behind the scenes with calendula

i’m out harvesting calendula today, like most mornings. this is one plant i gather in bits all season long. there are bundles of calendula growing all over the medicine garden, and our front and backyard as well. i often take my morning coffee out and wander the gardens, visiting with the plants and soaking in a little sun. i’ll bring a little basket and gather calendula that’s ready for harvest. 

the ideal time for the highest potency of the resins is just after opening, so i’m looking for blooms that are just about to open, or have just blossomed. even just pinching off one or two has my fingertips sticky and resinous. it’s such a good smell, like sap and sunshine. it just smells like medicine, like you’re breathing something powerful into your blood. i love the sticky feeling and knowing it’s such good medicine gathering - i find myself pressing my fingers together again and again to feel the sticky hold. the blossoms gathered in my little daily basket get laid out to be cured and when fully dry will be sealed for storage. we like to make herbal oil soon after with the freshly dried blossoms to capture as much of the resins and oils as possible.

i’ve been experimenting over the years with different varieties to find the highest potency oils and resins. resina is one that’s often referenced as being highest in medicinal resin, but i want a brighter orange blossom .i just think they’re more vibrant and beautiful and i think the orange blossoms feel like they carry more medicine. i have no study for this, it’s just what i feel like the plants tell me. i’ve grown or am growing neon, alpha, radio, and this year orange king ... still experimenting and observing the qualities of each. maybe we’ll share an updated blog in a few seasons if we choose a particular variety we like more than others. 

on to oil making! the whole process of making our oils takes at least a week (much longer for some). today we’re just going to gather the freshly dried blossoms, weigh them out, and grind to expose the most surface area and plant cells for extraction.
we sell pure calendula oil but our potent calendula oil is also in so many other offerings we have from other oil blends, to facial serums, to salves, so this is one we’re constantly making new batches of throughout the growing season.