Part II An Herbal Medicine Chest

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Calendula tincture: I often add a drop of calendula tincture (made from the flower heads of Calendula officinalis, or pot marigold) to cuts to stop bleeding and promote healing. I even applied some directly on a pig that had had a cesarean section, and she healed quickly!

I also take it internally for bruises, measles, any eruptive skin disease, and cramps. The dosage would be five to fifteen drops for sixto twelve-year-olds and ten to thirty drops (or one-half dropperful) for adults. Take it twice a day.

SALVES

Salves are herbal skin ointments. The basic ingredients are an herb (or, more often, a combination of herbs), an oil, beeswax, and a preservative. To make a salve, first heat the herbs in the oil, using about two ounces of herbs per pint of oil. The best oils for this purpose are sesame and olive. Others can be used, including nondrying oils (such as apricot, coconut, avocado, and castor, as well as cocoa butter) for massage or for treating dry skin . . . semidrying oils (like safflower, sunflower, and wheat germ) . . . and drying ones (such as soybean and linseed).

Heat the oil to just below the boiling point. Add any roots or barks, and let them cook in a covered stainless steel or enamel—not aluminum—pot at that not-quite-boiling temperature for two hours. Add any leaves and flowers next and continue to cook gently for another hour. If you're not using any barks or roots, cook your less volatile herbs for the first two hours and add your more volatile ones after that. Also, if you're using fresh herbs, you might want to cook them uncovered for a while to help evaporate the water in them.

Once your ingredients are all cooked, strain the mix: Line a strainer with a double thickness of cheesecloth, pour the oil through into another pot, and then squeeze the residual liquid out of the remaining ball of herbs.

Now add beeswax (you can buy this at a health food store or, less expensively, directly from a beekeeper) . . . about 1-1/2 ounces per pint of oil. Be cautious here . . . you don't want to add too much. Also, for each quart of salve stir in one teaspoon tincture of benzoin or gum benzoin, commercial preservatives available at drugstores. This is important; you may apply the salve to broken skin, so you want to be sure it's free of bacteria.

When all the ingredients have been added, test the salve's consistency by setting a spoonful of it in, the refrigerator to cool. In a few minutes, check your sample's hardness. If it's too thin, add more beeswax to your brew, and test again. When you've got the consistency you want, immediately pour the salve into small jars—don't let it cool and solidify in the pot! (I use baby food jars and acquire them inexpensively by buying old, outdated jars of food at a discount at grocery stores.) And don't forget to label your jars. The finished salve may be stored and used for years.

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