Making a healing balm

Prepping for a simple, natural life includes making at least some of my own

Herbal healing balm is easy to make.

medicines. Healing balm, a must-have in any natural medicine chest for minor cuts, scrapes and burns, is easy to make and will last up to a year when cared for properly.

First I make an herbal infusion. Calendula is one of my favorite herbs to use for this. It makes a bright yellow, pleasantly scented healing oil that is actually gentle enough for a baby’s bottom.

Calendula

For this batch of healing balm I’m mixing self-heal with calendula blossoms because my calendula crop this year is pitiful and I’m saving what I can to make some calendula soap. Self-heal, a Eurasian herb that grows wild throughout meadows and woodlands, contains anti-oxidants and possible anti-biotic qualities among its many other attributes being studied. The long history of medicinal uses for self-heal includes treating wounds and bruises.

Self-heal

Chop the herbs into small pieces and fill a jar about 1/3 to ½ with the herb. Fill the jar the rest of the way with olive oil, cover and label with contents and date. For solar infusion you set the jar on a sunny ledge. Gently rock the jar back and forth once a day and strain after two weeks. Store in a dry, dark cupboard until ready to use.

Self-heal gives the oil more of a funky green scent similar to what comfrey does, so I have no qualms about adding essential oils to cover up the smell while increasing the healing power of the balm. You can’t go wrong with lavender (Lavendula officinalis). It heals, soothes the senses and it smells good. But for a super-potent balm, I use tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia). I used to try disguising the tea tree smell by mixing it with lavender or another pleasant smelling essential oil, but it doesn’t work; tea tree is going to stink no matter what you do to it. But the tea tree healing power far outweighs its unpleasant aroma. My tea tree healing balm is not a pretty perfume, but it’s my go-to when I’ve got a wound to heal and I want to fight off infection.

I reduced my formula to make a smaller batch. This makes enough healing balm for three 1 oz jars.

2.5 oz infused olive oil

.2 oz shredded beeswax or beeswax pastilles

9 drops tea tree essential oil

I use a small ceramic pitcher for melting the beeswax into the oil. I don’t like using a double boiler because of the steam possibly contaminating the oil, so I heat in the pitcher directly over an iron trivet placed on a burner turned down low. Never, ever leave the stove unattended when melting wax. Even long before there’s a fire hazard is the ruination of a perfectly good herbal oil. You don’t want to do that. I stir occasionally with a stainless steel butter knife until the beeswax is just melted.

Cleanliness is critical when making herbal products. I changed my thinking about using paper towels when I started making healing balms. Paper towels are a simple, sterile and inexpensive way to cover your work space and wipe the jars and lids. Plus, you can then use the wax-and-oil-coated paper towel as a fire starter. And it’s much more efficient than hauling water, using a fossil fuel to heat the water and scrubbing all the oil and wax out of linens to make them sterile. No. I will use a paper towel, thank you. That is, until tshtf and I have no other options. Then I might be tearing up my sheets, lol.

So after melting the beeswax in the oil slowly over low heat, stir in essential oil and pour the melted balm into sterile jars. Voila! You can’t get much simpler than that and you make an important contribution to the medicine chest off grid, on grid or anywhere in between.

Store healing balm in a cool, dry cupboard. Never let any moisture into the jar. Even one tiny drop of water, say from a damp finger, can ruin the ointment by causing bacteria to grow in it (which would actually make it dangerous to put on an open wound!)

If you are interested in more details about making healing balms and the herbs to use, find a trusted source of herbal knowledge. I can name a couple of excellent authors from the books on my shelf. Tammi Hartung wrote Growing 101 Herbs that Heal, which was a textbook in an edibles and medicinals class I took. The gorgeous manual is still one of my most valuable resources. Another herbalist-author I particularly admire is Rosemary Gladstar. She doesn’t know this but she’s been my herbal mentor by way of her books and her Earth-mother persona.