Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick
Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."
Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.
A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."
[snipped]
She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2129863/posts
Live on Less and Love It
Mother Earth News ^ | October 2007 | Craig Idlebrook
Posted on Monday, November 10, 2008 10:52:05 PM by TenthAmendmentChampion
On paper, my wife and I are poor. How poor? In 2005 we made $4,303.84 combined; in 2004 we made half that. We’re in such a low tax bracket that I have trouble convincing the government of our tax return’s accuracy; they simply can’t believe Americans can live on that kind of money.
continues.
I had a hard time food shopping yesterday. Most of the fresh produce didn’t have country of origin labels.<<<
I have been catching that small fact, that is so important.
Also, take a close look at the source label when you find one, those little sticky things, they do not say ‘grown in’, but rather if you read it carefully, I get ‘sold from’, not the same thing at all.
2009 is going to be the year we in America are forced to wake up and face facts.
A new president.
No, food supply.
People do not only “not know what they are eating”, but the supply is its self in danger.
The pirates are already proving they can stop a ship and take it, imagine a real military blockade.
The Realtors magazine, about 1984 published an in depth report on America’s farm land, it is simple, what there is, we do not own, foreign companies do.
If you cannot grow your own food, at home, you may get hungry.
Glad to see you reading and posting here, you are wecome, anytime.
You are so right and that is one of the main points of nw_arizona_granny’s threads. I have a few indoor plants and not much room for more. We are going to be moving in a few months and I absolutely plan on having more indoor garden plants.
bttt
One more disceptive label is ‘distributed’. That doesn’t mean ‘made in’ or ‘grown in’ either.
Good morning to you two!
The earthbox guy is kind of a local fixture around the Tampa area. He stumbled upon an amazing concept, since copied and elaborated upon by others.
I was recently watching some financial vids on Youtube from Jim Rogers, a billionaire investor. He says he’s currently putting lots of money into agriculture stocks- claims the next few years are a gold mine for them. What does that say about our food supply?
Growing our own veggies might become commonplace, much like Switzerland. Seems as if every house has a small garden or a little livestock operation. It’s just part of their national security plan, ingrained into their culture.
That was the whole point of breeding those mini cattle too. It is suppose to be for suburban homes for milk.
By this time next year, if things go right, I will be 100% sufficient produce wise.
Now, if I can convince my husband to allow us to have a nubian! :)
Well, that’s a good direction.
Gingerbread Friends Mural,
Make a Gingerbread Friends mural. All you need is a large sheet of
mural paper about 3 feet by 6 feet and paints or crayons. Color, cut out
the images, and paste to the mural. Print as many copies as you wish.
After your mural paper is tacked up you can use your copier creatively to
manipulate the elements I have drawn for you to create variety and drama. Here are the links to each of the coloring pages:
Gingerbread Boy Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_baby.htm
Gingerbread Boy with Pizzazz Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_baby_pizzazz.htm
Mattie Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mattie.htm
Decorated Gingerbread House Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_house.htm
Gingerbread House Frame Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_house_frame.htm
Decorate your own Gingerbread House Page 1 Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_house_pieces.htm
Decorate your own Gingerbread House Page 2 Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_house_more_pieces.htm
Decorate your own Gingerbread House Page 3 Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_house_decorations.htm
Gingerbread Mural Trees Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_trees.htm
Gingerbread Baby on a Sled Coloring Page http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_baby_on_sled.htm
The Rooster Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_rooster.htm
Peppermint Puppy Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_peppermint_puppy.htm
Gingerbread Pony Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_gingerbread_pony.htm
Lollipops Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_lollipops.htm
Gingerbread Dolphin Trainer Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_dolphin_trainer.htm
Gingerbread Girl Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_girl.htm
Gingerbread Buckaroo Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_buckaroo_gingerbread_boy.htm
Barefoot Gingerbread Boy Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_barefoot_gingerbread_boy.htm
Gingerbread Hiker Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_hiker_gingerbread_boy.htm
Peppermint Puppy with Treats Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_peppermint_puppy_treats.htm
Gingerbread Boy Making a Snowman Coloring Page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gingerbread_mural_making_snowman.htm
For the all of the Mural pages including minature pages, PDF verions,
and reversed artwork:
Gingerbread Friends Coloring Mural main page
http://janbrett.com/mural_gf/gf_main_page.htm
It’s a pleasure to be in touch.
Sincerely,
Jan Brett
Download a Free Jan Brett How to Draw Video -
http://janbrett.com/video/video_main_page.htm
[Granny notes this is where the end of a roll of news paper would be handy.]
That doesn’t mean ‘made in’ or ‘grown in’ either.<<<
At what point do start asking “why are they allowing us to be poisoned and calling it food?”
Check the post above this post, for coloring pages for the kids.
Fantastic that you are making a move and will have food growing space.
Maybe a nubian will wander in, or you could start a nubian rescue society...
Growing our own veggies might become commonplace, much like Switzerland. Seems as if every house has a small garden or a little livestock operation. It’s just part of their national security plan, ingrained into their culture.<<<
Good idea, it is time for America to do the same.
On this thread, maybe in the first 500 posts are several links to instructions, for making an Earthbox, at home for about
$10.00, looks simple and I have read several groups that talked of using them and approve of them.
LOL, In Kingman a few years ago, a man perfected the art of buying a bag of potting mix, poking holes in it, with it flat on the ground and growing in the bag, he was all over the internet and earlier in garden magazines.
You have to admit, it is cheaper than buying a pot to grow in.
I love the different ideas they have for growing food and tilt my hat to some who are growing food on roof tops, patios, etc.
I have to admit, I have lots of questions, as to why unsafe food is allowed and why it takes the U.S. so long to discover that we have a problem.
http://web.mac.com/jwesolek/iWeb/cre8it/Blog/7CD5E018-BBF8-4E60-BC57-5CBA9F79AECE.html
Paper “Fabric”
We all love fabric and fabric designs, but some of us are sewing-challenged (me), so I had to come up with a way that I could make use of my great fabric stash without touching that scary sewing machine (grin).
7 Comments Manage Comments for this Entry
Therese
Hey! A really great look! Certainly versatile to be using fabric as a source for imagery. Just so others are aware which I am sure you are, there are copyrights on fabric designs very much like there is on other artwork so the same caution must be used when using these images in your artwork for sale.
Love the texture of the fabric and I expect that you could colour your own fabric and stamp it to get a similar look or print your artwork onto fabric and scan that for a similar look!
The possibilities!!!!!!!!
Laughing and admitting that while I waited for this to load my mind played with “fabric-paper”.
If you dilute Elmers glue with half water, and soak fabric in it, you can shape it, or glue it down on surfaces for a covering, working as one does in paper mache and using a sponge, to smooth down the edges, so they more or less disappear.
For book or project covers, using less water, you could wind up with a paper that you can write on, at least with felt type pens.
Thought of your baby clothes making and the scraps as a cover for a baby book.
Then I saw a photo of her paper mache bowls and my mind did a click.......thicker glue, pretty fabric and a shape, covered in plastic and you could make a bowl from almost any material.
And my mind sees tiny lace bowls to hold rose petals, or?
With the lace yardage, you would not need decoration added.
With rows of lace, they could be overlapped using lace soaked in a thicker than half Elmers glue ...
Maybe it is just as well that I am not able to get at my lace, that could be real fun.
granny,
who admits, that all her ideas do not work, but still has to try them out.
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/yell-calendula.html
The yellow herbs of summer: Calendula.
Posted August 25th, 2008 by Blog - Henriette
* Calendula officinalis
* Oils
* Single herbs
* Skin and hair
* Wounds
A woundhealer, internally and externally.
Picking
Pick whole flowers every three days while the calendula flowers - until either frost or mildew get the plants. Spread out your take on a layer of newspapers covered with an old bedsheet. On our calendulas there’s lots of all but invisible calendula-leaf-green caterpillars, so there’s a need to pick up every flower the next day: caterpillars leave droppings, and that’s the only way to find them. The larger the droppings, the larger the caterpillar; pick them off one by one and throw them into your garden, they’ll turn into one or the other type of butterfly if they survive their caterpillardom.
Or just throw your calendula flowers in the dehydrator right away; those caterpillars will explode in there, though. Sigh. And they would’ve turned into butterflies, had you not dehydrated them ...
As you’re picking new calendulas every three days you’ll need to make room on that sheet for the new harvest, every three days. Your 3-day-old take will only take half the space it took when fresh, your 6-day take will only take half the space it took when 3 days old, and your 9-day-take is ready for the dehydrator, set to 30-35 deg. C. (about 90-95 deg. F). Dry calendula in too high a temperature and it’ll smell. Very very badly.
Pour your dehydrated calendula flowers into dry glass jars with a tight lid. Half-dry herb will grow moldy in no time at all, so make sure it really is dry.
Keep your dried calendula for too long and the smell will get stronger - but it won’t get as bad as calendula that’s been dried in too high a temperature. And of course, storing your dried calendula will remove the color from it, little by little, until your previously bright orange dried flowers, after perhaps two years, are barely a light light light yellow, in that glass jar in that dark cupboard.
I haven’t usually bothered to remove the green bits of the flowers: most all of my calendula will go into oils and salves, and only a small amount will end up in teas. If you use your calendula more for teas than for external applications, go for picking the petals off the green bits. Or just rub dry calendula flowers between your hands, shake the rubbed flowers in a bowl, and pick handsful of petals off the top of that bowl - the green bits are heavier and will stay in the bottom of the bowl.
Uses
Oil: calendula flowers are our best woundhealers, along with plantain leaves (Plantago sp.). Make an oil from the dried flowers (see SJW for details on making an oil, and Goldenrod for details on the “dried herb oil” bit), and make a salve from your oil (see SJW for details).
Food: put fresh petals into salads and similar, for decoration and a bit of color. Calendula petals have been used as a substitute for saffron, but they’re a poor substitute, giving neither the taste nor the gorgeous yellow of true saffron.
Tea: use the petals in teas for all sorts of inflammations, internally. Whenever you have urinary tract inflammations, gut upsets, coughs and so on, you also have wounds on your mucous membranes. Calendula to the rescue! Add a bit of one or the other gentle astringent and one or the other mucilaginous plant to your tea blend, and you’re set, most of the time.
Warnings
The green parts of calendula, while edible, will, in teas, irritate the mucous membranes in the throat of a sizable part of the population. You too will stop adding whole flowers to your teas, once the third client with calendula flowers in their tea blend calls you to ask: “Krrr what krrr is krrr in krrr your krrrr tea? Krrrr blend krrrr I krrr can’t krrr stop krrrr clearing krrr my krrr throat krrrr! Krrrr.”
That irritation isn’t dangerous, and it’ll stop the minute you add calendula petals, not whole flowers, to people’s teas.
—
Related entries: Calendula salve - Calendula flowers - Yellow herbs: SJW - Dandelion - Goldenrod - Yellow bedstraw - Elecampane - Mullein - California poppy
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/articles/helianthus.html
Jerusalem artichoke
* Helianthus tuberosus
* Inulin
On the culinary herblist, Mar97,
by Henriette
Closely related to the sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) has other funny names, too, like Topinambur (in Germany). A tidbit from Grieve: the English common name comes from the Italian ‘Girasola articiocco’, or Sunflower Artichoke, -not- from Jerusalem.
A 1 - 1.5 m (3-6’) tall perennial, it can be planted anywhere with just a piece of tuber. In fact, that’s what I did when I first encountered it: it was in a corner of the garden I had earmarked for other things, and so I dug it up and placed it in the new spot. Didn’t take long for it to come up, in both places. After that I tried to eradicate it for some time, but all I got was yummy pieces of tuber. Nice yellow flowers, up high; these never flopped on me. Very frosthardy.
Used parts: the tuber. Dig it up in fall, or whenever an old plant is in an annoying place - young plants don’t have very much to harvest.
Use as a veggie, ie. scrub, boil, (peel), add some salt and butter, eat. You can preserve it by letting it stay where it grows, or by drying it (those slices are delicious as snacks) (has anybody canned it?). Tastes a bit like genuine artichoke (Cynara whatever).
Leaf and flowers have been used medicinally.
The tubers contain inulin, which is an insoluble sugar. This has nothing whatsoever to do with insulin, and the Jerusalem artichoke tubers are famous for giving gas to susceptible people. (This is not so much a problem with dandelion, burdock or elecampane roots, which also contain loads of inulin).
It’s a ‘mercan plant, so give. I only have word of mouth, books, and my own experiences - you folks should have history, tall tales and scary stories.
Henriette
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/articles/salves.html
Salvemaking
* Salves
On the medicinal herblist in Jun00,
by Henriette
>If I can get dried herb before immersing in the oil it works well. So I usually don’t harvest until 2 or 3 days after a rain, because the moisture in the leaf will spoil the oil.
There are some tricks to making herbal oils.
1.
One is, let your herb dry to half its fresh weight before putting it into oil (windowsill method). That way only about one batch in 20 will rot, as opposed to the one batch in four if you do not let your herb wilt first. (SJW is excluded from this consideration; I haven’t had a batch of fresh flowering SJW tops go bad on me yet.)
2.
Two is, cover your jar with cheesecloth when you make a fresh herb oil; that way water can evaporate. A tight lid is useful only with dry herb oils.
3.
Three is, let your strained herb oil sit in a tall container for four days. Then you can pour the oil off the bottom sludge. That bottom sludge includes water, and if you leave it in you WILL get mold.
>I like the oven idea though. What a creative bunch we can be!
Fast heated oils can be used in the kitchen, too. I would not use the 4-6 week windowsill oils for that. My heated oils are quite effective. I just cover dried herb with oil (I haven’t used fresh herb, because I make the oil into salves rather fast, and fresh herb -does- make for moldy salve, if you don’t use trick 3 above) and let sit in the top part of a waterbath for 1-2 hours. After straining out the herb (I use cheesecloth, and wring) and cleaning out the bowl it’s a breeze to make that oil into a salve - just add beeswax, let it melt, and pour into jars.
A few mixes I make:
Henriette’s Garden Salve
1 part whole calendula flowers (picking only the petals is a waste of time when making salves)
1 part meadowsweet flowers (or buds, or leaf) (Filipendula)
This one is good for gardeners; the meadowsweet eases the muscle ache and the calendula helps with the rough skin. A hint of lavender is usually appreciated, too, but men like mint better.
My VV (Varicose Vein) Salve
1 part calendula flowers
1 part horse chestnut bark, leaf, and/or green chopped-up fruit
This is good for varicosities, burst capillaries and hemorrhoids. Also do horse chestnut tea internally.
Henriette’s Ouch! Salve
1 part calendula flowers
1 part SJW flowering tops (very recently dried, or just add fresh oil)
1 part meadowsweet flowers
Excellent for when you’ve tumbled with your mountain bike or skates, or when you’ve fallen down a stony and steep ditch. Eases bruises and contusions, helps heal, -and- takes away the pain. A must for people with kids.
One skin salve
1 part calendula flowers
1/2 part rose buds
(1/2 part lavender flowers)
Excellent for the skin. Don’t use any oil with a scent or smell for this, rose is so delicate that it’s easily covered. I have found that eg. grapeseed oil or coldpressed rapeseed is best for this.
Another skin salve
1/2 part calendula flowers
1 part very strong peppermint leaf
Great vitalizer. The salve should be very deep green, and should have a strong scent of mint, even without adding any EOs.
As you can see I add calendula to almost all my salves. The exceptions would be those where I add plantain leaf (Plantago). I don’t use comfrey as it smells musty and old even when it’s recently dried, to me. If you have to use comfrey in salves (I don’t recommend it), go for leaf rather than root as leaf contains less PAs.
If you don’t have meadowsweet you could use balm of gilead buds for the same thing. Or the inner bark of any of a number of trees, like birch, willow, poplar, aspen...
The salves get extra zing if just a tiny hint of cayenne is added to them.
- Henriette
(My salvemaking has changed a lot from this - read more in my blog. -Henriette
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/pd-herbal-salves-1.html
PD: Herbal salves 1
Posted October 17th, 2006 by Blog - Henriette
* Salves
A few different herbal salves.
I start almost always with herbal oils, when I make herbal salves. And then I add 1 parts (100 g) beeswax to 8 parts (8 dl) of herbal oil.
Here are the herbal salve recipes from the first two days of recent product development:
1) Calendula salve
9 dl calendula oil (recipe A)
110 g beeswax (I forgot to tell my group that it’s better to add a gram or two rather than subtract them .. 9 dl would require 112.5 g, and I’d have put in 115 g rather than 110.)
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
2) Calendula-meadowsweet salve
3 dl calendula oil (recipe B)
3 dl meadowsweet oil (done in an oven that kept its temperature at the 50C setting overnight, earlier, using safflower oil)
75 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
3) Spruce-meadowsweet-calendula salve
5.5 dl spruce shoot oil (done overnight earlier at 50C, using rape seed oil)
0.5 dl meadowsweet oil (done overnight earlier at 50C, using safflower oil)
2 dl calendula oil (recipe B)
100 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
4) Reindeer milk salve
2 dl calendula oil (recipe B)
32 g beeswax
Melt beeswax in calendula oil on a waterbath.
30 g reindeer milk
Heat up to 50C in a waterbath, whisk this in a very thin stream into the oil’n’wax, and, once it’s all in there, put the bowl into cold water to cool it faster and continue to whisk until the salve has cooled.
This salve won’t keep for very long as the milk contains water. And that milk might even go sour before the salve grows moldy! Scary thought, sour milk isn’t really what you’d like on your skin...
Pouring this into jars: put the salve into a plastic baggie, cut one small piece out of a corner, and press the salve through that into jars. It’s best to do this fairly soon, as the salve grows harder as it cools further.
5) Peppermint salve
5 dl peppermint oil (recipe D)
62 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
This particular salve turned out to be rather soft (... it’s very very runny). That has happened to me very few times before, but I’d forgotten all about it. However (however!), it has only happened when I’ve either 1) used a very recent crop of cold-pressed organic rapeseed oil, or 2) used peppermint in its various forms. So either of these factors might make for a softer salve. Adjusting the amount of beeswax to 1:7 instead of 1:8 should take care of the problem.
—
Related entries: PD: Herbal oils 1 - PD: Herbal oils 2 - PD: Herbal salves 2 - Herbs in salves - Cat: Salves
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/pd-herbal-salves-2.html
PD: Herbal salves 2
Posted October 18th, 2006 by Blog - Henriette
* Salves
A few more different herbal salves.
Here are the herbal salve recipes from the last two days of recent product development:
6) Calendula salve
8.5 dl calendula oil (recipe E)
120 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
7) Calendula-meadowsweet salve
6.5 dl calendula-meadowsweet oil (recipe F)
87 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
8) Ache salve
5 dl ache oil (basil, oregano, ginger) (recipe G)
64.5 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
Use this for muscle aches, belly aches, menstrual pain and the like.
9) Refreshing salve
7 dl refreshing oil (peppermint-plantain) (recipe H)
87.5 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
This salve set nicely.
10) Refained lavender-calendula salve
2 dl cold-pressed organic safflower oil
185 g cocoa butter
175 g shea butter
16 g dried calendula flowers
25 g dried lavender flowers
Melt the fats on a waterbath, add herbs, let sit on low heat for 1.5 hours, strain. Use a syringe to spritz the still-hot herbal salve into jars, put into the fridge to set.
This uses no beeswax, as one of the students was allergic to it and wanted to do a salve anyway. The ingredients are much more expensive than those for normal oil-beeswax ones ... still, it’s a no-beeswax herbal salve. A nice one, too.
11) Chickweed salve
5.5 dl chickweed oil (recipe I)
71 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, use a syringe to spritz things into 30 ml jars, let cool (= let set), close lids, add labels.
12) Chamomile tea salve
6 g chamomile
2 dl water
1 pinch of sodium benzoate
Put chamomile in water, bring to a boil, let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes, strain. Dissolve the sodium benzoate in the tea.
2 dl sesame oil
40 g beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the oil on a waterbath, whisk in 1 dl of your strong chamomile tea, still hot, in a thin stream. Once all the tea is in the oil’n’wax: move your bowl into cold water to hasten the setting of the salve. Continue to whisk until your salve has set. Put the lot into a small plastic baggie, cut a small corner, and press your salve, still warm, into jars. It’s harder to press a fully-set salve, so don’t wait for too long.
—
Related entries: PD: Herbal oils 1 - PD: Herbal oils 2 - PD: Herbal salves 1 - Herbs in salves - Cat: Salves
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/blog/pd-herbal-oils-1.html
PD: Herbal oils 1.
Posted October 13th, 2006 by Blog - Henriette
* Calendula officinalis
* Mentha x piperita
* Oils
* Picea abies
* Salves
A few different herbal oils.
These days I make my herbal oils (to be made into herbal salves) in two ways:
1) if I’m short on time, I do the waterbath, as outlined in earlier blogposts.
2) if it’s a two-day thingie, and there’s a reliable oven (as in, the temperature will stay at 50C when you set it to 50C), I put the oil’n’herbs in there overnight.
Here then are the herbal oil recipes of the first two days of recent product development:
A) Calendula oil
1 l cold-pressed organic safflower oil
50 g dried calendula petals
Let sit on a waterbath for 1.5 hours, let cool, strain by wringing oil’n’herb through cheesecloth. We got 9 dl calendula oil.
B) Calendula oil
1 l cold-pressed organic safflower oil
50 g dried calendula petals
Let sit in the oven on 50C overnight.
This was a normal household oven, and they tend to be unreliable on the very low temperatures. That 50C setting turned out to actually be 94C.
As we also had a vinegar in there - which boiled over, leaving a burnt sticky mess on the oven floor - the calendula oil smelled burnt. It was a much deeper yellow than the waterbath oil, but because it had been so hot for so long it’ll likely to turn rancid much faster.
Check your oven settings with a thermometer before sacrificing your herbal oil to it ...
C) Spruce shoot oil
8 dl cold-pressed organic sesame oil
400 g frozen fresh spruce shoots
Let sit in the oven on 50C overnight. That’s the same oven as above calendula salve, with the same burnt vinegar, so this oil smelled very strongly of burnt whatnot. We ended up discarding it.
D) Peppermint oil
50 g dried peppermint leaf
6 dl cold-pressed organic rapeseed oil
Let sit on a waterbath for 2 hours, strain. This gave 5 dl infused peppermint oil. (And that’s not the same as an extremely expensive essential oil!)
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Related entries: PD: Herbal oils 2 - PD: Herbal salves 1 - PD: Herbal salves 2 - Herbs in salves - Cat: Salves
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