There is a lot of talk online of supporting the local economy during the holidays rather than purchasing everything from mega-corporations. And without really even planning to, I have participated in this challenge! Normally my partner and I tend to just celebrate the solstice on the 20th/21st. But, this year my family is coming to visit us in Argentina for Christmas & New Year's so, I have been gathering together gifts from local makers in preparation for our gift exchange on the 25th.
Today though, I want to focus on a few of the herbal gifts I have made for them with herbs from my very own garden. It doesn't get more local than that!
Later on this week I want to share some of the gifts I purchased from a shop in our nearby town that sells clothes made by local seamstresses. Today though, I want to share the variety of skincare products that I make for the women in my life. Starting with calendula salve!!
As you maybe guessed, Calendula is not my real first name but rather, the name of my favorite flower of all time. And this year I have calendula plants growing in abundance all around my garden. I have been harvesting & drying the flowers to make skin care products with. But, rather than type out the entire recipe, I am simply going to share with you the video I made about making calendula salve which I believe does a much better job explaining the process.
In the video I soaked the dry calendula flowers in an oil appropriate for the skin, like coconut oil. This year I also made a similar oil but with dried rose petals and sweet almond oil. (by the way, I keep butting the word dry in bold because it is so so so important to only make infused oil with dried herbs, otherwise you will have a moldy oil which is not healing and won't last very long) Okay back to the oil making process. While salves are great for cuts and burns and even as a nighttime skin cream, sometimes it is nice to have a bottle of oil handy for massages, or ... whatever!
So, I also made an infused oil to put into bottles to give as gifts to my lady friends, my mom, and also my sister. About a month ago I shared an article with a short clip on how I made the oil, you can find that here.
My idea is to create a "self love" herbalism pack for those who are on a healing journey of some kind. I have one friend in particular who is recovering from some sort of lymphatic issue and I think a loving massage oil would really help her. So, last night I bottled the rose oil into the cutest bottles ever.
Do you see them? Aren't they cute? I was actually looking for transparent dropper bottles but ended up with these corked bottles instead. So, anyway, the oil had been macerating for about a month in my apothecary. I used a metal filter to separate the spent rose petals from the oil and poured it all into a little beaker. This beaker was actually once a coffe maker but, the top broke and now it is an ideal recipient for these kinds of projects. It has a little lip that directs the oil into the bottles which really helps keep everything clean.
Still, you can see that I worked over a metal tray because, despite trying my hardest, there was a bit of oil split.
After separating the petals form the oil I actually introduced new, dry petals into the bottles. I only added about 5 petals to each because I want this bottle to look truly magical. The extra herbal material means that this product is less shelf stable than if it didn't have anything in it. But, I have been gifted perfumes with herbs and oil inside them and they have lasted for months, even years. If I were to add a bit of essential oil this would last even longer but, alas, rose essential oil is one of the most expensive in the world.
I corked and cleaned the bottles to remove any extra oil. Later on today I plan to drip wax over the corks so that the bottles don't leak at all. It will be very magical indeed!
My plan is to give friends/family a rose-filled gift. These magical rose oil bottles alongside a package of dried roses and rose covered candles. A lot of people think of roses in association with romantic love but, personally I find their mystical powers and medicine are best used in self love and healing rituals of all kinds.
So, there you have it. Those are the gifts I have been making in preparation for Yule and Christmas this year. Over the next few days I want to share the gifts that I have purchased from a couple of small art shops here in Argentina too. Happy holidays!
