Combining my love of vegetables and a homemade gift was a natural. These also make awesome teacher gifts, hostess gifts and are a fun eco-friendly way to wrap up some preserves or pickles!

This is a very simple process which is the only reason I do this!! I am the first person to admit I’m NOT crafty. Basically, if I can eat it, I’ll spend hours making it; but when it comes to a ‘craft’, well- my patience evaporates. But this is a project I keep coming back to, so I figured it was time to share!

Project Prep

Buy Towels

I can often find 100% cotton made in America towels for $1 a piece at places like Fleet Farm. You can also buy organic cotton towels online in bulk if you really want to go for it!

Buy Paints

Most craft stores will have a wide variety of fabric Paints, make sure you do buy FABRIC paint as the others will wash out. Grab some paint brushes while you’re in the aisle, I ran out of brushes for all the colors and using sponges got old towards the end

Buy Veggies

You want to buy firm veggies, slightly under-ripe is best. And think of all the different ways you can slice to get different shapes. I’ve got lots of examples here, but feel free to play around with other ideas- and if you come up with a cool print, please share!

I like to get a little funky with the cabbage – making Christmas tree shapes with the marbled effect is too fun to pass up.

*You can also use a cookie cutter and/or carve out any shaped stamp you’d like out of a potato. I did not highlight making potato stamps here, as I think nature has provided us with enough beautiful designs.

Set Up

You’ll want to do this on a table you can easily wipe down between each stamping or lay down a plastic tablecloth to wipe down. The paint will almost always soak through the towel. Get lots of separate paint containers, and trays on which to set the painted veggies.  You’ll also want to consider where you’ll dry these – I strung a clothesline in our basement to dry overnight.

Get Stamping!

Now for the fun part. Designing your towels – or not! I sometimes wing it, sometimes have a planned pattern or design. The best part is you get to decide! Another fun stamping tutorial is over on the Homestead and Chill website, a great all around website for all things homesteading.

Both turn out fun and whimsical because with vegetables, fruits and paint each piece, each stamp is different. And that, my friends, is what makes these so fun!

So stamp away – and remember to save any unused fruit and veggie halves for later. I also cut off the paint-soaked parts and added the limp bits to our compost.

Not my normal vegetable project – but these sure are fun, and are a craft my kids can join in on too. Playing with your food is fun for everyone! If you’re into a more natural DIY crafty projects, check out my recent Calendula Salve DIY article!

Dig In!
Michelle

The post Vegetable Stamping appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

This was the first herbal salves I ever made, years ago, and it’s still one of my all-time favorites. I use it pretty much daily! Calendula salve softens, heals, soothes, and calms my skin in ways that nothing else can.

Making salve is kind of the gateway herbal bath and body product. Once you realize that you can mix a few natural, quality ingredients and end up with a practical, beautiful, and healing product, it’s empowering. I want you to feel that power too!

At a time when more and more of us are becoming aware of what we’re putting on and into our bodies – along with the carbon footprint the products we use leave behind – making your own salve is a great place to pivot.

These salves also make great gifts! As I am writing it is prime holiday shopping time, yet I’m making gifts from things I already have in my home. Nothing beats a consumable, homemade gift as far as I’m concerned. Bonus that you can use canisters you already have, furthering your commitment to ‘reduce – reuse – recycle’!

Benefits of Calendula Salve

Calendula petals contain anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial properties, and are used to soothe a long list of skin ailments. Plus, calendula salve is safe to use on babies (yes, even the finished salve with beeswax)! The oils and beeswax are both sustainable and deeply healing in their own right. So being able to swirl and melt them all together can make just about anyone feel like a healer.

Flowers First: Best Calendula for Making Salve

Like all recipes, it’s important to start with quality ingredients. Growing my own calendula adds so much to the garden, as both a trap crop for many common garden pests, and as a draw for beneficial insects – plus they’re gorgeous.

I prefer Calendula Resina because it has the highest concentration of petal ‘resin’ aka the good stuff. Calendula is also a great starter plant for savingseeds from annual flowers; Want more? Check out my guide on how to start seed saving. This is all before I snip off the buds to use their medicine. More in-depth info on growing these and other beauties in Companion Planting Flowers for Your Vegetable Garden.

When and How to Harvest Calendula Flowers

Summer is in full swing when it is finally time to start harvesting the flowers. This is both rewarding and a great way to tidy up the garden. Picking them at their peak, with fully opened petals but not drooping, and after the morning dew has dried but not in the heat of the afternoon, will yield the best resin.

So, start with either homegrown calendula or skip that part of the process and buy your calendula from a trusted source. The only place I’ve been consistently happy with is Mountain Rose Herbs. They have an amazing selection and grow things the way I do.

How to Make Calendula Infused Oil

Once the flowers are cut, I usually let my calendula (and any other herbs/petals) wilt for a good day or two. Or sometimes I’ll place them in our dehydrator overnight to reduce the water content. This makes for a more intense infusion and reduces the chance of mold in the oil as you let the plants sit and infuse.  After they’re wilted/dried a bit cover the petals with enough oil so the petals are fully submerged. This also helps keep any possible mold at bay. I use a mason jar and screw the lid on. I usually write the date I started the infusion on a dissolving label and let it set for at least 4 to 6 weeks – usually much more. I routinely let my oils infuse for 3 months.

Best Carrier Oil for Calendula Salve

Sweet almond oil was my go-to carrier oil for infusing until I realized that folks with nut allergies are also allergic to almond oil. So while it has the softest feel, a good shelf life, and healing properties of its own, I only use it for recipes I know only my family will use. I now prefer apricot kernel oil. I’ve used a light extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil as well, and they work great too.

Infusing the Oil

Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time, a process often called steeping.

Herbal academy

Think of this as a cold-brewed tea on overdrive. There are quicker methods where you heat the oil. I’ve never tried this, but you can make the infusion in a day using a double boiler. The process is explained in How to Make Herb-Infused Oils. However, it will not be as potent as the slower, lower temperature version.

*You can also slowly add petals to this jar as they bloom. Just make sure they are dried a bit and remember to keep adding oil to cover petals completely.*

By the time I’m ready to make salve, the bulk of my outdoor garden work has slowed down. If you don’t have time to make the salve right away, just try to strain off the oil from the infusion within 12 weeks. Straining is as easy as leaving it to drip through a sieve, until the very end when you’ll want to get in there and squeeze out every last drop of goodness. The oil will be cloudier as you squeeze, this is totally normal.

Alchemy Time: Calendula Salve Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 C calendula infused oil (or less if adding other oils)
• 1 Oz beeswax
• 20+ drops of your essential oil of choice

Here’s a great list of essential oils for salves and their properties.

Now it’s time to get your other ingredient(s) and containers in order. Mainly, beeswax and any other oils you’ll be adding to the mix. One word about beeswax. If you can buy directly from a beekeeper, the raw goodness, plus the smell of honey will add another layer of healing to your salve. Local beeswax will keep the carbon footprint low as well!

I keep my salve recipes pretty simple and just add a bit of jojoba or emu oil to the pot as I’m warming the ingredients. And top it off with essential oils just before I pour it off.

How to Make Calendula Salve

Melt + Pour.

It really is that simple.

In a double boiler (see my cheater version above) or a heavy pan, start warming the infused oil and beeswax. If you want to make a larger or smaller batch a good rule of thumb is 1 ounce of beeswax for every 1 cup of oil. You can play around with these ratios as much as you’d like. Adding more beeswax will result in a harder salve; some like a harder salve for summer so it doesn’t melt.

The only trick is to not let the mixture get above 140. Low heat is the trick here! If adding essential oils (I do love this, but unless capped they lose their fragrance quickly), do so right at the end. I usually turn off the burner and add just before I pour in.

I usually opt for lavender or rosemary, but this time I let my son choose. I make this as much for his eczema as for anything else, so I figured he could choose the scent. And I love that after smelling over 30 bottles he chose frankincense, which is known to be wonderful for your skin!

Let the containers cool and cap them after a few hours.

Congratulations! You’ve just made your first salve.

These are great as gifts, and you’ve solved the dilemma of needing an upstairs + a downstairs + a car + a backpack skin cream without any fake chemicals or plastic packaging. Well done!

I wonder what you’ll dig into next!?!

Michelle

The post Calendula Salve DIY appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.