A week & a half ago on Facebook I saw a picture from a local herb shop of some canning jars on a downed tree with a caption of “Fresh Batch of Cottonwood bud oil soon to be decanted!” I love how these things get me thinking… I wonder what that’s used for? Maybe I should make some? 
So here’s to my 1st forray into making natural home remedies!
- Cottonwood buds all ready.
In one of the ditches along my parents property there are a few unwanted cottonwood trees. Right now the buds are just starting to fill with a pretty, red resin before they leaf out. These trees aren’t very big so the buds are rather tiny… it took quite a few to fill up a small wide mouth jar.
After snipping the buds into the jar, trying not to get too much sap on myself, I filled it with organic lime olive oil. Wouldn’t need to be lime but it was one I wasn’t too keen on for cooking and the smell complimented the cottonwood buds, so why not?
Soaking away!
I will stir the oil every day for a few weeks and then remove the buds. This oil is great to massage onto soar muscles or use on cuts & scrapes. It can also be mixed with bee’s wax to make a salve, so I might have to try that!
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Do you have any wild plants or flowers that you pick for natural home remedies? Please share, I’d love to learn more!
I don’t really have wild flowers or plants to pick and make home/health remedies with, but reading this makes me want to find some and plant some! Would be a great addition to our garden. I was already planning on planting chamomile, but I’ll have to find some more
Heather, I’d love to learn more about natural remedies… the herb shop here in Bozeman is pretty cool & I know they stock books so I’ll have to ask them what to read first!
I had never heard of doing that with cottonwood buds. I’ll have to try that next year before our trees leaf out. Our 5 acres are COVERED in cottonwood trees. They grow like a weed here. It’s good to know that they serve some purpose; they aren’t very good for firewood.