Plantain Salve.. upon completion

You may remember the beginnings of my plantain salve..
Plantain Salve

And so I let the leaves,
stems and blossoms macerate
in my mix of oils for several weeks.
I even let it spend a night out on the railing
under a full moon.
I wasn't really sure what I was expecting..
Ok.. that's not true.
I didn't expect a darn thing to happen
at all, I just figured it couldn't
hurt to let it soak in some lunar
energy or whatever.
Well.. that evening out did change
the contents of the jar a bit.
In the morning, it was a much deeper, darker green
and the leaves of the softer plants, like the chickweed,
were almost skeletonized.
Interesting.
I see how it could make a difference.
I do know that the moon pulls on the water
and I know that it pulls on the earth
and I do actually plant by the moon phases,
so I suppose that it could also pull upon
the tender parts of a plant
sitting in oil.

Regretfully I do not have
any pictures of the deep dark green liquid
to share with you.
Of course, the camera needed to be charged.
Of course it did.
And once you start with salve, you can't just stop.

But I tell you it was so dark green that it
was almost black;
just stunning and rich.
I poured it off and strained the
plants and gave it a good squeeze
and warmed it slowly in a double boiler.
(a pyrex measuring cup in a pot..fancy)
I grated unfiltered, raw beeswax into the liquid
until I achieved a consistency that I liked.
I wanted it to be nice and firm, but not rock hard.
I don't like squishy, mushy salves.
Then I poured it into little 1.3 oz jars!

I love the way that it turned out.
The wax muted the green,
but it is still darker than most salves.

I didn't add any essential oils for fragrance.
This is medicine.
This is a serious salve.
Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, cooling and soothing,
anti-microbial, healing and cell regrowth,
anti-fungal and anti-biotic in nature;
this salves really packs a punch.
And the bee balm and the beeswax give it
a nice subtle scent that fades
off of the skin within moments.

I decided to go with 'Summer Salve'
as the name.
I just couldn't get 'Bite and Sting Salve'
to sound as sleek and awesome as this salve deserves.
And I have used it for things other than
bites or stings because I haven't managed
to get a bite or a sting since I made it.
I am ok with that..truly.

But it is also chock full of minerals and amino acids
and vitamins and nutrients and life,
so I have used it on my hands and put it on my face
in the evenings before bed.
It feels nice and anything put on the skin
absorbs right into the body.
I figure that it is feeding my skin
and that's a good thing.

And I made a lot of it.
More than I could use in many years.
If anyone is interested,
it can be yours for the
princely sum of $5 (+$3 s/h).

I am searching and searching
for a way to put a wee shopping cart
on the right over there.
A real cart with a Paypal button and everything,
but I haven't found one yet.
Butif you would like a bit of this salve,
please drop me a note and I will
hook you up with my Paypal and zip it out to
you straightaway.
I will have other salves available
as I make them.
I have run low on about everything
and will be making tinctures and salves
throughout the rest of the season.

And I have made a small change to
the blog.
All comments are 'submitted for moderation'.
Not because I have had any problems or spam,
but because folks have been commenting on
old posts and I have no idea and I don't want to miss anyone.
This way, I get notification of a new comment.
That's all it is.

Other than salves,
it has just been raining and cooler
and I am loving it!
However, the garden is in desperate need
of tending and it is a wild, wild place.
I popped in briefly to harvest some tomatoes and grab
some basil for pizza tonight (yay! cool enough to fire up the ovens!)
and was aghast at the weed growth!
It's bad.
But I can't do anything about it until it dries out a bit.
I am not one that will work
a garden in the wet.
I don't need bacterial wilt or any other
disease or fungus to entertain me.
So.. the weeds may flourish until it dries.