Calendulas

When I first started with Aromatherapy, I kept reading about the amazing healing and soothing powers of Calendula for skin. Unfortunately, there is no Calendula essential oil, just too hard to produce, I would think. A tiny little 20 gram tube of Calendula cream can set you back twenty or so dollars and wouldn't last all that long anyhow. So I learned to live without...until I got a garden. The plants themselves are very hardy and self-seeding. I can usually see them popping up around April, which is awfully early around here for anything to even start thinking of growing.

I found out Calendula flowers can easily be infused in oil. The oil absorbs the Calendula's healing properties and I can use it in remedies, lotions and creams. Most of my lotions and creams have about 20 - 50 per cent Calendula oil in them. I think it's great stuff.

Calendula flowers are easy to dry, just pick the whole flower and put 'em on newspaper until the petals practically fall off. They say the darker the petal, the more medicinal it is so I like the double, dark orange blooms. The only way I use them fresh is when my daughter needs some for her skin care. I steep some calendula petals in with some green tea and she uses it as a toner, it does seem to really help the problems of teenage skin. Sometimes for an extra boost, I'll add a couple of drops of lavender essential oil.

I find infusing them is a piece of cake. Once the petals are completely dried, I put them in a jar and top it off with organic cold pressed olive oil. Fresh petals can be used instead of dried but then I'm mucking around with trying to syphon off the water from the fresh petals and if I don't get it all, there can be a mold issue, which I'd rather not deal with. Once the petals are in the oil, I put the jar in on a sunny window sill and or on top of a heat vent and shake once a day. And voila, two weeks later, I have a lovely golden oil that pretty much will keep until the next harvest. All I do is strain it, squeezing every drop of that lovely oil out of the petals and keep it in the fridge.

disclaimer: This is how I use calendula for Aromatherapy, I am not recommending you do the same.

First Worm Castings

My little Dendrodrilus Ribidus are doing very well. The bin seems happy and full of life. I am seeing a lot of worm cocoons and little tiny worms so I'm guessing all is well now. I did have a bit of an issue a little while ago when I change the bedding. I used brown leaves that I soaked in water then drained for their bedding. I obviously didn't check the leaves well enough and I discovered a couple of centipedes in the bin a few days later. Centipedes are a no-no; they eat baby worms and generally cause havoc and mayhem. I've got enough havoc and mayhem in my regular life, I don't need it in my worm bin. Anyhow, everything seems to be back to rights now.

I did discover those little yellow and orange eggs I mentioned in my last worm entry were indeed worm cocoons. I took a few of of the eggs and put them in a small container with damp leaves. In a few days, the container was teeming with brand new worms! Ah, science at a basic level - "Let's try it and see what happens".

When I did change the bedding, I ended up with worm castings. Worm castings is beautiful, black, earthy smelling stuff. It is absolutely gorgeous to look at, considering worm castings is basically worm poop. I bagged the castings but left the top open for a couple of days. Sure enough, I had missed a few cocoons and found a bunch of baby worms. So they are now in the bin and I have some great stuff to plant in next spring. I think I will use it right around the seeds and plants.

Changing the bin's bedding and collecting the castings is a major operation. First I have to get Don and P, teenage son, to haul the heavy bin outside. Then on a plastic sheet that is in full sun, I remove all the contents, trying to make a mini-mountain shape. The worms don't like the sun and burrow deep down. So then I start removing the castings until I hit the worms again, I'll wait a few minutes while they wiggle furiously further down to escape from the light. I remove some more of the castings and repeat the process, and repeat and repeat and repeat until all I have left is a rather large and extremely annoyed squirm of worms. I put them in the nice, fresh bin and get the boys to haul the bin back down into the nice cool wood room. I was surprised at how long it took, almost two hours, which is why I see it as a major operation. But it was worth it, the castings are very impressive.

I did try something new that didn't seem to work at first. Usually I give them pretty 'aged', shall we say, bunny manure for food. Well, that's almost composted completely so last time I fed them, I used fresher stuff that I soaked in water for a while. I found it really heated up the bin and the worms didn't like that. They stayed away from manure. I just checked it this morning and while I found it was still giving off heat, I found the worms happily devouring it. I'm figuring the warming may not be a bad thing for the winter, that wood room gets awfully cold and a little heat might be welcomed. As long as I don't put too much in at one time. A bit of experimentation will be needed, I think. Simple science is calling again...