While making a little decorative peace sign, I harvesed a bunch of borage flowers and a few calendula flowers.  Instead of tossing them back into the garden to reseed, I decided to make some Borage Calendula oil, which in a couple of months, will turn into either some wonderful winter skin salve or possibly a lotion, depending on what I decide to do.

It’s an easy process.  Put Borage flowers, Calendula petals (get the sticky residue) and chopped Borage leaves in a clean jar.  Note: I use several small jars, as if some of the oil gets rancid, you won’t have to all of this oil.  Make sure the Borage leaves are washed and dry.  Cover with oil, making sure all the plant material is covered.  I used Sweet Almond oil.  I put a small piece of saran wrap on top of the oil and gently press it down to the top of the oil, in order to eliminate as much air as possible, to help eliminate the possibility of the oil going rancid.  Then I put the lid on, and let it steep for 2 months.  Easy Peasy!

Now you might want to know that both Calendula and Borage are great for the skin.  While most of what I saw states to use Borage seed, I don’t think the average gardener (that would be me) will have enough Borage seed to make this oil.  So the flowers and leaves are a good substitute.

I came across this idea last winter, when a local coop had a Borage skin cream on sale.  Well, since I love Borage as much as the bees do, I thought I’d give it a try.  Turns out Borage is good for the skin; it has anti aging benefits, along with being a great moisturizer and is an anti inflammatory for the skin.  So, if you have some Borage, give this a try and check back in November to see how to turn this into a wonderful skin salve or skin cream for the winter, which is also “Easy Peacey”.