for you...for pms, cramps a gentle pick me up. The molecules in clary are very similiar in shape to estrogen molecules thus the body can accept it as such. Geranium has a mild hormonal level too.

As for an excema salve I would suggest just using lavender if you couldn't find the cham.

Do you have calendula, and rosewood?

That would be great.

You could macerate the plaintain you find and then make a different salve with those ingredients.

Have a good one!
Colleen

 

[BusyMommy]

Cool. I'll hold off on the clary & geranium for the next batch & just use plantain/chickweed w/the calendula, rosewood & lavendar.

Too fun