Harvesting herbs and flowers for bodycare and culinary use is one of my favorite things to do.
Yarrow is a beautiful flowering herb that makes gorgeous fresh and dried bouquets. It’s also one of the few hardy beautful flowers I can grow in abundance here in our harsh climate.
Yarrow is drought tolerate and thrives in poor soil. It attracts beneficial insects to the garden and its hallow stems make winter homes for those beneficial insects too!
Yarrow is not only beautiful as a fresh or dried decorative but it is also medicinal.
Yarrow can be used internally and externally. When crushed the leaves can be used as a bandage to stop bleeding.
Made into salves (both flower and leaves) it helps with cuts and bruising.
Internally yarrow helps to soothe digestion, stop internal bleeding, soothe anxiety, and reduce inflammation.
After giving birth I drink yarrow tea to help with bleeding and healing.
I recently shared a post making a yarrow infused cleaner, as yarrow is also antibacterial, and antimicrobial.
Yarrow infused in a variety of skin loving oils also makes a lovely healing body serum with a light floral herbally scent.
I’m also adding dried rose petals and dried marigold petals as I have these on hand from last year’s harvest.
Rose petals have antioxidant properties and add a lovely light rose floral scent.
Marigolds, with their deeper floral scent add anti aging properties.
Today I’m using a two cup jar. There is no exact recipe to this. It can be as strong or light as you prefer, you can make larger or smaller quantities too.
The oils I chose for this body serum are: olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, castor oil, full spectrum vitamin E oil.
I gently crush the flowers in my hand and add a couple of tablespoons of each herb to my two cup jar.
Then I add about one teaspoon of full spectrum vitamin E Oil. I’m eyeballing my measurements.
A few tablespoons of pumpkin seed oil.
A few tablespoons of castor oil.
I fill the rest of the jar with olive oil.
Stir it around with a butter knife or chopstick.
Cap the jar and place in a cool dry place for about two weeks. Everyone once in a while shake it gently. Once infused, strain through a fine mesh sieve.
I love these glass pump bottles for storing and using my herbal infused body serum.
Enjoy!
Warmest Blessings,
Ashley
