Right at My Back Door



Evening Primrose in all of her glory.

Harvesting Evening Primrose flowers, pods and seeds for my infused oil.

Evening Primrose seeds. The pods and flowers drying on the rack-It took about 2 weeks for the pods to dry.

So we meet again, Autumn is here, time for harvesting what is in the yard and putting garden stuff away…or not. There are always projects to do and garden/plant events to go to. This month I attended a retirement party for the Coordinator of the Union Co. Master Gardener Program. It was a beautiful event, lots of folks came out. 

 
Me and our Coordinator at the party, she will be greatly missed. 

Ok, back to the activity.
Beeswax, a double boiler and infused Evening Primrose Oil (Oenothera biennis), 3 things I have not worked with…Well,  better now than never. For 2 weeks I air dried Evening Primrose pods, seeds and flowers (See pictures above). I thought to myself, “Why don’t you make something different with the infused oil, maybe a salve”. A salve is nice because it has a thicker consistency and provides a protective barrier for the skin, which is good for me because I tend to have dry, itchy skin, especially as winter approaches. 

Evening Primrose oil is known for its skin healing abilities, for inflamed skin conditions. I paired the infused oil with organic beeswax to make the salve. Beeswax is known for its antibacterial and wound healing properties. It also does not clog pores. For you all that are allergic to bees, no problem, you can mix your infused Evening Primrose oil with other skin-friendly oils, depending on your skin care needs.

I don’t want this to be a long-winded blog but I have to say that making the infused oil and salve was a 6 hour process! Long-winded but worth it, it’s nice to know what you’re putting on your skin.

Items used: 94 grams of ground Evening Primrose pod, seed, and flower. Also used, organic white beeswax, Purad'or Organic Sweet Almond Oil(Not shown), Vitamin E and cheesecloth-for straining oil.



Making infused Evening Primrose oil. Instead of having seeds infuse in oil for about 6 weeks, I used double boiler method. It took about 4 1/2 hours to make infused oil. I used an old pot, with about 2 inches water, put the mason jar-no top, with the herb and oil in the pot, under very low heat, voila! Infused oil.

Straining oil. I used a large measuring cup, put strainer on top of measuring cup and cheesecloth on top of strainer. I poured a little of the oil with herb on cheesecloth, the oil slowly dripped into the measuring cup. To get more oil out of the herb I squeezed oil from herb wrapped in cheesecloth. This took a little bit of time, lol.

After straining oil, I put the mason jar with infused oil (1 1/2 cups oil) back in the double boiler so that I could make the salve. This time I added about 1/2 cup of beeswax pellets to the oil. Depending on how thick you want your salve to be will depend on amount of beeswax you add. It took about 45 minutes for the beeswax to melt.  After beeswax melts, take it off stove. To test the consistency of the oil, put a small amount of oil on a plate, put in refrigerator for a about a minute. Take plate out of refrigerator. Feel oil, if too hard add more oil, if too soft add more beeswax. After getting my desired consistency, I added 1 teaspoon of Vitamin E, Vitamin E helps oil from going rancid, plus, Vitamin E is great for the skin! 

 Last but not least, put your oil in a glass bottle-preferably a dark, glass bottle. Let oil cool down to room temperature before putting top on-you don't want condensation in the bottle (Mold and degrading of infused compounds in the oil). 

I enjoyed making the oil, but love using it. I feel that the oil is calming to my skin, and to me. It also last longer on the skin, I don't feel like I have to keep reapplying oil to address dryness.

Like I mentioned earlier, for people who have pollen/bee allergies, no problem, you can mix your infused Evening Primrose Oil with other skin friendly oils, depending on your skin needs.

Thank you for coming with me on this journey, see you next time.



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