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Friday, September 28, 2012

Making udder balm for the goats

We ran out of the salve we put on the "girl's" after we are done milking them so I thought I would give you an idea how we make it while I make a new batch.  It has worked wonderfully for the goats for many years.  I tweak the recipe occasionally depending on the ingredients we have on hand but for the most part it is made the same way from year to year with only minor changes.


This year I am adding Candy Apple Mint to give it a good smell and a little bit of a tingle to stimulate blood flow.  I begin by going for a walk around the yard picking comfrey, plantain, and candy apple mint to shred up in our pot with olive oil.


Once the herbs are added to the pot with the olive oil I heat them slowly over a low burner and then turn off the flame.  I let this set and heat the herbs 6 times (twice a day for 3 days) and then just let them sit in the oil to infuse into it.



Once they are infused, they are drained and placed in another pot I use specifically for making salve.  I then add some of the infused oil (comfrey/lavendar) I made earlier in the year to the pot and shave 1/2 oz of beeswax for the salve and placed it in the oil to warm up and melt.



Once the beeswax is melted I add tea tree, lavender, and peppermint essential oils to the pot.  I also use Vitamin E  for a preservative so I add the contents of 5 vitamin E capsules to the oil.  Once this is done I pour the warm salve into containers to cool and firm up.  Once firmed up it is ready to use. 


If the salve it too soft you can re-heat it and add more beeswax.  You have to play around a little to get the consistency that you  like.  I always keep notes when I make this so that I have an idea later what is in it and so that I can make changes based on our preferences for the next batch.

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