Winter Wellness Elder Honey

I have been wanting to make an immune building and general illness recovery formula. There is a very traditional cold and flu remedy that incorporates Elder, Yarrow and Peppermint so I put my own twist on it.

I pulled together elder berries(antiviral, tonic and blood building), astragalus root(immune building), reishi mushroom(immune building and restoring inflammatory balance), fresh echinacea root(cool, stimulating diffusive immune stimulant, ), ginger root(pungeant, diffusive, warming to core), rosehips(vitamin c, drying, cooling), and simmered them for about an hour.
I then turned the heat way down to infuse in peppermint leaf(pungeant, warming and cooing, stimulating diaphoretic) and yarrow(diaphoretic) blossoms.  I let the mixture steam off for about another hour and strained out plant material.  I then reduced the mix down to about 1/3 of the original amount by steaming it for several more hours.  I added in about 1 oz of cleavers glycerite, both as a preservative and to bring cooling, moistening energy to the lymphatic system into the blend.
Once cool, I poured an equal amount of raw texas honey into the formula to preserve and offer a nice medium for taking the mix. Raw honey has antimicrobial properties and is warming and moistening.
The result is a delicious syrup that can be added to hot water, cold water, porridges, teas, or just taken by the spoonful during the winter to prevent or help in recovery from a cold or flu.  It tastes sweet, sour, bitter and slightly pungeant.

Boo Boo Balm

Today it was time to make some mama and babycare items. In particular, we made a batch of boo boo balm. Boo Boo Balm can be used for itches, bites, scrapes, owwies and other inflammations.

We solar infused yarrow flowers, wilted chickweed herb, comfrey leaf and plantain leaf in olive oil. These oils together create a very soothing blend that helps heal abrasions quickly. We added in shea butter and beeswax to make the oils thicken into a hard salve. I love shea butter for all things itchy, especially eczema, heat rashes, and even chiggers. There are also essential oils of yarrow, lavender and peppermint to calm the skin enough to keep kids from itching the area and we packaged some in lip balm containers that fit kid sized hands.

Boo Boo Balm isnt just for kids, it can be used by adults on everything from fire ant bites to burns.