| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| shawneefarmgirl |
Posted - Mar 14 2013 : 1:50:22 PM
I thought of making a salve from these herbs. While looking up comfrey, it said not to use on broken skin. I thought it was a first aid cream that you could use on cuts, stings, burns & such. Now I am confused. I do know that if it is a puncture type would you should not use this for healing.What then would I use for cuts? Help me out girls!! Thank you all so much!!
I'll tell you the truth, if a man keeps my word, he will never see death." John 8:51 |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 25 2013 : 7:34:36 PM
I guess I should have read it first.... Looks like it's the root is the part you would want and not dried because of the oils it provides when fresh, right? Hmm... I'm not good at wildcrafting yet... but I can ask around.
We can do it! |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 25 2013 : 7:12:37 PM
I will check it out. Since you don't have it available to you there, would you like me to see if they get it fresh at the apothecary (dried) and send you some? Does it work well if it's been dried? Just a thought...
We can do it! |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 25 2013 : 6:43:09 PM
i found a really good article on Osha at www.globalhealingcenter.com. Can't get it here but it's down in your part of the world. your herbal apothecary can probably get it for you
happiness to all sentient beings |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 24 2013 : 1:11:51 PM
cj6 -- now that's new! I hadn't heard of either one of those for cuts. I have heard that for burns you can use Lavender Essential oil (straight up) and it takes the pain out. I have tried it on sunburns -- mixed a few drops of it with aloe vera and I keep it in a spray bottle in the fridge. My husband had a pretty bad burn from golfing and forgot his sunscreen and this helped right away. Will work on those oven burns too. :) Thanks for sharing.
Jo
We can do it! |
| cj6 |
Posted - Apr 24 2013 : 12:39:17 PM
Honey works Great for cuts! I used it for the first time over a year ago when one of my kids had an open sore from wearing their shoes without socks!They didn't tell me till a day or two after it started hurting...and we had no antibiotic ointment right then. I figured I had read it worked so for right then we'd try it. Was I surprised the next day when going to change the bandaid to find how much it had healed! It would have taken a week with antibiotic ointment to heal that much.We changed the bandaid once a day for three days each time putting a small amount of honey on it and within three days it was almost completely healed.
Another thing I learned in a herb class that helps with open cuts is cayenne,sounds like a not so good thing but,it will help clot quickly and doesn't burn or sting like you think it would. I haven't tried it on myself but,while we were doing the class someone got a cut and so they allowed it to be tried. |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 24 2013 : 09:20:04 AM
Hi Rhonda, Okay, here I go again --- another question. LOL. What is Osha? We do have cottonwood trees here in Colorado-- so I will have to see if I can find some. I don't have any in my yard because my husband is so allergic to the fluff, but I know there is some nearby somewhere. I will look around. So the cottonwood buds help somehow to make the oils last longer? How's that? Would be good to have for my arthritic hands. I have never heard of Rosemary Gladstar. I will look into that. Is the webinar free on the internet?
We can do it! |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 23 2013 : 6:03:22 PM
Hi Jo, you're welcome! I love talking about this stuff. I so enjoy going to other's places and looking at their potions on their shelves. I met a guy in NM who taught me about Osha right there on the spot. brought some home and wish I had access to more. I'd never heard of it before. I think comfrey would probably grow where you are, as it's not picky. the best way to start comfrey is from the root. Once you have it you have it pretty much forever. there's a place in NC where you can order it. It's called Nantahala farm and garden. I love comfrey so don't care how much it plants itself in my garden. it draws bees and seems to neutralize soil so truly a wonder! Do you have cottonwoods in your part of Colorado? you can gather those buds to keep your oils longer. they have to be nice and sticky. I gather them here in early spring. they make a beautiful oil and can be used for arthritis and other achey spots. maybe you can watch Rosemary Gladstar's webinar Thursday as she's going to talk about chickweed, another little wonder.
happiness to all sentient beings |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 23 2013 : 11:04:36 AM
Hi Rhonda, I very much appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me about herbs and tinctures. I hadn't thought about the break down being different, but I can see how that makes total sense between oil and alcohol. I have purchased tinctures from trusted apothecaries for medicinal purposes, but I have not made any myself. I am not opposed to having alcohol being in the contents of my products, and have used it for making floral waters, etc. as well as taken tinctures internally that have alcohol in them. I have purchased some salves also from an apothecary that were made with tinctures, and love how well they work. I have only made herb infused oils for my salves, which is how I learned in a couple of classes I have taken at two different apothecaries, but I'm excited to try my hand at tinctures to use in my homemade "potions" :) Some of the herbs I have harvested from my own garden. I have not tried to grow comfrey and I'm not sure it grows locally, but I should find out. I purchase mine through the apothecaries in my area, who I know use well trusted sources for their herbs, if they don't grow it themselves. I recently discovered a new (to me) apothecary while visiting a friend and the owner who very much looks like a Garden Fairy (smile here) has many herbs infusing on her shelves and it was very fascinating to see all of her tinctures. I would love to know EVERYTHING there is to know about herbs, but that will take me years and years and I am quite sure I will not ever learn all there is to know. For now, I like learning a little here and there and make products that are useful in my home and maybe help others out as well. I only make what I thoroughly understand though, so I ask a lot of questions. Thank you for sharing! I hope I can someday share tidbits with others too. I need to read up on Chickweed, as that is an herb I am not at all familiar with. I have heard the name but have never come across it in a receipe, until now. Yeah -something new for me to study. :) Thank you!!!!
Hugs,
Jo
Farmgirl Sister #5000
We can do it! |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 22 2013 : 8:13:19 PM
Hi Jo, there's a couple of reasons to make both. one is that tinctures can be used internally more easily. they also last indefinitely as opposed to oils which can go bad. some herbs tend to infuse better in alcohol or vinegar. some don't work well with oil at all. generally speaking, if you use an oil and tincture together you get the benefit of both as some of the compounds break down a bit differently in oil and alcohol. you can also use glycerin to make tincture if you don't want to use alcohol but that method is way more convoluted. there are lots of creams that don't use tincture at all (Rosemary Gladstar's perfect cream is one) but i like the texture of this recipe. and it tends to last longer because of the alcohol content. I used the comfrey/plantain/ chickweed salve for a friend who has eczema and it worked pretty well. do you live somewhere you can get fresh comfrey? I never heard of it until i moved here but i never studied herbs before I moved here. and then i got hooked! herbs and soap making, i could go on all day...
happiness to all sentient beings |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 22 2013 : 09:44:07 AM
Hi Rhonda,
You are so sweet to share your information! It sounds like you make the herbal tincture in the same fashion as I make infused oils, only with alcohol instead of oil. I don't understand the purpose though? If you infuse oils for the creams, why do you need tincture also? Sorry for all the questions, I just like to understand the process and what it does for the body. Does adding tinctures change the properties in a beneficial way in addition to adding the infused oil? Is this what helps to preserve it? I am totally willing and am exicted about trying this. Yea, metric is different, but my scales to have grams and ounces I believe, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'm not at home at the moment to look. If not, I'm sure I can find a conversion chart. No worries there. I know a lot of recipes are written in grams, I just haven't used them yet. I love learning new stuff! :) Do you have a recipe for skin cream that is good for eczema issues? My mom suffers severely from it and I have made her oils and salves using Evening Primrose and it helps a lot, but a cream would be nice.
Thanks again for sharing -- I love talking about herbs as much as I like growing them and making things with them.
Take care,
Jo
We can do it! |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 21 2013 : 6:31:14 PM
Hi TexasJo,
I know, the metric system is a pain to those of us raised with the "normal" system. most liquid measuring cups have mls now I think. my soap scale has a choice of grams or ounces or I'd be hooped. an herbal tincture is when you infuse the herb into alcohol, usually 2:1 alcohol to herb. you chop the herb as fine as you can, weigh it then add alcohol to cover. I use vodka, unless it's something that needs higher alcohol content, like propolis. usually it's 2:1 but not always. I'm not a purist when it comes to tinctures for creams. you let it sit for about 1000 hours, shaking it to give it some love and to be sure it remains covered in the alcohol. if it's not completely covered/soaked in alcohol it can get moldy. then strain and use. i tend to use either lemon balm or calendula as a base for my creams since i have so much and both are good for the skin. added bonus is the lemon balm smells really good. you can make herbal vinegars in the same way. nettle vinegar is really good for you. Hope this helps. any of the herbs you mention can be used for skin creams. I'm happy to share any info I have.
happiness to all sentient beings |
| shawneefarmgirl |
Posted - Apr 21 2013 : 1:21:26 PM
Ramonaj: thank you for the full explanation of oven infusing. Now I got it!!! I am so excited to have you knowledgeable girls to help me out with this. I am enjoying this, and so grateful to you all....
I'll tell you the truth, if a man keeps my word, he will never see death." John 8:51 |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 21 2013 : 11:01:58 AM
Hi Rhonda,
Thanks for sharing your recipe! I will have to give this a try. I have used tinctures, but only for internal medicine and only when a clinical herbalist has created it for me. I have never heard of using tinctures in body products, so I don't know what you mean by an herbal tincture for a cream? Can you tell me more about that part? I have infused oils to use them in salves and lip balms. What kind of tincture would I use in a cream? For the infused oils, I typically use calendula, comfrey, plantain, chamomile, etc. This is so fascinating and I love learning new stuff about herbs! I will need to use a conversion chart as I don't work with ml & grams, I measure in ounces, but this will be fun to learn a different way to measure. Thanks for helping!!
We can do it! |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 21 2013 : 10:24:33 AM
Hi TexasJo, if you use tincture and oils together it tends to keep the bacteria count down as there's alcohol in the tincture. it's fun to experiment with. This is the recipe I use, mostly using lemon balm as I have loads of it. I also use calendula a lot.
Basic Cream
100 ml infused oil
25 gm. beeswax
25 gram palm oil or shea butter (you can use lanolin but many people get itchy so i tend not to)
50 ml. herbal tincture
Warm oils with beeswax. SLOWLY add tincture and whip until cooled. you can also add EO before whipping,if you like. Press into round jars. About 150 ml
happiness to all sentient beings |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 21 2013 : 10:13:45 AM
To infuse chickweed in the oven, put your oven on the lowest temp possible. Cover the chickweed with a good quality (believe it or not I buy organic olive oil at Costco) Olive oil. then put it in the oven until you can see that the chickweed has lost a lot of its color. take out and let it drain. if you want a really clear oil, don't smash the chickweed, just let it drain. since I usually make salves or balms with it I don't care about the clarity and usually squeeze every last drop of oil i can get out of it. to keep it longer you can add a bit of poplar bud oil to your chickweed oil. Or you can just pop some poplar buds in there with it. I'm lucky in that poplar (or cottonwood depending on where you live) is plentiful here. It's good for aching joints too.
happiness to all sentient beings |
| shawneefarmgirl |
Posted - Apr 20 2013 : 7:40:04 PM
Ramonaj: I never did this before, so......can you explain how I infuse in the oven-I'm not quite getting this yet.
I'll tell you the truth, if a man keeps my word, he will never see death." John 8:51 |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 19 2013 : 10:48:57 AM
Hi Rhonda,
Makes total sense. A friend of mine got me hooked on making soap and that also led me to make other products. I started about 6-7 years ago and am still very hooked. I love learing about new stuff in this dept and sharing about it with others. I had to give up some of my gardening some years back now due to back surgery, so I was looking for other ways I can still be involved with plants. I took some clasess at different apothecary shops to learn about using essential oils and to make things on a more natural level. I took a couple of classes in lotion, but found it rather intimidating in the fact that it's hard to make it without preservatives, making it with only a short shelf life. Makes me nervous to think about the products that might start growing yucky stuff in them. So I have stuck to salves and lip balms and soap.
We can do it! |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 18 2013 : 9:08:20 PM
I make lotion using tinctures and oils mixed together. they're thicker like creams but you can just add more oil to make them thinner. My interest in making soap started me on making other types of body products
happiness to all sentient beings |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 15 2013 : 07:07:34 AM
Hi Ronda, I have never used chickweed so this is really good to know. Thanks for sharing your info. I love making oils and tinctures too, so I love hearing about new ideas. Do you make lotion?
We can do it! |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 14 2013 : 6:35:40 PM
Hi Shawnee, I use the chickweed, comfrey plantain salve on just about everything including cuts. another one i make has fresh lavender infused in it. I insist my son keep it in his tool box. he's a plumber and gets burned from time to time. my husband and his friends go fishing and camping all the time and if i send a salve with one, the others pout if they don't get one for their own use. men are so funny that way. A note about chickweed: it's so juicy that when you harvest it you need to infuse it into oil in the oven, very low heat until you can tell all the green is out of it. If you try to infuse it the way you do other herbs it can go moldy really quickly. sorry if i'm repeating info people already know, no idea what info people have. i love making oils and tinctures!
happiness to all sentient beings |
| TexasJo |
Posted - Apr 13 2013 : 08:18:45 AM
Hi Ladies - I can't tell you how excited I was to see herbs being discussed here when I joined the Sisterhood just the other day. I am a huge fan of all things herbs! I can't learn enough, use enough or just have enough around me! hahaa.. I wanted to mention that I use comfrey along with calendula and chamomile in my lip balm and lip gloss bases (and have used plantain a few times as well). The combination makes for great healing properties for chapped lips or for daily use. I have taken only a few classes on herbs, and am still a novice to the world of herbs, but I have heard a few times (and read in many places) that comfrey should not be used on an open cut and it sounds like what ya'll are saying here is correct -that it can heal over and trap dirt or bacteria too quickly, causing infection. I didn't know that plantain wouldn't let something heal until it's clean, Rhonda ~ I love that! I also have used comfrey in salves for dry and chapped hands, but care should be taken on open wounds and cuts, so the addition of plantain is something I need to remember!
We can do it! |
| shawneefarmgirl |
Posted - Apr 11 2013 : 05:52:44 AM
Rhonda - are you saying that if I use chickweed, plantain and comfrey in a salve I could use it as a first aid crème on cuts, too?? That would be wonderful !!
I'll tell you the truth, if a man keeps my word, he will never see death." John 8:51 |
| crittergranny |
Posted - Apr 06 2013 : 7:46:56 PM
Does anyone have a pic they can post of comfrey. I have heard lots of good things about it and would like to get some to grow. Also what are the other names for it? Tylenol is also something that harms the liver. Most pain meds for that matter and people still use it in moderation. Although if someone has a weak liver or something then they need to take that into account.
Laura
Horse poor in the boonies.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CrittergrannysLair
www.creamofthecroptrailrides.webs.com |
| ramonaj |
Posted - Apr 06 2013 : 11:43:04 AM
I use Comfrey for many things for skin. I also had read the warnings about taking it internally or using it on broken skin. I took a class with Susun Weed and she said that it would be pretty close to impossible to ingest enough comfrey to damage your liver, as it takes huge amounts. Having said that, I use plaintain and comfrey together in slaves because comfrey heals so fast that bacteria can be trapped in the skin. plantain won't "let" something heal until it's clean. and if you put chickweed oil in the salve too, there's not much it won't heal. I use comfrey for so many things that I have it all over my garden. the other thing it'll do is help neutralize garden soil!
anyway that's my 2 cents.
happiness to all sentient beings |
| sjmjgirl |
Posted - Apr 06 2013 : 10:42:21 AM
I agree Laura! I once saw an episode of Oprah where she had a man who was COMPLETELY blue! Seems he had been taking colloidal silver for quite some time. Dr. Oz was stunned.
Farmgirl Sister # 3810
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
- Dalai Lama
April is Autism Awareness month. Autism affects 1 in 88 children (1 in 54 boys, including my son). Go to http://www.autismspeaks.org/ to learn more and help Light It Up Blue on April 2nd!
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