Calendula oil and salve

This summer i picked calendula flowers, put them out to dry and saved them. The end of June i took the dried flower leaves home and put them in oil. I used ecological sunflower oil. I let it stand on the windowsill for way too long. I read that a month should be enough. I let them stand for three months.

Today i let the oil drip from all the dried leaves. The oil is very orange. It also smells a bit sweet. I put some left over oil on my legs and afterwards my fingers smelled sweet. Lovely!

The main use of calendula is in wound-healing and skin-soothing. It promotes healing. It is anti-inflammatory and slightly antimicrobial. You can use it on scratches. Do not use any oil-based calendula on oozing or weeping wounds. Use a calendula tea for those and let it dry between applications. It is safe and nontoxic.

My main purpose is making calendula salve. A person i’m following on youtube is Morag Gamble. She has a channel about permaculture life. She made three movies about calendula. I used her recipe as a base. The movies i linked at the bottom of this post.

The recipe is very easy.

• 1 part calendula oil
• 1/2 part coconut oil
• 1/2 part beeswax

I put all three ingredients in a glass jar. I warmed it up in a pan and kept on stirring it until everything was dissolved. I washed several small jars and pots, dried them completely and filled them. That’s it!

Morag Gamble, our permaculture life