SEEDS Blog
DIY Healing Salve

DIY Healing Salve

Published Thursday, May 17, 2018

Summer is here, which means working outside in the garden, yard and exposing our skin to hard work and new irritants. Luckily, the same plants that we work to cultivate in our garden can also provide incredible properties for our skin to restore and heal. Chef Sumi worked with our SEEDlings this week to create a healing salve to apply to the skin anytime it needs soothing.

From the garden, kids harvested chamomile, comfrey and calendula, all with medicinal properties.

  • Chamomile: an anti-inflammatory, often used to heal wounds
  • Comfrey: soothes skin and has historically been used to heal broken bones
  • Calendula: antiseptic and antimicrobial, can be used to soothe eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis and other common skin ailments

After harvesting, the herbs were left out on the counter to dry for two days – any moisture left in the leaves can cause the salve to spoil and shorten its shelf-life.

Add Olive oil and herbs to a blender to aid in full extraction and then poured into a saucepan and heated on low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Using a strainer with fine cheesecloth, strain off the herbs from the oil and return the oil to the pan. Compost the leftover herbs.

Using a 1:4 ratio of beeswax to oil, add in the beeswax to the saucepan and allow to fully melt.

Pour the finished salve into small containers and top with dried chamomile or lavender buds. Allow to cool completely before use.

 


Other areas we can offer help includes teaching new students how to write write my paper a book review.