Natural Beauty from the Garden: More than 200 Do-It-Yourself Beauty Recipes and Garden Ideas
Collecting and Gathering
The first step of making your own herbal recipes is the collecting and gathering correctly. If collecting herbage, the upper part of plant, and or berries, these need to be collected in the late morning, after the dew is gone but before the sun is fully on it to dry up the oils in the plant. The energy rises up in the morning so this is when the upper parts will be the strongest in medicine. Herbs can be cut when collecting or dried and then cut. Some herbs like Motherwort are difficult to deal with when dry so cut while fresh. Roots are usually only gathered in late Fall or early Spring, before the energy of the plant goes into leaf production. Roots are dug in very early morning before the energy start to rise up to the stems. Cut the herbs at an angle so you are exposing as many cells as possible. All herbs, berries or roots must be dried in the dark. Easiest methods of drying your herb is to tie the stems together and hang in a paper bag or place the leaves and roots on screens. Provide a warm well ventilated place for them to dry. Be sure all of the herb is dry before storing. Storage needs to be in glass, dark if possible and placed in a cool area till you use.
Making your own Tincture
You can use organic apple cider vinegar or as close to 100 proof alcohol as you can get. Most use a good brand of Vodka. Life span of apple cider vinegar is reported to be about 1 year where as alcohol is indefinite. I use apple cider vinegar because of its own health benefits and because my children take the tinctures as well. Put your herb in a glass jar that has a tight fitting lid. Cover the herb completely with your choice of liquid. Next day top off your jar to be sure the herb is totally covered after absorbing the liquid. Shake your jar a couple of times a day. Keep it in a dark place. You can leave your herb in from 2 weeks to 6 months. After 6 months the liquid will no longer extract the medicines from the herb. Strain the herb through several layers of cheese cloth. A rice press works well to really squeeze the juice out from the herb. Put the liquid in a dark glass jar and store in a cool, dry, dark place. Tincture is best taken by the dropperful under the tongue as then it goes directly into the bloodstream.
Making your own Massage Oil
The method for extracting the herb is the same as for tincture except you will be extracting it into an oil base known as a carrier oil. The oil you wish to use will depend on what you wish to use your oil for. For a massage oil, I usually use an organic X-Virgin olive oil. For face creams you may wish to use almond, coconut, sesame or other good quality oils. For aromatherapy oils, you may not wish to use olive oil, as takes more herb to over ride the olive oils scent. For choices of base oils please see Carrier Oils. Each base also has its own medicinal properties which you can take into consideration in making your choice. Cover the herb/herbs with your oil, keeping it slightly warm during the extraction process will speed the process. I use a bun warmer for mine. Shake/stir the herb a couple of times a day. Leave in the oil from 3 days to 2 weeks. Roots I usually leave in the full 2 weeks. Press your herb through several layers of cheesecloth and or use a rice press. If you are going for scent you make wish to add fresh herb to the pressed oil and extract again. You can change your herb as many times as you wish to get the strength of scent use desire. Store your oil in a dark, glass jar in a cool place.
Making your own Salves
For making salves you follow the recipe above for oil. After you have your herbal oil to the scent or strength you desire you warm it up just enough so it will melt wax. You add approx. 1 Tbls. of organic beeswax for every cup of oil. Stir your beeswax into the warmed oil until its dissolved. Pour into dark glass containers and close with a lid. If you find your salve is not as thick as you wish you can reheat it and add more beeswax.
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