My favorite flower!
Have you heard of calendula? She’s a humble little blossom, but oh so powerful.
Not as flashy as a foxglove or as romantic as a rose, calendula is still beautiful. She’s got several small, delicate petals that surround a darker center orbit.
She ranges in color from incandescent butter yellow to a rich maroon. Her outer dress is a vibrant sea foam green woody stem. I love her for her sturdy usefulness and beauty.
Calendula used to be known as “skin knit” by our ancestor witches. They employed her in oils, teas, and compresses to help a petitioner’s skin knit itself back together. Said to fade scars quickly and clear rashes, calendula has always been revered by growers, cultivators, and users of this flashy floral friend. Her scent is known to ward off pests that destroy favorable crops.
When I started formulating salves for Folk Potions, calendula was the first herb to which I was drawn. She is gentle and powerful, healing and happy.
All the things I wanted Folk Potions to be.
Most formulations with calendula are safe for babies and those with sensitive skin. Rarely are people allergic to her. What a good flower she is!
Someone once said, “If you think fireworks are too loud and don’t last long enough, try flowers!” I find that to be very true. How amazingly generous of them to be so stunningly beautiful and also healing? I challenge you to find something else that can do both things as beautifully.
At Folk Potions, we make our flowers last by infusing them into oils, which then become achingly smooth skincare such as facial oils, balms, and salves.
Flowers in a vase are also lovely to admire, but flowers planted in soil will last longer than cut flowers! Try getting a pot, or a spot of earth in your yard, and filling it with soil and compost. Plant some calendula seeds and wait patiently. Try to shoo away the insects that she attracts, so she can grow and you can collect some blossoms and dry them.
Place the dried flowers in a carrier oil and let the jar sit out of the sun for a month or so. When she’s ready, filter out the flowers with a fine sieve and you have a healing oil you can use on everyone in the house! You may even attract some admirers in the process.
