For thousands of years we have used organic plant matter through tinctures, balms, infusions, salves, and straight consumption to treat our ailments and augment our health. Only very recently, in the 19th century, did we begin exploring practices we now deem Modern Medicine.
But still, all around us, we have plants that offer us the medicinal powers. Many of them are not hard to find, and we took advantage of those commonly-found, medicinal plants during an workshop last week with a group of our summer kids.
Our mission was to create a Plantain and Jewelweed infused salve to help treat unpleasant reactions that come with touching Stinging Nettle, Poison Ivy, or bug bites. The salve also helps disinfect and heal minor scrapes and burns.
We chose these two plants because they're very easy to find in our habitat, and their properties are extremely valuable.
Jewelweed, Orange Jewelweed, Spotted Touch-Me-Not | Balsaminaceae (Touch-Me-Not Family)
Plantain can be found everywhere, even in the cracks of the pavement. They love disturbed, compacted soil, which is everywhere you may step!
For this experiment, we infused dried plantain and fresh jewelweed in their own olive oil infusions, and then mixed the infusions with melted bees wax. With the right ratio of 4oz : 1.5oz oil to wax, we created the perfect texture for an easily applicable but not too drippy salve.
Infusing sounds like a complicated process, but really it only takes a couple of steps.
1. Compact as much of the plant into the bottom of a jar as you can.
2. Pour olive oil (or whatever your preferred oil is) into the jar until it fills just above the plant matte.r
3. Heat the jar in the sun or in a pot of water on the stove for a long time. If your jar is in the sun, it will need about 4 weeks to infuse. If your jar is in hot water, leave simmering in low heat on the stove for about 4 hours.
When you have your oil infusion, simply mix together melted* bees wax with the oil until it appears properly stirred, pour into whatever container you prefer, and let cool in the fridge.
*You can melt the bees wax in a warm pot/bowl on the stove, but keep in mind that the wax will be very hard to extract from the pot/bowl and that may need to be your designated wax bowl for the future.
We melted our wax on a double burner by placing our wax bowl over a pot of steaming water.
Et voila! You have your skin-soothing salve ready to go, and you've tapped back in to your roots of organic, plant-based medicine.
Maris Harmon is a Recreation Specialty Instructor at the Wissahickon Environmental Center (Tree House), part of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation.
