Calendula and
Lavender Salve
This recipe for salve from Paula Grainger makes effective
use of garden herbs. Apply a little with clean
fingers to insect bites small cuts and grazes or burns to
soothe, reduce inflammation and help prevent infection.
Beeswax and containers can be found in herb stores or
online. Makes two 2-oz. tins or pots.
For the infused oil:
10 large fresh calendula
flowers, petals torn off
4 lavender flower spikes,
flowers stripped off (you
can discard the stalks)
6 oz. good-quality organic
extra virgin olive oil
A pint Mason jar with lid
To make the salve:
2 slightly heaping tablespoons
of beeswax
pellets
25 drops lavender essential
oil
• For the infused oil, place
the calendula petals and
centers with the tiny lavender
flowers in the Mason
jar. Pour in the olive oil,
making sure the flowers
are fully submerged. Leave
the jar to stand in a sunny
spot, occasionally shaking
it. After a week, strain the
oil through a sieve lined
with a double layer of
cheesecloth. Squeeze the
cheesecloth to extract as
82 South Bay Accent
much of the oil as possible.
• For the salve, line up
clean, dry tins or jars with
the lids off. Measure 4 oz.
of the infused oil into a
heat-proof glass jug, add
the beeswax and place it
in a double boiler. (If you
don’t have a double boiler,
you can stand the jug on a
heat-proof trivet in a pan
of boiling water). Be sure
not to let any water to get
into the jug of oil.
• Gently heat the water
until the beeswax has
fully melted into the oil,
then using a cloth (as the
glass will be hot), carefully
remove the jug from
the pan and place it on a
heatproof surface. Add the
lavender essential oil and
stir, then immediately pour
the golden liquid into your
prepared tins or jars. Allow
the salve to cool fully
before replacing the lids
and labeling. The salve will
keep for at least a year in a
cool place.
And then there are dandelions. “Everyone knows dandelions,
and gardeners spend a lot of time digging them out of their
lawns,” notes Grainger. “But dandelions have been shown to
improve liver function. There was even one study that associated
using dandelion roots regularly with reduced level of cancer. Cancer
is a place where I tend not to go, but certainly as a preventative,
there are studies on it out there. “
Grainger truly enjoys interacting with people and sharing her
knowledge, and says that working with children is one of her favorite
things. In addition to birthday parties, Grainger teaches an
herbal medicine elective course for the middle school at Gateway,
a private school in Santa Cruz. Her son is a student there, and she
is president of the board.
“I’m really passionate about helping kids reconnect with nature,”
she says. “If you start recognizing the plants around you and
know what they can do, it completely changes everything. Even
the walk to school becomes different.”
AN HERBAL EPIPHANY
Grainger began officially working with herbs back in 2001, leaving
her corporate job in publishing in search of a more fulfilling
path. Plants seemed a natural choice. She had learned to love
them as a child growing up in Surrey, England. There she spent
many happy days in the garden and fields, helping her mother
and grandmother gather blackberries, elderflowers and dandelion
flowers for her grandfather’s homemade wine and her grandmother’s
jams and jellies.
“It really was just a road to Damascus thing,” she says of her
decision to change her career. “I’ve always been fascinated by
plants. I was that little girl in the garden, gathering things in the
hedgerows for my guinea pigs. I just suddenly had this very clear
idea of what I wanted to do.”
After deciding that plants were her passion, Grainger discovered,
applied to and was accepted into the herbal medicine program at
the University of Westminster in London. She obtained her degree
in 2004, began practicing in London, and after a few years, opened
up an herbal clinic and apothecary called Lemon Balm.
Grainger credits a volcano with her family’s decision to move
from the U.K. to Santa Cruz. In 2010, she, her husband (a novelist),
and 5-year-old son took a vacation to California, where
they drove up the Pacific Coast highway from Los Angeles to San
Francisco. They decided to stop in Santa Cruz for a couple of
days, and during their stay, someone in the hotel pool mentioned
something about a volcano.
“I thought, ‘Well, we really don’t have volcanoes in England.’
So I checked it out on the news channel and sure enough, this
volcano in Iceland had blown up and created this massive ash
cloud that was covering the Atlantic and preventing any flights
from the U.S. to the U.K. and the rest of Europe.”
Finding themselves stranded in Santa Cruz for what would be
two weeks, she and her family began exploring the city and surroundings
and fell in love with the place.
“We looked around a bit and saw that this would be an amazing
place for us to bring up our child, and a great place to live
and work.”
When they got back to England, they began making plans for a