All-Heal Salve

Happy Sunday!  I spent the day making herbal salves from the different herb-infused oils that I made over the course of the summer.  I made two other salves aside from this one, but I'll save them for another day.


Here is the main ingredient:

A brief breakdown of the herbs used to infuse the olive oil:

Nettle - Urtica dioica:  Used as a specific for childhood eczema as well as other varieties of eczema

Horsetail - Equisetum arvense:  Used as an external wound healer.  Also strengthens hair and fingernails.

Violet - Viola papilionacea:  Soothing for skin irritations, including hemorrhoids.

Red Clover - Trifolium pratense:  Anti-inflammatory and calming for the skin.  Another specific for childhood eczema and also psoriasis.

Comfrey - Symphytum officinale:  Speeds up wound-healing.  Guards against scar tissue development.

Plantain - Plantago major:  Soothes irritation and infection.  Helps stop bleeding.

The end result is nothing short of super for your skin -- I have poison ivy right now and this all-heal salve not only helps with the itching, but it also is limiting the dermatitis that I'm causing myself by scratching! It's perfect for my hands for winter too, especially since my hands are always so dry from working at the restaurant.

I love salve.  It is my go-to for just about every nick, scrape, bee sting, etc. that troubles my skin.  If you've never made it before, I highly recommend giving it a go.  Most of the herbs are very easy to come by (especially plantain, a common "weed"!) for wildcrafting and then all you have to do is be patient while your herbs macerate, add some beeswax, and there you go!

My final result of today's hard work to be later listed on Etsy:

more etsy updates

Between work and school, I feel like I've been spread out pretty thinly lately...

However, crafting with fiber still gets accomplished and here is what I've accomplished for October (heh, and since the month isn't over yet, perhaps I'll get more done!):

Peabody II

Carlina

Arctium

Dentelle

Pyxis

Lyra

On top of the hats, I also completed spinning 4 oz of camel fiber and 4 skeins of pure angora.  Whew.  Let's see what I can pack in during these last couple of days!

reminiscing of summer

Though I have been enjoying the autumn, I have found myself reminiscing of summer already.  I know, I know, it's too soon to begin anticipating summer, but for as much as I love the autumn colors, I already am wanting more green. I thought I'd share a couple of photos from this summer that just make me smile at the memory.

Mrs. Bluebird on her nest

A clay-ey lake

My favorite amphibian -- Leopard frog

Female monarch freshly hatched from her chrysalis which can be seen above her

the plants live on

I spent today gathering plants from the garden that would otherwise not fare well in the winter months ahead.  I was under the impression that my white sage and white horehound would live through a Michigan winter, but alas, it gets too cold here for them to survive.

So, in they came.

white sage

white horehound

I placed my new "indoor" plants next to my flowering maple, which is just beginning to grow some new flower buds.  It looked so lovely in the sunlight that I decided to take a picture of it, though it was already living inside.

And lastly... the hats! They just keep coming. Winter is coming, and the wool in this house is flying.  Cheers to cool weather and warm woolens!