Making an Herbal Salve

 If  you read this post, then you'll know that my hubby is dealing with an injured knee.

While visiting the friends mentioned in last week's post, the lady of the house offered the use of an herbal healing salve she had had good results with to apply to his knee.  After a couple of days of use, hubby could tell a difference in his pain level and it was at that point that we became very interested in purchasing some for him.  It could be applied in a roller bottle form or in a salve.  Thanks to the generosity of our friends, hubby was sent home with some of both and a recipe to make both.

I made a batch of the salve once we were home and what follows is how I did it ...

(Here's where I have to say that I'm not a doctor, nor do I have any herbal or medical training other than my own personal studies and usage.  As always consult your doctor or someone trained in the usage of herbal treatment.)

I used 3 ingredients ...

 coconut oil  (the brand I used, pictured, is Member's Mark.  I prefer coconut oil to be organic, virgin, cold pressed and unrefined.)  The link, coconut oil, is to what I've used in the past and would use again if I could not find locally what I was looking for.

 beeswax (I used what I had and grated the amount needed.)  I highly recommend that if you have any health issues with your hands, such as arthritis, etc that you use beeswax pellets.  I've included a link to ones I've used in the past and will go back to using for anything that calls for beeswax pellets.

an essential oil herbal blend called Restore 

a container to put your salve in ... I used a wide mouth half-pint jar, but a roll-up tube such as this one or this one, would be better in my opinion.

step 1:  grate beeswax and measure out 2 teaspoons; set aside ... or measure out 2 teaspoons of beeswax pellets and set aside.

 step 2:  set up a double boiler.  You can use a glass heatproof measuring cup that has a handle that will hook over the side of the pan if you don't have an official double boiler.

step 3:  measure and add to double boiler the following:

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 teaspoons beeswax

stir occasionally as it melts being careful not to slosh any out into the water which could cause water to pop up into mixture.  You don't want water in the mixture you are melting.  The coconut oil will melt quicker than the beeswax.  The stirring is needed in order to mix the oil and beeswax together.

Step 4: When the beeswax and coconut oil are completely melted, set the top part of the double boiler off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, stirring off and on to further blend the beeswax and coconut oil.  Note:  allowing the mixture to cool for this short period of time is necessary in order not to destroy the therapeutic properties of the essential oil  you will add.

When the 5 minutes are over, add the essential oil blend (10-20 drops) and stir in really well to blend essential oil with coconut and beeswax mixture.  Note: if essential oil is not blended well with coconut and beeswax mixture it will separate when cooling.  So ... stir, stir, stir until well blended (for me, it was approximately 2 - 3 minutes of stirring)!

All three ingredients are blended, in the container of choice and cooling.  I put an air tight lid on the container and let it sit for 24 hours.

The final product!  All that's left is labeling and using!  I'll make another batch as hubby continues to use this salve on his knee.  Next time though, I will use beeswax pellets and roll-up tubes!  

One more note:  the method used here is your basic salve making method.  The only thing that would change is the essential oils you added if you wanted to make a different salve.

Tell me what you think, would you like to see more 'how-to' posts in addition to the weekly 'From My Home To Yours' posts?

Until the next time ...  

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry  

~ quietly holding the home front ~

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Other Places You Can Find Me ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine  

Mrs. Patsi on Instagram

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting my work via one of the following ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked and me motivated to keep on keeping on with my attempts to inspire and encourage you (Titus 2:3-5) through my writings!

Making Cider Fire!

I needed to start another batch of cider fire and I thought I would take you along on the journey.  The final product always depends on what I had to make it with at the time. 

I don't use an exact recipe; I've been making it so long that it's morphed into more of a method. Here's what went in this time ...

chopped horseradish (dried)

chopped turmeric (dried)

chopped ginger (fresh)

chopped onions (fresh)

sliced lemons (fresh)

garlic (fresh)

rosemary (dried)

sage (dried)

cayenne pepper (dried)

Jalapeno pepper (dried)

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother

(Note:  I use either fresh or dried ingredients, depending on what I have available at the time.  If using fresh, I made sure each item is completely dry and there is no water on them.)

Fill the jar with everything except the vinegar.  Once the jar has been filled to your specifications, add the ACV almost to the top.  I put a fermentation weight in the top to hold the ingredients under the vinegar.

I'll check the vinegar level in about 24 - 48 hours as some of the dehydrated items will soak up some of it and then top it off if needed.

Other than that, I'll sit it in a dark place, give it a good shake every now and then and leave it to do its thing for about 4 weeks.  I then go to my planner and mark the date it'll be ready.  I also write it on the jar lid once I'm sure the jar doesn't need any more topping off with vinegar.

Once the 4 weeks are up, I'll strain it, add honey, and bottle it in the brown bottle sitting beside the gallon jar.  I have two of these brown bottles that I reserve for cider fire.  When one gets empty, that's my signal to start another batch.  I try really hard never to let myself run out of cider fire!

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

How Are You Coping?

The horrific news just keeps coming, it's everywhere you turn ... social media, online, TV, at the grocery store, corner market, etc.  Everyone is talking about the news, so how are you coping?

How does one stay informed, but not inundated?  In my opinion we need to know the facts but encountering it at every turn is a bit much for some of us, including myself.

Here's how I'm handling the news ...

I limit myself to one update per day, not a continuous feed of updates.  This means I'm careful about what I watch on TV and allow myself to be exposed to online.

I pray about and for the innocent victims and that the reason for this horrific news will soon end.

I do not allow myself to be drawn into conversations where the news is being elaborated on, I just don't.  Everyone has an opinion, and this can turn into a heated argument.  I don't want to be a part of that.

I do not allow myself to be drawn into 'religious' discussions about what is happening.  Here again everyone has their opinion, and a heated argument can quickly develop.  Christians are here to teach and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not argue about whether this is the end of time or not.  If as much energy and effort was being put into sharing and teaching about Christ as arguing over what may or may not be 'religious' implications of the current happenings, I wonder how many more could be won to Christ. 

I stay busy!  This morning I got up and made out a 'to-do' list for the week and then I pulled from that list the things I wanted to work on today.  Here's what my day has looked like so far ...

I made a jar of elderberry syrup ... (The picture in the top left is of all the ingredients I used .... water, dried elderberries, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and ginger.)

I took the chicken bones from last week's chicken canning session out of the freezer and made broth.  The plan is to can it tomorrow.

I need a Bible cover for one of my Bibles, so I took the measurements and cut it out today.  I hope to be able to start sewing on it tomorrow.

I spent time outside doing chores, harvesting herbs and soaking up some sunshine.

I spent time in prayer and in Bible study the first thing this morning in and around doing laundry.

I did my daily exercise.

I still have a couple more things I want to do and mark off my 'to-do' list today, but what I want you to take away from this post is that you must be proactive in protecting your mental state and the mental state of your children during this time.  Please be careful and protective.  Don't stick your head in the sand, but don't invite anxiety as a guest into your home either.  Be wise!

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Ladies, join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Working On Those Winter Preps!

Gleaning sweet potatoes for our winter larder ...

Stocking the pantry shelves with dehydrated vegetables ... carrots and okra

I added these home-canned goods to the pantry shelves ...

.... along with the chicken I canned yesterday ...

I started two tinctures for my medicinal pantry ...  

(1) nettles

(2) elderberry

We are working very hard to prepare for the upcoming winter doing what we can with what we have to work with ... I hope you are too!

Remember, every little bit helps!

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

Canning Supplies

Food Scale

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Lavender and Chamomile Foot Soak

I mentioned in an earlier post that I planned to make a foot soak for my feet.  Since summertime means open-toed shoes and sandals and since I spend a lot of time in the garden where soil just seems to collect inside shoes leaving feet a little worse for the wear, I wanted to give my feet a little TLC during this summer season. 

Can any other gardeners relate?

After doing some research, here's what I put together ...

5 tablespoons dried lavender flowers/buds

5 tablespoons dried chamomile flowers or you can open up chamomile tea bags

1 1/4 cups Epsom salt

3/4 cups powdered milk

Stir all together in a bowl and store in an air-tight container until ready to use.  

To use:  Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup in a sachet (I use a small muslin bag) to container of warm water.  

(The next time I make a batch, I'm going to whiz all the ingredients together in my nutri-bullet turning it into a powder.  I think it will dissolve better in the water and maybe I can bypass the need for a sachet.)

Update 7/12/23:  I made another batch and whizzed it in my nutri-bullet turning it into powder.  I used a couple of tablespoons of the mixture in my next foot soaking and I'm hooked.  The sachet is not needed for this method.

Soak feet for desired length of time.  I soaked mine 30 minutes.

According to my research, the lavender and chamomile are both noted for being relaxing and soothing. Epsom salts are good for easing muscle tension and powdered milk helps make feet soft and smooth.

I really like the way my feet feel after being soaked in this solution.

Do you have a favorite 'foot soak' mixture/recipe?

Until next time,

patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

Sharing 43 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine, where I share my love for God and His Word through my personal Bibe study.  Physical preparedness is important, but not near as important as spiritual preparedness.  Join me over at From This Heart of Mine and study God's Word with me.

Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

Canning Supplies

Food Scale

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay, and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked! 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Today's Activities!

I had another post planned for today but decided that I was just too tired to finish it up.  Instead, I'm going to share a couple of pictures from today's activities ...

(It feels so good to feel good again!  Hubby and I mowed and did yard work today ... it had been nearly 2 weeks since it was last done thanks to "IT!"  Our yard desperately needed some attention!)

These are echinacea flowers that I snipped, bagged up and hung in the greenhouse to dry. I think they are just so pretty ... and they have medicinal properties too!

Today was laundry day as well and I hung our bed linens outside after washing them to not only dry them but to let the sun further sanitize them.  We are doing everything we can to banish all traces of "IT" from our home!

Do you like where I sit my laundry basket while hanging out laundry!  (It saves me from having to bend up and down for every piece of laundry while hanging it on the line.)  It's a portion of a massive cedar tree that was on our property.  That's a rose bush growing around it, there aren't any roses on it right now, but I can assure you that it is beautiful when it is in full bloom.

I hope you've had a great day!

Until the next post,

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

A Working Pantry is a way of life, a lifestyle if you will!

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can follow A Working Pantry on Instagram. 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Transplanting Elderberry Plants!

 What's that in your hand?  Well today, it's elderberry plants!  Every spring our elderberry bushes start producing sprouts and since my goal is to have elderberries growing in several locations on our property, I dig them up and move them.

This year I let them get well established, about 2 - 3 feet tall with a good root system, before I transplanted them ...

After digging them up I placed them in a bucket of water to keep the roots from drying out while I prepared their new location ...

Then I planted them, cut them back, and watered them really well.

They're getting lots of TLC and attention until they get established in their new home!

This will make the 3rd time I've started a new elderberry patch from sprouts.  The plan is to grow plenty as the flowers and berries have some really good medicinal properties.

And it all started from seeds that I purchased because I wanted to make sure that what I thought was elderberry bushes, were elderberry bushes!  I can now identify one in the wild without hesitation, that's how I'm learning the art of foraging ... I buy the seeds, plant them and study the plant ... one plant at a time!

Until next time ...

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

You can receive A Working Pantry blog posts via:

Bloglovin (signup in the sidebar) ...

Email subscription service, follow.it (sign up on the sidebar)

A Working Pantry Instagram page

 You can view my privacy policy HERE.

What's That In Your Hand? How About Comfrey Tea!

It's been a month since my last post ... all I can say is that it's been a busy month!

I have lots to share and I'll try to do that on Friday in a regular Friday post but today I want to share about one of the things I'm doing to supplement the commercial fertilizer we use on our garden.

The price of fertilizer has gone up and from what we're being told is going to continue to go up, so I've been on a mission to find things I can supplement it with or even replace it in some instances.

Enter .... comfrey!  We grow comfrey and from my research over the years have learned that it makes a good garden tea giving plants a boost during the growing season.

I've made and used comfrey tea in a hit or miss fashion in prior years and know that it does help.  This year however, we're going to use it on a regular basis ... no hit or miss this year.  I'll be taking careful notes and experimenting with amounts and concentration throughout the growing year.  

The ever-increasing cost and availability of commercial fertilizer demands that I think outside the box and look at what's in my hand, since we grow lots of comfrey, making comfrey tea is one way that I'm doing that!  

In the picture above, the bucket on the left is just a bit over half full of freshly harvested and chopped/torn comfrey leaves waiting to have water added to it.

The bucket on the right already has water added to it.

After filling both buckets with water, I moved them to an out of the way place and put lids on top of both. I'll give them each a good stir whenever I think of it over the next 3 - 4 weeks and then I'll strain out the leaves, fill emptied plastic milk jugs with the liquid and use it to help supplement the commercial fertilizer we use. (Since the comfrey tea will be a concentrate, I'll dilute it before using.)

Warning ... this stuff doesn't smell good at all when it's at the stage of being ready to strain!

Do you have any experience with making and using comfrey tea in your gardening?

How are you combating the cost and availability of commercial fertilizers? 

Until the next time ...

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

You can receive A Working Pantry blog posts via:

Bloglovin (signup in the sidebar) ...

Email subscription service, follow.it (sign up on the sidebar)

A Working Pantry Instagram page

 You can view my privacy policy HERE.

Herbal Oils!

Yesterday, I mentioned that I was in the process of straining up herbal oils that had been in the works for several weeks.

Today, I did the second straining of each oil ...

... and jarred them up.

So far I've done:

comfrey oil

dandelion oil

calendula oil

(I still have plantain oil and arnica oil to strain and jar up.)

These will be used in herbal remedies, salve making, soap making, etc.

Those beautiful rose tags were a gift ... yes, I am blessed!

(I wrote the contents of each jar on the back of the label!)

Until tomorrow!

Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.