Sarah, you will be pleased to know I have made my first creams this afternoon! I followed your recipe but am wondering how it's going to set, cus it all seemed a bit liquidy. I also bought a whole load of stuff from Neals Yard, and have made up some jars of their creams, and also some lip balm. So I'm sort of feeling pleased with myself, though I don't know how they are all going to set (or not). But my oils aren't ready yet, so I had to buy some of theirs - big mistake! Too expensive. Haven't made any salves yet - I have some tubular beeswax from Neals Yard which isn't gratable, I guess I just have to melt it.

My St John's wort oil seems to be going along reasonably well, though isn't too red yet. Thanks for the tip about using sunflower oil, I was following the recipe in Hedgerow Mecicine, but it's far cheaper to use sunflower oil.

I have been struggling with harvesting my herbs - everything I read says pick before midday when the plants have dried off. But it seems never to stop raining or drizzling, so I haven't harvested anything yet, and I'm wondering if I've missed the boat! I did pick some yarrow though the other day and made a tea of the fresh leaves because I was feeling as if I was going to get a cold, and a couple of hours later I felt much better.

I don't have as much time to spend on all this as it deserves, so I still feel I haven't a clue what I'm doing, but I'm plodding along, and hope that next year I will have more of an idea of what I'm about!

Thanks for all the very interesting posts on here. I learn a lot.

Best wishes to all
Sue

Hi Sue

Well done with starting on your creams. They don't solidify like salves and their thickness depends on how much liquid you add to them.

I know how you feel about harvesting. I can very, very rarely harvest on a dry morning, so I usually harvest in the evening if it's dry. If the herbs are still wet, I don't worry too much if I'm going to tincture or make a vinegar and if I'm going to dry I may dry the herb with some external heat first to get rid of the excess moisture e.g. putting in the bottom of the oven on the lowest setting with the oven door open for an hour or so, or putting the herb on paper or kitchen towel by a radiator which is on or just leaving in a warm room uncovered overnight before putting in paper bags in a warmish place to dry.

I harvested a whole load of herbs on Friday evening and it was interesting to see which were passably dry and which were still wringing wet. The Echinacea stems were the driest and the calendula flowers were sopping! I had no choice but to leave them all on newspaper laid out in the summerhouse. We'll see how they are doing in two weeks time.

Don't feel you are clueless. The more you do, the sooner will come the lightbulb moment when it all starts to make sense.

With regards to your beeswax, I would recommend you start contacting your local beekeepers. Their website and contact details are http://www.bristolbeekeepers.org.uk/ They will be able to let you have gratable wax at reasonable cost.

Best wishes

Sarah