Calendula - From Seed to Soap

What is it?
Also, know as pot marigold, calendula is a flower which is used medically and cosmetically.

"Calendula officinalis is one of the best skin-care herbs ever!  Calendula is antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory. It promotes skin regeneration, minimizes scar tissue, is an excellent skin moisturizer, and helps heal rashes, burns, sores, ulcers and skin problems associated with radiation therapy"  from Mother Earth Living


It has tons of uses.

Calendula Shaving Soap

I wanted to match a shaving soap that was really nourishing to the skin. This recipe not only has bentonite clay (for the slip, while shaving), it also includes colloidal oatmeal (which is just oatmeal that has been ground to a fine powder), and calendula-infused olive oil. I will talk about calendula in my next post.

Natural Insect repellent Lotion Bars (Bug-away Lotion Bar)

This is the time of year that I love being outside at dusk. However, so do the mosquitoes!
I've been wanting to try out making Lotion Bars & I just found this local honey farm that sells beeswax. Babe's Honey Farm.

Also, Who wants a insect repellent soap? I like applying it right when the bugs begin to appear. You never know when you will end up at a bonfire.

Ingredients:

With the oils I used a 1:1:1 ratio

2.5 oz Beeswax

2.5 oz Coconut Oil

2.5 oz Olive Oil (Pumace) infused with Lavender and Chamomile

1 tsp Catnip (dried)

7 drops Lavender E.O.

10 drop Eucalytus E.O.

1/4 tsp Tea Tree E.O.

Blueberry Season! Celebrating with simple Blueberry syrup

There was recently a sale of Blueberries and we got 5 lbs! Blue berries and Jesse's (my husband) favorite berry. We froze a bunch of the right away to add to pancakes, muffins, etc. I wanted to make something a little bit more special so I tried out this Blueberry syrup. It was super quick and delicious.

We had it on Waffles the next day.

Blueberry Syrup
2 cups Blueberries
1 cup Sugar
1/3 cup water
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Cinnamon (ground)

Directions: Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to a Boil, then simmer for 10 minutes (or until fruit is tender). Some of the blueberries were still whole so we mashed them up then pressed it through a strainer.

Funneled it into an old jar. Yum yum yum!

Recipe inspired by the Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving

I really like this book. Small-Batches are perfect for me and Jesse, we don't need 80 jars of anything since it's just the two of us. Plus, we can try out many more recipes!

Juniper Berry Castiel Soap

I just made a small test batch of Castile soap, which is just olive oil based. I infuse d the olive oil with juniper berries. Castile soap is a nice soap but not as bubbly as the other batches I've made. I want to see how the Juniper berry infusion worked.

Directions after Jump..