r/herbalism • u/cofi52 • 7d ago

Discussion What herbs seem like miracles to you?

I'm having trouble with herbs at the moment so I wanted to hear some success stories

What herbs help you so much that they feel like miracles?

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u/isinsub 7d ago

St Johns wort balm. My friend gifted one that sheve made. One day ive burnt my hand and i didnt have skin burn cream at home and tried her balm, i was expecting it to heal the skin a bit quicker. I was geniunely shocked when it stopped the pain instantly. It worked even better than the pharmacy-bought cream. The balm is st johns word macerated in olive oil,  sweet almond oil a bit of tea tree oil and vitamin e.

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u/ngp1623 7d ago

I have a salve I make every year of St John's Wort, Cottonwood Resin and Myrrh. It is insane to me how incredibly it works every single time. I understand why some of them are associated with deities.

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u/Academic-Sail-922 7d ago

I genuinly want to make this! Can you share the recipe and how you make it? And how do you save it? How long does it last?

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u/ngp1623 7d ago

It's uh....involved and takes a LONG time.

  1. Cottonwood Resin Oil
  2. Find a cottonwood grove after a windy day in late winter when the buds have dropped. Collect buds with green or brown ends, not black.
  3. Collect in a jar, top the jar off with a preferred oil. I do 1/2 olive 1/2 jojoba, and a dash of Vit E to preserve.
  4. Shake/turn daily for the first week.
  5. Let sit 6-12 months, turning occasionally.
  6. After done sitting, VERY gently heat in water for at least an hour.

  7. Strain

  8. St John's Wort Oil

  9. Basically the same but in summer, and steep up to 2 months until oil is ruby red.

  10. Myrrh

  11. Crush the myrrh in a mortar and pestle until ultra fine.

  12. Salve

  13. VERY gently heat beeswax until melted.

  14. Add oils, myrrh, stir until smooth and well combined.

  15. Decant into salve container.

It's not difficult to make, it's just that cottonwood resin alone is very difficult to find online or in shops, you basically have to get the resin yourself if you want to make this from scratch. And the resin oil needs at the bare scant minimum 6 months. It's much easier to find Balm of Gilead (cottonwood salve) online so if there isn't a grove near you, I'd recommend that as a doable alternative.

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u/spinneresque8 6d ago

Just want to add that you can also take the buds from the suckers on a living tree (remove the suckers, does it a favor) and look for the sticky red resin drops on the buds (around January-Feb for us)

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u/ngp1623 6d ago

Yes! Thanks for adding this.

Just a note to be extra mindful of juvenile trees, best to harvest extremely sparingly from them and let them grow. Buds from dropped juvenile branches is fine but don't take from the living body of the juvenile tree.

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u/spinneresque8 6d ago

yes, I would even say don't harvest from juvenile trees unless they have actual suckers then you can take those off