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My Simple Wild

a motherhood & simple living blog

December 12, 2021 / DIY

Pine Resin + Calendula Hand Salve

The first time I read about the wonderful benefits and uses of pine resin, I was surprised that I had never thought of using the abundant amber sap that dripped along the bark of several of our trees! As a child, I learned my lesson early on to steer clear of the sticky mess. I remember my Mother not thrilled the time I came home with sap ALL over my clothes and in my hair. Whoops! SoI started looking up different recipes and ways to use pine resin and after a couple tweaks and trials and errors, I have created a very simple hand salve using the pine resin. I decided to gift these to all the men in my family along with a beard oil, a pine scented soap, and an essential oil rollerball.

What is pine resin?

Pine resin is the harvested tree sap of a pine tree. It is usually flowing out of a cut branch or damaged part of the tree. I see it as a kind of scab as the pine resin is actually helping to heal the tree. It is produced as a protective layer to seal physical wounds. We have several large pine trees in our back yard that my husband had cut some low branches off of so he could get the mower under them. All of these cut branches have an abundance of sap covering them and even dripping down the bark onto the ground.

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How to harvest

Collecting the sap is fairly easy, but messy. I collect it on the areas it is excessive and flowing underneath the ‘wound”. If you collect in the Summer, it will be softer and in my opinion, much more of a sticky mess. Harvesting the sap in the Fall and Winter months is a bit easier. I just use an old butter knife and kind of saw it off. If it’s cold enough outside, the sap could just pop off because it will be pretty hard. I use an old spaghetti jar to collect it. I took just a little from each tree so the resin could keep doing what it was meant for- healing the tree.

What can you use this salve for?

This salve can be used on cuts, scrapes, rashes, and dry cracked hands. It can be used as a lip balm, as a first aid ointment in the wilderness (pine resin has antimicrobial properties), and even as fuel for an emergency torch or to start a fire.

How to make a pine resin + calendula hand salve

I made a larger batch of this hand salve to gift for Christmas. If you are looking for a smaller batch, just cut this recipe in half. For this batch, I used a calendula-infused oil that I made back in the Fall, but you can use any oil. If you want to use calendula-infused oil, check out this article that has a simple tutorial to follow. I love using calendula-infused oil in a lot of my herbal recipes because calendula is so calming to the skin and has anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial benefits.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 C pine resin
  • 1 1/2 C oil (olive, grapeseed, avocado, jojoba, hemp seed etc. or any herbal-infused oil of your choice) I used 1 C of a calendula-inufused oil I had on hand + 1/2 a C of grapeseed oil)
  • slightly rounded 1/4 C of beeswax pastilles

Directions:

  1. Melt the resin a bit in a double broiler (or to start I used this thick glass spaghetti jar I used to collect the resin and had is sitting in about 2 inches of water.) Keep the temperature low.
  2. Add the oil and give it a stir and let the entire mixture melt. I had some large chunks in there so it took about an hour to fully melt.
  3. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer (I did this twice and had a lot of bark and pine needles and dirt to strain out) I had just over 2 C liquid oil/resin left
  4. Return the melted resin and oil to the double broiler and add in the beeswax pastilles
  5. Gently heat and once melted, pour into jars or containers
  6. Let sit to cool and solidify
  7. Don’t forget to label !
Pine Resin + Calendula Hand Salve melting in jar
Pine Resin + Calendula Hand Salve straining
Pine Resin + Calendula Hand Salve with beeswax pastilles

I made simple labels “pine calendula” on the lids with my favorite embossing label maker, and on the bottom of the containers I glued on a round label I made that gives instructions on how to use the salve.

You can print off the instruction labels HERE.

Pine Resin + Calendula Hand Salve printable gift labels
finished Pine Resin + Calendula Hand Salve

This recipe filled 10 of these tin containers perfectly!

I made enough for all 4 brother-in-laws, my dad, my father-in-law, and a couple left for my family. These are a wonderful addition to a wilderness first aid kit and to just have sitting on your nightstand to patch up your kiddo’s scraped knees or your hubby’s chapped hands. You’ll find that in the Summer, the salve will be softer and in the Winter, it will be harder. If you store this salve in a cool dark place, it will also last much longer.

If you try this pine resin + calendula hand salve, I would love to see it! Tag me @mymountainwild on Instagram.

Pine Resin + Calendula Hand Salve gift box for men

A peak at one of the Christmas gifts I made this year. The pine resin salve, a homemade beard oil (recipe HERE), handmade pine needle goats milk soap and coffee cinnamon goats milk soap, and a stress away essential oil roller bottle.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you check out: DIY Gentleman’s Spa Gift Basket For Your Hubby DIY Beeswax Food Wraps DIY Lavender Detox Bath-in-a-Jar

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Welcome! I’m Natalie. I am a rocky mountain mama who just recently relocated to the blue ridge mountains! Here I share all things motherhood, homemaking, homeschooling, and slow living. I hope you follow along as we share this next chapter of our lives. I am so glad you are here! Grab a cup of coffee and stay awhile

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Benjamin is 2 months old! He has such a silly pers Benjamin is 2 months old!
He has such a silly personality already. He coos and burbles and smiles like a pro. Yesterday it sounded like a little giggle came out,  too! 
He is a BIG baby, yall. He's comfortabley wearing size 6 months! ๐Ÿ˜†
I just love his squishy soft cheeks and his gummy smile. His eyes light up when he sees me and my heart is filled to the brim with joy & love. 

It's been a rainy & cold first day of Autumn, so we are snuggled inside with cider and cinnamon candles burning and I've been making some herbal remedies in my kitchen all afternoon. 
Happy Autumn Equinox! 
๐Ÿ‚ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ„๐ŸŒพ
We had to say goodbye to our dog Chewy yesterday. We had to say goodbye to our dog Chewy yesterday. ๐Ÿ˜ญ
To say we are heartbroken is an understatement. 
As I have scrolled through hundreds of photos & videos of Chewy today, I am reminded just how awesome he was. He was with us on almost every hike, camping trip, and adventure. He was no lap dog - he loved the outdoors and could keep up with us on even the roughest terrain. He was fearless and funny and loyal. He was our first pet and grew up with Liam, he was there for our last two babies to be born, he was there at our wedding, moved from Denver to MT to NC to here in Virginia with us. He's been there with us through so many huge life events. 
In 2019 we almost lost him when he ran straight into a stick and it punctured all the way through his eye cavity. 
We almost lost him when he fell into a rushing freezing river in Montana and I had to jump in after him. We almost lost him last year in NC when he ate something at the beach & had a severe sand impact in his intestines. 
He was my little shadow and followed me everywhere. That's why he is in just about every single photo I have of us - he was always there by my feet looking up at me.
It will be weird to be cooking dinner and not have him at my feet. 

He came to us in 2017 when we were living near Denver. He was our neighbor's dog and named Mr. Pickles ๐Ÿ˜† He showed up to our house one day and then just kept coming back-  over and over we walked him back down to his home. One day we got a letter in our mailbox from his owner, asking if we wanted to adopt him. He had been sent to puppy jail for the 6th time and she couldn't afford to get him out. She figured he wanted to be with us anyway. Chewy just wanted adventure & I think we gave him just that. That little playful dog chose us, and I'm real thankful he did. 
He passed away outside under a big oak tree in my arms surrounded by his family and so much love. We buried him in a nice shady spot near some wildflowers by the garden. 
I gave his little bangs a trim yesterday before we took him to the vet, and I still have the pile of his hair on my rug & can't bring myself to throw it away yet. 
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He was a good dog
It's mushroom month with @plantwondercollective ! It's mushroom month with @plantwondercollective ! ๐Ÿ„ 
I tried my hand at making some felted mushrooms and I think they turned out rather cute! 
I added them to one of our little curiosities shelves in the homeschool room to decorate for Fall. 

Supplies : 
Red & white wool roving
Felting needle
Foam pad to work on 
Optional - moss, glass jars, a stick 

Start by felting the cap. I used my finger to press down in the middle to make a bit of a bowl shape. 
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You could also add twine on either side of the stick to make it a little wall hanging ! ๐Ÿ˜ 
These would make sweet handmade gifts for the upcoming holidays or just to decorate for your own home. 

Follow along for more ๐Ÿ„Mushroom๐Ÿ„wonder throughout the day and join us this month through our hashtags and at @plantwondercollective
#plantwondercollective
#pwcmushrooms

Meet the participants!
@florasfeastbotanicals
@mamalibelula
@theherbologyfaerie
@wineberryadventurescouts
@lafemmeflorale
@brittanylgibson
@botanica_mystica
@carrietuttle2964
@a.farm.to.keep
@thewoodlandwitchh
@cosmic.earth.remedies

๐ŸŒฟPlant Wonder Collective: Connecting you to nature through food, drink, play, garden, medicine, magic, and art.
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our two sweet little kittens we adopted yesterday ๐Ÿค
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Hoping these two will grow up to he good mousers and keep the creepy crawlies out of the basement ๐Ÿ˜ฌ
Chilly foggy mornings and leaves changing means it Chilly foggy mornings and leaves changing means it's cozy season, yall!

Bring on the...
Candles
Baking
Hot apple cider
Pumpkin everything 
Cinnamon
Sweaters in the mornings 
Backyard campfires 
Autumn crafting

What's your favorite thing about Fall ? 
Are you decorating yet ? ๐Ÿ๐ŸŒพ๐Ÿ‚

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