Herbal Remedies

Ok, so to be honest, great things are not happening in the perennial bed.  Transplants died in our hot, dry spring, weeds overtook the beds while I was away, seeds never seemed to germinate...  I will add more seed directly outside to the same spots next spring, and maybe overwintering will help some of them out.  For now, I don't have a lot to work with.  Except, of course, for what was always there to begin with.

Plantain, Comfrey, Rose Hip, Raspberry Leaf

And the few transplants that took:

Jacob's Ladder,  Lady's Mantle, Speedwell

 An internet search on plantain (the easiest thing to start with- a simple weed) brought up some pretty basic instructions to make infused oils and salves.  The most basic,  CALENDULA - COMFREY SALVE RECIPE
   

I don't have any beeswax (or calendula), so I was thinking of just doing an infused oil, skipping the salve steps.  But further reading, through a blog's comments, led me to believe that I already have a good alternative, and access to an even better alternative in the future.

It seems that my beef tallow will work nicely as a salve in place of both the olive oil and the beeswax.  Isn't that handy?  And bear lard is supposed to be even better.  Right up my alley.  For now I will use the tallow, and render bear lard at my next opportunity.

Here's what I did.

Pick a bunch of plantain and comfrey leaves.  Chop them up roughly and put them in a baking pan.  

Add tallow.  The tallow is very hard in the jar, and has a beefy aroma.  I added a drizzle of olive oil after all, and some rose petals.

Stir and bake at 170°F (my lowest oven setting) for 3 hours.
Strain through cheesecloth.  (I didn't let it cool first, as it would start hardening).
Reheat the oil.
Add vitamin E.  Mix through.
Pour into jars.

It hardened to a lovely shade of green, with just a tiny bit of sediment at the bottom of the jars.  It smells pretty good, not really rosey, but not beefy either.  It's still a bit stiffer than I would like it, about the consistency of chapstick.  I'll add more olive oil to the next batch.  Must save more cute little jars!

Another one of those things- if it's so simple, when did it become so hard?  What shall I try next?