Saturday, January 2, 2010

White Sage and other updates

Hello everyone! The holiday times were just so busy i didn’t really have time to blog. Little grandson spent some time in the hospital, my old cat rumbley got sick, husband home on layoff, and older grands out of school… you get the idea:)

wanted to share with you a new herbal adventure i made this week. i finally had a day at home, no children and husband off doing things. i should have felt great right? strangely, i didn’t! i just felt rather at ends, out of sorts, uncentered and rather pissy about feeling that way! i remembered reading on one of kiva rose’s blog posts, about how she just loved her sage oil for those sort of times and i thought, ah ha, my sweet friend katee gifted me a bag of white sage, now is the time to do something with it!

so i got out the bag of sage, and started heating some olive oil up. added the sage and just let it steep for about an hour. in the pic you can see how dark the sage got the longer it steeped, the lighter pieces where the freshly added ones. i ended up adding some extra to the pot

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this picture is how light it looked before i added it to the oil.

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while it was infusing, i was amazed by the smell. very resinous, earthy and gradually i realized, i was starting to feel very grounded. like i was floating right back into my own skin! after it had infused i strained it out and had a very lovely, dark, dark amber colored oil, which smelled so different than anything i had smelled before! i rubbed some into my pulse points and wow, shortly, i was back, totally feeling normal, focused and eager to keep doing things. so the next step for me is always so second nature anymore when working with oils. whereas i adore oils, i am a bit of a klutz sometimes and find them kind of messy to deal with so i almost always make them into a salve. so added a bit of melted beeswax until i liked the consistency and now have my new grounding salve:) gorgeous color and unusual scent. it might take some getting used to for some folks. my husband came in and asked what the smell was declaring it smelled bitter and he didn’t like it. but funny thing, about an hour later he more gently asked, what was that you made. i could tell the scent was working on him also. thinking this salve will be like a rescue remedy for me and i can see its applications for the children when they are very restless, argumentative, etc.

here is a picture of the finished salve. which i intend to keep handily in my purse. another great thing about salves, not as likely to leak out!

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now i must include a link to the wonderful article kiva wrote about sage. she is such a wonderful writer and i suggest you check out her article on sage. there are many, many ways to enjoy and benefit from sage, this story about the salve is just one example, and i thought you all might enjoy it.

to celebrate the new year and to made amends for being absent for so long, i would like to offer one of these salves as a giveaway. just leave me a comment and i will draw a name next friday:)

herbal and honey hugs to all who visit comfrey cottages:)

19 comments:

Pogostemon said...

Mmmmmm... can almost smell it.
Lovely post and great photos too. I'll be making some of this when my sage starts growing again. It's too covered in snow right now ;-)

Unknown said...

Hi Leslie,

Thank you for the wonderful article! Your description of your symptoms reminds me of how I get sometimes (today, for example). I've been putting off getting some white sage, but I'm off to order some now.

Julie Tennis

Comfrey Cottages said...

nice to see you julie and lorraine! i don't have white sage growing near me. this was a gift from a dear friend! and what a gift it is! while i can understand why my husbands first reaction was pehew, it weaves a true magic with that essence and soon you just crave it during THOSE times! lol you are both entered in the drawing for one of these salves:) good luck and thanks for stopping in:)

Rita M said...

thanks Leslie for the intresting article - I love sage , but i didn't know there was a white sage ...
Thanks for sharing .
Big hugs from me
Rita :o)

Vegan Epicurean said...

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. Now I must look for some white sage, I could use a little grounding myself. I think it is the result of holiday stress and will pass, but better it is always better to be prepared.

I hope you had a good holiday,
Alicia

Crone said...

Hi Leslie, I'm glad you are feeling better. I always love my white sage smudge stick for whenever I'm feeling out of sorts. I just light it and it's relaxing scent permeates every corner of my home. I did have a growing white sage plant for a couple of years out in my herb garden but last winter's erratic weather seemed to have killed it. I will start another one this coming Spring. Just seeing the word 'Spring' makes me feel better.

Brightest Blessings to you and your family, dear friend.

Anke said...

I learned something new from you (again), I had no idea there was a white sage plant. It definitely peaked my interest and I'm going to try and find out more about it.

Comfrey Cottages said...

hi alicia,rita,linda,anke and clarice! thank you for stopping in. i had never worked with white sage before. interesting it did well in your garden linda. i might have to try it. and yes, these weird weather patterns have been hard on many plants!
infused plants can either be done by letting the plant material just macerate for a few weeks in the oil in a jar or by gentle heating clarice. i have some rosemary oil macerating right now i look forward to. did st. john's wort oil earlier this year and in love with that one.
alicia, i think most of us have a bit of residual holiday feelings and as linda said, just thinking of spring helps!
don't forget, you are all entered in the drawing for the salve. i love to share!
i appreciate you all so much:) sometimes it can be kind of lonely when you are learning things by yourself and no one in your household or amongst your circle shows much interest. you all are very dear to me and much appreciated. love, hugs and green blessings to all of you:)

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Somehow just puttering around in the kitchen, smelling, the scents, and finally, seeing the results, always makes me feel better...whole and contented.

I love the white sage, which is native to my neighborhood here in California. I use it for many things, but especially love cutting tall bouquets of it to enjoy for weeks.

Back to other sages...Salvia officinalis is one of my favorites. I keep this garden sage in an infusion of red wine or burgundy. When we get a cough just a few teaspoons of this sage strong elixir calms our cough.

Herbal blessings to you and yours,

Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

Laura of said...

Dear Leslie, You never cease to amaze me with your thinking! I thought you were using your White Sage to smudge with, but then you surprised me with the salve! You are so creative... I am so rigid in my thought process!!! Happy New Year, my friend! I wish you a calm and peaceful 2010! xox ~Laura

Sarah Head said...

Hi Leslie, I love white sage and the concept of the infused oil. When I first started working with herbs, Henriette Kress enthused about making a white sage tincture as a perfume. I bought some whilst on holiday in Oregon some years later and made my own tincture. I used it for protection and gave to someone who was sure he'd been possessed by a negative entity. Someone gave me some white sage cuttings, but they immediately flowered and died, so I've taken that as a sign to find more local plants what what I need. I'm tempted to try a wood betony oil to work in a similar grounding way. I expect you've read Matthew Wood's articles about betony and its superb grounding properties. It grows quite happily in my herb garden but has no scent, so it will be an interesting experiment to see how it works as an oil.

*Ulrike* said...

I would really like to try that sometime, but no white sage! So that will be first thing to look for. How much oil do you usually use? Does it make a difference as to what type of pot you use? I know that aluminum can be a no no for some things. Of course, I'd love to be entered in your giveaway!!

Jederah said...

Just came across your blog from Tansy's I really love it. I grew up in Decatur and get to missing central Illinois quite more than I usually admit

Comfrey Cottages said...

hello sharon:) so nice to "meet" you! i adore your books:) visited your page and see a new one is released this month! joy! thank you for the work and time you put into your books. the grands and i have a grand old time with them:) nice idea about the sage elixer:) thank you for the suggestion. i will post about it when i get a chance to give it a go:)
nice that white sage grows near you:) this is a treat for me as it doesn't grow native here but i might try it in the garden sometime:)
laura, i can be rather rigid thinking most the time, but herbs inspire me to do new things. also, one of the reasons i got interested in herbs as i just can not take pharmacoticals. my heart will race every time. herbs can be more tweaked and played with until it works for me:) since i am so sensitive to anything this also means that many times i can get benefit from a particular herb through salves or oils and don't even have to injest them orally:) my own quirky body and everyones is different. i have found that some of the grands are the same way and so oils and salves are good for them also:)thank you for stopping in dear laura:)
sarah, thank you for visiting and for the information you have shared about white sage. and i agree with you totally. whenever a plant fails to flourish in ones own garden, it is time to find a substitute. and yes i have read matthew woods article and would just love it if you tried the wood betony and gave us a report! that would so rock! you would love this article jim mcdonald wrote about wood betony sarah. he has a bit about matthew wood in this article also
http://www.herbcraft.org/betony.html
ulrike, when i do an oil infusion i just make sure the plant material is at least covered by the oil. i am not adverse to adding more oil than that though as most of the things i have tried are just fine with that:) i have glass pots myself. mainly found here and there at flea markets, thrift stores and the like i use for both my beeswax projects and my oil projects:)trust me, if i can do it, anyone can. just jump right in. if you don't have white sage just try something you do have that you would like the smell or effects from ulrike:) thanks for chiming in here my friend:)
stephanie i am very happy to meet you:) awww we won't tell anyone you are missing your hometown honey! no shame in that!:)
big herbal and honey hugs to all of you and i wish we were all neighbors, in the same tribe, something! but this is nice also:)

Lisa said...

I love the color transformation!

Sorry you weren't feeling yourself but glad you found a remedy so close at hand! I think the powers of Winston have been working on keeping me grounded...he gets me outside every single day! No excuses! I don't think I realized how important be out in nature really is for me. We each have out loves don't we?

How's your kitty? Better I hope!!!

Hugs!

Comfrey Cottages said...

awww lisa, yes the great outdoors is the best medicine:) so glad you have winston to encourage you on your daily walks:)
no lisa, my rumbley cat isn't getting any better. he has a tumor. he rallied around last week some and was taking interest, but fading now... thanks for asking honey. love you

Lisa said...

Oh, how I love "meeting" other herbies! Can't wait to come back tomorrow and search your archives!
lisa

Comfrey Cottages said...

nice to meet you too lisa:) i couldn't find your blog! search away lady! i love herbs and sometimes get time to work with them!lol visit anytime please:)

With Seeds Of Intention said...

I must say that I am in the same boat. You totally made me feel inspired in so many ways! Thank you!