Calendula lotion bars!

[kasilofchrisn]

Its been awhile since I posted in the group but I figured this was worth posting!
Gifts from the garden!
Last spring I decided to start some calendula flowers when I started my garden veggies.
I talked to my mom and she agreed to grow the flowers in one of her flower beds.
And today I turned those calendula flowers into some amazing calendula lotion bars.
I only made six bars in the first batch but I have enough infused oil to make quite a few more.
These lotion bars have calendula infused grapeseed oil, local Alaska grown beeswax, cocoa butter, virgin coconut oil, and lavender essential oil in them.
There's also a few calendula pedals inside of every lotion bar.
The varieties of calendula that we planted this year were balls improved orange and a Pacific beauty mix.
I made sure to shrink wrap them and put some labels on them including some labels I made from some stamps I had made for me.
I've only tried a little bit of them but I like them and I think they work well.
The recipe came from the book Make and give Home Apothecary by Stephanie Rose.
These will make wonderful Christmas gifts and were so simple and easy to make from something that came out of my mom's garden!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Those are so pretty (the bars and the flowers!) and growing and infusing your own calendula makes them extra special. I‘ve been buying calendula to make oil infusions but hope to get back into gardening and will try growing my own when I retire.

 

[AliOop]

Beautiful! I love that you use things from your garden and other local products.

 

[kasilofchrisn]

Beautiful! I love that you use things from your garden and other local products.

It's kind of a theme with me. I like to use Alaska grown or in particular something I've grown or harvested whenever I can.
I make a blueberry soap (soap Queen recipe) that has real Alaska blueberries in it.
Another favorite is my medicinal salves made with local plants.
I think we should all use local products as much as we can.
In this case I was able to work with my mom on this project as she grew the flowers that I started. Always nice when you can do something like that as well.
I gave her a couple dozen of these lotion bars that she can gift to friends and family or whomever she chooses.
Which reminds me I have to ask her if she's willing to do this again!

 

[AliOop]

Love it! I use home-rendered lard and tallow from pigs and cattle that were ranched and processed locally, as well as beeswax and honey from local beekeepers. I've always used goat milk powder because it is easier than actual goat milk, but I just found a local source for reasonably-priced fresh goat milk. So I'm thinking about that now, too.

I'd love to keep more of a garden for medicinal plants, but like @Mobjack Bay, that probably has to wait for retirement.

 

[kasilofchrisn]

Love it! I use home-rendered lard and tallow from pigs and cattle that were ranched and processed locally, as well as beeswax and honey from local beekeepers. I've always used goat milk powder because it is easier than actual goat milk, but I just found a local source for reasonably-priced fresh goat milk. So I'm thinking about that now, too.

I'd love to keep more of a garden for medicinal plants, but like @Mobjack Bay, that probably has to wait for retirement.

A lot of my medicinal plants are just forged for in the wild.
I don't grow most of them they grow wild in my area.

 

[Savage Daughter]

Its been awhile since I posted in the group but I figured this was worth posting!
Gifts from the garden!
Last spring I decided to start some calendula flowers when I started my garden veggies.
I talked to my mom and she agreed to grow the flowers in one of her flower beds.
And today I turned those calendula flowers into some amazing calendula lotion bars.
I only made six bars in the first batch but I have enough infused oil to make quite a few more.
These lotion bars have calendula infused grapeseed oil, local Alaska grown beeswax, cocoa butter, virgin coconut oil, and lavender essential oil in them.
There's also a few calendula pedals inside of every lotion bar.
The varieties of calendula that we planted this year were balls improved orange and a Pacific beauty mix.
I made sure to shrink wrap them and put some labels on them including some labels I made from some stamps I had made for me.
I've only tried a little bit of them but I like them and I think they work well.
The recipe came from the book Make and give Home Apothecary by Stephanie Rose.
These will make wonderful Christmas gifts and were so simple and easy to make from something that came out of my mom's garden!

Beautiful Hoping to be growing my own calendula & so many other flowers / herbs / so-called 'weeds' again this year if I can ever find someone to hire to help me put up my deer fence in my neck of the bush LOL

I LOVE calendula so much! Have you tried it in tea? Leaves, roots & flowers. It's really nice!

 

[Kiti Williams]

I sourced my Calendula flowers from a local Farmers Market that closed during Covid. I Will be making a natural garden this spring with catnip, milk weed, and some other flowers. I keep mt yard "wild" with local flora, whenever I can. I am thinking of planting some Creeping rosemary along the sides of the path by my front door.