Healing Salve

When I was a little girl I remember using a homemade green and sometimes amber-colored salve for cuts and scrapes. There was also a dark brown almost black one that stunk to high heaven. But regardless of smell, these salves worked well. As an adult, I found that my partner had these same salves in his cupboard that his grandmother had made. He told me that since losing her eyesight, she no longer made them. So I made it my mission to figure out how to make it myself. And so it began. I discovered that some of the healing plants actually grew in my yard. One, yarrow, I fell in love with immediately because it reminds me of tiny ferns an I absolutely love ferns. The other I was surprised to find was a so-called weed, plantain. I continued to read her books and healing yourself naturally books and soon had my own "recipe" which has been added to overtime. I got crazy wild about making it, gifting it, and selling it at local bazaars. I get so excited about these little discoveries. I now call it "Granny's Healing Salve" and it has so many people coming back or more. In 2018 my partner, Jason, went on his annual fishing/crabbing trip with his best buds and had accidentally spilled hot crab water on his arm. It was not good. Skin bubbly and well, melty. When he came home we immediately cleaned it and started smothering him in the salve and then covered it up. We did this for about a week. we then we began to let it breathe by not wrapping it any longer, but still used my salve. He loves telling this story to everyone because there are no scars at all. He thought for sure there would be. I wish I had taken photos of his arm to document its healing process, but I too did not know it was not going to scar. I too did not think it would heal so well. This is just one reason why I get so excited about making and sharing my salve. We are down to our last three tins, so I have begun the process as follows,

I picked my plants and stuffed them into 2 quart jars, then pour olive oil over them. They will sit in our kitchen next to the toaster oven for about 2-3 weeks, depending on my schedule. I will then strain them int clean jars to use the now infused oil to create salve, lotion bars, and lip balm. 

I use yarrow, plantain, lavender, sage, lemon balm, St. John's wort, calendula, and comfrey. I do not measure out or weigh out the plants, I just gather what I can and try to make it equal parts as much as possible. I use one ounce of beeswax per one cup of infused oil. Melt the beeswax in a double boiler over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and add oil. You can most definitely use essential oils in place of any of these plants if you cannot obtain some. Just make sure to only use 10 drops per 1 cup and that they are essential oils and not aromatherapy oils as they will only irritate skin and not promote any healing. I use mountainroseherbs.com often to supplement what I can't grow or forage. Once I mix the oil and melted beeswax, I then pour it into little tins I get from amazon. Use can also use low profile jelly jars with a  wide mouth. Then, enjoy away! These make such great gifts. Often the recipient is coming back for more. In my eyes, God gave us healing plants all around, we just need to start using them more and synthetics less. 

In my endeavor to find the right things to put in my salve, these are the properties they are known for having. 

Yarrow is an antiseptic, and a pain reliever. 

Plantain, known to be a weed, but is an anti-inflammatory and an analgesic. Stop killing plantain, and start foraging it instead.

Lavender is an antiseptic and a disinfectant. 

Sage fights against several different infection-causing bacteria. 

Lemonbalm is an antioxidant and also a pain reliever. 

St, John's wort s an antibiotic, antioxidant, an anti-inflammatory. (I do not grow this yet)

Calendula is an ant-fungal, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and an anti-bacterial. It is also known to go for treating rashes and eczema. 

Comfrey promotes bone mending, is a pain reliever, an anti-inflammatory, and also speeds up the healing process. (I do not grow this yet)

I think comfrey is the super healer.

Comfrey is something that has been used for more years than I can imagine. It was the original casting glue until plaster, and later fiberglass took its's place. It was boiled to make a sticky paste and bandages were soaked in it. The bandages then were wrapped around whatever body part had a broken bone and dries extremely hard. It was used in wars to mend gashes, causing the torn flesh to stick together and begin to heal. 

I cannot promise these plants will cure or heal everyone. I am only sharing what I have learned and what I have seen. Use caution when introducing new herbs to your life, you may have an allergy you did not know about. Please talk to your physician before the use of herbs and plants to be sure they won't interact with anything you may already be taking. Thank you.

If you would like to purchase some salve got to Cozeemug on Etsy. Cheers

Update 

I finally found a photo of my fingers I had melted. Let me take you back. I was cooking a banquet for our local Pregnancy Center fundraiser and had melted my hand a bit on a soup pot. I had to quite literally, pry my fingers open, as they had fused together. I then pushed a melty piece of skin back onto one finger. Yeah, it was no fun. We finished the meal and when I got home I immediately started putting my salve on it. Today, there are no scars and I have full motion of everything. These photos do not do the burn justice. But here it is. Let me also say that the salve also helped with the pain and I was able to go to work the very next day, at the Pharmacy. I just had a tough time opening bottles for a week. 🤣

Keep brewing, keep cooking, and most definitely keep healing.

Cheers,

MysTorri

Do your best, even when you don't want to.