our garden is a place to share with the bees, birds and butterflies, providing food for them and also for us. the clever blackbirds discovered our morello cherry tree recently as well as our blueberry bushes which are on the patio. thankfully our cat was asleep at the time!
as well as providing food, i am beginning to use the plants for teas ; the chamomile i cropped a few weeks ago is now dry and we have been enjoying the tea. i am also looking to preserve and use them medicinally.
We have some wonderful cheery orange pot marigolds on our plot and I saw on the permaculture blog a great recipe by Carl Legge for making Calendula salve so i had to try it.
Calendula makes up part of the hyperal cream i get from the health food shop for cuts and grazes and is well known for it's calming and anti inflammatory actions so the thought of a soothing healing ointment straight from my garden spurred me into action.
if you fancy making it too, do go and follow the original recipe and please note that I did reduce the quantity greatly for my trial run , only using 3 flower heads.
after picking the petals off 3 flower heads i added them to a saucepan with some good quality olive oil
the recipe recommends using a double burner to gently heat the oil and by a process called maceration, the goodness from the plant matter transfers to the oil. i thought it would be good to have separate pans for making 'potions' and found some pretty cornflower pyrex ones in my cupboard, which i had inherited from my in-laws.
after simmering the water in the large pan for 4 - 5 hours (topping up when needed) the petals were strained off through muslin and the oil returned to the pan. i then added some beeswax which helps the mixture to solidify when cooled, so it it easy to apply.
beeswax can be sourced from your local beekeeper or find a good supplier. i discovered this one online.
ideally dark glass bottles are best for keeping ointments but any small glass jar kept out of direct sunlight will do. i picked these up for a pound each at a local shop. The recipe didn't mention sterilising the bottles but i did as we do for making jams; popped in a saucepan of boiling bubbling water with the lids and then air dried.
once the wax had melted i carefully poured the mix in to the jars and was surprised at how quickly it solidified.
i have kept 2 jars and gifted one to a friend. I am planning to make some more for gifts and had a tweet conversation with Carl's wife Debs the other day who suggested making up the oil which keeps for about a year in the cupboard and then adding it to the wax when i want to make the salve for a gift. I have also read that the petals can be dried and then made into the oil and salve later in the year.
and I am now waiting for someone to fall over so we can apply it!
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