I just realized I never posted my September update discussing my honey extracting process after the summer honey flow. We even had a special guest assisting us in our demonstration. Dang it. Fall was a busy time as we were treating our colonies, then feeding our colonies and preparing them for the long winter. Plus, there was a lot of work preparing the homestead for winter. We replaced all our 3 season windows (both floors), insulated the chicken coops, cleared out a small pasture next to the barn and made a nice stall for the cow this winter. I have lost count how many trees we cut down this year.
New Product Update – originally, I was using essential oils to scent my balms and soaps. I have been researching the healing properties essential oils offer. Who knew? After some initial research I found herbs with healing powers, and this is what our ancestors used for decades. I started thinking…beeswax comes from my colonies, the tallow is from our beef butchered last year and I am already using mint and lemon balm I grow in my soaps. Wish I had the comfrey growing in our old orchard in WI. Instead, I found a broadleaf plant growing wild in my back yard – plantain.
It is time we start changing our healthy goals to include “on our body”, not just in our body. Yes, eating healthy is important but so is limiting the chemicals we put on our bodies.
Here is an herb – or weed that grows in our backyards. It is a broadleaf plantain (Plantago major). This herb can help heal wounds and skin irritations. I figure, why not add it to a tallow balm? I definitely get a couple bee stings every year.
My next step was washing the leaves and placing them on my dehydrator trays. I was able to collect about an ounce. That was a 1 gallon ice cream bucket almost full of plantain leaves.
Once the leaves were dry and ground, I added a .5 OZ of vodka to steep overnight. The next day I added the dried leaves to grapeseed oil and placed the jar in a crockpot for about 48 hours. This speeds up the steeping process so I can create a balm in less than a week.
I drain the leaves from the oil. Then I take the steeped oil, add it to melted tallow and beeswax. After removing it from my double boiler, I add some tea tree oil (skin wound healing) that assists diminishing the earthy smell of the plantain/grapeseed oil. Ta Da – an all-natural balm made with 5 total ingredients.
I think this new product will complement our tallow soaps and body creams perfectly. And don’t forget our lip balm – I did not replace the cocoa butter with tallow in our lip balm formula. I don’t want to change it after receiving so many compliments from customers. If its not broke, right?
I will close reminding everyone of our 3 upcoming markets this month with one being today. I am very fearful we will be all out of our raw honey by December 1st. Please stop by a market, before we run out.