Or at least here, in rural Illinois, it does. This was the sky yesterday afternoon, pre-rain. There was a stiff breeze from the south (at a constant 20-30 mph) and cloud cover moving in most of the day. I don't have any pictures of when the rains actually hit, but from about 4:15 yesterday afternoon to now (6:40 AM) it has been raining steadily. A few flashes of lightning, some thunder, and lots of rain. I don't know about you all, but I think that it rains on Good Friday in an 'in memorium' way...I know some of my readers are probably not religious, but Jesus died on Good Friday and it ALWAYS storms that day around here. It may sound a mite superstitious in writing, but I see a connection here... (Also, is it just me or is 'Good Friday' kind of an oxymoron, considering that it's named for when Jesus died? Just sayin'...) (This picture was NOT taken on Good Friday. Just wanted to let you know.)
In other news, the auction is today...I PROMISE to take my camera. We're planning on leaving here around 9, get to the auction a little after 10, check in, and then we'll have a little while to get Shiska gussied up. (By 'gussied up' I mean 'hopefully we'll be able to get the worst of the mud clumps off of her and I won't be embarrassed when we go in the ring'.) Mom has brought up the suggestion of 'maybe no one will bid on her'...I refuse to think of such an option. But if that happens...I don't know what I'm going to do with her. *headdesk* See, here I am thinking about it now. Dangit. Your hostess, The Fox P.S. I mentioned in the last entry something about Florida--I don't have all the details yet, but when I do I'll put the plan of action up here. Mwee hee hee...) P.P.S. I haven't heard from the Colorado people yet. I'm gettin' kind of anxious over here... Paul Gauguin once said: Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? Well, I don't know about you people... But I'm a demented young lady, I come from Illinois, and I'm pretty sure that I'm goin' to Florida in the next couple of weeks. Leaving you with that bit of non-profundity,
The Fox (Say, who WAS Paul Gauguin, anyway?) (Just kidding on that last bit. I had to squeeze every bit of Calvin and Hobbes from this post that I could.) In my last post I showed off pictures of the comfrey salve that I made yesterday. But for some reason my brain was operating under the temporary assumption that EVERYONE knows what comfrey salve is, and therefore I completely left out any explanation as to what it's for or why I made it. This followup post is an attempt to rectify any misunderstandings. Also, a quick disclaimer: I am an amateur when it comes to herbs, and everything I know is what I've read, researched, or experienced first-hand (the latter is admittedly little). Therefore, just because I say something doesn't mean it's Gospel truth--feel free to double-check what I say. This is also my personal way of making this salve--there are many different ways to experiment with it, and the ingredients here are just what I had on hand. There. Now that that's out of the way a small introduction to comfrey salve is needed. I use this stuff in lieu of antibiotic ointment and liniment for people and animals. I even went through a phase where I was putting it on dry hands (while it did work my skin was VERY greasy for hours, so I don't recommend it unless you have very dry, cracked skin). I've used it for everything from minor scratches to a gaping tear on one of the horses--more on that later--and I have to say that it never disappoints. So! Without any further ado, here is how to make comfrey salve! First off, the cast of characters from left to right: beeswax, plantain oil, comfrey oil, vitamin E oil, sandalwood, and tea tree oil. The sandalwood and tea tree are in dark bottles, but the liquid inside is a very pale clear gold color and very, VERY strong. I'll tell you what each ingredient does later on. I made the plantain oil by harvesting the respective plants (leaves in this case), giving them a rough chop and filling a quart jar, covering the leaves with olive oil, and letting them sit in the sun for about two weeks (with a lid, of course). I shook the jar every day or so, and by the end of two weeks the olive oil had turned a dark green. I strained the leaves out, re-bottled the oil, and popped it in the fridge. It keeps very well--this particular batch has been in the fridge for almost a year now. The comfrey oil was done nearly the same way, but before I chopped the leaves I let them dry a little for about a day. (It was explained to me why at the time, but for the life of me I can't remember. *headdesk*) Then I chopped 'em up, made the infusion in olive oil, and refrigerated like the plantain. Here's what each ingredient does: Plantain--astringent qualities and promotes healing Comfrey--promotes healing and help regrow tissue (also known as 'knitbone') Vitamin E--A preservative Sandalwood--Uh...it smelled good... XD It's mostly used for perfume, so I added it for the smell Tea Tree Oil--Antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral Beeswax--Binds it all together, and gives that 'salve' feel To begin with, I took down a saucepan and put 1/2 cup plantain oil and 1/2 cup comfrey oil together, turned the burner on 'low', and let it start warming up. It never reached boiling temperature--it just needed to be hot enough to melt the beeswax. I added 20 drops of the vitamin E, sandalwood, and tea tree oil to the comfrey/plantain mixture, and let them sit for a minute. (By the way: tea tree oil is very, very, VERY flammable. Don't ask me how I found this out. But trust me when I say that you don't want some to somehow splash down the outside of your saucepan because there will be flames and it will be scary. XD) A note on the saucepan, by the way: I used my mom's nonstick Pampered Chef pan (with her permission) because it wasn't too hard to scrub it out later. But cheap pans will retain the flavor of the salve, so I'd advise not using the pan for food later. According to my herb book the ratio of oil to beeswax should be 1 cup to 1/4 cup. I whittled little bits of beeswax off of my chunk (I bought a 2-lb chunk of light beeswax* from Dadants, a local beekeeping business) and added it to the slowly heating oil, stirred until it was all melted, and then to see if the consistency was right I took a spoonful of the mixture and placed it in the freezer for about two minutes**. Somehow I got it right on the first try, so then it was a piece of cake to spoon the hot salve into the tins. I put them in the fridge for about twenty minutes, put the lids back on the tins, and voila! 14 tins of comfrey salve, finished in about twenty minutes of labor. *You can get 'dark' or 'light' beeswax straight from a beekeeping/honey processing establishment--the main difference is that the 'dark' wax has impurities and is therefore less desireable for making salves or creams.
**Putting a bit of salve in the freezer gives the end consistency: if it's too liquidy, more beeswax is needed. Too firm, more oil. I was looking up different kinds of plantain online, and here was a very interesting page that has the varieties of plantain in a pictoral reference: http://www.shammelle.com/HelpfulStuff/Plantain/tabid/71/Default.aspx I've never heard of using it on brown recluse bites, but I'm not going to immediately doubt it. I HAVE used it on normal bug bites, and it does work. Anyway, enjoy this little block of information, and feel free to ask me about whatever crosses your mind. I love talking about herbs. :D Your hostess, The Fox Other knows as April Fool's Day. Since I'm going to be alone most of the day I have no one to prank...oh well. Made some comfrey salve today...and while I didn't take any pictures of the process I DID get a couple of pictures of the finished product. This, my friends, is what you get when you combine comfrey- and plantain-infused olive oil, beeswax, vitamin E, tea tree, and sandlewood oil. This stuff is WONDERFUL. (The tins ARE a little on the small side--maybe an ounce?--but they still look snazzy. XD) Otherwise I deep-cleaned my room this morning: took down and washed curtains, washed sheets, cleaned windows, moved the furniture and vacuumed (believe me, the dust bunny colonies were frightening to behold), and the room is currently airing out. Boy, did it need airing too...it's all stuffy from being closed up all winter. Oh, the yellow flowers...they grow outside the gym, and last night when there was no one in said gym I was sitting outside taking random pictures. Have I mentioned lately that I love the macro setting on my camera? I also weeded the flower beds at the gym yesterday...tell ya what, when a person can't plant or harvest new growth, weeding is strangely enjoyable. I think it has something to do with wanting to work with the hands...I dunno. *facepalm* Oy. The previous pictures I tried to capture self-portrait-wise were my 'stoned' expression, so this is a somewhat welcome change. I hadn't brushed my hair for several hours here, can you tell? XD
All righty, I'm going to leave you poor people alone before I picture-spam you to death...I have to go haul some 'nure (who CARES if I have a blister from yesterday, it needs done!) and absorb some fresh air. Your hostess, The Fox |
Molly Rose
Multifacted obsessionist and all-around randomosity generator Journal
March 2011
Journal Sections
All
|