But, in the meantime I wanted to share my latest creations. With cold and flu season upon us, I made a batch of elderberry syrup, as it is far cheaper to buy your own than to buy Sambucol from the health food store. I used the recipe found at Frugally Sustainable. It tastes pretty good too! I didn't include echinacea, as some recipes do, since the kids will be using it primarily and it seems there is some debate as to the safety of using echinacea with very small children. Since I've not researched it enough to feel safe using it regularly, I left it out. The honey I used in the recipe was raw, but not local. Since i'm not using it for allergy treatment, I didn't mind that too much.
My other creation is a face cream made from beeswax, red clover and calendula-infused olive oil, water, and lavender and frankincense essential oil. I will probably talk about this one again in the TSC treatments series, since it is for my little one with TSC. Red clover has been shown to have antitumor properties and has been shown to shrink fibromas through blocking angiogenesis. Calendula is soothing and healing to the skin. And, red clover does not smell nearly as strong as turmeric or frankincense which have similar antitumor properties. I'm still in the experiment phase but i am hoping to see her angiofibromas (red bumpy vascular tumors on the face associated with Tuberous Sclerosis) shrink as we use this cream. I plan to take before/during/after photos and post them later. I am just glad the cream actually came together, because my first try was a total flop. Creating creams or emulsifying oil and water (such as when making mayonnaise) is a tricky process and is really easy to screw it up. But, this time it worked, and I am so excited! After i made the cream I added in a few drops of lavender essential oil and frankincense essential oil.
If interested in making your own facial creams, here are two tutorials with slightly different processes.
Herbal Cream Recipe
Fabulous Face Cream or Lotion
To make my cream, first I made the infused oil. In the future I would probably use coconut or jojoba oil or a combination of the two, because I'm not super fond of the olive oil smell for a face cream. There are a few ways to make an infused oil. It seems the most common and best way is to use the same method as when making sun tea: put bulk herbs in a large jar, cover the herbs with oil to the top, screw on the lid, and set it in the sun. And wait. Some say wait two weeks; others say six weeks. I suppose it depends on time of year and the amount of sun you get. Then strain out the herbs. Considering the time of year, my oil wasn't getting very warm outside, so i used this method, which is faster, yet still doesn't get the oil too hot like the stove would. Once my oil was ready, i warmed two cups of the oil in a double boiler with 2 oz of beeswax until all the beeswax was melted. I then poured the oil-wax mixture into the food processor and let it cool five minutes. I then turned on the food processor and slowly and steadily added about 3/4 cup of room temperature water to the oil-wax mixture while the processor was running. Once it looks like everything is incorporated and it looks like a lotion, stop (don't process it too long). I then used a spoon to mix in a few drops of lavender and frankincense essential oil.
I got my herbs from a local store, Herbally Grounded. You can also buy bulk herbs and all the other supplies you would need to make the cream or the syrup at Mountain Rose Herbs.
I will write more when we've had the chance to use the cream and the elderberry syrup and see how they work!
Blessings...
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