The best thing about growing Calendula for me is watching all the insects that come to enjoy those bright happy flowers that sway and sing with the wind.

Calendula is a must have for any cottage garden/allotment/informal space and is an excellent open flower which is perfect for those insects and bees.

Calendula officinalis is traditionally a medicinal plant with many uses and often made into oils or dried, and the flowers are edible too.

Calendula oil is a base for most of my skincare recipes and stores excellently too. I don’t have to time to make creams and face masks which don’t have a long shelf life so I depend on other natural ingredients to make it into a useable form which stores for as long as I need to use it.Calendula oil is a base for most of my skincare recipes and stores excellently too. I don’t have to time to make creams and face masks which don’t have a long shelf life so I depend on other natural ingredients to make it into a useable form which stores for as long as I need to use it.

That’s where calendula moisturising bars come in and they’re excellent! I love my calendula salve and use them on my skin all the time but there’s nothing like the feel of a gorgeous moisturiser bar melting in between my hands. It also allows me to add additional moisturising ingredients, of which I can’t do with a salve.

To make these gorgeous moisturising bars, you must first make the Calendula oil and this does take some time. The longer you leave it, the better it is. I leave mine for at least 3 months and it makes a rich orange oil that you will be proud of. To make the oil, you need as many calendula heads as possible in an airtight jar (any size jar for your needs). You’ll need to dry the heads for a couple of days before putting in the jar otherwise they’ll ferment and rot in the oil and then it’ll be unusable.

Cover the calendula heads with your base oil (you decide what is best for your skin) and shut the jar up tight. Give the jar a shake every day for three months, checking for any flowers that could spoil your oil. It should be fine. That’s it…! No heating, no mess, no fuss, and a perfect richly packed oil. Strain through a cheesecloth.

To make the bars you will need beeswax, a refined body butter and some essential oils of your choice (these are optional but it’s always nice to smell nice, right?).

Melt the beeswax, add the calendula oil and then add in your refined body butter. You’ll need to do this with the double boiler method. Once they’re all melted together, pour into your rounded moulds. They take a few hours to set properly but in winter, they’ll cool down and solidify very quickly on a cool windowsill. Pop them out when they’re done and store in tins.

You can make these calendula moisturising bars with any base oil that you make such as comfrey or even mint for a cooling sensation. Once you start, you won’t ever buy another moisturiser again and will definitely make space for more medicinal herbs.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup calendula oil
• 3 ounces of beeswax
• 4 ounces refined body butter
• Essential oils of choice