ALL THINGS TOPICAL

[Lazy Gardener]

Started a cold infusion of Calendula/olive oil today. The blossoms are well dried. I stuck the last batch of blossoms in the truck, and they dried very well! I'm thinking that using a vehicle to dry veggies/herbs would be a great option. Gets mighty warm in there. stick a small fan in through a cracked open window. I have drying racks that came with my electric dryer. But, who wants to heat up the house even more in the middle of the summer? Just stick a small fan and a couple racks in the truck!!!!

 

[Hinotori]

I even have read books that recommend using cars for dehydrating just because it works well. Crack a window or two to let the moisture out.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Hmmmm.... I wonder if one could park a car adjacent to a house window, improvise a duct from the cracked open car window to the house window and gain solar heat! How cool would that be?

 

[Mini Horses]

Hmmmm.... I wonder if one could park a car adjacent to a house window, improvise a duct from the cracked open car window to the house window and gain solar heat! How cool would that be?

Probably work well, until you need to drive to town

You can make a solar window heater that works. Board, width of window, length from window to ground, short sides, top clear panel. Paint board black or cover with aluminum foil, hang unit at a slant, top of "box" open to house & insert to slightly open window. South side of house.

Saw where one had made a solar oven which hung outside her
kitchen window...almost a combo of oven & greenhouse window. That idea.

AND all could be used for infusing oils, dehydrating plants, etc. It's all about adaptation.

Who buys beeswax and where is best price?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I'm still working off the 2# block bought by my DIL 2 years ago. But, I am also interested in that info. The best price I've found on the net is about $10/#. Beware, there are varying qualities of wax, the lighter colored is made from capping wax, vs. the "brood" comb. I see white wax offered, and wonder if that has been bleached. I hope to talk with some local bee keepers and source my own capping wax to render. Looks like a messy process. But, if I can get it for free, it would be well worth it, especially since I'd know that it had not had any thing added to it.

 

[Marianne]

I'm trying this one for arthritis pain.

Warming Ginger Cayenne Salve

Ingredients
1 cup carrier oil (olive or coconut or even a combination of the two)
¼ cup beeswax pastilles
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper powder
1 tablespoon ginger root powder
1 tablespoon turmeric root powder
1 tablespoon arnica flowers (optional – I love to add arnica flowers to my salve)

Directions

• Using one of the oil infusion methods of your choice (like one of these), infuse cayenne, ginger, arnica, and turmeric in your carrier oil. My favorite method when we don’t have a lot of sunlight outside, is in a Mason jar in the oven over night.
• Once your oil is infused, using a cheesecloth, strain the herbs from the oil. Be sure to squeeze out every last bit of oil from the cheesecloth! You do not have to make a salve with this oil, if you do not want to. Keep this as a massage oil if you do not have the beeswax on hand. It even works well as a spot treatment, when you put this oil into a roll-on bottle.
• In a double boiler, combine beeswax and herbal infused oil. Remove from heat once the beeswax is melted, if you choose to add essential oils to this salve, this would be when you would add them to salve.
• Pour salve into jars or tins to cool and harden. Once totally cool, cover and store in a cool dark place when not in use.

To Use: Using a small dab (a little bit goes a long way!), massage into sore achy muscles and joints. If using for chronic pain such as arthritis, daily use is suggested and can take up to a week or two before you start seeing results.

 

[sumi]

@ Sumi. Is it possible to do multiple LATE edits to post #1 of this thread? My thought is this: It would be great to edit post #1 by listing the product recipes so one could know all items on the list w/o having to scroll through multiple pages. for example:

Body butter Post # x

Chap stick Post # y

Poison Ivy salve Post #z.

If this can be done w/o much work, I'd be happy to get the listing started.

Sorry I missed this! Yes, we can do that

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Perhaps I can start by going through this thread next week, and listing all of the recipes in a single post. Then... would you be willing to copy that info over to first post? Thanks.

 

[sumi]

Perhaps I can start by going through this thread next week, and listing all of the recipes in a single post. Then... would you be willing to copy that info over to first post? Thanks.

Sure, I can do that

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Note to readers: now's the time to add your recipes to this thread. I'll then compile the post #'s and @sumi will add them to post #1. That way, any one opening up this thread will have an immediate index of the recipes contained, instead of having to read through all pages!