Dandelion Salve for Breast Care

I love flowers of all kinds and especially, the healing kind!

@sagescrub and I both love dandelion...but for very different reasons. He loves the taste of dandelion leaves and roots, which he wrote about in his post Wild Food: Load Up My Omelette with Dandelions Please, but I find them a little too bitter. The reason I love dandelion is the blossoms and since I was young, I love blowing the seed heads and making a wish. There's something hopeful about watching all those fluffy dandelion seeds flying in the wind.

While working at TerraFlora, I was asked to collect dandelion petals to make dandelion wine. I was instantly delighted at the task because I didn't know until then that the blossoms could be used! We didn't stay long enough to taste the results, but I'd love to try it one day. Then just recently, while helping an herbal healer in her medicinal garden, I learned that dandelion blossoms are good for breasts!

According to herbalist Susun Weed, "Dandelion has a special affinity for breasts. Regular use of dandelion flower oil promotes deep relaxation of the breast tissues, facilitating the release of held emotions. Applied regularly to the entire breast area, glowing golden dandelion flower oil can strengthen your sense of self worth as well as your immune system. Easily made, this oil is a superb ally for regular breast self massage, and highly praised by those doing therapeutic breast massage. Dandelion root oil, used alone or in conjunction with the flower oil, can help clear minor infections, relieve impacted milk glands, and reduce cysts in the breasts."

Wow!!! So on a lovely sunny day when all the dandelions in our garden were blooming, I put on my hat (which doubles as a harvesting basket) and set out to collect as many as possible. It wasn't long before my hat was filled.

While gathering dandelion blossoms, I also found bees buzzing happily among them and I was filled with gladness for all the times @sagescrub reminded me to let the dandelion be when we weeded the garden. I harvested only a few blossoms from each plant, and left many behind for the bees to enjoy.

After filling my hat, I laid out the blossoms on a cardboard so that they are barely touching each other to let them dry out for a full day. Then I stuffed them in a jar and poured coconut oil on them until it just barely covers the surface. I cover the jar with a coffee filter and dated it and left it in a warm spot (by the stove during cold days and out in the sun on warm days) to extract the goodness. Now we just wait 6 weeks. After that, I will strain the oil and use it as a Golden Dandelion Blossom Massage Oil for my breasts. I can't wait!