The last of the calendula

I'm afraid these will be the last of the calendula from my garden this year. Yesterday they were buds which were not quite open, but almost. I decided to cut them and stick them in a cup of water.

Today they opened up beautifully - only to be tied together and hung upside down to dry out, I'm afraid.

There are a few more tight, green buds still on my plants, but I think that with nights set to dip into the 20's before the week is out, my calendula is probably done for.

My mere handful of plants really produced a bounty this year. I grew them from seeds which I had saved from the year before.

I'm already looking forward to next year's garden.

Herbs for herbal remedies - Growing or wildharvesting your own vs mail-order

Here is the difference I see in what I've grown in my garden or wild harvested and what I get through mail-order. Mine are on the left, mail-order is on the right:

Calendula:

Goldenrod:

I prefer my own. I mean, just look at the goldenrod. With the mail-order you get stems - big ones from the looks of it - all shredded up with the flowers and leaves.

When I make goldenrod infused oil, I only use the flowering tops. All I have left of what I harvested from last fall is what you see in the picture, so I mail-ordered some to get me through to this fall when I can harvest some more. I'm a little nervous about using the mail-order now. I'm not sure how the oil will turn out.

I'm glad I've planned a big garden this year full of lots of different herbs. I'm really looking forward to using only my own homegrown or wild harvested plants.

Making infused oils for salves

I'm planning on sending out some small tins and jars of salve with Christmas gifts this year. I'm making goldenrod salve and calendula salve. I started the process today with making goldenrod infused oil using dried goldenrod.

I gathered the goldenrod from a field in September and hung it to dry in my garage. I had to find a big jar to store it in:


Here's 3/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil becoming infused with goldenrod:

I made some goldenrod oil toward the end of summer using fresh goldenrod. You can read how I did it here. This time I'm using dried instead of fresh.

Tomorrow I'll make calendula infused oil. I grew the calendula in my garden over the summer and harvested and dried the blooms. Here's a jar of what I haven't used already:

Calendula is so colorful:

It's hardy too. I collected a few flowers just yesterday, and there are several about to bloom. I'm not sure they made it through last night though, it got down into the twenties. I haven't checked them yet.

I've got my labels printed up and ready to go and my 1/2 ounce tins and jars came in the mail yesterday, so as soon as I've got my oils, I'm all set to make salve:

Instructions for making goldenrod salve can be found here, just substitute whatever type of infused oil you'd like for whatever type of salve you have in mind.

Old Farm Apples

Here’s a little break from the spooky posts this month. There are several apple trees growing wild on the edges of the park next door. The fruit of these trees is always wormy looking, although this year, one that grows in a row of brambles and trees behind an old 1800’s farmhouse and barn in the park, bore apples that were so red we were tempted to grab a few. The ones close at hand were full of holes though, so we just admired the colors until they dropped from the tree.

There is another apple tree that isn’t on my walking route, but I found it the other day when my dog and I veered from the beaten path. It’s not too far away from the barn and it’s an old thing, which leads me to think that the farm utilized its apples. It was still full of fruit. I found one that was sound and tasted it – tart, but good. There were a few wormy ones, but it looked like there were lots of sound apples too. I came back to it yesterday with hubby, doggie, bushel basket and apple picker in tow. We managed to gather about half a bushel of what looked like sound apples. It was a little less than that after sorting out the bad ones. Today I turned the hale and hardy ones into apple jelly and apple butter.


Many of those apples would have rotted on the ground. A few would have been nibbled on by deer and other critters, but I think it’s very satisfying to harvest what might have gone to waste and turn it into something to be enjoyed. We’ll send some out with Christmas gifts and keep the rest to enjoy over the coming months.

I’ll leave you with these pictures of my calendula (click on them for an eye-popping treat):

They're still blooming despite the frosty mornings:

Ants, aphids, hornets and kittens

There are some interesting things happening on my calendula. I have aphids and ants:


It's only on one of my plants. Here they are close up:

I'm sure their relationship must be beneficial - to each other, not to my calendula.

In an earlier post I included a picture of a hornet's nest that had been blown down in a storm. Here's the original picture:

And here's what the nest looks like now. A racoon or something found it the other night and ripped it apart, I guess to get an the larvae still inside:

Here's one section of cells from inside the nest. These look like they were mostly empty already. The cells that looked like they might still have contained something had been munched and all that remained were a few pieces with some black remnant of past occupants clinging to the bottom:

Kitten update ~ Freki kitten has begun tentative explorations of the outside:

Drying Calendula

Calendula!

I've harvested the first of my calendula. I almost didn't want to cut these pretty blossoms, but lots more are on their way. I'll be hanging my calendula to dry it, and then I'll collect the dried petals to use in making lotions, facial washes, and first-aid preparations (for cuts, burns, and scrapes).

Now that I've taken the picture, I'll move this hanging bunch to a darker room to complete its drying.

I'm leaving some flowers in the garden so that I'll have seed for next year. I love how there are rich yellows, golden oranges, and light and dark centers, sometimes on the same plant!

I don't know why, but this is really exciting for me. I've ordered dried plants and herbs before with which I've made lotions and facial washes, but growing things to use in your own garden is much more fun. And I've never made my own calendula preparations before. I was tempted to buy dried petals last winter, but instead I ordered seeds for the garden, and now my wait is paying off with beautiful blooms.